Evergreen Marketing Advice
An Evergreen Forest
A new connection messaged me and asked me for some marketing advice. I thought about it for a while and shared two pieces of advice that I thought would last forever. Then I came back here and wrote a list of 16 just for you:
Don’t just learn, build a system of learning. Getting really good at a social media platform is valuable now, but more valuable is surrounding yourself with a steady supply of news and information ABOUT marketing trends. Not only will that help you succeed today, but it will also ensure that you stay current for 2, 5, or 10 years in the future.
Learn how to measure your results. Most marketers don’t even try, and of those that do try, many of them focus on vanity metrics and other things that don’t matter. Understand what you’re really trying to accomplish. Set SMART goals. Learning to measure your marketing effectively will immediately place you ahead of 75% of the competition.
All marketing works. Some marketing works better. Always be testing and trying to improve. When you find something that works, keep doing it, and split your hand to level up even more.
Don’t let attribution lead you astray. The last click on the Google ad may have been what drove the sale, but it probably wasn’t the only point of contact. For most companies of any size, the customer has also seen your social media, driven past the billboard, and heard the radio spot. Those other pieces of marketing built awareness and affinity and trust to the point where the offer in the Google Ad felt compelling. Keep it up. Include secondary metrics, and maybe tertiary, depending on the complexity of your funnel.
Don’t let statistics lead you astray. Stats are important, but make sure you understand what they actually mean. Make sure that you can back up what the numbers say.
Your customer doesn’t care as much as you do. Too many brands change things up when THEY get tired of looking at logos, or creative, or a jingle. As the saying goes, that’s just when your customer is starting to notice it. When you find something that works, keep it up.
A jack of all trades and a master of none is oftentimes better than a master of one. That’s the complete idiom. Be multichannel. Do a variety of things.
There is such a thing as bad PR.
Your advertising salesperson knows a lot. They deal with many clients in many industries and with many budgets. Their advice can be very helpful in campaign planning. If you don’t trust them, you should find a different sales rep that you can trust.
Seek vertical alignment. Do you know your boss’s vision for the organization? If not, how can your campaigns ever truly be successful?
Great marketing doesn’t have to cost money. Some amount of money will make any marketing better. Too much money is wasted. See item #2.
Having any plan is better than having no plan. If you have a plan, even if it's terrible, you can always improve it. See item #3.
People pay to have their problems solved. What problem are you solving? Boredom? Hunger? Obesity? Vanity? Align your marketing and messaging to make it clear that you can solve that problem.
People act when they see a cause they care about. The cause many people care about the most is themselves. Make it personal.
Get away from your desk. Marketing magic happens outside the office when you can interact with real people. Learn from people outside and bring that back to your desk. Don’t push from your desk to the outside.
Ask questions. The quality of your questions will determine the quality of your life and the quality of your campaign.
What would you add to this list?