SWIPE FILE
Throughout my marketing career, I’ve kept a Swipe File (inspiration file) of my favorite marketing ideas: tweets, thoughts, articles, podcasts, ads, TikToks and memes.
Every week I’ll be sharing 3 of my favorites from my archives + what I’m adding to my swipe this week.
1. Be Audience Focused. Not Competitor Focused.
Insight from: Katelyn Bourgoin (Follow Kate on Twitter here: @katebour).
If you’re copying your competitors, you will just blend in. Why be reactive when you can be PROACTIVE?
Jeff Bezos said, “If you’re competitor focused, you have to wait until there is a competitor doing something. Being customer-focused allows you to be more pioneering.”
Stop waiting on your competitors. They probably are waiting to copy someone else.
Invest time in studying, listening to, observing and talking to customers. Get to know them, and start to understand their WHY. When you know WHY, you can figure out HOW.
Find platforms where your customers are hanging out. Ask them about their biggest pain points, test new ideas, and watch their behaviors.
If you learn their pains and interests, you can create things for them.
You can be ahead of the curve. Plus, it’s fun to try something new – if we wanted to do the same thing every day, we definitely wouldn’t be in Marketing!
Creativity is your superpower – AND AT DAWN, WE RIDE.
2. How to think about your first 3 marketing hires
Insight from: Dave Gerhardt (Follow Dave on Twitter here: @davegerhardt)
Obviously, this can depend on your goals and the strategy of your business. But, I really like how DG (Dave Gerhardt) lays out these 3 jobs:
1. “THE PROMOTER. Someone who can write, but also knows how to get the word out – social, copy, email, webinars, etc.
2. THE DESIGNER. Need the designer so you can move fast on Website, ads, creative etc.
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3. THE MATH PERSON. Someone who understands funnels and conversion and really build the plumbing/Ops/analytics you need to build a marketing machine. Machine doesn’t mean big. But machine means predictable, repeatable, quantifiable growth.”
The one that sparks my eye is “The Math Person”. This hit hard for me since I am a Marketing Operations guy, but let me explain my analogy of why you need Marketing Ops:
Imagine walking into a perfect looking house. It has a beautiful kitchen, backyard, bathrooms, finishes, but the lights don’t turn on, the toilets don’t flush, the water doesn’t run, and you can’t cook because there is no gas.
Nobody walks into your house and says “that’s awesome plumbing and electricity you’ve got”, but they do complain if the house isn’t livable.
That’s why you hire Marketing Ops or “The Math Person”.
*Quick shoutout to my Marketing Ops fam: MOPs is what helps marketing teams run efficiently and effectively, but a perfectly laid out MOPs system or process isn’t going to win awards publicly.
3. People trust their peers over institutions
Insight from: Chris Walker (Follow Chris Walker on Linkedin)
The way that people buy has changed.
For example, I’ve shared the screenshots above on multiple channels (Linkedin, text messages with marketers, this newsletter), but it will be hard for your attribution model to know that.
The only way Katelyn, Dave, or Chris will know where or how many times I’ve shared their content is if you tell each of them or if you tell a friend and your friend tells them.
The same goes for content.
Conversations and content are being shared in Slack communities, text messages between peers, Twitter DMs, Facebook groups, virtual events – that’s where your buyers are actually hanging out and talking to each other.
Since this is hard to track, marketers will invest in the more trackable channels instead of investing in podcasts, social media, live events, and Slack communities.
TLDR With “Dark Social”, you can’t see immediate ROI like you can with Google Ads and Facebook, so people aren’t investing in it.
Thing is, the companies that are winning in B2B are the ones that are building out these important channels, AKA investing in “Dark Social”.
I’m not saying don’t invest in paid media. I am saying you should also invest in places that build community, brand, and conversations.
Channel diversification, always.
MEME OF THE WEEK
I picked this because I am getting married on May 27th and my fiance (Ari Sadwick) will literally be doing this on our wedding day. She’s in DTC but the image applies perfectly.
A slack notification is like a “bat signal” for her.
