BACK TO SCHOOL > Back to Marketing Basics
As students of all ages start their new academic terms, now feels like the right time to call out the fundamental principles of marketing, and set right some wayward thinking!
Hopefully with your new notepads and stationery at the ready, now is the right time to start again with a new blank page, building on what we learnt on ‘project work’ last year - but let us start again with a fresh approach and new ideas, whilst not forgetting the fundamentals!
The core basics of marketing seem to be forgotten out there of late, and in the spirit of many of all ages going ‘Back to School’, it feels like high time to address some irrefutable laws amidst the noise of industry.
Now I know there are likely far more tenured experts, academics and thought leaders than I to decant such a message, but the frustration I have felt the last couple of weeks seeing such nonsense out in the ether has compelled me to pen this for my monthly. As a result, I have hope that amongst my subscribers and clients/partners, if just a couple of people can implement some common-sense changes, then I have done my job and hopefully they will go on to do the same and share this syllabus!
The hustle-culture has rotted the marketing scene to the core. People who know how to manage Google and Facebook platforms are ‘Digital Marketing Managers’. ROI & ROAS have become the only KPI temple of worship, and split testing is the new creative nirvana. Yet the kicker is these are the people being tasked with delivering a ‘marketing strategy’. Respectfully, split testing a static versus animated file and tweaking the daily budget is not a strategy. It is a TACTIC. A thing you do to make the most of the work that a STRATEGY dictated.
When I started this newsletter in January, I wanted Front of Mind to be a Back to Basics monthly play, where common sense is (ideally) shared on a monthly cadence, so small businesses, marketeers and family members/people in general could subscribe and get some value out of it. I kicked off my first post with the thing that gives me more chagrin than any other…
You have these celeb entrepreneurs from Dragon’s Den conflating the words, and people saying they built their brand ‘without marketing’. I think you mean ‘without advertising’ sir!
The most shameless I will err on a plug, but I am quietly reassured that almost 2 years after publishing, my book Back To Basics : 21 ways to increase marketing performance and success still makes sense. When I wrote it in lockdown my plan was to provide some hopefully perennial reading which embraced fundamental truths which stand the test of time, and were a much-needed antidote to short-termism and trend decks, something the pandemic starkly showed up.
But I am optimistic and can see a shift change. Even the godfathers of hustle like Gary Vaynerchuk are reneging slightly on their burnout regimes and understand that slow and steady can indeed win the race, and by being consistent and building brands over time can actually be good for business. Who would have thought?
Let’s really get behind this, and absolutely feel free to share this article/sentiment with people who you know need to hear it.
So for my marketeer readers, these are the 5 things that I want to rehash a little, but that will definitely help. The book had 22 chapters and if you want to put yourself through it all you can download it here, but the overriding themes synthesised and that will ALWAYS be are as follow.
Another reminder, Advertising is NOT Marketing
Back to the 4Ps, I cannot say it enough how despite newer Bullshit iterations, they are as elementary to our craft as Earth, Wind, Fire & Water. Everything falls within these tenets. Product, Place and Price all levers and considerations in the marketing mix. The 4th - Promotion - is 90% aligned with the part of Advertising. Yes there is Point of sale, signage etc, but what we are basically saying here - is that advertising is simply a segment of marketing. IT IS NOT MARKETING IN ITS ENTIRETY! Marketing is the overall discipline of creating and communicating product and service, with aim to outsell competition, that is it. Advertising merely a tool in the marketing toolkit.
Sharpen the axe, before you chop the tree
If the tree is indeed the advertising part. The axe needs welding (and indeed wielding) with considerations beforehand. There is a saying in agency land called ‘gated’ planning. I really like it. In a world of big businesses being told to learn from the agile nature or turnaround of the small businesses, I think the other way around has more weight here. Big businesses love a process and framework a little too much at times, although anything which promotes ‘walk before you can run’ or ‘one thing after another’ I am all for.
Visual from talk I did to small businesses re ‘sharpening axe’. Nick it if you wish - just say Hi 3.Creativity matters - it is all about the person receiving
The creative assets, what humans beings actually see out there, i.e. the ad is without doubt the most important thing of this Advertising lark. That is often your brand or product’s initial counterpoint with the world, unless they are already familiar of course. The more people who see it the better too, as that generates fame and mental availability. There are conversations about reach and targeting, (but that is another ‘module’).
I’ll admit though, us in industry over-analyse and discuss adverts, what is good and what is not, like it is some law we are passing in parliament or congress. But the reality is, it is in the eye of the beholder. Most people really do not care that much. Worst case they find an ad a bit shit (bar the ad-hoc complaints - that are absolutely exception not the rule), and at best they think its quite entertaining/memorable, and therefore now qualify as someone who will go on to maybe buy your product, or tell someone about it. Bar outliers, seldom do people love an ad beyond measure, or despise with a passion. So focus on creating something memorable. If the audience remember it, you are in their mind (hopefully Front Of Mind). There is a great example from (I think) Jeremy Bullmore and why one would buy an Aston Martin…
Buying it from seeing an ad is not the interesting bit, buying it from and ad 30 years earlier is!
All from memories created in the brain. Be distinct. Be funny. Be shocking. Be whatever. Most of all be memorable!
‘Only The Best is Good Enough’ 1960s Aston Martin print advert (Pinterest)
Measurement is important - but be aware of what and how
Just because you can measure it, doe not mean it matters. I loved the ‘don’t be a click-head’ movement on Twitter a couple of years back which basically hit back at CTR as a digital proxy of success which, proven time and time again, offers little correlation on key brand or performance uplift metrics. Digital has has also given rise to the ROAS temple mentioned before, and we can only hope its pilgramage subsides.
Conversely, if it is hard to measure, it is probably important to get a handle on, and gold if you can, or at least some kind of proxy. There are various measurement approaches and techniques with both benefits and downsides. Marketing Mix Modelling or Multi-Touch Attribution can help with defined channels’ success and proxy results, and econometricians have been building regression curves to help us how to plan out effective media as a result. But tech companies and media owners will favour certain kinds of course.
Bottom line - traditional or above-the line marketing channels (usually for brand awareness, but not exclusively) will always look worse on shorter-term performance measures than digital/easily measurable ones, but that is NOT an indication of them not performing their function (often creating reach/Fame etc.) at all. Err with caution. To flip this too, traditional channels can drive sales (performance) and newer digital formats can build brand awareness, do not let the tail of available metrics wag the media planning dog
Be ready to learn
Confession - I know that I am a better marketeer than I was when I wrote Back to Basics 2 years ago, and although I have done this for a while I do remain curious to learn (I do CPD hours and the like). I look back at my book now and, despite the positive response to it, I definitely could have done more on the research/orientation part, and other bits which annoy me, but that is the curse of any author, right? I think learning really never ends, and should be the same with you. Despite the solid pillars such as the 4 Ps, be open to wider change, albeit cultural or regulation, as well as changes at your product or brand level, and think broadly about how landscape impacts your approach, business and your next steps.
BONUS CONSIDERATION - Pick your moments
At the time of publishing this we are all aware of the major event in the world news. You’ll also probably be aware that many brands marked the moment with their own tributes, from straight written tributes via social media to toys/products that are meant to resemble the monarch. What you may not be aware of, is you really do not have to. It makes sense to commemorate a seismic event if there is a kinship with your brand. e.g. if a departed royal was a patron of your charity, or your food product was the official food of the palace, that would figure. But when a Kebab award ceremony or a toys manufacturer does it, it feels crass and opportunistic.
But recent events are merely shining light on a wider problem. The Hootsuite driven, content-calendarisation of media planning and moment marketing. Wanting to be present for everything. A clear strategy dictates what NOT to do as much as what to do. Double down on a few battles, and pick them well (I wrote more about this if interested in The Media Leader Article, Yes, Media for Good, but you can’t be good at everything)
So yes there are your 5 modules (+1). Lesson suspended, the bell has gone. Revise and apply. House points for considering the 6th too. Detention for those who use the wrong words though. Look forward to seeing the homework!
SA
PS. I hope you are getting a semblance of value out of this. If so, and you think any other marketeer or business owner would, feel free to share/forward this to them and encourage them to subscribe. Also, follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter or my company page. Thanks