Marketing Atrocities

Marketing can be nebulous. A fragile thing, that caught in the winds of time can make us look foolish or insensitive. Often, the marketing beast is feared by business owners who toss money at its gaping mouth, in hopes the marketplace won’t eat them alive.

Business owners, who are used to having all the answers, approach it as an adversary at first. A necessary evil. “I won’t let it take me!” they say, bootstrapping themselves to social media and never-ending hours of content marketing. Some say it’s the nature of the beast. We can only guess at the results—or hope for any at all.

There is an answer. It requires planning, research and tracking. Clouded by ego, those on the battleground may think they know—in their gut—how the customer works. They think they know because they themselves have been subject to a lifetime of advertising messages. They think they can see behind the curtain.

I’m here to tell you there is no curtain. And there is no man behind that curtain. Marketing—done right—is based on data. It’s based on concrete evidence gathered on target markets, on buying patterns and the like. No hunches, no “I get who the customer is. I just get it.” There is no wizard. There is no catchy tagline that will save you, like a hot air balloon lifting your business above the rest of your industry.

I’ve heard it all:

“Direct mail doesn’t work.”

“Facebook is stupid.”

“We already know what our customers think.”

“We can do it ourselves.”

These are judgments based on a single person’s experience: your own.

You need a partner. Someone who will tell the truth, tame the marketing beast, and get you results. I wonder who that could be.

And now, here’s a picture of a puppy.