Marketers Exposed

Marketing is so easy, a (monkey, caveman, two year old, Vice Presidential candidate) can do it.  This is so incredibly obvious to anyone paying any attention at all and yet against all odds we marketers have continued to justify our existence through a dizzying volume of buzzwords, bizarre, confusing messaging strategies and distorted interpretations of research data.  The ugly truth about marketing has never been exposed, until now...

Someone has seen through our sad charade and has exposed the massive conspiracy that is marketing.  Consider the implications of our marketing truths just floating out there in the naked light of day.  No longer can we demand outrageous salaries or hourly rates to do our marketing magic.  Gone are the 10 hour work weeks, vacation boondoggles, and unlimited expense accounts.  Now we may have to actually do some real work. 

On the other hand, maybe Neil over at Citizen of the Month has a couple good points about marketing we should consider. 

Buzzwords - We are all guilty of this.  Yes, that means you.  Yes, that means me too.  It's hard not to get sucked into using the buzzword du jour.  It's pretty annoying when all marketing people start sounding the same, riffing the same marketing jargon-ridden phrases and descriptions.  We could all do with a little less marketing verbiage and a little more plain speaking.

Good writing - Neil is a professional, and clearly someone who carries a big stick in the writing department.  Fortunately, I completely agree with his comments about the gaping void that exists between writing that can and should invoke passionate response and most of the uninspired space-filler we've all seen out there.                     

Provide Something of Value - Entertain, enlighten but do something beyond self-promotion.  The irony is that the more you provide to others the more likely your content will be shared and promoted vs. content that is created primarily for self-promotion. 

Be Interesting - This one's a little trickier, like coaching someone to "get a personality".  The hallmark of great marketing is its ability to truly connect with the intended audience.  I'm not aware of any successful campaign that hasn't been interesting and engaging at some level.  Nobody is interested in reading anything that sounds like an instruction manual. 

There is some solace that even being exposed as we are in all this, we're probably still a couple notches above lawyers on the totem pole of credibility. 

Comments

[Jonathan loves Innovative Marketing]

Sure, anyone can do marketing, but not everyone can do marketing effectively. I think, in addition to these tips, the focus should really be on building sustainable relationships.

[Jonathan loves Innovative Marketing]

Sure, anyone can do marketing, but not everyone can do marketing effectively. I think, in addition to these tips, the focus should really be on building sustainable relationships.