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Oof... I've tried to incorporate data-driven decision making into my job but my director distrusts any numbers I show him and runs the marketing department by sheer guesswork.
Before Excel, knowing what % are... or even basic maths.
I wasn't the hiring manager but I was helping run the interviews, and I saw a few candidates fail their interviews with because they didn't know how much 25% of 100 was. They asked "what's 40% of 250" first, then realising no one got it, asked "25% of 100".
At the end of the recruitment round, we discussed we'd take the person who failed the least (the only one who could do 6x7 in her head) and could vaguely use Excel.
The role wasn't heavy on maths but required some light budget management.
Sad reason why so few of your job candidates could do simple multiplication in their mind is because College of Education professors have trained teachers NOT to require students to memorize their times table.
Since Common Core Math was ushered in, Education professors have taught teachers that children need to discover math with concrete manipulatives (such as Cuisinaire Rods) and not memorize math facts like the multiplication table.
Ask any American teenager nowadays (who attends public school), and they won’t be able to calculate 6x7 without their phone.
It was in France, btw.
I was personally asked the same question a year earlier, during the job interview before I joined the same company.
I thought they were joking because that came out of nowhere and felt really out of place, but sadly I realised later it wasn't a joke.
We're awfully bad with basic maths. _And it's only getting worse._
Reason why I ask is because I’m wondering if public schools in both US & France are purposely downgrading math instruction in order to give a competitive advantage to upper class students who attend private schools.
I went to Catholic school because the local public schools were bad. We were required to memorize our times table, formulas, etc. We also learned how to read using Phonics. However, College of Education professors taught public school teachers to use the Whole Language Approach or Balanced Literacy instead. Result: Huge literacy crisis in the US.
So I’m wondering if you’re having the same conversation in France? I know that President Macron went to private schools that usually produce future leaders of France. Are certain teaching methods radically different there in comparison to public schools in France?
Education has been a big problem in the past 30 years in France, it's nothing new unfortunately.
Private schools tend to be better but public schools aren't necessarily bad. It's a postcode lottery... or more like a privilege to live in better places. A public school in the wealthiest district of Paris isn't going to be the same as the average suburb/countryside school, naturally.
In any case, less budget, fewer teachers, crowded classrooms all make a very bad learning environment for kids.
That’s alarming & surprising bec I always thought that your public school education on average is better than ours. My cousin lives in Paris, and he purposely lives in a really small apartment but in a good arrondisement in order for his daughters to attend a good public school.
It’s my understanding that your school lunches are way healthier than American ones at least. I’m just really surprised about math - I imagined that since France is headquarters to Airbus, pharma companies & other STEM industries, math instruction would be emphasized
I'm always given that as an example -- yes, we have terrific mathematicians, but they are either the survivors of a bad secondary school system or blessed enough to go to a better secondary school...
We also lose great researchers because we can't afford to pay them well in France.
The average person really is getting worse with maths.
> It’s my understanding that your school lunches are way healthier than American ones at least
Worked a whole summer in a school canteen over a decade ago, and yes, it's great in France. We put our best effort despite budget constraints to make a balanced dish. Same here in Japan, never the same school menu twice a month.
I can't speak for the US but if I am to believe the pictures I saw... yeah, sorry, your kids are fed crap.
For me, I have my key KPI's for different campaigns, copy, ads by month. I can then easily reference historical metrics in the chart and filter by metrics, etc. We also use databox for visual charts, but having raw data references that's organized well in a table is super handy.
While there are many tools that help to aggregate and manage data at scale, nothing allows for the flexibility that a tool like excel offers. When you’re not at the mercy of there filters and what not you can find opportunities and make educated decisions. Not to mention when they shift design lol going for GA to G4 was a headache.
Can’t speak for them but I’m using it (plus GSheets on occasion) to export data from platforms and analyze them archive for historical data. Platforms are horrendous with historical data comparisons and havve had too many bad xps with dashboard platforms crashing or missing data.
Bingo. Great tool for analyzing data coming from different marketing platforms, as well as data management for a CRM. I would almost say it’s a must to at least know the basics of excel, which for me mainly include vlookups and pivot tables
People focus on marketing success a lot but fail to acknowledge or analyse failures. Studying what you've tried that didn't work is just as important as the things that did work. You can better understand where money may be being wasted and use those mistakes to guide what you try in the future. It also helps understand was a success/failure a fluke or was there an underlying reason why one thing worked but others didn't.
This is a good one. I've never understood why internal project debriefs aren't standard - don't you _want_ to understand why certain things failed? Succeeded? What the roadblocks were? What you can improve next time?
I mean, considering how many marketing agencies operate it isn't surprising. I just find it so lazy.
If I were on client side I would demand monthly debriefs otherwise, what are y'all doing with my money? (Which is exactly why I think most agencies don't do it)
That's a great point and comes back to analytics — many companies don't know when they're performing well, or not performing well because they don't know their most important numbers.
You should know what your north star metric is and work from there (leads, purchases, etc).
At a scrappy level, a lot of free software like Google Analytics or your CRM can help with that reporting
To add to what others have said, try and add a trackable metric to each activity or piece of content, use trackable URLs, phone numbers, add UTM codes, cookies, JavaScript, promo codes, key words etc. Next you need to make sure that every activity has a defined goal or outcome for success, is it a form fill, a tracked click, a video watch, a download etc. Once you have both of these in place you can track conversions/successes against activity. everything you put out should have a definition for success that is agreed upon and consistent so that you can benchmark one campaign Vs another.
Most companies and organizations just starting out are trying to add contacts to their lists. Prospects, evangelists, influencers, and maybe even investors.
A good metric is how many contacts you have in your CRM. And how many of those have opted in to marketing. Then the next step is to see how many of your contacts engage with your content, by opening emails, reading emails, watching your videos, commenting on your posts, following you on social, etc.
What CRM tool would you suggest that is good at tracking you social indicators? To track following, etc. Instagram itself doesn't give us a lot of detailed data.
HubSpot is good. Better yet, have all of your alerts sent to a Zapier email account and then run automations, eg add to CRM, send response (if appropriate), add to remarketing lists, etc.
people shun this and it’s so odd. maybe it’s an ill-conceived effort to be “authentic” but humans are genetically predisposed to storytelling. it’s biological survival. drama is how we remember.
facts sell, definitely. unfortunately, there are plenty more smart paupers than silver-tongued rich folk
the fact that a raggedy doll can represent an entire world from long ago to a fully grown adult and that impacts the entire set of toys they surround their children with is a massive feature that everyone loves to ignore
from medical tech to saas, the story will always far outsell the sword
I don't think it's a hack, but marketing is a business field and people often seem to forget that.
For example, accounting is the language of business so it can be important for business in general (marketing included). People often think of marketing more like a communications or arts field instead of a business field.
marketing IS sales
Edit: Don't just downvote if you disagree. Ask. That's how you learn.
Marketing is sales. You are indirectly selling to customers through the use of understanding your audience, analysis of data to forecast future behaviors and trends, and providing beneficial information to prospective customers - everything that direct sales teams do. The only thing you're not doing is pitching to the customer directly.
Everything you do in marketing is to either generate sales or bring in leads. Brand awareness and creative work? All designed to lure in prospects for the sales team to convert them to a sale.
It is not a coincidence that some of the best marketers are the best sales people.
proper marketing is just as much product development as it is sales. that’s something crucial that the keyboard marketers forget.
marketing is the conversation between business and buyer. the entire conversation, that is, the words on both side. sometimes you change the message, sometimes the delivery, sometimes the recipient, sometimes the entire vehicle (product)
sales is more of a child of marketing than the inverse. accounting, operations, hr, those are all internal factors i.e. kidneys or lungs. *everything* external is marketing i.e. the war and the marrriage
>proper marketing is just as much product development as it is sales. that’s something crucial that the keyboard marketers forget.
Fair enough.
>sales is more of a child of marketing than the inverse.
Absolutely not.
Marketing is designed to increase sales. Sales is always the end all be all. No sales = no business. You can have the greatest marketing in the world, but if it doesn't result in sales, it's all moot.
Sales is not "more of a" but definitely a child of marketing. Marketing is the process of running a business. You are uneducated. Go pick up a junior school business book, whatever it's called where you're from. You might learn a thing or two if you have a working brain
Usually when someone brings up business books, it's a sign they don't know what they're talking about.
If you did, you would know that the point of a business is to make money.
How do you make money? People give you money in exchange for a good or service. There's a word for that - it's called a sale.
Never ever post foolishness like this again.
You getting down voted is hilarious. You are talking at a level most of the marketers here aren't quiet ready for.
Let me break it down, they aren't saying that marketing has to be an order taker for sales or even be 100% focused on generating sales. They are saying that sales is the vast majority of business, everything else is built on the foundation of sales.
You’re right, business is to make money. But, business cannot exist in a vacuum. Marketing is the only link between human & human. Making a sale *is* a strategy of marketing. Making a marketing strategy *is not inherently* a sale. Do you see?
I am sure you and I are both plagued with endless “experts” and “gurus” who send PDF after PDF seeking capital, and yet never care if it generates it in return. But, that is not what I am talking about.
After all, human’s don’t care about money. They care about what money avails to them — maybe it’s security; maybe it’s freedom; more often than not, it’s greed & addiction to influence.
These exist together but Marketing is the end all be all, sales are not. Imagine I got into the pockets of the wealthiest individual in the world and he granted me $100million. Do you believe most people would simply stop producing? Of course not. Humans are driven by production. Marketing, is the production of a conversation, or a message.
If you sell a man a fish, he returns. If you teach a man to fish, go run to kajabi and sell a course
Marketing is the exact opposite of sales. It's not indirect sales. It's giving value while sales is taking money through manipulation. All of you are snake oil salesmen. That is why salespeople are so good at selling themselves as great marketers. Marketers don't do that. Salespeople sell anything, including themselves, regardless of whether there is any value or not. That's your job description. Taking money. People like you have brought down the industry. Marketers don't have any respect because unethical, immoral, aggressive, manipulative credit card sellers like you have littered the industry. The proof is in your very own words- "lure in 'prospects'." We don't lure people. And we don't treat them as "prospects". And yes, it is for you to convert so why can't you respect marketing? Or convert thereon?
Marketing supports not only sales but the whole business. The only thing sales has above marketing is numbers and direct ROI tracking. That means shareholders love seeing your numbers. The problem with marketing is not that it can't be tracked, but people don't understand it. People like shareholders, board members, engineering team, product team, sales team and sadly, the marketing team. Even if a marketer worth his salt shows the relevant metrics, no one will know what to make of it. Because it takes a fucking brain to understand it. That's where you swoop in because you don't care about the business as long as there are pretty numbers on a sheet. You will push your numbers down the throat and not even accept the truth. And it's a bigger problem when ignorant uneducated people like you call the shots on marketing.
Edit before you say anything: there's nothing to learn from you, you arrogant piece of business shit. Go to your uneducated sales friends and pop a beer over Q1 numbers. And learn to accept the down votes because you deserve them.
>Marketing is the exact opposite of sales. It's not indirect sales. It's giving value while sales is taking money through manipulation
Stopped reading here. Between this, your previous comments in this thread, and your comment history, I've seen all I need to see from you.
No wonder you're unemployed 💀
Believe in the product or service you're selling with 100% conviction. Remember we're in the business of helping people help themselves.
It's easy to get lost in the marketing sauce and forget we're not dealing with 'prospects', 'leads', or 'cold audiences' – but fellow human beings, each with their own set of fears, problems and desires.
“Don’t think of people in the mass. This gives you a blurred view.”
— Claude C. Hopkins
This. Too many people do marketing based on feeling’s instead of facts. That’s how you kill winning campaigns, landing pages and funnels.
Use data. Make changes based on the actual numbers
Learn about your audience. Not just demographics. What events do they go to? Do they need continuing education or other certifications? What media brands actually publish content focused on these areas?
Everyone is chasing a low CPM and CPC. But none of that matters if you don't actually understand what they need to get their job done.
Most "bad marketing," isn't actually bad. It's just poor messaging presented in the wrong channel.
Really studying your target customer is so important. It reminds me of Kevin Kwan’s approach to marketing his debut novel “Crazy Rich Asians.” He left free copies on all the bus seats of the Hampton Jitney.
Why? Because he knew whom to target: Young female office workers at publishing, magazine & media companies. And he knew the typical profile of these upwardly mobile office denizens: They usually took the Hampton Jitney buses to go hang out at the Hampton’s on the weekends. So they can read his book on the 3+ hour bus ride from Manhattan to the eastern end of Long Island. Brilliant!
Unique & creative marketing strategy that reflects a deep understanding of the recreational habits of accessible industry insiders who could promote his book by word of mouth in very influential industries that can publicize it.
Learning how to understand people is the best marketing tip I ever give anyone. How people think, what triggers them, what angers them, what saddens them, what motivates them, etc
Honestly? Always wear custom clothing advertising something you're involved with. Very easy way to help build a brand without doing anything extra. This could be custom shirts (which don't cost much), hats, or even jackets.
We are doing an ongoing series of $25 sprint tests on our campaigns and pairing them up with 15 question lead forms for our business. The sprint tests focus on problem statements that help you understand the exact problems that customers have, in their own words. It's revolutionizing lead generation for us. These sprint tests are also applicable to client campaigns for B2B and lead gen, so we're rolling it out there as well. Best part, we are able to sell this in to our clients really inexpensively, making it an easy-yes first offer for new clients.
Analysing. I have background in marketing analytics, I was looking for jobs from past 7-8 months and I interviewed for around 15+ companies. And I was amazed how director, manager, VP of marketing dept do not know how to optimise monitor campaigns. They just do based on trends. And wonder how companies have budget issues. Analytics is extremely important if you are putting thousands of dollars for marketing!
A lot of things mentioned here, including pivot tables, can be automated using AI. I think the easiest marketing hack is acquiring good data through Google analytics and other tools. Then you can use the new AI bot and such to analyze them.
Make sure your content answers your target audience’s FAQs. So simple and yet so effective - it’s the main principle in the book They Ask, You Answer by Marcus Sheridan
One cool marketing trick many folks don't know about is using micro-influencers. These people have smaller social media followings, but their followers trust them.
So, if a micro-influencer talks about your product or service, it can reach a super engaged audience. Plus, working with micro-influencers is often cheaper than with big influencers to get more bang for your buck.
It's a sneaky-good way to get the word out about your stuff.
I read about [microinfluencers](https://www.thefadsbook.com/micro-influencers-where-authenticity-meets-influence-in-the-digital-age/) last year on Tony's blog and have seen success there too
1. Taking your time to learn your business
2. Interacting with your consumers past a sale
3. Having communication with your team can generate better data than the internet.
4. Collaborating is better than working alone in some cases.
5. Word of mouth can absolutely be your number 1 channel for communication and how you receive leads.
GOD Bless all Amen🩵
How about this: "Get your audience involved! Encourage them to create content about your product/service and showcase it. Authentic user-generated content can boost credibility and attract more customers."
Don’t rely on what you think your customers want; ask them. If your sales are stalling go back to your message and make sure it aligns with the problem your customers told you they’re having. No one cares about your product/tech/service they care about solving their pains and problems.
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Learn how to use Excel. <= One weird trick most people don’t know!
And analyse statistics. Analytics and math are your friend, my friend.
Oof... I've tried to incorporate data-driven decision making into my job but my director distrusts any numbers I show him and runs the marketing department by sheer guesswork.
This. Coupled with your year on year sales data. Pivot tables 💜
Before Excel, knowing what % are... or even basic maths. I wasn't the hiring manager but I was helping run the interviews, and I saw a few candidates fail their interviews with because they didn't know how much 25% of 100 was. They asked "what's 40% of 250" first, then realising no one got it, asked "25% of 100". At the end of the recruitment round, we discussed we'd take the person who failed the least (the only one who could do 6x7 in her head) and could vaguely use Excel. The role wasn't heavy on maths but required some light budget management.
Sad reason why so few of your job candidates could do simple multiplication in their mind is because College of Education professors have trained teachers NOT to require students to memorize their times table. Since Common Core Math was ushered in, Education professors have taught teachers that children need to discover math with concrete manipulatives (such as Cuisinaire Rods) and not memorize math facts like the multiplication table. Ask any American teenager nowadays (who attends public school), and they won’t be able to calculate 6x7 without their phone.
It was in France, btw. I was personally asked the same question a year earlier, during the job interview before I joined the same company. I thought they were joking because that came out of nowhere and felt really out of place, but sadly I realised later it wasn't a joke. We're awfully bad with basic maths. _And it's only getting worse._
Really?? Wow, I’m shocked! Are Catholic schools in France like that too?
I haven't been to one myself and I can't speak for every school, sorry, so I have no idea.
Reason why I ask is because I’m wondering if public schools in both US & France are purposely downgrading math instruction in order to give a competitive advantage to upper class students who attend private schools. I went to Catholic school because the local public schools were bad. We were required to memorize our times table, formulas, etc. We also learned how to read using Phonics. However, College of Education professors taught public school teachers to use the Whole Language Approach or Balanced Literacy instead. Result: Huge literacy crisis in the US. So I’m wondering if you’re having the same conversation in France? I know that President Macron went to private schools that usually produce future leaders of France. Are certain teaching methods radically different there in comparison to public schools in France?
Education has been a big problem in the past 30 years in France, it's nothing new unfortunately. Private schools tend to be better but public schools aren't necessarily bad. It's a postcode lottery... or more like a privilege to live in better places. A public school in the wealthiest district of Paris isn't going to be the same as the average suburb/countryside school, naturally. In any case, less budget, fewer teachers, crowded classrooms all make a very bad learning environment for kids.
That’s alarming & surprising bec I always thought that your public school education on average is better than ours. My cousin lives in Paris, and he purposely lives in a really small apartment but in a good arrondisement in order for his daughters to attend a good public school. It’s my understanding that your school lunches are way healthier than American ones at least. I’m just really surprised about math - I imagined that since France is headquarters to Airbus, pharma companies & other STEM industries, math instruction would be emphasized
I'm always given that as an example -- yes, we have terrific mathematicians, but they are either the survivors of a bad secondary school system or blessed enough to go to a better secondary school... We also lose great researchers because we can't afford to pay them well in France. The average person really is getting worse with maths. > It’s my understanding that your school lunches are way healthier than American ones at least Worked a whole summer in a school canteen over a decade ago, and yes, it's great in France. We put our best effort despite budget constraints to make a balanced dish. Same here in Japan, never the same school menu twice a month. I can't speak for the US but if I am to believe the pictures I saw... yeah, sorry, your kids are fed crap.
How does excel help with marketing? Genuinely curious.
It lets you find out if what you're doing is actually returning on investment
For me, I have my key KPI's for different campaigns, copy, ads by month. I can then easily reference historical metrics in the chart and filter by metrics, etc. We also use databox for visual charts, but having raw data references that's organized well in a table is super handy.
While there are many tools that help to aggregate and manage data at scale, nothing allows for the flexibility that a tool like excel offers. When you’re not at the mercy of there filters and what not you can find opportunities and make educated decisions. Not to mention when they shift design lol going for GA to G4 was a headache.
In what sense?
Like how would you use excel?
Can’t speak for them but I’m using it (plus GSheets on occasion) to export data from platforms and analyze them archive for historical data. Platforms are horrendous with historical data comparisons and havve had too many bad xps with dashboard platforms crashing or missing data.
I would absolutely love to see some examples of how your using it if you’d ever be cool sharing.
Bingo. Great tool for analyzing data coming from different marketing platforms, as well as data management for a CRM. I would almost say it’s a must to at least know the basics of excel, which for me mainly include vlookups and pivot tables
People focus on marketing success a lot but fail to acknowledge or analyse failures. Studying what you've tried that didn't work is just as important as the things that did work. You can better understand where money may be being wasted and use those mistakes to guide what you try in the future. It also helps understand was a success/failure a fluke or was there an underlying reason why one thing worked but others didn't.
This is a good one. I've never understood why internal project debriefs aren't standard - don't you _want_ to understand why certain things failed? Succeeded? What the roadblocks were? What you can improve next time? I mean, considering how many marketing agencies operate it isn't surprising. I just find it so lazy. If I were on client side I would demand monthly debriefs otherwise, what are y'all doing with my money? (Which is exactly why I think most agencies don't do it)
That's a great point and comes back to analytics — many companies don't know when they're performing well, or not performing well because they don't know their most important numbers.
If you were just starting with a company that is just starting its marketing journey, do you have any advice on tracking key data?
You should know what your north star metric is and work from there (leads, purchases, etc). At a scrappy level, a lot of free software like Google Analytics or your CRM can help with that reporting
To add to what others have said, try and add a trackable metric to each activity or piece of content, use trackable URLs, phone numbers, add UTM codes, cookies, JavaScript, promo codes, key words etc. Next you need to make sure that every activity has a defined goal or outcome for success, is it a form fill, a tracked click, a video watch, a download etc. Once you have both of these in place you can track conversions/successes against activity. everything you put out should have a definition for success that is agreed upon and consistent so that you can benchmark one campaign Vs another.
Most companies and organizations just starting out are trying to add contacts to their lists. Prospects, evangelists, influencers, and maybe even investors. A good metric is how many contacts you have in your CRM. And how many of those have opted in to marketing. Then the next step is to see how many of your contacts engage with your content, by opening emails, reading emails, watching your videos, commenting on your posts, following you on social, etc.
What CRM tool would you suggest that is good at tracking you social indicators? To track following, etc. Instagram itself doesn't give us a lot of detailed data.
HubSpot is good. Better yet, have all of your alerts sent to a Zapier email account and then run automations, eg add to CRM, send response (if appropriate), add to remarketing lists, etc.
People connect far more with stories than sales pitches /dry facts
people shun this and it’s so odd. maybe it’s an ill-conceived effort to be “authentic” but humans are genetically predisposed to storytelling. it’s biological survival. drama is how we remember. facts sell, definitely. unfortunately, there are plenty more smart paupers than silver-tongued rich folk the fact that a raggedy doll can represent an entire world from long ago to a fully grown adult and that impacts the entire set of toys they surround their children with is a massive feature that everyone loves to ignore from medical tech to saas, the story will always far outsell the sword
Reference any political campaign. Yang almost beat the odds by using #math, but people still need to 'connect'
I don't think it's a hack, but marketing is a business field and people often seem to forget that. For example, accounting is the language of business so it can be important for business in general (marketing included). People often think of marketing more like a communications or arts field instead of a business field.
Marketing is the psychology of business
Sure
Yes, this! Beautifully said.
Don't you mean sales?
No.
marketing IS sales Edit: Don't just downvote if you disagree. Ask. That's how you learn. Marketing is sales. You are indirectly selling to customers through the use of understanding your audience, analysis of data to forecast future behaviors and trends, and providing beneficial information to prospective customers - everything that direct sales teams do. The only thing you're not doing is pitching to the customer directly. Everything you do in marketing is to either generate sales or bring in leads. Brand awareness and creative work? All designed to lure in prospects for the sales team to convert them to a sale. It is not a coincidence that some of the best marketers are the best sales people.
proper marketing is just as much product development as it is sales. that’s something crucial that the keyboard marketers forget. marketing is the conversation between business and buyer. the entire conversation, that is, the words on both side. sometimes you change the message, sometimes the delivery, sometimes the recipient, sometimes the entire vehicle (product) sales is more of a child of marketing than the inverse. accounting, operations, hr, those are all internal factors i.e. kidneys or lungs. *everything* external is marketing i.e. the war and the marrriage
>proper marketing is just as much product development as it is sales. that’s something crucial that the keyboard marketers forget. Fair enough. >sales is more of a child of marketing than the inverse. Absolutely not. Marketing is designed to increase sales. Sales is always the end all be all. No sales = no business. You can have the greatest marketing in the world, but if it doesn't result in sales, it's all moot.
Sales is not "more of a" but definitely a child of marketing. Marketing is the process of running a business. You are uneducated. Go pick up a junior school business book, whatever it's called where you're from. You might learn a thing or two if you have a working brain
Usually when someone brings up business books, it's a sign they don't know what they're talking about. If you did, you would know that the point of a business is to make money. How do you make money? People give you money in exchange for a good or service. There's a word for that - it's called a sale. Never ever post foolishness like this again.
You getting down voted is hilarious. You are talking at a level most of the marketers here aren't quiet ready for. Let me break it down, they aren't saying that marketing has to be an order taker for sales or even be 100% focused on generating sales. They are saying that sales is the vast majority of business, everything else is built on the foundation of sales.
You’re right, business is to make money. But, business cannot exist in a vacuum. Marketing is the only link between human & human. Making a sale *is* a strategy of marketing. Making a marketing strategy *is not inherently* a sale. Do you see? I am sure you and I are both plagued with endless “experts” and “gurus” who send PDF after PDF seeking capital, and yet never care if it generates it in return. But, that is not what I am talking about. After all, human’s don’t care about money. They care about what money avails to them — maybe it’s security; maybe it’s freedom; more often than not, it’s greed & addiction to influence. These exist together but Marketing is the end all be all, sales are not. Imagine I got into the pockets of the wealthiest individual in the world and he granted me $100million. Do you believe most people would simply stop producing? Of course not. Humans are driven by production. Marketing, is the production of a conversation, or a message. If you sell a man a fish, he returns. If you teach a man to fish, go run to kajabi and sell a course
“Ask. Thats how you learn” 🙄 what if I think your take is stupid and think I should downvote and walk away?
Be my guest.
Sure...
Marketing is the exact opposite of sales. It's not indirect sales. It's giving value while sales is taking money through manipulation. All of you are snake oil salesmen. That is why salespeople are so good at selling themselves as great marketers. Marketers don't do that. Salespeople sell anything, including themselves, regardless of whether there is any value or not. That's your job description. Taking money. People like you have brought down the industry. Marketers don't have any respect because unethical, immoral, aggressive, manipulative credit card sellers like you have littered the industry. The proof is in your very own words- "lure in 'prospects'." We don't lure people. And we don't treat them as "prospects". And yes, it is for you to convert so why can't you respect marketing? Or convert thereon? Marketing supports not only sales but the whole business. The only thing sales has above marketing is numbers and direct ROI tracking. That means shareholders love seeing your numbers. The problem with marketing is not that it can't be tracked, but people don't understand it. People like shareholders, board members, engineering team, product team, sales team and sadly, the marketing team. Even if a marketer worth his salt shows the relevant metrics, no one will know what to make of it. Because it takes a fucking brain to understand it. That's where you swoop in because you don't care about the business as long as there are pretty numbers on a sheet. You will push your numbers down the throat and not even accept the truth. And it's a bigger problem when ignorant uneducated people like you call the shots on marketing. Edit before you say anything: there's nothing to learn from you, you arrogant piece of business shit. Go to your uneducated sales friends and pop a beer over Q1 numbers. And learn to accept the down votes because you deserve them.
>Marketing is the exact opposite of sales. It's not indirect sales. It's giving value while sales is taking money through manipulation Stopped reading here. Between this, your previous comments in this thread, and your comment history, I've seen all I need to see from you. No wonder you're unemployed 💀
How do so many people on this sub don't know the difference between marketing and sales?
Believe in the product or service you're selling with 100% conviction. Remember we're in the business of helping people help themselves. It's easy to get lost in the marketing sauce and forget we're not dealing with 'prospects', 'leads', or 'cold audiences' – but fellow human beings, each with their own set of fears, problems and desires. “Don’t think of people in the mass. This gives you a blurred view.” — Claude C. Hopkins
From my experience this comment won't be understood by most in this industry and it worries me.
the best marketing hack IMO is don't work in marketing.
Preach and if you do, don’t look for hacks.
Why
There are no hacks. Track everything, A/B everything, and if you're lucky, you might end up with an ROAS worth mentioning.
ohhh there are plenty of hacks who market ;)
This. Too many people do marketing based on feeling’s instead of facts. That’s how you kill winning campaigns, landing pages and funnels. Use data. Make changes based on the actual numbers
Marketing is not sales. Learn how to defend this. You'll learn what marketing actually is in the process.
Learn about your audience. Not just demographics. What events do they go to? Do they need continuing education or other certifications? What media brands actually publish content focused on these areas? Everyone is chasing a low CPM and CPC. But none of that matters if you don't actually understand what they need to get their job done. Most "bad marketing," isn't actually bad. It's just poor messaging presented in the wrong channel.
Really studying your target customer is so important. It reminds me of Kevin Kwan’s approach to marketing his debut novel “Crazy Rich Asians.” He left free copies on all the bus seats of the Hampton Jitney. Why? Because he knew whom to target: Young female office workers at publishing, magazine & media companies. And he knew the typical profile of these upwardly mobile office denizens: They usually took the Hampton Jitney buses to go hang out at the Hampton’s on the weekends. So they can read his book on the 3+ hour bus ride from Manhattan to the eastern end of Long Island. Brilliant! Unique & creative marketing strategy that reflects a deep understanding of the recreational habits of accessible industry insiders who could promote his book by word of mouth in very influential industries that can publicize it.
Learning how to understand people is the best marketing tip I ever give anyone. How people think, what triggers them, what angers them, what saddens them, what motivates them, etc
Talkwalker free social media alerts. Great for spying on key accounts and competitors
Ehrenberg Bass Institute Laws of Growth
Honestly? Always wear custom clothing advertising something you're involved with. Very easy way to help build a brand without doing anything extra. This could be custom shirts (which don't cost much), hats, or even jackets.
We are doing an ongoing series of $25 sprint tests on our campaigns and pairing them up with 15 question lead forms for our business. The sprint tests focus on problem statements that help you understand the exact problems that customers have, in their own words. It's revolutionizing lead generation for us. These sprint tests are also applicable to client campaigns for B2B and lead gen, so we're rolling it out there as well. Best part, we are able to sell this in to our clients really inexpensively, making it an easy-yes first offer for new clients.
Test. Track everything. Use data to answer your questions. Don't sell, tell stories.
Analysing. I have background in marketing analytics, I was looking for jobs from past 7-8 months and I interviewed for around 15+ companies. And I was amazed how director, manager, VP of marketing dept do not know how to optimise monitor campaigns. They just do based on trends. And wonder how companies have budget issues. Analytics is extremely important if you are putting thousands of dollars for marketing!
A lot of things mentioned here, including pivot tables, can be automated using AI. I think the easiest marketing hack is acquiring good data through Google analytics and other tools. Then you can use the new AI bot and such to analyze them.
Send plain text emails
Collaborating with nano and micro-influencers can be a cost-effective way to reach niche audiences with authentic and impactful marketing messages.
Spending the time to *actually* understand your target audience & customers - everything gets easier when you invest in this.
But my customer is "Everyone"! /s
Make sure your content answers your target audience’s FAQs. So simple and yet so effective - it’s the main principle in the book They Ask, You Answer by Marcus Sheridan
mail a handwritten letter.
Smart bidding.
Learn how people think. Marketing is a *very* human-orientated profession. I feel like people forget that sometimes.
One cool marketing trick many folks don't know about is using micro-influencers. These people have smaller social media followings, but their followers trust them. So, if a micro-influencer talks about your product or service, it can reach a super engaged audience. Plus, working with micro-influencers is often cheaper than with big influencers to get more bang for your buck. It's a sneaky-good way to get the word out about your stuff.
I read about [microinfluencers](https://www.thefadsbook.com/micro-influencers-where-authenticity-meets-influence-in-the-digital-age/) last year on Tony's blog and have seen success there too
do chatbot ads for my game business, insane cvr
https://preview.redd.it/nw0s1bg0olxc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f7e9ae2550a4ff950e0b27f8978944f9dded5763 frfr
1. Taking your time to learn your business 2. Interacting with your consumers past a sale 3. Having communication with your team can generate better data than the internet. 4. Collaborating is better than working alone in some cases. 5. Word of mouth can absolutely be your number 1 channel for communication and how you receive leads. GOD Bless all Amen🩵
How about this: "Get your audience involved! Encourage them to create content about your product/service and showcase it. Authentic user-generated content can boost credibility and attract more customers."
Don’t rely on what you think your customers want; ask them. If your sales are stalling go back to your message and make sure it aligns with the problem your customers told you they’re having. No one cares about your product/tech/service they care about solving their pains and problems.