Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share No One Has Gotten Digital Marketing Right So Far
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
No One Has Gotten Digital Marketing Right So Far
I am about to make a bold statement: No one has gotten digital marketing right so far.
No one.
Bam! Gauntlet thrown. That’s right, it has been said. Now, after you snicker and roll your eyes at me, let me lay it down in a way that might make those rolling eyes look forward again and generate some introspection. Make sure your coffee is still warm, or that you still have some of that banana muffin next to your laptop. Sit back and read, oh marketer extraordinaire.
First, let me qualify my claim by saying that my intention here is not to say that all digital marketing has failed in all instances (no, no…even a stopped clock is right twice a day). In fact, I think there have been some excellent advances in inbound and outbound marketing strategies and campaign architectures. What I mean by saying “no one has gotten it right so far” is that there IS no way to “get it right.” Despite all the digital marketing articles and books that have been written touting “10 sure-fire techniques,” “secret insights stolen from the vaults of Al Capone” and “hot tips your mama doesn’t want you to know” (most of which are redundant and harken back to the same handful of best practices), there is one universal truth. Marketing, in all shapes and forms, is about generating interest with your audience, and what is of interest for a global audience is always changing. There is no way to devise a clear, solid strategy to appeal to a goal that is always moving, shifting and redefining itself. So, if your audience—and their interest markers—are always changing, how do we market to such a chaotic landscape?
Monkeys on Typewriters
We have all heard the old theory that if you put 1,000 monkeys in front of 1,000 typewriters and have them randomly bang on the keys for 1,000 years, eventually one of them will come up with an exact rendition of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” This is an attempt to illustrate the “infinite monkey theorem” which states that any effort, given enough resources for enough time, will eventually hit a target goal—no matter how specific. So it is with digital marketing, at least to the casual viewer. Behind the scenes, we marketers know about the endless data analysis and metrics review sessions that go into concepting out a new campaign, and the countless hours we spend writing just the right content. Once we launch our shiny vessel out into the world, we hope it will float and bring back lots of passengers. Basing everything on past performance indicators can help us feel confident about its effectiveness, but in truth whether we wind up appearing in front of the right eyeballs at the right moment is more about luck. The daily traffic across the Internet and the characters that make up that endless parade are ever-changing and there is no way to mathematically quantify exactly what will or won’t work. The best way to compensate for this is to bank on being memorable rather than incisive. A narrow arrow may miss the target, but a unique missile will be pointed at and remembered, even if it falls to the ground. Make sure your content marketing is noticeable and widespread, and make sure it captures the attention of whoever it may land in front of in a personal and human way. This will not only help you catch the eye of your intended audience, but also increases the chances your content will prove valuable enough for someone else to repost or refer a friend to – and that might indirectly get you through to the right prospect.
The Incredible Shrinking Attention Span
In this frantic ADHD age we all live in, media and web access to instant data has… oh wait, I want a lollipop! Seriously, this plethora of saturated media has created a “fast food” culture characterized by indulgence and absorption.
View all episodes
By ZINFI Technologies, Inc.
5
22 ratings
I am about to make a bold statement: No one has gotten digital marketing right so far.
No one.
Bam! Gauntlet thrown. That’s right, it has been said. Now, after you snicker and roll your eyes at me, let me lay it down in a way that might make those rolling eyes look forward again and generate some introspection. Make sure your coffee is still warm, or that you still have some of that banana muffin next to your laptop. Sit back and read, oh marketer extraordinaire.
First, let me qualify my claim by saying that my intention here is not to say that all digital marketing has failed in all instances (no, no…even a stopped clock is right twice a day). In fact, I think there have been some excellent advances in inbound and outbound marketing strategies and campaign architectures. What I mean by saying “no one has gotten it right so far” is that there IS no way to “get it right.” Despite all the digital marketing articles and books that have been written touting “10 sure-fire techniques,” “secret insights stolen from the vaults of Al Capone” and “hot tips your mama doesn’t want you to know” (most of which are redundant and harken back to the same handful of best practices), there is one universal truth. Marketing, in all shapes and forms, is about generating interest with your audience, and what is of interest for a global audience is always changing. There is no way to devise a clear, solid strategy to appeal to a goal that is always moving, shifting and redefining itself. So, if your audience—and their interest markers—are always changing, how do we market to such a chaotic landscape?
Monkeys on Typewriters
We have all heard the old theory that if you put 1,000 monkeys in front of 1,000 typewriters and have them randomly bang on the keys for 1,000 years, eventually one of them will come up with an exact rendition of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” This is an attempt to illustrate the “infinite monkey theorem” which states that any effort, given enough resources for enough time, will eventually hit a target goal—no matter how specific. So it is with digital marketing, at least to the casual viewer. Behind the scenes, we marketers know about the endless data analysis and metrics review sessions that go into concepting out a new campaign, and the countless hours we spend writing just the right content. Once we launch our shiny vessel out into the world, we hope it will float and bring back lots of passengers. Basing everything on past performance indicators can help us feel confident about its effectiveness, but in truth whether we wind up appearing in front of the right eyeballs at the right moment is more about luck. The daily traffic across the Internet and the characters that make up that endless parade are ever-changing and there is no way to mathematically quantify exactly what will or won’t work. The best way to compensate for this is to bank on being memorable rather than incisive. A narrow arrow may miss the target, but a unique missile will be pointed at and remembered, even if it falls to the ground. Make sure your content marketing is noticeable and widespread, and make sure it captures the attention of whoever it may land in front of in a personal and human way. This will not only help you catch the eye of your intended audience, but also increases the chances your content will prove valuable enough for someone else to repost or refer a friend to – and that might indirectly get you through to the right prospect.
The Incredible Shrinking Attention Span
In this frantic ADHD age we all live in, media and web access to instant data has… oh wait, I want a lollipop! Seriously, this plethora of saturated media has created a “fast food” culture characterized by indulgence and absorption.