I've always understood marketing to be an enterprise in which humans provide value to other humans but over summer, I've had this core belief formalised and activated by Mark Shaefer's book, Marketing Rebellion, and Marcus Sheridan's book, They Ask You Answer.
I'm telling you about it because you're about to notice a profound shift in how we approach things at Talked About Marketing; not a change of direction but rather a doubling down on what we know to be true and effective.
Marketing is at it's best when it cuts to the chase with the information potential buyers and clients need, which means a lot less talking about "us" and a lot more addressing of visitors' needs directly.
Schaefer's research is very clear that consumers are armed to the teeth with knowledge and rely on peers and reviews a lot more than "marketing blurbs" in making their decisions.
And Sheridan's work demands that we quit producing stuff that "looks like marketing should" in favour of addressing people's needs, worries, and questions directly; from helping them decide whether or not we're a good fit for each other to being up front and open about pricing.
None of this is at odds with Talked About Marketing's core DNA, especially our foundation principle that "business is personal" but rather, these fine authors and practitioners have set out some structure that we're adopting in service of what we need, you need, and our collective audiences need.
What will the marketing rebellion change?
You will immediately find our sessions are phrased differently and we'll be encouraging all of us to hold each other to account on behalf of the humans we want to serve.
Some strands of this new marketing mix will include:
- Our structured approach to settling strategic questions
- Our expectation that you'll have at least two key buyer personas clear in your mind before crafting any new content
- Being frank and honest with website visitors and clients/customers, striving to answer as many (if not all) of their questions as possible in clear, simple, factual, unbiased language
- Investing time and energy into getting a simple reporting method into place to monitor the impact of marketing efforts
- Rediscovering the joy that follows from approaching marketing with a healthy dose of curiosity, energy, and a mindset of service
Next steps
If you'd like to dive into these frameworks on your own timeline, then the two books mentioned above are great starting points.
Likewise, if you haven't listened to any of our podcast episodes yet, David Olney and I have broached many of these principles in short conversations.
Over the first quarter of 2023, our website content will be transformed to embody this approach (I'd like it to be faster but we're also working with you at the same time and we don't want to hold you back).
We'll also be crafting some content to share with new and existing clients and with mentoring clients ahead of any meetings we have planned to help all of us be on the same page as quickly as possible.
And we are wanting to deepen the sense of community that has been growing organically between our team members and our clients. Watch this space for new announcements before June 30, 2023.
So, yes, expect change but also note that these changes are really just a deepening of our application of marketing principles already underway.
Here's to our never-ending evolution to make sure we all keep adapting to the demands and opportunities of the marketing rebellion!