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<\/div>\nThere\u2019s a danger in remaining overly confined within your own industry\u2019s thought bubble. Reading and listening to peers too much can cloud your view of your job, as well as the industry as a whole. It pulls you in a direction that ultimately does more harm than good.<\/p>\n
For example, much is being written at the moment about how the majority of marketing produced isn\u2019t fit for purpose because it\u2019s so bad. I see articles like this all the time, and I\u2019m as guilty as anyone in writing them<\/a>.<\/p>\n I can only speak for myself, but stating my case that creativity is being exorcized from marketing is my genuine effort to stem the tide. It is meant to be a clarion call to marketers to rethink their over-reliance of data-driven marketing<\/a>, to the detriment of creative marketing execution<\/a>. To deliver better fit-for-purpose campaigns that resonate as much with the heart as with the head.<\/p>\n Many of us are calling for today\u2019s marketing to be braver. For businesses and brands of all sizes to be bolder with their marketing messaging<\/a>. To take more risks as a response to the bland and insipid status quo that dominates every commercial segment one can care to mention.<\/p>\n However, it seems like the more we talk about marketing\u2019s lack of creative message execution, the more we\u2019re contributing to accelerating its demise. We\u2019re fulfilling our own prophecy.<\/p>\n So how can we better communicate the value of creativity in effective marketing, and explain why \u2018being brave\u2019 is actually nothing of the sort?<\/p>\n On the face of it, we\u2019ve never had it so good. Today\u2019s marketer has a ton of tools to help them craft more relevant, more resonant messaging to a defined audience. Manufacturers of Martech software<\/a> are falling over themselves to sell us ever more sexy ways of finding new buyers, or engaging with existing ones. Automate this, streamline that, and generate an amazing-looking report to waft under the nose of your boss. <\/p>\n But if all these marketing tools are supposed to improve the life of the marketer, why is the percentage rate of effective marketing falling? How come, even with all this whiz-bang tech, only 4% of advertising is positively remembered<\/a>? How come the general public don\u2019t trust marketers<\/a>, coming in less trustworthy than politicians, private landlords, or real estate agents?<\/p>\n MBP? Check. Flat white? Check. Creative Cloud? Check. Not only are marketers revered as much as something smelly found on the bottom of your shoe. There\u2019s a dearth in new young talent joining the industry from a formal education route.<\/p>\n You could say Marketing has a marketing problem.<\/p>\n Too many people think they\u2019re a marketer because they know how to design something in Photoshop, or Canva. It\u2019s not just that most people with \u201cmarketing\u2019 in their job title haven\u2019t had any marketing training<\/a>. It\u2019s that business owners are fueling the fire by continuing to hire them.<\/p>\n Where does that leave us? Marketers unwilling (or unable) to speak the language of finance<\/a>. Accountants making creative decisions based on spreadsheets that simply cannot articulate the very thing they\u2019re attempting to rationalize. Creativity is a language that few people speak, and those that do are usually beholden to those that do not.<\/p>\n The reason lies in a misunderstanding of what marketing actually is<\/a>. Give them a MacBook Pro, a Creative Cloud license, and your social media password and Bob\u2019s your uncle, right?<\/p>\n What\u2019s needed is a different, more effective way of communicating our worth in the boardrooms of every size of organization. What we\u2019re saying and meaning isn\u2019t the issue. The problem is what\u2019s being heard.<\/p>\n Which is why everyone\u2019s talking about \u2018being brave\u2019 in your marketing. But the way this \u2018bravery\u2019 is being pitched is all wrong.<\/p>\n The inference in being \u2018brave\u2019 is that it\u2019s \u2018risky\u2019. But in reality nothing could be further from the truth<\/a>. You shouldn\u2019t be worried about being brave with your marketing. What should worry you is what happens if you\u2019re not.<\/p>\n The risk isn\u2019t being brave, or different. The real risk is being seen as \u2018the same\u2019. What\u2019s risky is having your brand look and sound like everyone else in your industry<\/a>. It\u2019s saying and doing the same thing as your competitors. Yet this is where 90% of businesses end up. It\u2019s no wonder their marketing falls flat.<\/p>\n Everyone wants to be noticed, yet no-one wants to stand out.<\/p>\n Yes, you need to be brave. Yes, you need to look and say and do things that your competition won\u2019t, or can\u2019t. But that\u2019s not being brave. That\u2019s being a marketer.<\/p>\n Look, I get it. There\u2019s a perception and understandable feeling of safety by majority. It\u2019s a safe and cozy place to be. But that\u2019s not how the game is played<\/a>. Everything else being relative, put simply the more you stand out the more distinctive you are<\/a>. The more distinctive and memorable you are, the more salience you\u2019ll enjoy and the more successful you will be.<\/p>\n Doing the same thing as everyone else is where the danger lies, yet most of us tend to think the opposite.<\/p>\n Sounds great in theory, right? In practice, perhaps the biggest challenge when presenting something like this to Management \u2013 particularly in a homogeneous industry \u2013 is getting the inevitable pushback. <\/p>\n \u201cHmm, well actually I don\u2019t much like it.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Sorry, but you need to have a better reason than that. Purely subjective comments aren\u2019t welcome here. As skilled, educated, experienced marketers we should have moved beyond accepting such nonsense.<\/p>\n \u201cSorry, I don\u2019t get it. Subjectivity is for things like art galleries or music concerts or movie theaters. Subjectivity is for artists \u2013 and art is not what we do.<\/p>\n As marketers, we are not practicing \u2018purist creativity\u2019 like Jackson Pollock, Miles Davis, or Jean-Luc Godard. What we do is \u2018applied creativity\u2019. Creativity with a tangible business outcome as the goal.<\/p>\n Imagine if you went to your CFO and said \u201cActually, I don\u2019t particularly like your financial forecast.<\/em>\u201d Not only would they refuse to accept your position, they probably wouldn\u2019t give a stuff what you thought. As far as they\u2019re concerned all that matters is whether they\u2019re right or not.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the same in marketing. What\u2019s right in marketing is what works. End of conversation.<\/p>\n Yet for some reason, everyone thinks they\u2019re a marketer. Anyone, regardless of background, education, or experience, thinks their opinion on marketing matters is just as valid as those from someone who (hopefully) actually knows what they\u2019re doing, and why they\u2019re doing it. I don\u2019t question your Excel sheet, pal. Stay in your corner.<\/p>\n Sure, you can have an opinion. Whether you\u2019re the boss or the customer, you have the prerogative to like a logo, a website, an ad or whatever. But our job as marketers is to be effective \u2013 to generate a positive return on investment. The strategy is clear: the only person who needs to like it is the customer<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n The problem is the way we talk about creative work can direct the conversation towards a subjective discussion \u2013 which is what we really need to avoid. Opinions are like elbows \u2013 everyone has them. <\/p>\nHouston, we have a (marketing) problem<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Does that make me a marketer?<\/p>\n<\/div>\nThe risk isn\u2019t being brave \u2013 it\u2019s being the same<\/span><\/h2>\n
There\u2019s only one boss: the customer<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Where\u2019s the Call To Action?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nMarketing effectiveness: beating the bean counters<\/span><\/h2>\n