Thoughts on Marketing

Don’t panic…I’m just talking about marketing here

[Originally published as The Marketing Mix newsletter on Substack. Please subscribe for the latest, every 2 weeks]

In the last few weeks, the following have landed in my inbox:

“Death of the Keyword” [Growth Memo]

“Why One-Pagers are Dead” [Spark Toro Blog]

“Did ChatGPT kill SEO” [SYSTM newsletter]

Not to mention, all the LinkedIn posts claiming that {idea of the day} is dead. I know it’s about driving the algorithm – engagement via bold claim/reaction. But if you’re a casual viewer of marketing trends, you could easily be fooled into thinking that nothing is working any more.

The reality is – these things are all getting more difficult. It’s tough to break through the noise. It’s tough to compete with the AI slop. And, of course, all these marketing tactics are very dependent on your industry, your audience and your marketing goals.

So while one-pagers might make a ‘creative’ prospect yawn, I know many network engineers who would be mystified if you didn’t have one to send to them.

And it may be true that our favorite SEO levers don’t drive as much organic traffic any more – but that doesn’t mean you abandon it all together.

You just have to understand what’s changed, and keep focused on the end goal

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Stay Focused

I talked about picking the ‘one thing’ last time. Find the channel where you know you can reach your customers, and stick with it.

Don’t get swayed by the latest ‘death announcement” – but pick through the advice to see if you need to adjust your focus. In fact if something is pronounced deceased, then it might clear the playing field for you, as everyone else moves on.

Remember Direct Mail? It was derided for years, as an ‘old’ tactic. Yet now, it has one of the strongest response rates in B2B. The volume of physical mail people receive has decreased, and people’s resistance to email spam and banner ads has climbed, particularly in younger audiences.

Don’t abandon it. Do it better.

Cheers! 🥃

Steve

P.S If you know you need to take marketing seriously, but don’t know where to start, let’s chat. I help growing B2B tech companies build their marketing muscles.

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