What frustrates you most? 9 years of marketing madness
tl;dr: What's most maddening in nowadays marketing for you? What frustrates you most? I'm not asking about small, temporary issues, more like rotten fundaments, crooked bases?
full version:
Hi guys,
until today I was just a passive reader of indie hackers, but I think it's time to share my story and ask for your opinion. I have been working in a marketing agency for 9 years. I have served small, local companies, but also large international corporations and global networks (Tally Weijl, BP, DKMS). My experience allowed me to be promoted regularly, which is why after 9 years in one company, I got the position of COO, which is a blessing primarily because it gives a much wider point of view and opens my head to new conclusions.
As a specialist and then a manager, I focused mainly on fulfilling the duties and procedures related to my part of the company. Usually, these were topics related to the purchase of media and paid advertising, i.e. issues strongly related to technology and marketing novelties, new tools and advertising platforms, but also social media channels on which paid advertising can be made.
At that time, I was not bothered by communication issues - I assumed that the company had a separate department responsible for strategy and copywriting, and my only task was to distribute this content. It was only when I started to be really responsible for the performance of the entire company that I realized how wrong I was.
When I started to analyze what actually influences the success of the brand's activities (especially on the Internet), I realized that paid promotion is a fraction of success. I was shocked that in these tons of analyzes, reports, predictions, instructions, no one ever mentioned that ads and analytics should support communication, not the other way around.
Meanwhile, paid campaigns, because they consumed the vast majority of the budget, aroused the most emotions. It was around them that the aura of transparency, countability and algorithms was built. However, analysts did not take into account that in the world of bots, frauds and big thumbs, they analyze gibberish that nothing comes from. Agencies boast about their successes and growing CRs by investing more and more in remarketing campaigns and crediting themselves with conversions that would have happened anyway. Passwords on measurability go silent when the goal is to acquire new users, and then the customer's target is called "difficult" and the product is "not for sale over the Internet".
If I were to say what frustrates me the most in marketing today, I would say that translating technology, cookies, algorithms, optimizers over the human cognitive process, human pains and the corresponding relievers and individual brand / product values for which it is REALLY worth paying for.
There are definitely more frustrations to me, e.g. the myth that an agency must educate the client, but I would like to hear your opinions. Let me know!
For local SMBs it seems to me that when things really take off is when others talk about them, when the get referrals, word of mouth, a local or industry reputation etc. and all the marketing thrown on top is only to supply added kindling wood to a fire that would just take longer to burn. At the end of the day if the business itself isn't awesome, dedicated and fighting everyday the marketing money is just slowing their demise.
The key is always going to come back to this: Do people have a problem so bad they would pay to make it go away or do they want something so bad they will trade their hard earned income to possess it for greater happiness. Then part 2 is does your widget solve this problem/give the desired happiness at a scale large enough to really make money for you? The equation is permanently human-based, its the speed and reach of letting people know about it through technology that is the new addition to the equation. The expectations are all over the map because of it.
"ads and analytics should support communication, not the other way around."
Well said.
As a filmmaker, I work WITH businesses and marketing teams and I have certainly noticed what you describe: a prioritization of analytics and jargon over the interests of the people who will actually be engaging with marketing content.
It's the question of "sales team first," or "audience first" marketing. Sales teams want sales. Audiences want emotion. Audiences want "yay, awww, ahh!!, haha, uh huh, and oooooo." They want to feel something.
I do understand the divide though. If you're on a marketing team, you were hired, on some level, to "make number go up." A campaign that directly attempts to do so, backed by research, analytics, and data science is THE tried and true way to do that. And if you're trying to convince your boss to give you six-figure budget to execute a campaign, you better have some evidence that it will work. It's far more risky to play Hollywood pretend... right?
As a filmmaker, it's my job to help businesses reconcile both objectives, but I do think all companies should realize that the two philosophies even exist. They should appreciate what it means to have "followers." To have an audience. Most importantly, they should understand that by having an audience, they are also in the entertainment business.