Don’t let YOU get in the way of your marketing – #marketingcreative

I usually limit my blog posts to the technical side of marketing, but I recently had a sit-down with Rick Joyce, the CMO of The Perseus Books Group.   He talked about his start in marketing and advertising as ” being brought up in the old-school, but leaving that building when the paradigms all changed.”

Our discussion moved between me sharing my thoughts about Marketing Technology, and him filling me in about the publishing industry and how Marketing Technology applies to publishing.  One of the things that Rick already understood about “Modern” marketing was how easy (and cost efficient) it is to test copy and artwork.  He also commented on how publishing multiple versions of material was one of the hardest things for “old school” marketeers to wrap their heads around.  When he was creating copy and artwork, the goal was to create the “perfect” marketing piece and then “stack it high and let it fly”.  It was one of his bosses that taught him that a of key to getting that process right was not to let your own personal bias get in the way of creating great marketing material.   The goal is always to put yourself in the customer’s shoes, not to push what YOU think would be the reason YOU would buy the product.  You had to get it right, because the cost of publishing (radio and television ads, print placements, and billboards) was high, and once it was out there, it could not be changed.

This made me think about how the same thing applies today.  It so inexpensive to try something in the digital world, that now more than ever we need to NOT allow our personal bias to dictate the content of our copy, artwork and overall campaigns. We have the ability to reach so many diverse audiences that we have no way of knowing exactly what will resonate with them.  If you (or any of your staff or anyone in your company) has an idea that MIGHT work, you can put it out there and test.  You many never know what piece of content or copy is going to work, but you should be able to know very quickly what is working.