twointwomillion
New member
If you ask your fellow founders, entrepreneurs, and marketers wtf marketing actually is you’ll get lots of different answers.
The lack of shared terminology is obviously a huge problem btw. Imagine how impossible math would be if we couldn’t agree on definitions. You could prove pi is rational because one person calls reals rational while the other calls them irrational.
But one place where you won’t find such a discrepancy is in the tactics.
As we all know, marketing is synonymous with SEO, SEA, FB ads, landing pages with funnels, building an email list, and so on.
Except… it isn’t.
We’ve created this absolutely ridiculous false dichotomy that you can either do long term marketing OR short term.
I made a similar point in Meaning v. Pleasure.
With Facebook and LinkedIn, it’s possible to segment and target exactly who you want. With Adwords, you’re able to immediately get strong BoFu (bottom of funnel, i.e. sales) because you can show your thingy to prospects that are far into the buying cycle.
And, hear me out here, I’m not denying there is value in that.
But why would we limit ourselves to only that?
The opposite but much less popular approach is to maximize long term. It’s all about fuzzy (more traditional) stuff that’s hard to measure. The things that build brand and will pay off in the long run. The stuff that looks bad on a spreadsheet and is hard to quantify. Every other day there’s a new article being published about how all of that is dead or dying.
Tv? dead. Radio? Dead. Mass media in general. Yup… dead too.
Do you like magic? Cuz I can do magic. Here lemme show you something:
What’s 10 divided by -4?
‘’-2.5’’, you say.
It’s a bullshit question. Because I haven’t defined the number system we’re working in. If we’re talking about the natural numbers N (1,2,3,…), this equation doesn’t have a solution. That’s still true if we’re talking about the integers Z (…,-3,-2,-1,0,1,2,3,…). But it finally becomes true when we’re talking about Q (fractions) or R (irrationals + Q).
So I can make something true or false depending on the context. This isn’t just me being cute… the same thing happens in physics where certain models (Newtonian mechanics, quantum mechanics, general relativity, etc.) stop working in contexts that they weren’t designed for.
But that’s exactly what we’re doing. We put shit in the wrong context and then draw the wrong conclusions from that.
Why would you waste time planting a mango seed? Mangoes are delicious and if I have to make a decision on a day-by-day basis I’m going to pick ‘’eat yummy mangoes’’ every day.
But the mistake here is super obvious.
You’re analyzing this problem in the wrong time frame. Yeah, in a 24 hour or even a one-year time frame, don’t bother planting the mango seeds. But from the perspective of a decade, you either have a situation where you have no more mangoes at all or you have trees producing tons of the fruit.
Why should marketing be any different?
Spoiler alert… it ain’t.
But we make this mistake when we judge stuff based on its quarterly performance.
I’m actually being optimistic here because I know many founders and entrepreneurs that strategize month to month, if at all.
Yes, by all means, do performance marketing. Keep an eye on your ROI and double down on what’s working.
But take a % of your budget to focus on the long term. [1]
Doing a little of each will amplify both.
Don’t just do digital, do digital and traditional. Don’t just quant. Do qual and quant. Don’t just do strategy. Do strategy and creative. Don’t just do BoFu. Do BoFu and ToFU (top of funnel).
This is the only context in which the horrible S word is allowed: synergy.
I wrote about the importance of realizing that effectiveness and efficiency are NOT the same in marketing last year in Marketing Is Sex, Not Manufacturing.
[1] What that percentage is is up to you. Depends on the stage your in, your goals, etc. But definitely don’t over-optimize on just one of the two. Aside from missing out on the synergistic benefits, you’ll also make your company fragile. Efficient companies are fragile companies. You’ll also remove the possibility for serendipity to occur.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shipping bags of gold to you is cumbersome and time-consuming. So what I'll do instead is send you my very best essays to help you grow your business and make more money. Not as cool as bags of gold but a close second no? Join here: https://www.younglingfeynman.com/subscribe
Hope you enjoyed today's essay.
Go build the future.
Youngling
The lack of shared terminology is obviously a huge problem btw. Imagine how impossible math would be if we couldn’t agree on definitions. You could prove pi is rational because one person calls reals rational while the other calls them irrational.
But one place where you won’t find such a discrepancy is in the tactics.
As we all know, marketing is synonymous with SEO, SEA, FB ads, landing pages with funnels, building an email list, and so on.
Except… it isn’t.
THE BULLSHIT SHORT TERM V. LONG TERM DICHOTOMY
We’ve created this absolutely ridiculous false dichotomy that you can either do long term marketing OR short term.
I made a similar point in Meaning v. Pleasure.
With Facebook and LinkedIn, it’s possible to segment and target exactly who you want. With Adwords, you’re able to immediately get strong BoFu (bottom of funnel, i.e. sales) because you can show your thingy to prospects that are far into the buying cycle.
And, hear me out here, I’m not denying there is value in that.
But why would we limit ourselves to only that?
The opposite but much less popular approach is to maximize long term. It’s all about fuzzy (more traditional) stuff that’s hard to measure. The things that build brand and will pay off in the long run. The stuff that looks bad on a spreadsheet and is hard to quantify. Every other day there’s a new article being published about how all of that is dead or dying.
Tv? dead. Radio? Dead. Mass media in general. Yup… dead too.
YOU WANT IT TO BE TRUE? I’ll MAKE IT TRUE.
Do you like magic? Cuz I can do magic. Here lemme show you something:
What’s 10 divided by -4?
‘’-2.5’’, you say.
It’s a bullshit question. Because I haven’t defined the number system we’re working in. If we’re talking about the natural numbers N (1,2,3,…), this equation doesn’t have a solution. That’s still true if we’re talking about the integers Z (…,-3,-2,-1,0,1,2,3,…). But it finally becomes true when we’re talking about Q (fractions) or R (irrationals + Q).
So I can make something true or false depending on the context. This isn’t just me being cute… the same thing happens in physics where certain models (Newtonian mechanics, quantum mechanics, general relativity, etc.) stop working in contexts that they weren’t designed for.
But that’s exactly what we’re doing. We put shit in the wrong context and then draw the wrong conclusions from that.
DON’T EAT ALL THE FUCKING MANGOES
Why would you waste time planting a mango seed? Mangoes are delicious and if I have to make a decision on a day-by-day basis I’m going to pick ‘’eat yummy mangoes’’ every day.
But the mistake here is super obvious.
You’re analyzing this problem in the wrong time frame. Yeah, in a 24 hour or even a one-year time frame, don’t bother planting the mango seeds. But from the perspective of a decade, you either have a situation where you have no more mangoes at all or you have trees producing tons of the fruit.
Why should marketing be any different?
Spoiler alert… it ain’t.
But we make this mistake when we judge stuff based on its quarterly performance.
I’m actually being optimistic here because I know many founders and entrepreneurs that strategize month to month, if at all.
Yes, by all means, do performance marketing. Keep an eye on your ROI and double down on what’s working.
But take a % of your budget to focus on the long term. [1]
Doing a little of each will amplify both.
Don’t just do digital, do digital and traditional. Don’t just quant. Do qual and quant. Don’t just do strategy. Do strategy and creative. Don’t just do BoFu. Do BoFu and ToFU (top of funnel).
This is the only context in which the horrible S word is allowed: synergy.
I wrote about the importance of realizing that effectiveness and efficiency are NOT the same in marketing last year in Marketing Is Sex, Not Manufacturing.
NOTES
[1] What that percentage is is up to you. Depends on the stage your in, your goals, etc. But definitely don’t over-optimize on just one of the two. Aside from missing out on the synergistic benefits, you’ll also make your company fragile. Efficient companies are fragile companies. You’ll also remove the possibility for serendipity to occur.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shipping bags of gold to you is cumbersome and time-consuming. So what I'll do instead is send you my very best essays to help you grow your business and make more money. Not as cool as bags of gold but a close second no? Join here: https://www.younglingfeynman.com/subscribe
Hope you enjoyed today's essay.
Go build the future.
Youngling