25 Apr More is not the answer
In a world where growth is the only metric upon which most professionals are measured against, more is becoming the default reaction. Want to grow sales? Spend more on advertising. Want to grow the connections you have with customers? Create more content. Want to grow your brand affinity? Spend more on a brand ad…
The problem with more is that marketing devolves into a bare knuckle fist fight, with brands wielding metaphorical broken-bottles and butterfly knives. More ratings, more content, more social, more ads, more impressions, more, more, more… and the scenario intensifies as traditional media struggles to connect with sustainable audiences and the pressure to deliver business growth increases.
The irony is more accentuates the underlying problem. People don’t have an inexhaustible capacity for more content. And, guess what, we know when we’re being sold to. Yes, those carefully crafted “articles” and PR is easily spotted by the modern uber-consumer. As Gavan Fitzsimons, head of the Marketing Psychology faculty at Duke University so succinctly puts it, “we have bullshit filters, we know when we’re being sold to”. These filters create barriers to engagement, often non-conscious, that no amount of content or advertising will overcome.
So don’t ask for more. More won’t help us. The solution is better. Better content. Better use of social. Better use of owned assets. Better connections. Better use of your paid media budget.
…Better get started.