Calling all marketers! Get ready to disrupt (yup, that’s one of them) your digestive tract with marketing clichés that will make you puke. These marketing buzz terms are polluting creative minds everywhere – and there might even be scientific evidence linking these cringe-worthy catchphrases to Millennials’ intense feelings of “I don’t want a desk job”. It’s certainly possible. However, for everyone else, can we make a pact?As fellow marketers and creative professionals, let’s kindly retire (or extinguish) these irritating phrases so we can all evolve past this “noise” cluttering our industry. Are you with me?!1. DisruptionFirst, let’s be clear. “Disruption” is really more of a business term. It describes a market condition that takes place when an existing market collapses and a new one emerges. It’s actually very similar to “Disruptive Innovation” which happens when a new market comes to fruition entirely. Uber might be a great example of both – depending on how you look at it.However, when this “Wall Street” phrase ended up leaking all over Madison Avenue, “disruption” and “disruptive” became overly used, watered down terms that essentially started to mean nothing.Certainly “Creative Disruption”, might have a place, as it refers to exposing business model flaws and promoting big changes in consumer behaviour (in the creative sense). However, I can’t help but wonder whether some Agency Account Director just throws out “disruptive” terms just to win some big account. I mean, come on. Disrupt what? Isn’t it our job as marketers to change consumer habits and get noticed?2. Growth hackingOkay, I realize that “hacking” is supposed to mean “coding” in this sense (not cutting down), but this phrase sure does sound like an oxymoron to me!Popularized by Sean Ellis and other techies in the early 2000s, the term was meant to describe non-traditional ways to achieve growth through experimental marketing strategies and emerging technologies. READ: this is also a glorified way of describing underpaid “bootstrappers” (oh, but with equity of course!) trying to unlock the key to “crowd culture” (yawn).Perhaps growth-hacking was a relevant, meaningful term 15 years ago, but not today. Most marketers are expected to (magically) achieve growth with technological brilliance and creativity because it’s our job. Sound like a lot of pressure? Well, welcome to marketing.3. SoLoMoOh no-no. If your ears have not been scarred yet by this irritating term (in what seems like “slow-mo”), it means “Social-Local-Mobile” as if this is some genius concept or secret to being relevant. So, please, don’t use this catch-phrase. Ever.4. Actionable InsightsActionable? As opposed to “Well, we learned something today, and we’re not going to do anything about it”.I mean, am I missing something? Where does one look for “actionable insights”? Is this something people need in addition to regular insights? For example, if I’m comparing landing page performance in The Marketing Manager, and I see one campaign outperforming the other, I think I know what action to take. Do you?5. Seamless IntegrationIf you work in the tech sector, I bet you are emphatically nodding your head “yes”. This godawful term is about as common and meaningless as your vendor saying “we have an API” when asked “does your product do (xyz)?”.In fact, let’s just throw in some puzzle pieces to truly visually convey (because we’re idiots) that our software seamlessly integrates (puke) with boredom and clichés. After all, we need to “scream” that each piece of our ho-hum app actually functions when interfacing with some other random technology.And while this style of tech marketing seems awfully common (more like ubiquitous), to me, it feels rather ironic. After all, I’m pretty sure that puzzle pieces have jagged, noticeable edges. Don’t they?Besides, there is no such thing as “seamless” integration. It takes work and maintenance for two tools to “talk” to one another – and you (the consumer) get to pay for it. There you have it.6. Turn-key (and everything “key” in general)Let’s face it. If someone offers you a “turn-key”, “off the shelf” solution, does it make you open your wallet? Personally, it makes me turn into a glazed-over zombie. Why? Because even if something is difficult, a brand will either never admit it or up-sell you the “turn-key” solution (rigor mortis setting in).Now of course, I understand that this term was once synonymous with “effortless”. Nevertheless, it has since evolved into a useless adjective that lazy marketers use to describe some blah-blah-blah with blah-blah-blah. That being said, I propose we lock up this useless adjective (pun intended).In fact, as long as we are stuck on cliché doorway analogies, can we please also stop saying [anything]gate to describe a conspiracy theory? Maybe I’m being unreasonable, but I would love it if people could coin something new. After all, the key (cringe) to creative marketing is to explain concepts meaningfully. That’s why “turn-key” is no longer descriptive; tell me WHY something is so effortless – in an engaging, concise way. Does this sound difficult? Well it is. That’s why creative people have jobs.7. Content Is KingYawn. “Content is king” and “(whatever) is queen” sounds like a big, gay party – but everyone’s really bored with it.It’s no mystery. Live sports and fan favorites like “The Walking Dead” keep Cable television in business. After all, those Cable bills are expensive! Perhaps that’s why this cringe-worthy, irritating phrase simply won’t die; decision-makers in the media universe are ignoring the fact that modern consumers are stingy with their time. How else can we explain this endless sea of boring content?Maybe I’m wrong, but here is my understanding of modern consumers (who all have built-in A.D.D)AWESOME content = I will only tolerate ads if they cannot be blocked. And if I really hate ads, I will PAY to have them blocked – so please stop forcing these painful pre-rolls and what feels like 10-minute commercial blocks on me.BORING content = I hate you for wasting my time – also known as “get out of my in-box” syndrome while emphatically clicking “spam”.Assuming that the media gods disagree with me, I believe this painful phrase will continue to exist.8. AdvertainmentSpeaking of “content is crap”, marketers make up stupid terms like “advertainment” to seem like they’re solving some really big cultural problem – but they’re not.”Advertainment” is essentially just an annoying way to explain “branded content”, product placement or flat-up fantastic marketing in disguise. I understand the concept, but here’s the problem: if you call your own work “advertainment”, you sound like a pompous fop.Don’t get me wrong – some marketers have managed to make advertising very entertaining, including Red Bull with their adrenaline junkie videos, and AMC with their Walking Dead and Mad Men apps (also known as “gamification” – which theoretically could make this list).Nevertheless, does “advertainment” really solve a problem? I guess so, but can we please not call it that?In all seriousness though, if you are a marketer that somehow figured out how to move product without annoying people, congrats. This is an achievement. I’m serious.9. Ecosystem (to describe everything)Are we a bunch of ants stuck in a science class diorama demonstrating seamless integration (see term #5 above)? Silicon Valley seems to think so.We hear this word a lot, especially when some “thought leader” (yawn, could also make this list) is ill-prepared to answer a tough question in a meeting.”Well you see [insert CEO name here], our next step towards changing consumer behavior patterns is to move the social conversation to the Internet-of-Things ecosystem,” said the slightly hungover marketing executive recovering from last night’s vendor bender.Look. We’ve all been there, but the use of the word “ecosystem” is starting to feel out of control. Somehow, everything can arguably be an ecosystem, including that Chia Pet they sell in Walmart. Do you see what I mean? Germination. Photosynthesis. Whatever. And it all brings me back to where I started: my seventh-grade science class.10. Snackable ContentDoesn’t this phrase make you want to vomit? Personally, I find it nauseating, but here’s some “food-for-thought”: the term “content consumption” is actually the mothership concept that spawned this ugly-duckling buzz term. All it means is that time-starved consumers prefer concise headlines, bullet points, easy-to-read lists (unlike mine), and pretty much the opposite of heavy, homogenous-looking text. Makes sense.Nonetheless, isn’t it amazing how unappetizing this trite phrase sounds? I actually almost puked (in a good way) when Grant Higginson of Welby Consulting tweeted it to us during our “Tweet the most annoying marketing buzzword to win a drone” contest. Needless to say, he won.
Tag Archives: Marketing
Best Way to Find New Targeted Subscribers for Your Email Marketing Campaign
In the world of internet marketing, the most important asset is a target market. With the help of targeted email marketing, you can increase your online sales and profits as you can build a list of email subscribers who are interested in what you have to offer. In today’s lesson, I will provide you information about the elements of targeted email marketing, and how you can use it to build a list of email subscribers.First of all, you should know that, even before the formation of your email campaign marketing, you should gather the target market. You can do this by way of surveys. This will provide you with information about the target market’s interests. You can create different emails, and send them out to the target market in the form of surveys.When the email was sent in the form of a survey, you can ask them about their opinion about certain topics, and offer them the solution in order to solve their problems.The survey has been used in email marketing for years. However, in these surveys, you have to ask a lot of questions to get a wide range of information. This can be expensive and time-consuming.There are several companies or individuals that have decided to develop software for the purpose of email marketing targeted marketing. This software can do the task in a fraction of the time. These products have a wide range of uses in targeted marketing. One use is the use in the process of targeted marketing. In this, you can collect data and formulate a marketing strategy based on the collected data. This targeted marketing software is the most effective tool in email marketing targeted marketing.In email marketing targeted marketing, you should make sure that your list of email subscribers is targeted. That is to say, it is a list of email subscribers who are interested in your product or service. In order to attract a target market, you should create a marketing strategy that appeals to that individual. If you do this, you will attract a large target market.In today’s lesson, I will show you how you can use targeted email marketing to improve sales and profits. In this lesson, I will provide you with techniques that you can employ in your business. If you implement the techniques shown in today’s lesson, you will be able to improve your profits and sales.The first thing that you have to do is to make sure that you make the email marketing targeted marketing, and that is to make sure that you get permission from your subscribers. You should always ask permission from your subscribers. If you don’t, you will be violating CAN-SPAM law, and you may also be breaking other laws. This is also a part of your emails, and you should put it on all your emails.That is because, in the United States, CAN-SPAM will penalize you with an $11,000 penalty. This penalty will appear in your income for the previous 2 years. And in Canada, it will penalize you with a $5,000 penalty. And in the previous countries, it has penalized you with a 2,500 penalty. This is a law of the United States of America, and it is enforced. It will also appear in your sales and profits.Therefore, you will be in trouble. So it is always better to ask permission from your subscribers. The second thing that you should always include in your emails is for them to give up their email addresses. In that way, you will be able to send your emails to only people who have told you they want to receive emails from you. In that way, you will be able to improve your emails to only those people who want to receive emails from you.You do this by getting the subscribers to give up their email addresses. If you ask for permission to send emails to their inbox, they can always unsubscribe. And that way you will be able to better concentrate on your customers who want to receive email marketing promotions.
Exploring How Strategic Online Marketing Can Help Grow Start-Up Businesses
The global economic threat caused by the continuous spreading of the covid-19 virus has posed an increasing pressure to the survival and growth of start-up businesses in Sydney. The evident urgency to adapt to the social changes has hastened the local companies to make bold moves and remain highly competitive in their respective niches.
Here are some basic tips and things to prioritise to future proof a start-up business amidst the financial challenging time of the pandemic.
Conduct Regular & Timely Business Reviews
It is a common practice for corporations to perform business reviews from time to time to make sure that the strategies that they have laid out in the early stage remain effective up to the present time. Conducting timely business performance evaluation is necessary to determine the issues that the operations are facing and to formulate winning strategies that will address them.
Effective Money Management Is the Key
Setting a realistic financial goal is important to ensure the effective management of your corporate resource. One of the strategies that firms use is to keep the operational expenses ratio to below 60% as it might open more opportunities for them to invest in other thriving fields.
Another sound money management move is to settle the corporate payables ahead of time. In addition to eliminating additional interests or bank charges for delayed payments, it helps new businesses build a good credit score.
Lower the Operational Costs
Understanding the factors affecting the overall sales of a company is necessary to the operational success of a start-up business. Technologies, manpower and time. These are the key elements that have an extensive impact on the corporate sales targets. One effective way to meet your targets is to upgrade the technologies that the staff uses as it will eliminate the inefficiencies in their daily operations.
Keeping it traditional or going digital? Most companies transition to an eCommerce setup and partner with online marketing Sydney agencies to cut their operational costs. There is a good chance that your business will grow if you outsource and hire the services of the best SEO specialist Sydney. SEO experts are in demand nowadays as their works are sales focused.
For startups or small to medium sized businesses, it will also help to invest in local SEO sydney strategies. This technique is effective when it comes to increasing one’s website visibility without burning a hole in your pocket.
Strong Local Marketing Strategies
Providing a personalised customer experience is important to the future performance of a thriving business. Having a well-trained customer service crew will strengthen the reputation of your company. It is also necessary to invest in well-tested technologies and digital innovations to boost customer engagement and bring your business performance to the next level.