Are You a "Me-Marketer"?
Something to Think About
Three meditations: something to think about, a “how-to” resource, and a marketing deep dive. Ommmmmm.
"How To"
1. Situational Awareness. This is a 165 page prognostication about where the future of AI is headed. This content has some political implications—nothing about the current presidential election, just some relevant policy implications.
I don’t share this with the idea that you will agree or disagree. Just the notion that the ideas presented are interesting to think about. If you’d rather read the e-book as a PDF, this is the link for it.
2. Reaction Wheel One of my favorite deep thinking blogs comes from venture capitalist and instructor at Columbia University, Jerry Neumann. For example, I don’t think it’s possible to really understand the venture capital business without understanding his take on risk and uncertainty—and that venture and entrepreneurship are more about the latter. Jerry’s take explains this as well as anyone I’ve ever read. In his latest blog Jerry digs into the research around cycles and how they apply to our understanding of where we sit in tech. Are these patterns useful in our ability to anticipate what comes next? You decide.
A Marketing Deep Dive
A case study in copy
“Me-marketing” is risky.
I first heard that term from Abbie Griffin when I was a student at the University of Utah.
Dr. Griffin is one of the O.G.s of “Voice of the Customer” research and pretty much the bomb.
An email from Talas showed up just as I was considering what might make a good “voice of the customer” example.
The subject line was, “How to Sew a French Link Stitch Textblock.”
How does that grab you?
I’m willing to bet that for many of you… this is completely meaningless.
(If you are excited by this, I want to hear from you.)
Meaningless is what customers feel when we fall into the trap of me-marketing.
The message just doesn’t land.
It’s a quick “hard pass” as people judge whether or not there is value behind the message.
The thing is, the Talas subject line DID land with me.
Why?
Talas is a company that sells bookbinding materials.
And I love handmade books!
I dig the craft, the technique, the whole process of building a book.
Plus, I’m a gear hound. I can’t get enough of specialized tools.
Sewing signatures into a textblock is something I’ve done before.
And liked it.
Even though this subject line probably felt like a foreign language to those outside their target persona, it was gold for those inside it.
It speaks to them.
It reinforces membership in their tribe and belonging in their community.
They are mostly library conservators, bookbinders, and art book hobbyists.
And they know it.
Here’s the YouTube video as proof.
I needed a reminder.
Every so often we could all use some messaging introspection.
How are things going for you?
Is your message landing?
Are you speaking the language of your customer? When they read your subject lines or website copy, does it make them feel like natives or foreigners?
How’s your confidence level?
If you think your messages might be missing, that is frustrating.
And also solvable.
Same goes for messages that seem to land with some, but not with others.
Dividing respondents into cohorts can teach you something about your ideal customer?
As you consider your copy, it helps me to remember to avoid the trap of “me-marketing?”
If you could use some help developing and validating your messaging, that’s something we do at CMO Zen.
Namaste.
Chad Jardine, CEO
CMO Zen
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AI notice: This newsletter is human-written. Images however may be AI-generated. |
