In the early days of my career, measuring marketing was one of my superpowers.
In fact, I would say it still is. I love attribution, I love turning the gray science of marketing into black and white. Or rather, turning it into a scorecard with red, yellow, and green.
As I’ve matured (a little, not a lot), I’ve realized this can also be one of my major weaknesses. I can very easily over-engineer projects into tasks and tasks into overly-simplifed input/output equations.
Marketing should be measured.
But not all of it needs to be.
In the most recent episode of The Content Cocktail Hour, Greg Wise said it much more succintly:
“Over the past decade, marketing has become more of a finance position and less of a creative position. A lot of marketers, today, forget how to be creative.”
Especially in a down economy, everything becomes a finance equation: cost-per-lead, cost-per-impression, bidding on pay-per-click, and ROI of event sponsorships. There’s a time and place for all of this but…truly powerful marketing is inherently immeasurable.
It moves the audience. It is memorable. It is sitting in a presentation and taking a picture of slides to send to your team in Slack. It’s a billboard you talk about with your colleagues.
That’s where OneScreen.ai and Greg’s team are thriving—out of home (OOH) advertising.
Yes, they measure it. But more importantly, they’re working with marketers who want to infuse creativity back into their marketing efforts.
We’re all feeling the digital fatigue. Don’t you think your audience is also? Then the “ol’ fashioned” out of home advertising may be having a moment. Ironically, a “channel” that is over a century old may be presenting first mover advantages to those brave enough to turn their marketing from on-screen pixels to out-of-home images.
After our recording, Greg and I even chatted about two examples we’ve seen recently. How many other examples are there of B2B Marketing that are literally conversation starters?
Is this Intercom billboard lacking in creativity? Or extremely creative? Not sure. Does it matter? It’s memorable.
Then there’s the viral Bland AI billboard. It’s interactive which I’m guessing makes it directly measurable. But more importantly, it’s creative. It’s different. It's a conversation starter...literally.
So yes, keep measuring what you should. But stop measuring all of marketing. Get inspired, take big swings, get creative. If you can measure it, great. If you can start a movement, even better.
Until next time,
Jonathan
This Week’s Fresh Resources:
🧃11 Ways To Use AI In Content Marketing Without Sacrificing Quality
From: Copy.ai
Using AI for content marketing doesn't mean that your content will be generic. Instead, use it to propel you forward and produce high quality pieces, faster.
🧃 How Do Private Search Engines Impact Advertisers?
From: Brave
More and more people are switching to private search engines like Brave Search, and away from Big Tech options like Google. But how do these private options affect advertisers? Can private search show useful ads, protect users, and support the continued operation of the search engine itself? In this article, a discussion of how private search engines impact ads and advertisers.
🧃 The Right Way to Re-Engage Unengaged Contacts in HubSpot
From: Simple Strat
A pattern of untouched emails can hurt you more than you'd think. Learn how to re-engage contacts in HubSpot, boost engagement, and improve campaigns.
🧃 5 Major Trends Redefining Event Marketing Playbooks
From: Splash
In this episode, Splash Senior Customer Success Manager Danielle Geisler steps in as a special guest host.
Danielle works closely with the top event marketers at brands like Spotify, Nutanix, and Uber to understand their event strategies and help them reach their business goals.
