The web is full of content. Full of videos, memes and a lot of other crap. Constant tweets and likes, shares and burps all in your face. In the world of digital marketing we are told to “make a lot of noise” as much as you can so that you have a chance of getting heard.
We are also being told to keep it short. Keep it snappy for the people on the move. The people with the short attention spans that only have micro moments to spare.
I am taking part in the new postgrad in data-driven marketing at the institute of direct and digital marketing. And amongst the multitude of things I have learnt so far a few stood out. One was that direct mail was having a resurgence after some time the in wilderness because it was more of a sure-fire way of getting a direct message and result that surpasses all the digital noise. Direct mail is a lot harder to ignore at least. It’s often more targeted and personal.
The another was that I should read Seth Godin’s book Permission Marketing because it predicted data-driven segmented and targeted marketing 20 years earlier. That sounded like quite a claim but as someone that has been in the digital and SEO world for the best part of 20 years, who had seen Seth Godin’s books time and time again when looking for digital marketing advice and promptly ignored them, primarily as they looked as though they might be irritating and not relevant. This decision was based purely on the fact they looked were written by a guy with a bald head and silly brightly coloured glasses and I wanted cold hard facts on how to get the job done. Now in 2019 that sounds very judgemental, and it was, I am not proud of it but that was my quick thought process in making my decisions in my less woke years in the early two thousand. And yes I did just say less woke as though I am claiming I am woke, which I am not as I am not even sure I really know what it means or care to find out.
So as Seth was being recommended by my lecturers as someone to read, I promptly bought the book in question. I also then, surprise surprise, started to get suggestions on YouTube for talks or interviews with Seth Godin. Odd as I had never watched any before.
And although my normal late evening pass time is to watch some of the Intellectual Dark Web type video debates from people I seem to admire, loathe and agree with and wholeheartedly disagree with in equal measures within the space on a few words they utter. I decided this one evening, that I had had enough of listening to heated debates where one person tells the other why everything they have just said and ever uttered, ever thought and ever believed was just all garbage and I clicked on the video with an interview with Seth.
And do you know what? Even though he was talking about business and marketing, which after doing it for the best part of my day it’s the last thing I want to engage with late at night, I found it refreshing. I like the guy. It made me pick up his book, bald head of not, and start reading. But more than that he has an interesting but kind and gentle approach to telling people to just get on with it. To just do something. That waiting for your day to come means it never will because you have already missed it when it was right in front of you right here, all along.
I just watched another interview where they mentioned that one of the most important business decisions, he ever made was to post a blog every single day. That the very act of doing so, of writing about what it is you are doing, writing about your thing, your craft helps you get better at it. And I like that. I am not sure I can write something every single day. But I can give it a try. And this is my first attempt.
