The Obligatory Anniversary Newsletter...But This One's Good!
(I kept telling myself as I was writing it)
Hello Gobbledeers,
How’s it going?
One thing I’ve learned from the single-writer newsletter industry is that we can divide its readers into two camps: the camp that enjoys the obligatory “I’ve been writing this thing for a year so I’m going to write about what I’ve learned” newsletter column, and the camp that does not like the “I’ve been writing this thing for a year so I’m going to write about what I’ve learned” newsletter column.
If you are in the latter camp, I’ll see ya next time! (But you’ll miss 4 actual ideas below…it’s not just me blah blah blahing about myself!)
If you’re in the former camp…
The biggest thing I’ve learned is that before starting this I really missed writing. And now that I write Gobbledy every week, I no longer miss it :)
The topic of the language of marketing has been endlessly fascinating to me. I originally told myself to give this a year and to re-assess whether there’s enough material to keep it going. Oh man, is there enough material to keep it going. Whoever is writing software homepages, LinkedIn ads, and Gartner graphics - thank you, thank you, thank you. You’re keeping the lights on over here.
I was correct about 1 thing over the past year, and wrong about 2 things, and I’ll share those quickly:
I was right about how much I’d enjoy interacting with readers. It’s been the best part…it actually really truly means a ton when someone actually sends me some stupid nonsense they read somewhere because they thought I’d enjoy it. Honestly, I don’t know how to explain how great that is. Thank you.
I was wrong about the number of subscribers…I thought I would hit 1,000 subscribers at the end of year one. I’m at 800. Close! But also not that close. I’m terrible about promoting the newsletter. Terrible. I often say that marketers are the worst marketers for themselves. That does not exclude me.
But every one of those subscribers came because someone passed a column along. Here’s a button so you can share it - it’s easy :)
I was also wrong about how this newsletter would work as a source of lead gen for my consulting work. I thought for sure this would lead to a steady source of projects. It has not. I’ve had clients for the year that I’ve written it, all of whom came from the newsletter in some way. Amazing. I love not having a full-time role somewhere.
But I’ve had to iterate a lot on the product that I offer - I’ve had a bunch of projects that are all around positioning and messaging in some way, but not in the same way. Which makes it tricky to re-sell. (This is quite normal, I know…but still….)
Which is why I’m now focused on doing 4-hour workshops on positioning - I’ve done a few, and they have a short timeframe with a big payout at the end (clarity around how to proceed with your messaging). It’s not what I thought I’d be doing when I started, but it seems to have the best bang for the buck (as they say). If you’re interested in learning how we can work together, I’m at jared@sagelett.com.
OK, enough introspection. I’ve learned so much from writing Gobbledy, and I’ve cobbled what I’ve learned down into 4 Rules I’ve Learned about Marketing…
1) “Positioning should be decided before the advertising is created…”
If there’s only 1 takeaway from the nearly 50 columns I’ve written, it’s that software marketing is terrible because (for many reasons) they either skip positioning or they do go through a positioning exercise and then ignore the positioning they selected (for many reasons).
In 1972 David Ogilvy - known as the “Father of Advertising” (tm?) - famously produced an ad for his agency Ogilvy & Mather called “How to create advertising that sells” that listed 38 things he’s learned about advertising. Here’s what he wrote for number 1:
The most important decision. We have learned that the effect of your advertising on your sales depends more on this decision than on any other: How should you position your product?
Should you position SCHWEPPES as a soft drink - or as a mixer?
Should you position DOVE as a product for dry skin or a product which gets hands really clean?
The results of your campaign depend less on how we write your advertising than how your product is positioned. It follows that positioning should be decided before the advertising is created.
I find it very difficult to argue with someone who is arguably one of the greatest marketers of the 20th century.
“Positioning should be decided before the advertising is created.”
Please, please, please. Pretty please. Please. Stop what you’re doing and go figure out your positioning. At its most basic level: Who is your product for, and in what way is it better than the competition?
I have been shocked - shocked! - how many times I’ve asked that question (“Who do you compete with, and why are you better?”) and the answer is an 8 minute gobbledy-laden extravaganza of nonsense.
The lack of clear positioning is the root cause of all the other messaging problems.
It’s the key that unlocks everything. Really.
Remember that story from last week about Schaefer Beer? They positioned themselves as the one beer that’s for people who like to drink a whole bunch of beers at a time, and it’s better because you get that great (?) Schaefer taste whether or not you’re even thirsty anymore. They created a jingle and it worked for more than 25 years.
It’s so simple. Yet…
2) Pick Something and Focus 80-90% of Your Time on It
There are many, many, many strategies marketers have at their disposal to build awareness and consideration for their product. I’ve written about many of those - owning a number and repeating it (“99 44/100% pure”, “twice as much for a nickel” “15 minutes can save you 15%); embracing your worst qualities; using mascots; jingles; creating clear heroes and villains, etc etc etc.
Software marketers have collectively chosen none of them.
Please, please, please. Pretty please. Please. Choose one strategy that will represent 80% of what you do. That can be the channel where you advertise (Ziprecruiter owned podcasting, for example. American Eagle - the digital agency, not the clothing company - has been buying TV ads for years and swears it’s a profitable investment, likely because nobody else in their category uses it.). That can be a very, very specific target market (people who enjoy 7 beers in a sitting). It can be a focus on a single product (rather than on your company). You have options - choose one thing and make it 80% of what you do. Maybe 90%.
3) Everyone Works for the Sales Team
I mentioned above that there were many reasons why your company’s positioning is ignored, but I actually meant that there’s one reason:
I don’t want to oversimplify the problem, but if I were to oversimplify the problem (OK fine, I will oversimplify the problem) it’s that in Softwareworld, everyone works for the sales team.
That’s not necessarily a problem, but it means that those of us on the marketing side of the world collectively have our heads firmly up our own (collective) butts when it comes to what we think our job is supposed to be.
Sales (for understandable reasons) thinks that marketing exists to present them with leads (preferably qualified leads). From my experience, sales generally believes this is done by telling prospects everything the product can do and those prospects will say, “oh great, we need that thing” and they’ll buy the product.
Sales’ biggest fear is that a prospect will be looking for a product that will help them do something, and that our marketing materials will - for whatever reason - not list that exact thing on the website or one-sheeter or conference booth. And because of that, the prospect will buy from our competitor, who has listed that thing (and every other thing) on their website, one-sheeter or conference booth.
Their other biggest fear (so I guess their second biggest fear?) is that marketing isn’t casting a wide enough net - that we aren’t capturing everyone who would possibly be interested in our product.
But that is EXACTLY the opposite of what a positioning-first approach would say to do.
4) When Times Are Tough, Get More Specific (Also when times aren’t tough)
So after a year-long deep dive into software marketing, I have one, single recommendation for marketers. And it’s so simple.
So simple.
You need to convince your management team and your sales leaders that tightening your target market and refining your messaging for that target market is a better way forward than expanding your target market and making your messaging more generic.
That’s it. It’s simple.
Tighter target. Messaging that resonates specifically with those people.
I know. I know. Really, I know. When business slows down (like now, for example…in case you hadn’t noticed), inevitably the reaction is to cast a wider net.
That reaction is understandable. And entirely wrong.
The more specific you are about your target market and your position in it, the better received your marketing will be. Your conversion rates will increase. Your costs will decrease.
I know. I know. It feels like the opposite of what you should be doing. Like how if you’re drowning it feels like you should make lots and lots of flailing movements with your arms and legs, but that only makes it worse.
Or whatever.
As always - thank you. Excited for the next year. Happy Passover & Happy Easter!
Love the drowning analogy, which ChatGPT confirms is a simile.
Love your recommendation to dig deeper, not wider. It’s best to use the information you have uncovered to find more. Otherwise, you continue to dig new spots without finding anything new or helpful.