So we’ve arrived at that awkward time between Christmas and New Yr’s once I by no means know what to put in writing.
As entrepreneurs, we need to stay prime of thoughts and hold the “dialog” going with the “group” we’ve so lovingly developed over the yr. However we additionally notice individuals have higher issues to do with themselves than take into consideration our services – like, I don’t know, spend time with their family members.
Right here at Unbounce we even had a pool going to guess on what number of – or ought to I say, how few – new trial begins (our key advertising and marketing metric) we’d get on Christmas Day. Nobody was notably bullish.
Ever since I joined the crew in early November I’ve been desirous about the best way to wrap up the yr on the weblog. Such as you, I’ve learn a bajillion roundup posts over the previous few weeks – Prime 10 This of 2013, Prime 5 That in 2014, The Yr in Search, The Yr in Charts, The Yr in James Franco (seriously).
On this weblog it was the Yr of Big Content and the Yr of Webinars. I used to be pondering of going meta and doing a year-end roundup of year-end roundups however even that’s been done. #thereisnothingnewunderthesun #ecclesiastes #hebrewschoolFTW
So as a substitute, I’m simply going to supply a brand new yr’s decision. Not a prediction. Only a humble vacation want:
Await it…
My new yr’s decision is that 2014 would be the yr that entrepreneurs get again to advertising and marketing.
That’s it. Nothing about robots or 3D printing. It might even sound a little bit trite, however I actually don’t suppose advertising and marketing is one thing entrepreneurs take without any consideration anymore.
Let’s face it. Entrepreneurs don’t have the very best rap. On the public trust spectrum, we rank someplace between attorneys and congressmen. In well-liked tradition, we’re depicted as manipulative villains or, at finest, dapper however soulless anti-heroes.
It’s why that Entrepreneurs’ Anthem video that circulated not too long ago hit a nerve for many people. Beneath its tongue-in-cheek facade, it hinted at one thing so not often present in advertising and marketing circles: Delight.
It’s not exhausting to grasp why entrepreneurs want a little bit pick-me-up. Earlier this month AdAge printed a chunk entitled “Who’s Next to Fall? Unilever’s Massive Job Cuts Put Other Marketers on Notice.” The story famous that Unilever’s slashing of greater than 800 advertising and marketing positions got here on the heels of Procter & Gamble firing roughly 1,000 entrepreneurs. To what does the writer attribute these reductions? What else? The rise of Huge Knowledge:
“The heightened deal with entrepreneurs and their associated prices will spur entrepreneurs to higher use analytics, [marketing analyst] Mr. Dibadj mentioned. It’s not nearly justifying media budgets or outdoors bills — now it’s about entrepreneurs saving their very own jobs.”
In different phrases, huge knowledge is the gravitational drive pulling again the tide on entrepreneurs to disclose who’s been swimming bare all alongside. The one entrepreneurs who will survive this reckoning are those that view analytics as an asset fairly than a risk. Higher but, the pondering goes, good entrepreneurs will survive by changing into greater than entrepreneurs – therefore the myriad articles about why marketers need to learn how to code.
After all, Unilever and P&G are company behemoths. Within the SMB and startup worlds, the place “lean” is a necessity and never an aspiration, entrepreneurs don’t must be lectured about knowledge, efficiency {and professional} agility.
However whereas the tech-set has set the bar in the case of artistic, cost-effective and good advertising and marketing, they haven’t precisely embraced advertising and marketing per se. As an alternative, they’ve invented a brand new time period for it: Progress Hacking.
Progress Hacking was coined by Sean Ellis again in 2010 in a put up on his Startup Marketing blog. He described a Progress Hacker as “somebody whose true north is development. Every thing they do is scrutinised by its potential impression on scalable development.” Progress Hackers, in accordance with Ellis, must have a “burning want” to attach your product together with your market. They’re entrepreneurial, artistic, disciplined and analytical. Oh, and they need to all the time be testing.
I don’t learn about you, however to me that simply feels like a good marketer.
The time period Progress Hacking appeared to crop up in every single place in 2013 (together with the agency world) and clearly resonates with individuals. I’m not right here to pooh-pooh it (I’ll depart that to this guy and these dudes).
There’s additionally nothing flawed with entrepreneurs including coding abilities to their quivers, or getting intimate with analytics. Mitch Joel calls this having intercourse with knowledge. I name it skilled improvement.
All I’m saying is that maybe it’s time cease rebranding ourselves and begin shifting our artistic energies again towards our purchasers, our firms and the options we’re advertising and marketing for them.
Wouldn’t that be one thing to be pleased with?
Whether or not you name your self a Marketer, a Progress Hacker, a Ninja or an Elf, we want you a really glad New Yr. See you in 2014!