As I start this new blog, I've taken my time to examine what's out there in the blogosphere, what I like, what I dislike, what I find engaging and what turns me cold. A second-timer, I actually had a blog about a year ago that I abandoned after a short stint. I found myself caught in a strange place where I had a lot to say, but didn't know what I wanted to say. So, in the self-imposed pressure to keep fresh content coming -- to say something, anything, just to have something new -- I quickly came to the realization that it was harder than I thought to be both worthwhile and genuine. That was the end of v1.0.
So, before taking a second dip in the pool, I also talked to others about their blogging philosophy, listening to various inputs about how this should be done. I was told many things -- make sure it represents your personal brand, take a strong point of view - extreme if you can, go for quality over quantity, don't worry about posting every day, always have a teachable endpoint that you're trying to get to, and so on. Some of that I agree with, some of it I don't. No matter what one chooses to express out here in the ether, authenticity seems key, as does engaging in conversation rather than a monologue.
I realized that I had to encapsulate what my world view was thematically in order to get this off the ground again, and that's how I came to describe myself as The Anti-Marketer. Curious, you might say, because if you knew me, you'd know that I've been a B2B marketer, leading marketing and acting as a strategic marketing consultant for over 20 years in the software technology business. Obviously, I believe in the need for and the power of marketing, yet I am at heart a skeptic. In truth, I believe that the vast majority of dollars spent on marketing are wasted or poorly employed without enough thought being given to what the objective is or should be, and ROI.
For too many marketers, ROI is a nasty word. What they really like about marketing is the SWAG, and doing "cool" award-winning designs for artwork or advertising, or even just keeping busy and keeping employed. But actual accountability for ensuring that dollars spent increase revenue and profits generated? Many will pay lip service to metrics, and will often have measurement programs in place. But we all know how easy it is to twist statistics and create impressive graphs, and to show improvement in numbers that are irrelevant while the key marketing issues are overlooked or budgets greatly exceed the real need.
My view is that marketing touches everything, and that consistency and authenticity are critical. So, I am interested in almost everything. Like why blue is such a popular color. Or how things are made. Politics and religion and how people make decisions are all worthy of comtemplation and study. Psychology, of course, is a key discipline, but so is mathematics. Ultimately, since no transaction of any kind takes place without marketing, I like to define marketing as trying to understand the way the world works, and using those insights to present useful information to a target community of potentially interested consumers.
As I jot my thoughts in this blog, I will talk about good, bad and ugly marketing, and the way it's done -- advertising, brand management, direct marketing, e-marketing, market research, positioning, product marketing, customer service, and more. You'll see me talk about the great marketing strategists and thinkers of our time -- Seth Godin, Philip Kotler, Al (and Laura) Ries, Geoffrey Moore, Jack Trout, Don Peppers, Guy Kawasaki, Regis McKenna to name a few, as well as people you may not have heard of yet, but who are doing neat stuff. But I also intend to discuss business ethics, sustainability, economics, the law, how companies operate, why people do the things they do and so on, because marketing without context is just mechanics. I hope the difference I provide is a thoughtful, often contrarian, results-focused view of marketing, and that I am able to make it at least mildly entertaining.
The AntiMarketer aims to be your antidote to stupid marketing. The debunker of marketing myths. An antagonist and a questioner of the status quo. Your daily cup of common sense. Please join in the conversation.
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