Short and interesting new observations about the marketing world

Too short for a blog post, too big to ignore, here are a few current observations about the marketing world in a tiny format:

Many people ask me about my favorite companies for marketing best practices. There are so many I admire. North Face, Lululemon, and Yeti come to mind. But a company I adore is Glossier.

It was built on the foundation of a blogger’s personal brand (Emily Weiss).
The marketing effort is almost entirely driven by customer engagement and user-generated content — almost no paid advertising.
Glossier’s website is filled with real fans, not professional models. The customer is the hero in the Glossier Universe.
The company was experimenting with immersive experiences before the pandemic.

The Most Human Company Wins and Glossier is proving it in the beauty industry!

Staying relevant is just about a full-time job.

I was asked to provide advice to young marketers. I said: “Believe in your instincts as a professional and a consumer. Digital natives have a sense of what works in the world today and it is not necessarily the interruptive, spammy practices of the past. As a marketer, treat customers as you would like to be treated, offline and online.”

One of my students said to me, “Mr. Schaefer, after listening to you for a few days, it occurs to me that great marketing is treating people like a friend.” Yes. Exactly.

The world is so complex and interconnected and pandemic-shocked. Nobody is an expert at anything. Especially marketing.

Just finished teaching my recent Personal Branding Master Class. It was a lot of fun with some true breakthrough experiences from my students. Some of their feedback:

For the value you get, and the 1:1 guidance from Mark, it’s an absolute steal!” — Dr. Julia Bramble
You simply cannot pass up an opportunity to take Mark Schaefer’s Master Class. It’s filled with practical and actionable guidance for building a relevant brand in the modern world.” — Scott Murray
“With this class, things are deeper than just information-sharing. It’s a discovery process, a collaboration with great folks. I’ll definitely sign up for other classes that Mark launches.” — Igor Mateski

I have a few spots open for the February course. This might be the only Master Class I teach in 2022 due to my schedule. Find out more here!

It’s often difficult to measure the greatest marketing ideas because they are something that have never existed before.

But we have no choice other than to stretch the boundaries. Our world is changing at an inconceivable pace. To succeed, you’ll have to try things that can’t fit neatly into a social media dashboard.

This takes institutional courage because your detractors will use strange new ideas as weapons against you.

Great marketing is about being a non-conformist.

I guess it’s cool to not go to college and start a business, at least if you’re in the Gary Vaynerchuk camp. I found this chart interesting. Turns out that nearly all of the most successful startups had founders with degrees, and usually multiple degrees.

Last year, I started to be more deliberate about creating video content on YouTube. I learned that potential customers weren’t just checking out my website. Increasingly they were looking for me on YouTube!

My latest video is a message of hope for the coming year:

I’ve written a few times about how customer service is the frontline for marketing right now. A combination of a surge in eCommerce traffic, weary customers and employees, and an inability to find enough workers have created a perfect storm of problems. These fault lines can destroy a line if they are not addressed soon. This recent article in The New York Times chronicles how the service world is in a melt-down

The most effective marketing leaders today wake up every morning and ask themselves: “What world am I living in today? What are the biggest trends of this moment? How have our customer needs changed? And, how do I educate my management about this world and align our strategies so we can move quickly and win?”

So … what marketing world are you living in right now?

Keynote speaker Mark Schaefer Mark Schaefer is the executive director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions. He is the author of some of the world’s bestselling digital marketing books and is an acclaimed keynote speaker, college educator, and business consultant. The Marketing Companion podcast is among the top business podcasts in the world. Contact Mark to have him speak to your company event or conference soon.