The fallacy of (marketing) communications

Here are some things to remember the next time you sit down to write anything marketing related …

1. Short is better than long
2. Funny is better than serious
3. Pictures are better than words
4. Videos are better than pictures
5. Everyone loves to listen, no one likes to read
6. If your headline doesn’t catch their attention, they won’t read any further
7. You’ve got less than 8 seconds to capture attention
8. Keywords are critical
9. Use text formatting to help people identify important aspects of your content
10. All the above is true, except when it’s not.

IF you read the above list, then you know how I feel about every expert opinion, whether backed by research/testing or not — and it is this …

Everything is a guideline, there are no universal laws governing marketing dynamics (and every tidbit of info is true, until it’s not)

Here’s my reasoning behind that statement:

— a universal law will act in the exact way, everytime it is applied. Nothing is marketing operates that way, there are too many variables to get to that exact type of science. The mere fact that a day has passed, can change everything.

My suggestion: stop trying to duplicate someone else’s success like it’s a universal law — use it as a general guideline only.

— for every “use this and get this” type of article headline, there are facts left out of that same article, that if no present, would have provided completely different results. Let’s get real, marketing in the world of today is a numbers game — if you don’t have the numbers, and I mean really big numbers — it’s almost impossible to replicate someone else’s success. Forget “knowing your audience” or “find a problem and provide a solution” suggestions, in either of those cases, you better have a massive number of “contacts” prior to starting if you want to be an “overnight success”.

My Suggestion: start building your list of contacts today, and get your first 1,000 (10,000 is even better) before you think you’re going to be the next big sensation on the internet. Viral happens, but it’s the internet version of the lottery.

— Advice (and opinions) are everywhere, it’s up to you to decide what to follow. Better yet, get into the mentality that nothing is permanent — including that decision you made five minutes ago. We live in an age where things change around us in seconds, stop thinking your life is written in stone, and realize it’s written in sand.

So, there you go. Friday the 13th wisdom from a guy trying to live by the words I just wrote. If you want to know more about me, then follow me here, find me on LinkedIn or check out 31Event.com.