The Marketing Moneyball💰🏀

Marketing and professional basketball have one thing in common; the importance of moneyball – a metrics based approach to finding what works and boosting it. In basketball this is the 3-point shot. The probability of the 3-pointer multiplied by 3 points is larger than the probability of 2-pointers multiplied by 2 points. Thus everyone in the NBA today plays the moneyball — trying to score 3 pointers. In marketing, we also need to find our moneyball metric. And, just like in basketball, it is the rules of the game that dictate your moneyball. Optimizing 3-pointers in hockey wouldn’t make much sense.

The marketing gurus out there will tell you to focus on the funnel, your marketing automation tools, channels, organizations, PR and whatever their gospel of the day is. But before you go out on a whack and blindly copy someone, get to know your game. Your game is going to be different based on your buyers, your geography, your customers’ company size, the competition and more. These are the rules of your particular game.

But that’s not all. Your marketing moneyball consists of two things: frameworks that help you concentrate on the metrics and your ability to enjoy the game so you can make the numbers. Just like basketball, 110m hurdles, swimming or snowboarding – it’s not enough to do mechanical work. Ivan Drago didn’t with Rocky, because he was too much of a machine.

Frameworks to drive your moneyball

I used to compete in 110m hurdles and our training was always divided into three parts: 1) endurance 2) strength and 3) technique. These were our frameworks for practice – the holy trinity for getting better. Our moneyball for the little Ivan Dragos inside of us.

In marketing, the frameworks we work with are different. First of all, in marketing our Olympic race is at the same time our practice run. We compete way more often than NBA players play a game or I raced in the 90s. But we train just as often – in marketing, every training session is a competition for the buyers. There is no sandbox for marketing, everything is always live, which is a benefit because we get immediate feedback on how we did.

Instead of walking over thousands of hurdles you’re trying out hundreds of ad copies. Instead of deadlifts and squats, you’re trying variations of webinar blueprints. Instead of VO2 max interval runs, you’re changing conversion points for marketing qualified leads.

Frameworks do one thing and one thing only, they simplify the world for you so you can focus. And focus is everything – but you have to know what to focus on.

Sadly it feels like most marketing gurus are preaching the use of 3-pointer moneyball shots with cricket balls for professional swimmers. You have to know your framework, not just blindly copy something that works in a different market, product, competitive landscape and more.

When you’ve done your job for long enough, you implicitly know your rules and how to follow them. And more importantly, you teach yourself to not even think about them. In both cases, the probability of success also increases if you have a mentor. A mentor will help you realize you’re practicing the wrong thing, or even worse, playing the wrong game.

Freedom to make art

When getting into your starting blocks for my hurdle dash you can’t be thinking about endurance, strength or technique anymore. It has to all be in muscle memory. Frameworks only help us practice, but when we’re competing – we have to get into the zone and enjoy it.

It’s an oxymoron, but unless you force yourself to enjoy what you’re doing, you won’t succeed at it.

When you’re in the zone, you don’t compete against anyone else and the entire event is like a form of meditation. The same is true for figure skating, golf, orienteering, and every other professional sport. If you start looking to the sides or worrying about if your leg will hold, you’ve already lost. You just have to surrender yourself to the zone.

Both running hurdles, as well as marketing, are a form of art. They support each other: our frameworks give us the confidence to make art. We know what to do but to get to the goal we need to get into our zen state where we create art.

Every situation is new and the parameters are different; from the direction of the wind and our competitors next to us and from our google search rank to the visitors at a trade show. In order to perform in the moment, we need to let our subconscious brain do its work.

TL;DR

There is much to be said about marketing frameworks and best practices. But marketing at its essence boils down to these two things:

• You have to build your muscle memory. The frameworks are there to help you know what to do. Nobody learns to run hurdles at an Olympic level without a training program. The same is also true for marketing professionals, we need to find our training program. And that’s why we need coaches.
• Every situation is new and you can’t think of the frameworks while performing. You need to love what you’re doing and make art. Take what the wind or your opponent throws at you and enjoy it. Mechanical processes and frameworks won’t get you past the first hurdle.

What got you to the starting blocks won’t get you to the finish line. Frameworks give you the confidence to start, but trust and enjoying the moment gets you the gold medal.

That’s the marketing moneyball.

Fredrik Rönnlund is the founder of DigitalBooker, builder of Vaadin’s marketing team and the Marketing Lizard at Valohai. Follow him on Twitter.