Dot Connector

There isn’t a single book in my library that has more dog-eared pages and highlighted phrases than Your Marketing Sucks, by Mark Stevens. If you believe that effective marketing is about making money, as I do, you need to read this book.

In this article, I’ll share my favorite ideas that you can use when developing your marketing plan, refreshing your marketing strategies, or improving the efficiency of your marketing mix – all directly from Your Marketing Sucks.

In Your Marketing Sucks, Mark Stevens discusses how to look at the money you spend in marketing as a direct investment with a direct return on investment (ROI). Referred to as extreme marketing, Stevens demands (and you should too) that every $1 you spend on marketing should bring back at least $1 in revenue.

What is “extreme marketing?”

Stevens says extreme marketing is “doing everything possible to guarantee that every marketing dollar you spend:

• Is set in a strategic context – meaning you know why you are spending it
• Is based on a plan constructed to make certain that every marketing tactic reinforces every other one (Regis says: think integration!)
• Brings back more than $1 in revenue”

The last point is the most important: for EVERY marketing dollar you spend, you need to know how much revenue it brings you.

Did you know? Brand marketers will generally tell you that you have to invest in the brand, and not think of things this way. That’s a cop-out for not thinking through how to quantify the impact of a brand campaign. Direct response marketers will generally tell you to only invest in marketing tactics where you can immediately track this metric. While ideal, that might not be true for everyone either.

Bottom-line: whatever situation or “marketing philosophy” you have, you HAVE to figure this out. It’s the way to bring accountability to your marketing, and really grow your business through it’s marketing efforts.

Extreme Marketing Plan:

In the section “How to Think About Extreme Marketing” Stevens outlines an excellent 7-step process…

1. Marketing is an integrated process (i.e. all of your marketing tactics – direct mail, website, pr, etc. – work TOGETHER to drive your business
2. Identify innovative initiatives that can command the attention in the marketplace
3. Integrate all of the elements of your marketing program
4. Stop all marketing tactics that do not produce a positive return on the money invested
5. Pick the low-hanging fruit (i.e. you don’t always have to invest more money to grow your business)
6. Don’t be linear (i.e. overlap marketing tactics for exponential returns)
7. Be persistent, relentless, inventive, counter-intuitive, challenging, combative, strategic, and tactical

You may have already guessed this, but #7 is my favorite step. Why? Because those are management tips, personal productivity tips, and marketing tips all in one – basically, they are how you should act every day as a leader!

What You Can Learn from Infomercials

Stevens has a great section on “Earning your infomercial MBA.” Now, before you cringe, think about it – some of the products we buy every day started as infomercials. And, who hasn’t stayed up late at least once in their life watching an infomercial on TV. They capture attention, they push the desire to buy, and they work for a lot of products.

The tips Stevens suggests in this section on infomercials can be applied to every marketing project:

1. Give your product a cool and compelling name
2. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words
3. Provide the appearance of exceptional value
4. Expose the viewer to testimonials
5. (Added by Regis…) Create a sense of urgency in your message

I add #5 because I think it’s another effective tactic you can use (How many times has a phrase like: “Hurry, this offer ends…” or “If you call right now…” caught your attention?). Remember the principles of selling and conversion: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action or AIDA.

Marketing Leadership

In one of my favorite sections of the book, Stevens outlines lazy marketing leadership and effective marketing leadership, as follows:

4 Mistakes of Marketing Leaders

1. Creating a budget first, and goals second (Regis says: i.e. how can you decide how much money to spend if you haven’t defined how it will generate revenue for the business?)
2. Being a one-day wonder (Regis says: i.e. beware of the big vision that is never actually executed)
3. Delegate (Regis says: i.e. you can’t delegate effectively without monitoring progress – trust but verify)
4. The gullibility factor (Regis says: i.e. you can’t let people talk you out of your revenue per marketing dollar approach)

4 Attributes of Effective Marketing Leadership

1. The ability to paint a picture of what the marketing will accomplish (Regis says: i.e. set and execute goals that tie marketing to sales/revenue)
2. The determination to monitor the logistics and measure the results (Regis says: i.e. you have to monitor the performance of every marketing tactic)
3. The staying power to remain committed throughout the course of the campaign (Regis says: i.e. leadership is about perseverance, and marketing leadership is no exception)
4. The willingness to create a tight alignment between the president’s office and the marketing campaign (Regis says: i.e. the leader of your company is the chief strategist and marketing has to be a natural, integrated extension of her strategy)

Even though this is a fairly long post, we are literally scratching the surface of the ideas in this book. Definitely check it out, and if you’re feeling bold – and hopefully you are – then, try the “Marketing Moratorium 7-Day Planner” on page 215!

Other “Your Marketing Sucks” references:

• Hear 2.0: “Your Marketing Sucks – an interview with Mark Stevens“
• Mark Steven’s Company’s Blog: “Unconventional Thinking Blog“

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