the paradox of exceptional marketing
DESCRIPTION
Rand Fishkin's presentation on the Fermi Paradox and how great filters relate to marketing activities. Presented at Conductor C3, Seattle Interactive Conference, and others.TRANSCRIPT
The Paradox ofExceptional Marketing
Rand Fishkin | Individual Contributor | Moz
Why is the Night Sky So Quiet?
The mathematical odds of Earth being the only life-bearing planet in the galaxy are exceptionally low.
Milky Way Galaxy:
200-400B Stars
~100B Planets
~11B Earth-like Planets
Orbiting Sun-like Stars
SOURCE:
Planetary Habitability Laboratory
If life can form on other planets
(or if meteors/ comets can pass
life between planets), there are
millions of life-bearing
candidates.
13.8 BILLION YRS AGO
Two Possibilities:
1) We’re alone (for now)
2) We’re unable to perceive whomever else is out there
(and they’ve decided to ignore us)
A civilization colonizing enough of the galaxy to be perceptible to us here on Earth doesn’t take long on a cosmic time scale.
Type III Civilization
If any such civilization existed in the last 13 Billion years (and their wave emissions lasted long enough), we could perceive them today.
Something must be filtering out any life that could colonize the galaxy
The Great FilterCommonly achieved evolutionary leaps
The Great FilterAn evolutionary leap that no civilization has passed (yet?).
Type III Civilization
SpeciesOrigin
Maybe We’re the First?
Maybe We’re Extremely Rare?
Or, Maybe, We’re F#@%d
Fermi’s Paradox
It is no good to try to stop knowledge from going forward. Ignorance is never better than knowledge.
-Enrico Fermi (1901-1954)
To Learn More Read: Wait But Why – The Fermi Paradox
A Similar Paradox Exists in the Web Marketing World
The Average New Startup Won’t Last 2 Years
source
The Web is Huge200+ Million Active Websites
Most People Will Only Ever Visit 200-2,000 (1-10 in a Million)
The Millions of Search Results Beyond Page One
Are Practically Invisible
Recent Data Suggests Searchers Are Less Biased By
Position #1, But As Unlikely As Ever to Visit Page 2+
Nearly Every Web-Connected Human Adopted
Social Networking in Its First 7 Years of Existence
But standing out in the ever-increasing stream of social sharing is an enormous challenge.
Data Via Forrester Research
Avg Brand Engagement Rate
4.21%
0.073%
0.069%
0.035%
There are ~100X as many non-spam emails sent
each day as there are Facebook messages and posts
5.3 Trillion display and retargeting ads are served annually: 1,700
per Internet user per month.
In North America, less than 1 in 10,000 ad views result in a click
Being Signal, Rather Than Noise,Is An Immense Marketing Challenge
INVISIBLE KNOWN & LOVED
Our Job: Take Companiesfrom
But, those immense marketing challenges stand in our path
Us
We Need to Identify, Understand, and Break Through These Filters if
We’re to Create Lasting Companies & Great Marketing
AUDIENCECOMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
SERENDIPITY FLYWHEEL
COST
MESSAGE
Six of Marketing’s Great Filters
Ability to Reach the Right Audience
Tip #1: If You Have Great Customers Today, Find Ways to ID & Target Their Clones
Eric couldn’t have been more literal!
Tip #2: Know What Your Audience Does Before They Search For You/Your Solution
Long before anyone searches for this
They search for this
Tip #3: Even a Small Element of Virality is Worth Repeated Investment and Testing
Even one person passionate about the service can get it in
front of many others
Tip #4: Early Adoption Gives an Unfair Advantage
Mark was among the first to create a comprehensive guide to Ello. Timing + content = domination.
Crafting a Message that Resonates
Tip #1: My Best Content and Stories Always Resonated Offline Before I Made Them Online.
Tip #2: Apply The CRO You Learn in Paid Media to Your Inbound Efforts
If you know that this headline works better, change your page title and social shares, too!
Tip #3: Consistency of Message Matters. Consistency of Format is Boring.
Tip #4: Powerful Messages Are Simple
Tip #4: Powerful Messages Are Simple
Tip #4: Powerful Messages Are Simple
Tip #5: Promoting Your Self/Company is Hard. Promoting a Cause/Mission is Far Easier.
Fitbit isn’t selling “what,”
they’re selling “why.”
Cost of Customer Acquisition
Tip #1: Break Out Costs of Marketing vs. Sales
Paid Marketing Spend
All Marketing Salaries
All Marketing T&E
All Brand-Focused Spend
+
+
+
Sales Spend
All Marketing Tech Costs+
All Sales Salaries
All Sales T&E
Deal-Closing Spend
All Sales Tech Costs
+
+
+
+
Tip #2: Spend Early in Unpaid Marketing Channels
Trying to build competence here early
is far easier than building it after your
paid marketing machine is running.
Tip #3: Measure Acquisition Channels by CLTV(not just conversion rate)
Tip #4: If Possible, Enable Customer Qualificationthat Scales Without Salespeople
A free trial may initially show worse converting customers than a demo, but if you follow up w/
right-looking trialers, you can drastically improve close rates & CLTV
Enabling Serendipity
Tip #1: Increase the Potential Vectors of Exposure
Conference
Dinner
Phone Call
Coffee
Volunteering
Email Reply
Things You “Really Don’t Have Time For”
Tip #2: Things You Hate Probably Won’t Bring Serendipity
And that’s probably why the Batman won’t show up
Tip #3: Know Something About People Before You Interact
Fullcontact FTW!
A Story: Some Recent Serendipity
Find Your Competitive Advantage
Tip #1:
Tip #2: Consistently Ask “Could We Do That 10X Better?”
“We could make a better version of that”
“We can do something 10X better than any of these”
Tip #3: Don’t Get Bogged Down By Your Weaknesses
SEO PPC
Content Community
Display
Retargeting
Social AdsVideo LinkedInFacebook
Google+
Partnerships
Affiliate
Trade Show Booths
Whitepapers
Content/Native Ads
Strengths Weaknesses
Spending time getting up to speed on these may be a
net loss.
Tip #4: Don’t Get Complacent About Your Strengths
SEO PPC
Content Community
Display
Retargeting
Social AdsVideo LinkedInFacebook
Google+
Partnerships
Affiliate
Trade Show Booths
Whitepapers
Content/Native Ads
Strengths Weaknesses
Hitting cruise control on these, rather than
pressing an advantage could seriously hurt, too.
A Flywheel That Scales Without Friction
Publish
Amplify
Grow network Rank for slightly more competitive terms & phrases
Get links Grow authority
Earn search traffic
Tip #1: Anticipate the First Few Revolutions of Any Marketing Flywheel to Be Insanely Challenging
Plan for a traffic graph like this and you’re doomed.
Tip #1: Anticipate the First Few Revolutions of Any Marketing Flywheel to Be Insanely Challenging
This is much more realistic.(via Crain’s Detroit)
Tip #2: Relentlessly Search for Your Flywheel’s Friction
Publish
Amplify
Grow network Rank for slightly more competitive terms & phrases
Get links Grow authority
Earn search traffic
Our social efforts never grow our audience… that’s what’s missing.
Tip #3: Once a Flywheel is Moving, Any Additional Force Pushes it Faster – Leverage Those Forces!
Because Moz has had a lot of success driving organic traffic,
re-targeting is a huge additional force on our
flywheel
There’s Another
Possibility
There is a Type III Civilization, But They’re Not Friendly.
The Great CullingTo prevent competition, a civilization may be killing off any who make it too far.
Type III Civilization
SpeciesOrigin
“(Messaging extraterrestrials is)
deeply unwise and immature…
The newest children in a strange
and uncertain cosmos should listen
quietly for a long time, patiently
learning about the universe and
comparing notes, before shouting
into an unknown jungle that we do
not understand.”
- Carl Sagan (source), 1934-1996
The 800lb gorilla competitors do not, however,
appear to be the great filters in our world.
Source
Competitors: 19%
Competitors beating you in your own marketing channels: <19%
Marketing (especially through inbound channels) appears to be a rarely contested and, thus, uniquely powerful way to build a competitive advantage and barrier to entry.
The Paradox ofExceptional Marketing
Rand Fishkin | Individual Contributor | Moz