Todd Kaplan’s Post

Just absorbed a compelling McKinsey & Company piece on Funnel Vision Marketing - a fresh approach to marketing through an investor's lens.Here are my thoughts, coming from a background with a deep understanding of content and marketing trends. The crux of the article? Reframing marketing from a cost center to a valuable investment is a viewpoint I've been echoing in content marketing. The potential long-term ROI of cogent marketing strategies should be considered. At its core, the funnel-marketing approach fosters potential clients - guiding them seamlessly from awareness to consideration and decision-making. This is the sweet spot for content marketing. Through valuable, captivating content, we can create enduring relationships with prospects that sail beyond the initial transaction. Another golden nugget from the article is its weight on data-driven decisions - an area where content marketing shines. Analytics allow us to fine-tune strategies and pave the way for predictive insights, forecasting future trends and consumer behaviors. However, the shift to an investment mindset has its challenges. It demands a culture, structure, and capability overhaul. As thought leaders, our role is to ignite this change, advocate for this mindset shift, and arm our teams with the tools to make data-backed decisions. In essence, the investor mindset in marketing isn't just about budget allocation. It's about realizing the value of our actions and their business impact. It's about data-backed, strategic decisions that deliver significant, measurable results. Link to the article : #contentmarketing #marketingtrends #investormindset #thoughtleadership #strategy

Reading an article today got me thinking about how often businesses fall into the copy-paste routine when it comes to marketing. It’s too easy to lean on the same old strategies, but isn’t it time to break out of the cycle? The piece suggests that relying on familiar tactics can stifle creativity and innovation, leaving companies stagnant while their competitors push forward. Why not challenge the status quo? What if businesses put more effort into crafting unique, tailored marketing strategies that truly resonate with their audience? A debate worth having is whether traditional methods still hold value or if it’s time to move aside for fresh, bold approaches. Let’s keep this respectful—what are your thoughts? https://lnkd.in/g9sKbchY

Your Promising Right And Wrong Uplifting Life Steps In Marketing Yesterday, I started reading a marketing book by our country's next-level marketer, Galib Bin Mohammad. Head of marketing in Denmarks Arla Foods. I have already finished 52 pages like a book addict. Let's enjoy some inspiring insights about marketing from his many years of practical field experience and observation. 1. Learn marketing from anywhere. Board meeting to your area's local tea store. 2. Be professional and study real-life cases with a curious mind. 3. Be your consumers' problem solver. Result? Both consumers and producers will enjoy the benefits. 4. Math, psychology, economy, introductory chemistry & biology are essential parts of your marketing roller coaster journey. 5. In Fast-Moving Consumer Goods, creating an ad is just a part of the process. Your marketing challenge and mission started long ago in a different field. 6. Psychology. Your marketing game changer. Mix with people like a close friend. 7. Explore your consumers and think like them. 8. Swim to the deep of their heart with love and care. Feel their hobbies, wishes, good and bad feelings, demands, and incompleteness. This is called consumer insights. 9. Then come the product service concept, economy, and feasibility sourcing like bosom friends. 10. Select pricing strategies like price, margin, investment, and how much profit type math. 11. Then communication: how, where, and where to talk to reach the consumer's mission, including the psychology game. 12. Last but not least, distribution. Where, when and how? Marketing is like an expert tailor shop. You have to combine all the materials for your tailor-made suite. You must be confident in math, logic, negotiation, and decision-making with a clear vision. Yet you may fail. But if you succeed, doors will open one after another. You will stand in the spotlight. No pain, no gain! Only 5% to 10% of marketing involves creating an ad. So, if you want to be a dreamy, successful marketer, reshape yourself with all these points, including your creative power. Make it or break it. The choice is yours, my friend!

One of the great things about writing blogs about any topic is that it allows you to think through and reflect on your practice or specialty. And that’s true whether you’re a teacher, a consultant, a businessperson, an athlete, or marketers like us – just about anyone can benefit from reflection. What worked and what didn’t? Why did something work? What caused a change (in our case, what motivated a behavior change in potential customers/clients)? One area that I've been reflecting on lately is this idea of the art and science of marketing – an area that we, as marketers, probably don’t raise enough with clients. The fact of the matter is that both aspects exist in any good campaign. And, in the ideal world, you should try to integrate the two when it comes to your own marketing. Read more in our latest blog and happy Tuesday to all: https://lnkd.in/eMgvuuHH #marketingagency #SmallBusinessMarketing #smallbusiness

As the marketing industry continues to advance and grow, companies must adopt new techniques and integrate marketing into its overall business strategy. In a recent episode from The McKinsey Podcast, Editorial Director Roberta Fusaro and McKinsey partner Robert Tas discuss the future of marketing in business strategy. Tas discusses three challenges companies face with the new age of marketing: 1. The integration of marketing objectives into business strategy; 2. The understanding and leveraging of modern marketing capabilities; 3. How companies measure their impact and evaluate Here are my thoughts on how these challenges can be overcome: 1. Marketing objectives should be made to directly further business objectives. To ensure this, CEO's and CMO’s work side-by-side to draw a close relation between objectives; 2. Data collection tools should are a resource, not insights. Once data points are collected, marketers must analyze and interpret this information, and apply it to their company. Consumer touchpoints are everywhere and should be tracked by companies to understand their consumers' wants and needs better; 3. Use key performance indicators (KPI’s) that are relevant to marketing objectives and ensure two-way communication tactics between the company and consumer. Marketing is about working with your consumer, so selecting KPI’s should be customized by your consumer. Problem, objective, strategy, and tactics, they are all connected! The podcast delves into other insightful topics within the marketing industry, such as the differences between the 4 P’s (product, place, price, promotion) and the 4 C’s (consumer wants/needs, cost, convenience, and communication), increase in data analytics, and TTL marketing techniques.

Whether your product, service, or a knowledge based brand or business, you probably get this wrong too. Stop talking about me, mE, ME! in your marketing... A lot of what marketing is and branding is is building or trying to be the top of a certain category. Whether it be product category, service category, knowledge category, most marketers have focused on trying to single out their brand as the best or even the only one that should be chosen in a category. BUT, that isn't what customers want. You have to be able to give customers choices because they feel better when there's choices. And at that point, your brand should, if it really is good, dominate naturally as the best in your category. (with good marketing of course) It isn't about singling yourself out among the others like you anymore. It's now more about singling yourself out to your target audience. You need to speak to your target audience, meet them where they're at, and seeing what problems they have, speaking to those problems then presenting the solutions one of them being your brand, products, services, whatever. 1️⃣ The first step to finding out who your target audience is, is by knowing what their buyer type is, but that's just at the start. 2️⃣ You need to go deeper and really speak to them, I mean that literally, ask them questions, know what makes them tik. 3️⃣Master Content Funnels: This is how you'll organize the content you put out and how you'll format the big-picture content pieces you plan to release. Here are the basics. Top of funnel: What makes them interested in what you're saying; Middle of funnel: What makes them learn more about you; Bottom of funnel: what Makes them buy, what makes them keep buying. Learn what moves them along to these different funnel levels. 🎯That's why I always talk about content frameworks, not the 3-4 content pillars BS that's so 2018. I'm talking about a map, from your customers current state to their desired future state, which hopefully involves them buying from you, and how you can take them from the former to the latter. Stop making it about you, start making it about your customer. If you've been wondering about these things, or if you need help with branding and content marketing strategy and implementation, send over a DM and let's chat!

RESIST CHANGE!! Yup. I know marketing is all about change. And tech is certainly about change. But my advice to young B2B tech marketers is to resist the need to change. And I stand by it! It's tempting to think that constantly reinventing your message and rebranding will engage your audience. And content... I've already shared that eBook twice. If I share it a third time, my customers will think I have nothing better to say. Right? Wrong! Your customer has no idea you've published this eBook back in March! Marketers often forget that your prospects are only exposed to your marketing for seconds -- almost never minutes -- and repetition is key to making your message stick. While YOU may be sick of your message after repeating it a thousand times, your CUSTOMER has likely only seen it once or twice. Or, as we've already established, not at all. That's true on a brand level and also on a performance level. The Marketing Rule of 7 says that a prospect needs to be exposed to a marketing message 7 times before taking action. You need to be measuring everything. But if you're not, trust me - what feels like 20 might only be 2-3. And if you change now, you'll never get across the finish line. So instead of constantly changing things up, you need to stay the course and remain consistent with your message. You're the only one thinking about your content and brand 24/7. The only one. Don't get a distorted perception of reality by thinking your message is getting boring. Just when you think it's getting boring, that's when it's actually getting interesting. Stay consistent. Stay true to your brand, repeat your key messages again, and again, and again, and results will follow!

Spent a fortune on marketing and got nothing in return? Are you tired of seeing your marketing budget go up in smoke? 🔥 You're not alone. 😩 Many businesses pour money into campaigns that yield zero results. Why? Because traditional marketing often misses the mark. Instead, focus on ROI-based marketing. 📈 First, identify your target audience. Knowing who you're talking to is crucial for effective messaging. Next, track every dollar spent. Use analytics tools to measure performance and adjust strategies accordingly. Content is king! Create valuable content that resonates with your audience. Blogs, videos, and social media posts can drive engagement. Leverage email marketing. Personalized emails have higher open rates and conversions compared to generic blasts. Don't forget about SEO! Optimize your website to rank higher on search engines and attract organic traffic. Lastly, test and tweak constantly. A/B testing helps you understand what works best for your audience. On this coming episode of the LIVE Win More, On Purpose Podcast, Luke Frazier 🌵 will join me to talk marketing! 🎙️ Marketing Is A Waste Of Money: Proven Methods For ROI-Based Marketing [LINK TO REGISTER IN THE COMMENTS] We will be discussing: 🗣 Why marketing is a waste of money? Discover where to spend your budget effectively. 💡 Position yourself as the solution customers need. 🛠️ We'll also discuss the transformative impact of AI on marketing. 🤖 Got a tight budget? No problem! We'll explore smart tactics for limited funds. 💸 And so much more! Marketing doesn't have to be a money pit if done right. 💪🏻 See you on the inside 👋🏻 Yaacov 🎙🎧 --- ➡ Have you hit a glass ceiling in your growth? ➡ Afraid to sound like a stereotypical salesy & pushy used car salesguy? ➡ Have been "making it up" since you started, and it's stopped working? DM me the word "pack" and we will get you sorted P.S. Are you tracking your efforts?

🌟 Exploring the Science Behind Marketing Success! 📈 Marketing has often been portrayed as more art than science, but what if there's a scientific backbone to it? A common mistake marketers make when considering marketing as art rather than science is relying too heavily on intuition and subjective creativity without grounding their decisions in empirical evidence and data-driven insights. This approach can lead to strategies based on assumptions and personal preferences rather than on what truly resonates with target audiences and drives tangible results. Recently we hosted a Live session with a Brilliant mind at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science, Prof Byron Sharp on the topic. Here's a peek into the enlightening conversation: 🔍 What is Marketing Science? Marketing science isn't just about market research; it's about uncovering universal laws that guide successful marketing strategies. Think of it as the physics of marketing, offering enduring principles applicable across diverse contexts. 💡 The Law of Double Jeopardy Ever heard of it? This gem from the scientific playbook reveals fascinating insights about brand loyalty and market share. It's all about understanding the dynamics between brand size, customer base, and loyalty – fascinating stuff! 🌐 Big and Small Brands - Deciphering the Difference We often assume big brands have a massive customer base, right? Professor Sharp's research flips this narrative, showing us why brand size matters and how it impacts customer loyalty. 🤔 Do the Laws of Marketing Change for B2Bs? Spoiler alert: Nope! Whether you're in B2B or B2C, the rules remain the same. Professor Sharp breaks down the myths and realities, urging marketers to rethink their strategies with these scientific truths in mind. 🚀 Translating Laws into Strategy Ready to turn theory into action? It's all about expanding your brand's visibility and customer base. Professor Sharp's insights offer a roadmap for growth, emphasizing the importance of creativity and innovation along the way. 🔮 Targeting New Category Buyers Forget the hype around targeting millennials – it's all about reaching new category buyers. Professor Sharp shares why this approach is key for sustained brand growth and how it can supercharge your marketing efforts. Ready to embrace the science of marketing? 👉 Listen to the full episode ( link in the comments) 

I believe that curiosity is one of the biggest elements of great marketing. Curiosity about what people do on their way to eventually choosing a product. Curiosity about what they do before a product becomes the best solution. Curiosity about what matters most to them in those efforts. Curiosity about what kind of content they consume, and sources they trust. And, of course, curiosity about how they engage with your efforts to increase the odds they’ll choose you. Curiosity, however, is satisfied only from talking to, listening to, and watching people. But, in SaaS we’ve outsourced a lot of that curiosity to technology, and created a distance between us and the audience, often reducing them to clinical metrics. People become signals and scores, intent becomes inferred through data and site interactions, and in the process our understanding of them becomes limited to what they do and not why. Marketing strategy is built on the voice of the customer, not the data set of their digital behaviors. Great brands aren’t built behind a fortress of martech. They’re built through a deep understanding of the audience, and the creative application of that understanding. And most importantly, through direct interaction with that audience. You can’t built a brand that truly connects without empathy, and you can’t have empathy for an audience you never see. It’s one reason that trade shows are so valuable to marketers, because it’s often where they bridge the gap to talk to their audience. We don’t need more technology to infer and predict the intent of our audience, and we certainly don’t need more ways to spy on them. We need more curiosity about them, and more ways to satisfy it through real interaction.