I previously\u00a0wrote a guest post\u00a0on my friend Louis Gray\u2019s blog on marketing topics that have jumped the shark. That was published in 2009. Unsurprisingly, not much has changed: overdone, useless or just plain inaccurate ideas continue to spread.<\/p>\n
So all we can do is continue to balance the equation with the reality of these topics.\u00a0Let\u2019s go through a few I\u2019ve seen lately that have gotten under my skin:<\/p>\n
Topic:<\/strong>\u00a0Complaining \u201cthere\u2019s too much data, content, sites, apps, technologies, etc to keep up with.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Recent example:<\/strong>\u00a0One of my Twitter friends\u00a0Amanda Maksymiw\u00a0Tweeted\u00a0a link to\u00a0a post\u00a0sharing the impact of \u201cdata deluge\u201d for B2B companies (as if this was a bad thing).<\/p>\n Why this isn\u2019t really an issue:<\/strong>\u00a0People have been complaining about overload of a lot of things (apps, sites, platforms, etc) for years, not just data. In all cases\u00a0there is no overload, simply filter failure. It\u2019s the responsibility of everyone in your organization to understand how to use data, what matters, what to ignore and how to use tools to\u00a0efficiently\u00a0process it. There will only continue to be more devices and channels capturing data (both passive and active) and yet the solution will be the same as it always has: you\u00a0need talent\u00a0capable of\u00a0managing it and putting it to effective use. I\u2019ve been a part of consulting teams managing digital programs for a variety of organizations and we\u2019ve never had issues incorporating more data efficiently and effectively, so you can too. Measurement planning is your friend and if you\u2019re overwhelmed now marketing is probably not for you: it\u2019s going to get more complex (and this is OK). I don\u2019t know that Amanda and I actually disagree here, I\u2019m just not sure their framing the issue as a \u201cdeluge\u201d is helpful (and, it\u2019s overdone).<\/p>\n Topic:\u00a0\u201cYou need to make great content.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Recent example:\u00a0<\/strong>Matt Owen, Head of Social @Econsultancy\u00a0Tweeted\u00a0that people were\u00a0 Why this is a silly topic:<\/strong>\u00a0As\u00a0has been stated here\u00a0in the past:\u00a0telling people to \u201ccreate compelling content\u201d is not marketing advice. It\u2019s common sense. And if this is the type of content\u00a0you<\/em>\u00a0create or share, you\u2019re part of the problem.\u00a0We need to push our peers, our trade publications, our consultants and agencies to stop with the obvious and clich\u00e9d advice. It\u2019s not helping and merely succeeds at making the people sharing or creating it look like they\u00a0publish for the sake of publishing (instead of doing so because they have\u00a0passion\u00a0or something legitimate to add to the conversation). It\u2019s boring at best, spam at worst. Also the irony of blasting an email to Matt at Econsultancy telling him his content sucks is hilarious: his content is some of the best in the industry. Consultants, do not assume everyone\u2019s content sucks, it proves you aren\u2019t paying attention: digital content creation is a mature industry and plenty of people are hugely talented here.<\/p>\n Topic:\u00a0\u201cWe don\u2019t have enough time to participate on X or Y popular platform.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Recent example:\u00a0<\/strong>I continue hear this a lot and have seen repeated stories in blogs and questions at conferences. It\u2019s a real (and ongoing) complaint of people who (still) don\u2019t really get social marketing (which hasn\u2019t been new\u00a0in more than a decade).<\/p>\n Why this is the wrong response:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cNot enough time\u201d to participate in a platform is not actually a real reason to not\u00a0participate\u00a0in a platform. It\u2019s more of an excuse not to do something you should be doing. First of all, you do have enough time. If you are managing a community in one place and are\u00a0leading conversations\u00a0in a category it is a huge efficiency to repurpose and remix content across platforms in a way that adds value. I\u2019ve been doing this personally and professionally for years. It\u2019s not even about the platforms anyway, it\u2019s about your ability to be\u00a0platform agnostic\u00a0and see new channels as an opportunity to\u00a0amplify your source\u00a0content\u00a0without spamming.\u00a0Savvy marketers\u00a0see new platforms\u00a0should be seen as opportunities, not headaches. They\u2019re also infinitely curious and want to try new things out\u00a0instead of dismissing them\u00a0for arbitrary reasons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I previously\u00a0wrote a guest post\u00a0on my friend Louis Gray\u2019s blog on marketing topics that have jumped the shark. That was … <\/p>\nspamming him with<\/del>\u00a0sending email campaigns to him saying his content sucks. Yeah, this is a flip of the \u201cyou need to make great content\u201d but it\u2019s saying the same thing essentially.<\/p>\n