More than four years ago I joined the analytics team as a Data Analyst with a local agency here in Romania.
Since then I’ve been saddened by how much we as marketers give in to the glitz of advertising. The shape our message takes, the packaging. Do not get me wrong, it’s very important. But I am sad to see people focus on the shape more than on getting the right message to the right audience.
They ask me why their ad/campaign did not perform well. Was it the stock photo? The logo in the corner, the animation on their banner, their GIF, their smaller budget? Most of the time it’s not that. It’s us not getting the customer, not understanding why they would click on our message, why they’d take time from their job/music, in their headphones/hobbies/friends/dating apps/family, and invest it in our piece of content. It’s us not showing them the respect they deserve and not trying to provide added value to their life.
I’ve seen awful quality photos deliver most conversions (they had good USP) , I’ve seen tech support videos done right drive more engagement and brand loyalty than shinny preroll ads brands paid $$$$$ on. That’s because they serve a purpose, they answer a need on the customer side.
Now, do you still want to talk to me about the new GIF option on LinkedIn?
People keep rambling on and on about how you need to leverage data to tell a story. But most of the times what we as analysts or B2B marketers leave behind is the audience.
Isn’t that ironic?
We get caught up in broadcasting our story and forget about who’s listening. Their background, their know-how, and vocabulary on the subject matter are even more important than the amazing story you crafted in your mind. That’s because they might solve for different problems than what you are solving for. And you might be off by 1,000 miles just because you did not ask: who are you? do you want fantasy or the documentary movie on how our ad/campaign/website/brand is doing?
These are just Friday musings of an Analyst on coffee. Born out of the work I do, these are meant to record the learnings and help me move forward.
This summer I made the first steps toward creating something of my own. I joined Future Makers, an incubation program for young wannabe entrepreneurs, and started working on my idea: building boardgames to help kids study school subjects.
In my 20s I had a lot of ideas, dropped them all. In time I wanted to sell jewelry I made, build a website where I wrote about how I learned stuff online, I recently wanted to sell my dad’s homemade jams (he makes amazing stuff!). The most important project: I wanted to write and make a living out of it. But somewhere along the way I quit, thinking I couldn’t make it happen.
The idea of designing board games to get kids to study school topics first came when playing Risk and Ticket to Ride. In a last minute frenzy, I jotted down the idea of a board game for pupils. I was among the 50 finalists that made the cut and among the 28 that pitched their business ideas in front of a jury last week. It was a long road this summer, weeks packed of training and courses. tiresome evenings with team meetings debating decisions and next steps.
There’s this cliche quote that runs free on social media: ‘find what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.’ Yes, it is cliche, but it bears a modicum of truth. I lost track of the hours I put into this project and found meaning in building something. Escaping the digital universe and creating something useful, tangible. I’ve made it here and I do not plan to quit, I’ll keep going and bring ‘Țară, Țară, vrem români’ to life.
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