When it comes to marketing, how do you find the right balance between human judgment and the power of the testing and optimizing machine?
You’ll remember the story of John Henry, who competed head-to-head with a machine laying down railroad ties and hammering in spikes to secure the rail. Most people remember that John Henry beat the machine that day. Few remember that he dropped dead immediately after.
Brad Stone writes, in his definitive book on the history of Amazon.com The Everything Store, how over time and through testing it was established that automated and personalized recommendation messages outperformed the creative copy created by proud, literary editors. This ultimately led to the end of the editorial department. At that time, one of the departing editors ran this add in a local Seattle newspaper:
DEAREST AMABOT
If you only had a heart to absorb our hatred… Thanks for nothing, you jury-rigged rust bucket. The gorgeous messiness of flesh and blood will prevail.
This reminds me of a story by Ray Bradbury, set in a distant future when humans have relied on computers for so long that they have completely forgotten mathematics. Expensive computers perform complex equations to steer missiles in an interplanetary war. One day, while repairing a missile, a lowly mechanic re-discovers by-hand calculation. His eureka moment proves revolutionary. Earth’s military leaders reason that human beings are cheaper computational guidance systems for their missiles than expensive computers. Realizing the evil that has come from his wonderful discovery, the mechanic takes his own life.
Be careful what you wish for. Machines are taking jobs, because they can do certain jobs more effectively. Make your tests intelligent and extensive. Let an enlightened, holistic and clear-eyed reading of the results guide your decisions. Be willing to adapt your role and your organization to making the most of technology in producing marketing results. In doing so, you grow and you drive growth.
For more on how rigorous testing and marketing automation can help you drive growth, please write to me at my personal email mark@digobrands.com. Or call me at 646 507-5820.
Maybe we’re writing too many headlines and not enough heart-lines. Maybe we’re appealing too much to the brain and not enough to the heart, guts or gonads. Maybe that’s because we’re trying to write “headlines.”
We in advertising should know better than anyone the influence of an unconscious connotation. We should also know that the best way to overcome that unconscious tendency is to create a new one.
If we can advertise to change other people’s minds and, then we can advertise to ourselves too by choosing the words and images we use.
So here’s what I do. After I’ve been writing “headlines” for a while, I tell myself that I’m not going to write some “heartlines.” Heartlines aim to evoke emotion. While a headline might read, “5 Ways to Write Better Headlines.” Or, “Why your best headlines aren’t headlines.”
A heartline might read, “Pack more power in your headlines.” Or, “They’ll never ignore your headlines again.” Or “Imagine a world in which your ads actually get written.” Or, “Here’s more power to inspire people from the first seven words.” Or, “I used to write headlines… until I had something really important to say.”
After the well of heartlines starts to run dry, I switch to writing some “gutlines.” Gut lines aim to smack people in the gut, to first and foremost get a gut reaction. For example, “No one reads your headlines.” Or, “Your headlines are boring.”
When the gutline well starts turning up half-empty pots, I start writing “groinlines.” Groinlines are just what they sound like. They go for the general vicinity of the gonads. They can be sexy. They can be funny. They aim to turn you on or turn your head. A groinline for this post might go like this, “Headlines. Heartlines. Gutlines. Groinlines.”
Nice, I think I’ll go with that one! Glad I didn’t just write headlines. Go ahead and give it a try. Sometimes I think we are only as good as the assignments we give ourselves. By assigning more than headlines, I keep myself writing and trying new things long after most people give up.
Some of those other lines might make good Tweets or test headlines in an A/B split. This approach also speeds things up. I spent about ten minutes on the first draft of this post. And I’m going to publish it just like this. Later, I’ll share my edits and I’ll tell you about them too. If it helps you write better lines, then I’ll be happy. And that’s from the heart.
Why do most companies fizzle or flat-line, while others become truly great?
Consider a decisive moment in the history of Amazon.com.
2001 was the Waterloo for most highflying dot com companies, but it was also the year that Amazon went from good to great. Under intense pressure after an influential New York analyst had predicted the company would go under within the year, bleeding enormous amounts of cash, and with slowing growth in their core book business, Amazon had begun to flail about. But then, they not only pulled it together, they lay the groundwork for domination. Brad Stone tells the story in his authoritative book on the history of the e-commerce giant, The Everything Store.
“At a two-day management and board offsite later that year, Amazon invited business thinker Jim Collins to present the findings from his soon-to-be-published book Good to Great. Collins had studied the company and led a series of intense discussions at the offsite. “You’ve got to decide what you’re great at,” he told the Amazon executives.
Drawing on Collin’s concept of a flywheel, or self-reinforcing loop, Bezos and his lieutenants sketched their own virtuous cycle, which they believed powered their business. It went something like this: Lower prices led to more customer visits. More customers increased the volume of sales and attracted more commission-paying third-party sellers to the site. That allowed Amazon to get more out of fixed costs like the fulfillment centers and the servers needed to run the website. This greater efficiency then enabled it to lower prices further. Feed any part of this flywheel, they reasoned and it should accelerate the loop. Amazon executives were elated; according to several members of the S Team at the time, they felt that, after five years, they finally understood their own business.”
The emphasis is mine. A beautiful clarity. What can we best in the world at? What drives our economic engine and makes our flywheel turn? And what excites us enough to commit to making this work?
At DiGo, we figured out that we could be best in the world at helping mid-sized organizations grow. By providing an integrated, cross-trained team of growth masters so clients can keep their own teams lean. Which allows them to invest in and focus on growth. And by keeping the cost of testing down through no-commission direct media billing, inexpensive production, and in house programming. Then squeezing every last dollar of return through intense daily optimizations, deep and detailed dashboard reporting and analysis, and extensive use of distributed content strategies. And finally, by deploying our best creative people across all touch points, rather than separate and unequal departments for “above and below the line” media. The result is our clients show they can produce more customers and revenue per marketing dollar and they grow. And this fuels our growth – a beautiful flywheel indeed!
Let’s work on yours! Please feel free to respond directly to my personal email at mark@digobrands.com. Or call us at 646-507-5820.
There’s a tendency to lump all DRTV – short for direct response television – into one bucket. But, if categorization can spell the end of thought, this is a danger.
While there are certain principles that tie a Proactiv infomercial to a Geico commercial, there is a world of essential difference which separates them.
How to know when you are doing a Drive To Apply campaign:
1) You offer a service, membership or other engagement that requires an application.
2) Your media plan includes TV spots and/or Internet videos shorter than two minutes in order to increase reach and/or frequency.
Quicken Loans uses Drive to Apply and also various tools such as mortgage calculators to engage their audience with useful information.
eHarmony uses a Drive to Apply approach because not all members are accepted into the dating site based on an extensive personality test.
3) Your success relies on reducing the cost per successful application (sometimes called the cost-per-account.)
Here’s what you need to know about Drive to Apply:
1) A Call to Action is not enough– you need a mnemonic.
This is something to aid in memory, because a good percentage of your responses will come in long after the 30 seconds of your spot has passed. Jingles, great names, catch phrases and unforgettable demonstrations, simple and differentiating statements — all can work.
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2) Don’t go out there without a clear, different and better promise.
Progressive – We let you compare prices so you can make the best decision for you. Dollar Shave Club – It’s smart to pay a lot less for razors.
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3) Boil your differentiating promise down to a memorable, repeatable phrase.
Geico – 15 minutes can save you 15% or more on car insurance. American Express – Don’t leave home without it.
4) Keep the cost of research and testing low so you can do a lot and learn a lot.
5) Test multiple promises to find the most responsive.
6) Test multiple expressions of the promise.
Changing a single word can sometimes increase response by hundreds of percentage points. For the Citibank AAdvantage Card, when we changed the word “travel” to the word “miles” we increased response and conversion by 100% to 200% across the board, which helped grow that business by many multiples.
7) Keep the cost of production down so you can test a lot of different creative approaches to deliver the promise on an ongoing basis.
8) Remember that you must break through.
You must touch a nerve. You can’t bore your way to the hall of fame in this business.
9) Brand is not something you invest in or slow down for.
When you’re doing it right, brand is what you build with every sale.
10) Keep the cost of media down by not paying commissions improves your results before you even start.
11) Extend your media dollar by integrating viral, digital and social content that builds word-of-mouth and sales.
(For example, Dollar Shave Club closes more than half of their new accounts through viral videos.)
Growth. Improbable, competition-threatening, critic-silencing growth is our aim and our comfort zone. It is what our clients have come to expect. It starts with a brand story so large that the only way to live it out is to grow. And then a plan. We help you define what growth means for your organization. We help you to quantify and measure it. We help you build and test a theory of growth. Then, optimize it and roll it out. Rinse and repeat. At DIGO, the entire organization shares a singular measure of success — we succeed when our clients grow.
Most people don’t know that Business Insider publishes an annual list of their picks for “the sexiest advertising executives.” This is probably a good thing.
After a short discussion, we at DiMassimo Goldstein opted out of the story and insisted that the editors of Business Insider remove us from the list.
Ultimately, a horror of objectifying advertising executives and the potential harm to the reputation of our industry outweighed our sincere pleasure in dominating the draft list, holding sixteen of the top twenty places and a healthy percentage of the remaining rankings as well.
We take the compliment.
But, at the end of the day, our sexiness is not what we sell. We sell our ability to help clients grow. The sexiness is really more like customer service… or atmosphere.
So, once again, thanks Business Insider. But no thanks. We will focus on making it with our brains.
For those who want to see the runner ups who, due to our decision to abstain, ended up on the list. Here you go!
New York Health & Racquet Club (NYHRC) put fitness on the map in NYC when it first opened its doors in 1973. Now, of course, New Yorkers have more exercise options than NYC has pizza joints. Yet they keep coming back to NYHRC, the original NYC health club, where they feel part of a tight-knit community of health-conscious people in pursuit of fitness and vitality.
At any of NYHRC’s nine Manhattan locations, virtually any fitness need or interest can be met, whether on your own and taking advantage of the well-equipped gym floor, or with the guidance of seasoned group fitness instructors and certified personal trainers.
NYHRC is truly in a class by itself, with amenities you won’t find at many other health clubs, including saltwater pools, squash and racquetball courts, basketball courts, a beach club and a yacht, perfect for beautiful sunset cruises around Manhattan.*
NYHRC has flourished for 40 years because it puts its members first. That commitment remains strong as NYHRC celebrates its 40th anniversary this month. Come experience all the clubs have to offer during NYHRC’s open house event on Tuesday, September 24th.
*Not all services available at all locations. Racquet sports, beach club and yacht require an additional fee.
Just wrote the welcome message for our DiMassimo Goldstein employee Intranet. Thought I’d share:
Welcome to the Growth Agency Network.
If you only remember three words, remember these: EVERY TOUCHPOINT MATTERS
In the center of you there is a double helix of DNA that sets in motion who you become. Clip a fingernail and this same code is there.
In the center of every experience is the truth of the brand. If the reception desk is boring, the brand is boring. If the invoice has no charm, the brand has no charm.
An inspiring receipt. A stylish notepad. A creative collection letter. A box with spots. A one-page owners manual.
Empires have been built on such small things as these.
If it is, it is a part of the brand.
Brand. Driven. Growth. That’s four, five and six. That’s how we do it.
Banner, hang-tag, balloon. Truck to television commercial. If we can do it, we can make it deliver the brand.
Here we tend to these individuals we call brands. We grow and evolve them. And we can tell you what is in the fingernail, before you clip it.
