Hey friend,
Am I the only one that things way too many marketers are obsessed with being creative geniuses, rather than focusing on marketing fundamentals?
It’s not cool to say this to the marketing visionaries on LinkedIn, but I think of myself as a meat and potatoes marketer.
Or more specifically, a beef and pasta marketer 😂
I basically eat the same meal every day: plain beef and pasta. It has all the nutrients I need, it's super simple, and it keeps me in shape. It just works.
And that's exactly how I approach marketing:
Figure out what lands with our target audience
Double down on winning campaigns
Reuse those winning recipes with our clients
Tomorrow, we're dropping a parody video called "Low Hanging Fruit". It looks at Carl, a CEO obsessed with shiny marketing tactics who ignores the marketer trying to double down on what’s working.
Way too many Carls on LinkedIn for my liking.
This is the latest release in our 5-part Marketing Metaphors video campaign—a massive creative swing that cost us $50k to produce.
Here is why this campaign felt way more like beef and pasta marketing than a recipe gamble 👇
Less Tactics. More Fundamentals.
It’s not new for marketing teams to be spread thin across 47 different tactics. It’s usually because some LinkedIn guru said TikTok ads are "the future" or their CEO read about programmatic ads in Forbes.
Meanwhile, the company’s Google Ads account hasn't been optimized in 6 months, and their positioning sounds identical to the competition.
This is exactly why nailing the fundamentals of marketing can feed a company's growth.
Your prospects don't care that you're "experimenting with Web3 influencer partnerships."
They care that you can solve their problems better than anyone else. This post from Dave Gerhardt basically sums it up 👇
Why This $50k Creative Swing Makes Sense
Yes, we just spent $50k on a satirical video series. To be fair, I could argue why it made sense on paper because our fundamentals are solid:
Our core ad campaigns across LinkedIn, Google, and Meta are profitable and optimized ✅
Our SQLs are consistently growing MoM, and sales process closes 50%+ of qualified leads ✅
Our LinkedIn employee advocacy program is growing and organic growth across the board on social media is solid ✅
Even with solid foundations, our Marketing Metaphors series isn’t the big creative risk it might look like from the outside.
We experimented with CTV ads earlier in the year, which drove the majority of inbound for a lower production value video. Thanks to that strong audience signal, the Marketing Metaphors series never felt like a gamble because:
We deeply understand our ICP's pain. We sell to marketing leaders in charge or budget. We know they’re tired of being pushed toward every new tactic by non-marketing folks in their org
We committed to a series. It’s not a random act of marketing. We committed to a 5-part series to help us build mind share with target prospects over several weeks
We're promoting the hell out of it. Everyone is on board. Our employee advocacy program (12 people and counting) post about it. I post about it. The CEO posts about it. We run it as a paid ad. We don’t just let it die in the corner with 17 YouTube views.
Plus, the quick napkin math told us: If an episode influenced just one enterprise deal, this creative swing would pay for itself 10x over.
Your competitors are probably chasing low hanging fruit right now. You can win by doubling down on the fundamentals.
Beef and pasta marketing advice might not go viral on LinkedIn, but it's what actually feeds a company’s bottom line.
Tune in at 7AM PST/10AM EST tomorrow to watch “Low Hanging Fruit” and Amy's latest struggle against bad marketing.
Hope you’ve found this useful. Catch ya in the next one!
🤘
Patrick