Data Events Marketing Psychology

Marketing Takeaways from the 2020 US Election | Part V: Brand Familiarity & The Weaknesses of Product

Welcome to the final episode in our five part exploration of the 2020 US election from a marketing lens. If you haven’t already, make sure to check out the rest of series Part I: Identity & Common EnemiesPart II: Positioning & SegmentationPart III: Polling Problems & Growing Fans vs. Persuading ConvertsPart IV: Narratives & Information DistributionPart V: Brand Familiarity &…
Data Events Marketing Psychology

Marketing Lessons from the 2020 Election | Part IV: Narratives & Information Distribution

Welcome to the penultimate episode (part 4/5) in our ongoing analysis of the 2020 US elections. If you haven’t already, check out part one, covering identity & common enemies, part two on positioning & segmentation, and part three on polling problems & growing vs. converting audiences. This time, we’ll look at the memorable power of simplistic narratives, then take a…
Data Events Marketing Psychology

Marketing Lessons from the 2020 Election | Part III: Polling Problems & Growing Fans vs. Persuading Converts

It’s time for part three (of five) in our ongoing analysis of the 2020 US elections. If you haven’t already, check out part one, covering identity & common enemies, and part two on positioning & segmentation. Today, we’ll get into the weeds of survey methodology, why election polling appears to be less accurate, and how your market research might suffer…
Data Events Marketing Psychology

Marketing Lessons from the 2020 Election | Part II: Positioning & Segmentation

Welcome to part two (of five) in our ongoing analysis of marketing takeaways from 2020’s record-shattering US elections. Yesterday, I wrote about how cultural identity drives behavior, and the power of common enemies. Today, we’ll pick up the series by diving into the opportunities and limitations of both positioning and segmentation. In case you skipped yesterday’s post, a few caveat…
Data Events Marketing Psychology

Marketing Lessons from the 2020 Election | Part I: Identity & Common Enemies

I don’t believe there is any greater, more public example of capitalist-driven marketing on display than the American presidential elections. It is, unquestionably: A globally-followed eventA marketing-driven (rather than product-driven) outcome10X+ larger in spend than any other marketing campaign on Earth Ad spend figures from Quartz, Nielsen, & OpenSecrets This pinnacle of influence-driven action is much more than that, obviously.…

Extraordinary Times Call For Extraordinary Measures

There can no longer be doubt: the majority of people in advanced economies are living through the most life-altering event of the last forty years. Natural disasters, wars, economic turmoil, political shifts, technological disruption — all of these pale in comparison to COVID-19’s breadth, speed, and the raw quantity of prolonged, global change. That’s in no way meant to minimize…
Events Marketing

10 Problems Plaguing Influencer Marketing

Last week, I spoke at SMXL Milano on a panel about where social media and influencer marketing are headed. The moderator, Paolo Zanzottera, did (in my opinion) a superb job, but the questions he posed and those from the audience, reminded me of the big challenges influencer marketing faces in 2018 and beyond. Photo credit: Aleyda Solis on Twitter The…
Data Events Marketing

On SERP SEO – The Infuriating Reality of Search’s Future

Last week, I was invited to give the closing talk at Brighton SEO, one of the SEO field’s most well-attended events. The host, Kelvin Newman, was gracious, thoughtful, and personally still runs much of the event’s operations, giving it a truly special, authentic, non-corporate feel. My presentation centered on the shift in Google’s behavior over the last few years away…
Events Startups

My Presentation from INBOUND 2018 Might Make You a Better Entrepreneur

Last week, I spoke at Hubspot’s INBOUND conference for the eighth year. For the first time, it was not under the auspices of my old company, Moz, nor was it centrally about web marketing. Instead, I focused on my experiences building a company and helping other entrepreneurs build their companies…. And I think, this was one of the best received…
Events Marketing

How Cultural Conditioning Biases Us to Make Bad Decisions in Our Lives, Our Work, & Our Marketing (my talk from INBOUND 2017)

This week I was invited to give a spotlight talk at Hubspot’s INBOUND in Boston. INBOUND is a unique event for me. It’s typically the largest in-person audience I’ll speak to in a given year (often in excess of 3,000 people in the room), and a less SEO-focused crowd than usual. Most of the time, I’m just trying to impress…