ReThink Marketing - Degradation

by Sid Raisch

Marketing Degradation - Marketing has become degraded to an undisciplined practice of rapid-fire social media posts with messages covering dozens if not hundreds of topics to the point that - there is no real net message, or benefit of creating them.

Let’s begin with the end in mind. The end in marketing is a purchase. I will come back to that notion.

The discipline of Effective Marketing is to focus messaging for long enough time for it to become effective, as in - the purchase of a product or service. If we’re doing this job correctly, it’s not just any message. The purchase can only be achieved by sending effective messages.
 
Some messages have greater value than others. Some marketing is selling whatever the marketer thinks is important - if they’ve even thought about it.

A common mistake marketers make is to give fair play. An ad or email becomes a Grand-Tour of all the types of merchandise. It will include something from annuals, perennials, the nursery, houseplants, hard goods, home decor, gifts, outdoor living. Let’s begin with something we’re long on from each of those and call it a day, right? While there is nothing inherently wrong with this intention, it is proven to not be all that effective when we measure it by the sale of those products. Why? Because there is no focus. There is no single reason for a customer to take notice. Every ad looks like every other. It’s the equivalent of using a hammer to fix anything you can swing it at.

Today an ad has taken a different form. Today it is in the form of a “newsletter” and rapid fire, rapid tasked posts on social media. Same thing, same result, different media just spread out over more time. And it “worked” when virtually the entire audience vacated the old traditional radio/television/newspaper/direct mail, shifting their time and attention to social media, primarily on their smart phones. And so all marketers followed taking their dollars with them (or they should have). Since social media has become nearly the only media being used it “works”, or so it seems - when it isn’t measured.

Now comes a moment of truth on measuring social media effectiveness. We know the Big 3 KPI’s of The Garden Center Group are decreasing. The days of the Covid Surge are gone, the audiences are changing, and social media has changed its algorithms once again.

Today a person’s social media feed is loaded to the max with an algorithm favoring social (paid) advertising. I just measured my Facebook feed and 8 out of 25 posts are “Sponsored”. Another 5 are from groups I belong to. Two are from groups Facebook is “suggesting”, one post was by someone I unfriended (how rare I pay enough attention to actually do this), and that leaves four posts by Facebook Friends - you know, the reason for Social Media in the first place. This mix in my feed is pushing my level of tolerance for absorbing social advertising dangerously near my limit. Now that I’ve brought this to your attention you probably have the same feeling of near resentment about how your attention is being sold to the max. What are we going to do about it? That’s right, nothing, because there is nothing we can do really. Well, we can, but we won’t and they know this. This is how the social media game works these days, and as marketers we will figure out how to play it, or perish. I’ll probably come back to this later in this series of articles.

The incident calling my attention to this big shift in social media was a comment from a very excited client who had over 2,100 measured engagements with one post - this out of a Following of over 120,000. It got me to thinking and then to scrolling their feed where I noticed the next best posts were under 500 engagements each. But the majority of posts brought under 50 engagements. All of the posts were reportedly (by Meta) “seen” by more people and that does have some value. Meanwhile this same thing is going on with every other IGC social media feed, and correspondingly, the BIG 3 KPI’s are down, down, and down. The main idea of marketing to sell more product is not happening.

There’s more. Do yourself a favor and read or listen to the book, Sublime Attention Crisis. You’ll gain valuable insights into the inner workings of digital marketing. This will include the parts the wealthiest founders of companies in world history would rather we all not know about their businesses. Sadly, the value of these insights isn’t in putting them to work to build your business through using digital marketing. The value will be to increase your acumen to realize the money we’ve all been spending on digital marketing has built their businesses beyond their or our wildest imagination of their potential - with our money, and by using all of us and our attention as their product. They sell our attention to benefit themselves and leave us to figure out it isn’t working on our own, while feeding us data we don’t understand the implications of well enough to jump off their ships. Take a break and open your YouTube app and choose a video to watch. The first thing that happens is an ad appears. At a critical point in the ad, a “Skip” button will appear. At that critical point, the advertiser is cheated out of our attention. And on it goes. Read the book, and if nothing else it will make it more difficult for digital marketers to get away with their next algorithm change for so long.

We must become powerhouses of effectiveness in our marketing. In the bigger picture marketing is much more than advertising. It is more than social media. It is communication with a specific chosen group of people in language they understand and empowering them to act in a way supporting their interests, not ours. The next article in this series will reveal more on this important topic - especially the part about using marketing to gain a measured increase in the sale of our products and services.

Stay tuned.

When you’re ready to up your marketing game, get in touch. Your membership in The Garden Center Group entitles you to a courtesy videoconference call to discuss your situation. Get in touch by Text or Cell at 937-302-0423, or email (below) Or...

Click HERE to Schedule a Time to Talk With Sid.

Sid Raisch is an advocate for family business leading growth, change, and results throughout US horticulture. Redefining the business future for consumer horticulture by understanding how the end-to-end supply chain needs to be redirected is a skill Sid has honed into an art. He has understanding and insight through inquisitive observations and extensive experience and has served as a trusted advisor helping transform both national and local businesses into more profitable and sustainable businesses. Developing national and international educational programs that create change in culture, community and company provides Sid venues with a front row seat creating effective and innovative business models.

Sid is a Certified Value Builder System Advisor, and currently serves as Chief Strategist and the Swiss Army Knife of Consultants to The Garden Center Group clients. Contact Sid at [email protected] or call or text  937-302-0423.

REMEMBER: Your interaction (by phone and email) with Group Service Providers such as Sid Raisch, Tim Quebedeaux, Jean Seawright, John Kennedy, and of course Danny Summers are included in your retainer!