The Ever-Constant End Of Email

User Error

In my feeds, there's a column I've seen at least 30 times over the years, all by different authors, with different words, but the same point: email is just the worst, and it's going away.

It's time-inefficient. It's strangling people's days. Such and such company got rid of it altogether, and now they are swimming in cash and endorphins. Along with the non-standing desk, the existence of coffee and the fact that some companies persist to have meetings, there's no greater silent killer of the business class. And so on, and so on.

What I'm always reminded of, in the scant moments that these things pass by my eyes, is something I picked up in a college philosophy class. I'm reducing it from it's complete definition to a more useful simplicity, but here goes...

The Naturalistic Fallacy: What is true for me is true for all.

There's probably a dozen ways to reach me digitally. Social media accounts, email channels, texting numbers, instant messenger windows; honestly, whatever platform you want, I'll work with it. What you'd also find in all of those accounts is that the in-box is clean, or will be within a day. (Also, that the way to use email is different than IMs, so your in-box for one isn't as critical as another. But I digress.)

Do I spend the entirety of my day on email? Hardly. I'm pretty ruthless with my time, and when I'm at my best, I am only doing one thing at a time. What I get out of email is, on a daily basis, a lot more than what I put into it.

That's because it compromises the majority of my competitive analysis and research for the day. If someone is sending me stuff that isn't helpful, I block it. I don't take days off to let the task accrue to dangerous levels, and I file obsessively, because that practice routinely pays off when I'm trying to answer a question or formulate a plan.

There's also this: I can't really think of too many co-workers, over the years, that were overwhelmed by email... who I'd really choose, if I were starting a company from scratch, to hire.

Literacy matters. Focus is important. Discipline in how you spend your time is a major difference between companies that work, and the ones that fail.

So... who, exactly, are we trying to save with these innovations?

And if you are one of these folks with the email problem, shouldn't you look to adjust the way you work, rather than hope for the functioning world to change for you?

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

Five Universal Truths in Marketing & Advertising

In my current gig, I'm doing something I've been lucky enough to do a lot in my professional life, and that's pitch to an entirely new category with entirely new rules of the road. (In this case, pharma to health care providers.) But the more things change, the more they stay the same, and the commonalities might inspire in your own day to day.

1) Relevance and timing always matters.

No matter what you are pitching, getting it to the target with optimal placement, sequence and utility is worth its weight in gold. Otherwise known as why adtech companies exist, really.

2) List trumps offer, and both trump creative.

T'was ever thus. If you aren't playing in the right arena, and bringing the right pitch, it doesn't matter how well you might execute it. I've seen some truly regrettable pieces deliver great results, and perfect shiny objects fail. In so many different categories and channels.

3) Niche players don't care that they are niche.

No matter how specialized a list is -- and in my current gig, we can cut it down more than any provider I've ever worked for -- it's not as if those people wake up in the morning and fail to breathe air, grope for the coffee and struggle with a commute. Everyone is subject to the same kind of challenges and issues that others face. If everything in your consideration set is about the niche, your work will never try enough execution options to learn optimal practices.

4) Tactical wins travel.

There are test results that I've picked up in wildly different categories, and sometimes not even in the same channels, that inform my work today. That's because most creative test wins work for reasons behind niche reasons, especially when the results are conclusive and repeatable. Besides, most of our current lists are affluent, in demographics I've pitched to before, and overlap other clients. Experience, and a good memory, helps.

5) Every audience rewards respect.

A side note. Nearly a decade ago, I was doing acquisition work for a very compromised category that offered financial services to people with poor credit. Dominant art was all about fans of money, and if you didn't read the copy, you might think that you were reading lottery ads. Faced with a sameness issue that highly compromised learning optimal practices, my team and I created pieces that spoke to specific very good reasons why the prospect might have a need for cash fast. Hospital emergencies, transportation problems, services shut offs, and so on.

The ads performed nearly as well on response as the fanned currency. But more importantly, they did dramatically better on conversion. By bringing the point of the ad to the prospect's very good and very real reasons for converting, we put them in a better frame of mind to take the action we wanted them to take. That approach quickly took hold across the industry.

Regardless of category, your prospects are likely time-stressed, easily distracted, and wanting to be efficient with their browsing decisions. Designing and executing your campaign around their needs, rather than branding points or legal dictates, is almost always a clear win.

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

Managing for breakthrough insights

Finding your insight

In the current day gig, I got to do something that's almost always a hallmark of a winning position. I get to call my shots.

What does this mean in a marketing and advertising context? Well, I can't get into the very proprietary details, because you have to be one of our clients to benefit from what's being learned. But I can tell you my qualifying points on what I'm looking for in an insight.

1) Does it have a story?

Think of this as the analytics equivalent of an elevator pitch. To me, this means that what you are bringing to the table comes from work that you've done before. Also, that you can summarize it quickly. It's not that you need to dumb down the business, but you do need to be able to explain the insight at a 5,000 foot level, and not get lost in the weeds. People are busy, and they shouldn't have to live in your head space for a half an hour to get the benefit.

2) Does it have measurables?

Especially in creative executions, there's nothing like putting numbers to your new way of doing things. It takes everything away from who did what and whose role is being threatened, and into the realm of an optimal learning engine, where everyone has some skin in the game from better art.

3) Does it scale?

When it comes to analytics, you don't want one-off solutions that can't be used outside of a single execution or two. What you want is that classic old-school direct marketing gold, where you can replicate the win in other places.

A final point: there really isn't anything better, in this line of work, then having your goals in your own hands. Because when you've been a consultant for as long as I have, you know the speed in which you want to work, or the tangents where you are going to explore. Explaining every step of the way probably means you are going to skip steps, or never take the long way and learn something deeper.

So if you ever find yourself managing someone in my tribe? Don't just get their buy in. Get their all in, because when you do that, you'll get so much more than what you were asking for.

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.