Ann Handley - TA #168: 🦄 11 Marketing Myths [Part 2]

Sunday, August 4, 2024

Joyous morn, Crumbcake!

Welcome to the second installment of MythBusters: Marketing Edition! Part 1 was last week. (Did you miss it?)

This MythBusters grows out of a LinkedIn Live that Jay Schwedelson and I hosted recently.

Our goal—like that of the Discovery Channel's classic show MythBusters—was to debunk some long-held legends and beliefs, fantasies and fables, kitsch and cliché.

In the prior issue, I kicked the bunk out of the first 5 of 11 Marketing Myths. (That link again.) (Although I guess you're capable of scrolling up three paragraphs, aren't you.)

Here is Part 2, the Season Finale!

Today, you and I will debunk the final 6 myths.

We'll use data analysis. A/B testing. Phone-a-friend. Vibes. And one or two explosions that send us dramatically diving for cover... because that's just good TV.

MYTHBUSTERS: MARKETING EDITION: Season Finale

* * *

>>> MYTH 6: A brand newsletter should come from the brand.

Research has found that emails sent from a person's name have higher open rates than those sent from a company name.

What's more: 45% of subscribers say they are likely to read your email because of who it's from; 33% of email recipients open an email based on the subject line.

More support for my golden rule, which would medal at the Marketing Olympics if Paris held such an event:

Your From Line matters more than your Subject Line.

But there are two MORE reasons your From line has even greater urgency now.

Reason 1: As generative AI plops a prechewed diet of soft food into inboxes, your relationships with individuals are what make or break your marketing.

Those who step out from behind the curtain will win, because doing so builds trust between the people who work at a company and the people they want to reach.

Those who don't focus on building that trust will fade and disappear, consigned to a diet of pablum and obscurity.

Reason 2 comes from Jay Schwedelson: Roughly 46% of all email today is read on the mobile Apple mail app. This fall, Apple will roll out AI-embedded iOS 18, which will automatically route incoming emails, relegating them to one of three buckets: Primary, Promotions, Social.

Apple will route brand email and newsletters to the dreaded Promotions tab.

"What we're seeing from the beta testing is that newsletters that come from an individual within a company AND that are written in the tone of a human being will stay in the primary inbox," Jay says.

I bolded the part about the tone... because it's important!

In the next six months, Jay predicts, brands will make their newsletters come from an individual.

Have I been telling you this for years...? Yes. I have. 

"The most important part of the newsletter is the letter, not the news" is directly from Everybody Writes 2, page 292.

>>> MYTH 7: Use AI to start your content creation process.

Generative AI is a useful tool. But not in the case of those first drafts where the writer matters. (Bold here again. Can you hear the emphatic tone now in my voice?)

So, when should we use AI for first drafts? It depends on your goal:

1. Does the writer not matter all that much? Is the goal how-to information? >> Go ahead and use AI for the first draft or outline, if you like.

2. Does the writer matter a lot? Is the goal memorable, personal, persuasive insights? >> Use AI for research (if at all).

>>> MYTH 8: Your content should always be available on-demand.

"On Demand" often means "On The Shelf."

Even with the best intentions, we rarely access on-demand content.

A better approach might be to NOT offer on-demand. Or to offer limited access to it, based on usage, time, price.

Why: Limited-time offers, earned rewards, or member-only resources can create a sense of urgency and exclusivity.

Jay's GURU event started three years ago with no on-demand option—meaning, you're not there live, you miss it. This year, GURU will offer "earned on-demand": attendees who attend for at least 99 minutes* earn on-demand access. 

*Not 60. Not 90. But 99. Memorable.

>>> MYTH 9: Short-form content always outperforms long-form content.

Have you heard this? "Long-form sucks because everyone has zero attention span and hates reading."

It's not true. Don't fall for that myth. It's as mythy as a tortoise beating a rabbit in a foot race. Or chewing gum staying in your gut for 7 years.

Long-form content that is done well allows for deeper exploration of topics, more thoughtful thought leadership, and more comprehensive value to readers. Look at this PPT chart by Orbit Media, drawn by me. With Sharpies.

Photo: I am not yet sponsored by Sharpie. Someone hook me up. 

The average blog post length is 1,427 words long, Orbit says. That's 77% more words per post than 10 years earlier.

Why, though?

"There's a strong connection between article length and the likelihood of success," says Orbit's Andy Crestodina, who fielded the study. (That's his photo in the lower right.)

From Andy:

"The longer the typical blog post, the more likely the blogger is to report 'strong results.' Year after year, this is one of the strongest correlations in the study."

>>> MYTH 10: Email unsubscribes are a sign of a terminally ill list.

Unusually high unsubscribe rates do deserve some further probing, stethoscope over the lungs: Is it still breathing?

But an unsubscribe rate of 0.5% or less is reason to party. Unsubscribes clean your list of the Don't-Cares: bored or apathetic subscribers who have lost their zest for you (or who never had it, maybe because they were coerced to sign up). (Don't even get me started on how much I believe coercion is usually a terrible idea.)

Shedding the Don't-Cares improves overall engagement, relationships, email deliverability.

>>> MYTH 11: Email list size is your #1 goal.

Large lists seem impressive. They feed our frail, beaten-down egos. But the quality of your subscribers is waaaaay more important.

A smaller list of engaged, high-quality subscribers generally outperforms a larger list of the marginally interested.

Instead of focusing solely on list size, prioritize engagement metrics, segmentation, and providing value to your subscribers.

Email marketing databases naturally degrade by about 22.5% every year, HubSpot says. So honestly? Don't worry about list size.

Obsess instead on what you can control: Write great content to one person every single time. Build relationships. Mind your PEAS and OWBRs. (We talked about these initialisms last time.)

In Marketing (and in life): 

How you behave is the one thing that you can control. And relationships are the only thing that actually matter.

DEPARTMENT OF SHENANIGANS

How your email finds me, Olympics edition.

SELECT EVENTS

📆 SEP 4 - NOV 6: MarketingProfs Marketing Writing Program [virtual] 10 weekly sessions on UX writing, messaging, gen AI (code ANNARCHY saves you $50)

📆 SEP 25-27: American Writers & Artists International Copywriting Success [virtual] 3 days focused on direct response copywriting; I'm keynoting day 2.

📆 OCT 8: SparkTogether, Seattle

📆 OCT 16-17: GURU Events [virtual]

📆 OCT 17: GAIN 24, McLean, Virginia (Code: INSPIRE100 gets you $100 off.)

📆 OCT 22-23: Content Marketing World, San Diego

📆 NOV 12-14: MarketingProfs B2B Forum, Boston. What's the ultimate destination for B2B marketers to discover how to drive growth, elevate brand reputation, prove ROI, and stay ahead of the ever-changing marketing curve? It's Boston. You gotta be there this year.

Thanks for reading this far.

Thanks for your kindness and generosity.

Stay healthy.

🫡 See you August 18!