Category: startup

Marketing Data Science

by jcafesin, posted in startup

What motivates people to RESPOND (click, like, share, comment), and CONVERT (buy, try, sign-up, subscribe) from your marketing efforts? This is a very important question, because the point of marketing is to get people to [think or] do what our campaigns [suggest or] direct them to do.

At the foundation of all marketing is Psychology. To be effective at marketing — getting people to buy our offerings or believe in our message — we must seek to understand what motivates our behavior.

BIG data science—the AI of today—monitors and categorizes our digital and cellular interactions, but NOT what motivates individuals to take a particular action. I use the word BIG because without a LOT of data, there is NO SCIENCE in data analysis. BIG data can recognize GROSS PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOR, which can be applied when marketing to large segments of the population, however, for most businesses using only paid digital ads to brand or sell your stuff is generally a waste of your marketing dollars.

Data science doesn’t work at TIGHTLY targeting individuals because PEOPLE LIE.

Psychology is more an art than a science. Humans are complex beings, our [perceived] needs and desires constantly changing with age, and life circumstances. We lie to ourselves — tell ourselves we need* things we don’t, or make promises we never keep, like dieting, exercise, control spending, be more productive, less time on our devices, YouTube…etc. We lie to each other, because we believe it ourselves, or we want to appear smarter, kinder, wiser. We ALL fib, exaggerate, fabricate, remember wrong, because memory has been proven to be faulty. Humans are fickle, which is what makes figuring out what motivates us particularly difficult when we often don’t know ourselves.

Facebook, Google, Instagram, most every site you visit now is ‘analyzing’ your digital (and cellular) footprint with their large language models (LLMs), and large action models (LAMs). Platforms selling digital advertising, and unfortunately their users, rely on AI to ‘target’ your marketing, but they know virtually nothing about YOU because AI can’t tell the truth from a lie.

We are just beginning to identify a few basic behavior patterns common to most of us through BIG data collection and analytics. However, identifying patterns and categorizing behaviors does not automatically give us the reason why someone chose to take an action.

Today’s AI doesn’t ‘learn’ what motivates each of us, regardless the hype. It mimics learning by recognizing patterns, then correlating, categorizing, and collaborating distinct behaviors into groups. The ballooning BIG data (AI) industry has great marketing though, because they’ve convinced most (young) marketers that creating campaigns on analytics alone will garner greater SALES, though this is a lie.

Remember, our psychology is what gets us to believe in a cause or take any action. Humans are dynamic, complicated, volatile, erratic, and to get what is truly motivating us is really hard since we lie so often to ourselves and others. We all do, as previously stated. Like it or not, every one of you reading this post lies. A lot! We lie to appear politically correct, even though we are all born racists. We tell ourselves all kinds of crap to excuse unhealthy behavior, and rationalize our positions with even more crap that we tell others. Everyone does. Lying is a human condition, like self-interest. We all lie/justify/rationalize to ourselves, and subsequently others — loved ones, friends, colleagues, strangers — most every day of our lives.

TARGETED [digital] marketing is supposed to get advertiser’s ads in front of the people most likely to find interest in them. The truth is, Google, Insta, TikTok…etc. don’t have a clue who is posting lies, or why. So, when your analytics dept, or AI on the Facebook Ads app tells you it KNOWS the target markets for your offering, without intimately knowing the best bits about the offering you’re selling, FB’s lying to you. Even with all their BIG data analytics of our digital footprint, quantitative data doesn’t tell us qualitative reasons why anyone really does most anything.

Response rates average between .05–2% with most digital advertising, which is actually LOWER than with email, TV, even print and other ‘traditional’ media.

So much for the wonders of data science making your marketing work to sell your offerings. And all the Likes and Shares in the world won’t SELL YOUR STUFF. Smart marketing requires more than letting Google Ads’ interface pick your target markets, even write your ad copy while you upload an image or vid. If you want better response rates, as in CLICKS on the links you provide in your ads, you need to take the following steps. IN ORDER:

1. List as many real, potential [and perceived] FEATURES of your offering as you can.

2. Identify the PEOPLE (target markets) who will BENEFIT from the best FEATURES of your offering.

3. Create original marketing and ad campaigns that align/sync/match the best FEATURES of your offering with those most likely to BENEFIT/want them.

Effectively marketing an existing offering, new product/service/message, or even an idea requires actually THINKING about the TYPE of person who will likely BENEFIT the most from the unique FEATURES of what you’re selling.

When Google and Facebook tell you they know who (target markets) will find interest in your offering knowing nothing about what you’re selling, or the people that will BENEFIT from using it, well, they’re lying to you. Their ‘targeting’ is KEYWORD based—NOT our psychology. Additionally, when people post on their social feeds, they often post falsehoods/lies, either because they’ve convinced themselves it’s the truth, or because they are trying to market, i.e. SELL/brand themselves to others. Facebook’s AI can’t tell the truth from a lie, especially since so often we can’t, even to ourselves.

Another TRUTH: most advertising lies. Marketing sells real benefits, as well as perceived benefits. Apple sells the perception their devotees will be ‘more creative’ if they use Apple devices, but this is a lie. Creativity comes from inside of us, not from the technology we use to create it.

Sure, there’s bound to be many who will tout success with data science, especially large corps and political orgs that spend billions annually flooding our feeds with ads. Thing is, throw enough shit against a wall and some of it will stick, which is why digital ad platforms can show results. They’ll spend your marketing dollars for more bullshit stats of Likes that may feed egos but does nothing for sales.

  • Google, FB, social media ads [generally] get a .05 – 2% response rate.
  • Networking yields 20-40% response.
  • Email gets [approx] 25% open rate.
  • Even print [geotargeting] will garner 4.4 – 9% response.

Smart marketers/marketing—the kind that yields SALES—knows what they are selling, intimately. They design, write, and produce campaigns that will spark interest, engagement, and funnel to sales because they’re always marketing the FEATURES of their offering that fulfill a desire or BENEFIT a specific TARGET MARKET. Producing SMART MARKETING with every campaign will SELL YOUR STUFF, without using data ‘science’ at all.

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*NEED is a philosophical construct. We don’t NEED anything, not even food if we don’t care about living. Humans DESIRE things—possessions, children, relationships; to feel ‘happy,’ satisfied, sated…etc.

Smart marketing creates [perceived] NEED from DESIRE.

On Networking

by jcafesin, posted in Marketing, Small Business Marketing, sociology, stanford, startup, startups, technology, UC Berkeley, Uncategorized, writers

My second job out of college I was the Art Director for 1928 Jewelry Co. The company is still alive and vital today, quite a monument to startup lore. My boss, Fred Burglass, was the best boss I’ve ever had. Funny. Kind. Patient. Smart. I really loved that man. He was like a father to me, taught me many things about marketing, business, and people. Yet I still struggle to adhere to possibly his greatest lesson.

I’d been working there over a year and had neglected to attend any of the executive parties the company threw in their beach house in Malibu. Fred called me into his office one afternoon and insisted I come to the upcoming holiday party, as it was part of my job to schmooze with our current and potential new buyers, and my executive co-workers.

The Friday night before the Saturday party I called my assistant into my office. She’d wanted to go to the party, so I suggested she pretend that she’d come with me. I asked her if anyone was looking for me there, like our boss, Fred, to tell them she just saw me on the beach, or on the deck, or downstairs talking with the Macy’s buyer. I thought I was being clever, outsmarting Fred by telling him I’d be there, and then setting up my assistant to lie for me so he’d never know I wasn’t. The Malibu property was an estate home and easy to get lost in. My assistant was charming and smart and would have no problem pulling it off.

Monday morning Fred called me in his office. I know you weren’t there on Saturday night, he began. But the truth is, you’re just screwing yourself. You want to build your career, maybe your own company down the line, or even write novels full time? Business success, in whatever you choose to do, requires networking, he assured me.

Sadly, I’d pretty much tuned him out. Network. Network. Network. Building relationships is the only way you’ll propel your career forward, Fred consistently preached, so I’d heard all this before.

Problem was, I’ve always been a recluse. An artist by nature and trade, I likely landed in the arts because I have a hard time being with people. I suck at small talk. And I’ve learned getting too personal with questions or opinions is a fast way to shut down dialog. It’s exhausting walking the line of popular decorum, putting on that public face and pretending I believe the guy, or am even interested in how successful he thinks his startup is going to be when he doesn’t even know the SaaS he’s built is already being done by someone else. Ever hear of Competitive Analysis? I want to ask him, but don’t. I used to, but it wasn’t received well.

I give myself all kinds of excuses for not networking. I’m just not good with people. I’m better at creating than chatting. I’m an empath—get too much input around people so I need to limit my contact. But I know it’s all bullshit. You are a brilliant creator, Fred used to tell me. But no one will know that if you don’t meet the right people who recognize your talent and connect you with others to help you exploit it. You must network!

He was right, of course. Digital advertising—Facebook to Google to TikTok—has a very low ROI, generally between .05 – 1.5%. Print is usually higher, but not by a lot, assuming the targeting and messaging are equally tight. Building relationships in-person or online can yield far greater ROI, if done right. Amazon built an empire on exceptional customer service, eliminating the risk of online purchasing by making returns easy, garnering staunch brand advocates. Shark Tank candidates aren’t on the show just for VC money. They’re there for Lori Greiner’s connection to the shopping channel, QVC. The tech entrepreneurs want Mark Cuban’s contacts in the Silicon Valley community.

While networking ROI may seem harder to quantify than digital ads or even direct mail, consistently talking with people in your industry [and related industries] at meetups, SIG meetings, trade shows, webinars, conferences, biz and tech talks, and even office parties, over time will yield better ROI—broader brand recognition and more sales—than any other form of marketing/advertising.

Starting a startup, or finding a job or getting clients, the more you network with your industry and target markets, the greater your odds of building a thriving business. After all, it’s not what you know, but who you know that will help you pave your path to success.