Insights from Nebo

I’m sure we can all recall stories from when we were younger when our parents tried to get us to listen. I can still remember the days my dad would try to talk to me while I was focused on something, whether it was a great movie—like one of my favorite childhood obsessions, Jurassic Park—or one of my favorite books. He would have to repeat my name several times before he could get my attention.

“Laura, Laura, LAURA HOPE,” he would eventually scream, before I would finally look up and say, “Oh, are you talking to me?”

One of my dad’s favorite nicknames for me was Space-case, because of how often I would zone out into my own little world, especially when he was trying to talk to me. I was always focused on what I was thinking or doing, never focused on what he was saying.

He was right. I was a terrible listener.

When it comes to crafting content, there’s a misconception in agency life that writers are yes men. After all, the client knows best.

And to some extent, the client does know best. They know their brand, their purpose, their goal, and their product like the back of their hand. As an agency, and as writers, of course we want to make our clients happy. We want to help them succeed in every way we can.

But what about the times when the team knows best?

Until 1964, most professional boxing weigh-ins were boring, predictable affairs. This was not the case for Clay vs. Liston, February 25, 1964, in Miami Beach. There was nothing boring or predictable about the 22-year-old Olympic gold medalist from Louisville, KY, named Cassius Clay. Although Clay would go on to become Muhammad Ali (referred to from here forward as Ali), the world heavyweight champion and Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Century, at the time, he was unknown and largely untested. In addition to Ali’s prowess in the ring, he was a natural promoter and gifted PR man. There is no greater display of his PR wizardry than the first Liston fight for the heavyweight championship.

When people talk about SEO and PPC, it’s usually theoretical. They rely on classic talking points, such as: “When used together, SEO and PPC increase visibility in the SERPs and increase perceived authority, which drives click-throughs to your site overall…”

And, yes, that is all true, but it’s also abstract and not super helpful. How do these ideas translate into tactical strategies? How often do you, as an SEO, actually work with your PPC neighbors? My guess is not very often, if at all.

Who are you? What do you do? What influences your behaviors, actions, and decisions?

There are no simple answers to these questions. Yet marketers tragically try to pigeonhole people into them with retargeting ads.

But people are complex. Marketers and brands know this. Whether we admit it, however, is another story. We tend to think our ads are the best in the business. We think they’ll immediately get the attention of our intended audience, and will solve all their problems. The unfortunate reality is no one cares about our ads or us. Why?

Trying to figure out how to market to millennials is the new "is it the year of mobile?" conundrum marketers are fretting about. How can brands get these seemingly uninterested, disloyal hordes of potential customers to fall in love with their brand? How can brands create messaging and ads that move them from awareness to consideration to intent to become mindless brand loyalists willing to buy whatever breakfast cereal the global conglomerate releases this year?