It makes me a bit sad if I'm
honest. I loved the Twitter brand. It's stood the test of time since
it's latest logo iteration from 2012.
I hope X retains its roots as an open social platform for meeting
like-minded people and making connections over shared interests. That's
always where Twitter shined the most.
Here's to remaining optimistic despite the brand change!
Marketing is getting attention from the right eyeballs at the right time. No need to overcomplicate the concept itself; it's surprisingly simple.
Throughout the years, marketing has gained a negative connotation.
For some, marketing is manipulative, materialistic, or misleading.
However, while that description may fit some marketing practices done in
the past, it's no longer effective in the modern world: consumers can
easily see it's bullcrap.
In "David's Bullcr*p Marketing Video" above, I feature a few
surface-level forms of this deceptive practice we've all seen and can
easily point to and laugh at: cheesy stock music, overly fancy
transition filler, businessy-looking icons and generic stock video (the
corporate jargon is just a bonus).
But why do those things bother us? In a word, they're inauthentic. They feel fake - which puts them in a categorically different type of marketing altogether: bullcr*p marketing.
What is bullcr*p marketing?
Here's the definition:
Bullcr*p marketing is the practice of employing disingenuous and manipulative marketing strategies for short-term gain.
Why am I starring out the "a" in "bullcr*p marketing"? It's a bit of a
jest, but also to illustrate that even the term itself isn't fully
transparent, much like the tactics it describes.
Effective marketing doesn't involve grandstanding or
deception, it's authentic messaging targeting the right audience.
Ideally, you're solving a need for someone and offering it to them
directly.
History shows us that trust between business and consumer wins over the short-term benefits of deceitful self-fluff.
Marketing: ruining mass communication since the 1600s
Marketing as a practice has existed since the dawn of man, but scholars tend to agree that mass marketing started with Gutenberg's printing press in 1450.
From there, a pattern arose in which each new form of mass
communication was hijacked by some form of marketing or advertising.
Around the 1600s, paid advertising began in Italy, England, and Germany
across flyers, brochures, and newspaper advertisements. As print became
more scalable, marketing tactics followed.
In London during the 1730s, more than half of the space
in newspapers was devoted to advertising. In 1864, the telegraph was
used for unsolicited spam for the first time. Radio advertising began in
the 1920s, just 20 years after radio itself was invented. It didn't
take long for ads to creep into television (1941), phone calls
(systemized telemarketing in the 1950s), email (the 1970s), and the rest
of the early web (starting in the 1980s).
Finally, we've seen how marketers have dominated social media with
display ads, utilizing influencers, and with branded social profiles in
the last 15 years or so.
Thankfully, we know that despite the proliferation of advertising and
marketing messages in our lives, getting a targeted, relevant message
is a more pleasant experience, especially if it helps solve an immediate
need or want.
Therefore, marketing has gotten better, but only as a consequence of
more faithfully serving the needs of the recipients of its intended
audience. This means authenticity, transparency, and adding value should
be at the top of the list for any marketing strategy. Just blowing hot
smoke won't cut it anymore.
What did they do right? They spoke directly to their target audience,
which was mostly younger users who enjoy video games as a hobby.
Discord HQ identified their audience's main pain point, which was the
need for a simple, easy-to-use voice and chat tool to communicate with
their friends when they played games together.
Their brand voice was fun, punchy, and spoke in plain English.
I got to talk directly to the Discord marketing team at PAX West 2017
(shout out to Zac Citron!) and it turns out every video they made up to
that point was mostly just 2 people - one to do the video direction and
voice over, and the other to do the video editing and graphics. Shows
you how a small but mighty team can help drive impressive growth.
Although their branding has changed significantly since 2020, I will
never forget the initial impression they made, and their success today
can be attributed in part to their authentic, laser-focused marketing
efforts. I even ran a partnered 10,000-member Discord server myself for several years.
How to avoid inauthenticity in marketing
Even though we know it doesn't work long-term, it's easy to get swept
up in marketing nonsense. It's a competitive enterprise and there's a
lot of pressure to be viewed in the best possible light expediently.
Achieving so-called "quick wins" in this area over authenticity can be
tempting. So here's a quick list of how to avoid being inauthentic:
Don't lie. Even the smallest embellishment
should be avoided. There may be short-term positive effects from
deceitfully fluffing up your image, but lies come back to bite
eventually, no matter how practiced you might be.
Don't exploit. As we've seen with keyword
stuffing, link farms, and fake reviews, trying to bend the rules in your
favor inevitably ends with platforms and services penalizing its
abusers (more on this later).
Focus on problem-solving for your target audience.
It should be well understood that a single business, brand, product, or
service can't be all things to all people. If you begin to lose focus
on who you're serving, you start to enter bull territory by casting your
net too wide and saying nothing at all.
Don't virtue signal. One PR tactic is to try
taking a stand on a socio-political issue for public karma. If your
business or brand truly aligns with it, then that can work as a
strategy. However, too often, decisions are made to have a public
stance that doesn't truly reflect the core values of that business or
brand - or worse, it's even inconsistent with how they operate. Anyone
familiar with whatever the particular issue may be can smell virtue
signaling from a mile away.
A history of bullcr*p marketing trends
Old-school marketing methodology doesn't work well in today's world.
Here's a timeline of bullcrap ways marketers have tried to fluff up
their chances to be noticed, which inevitably end in being penalized
(also see: black hat SEO).
The 1990s: Keyword stuffing and invisible text
In the early days of search engines, websites would stuff their pages
full of keywords, often to the point of making the text unreadable, to
boost their visibility in search results. Some even took to using
invisible text or placing white words on a white background to deceive
search engine algorithms. Thankfully, Google's algorithms evolved and
started penalizing these tactics, promoting the idea of high quality content over keyword manipulation.
Early 2000s: Pop-up ads and spam emails
Around the turn of the millennium, the internet was besieged by a torrent of pop-up ads
("Congratulations, you've won!" - does this sound familiar?). These
intrusive messages were seen as a clever way to capture attention, but
they rapidly became one of the most despised forms of advertising.
Similarly, email inboxes were flooded with spam messages, often of
dubious legitimacy. The backlash was significant, leading to legislation
like the CAN-SPAM Act in the U.S. and more sophisticated ad-blocking tools.
Mid-2000s: Link farms and doorway pages
Link farms, which are websites created purely to link to other
websites, and doorway pages, low-quality pages filled with keywords
designed to trick search engines, were other practices that came to
prominence in the mid-2000s. These schemes sought to exploit search
engine algorithms and were ultimately detrimental to the user
experience. Like with earlier tricks, the response from search engines was clear: anyone who used these tactics would be penalized, further emphasizing the importance of genuine, valuable content.
2010s: Fake reviews and clickbait
With the rise of social media and online shopping, the 2010s saw an
increase in fake reviews and clickbait titles. Companies started paying
for positive reviews, while sensationalist headlines or "clickbait"
were used to drive traffic. However, these tactics resulted in
widespread mistrust and dissatisfaction among consumers, forcing
platforms like Facebook and Amazon to crack down on these practices.
2020s: Misleading influencers and "deepfake" advertising
In recent years, influencer marketing has taken off, but it's not immune to deceptive practices.
Some brands have been accused of not marking sponsored content clearly,
while others have used deepfake technology to create misleading
advertisements. Both these tactics have drawn criticism for their lack
of transparency and authenticity. As a response, social media platforms
are developing stricter guidelines to promote clearer advertising.
So, what's next?
While it's difficult to predict exactly what the future holds for
marketing, it's safe to say that authentic, transparent, and targeted
messaging will always outperform gimmicky, misleading tactics. Anything
that compromises a good user experience will likely be penalized.
There's no doubt that companies will have to work harder than ever to
win the trust and loyalty of their customers.
As user adoption continues to climb for AI chatbots, and
sophistication increases in spotting when language learning models are
used in content, it will become easier and easier to spot in the wild.
Don't think copywriters will be out of a job any time soon.
Conclusion
In the modern world of marketing, most attempts to trick the system,
exploit loopholes, or deceive the market are destined to fail. Instead,
the focus should be on creating value for your audience through
relevant, high-quality content that addresses their needs and wants.
Only then can you steer clear of the bullcr*p marketing trends of the
past and ensure your marketing strategy is effective.
Marketing Tips for Content Creators
I'll be writing more on the topic of marketing - specifically for content creators who want to up their online presence game.
If you fit that description, you can subscribe to my newsletter to get new posts sent to your inbox directly.
Topics I'm considering are tips for effective personal branding,
choosing the ideal online username, profile best practices, social
platform-specific tips, and growing your own community, just to name a
few.
Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment with any thoughts. 🙏
As someone that has played (and loved) many of the Sonic the Hedgehog games, it has become quite clear that the quality of Sonic games have deteriorated greatly since its roots. Just look at the mediocre reviews of Sonic Lost World and the pretty miserable scores Sonic Boom has received. What happened, Sonic Team?
However, out of the most unpopular Sonic games (Sonic '06, Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic R) I have to say I don't hate "Modern Sonic" games. Everyone wants Sonic to go back to the sidescrolling 2D game genre. I am a minority legacy Sonic fan, in the sense that I loved many of his 3D adventures and would claim that they're good enough to be numbered among the Sonic 2s and Sonic CDs.
A great example of this would be Sonic Generations. Fantastic game! I find myself playing the 3D levels MUCH more than the 2D ones, but even the 3D zones incorporate elements of the 2D style of gameplay. I feel like if SEGA stuck with this style of genre, their games would do very well. Imagine...Sonic Unleashed minus the werehog levels! The daytime levels in that game were incredible. Why can't we see more of that style in more new Sonic games?
If SEGA would just release a true Sonic Adventure 2 successor...say a, oh I don't know, Sonic Adventure 3 (did you read that, SEGA? Go ahead and go over the bold part a few more times. Sounnddddssss like a good ideeaaaaaaaa, doesn't itttttttttttttt??), that game would sell like hotcakes. Plenty of people feel nostalgia toward the Sonic Adventure series, and let's face it, a more polished version of Sonic '06 could have been really good.
Also, they should actually finish the game and not keep letting it be buggy and not ready for release.
Also, people look to Sonic Heroes as the beginning of the downfall of Sonic, but I loved that game. I also loved Shadow the Hedgehog, and actually played through all of Sonic '06...so maybe I'm not a credible source. Anyone who's done that has got to be a fanboy.
I guess, if you were to think of a way for SEGA to "fix" Sonic, what ideas would you have, readers? You can only combine speed and platforming in a 3D environment in so many ways. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
So TL;DR version: SEGA should make more Sonic Unleashed (DAYTIME levels)/Sonic Generations-styled Sonic games and include elements from the Sonic Adventure story and use an overworld. This would mix the exciting modern Sonic gameplay while incorporating elements of the 2D Sonic games that everyone loves (high-speed platforming) and the storyline from the Adventure games with which people can identify.
It is now the time, I believe, to begin writing about something about which I am passionate: video games.
Gaming. That pastime that I figured I’d grow out of but have instead found myself fondly coming back to. The worlds of Mario, Princess Zelda, Master Chief, Fox McCloud, Samus Aran, Bayonetta, and Sonic the Hedgehog are just too good to pass up.
So here I am, writing about it. I hope you enjoy my thoughts and that you’d want to contribute as well.