Our favorite headlines this week: May 22-26

The first long weekend of the year is finally here! (Well, almost…)

We’re happy to help you make the transition from work mode to vacation mode with Our Favorite Headlines from this week. That is, if you haven’t already done so…

If you have already checked out, maybe bookmark this one for next Tuesday – some of the articles in our roundup this week may be a bit controversial. Primarily the first, which calls out some of our favorite marketing influencers on ideas that have dominated the marketing world for years, despite not being totally accurate.

Whether you read today or after your long weekend, each of the following articles are important reads for anyone in the marketing, business, or communications field. Check them out!

The biggest lies that digital marketers tell themselves

The Takeaway: This one can be a painful read for many, but it’s a great follow-up to the Mark Ritson column we featured two weeks ago, called I Long for the Death of Marketing Clichés. The connection? Both Ritson and Samuel Scott, the man behind this column, seem to agree that marketing hasn’t changed as dramatically as we’ve all been led to believe.

Recall this key takeaway from our last roundup: “Nothing is dying, just evolving.” This holds true for what we now call traditional advertising – it hasn’t died, it just moved to a new home. And it may look a little different. (Like it’s in witness protection?)

Ultimately, our favorite part of Scott’s column is his prescription of what the marketing community must do to overcome the lies we tend to tell ourselves. He says:

“We need to be strategic and channel-neutral in a world of integrated online and offline marketing. There is no ‘offline marketing’ and ‘digital marketing’. There is only marketing.”

3 Reasons Paper Lives On

The Takeaway: Do you see the common thread yet? We’ll own up to something here: we do tend to focus on print marketing, since our background is in mail. BUT that doesn’t mean we will ever deny the value of digital; that is, in cases where a digital approach will work best.

The point we hope you’ll take away from this article isn’t that print works best – but that the best marketing campaigns will use a combination of print and digital to get their message in front of their audience. Use direct mail as an outbound tactic to drive people to your website or social media presence. Then make sure your online presence is optimized to turn them into customers.

Five Ways Brands Are Screwing Up Customer Engagement: How You Can Get It Right

The Takeaway: We tend to spend a lot of time talking about how to bring new customers in for your business, but not so much time talking about the people who have already purchased something from you. And that seems to be the case with a lot of businesses – customer relations/retention often fall by the wayside. But loyal, engaged customers can often prove more valuable (and less expensive) than new recruits. So how do you stop ignoring them? This article from Brandon Carter of MarketingProfs is a great start!

What I learned from Warren Buffett, Zuckerberg, and 26 Detroit kids: Part 1

The Takeaway: We must say, this post is so packed with valuable learnings, it’s hard to imagine what Part 2 of the series will hold – but we’re excited to find out. Author Eric Thomas shares a very human view of two larger-than-life figures, and his learnings from them are invaluable for professionals at all levels.