Let’s rethink marketing for a second.
What if we did away with the notion of bigger, louder and shinier, and started focusing on the things that, y’know, really work?
That’s the concept behind Nick Westergaard’s new book, Get Scrappy, in which he addresses a business problem that, in most cases, is self-inflicted. Great marketing isn’t about having a big ad budget or keeping up with the social network of the week; it’s about working smart with what you have.
“More isn’t always better. Sometimes it’s just more.” – Nick Westergaard
We’ve praised the idea of doing more with less (see: The Art of Tidying Up Your Email List and A Minimalist Marketer’s Guide to Split Testing), but adopting “the scrappy mindset” goes beyond a digital detox.
Read on for key takeaways from our #EmailChat with Nick and how you can start getting scrappy with your marketing:
Better subscribers, smarter campaigns.
Getting scrappy isn’t about cutting corners or dumbing down your marketing. A “scrappy” marketer:
Puts their brain before their budget
Markets like a mousetrap
Sees ideas everywhere
So can email marketers adopt the scrappy mindset?
Rather than focusing on more subscribers and more sends, challenge yourself to attract better subscribers and send smarter campaigns.
Q1. What does "getting scrappy" mean and how does it apply to email marketing? #EmailChat pic.twitter.com/rffet1Jf03
— AWeber (@AWeber) June 30, 2016
A1 #GetScrappy is all about doing more w/less – putting your brains before your budget. This applies to email BIG time #emailchat
— Nick Westergaard (@NickWestergaard) June 30, 2016
A1. It boils down to just finding a way to get something done and not getting hung up on perfect process #EmailChat
— Chris Vasquez (@ClickPop) June 30, 2016
A1. I think of "scrappy" marketing as savvy marketing. It's being creative, efficient and innovative all at the same time. #EmailChat
— Olivia Dello Buono (@oliviadello) June 30, 2016
Authenticity is the key to building a great brand.
What is it that makes a great brand? Think about it for a second.
Is it the messaging? The product? The people?
A great brand is all of these things, and that’s why having strong brand positioning is key to standing out from the competition. In a saturated digital space, what you say is just as important as what you sell.
Q2. Why is it important to have strong brand positioning? #EmailChat pic.twitter.com/6IgnwaqQHi
— AWeber (@AWeber) June 30, 2016
A2 – As media changes constantly, it's important that we still have a strong brand behind the marketing megaphone #emailchat
— Nick Westergaard (@NickWestergaard) June 30, 2016
A2 brand position is how you want ppl to feel and think about your biz, regardless of the platform. It's what makes you unique #emailchat
— Stuart Butler (@stuartbutler) June 30, 2016
A2: Having a strong brand positioning will help you stand out from the crowd. #emailchat
— Express Writers (@ExpWriters) June 30, 2016
Work towards these six scrappy business goals.
According to Get Scrappy, there are six key business objectives that brands should work towards: branding, community building, public relations, market research, customer service and lead generation.
Here’s the caveat: instead of working towards all of the goals, stick to one or two and really own them. Nick recommends creating a map that is SMART:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-related
Q3. What types of business objectives should brands be working toward? #EmailChat pic.twitter.com/K3U0KJNrZ9
— AWeber (@AWeber) June 30, 2016
A3 – You have to ground your marketing w/1 of 6 common objectives. Branding, comm bldg, PR, research, cust svc, sales. #emailchat
— Nick Westergaard (@NickWestergaard) June 30, 2016
A3. @NickWestergaard and I were just talking about the importance of #community. That (along with #leadgen) is a great objective. #EmailChat
— Olivia Dello Buono (@oliviadello) June 30, 2016
A3 quality of the list vs. quantity #emailchat
— Stuart Butler (@stuartbutler) June 30, 2016
Connect your digital dots.
Great content needs a great audience. Scrappy marketers know how to effectively integrate their content marketing and social media to create cohesion for their brand.
And when you add email to the mix, you’ve got yourself the makings of a winning marketing strategy.
Q4. How can social media and content marketing work together? #EmailChat pic.twitter.com/mkmXmX0kVR
— AWeber (@AWeber) June 30, 2016
A4 – Email & social together are like Batman & robin. Email is the digital glue of our online/offline relationships. #emailchat
— Nick Westergaard (@NickWestergaard) June 30, 2016
A4 – I devote a whole chapter to this in #GetScrappy. Connect your digital dots. Find ways to connect email to social. #emailchat
— Nick Westergaard (@NickWestergaard) June 30, 2016
A4. A question after my own . #SocialMedia and #ContentMarketing are what tie your brand touchpoints together. #EmailChat
— Olivia Dello Buono (@oliviadello) June 30, 2016
More content isn’t better. Better content is better.
Simplifying your marketing isn’t necessarily doing less. It’s being more efficient and devoting time to the things that prove most effective.
More shouldn’t always be a goal. When we get caught up in doing everything, we lose track of why we set out to do it in the first place.
Q5. Why is it important to simplify the way we do marketing? #EmailChat pic.twitter.com/cCKDlgDV21
— AWeber (@AWeber) June 30, 2016
In this day and age of MORE content I often tell clients we may not be creating more content. has to be better. #emailchat
— Nick Westergaard (@NickWestergaard) June 30, 2016
A5. I think we get so caught up in doing *everything*, we lose sight on why we're doing it in the first place. #emailchat
— Monica Montesa (@missmontesa) June 30, 2016
A5. We tend to overthink things (as marketers and in general). It's best to start small, collect data, and then scale up. #EmailChat
— Olivia Dello Buono (@oliviadello) June 30, 2016
Go beyond vanity metrics.
Scrappy marketers measure what matters. A big email list, for example, means nothing if your subscribers aren’t opening or clicking through your emails. Rather than focus on the size of your email list, take a look at the number of people who are engaging with your emails.
Is your performance driving you closer to the objectives you set for your business? Always go back to your goal.
Q6. What should we be measuring to determine the effectiveness of our campaigns? #EmailChat pic.twitter.com/6nOeIgXZbq
— AWeber (@AWeber) June 30, 2016
A6 – Remember how we started w/strategy? With a solid objective in place it's easy to measure what matters. #emailchat
— Nick Westergaard (@NickWestergaard) June 30, 2016
A6: Are people opening the emails? If so, are they taking action? #emailchat
— Express Writers (@ExpWriters) June 30, 2016
A6 it's about revenue and customer loyalty. List size & open rates are vanity metrics & often misinterpreted #emailchat
— Stuart Butler (@stuartbutler) June 30, 2016
The whole is more than the sum of its parts.
You could have a killer email marketing campaign, a savvy social media strategy and high-converting content, but if you’re not putting all of the pieces together, the brand experience can fall flat.
In order to have an efficient, successful and scrappy marketing strategy, you need to unify it all.
Q7. How can we create a unified brand experience? #EmailChat pic.twitter.com/6emrBD5tUN
— AWeber (@AWeber) June 30, 2016
A7 – Create a unified brand experience by following the "Atticus Finch school or BrandX" – walk a mile in your cust. shoes. #emailchat
— Nick Westergaard (@NickWestergaard) June 30, 2016
A7 succeed by being authentic. Believe that your brand is making a difference and helping people. #emailchat
— Stuart Butler (@stuartbutler) June 30, 2016
A7. Design & content should be consistent across all customer touch points (email, social, blog etc.) #emailchat
— Monica Montesa (@missmontesa) June 30, 2016
Get Scrappy is available now.
What’s Next?
Join us Thursday, July 14 at 12pm ET for our next #EmailChat with guest host MailCharts. We’ll be talking about email marketing strategies for retail brands.
See you then!