Nobody gives a shit about your marketing.

Let’s start with something that probably isn’t going to win me any awards for subtlety.

Nobody gives a shit about your marketing. I don’t mean that people don’t care about your business. They might. I don’t mean marketing isn’t important either. It absolutely is. What I mean is that nobody wakes up in the morning hoping to see another beautifully crafted company post, another email campaign or another homepage telling them how passionate a business is about delivering exceptional customer service.

People have their own stuff going on.

They’re thinking about work, money, family, deadlines, what they’re having for tea, the email they forgot to reply to and the 47 other things competing for space in their head.

Then along comes your marketing asking for some of that attention.

That’s the bit I think businesses sometimes forget.

You care about your business more than anybody else does.

And you should. It’s your business.

You’ve probably invested years of your life into it. You know how good your service is, you know how hard your team works and you know why somebody should choose you.

But your potential customer doesn’t know any of that yet.

They might give your website ten seconds. They might see one social post while scrolling through hundreds. They might glance at your branding before immediately comparing you with three competitors.

You don’t automatically get their attention just because you’ve got something worth saying.

You have to earn it.

That’s why I think so much marketing gets this completely backwards. Businesses start with what they want to say, rather than thinking about what the person on the other side actually needs to hear.

There’s a massive difference.

Stop talking about yourself for a minute

Go onto a few business websites and you'll see what I mean.

“We are delighted…”

“We pride ourselves…”

“We are a leading provider…”

“We have over 25 years of experience…”

There’s nothing necessarily wrong with any of those statements. The problem comes when the whole conversation is about the business.

Imagine meeting somebody in a pub and they spend the first ten minutes telling you how brilliant they are.

You’d probably find an excuse to go to the toilet.

Marketing isn't that different.

People aren't really interested in what you do until they understand what it means for them.

That's where the conversation needs to start.

Good marketing should make someone feel understood

This is where I think marketing becomes much more interesting.

Forget algorithms for a second. Forget funnels, reach, impressions and whatever new buzzword LinkedIn has decided we're all supposed to care about this week.

Think about the human being.

What are they worried about? What frustrates them? What are they trying to achieve? What would make their life easier? What would make them trust you?

When somebody lands on your website and thinks, “Bloody hell, that's exactly the problem I've got,” you've achieved something far more valuable than simply getting their attention.

You've created a connection.

And connection is what makes somebody keep reading.

It's what makes them remember you.

It's what eventually makes them pick up the phone.

Maybe we need to care less about marketing

That probably sounds ridiculous coming from someone who works with businesses on websites, design and social media.

But I mean it.

Maybe we need to care a little less about doing marketing and a lot more about understanding people.

Instead of asking, “What should we post this week?”, ask, “What could we say that would actually be useful to somebody?”

Instead of asking, “How do we get more people onto our website?”, ask, “When they arrive, are we giving them a reason to stay?”

And instead of constantly asking how we can sell more, maybe occasionally ask why anybody should care in the first place.

That's a much harder question.

But it's also a far more interesting one.

So take another look at your website, your social media or whatever piece of marketing you're currently working on.

Forget that it's yours for a minute.

Would you stop?

Would you care?

Would you remember it?

Because if the answer is no, doing more of it probably isn't the answer.