Can we just have a conversation?

Idea Riot Studios is my 5th business. I’m either stupid or I can’t quit trying. I’d like to think I just have no quit in me. I’ve been in one business or another since 2003. Yep, this year marks 20 years of trying (failing) and trying again….

There’s some merit in failing forward, I suppose. It never feels good, but you learn, and the one thing I learned in all my roles? Have a fucking conversation.

That’s it. Have a conversation with your customer. Give and receive. You can employ a million ways to measure the result of a conversation, but it’s simple. And it should be simple.

I’ve seen marketing “best practices” change 100 times, and the level of marketing-ese you need to know to be “proficient” keeps rising and changing. Honestly, I’ve been consuming so many articles on how to master marketing best-practices I’m about to puke. I’ve honestly been doubting my own ability to be a 'real marketer'. I wonder if my understanding of SEO is good enough and my ability to hack the algorithm is also good enough. But then I remember myself and shake it off. Tools may change, but people rarely do.

I’m telling the KPIs, LSIs, and whatever other metrics being used to make marketing scientifically viable to go get bent. Marketing works when people buy what you’re selling. The data that puts reason to the result is merely a cherry on top of a great campaign. Or insight into an underperforming campaign…they can’t all be winners.

I love that the technology exists, but I think we are putting it ahead of the thing itself. We require a writer to over-ensure their work with a bevy of skills in metrics and data manipulation tools that lessens the emphasis on whether a writer (or any creative in marketing) can connect to people in a meaningful way.

C’mon folks. Let’s embrace being human with each other. The tools and data science will always greet us with a smile but will eventually become obsolete. The customer never will.

So go play in the sun for God’s sake and quit being so uptight. Put your screen down and find your friends for some shenanigans. Have a conversation about something that matters.

Your friend and fellow rioter,

-Andrea