Here we are in December. Yes, it has gone quick and what a year it has been and all those pleasantries. But let’s cut to the important stuff.
To us at Archmon, it has been a great year of growth for us as a business as well as helping our clients grow too. And after all this, it is hard to believe that Back to Basics was published at the start of the year too.
So what’s changed, you may ask? Is Simon releasing a new edition, you may wonder? A sequel, maybe? As much as we would love to, there’s a big reason why there’s no need. And that is this. Marketing literature, on the whole, should be perennial. The fundamentals stay the same- which is what Back to Basics is all about.
Consumers may change- but the fundamentals don’t
Fundamental truths are timeless. Consumer habits are changing continuously- think the shift to online shopping vs actually interacting with people face to face. But that hasn’t changed ‘how’ we advertise, just the ‘where’. Positioning, messaging, good communication, analysing, etc. It is ALL the same. It pays to remember the fundamentals, says Paddy Gilmore. Your proposition, brand appeal and customer experience should always remain the heart of your offering and this can be nuanced (but not overhauled) to your consumers and their changing habits.
The oldest trick in the book- tell a story!
The same principles have been around for decades, regardless of the medium your marketing goes out as. Whether it is a Think Small VW Ad placed in a newspaper in Sepia or the buzz of the latest TV advert where we use the #johnlewischristmasadvert hashtag to talk about it. Two adverts that are seemingly worlds apart on the technology scale hold the same premises.
Adverts need to sell, obviously. But to fulfill a purpose such as selling or raising awareness, you have the chance to tell a story. Storytelling is one of the oldest fundamentals in the book, and is what old and new adverts alike have in common. It links back to one of the key takeaways from Back to Basics: be consistent, have a backstory, and ultimately you will create love, brand fame and profit, and you will be associated with positive or negative images that people will never be able to quantify.
Things are way more predictable than we think
Back to Basics ends with this key outro: things actually don’t change as quickly as we think. There will be slight improvements to the pre-existing ways of doing things. But there is no need to panic. Focus on getting the brilliant basics right- the messaging, the communication, the creative. Don’t get bogged down in worrying about what the future holds- the majority of marketing fundamentals are known-knowns, meaning when there are some known-unknowns, we can confidently work through it.
Next time you pick up a book on marketing (or click on an e-book, hint hint), have a think and see if you spot anything that isn’t relevant anymore. Chances are there won’t be a lot of change.