Gapingvoid creator Hugh MacLeod once observed, “If you talked to people the way advertising talked to people, they’d punch you in the face.”
Hugh shared this insight years before the marketing automation revolution, but the same could be said for many forms of marketing, now more than ever.
Analysts at Demand Gen Report recently revealed that 60% of respondents would give their own Lead Nurturing campaigns a failing grade, a worse score than previous years.
I wonder how much of this failing relates to focusing on the wrong things and emphasizing quantity over quality. Marketing automation sometimes has the feel of an arms race. Every company has access to the same tools and similar prospects. This has resulted in an avalanche of generic semi-personalized communication.
Too often lead nurturing is treated only as a numbers game. Just because it’s now more efficient than ever to reach potential prospects with messaging doesn’t mean that the messaging will cut through.
Companies can’t break through the clutter by adding to it.
Here are a few related cartoons I’ve drawn over the years:
