• 0

Marketoonist | Tom Fishburne

Marketoonist is the thought bubble of Tom Fishburne. Marketing cartoons, content marketing with a sense of humor, keynote speaking.

  • Campaigns
  • Speaking
  • About
  • Cartoons
  • Contact
  • Shop
  • Book
  • 0

Intent Signals

November 19, 2023

Intent Signals cartoon
  • Paid licensing options include high resolution download.
  • Presentation $40 Add to Cart
  • Newsletter or Website $125 Add to Cart
  • Corporate Blog/Sponsored Post $60 Add to Cart
  • Looking for other licensing options? click here
  • View Cart
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

One of the mythical holy grails of marketing is to be able to deliver the right message to the right person at the right time.  Easier said than done.

Despite all the focus on customer journeys, we’re still operating in the dark on what customers are actually looking for, much of the time.  

Even the latest marketing tech stack tools and constantly more robust customer data can give us false confidence that we know what people want when they want it.

Some of the disconnect relates to marketing myopia and what I think of as “marketing funnel vision” — treating buyers as if they’re always on a linear transactional path to purchase.  The reality is that potential customers are complex humans who don’t think about brands nearly as much as marketers think they do.

Marketers try to read the tea leaves by collecting and analyzing a dizzying variety of “intent signals” — ranging from overt cues (like filling out a lead generation form to download a white paper) to subtle guesswork, like how long someone lingers on a product page.  

"Work is more fun with framed marketoons on your wall"
Shop Now

Marketing myopia can skew intent signals like a funhouse mirror.  Not all intent signals are created equally.  Many decay quickly (giving an email address one day doesn’t mean you’re in the market a week from now).  And they can be easily misinterpreted when analyzed in a vacuum.  Much of the traditional marketing funnel is a dark funnel and we can’t track most of the customer journey.  There’s a lot marketers won’t be able to see.

AI promises to turbocharge all of this.  But we have to be careful the false confidence that already exists doesn’t get turbocharged as well.  With the same marketing myopia, an AI-powered customer journey may only result in annoying customers more efficiently.

I think we have to approach marketing with humility.  Bad personalization is worse than no personalization.

Here are a few related cartoons I’ve drawn over the years:

the personalization privacy paradox - July 2021

Zero Party Data cartoon
  • Paid licensing options include high resolution download.
  • Presentation $40 Add to Cart
  • Newsletter or Website $125 Add to Cart
  • Corporate Blog/Sponsored Post $60 Add to Cart
  • Looking for other licensing options? click here
  • View Cart
Share
  • Share this Marketoon
    • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
    • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
    • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
| Read Post

Right Person, Right Message, Right Time - October 2017

  • Paid licensing options include high resolution download.
  • Presentation $40 Add to Cart
  • Newsletter or Website $125 Add to Cart
  • Corporate Blog/Sponsored Post $60 Add to Cart
  • Looking for other licensing options? click here
  • View Cart
Share
  • Share this Marketoon
    • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
    • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
    • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
| Read Post

customer journey mapping - April 2016

  • Paid licensing options include high resolution download.
  • Presentation $40 Add to Cart
  • Newsletter or Website $125 Add to Cart
  • Corporate Blog/Sponsored Post $60 Add to Cart
  • Looking for other licensing options? click here
  • View Cart
Share
  • Share this Marketoon
    • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
    • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
    • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
| Read Post

the customer journey - September 2016

  • Paid licensing options include high resolution download.
  • Presentation $40 Add to Cart
  • Newsletter or Website $125 Add to Cart
  • Corporate Blog/Sponsored Post $60 Add to Cart
  • Looking for other licensing options? click here
  • View Cart
Share
  • Share this Marketoon
    • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
    • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
    • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
| Read Post

marketing funnel - January 2015

  • Paid licensing options include high resolution download.
  • Presentation $40 Add to Cart
  • Newsletter or Website $125 Add to Cart
  • Corporate Blog/Sponsored Post $60 Add to Cart
  • Looking for other licensing options? click here
  • View Cart
Share
  • Share this Marketoon
    • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
    • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
    • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
| Read Post

Filed Under: data-driven, marketing

Get a new marketoon each week:

Previous Post Next Post

Break through the Clutter

Break through the Clutter cartoon

Many Hats of the CMO

Hats of the CMO

Browse similar cartoons in: data-driven, marketing

Browse By Category See All Marketoons
  • Paid licensing options include high resolution download.
  • Presentation $40 Add to Cart
  • Newsletter or Website $125 Add to Cart
  • Corporate Blog/Sponsored Post $60 Add to Cart
  • Looking for other licensing options? click here
  • View Cart

Work is more fun with framed marketoons on your wall

Shop Now
Your Ad Ignored Here Book Image

15 years of Marketoonist compiled for your marketing pleasure.

Order Now

About Marketoonist

Marketoonist is the thought bubble of Tom Fishburne a career marketer and cartoonist. Learn More...

Subscribe

Get a new marketoon delivered to your inbox each week.

 

Browse Blog Posts

Most Popular Cartoons Browse Categories

Marketoon Campaigns

contentmarketing

Content marketing with a sense of humor.

Learn More

Keynote Speaking

speakingworkshops

Insightful, funny, and visual keynote talks and workshops.

Book Tom to Speak

Search Blog Posts

Interested? Let’s Talk!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Marketoons

Browse Categories

Get New Cartoons Weekly

About Marketoonist

Tom Fishburne is the Founder and CEO of Marketoonist, a content marketing studio that helps businesses reach their audiences with cartoons.

© 2023 Marketoonist