In The Headlights: September 16, 2020 Issue

[oldnews]

Are you testing enough, bad surveys, overused words…

In The Headlights

Can you help answer one question about livestreamed video? Thanks – it’ll take 60 seconds or less >

Are you testing enough?

No, not a direct reference to the big picture events happening in the world, but specific to your marketing. Are you testing all your assumptions? Is what was true, still true?

We’ve ramped up our testing substantially and very recently started testing even the most basic assumptions and the way we do things. For example, last week, we split-test who our 1-Question Survey email came from – Katie or Chris. The previous week, In the Headlights tested whether we include a preview line or not in our newsletter.

What we’re finding is that our audience’s behaviors continue to change, and we need to continue adapting to those changes. We – and many others – have been saying that everything, every piece of data, every theory, every “rule” is on the table for testing.

What should you be testing? Here’s a short list of things you could be testing for free right now:

  • Emails: subject lines, senders, formats, content using your email software
  • Web pages: layout, copy, UI using Google Optimize
  • Social: days, times, content, calls to action using your social posting software
  • Sales: pitch contents, workflows, nurturing using your marketing automation software

None of these things require any additional purchases above and beyond the software you’re already using. What’s missing is a commitment from your organization to make time for testing, and time for analyzing the results.

What kind of difference will it make? On one test, we found adding the preview line above resulted in about 2% more opens. When your mailing lists are in the tens or hundreds of thousands of people, 2% is a big deal. In the current environment, every bit of performance you can squeeze from your existing assets is essential – and 2% could make or break a marketing program.

The Bright Idea

In this week’s In-Ear Insights (the @TrustInsights podcast) @katierobbert and @cspenn discuss surveys and the biases that ruin them. Find out what’s likely to go wrong and how to fix it.

Watch the discussion now!

Are you subscribed to our YouTube channel? If not, click/tap here to subscribe!

Rear View Mirror Data

In this week’s Rear View mirror, we visit an old friend: press release cliches and tropes.

Data

Out of 53,000 press releases sampled, we find tons of familiar, well-used words, such as:

  • First: 32,320 uses
  • Leading: 29,934 users
  • Future: 23,176 uses
  • Best: 21,213 uses
  • Platform: 17,543 uses
  • Solution: 10,525 uses

Is it good or bad that news releases use these words so frequently? Some usage is inevitable; if you’re legitimately the first to do something, then it’s hard not to use that word. But more often, what happens is that every release starts to read the same, and suddenly there’s absolutely nothing that differentiates you from every other first, industry-leading, best solution platform on the market.

What are the alternatives? At the very least, try out a tool like RelatedWords.org to find a few different ways of saying the same thing, and more important, question if the news you have to share is actually news or not. If it isn’t, save yourself the time, effort, and money and do an alternative marketing activity instead.

Methodology: Trust Insights used Google’s GDELT News database to identify and sample 53,015 English-language press releases of 5 sentences or more. The dates of extraction are January 1, 2020 – September 15, 2020. The date of study is September 16, 2020. Trust Insights is the sole sponsor of the study and neither gave nor received compensation for data used, beyond applicable service fees to software vendors, and declares no competing interests.

In Case You Missed It
Partner Spotlight

AI Academy for Marketers is an online education platform designed to help marketers understand, pilot, and scale artificial intelligence. Join Katie Robbert, CEO of Trust Insights, and Christopher Penn, Chief Data Scientist of Trust Insights, for three separate courses in the academy:

  • 5 use cases of AI for content marketing
  • Intelligent Attribution Modeling for Marketing
  • Detecting and Mitigating BIAS in Marketing AI

The Academy is designed for manager-level and above marketers, and largely caters to non-technical audiences, meaning you do not need a background in analytics, data science or programming to understand and apply what you learn. One registration gives you unlimited access to all the courses, an invitation to a members-only Slack Instance, and access to new courses every quarter.

Join now and save $100 off registration when you go to TrustInsights.ai/aiacademy and use registration code PENN100 today.

Interested in sponsoring In The Headlights? Contact us for sponsorship options to reach over 10,000 analytically-minded marketers and business professionals every week.

Shiny Objects

Shiny Objects is a roundup of the best content you and others have written and shared in the last week.

Data Science and AI

SEO, Google, and Paid Media

Social Media Marketing

Content Marketing

Get Back To Work

We’ve changed things up in Get Back To Work, and we’re looking at the top 310 metro areas in the United States by population. This will give you a much better sense of what the overall market looks like, and will cover companies hiring in multiple locations. Want the entire, raw list? Join our Slack group!

What do you do with this information?

By looking at this data, you’ll see what the most popular titles are; use any of the major job/career sites to ensure your resume/CV/LinkedIn profile matches keywords and phrases for those titles. For companies, search job sites for those companies specifically to see all the open positions and apply for them.

You can also hit up LinkedIn and see who you know at companies listed, and see if your connections have any inside tips on hiring.

Top Marketing Positions by Count, Manager and Above

  • Marketing Manager : 524 open positions
  • Digital Marketing Manager : 278 open positions
  • Social Media Manager : 212 open positions
  • Account Manager : 183 open positions
  • Director of Marketing : 155 open positions
  • Marketing Director : 145 open positions
  • Project Manager : 127 open positions
  • Product Manager : 97 open positions
  • Program Manager : 81 open positions
  • Product Marketing Manager : 80 open positions

Top Marketing Hiring Companies by Count, Manager and Above

  • Amazon.com Services LLC : 174 open positions
  • Pearson : 131 open positions
  • Google : 111 open positions
  • Thermo Fisher Scientific : 86 open positions
  • Amazon Web Services, Inc. : 70 open positions
  • Mattel : 67 open positions
  • Anthem : 62 open positions
  • Northrop Grumman : 62 open positions
  • JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. : 60 open positions
  • Verizon : 52 open positions

Top Locations of Hiring Companies by Count, Manager and Above

  • New York, NY : 635 open positions
  • San Francisco, CA : 424 open positions
  • Austin, TX : 423 open positions
  • Chicago, IL : 367 open positions
  • Seattle, WA : 338 open positions
  • Atlanta, GA : 293 open positions
  • Boston, MA : 270 open positions
  • Los Angeles, CA : 268 open positions
  • Remote, NA : 257 open positions
  • San Diego, CA : 240 open positions

Methodology: Trust Insights uses the Indeed.com API to extract open positions from a geographic area focused on marketing analytics, marketing, social media, data science, machine learning, advertising, and public relations, with a filter to screen out the most junior positions.

Our Featured Partners are companies we work with and promote because we love their stuff. If you’ve ever wondered how we do what we do behind the scenes, chances are we use the tools and skills of one of our partners to do it.

Join the Club

Are you a member of our free Slack group, Analytics for Marketers? Join 800+ like-minded marketers who care about data and measuring their success. Membership is free – join today.

Upcoming Events

Where can you find us in person?

  • INBOUND 2020, September 2020, virtual
  • MarTech East, October 2020, virtual
  • MarketingProfs, November 2020, virtual
  • MadConNYC, December 2020, New York City

Going to a conference we should know about? Reach out!

Want some private training at your company? Ask us!

In Your Ears

Would you rather listen to our content? Follow the Trust Insights show, In-Ear Insights in the podcast listening software of your choice:

Stay In Touch

Where do you spend your time online? Chances are, we’re there too, and would enjoy sharing with you. Here’s where we are – see you there?

Required FTC Disclosures

Events with links have purchased sponsorships in this newsletter and as a result, Trust Insights receives financial compensation for promoting them.

Trust Insights maintains business partnerships with companies including, but not limited to, IBM, Talkwalker, Zignal Labs, Agorapulse, and others. All Featured Partners are affiliate links for which we receive financial compensation. While links shared from partners are not explicit endorsements, nor do they directly financially benefit Trust Insights, a commercial relationship exists for which we may receive indirect financial benefit.

Conclusion

Thanks for subscribing and supporting us. Let us know if you want to see something different or have any feedback for us!


Need help with your marketing AI and analytics?

You might also enjoy:

Get unique data, analysis, and perspectives on analytics, insights, machine learning, marketing, and AI in the weekly Trust Insights newsletter, INBOX INSIGHTS. Subscribe now for free; new issues every Wednesday!

Click here to subscribe now »

Want to learn more about data, analytics, and insights? Subscribe to In-Ear Insights, the Trust Insights podcast, with new episodes every Wednesday.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This