In Italy, a famous astrologer asked his friends how their day was going and then extrapolated their insights for all people with the same zodiac sign.
If a Gemini had relationship issues, then all Gemini would have relationship issues that week.
In B2B marketing, we often hear that a specific tactic is required to generate leads, increase revenue by 27%, or lower your CAC by 33%.
Advice is given with no regard for the context in which it’s received, exactly like astrologers do.
Just in the last 10 years:
- 2014 was the year of content marketing
- 2015 was the year of video marketing
- 2016 was the year of influencer marketing and A/R (who played Pokemon Go?!)
- 2017 was the year of mobile marketing optimization
- 2018 was the year of chatbots and conversational marketing
- 2019 was the year of user-generated content
- 2020 was the year of stories and reels
- 2021 was the year of the Metaverse
- 2022 was the year of voice search optimization and Alexa agents
- 2023 – 2024 are the year of AI-generated content
In 2018, we were told that someone, somewhere, made a billion dollars just by installing a chatbot. In 2020, someone generated MQLs by dancing on TikTok.
Every year books are published, experts are summoned to seminars, podcasts, and webinars. They all start singing to the same tune: you can’t miss this new trend, it’s a game-changer. If you wait until the New York Times talks about it, it’s too late!
Some CEOs and CMOs hear about the new thing and, as Captain Ahab on the bridge of his ship, shout, “Hard to starboard!” and start chasing the new dream!
Humans love to take things out of context, try hard to simplify complexity, and have an innate need to believe; right, Dr. Jung?
Guess what?! We’re in the final innings of 2024, and it’s still the year of content marketing, video marketing, and mobile marketing. Some things will never change. There’s no need to chase the new shiny tactic. Even TV ads are still working for some brands.
The reason is simple: marketing is about positioning your product in a way your audience finds valuable. So, wherever your audience is, whatever way they prefer to hear from you, you ought to be there.
Tactics, to work, need to rest on solid strategy foundations, or instead of hitting your targets, you’ll be wasting your marketing budget on expensive, colorful fireworks.
If another company, established under your same zodiac sign of Taurus, does something that seems to be working well for them, don’t assume it will work for you. They live in different contexts (different ICP, products, positioning, etc.), and sometimes, if you really press them, even they are not sure why some things they had tried for years, suddenly started working.
Pssst! In 2025, Neptune will be in the sign of Aries, and it will be the year of Discord marketing. Some people are already raking it in.
