💌: Psychology + Creators + Martha and Snoop

👋 What’s up everyone, and welcome to this week's new subscribers! We’re back with another week of everything great in marketing this week. If you’re in the USA like myself, I hope you have a great holiday weekend and hope you’re reading this on Tuesday, instead of Sunday. 🇺🇸 🎆

I wrote this issue while listening to Tyler, The Creator’s new album, Call Me If You Get Lost. As a former DJ with roots in Hip-Hop, this was like a trip to the past, with a modern twist. To tie it all in to marketing, his visual rollout in advance of the album was gold.

Here's what happened this week in marketing:

📱 Social Media and Creators

• Twitter user @JayHoovy had an interesting thread about how the creator economy may experience its first downturn soon. One of the key items mentioned is creator burnout — which is becoming a recurring theme the past few months. There are a few other signals included in the roundup. Overall, it’s interesting, considering how much of a boom the creator economy is experiencing. I guess that’s what makes a bubble, a bubble, though.
• YouTube is opening a theater called YouTube Theater (shocking!) in California. The 3 story (!), 227K sq. ft (!!) venue will be designed to host a multitude of events, but designed to be used by creators. If you needed more evidence that the “creator economy” is near its apex, here it is. While we’re on the topic of YouTube, this story of YouTube creator Lisa Nguyen’s growth is inspiring and speaks to the value of bringing others along on your journey to learn something new.
• Facebook launched their newsletter function this week called Bulletin. This is a direct competitor to Substack, the newsletter platform of choice for lots of folks. Personally, I’m not certain that I would be excited about building an audience via Facebook. I can imagine a future where they begin to control the reach of your newsletter via some sport of paid tier. After all, that’s what happened with business pages and organic reach many years ago. 📉
• Related, an antitrust case was dismissed against Facebook this week. The markets saw this as important because Facebook immediately saw a rise in their market cap to the tune of $1T for the first time. Yes, that’s a T. Can I borrow a dollar, Zuck?
• This week, Instagram made it easier to discover Black-owned businesses on the network. US-based businesses will be able to designate themselves as Black-owned, and Instagram users will be able to easily identity those businesses via a label on the profile page.
• In more Instagram news: The head of Instagram says Instagram is no longer a photo sharing app. We’ve mentioned frequently that Reels is a big focus for the app, and now that sentiment is becoming more official. Everyone is coming for TikTok’s crown 👑
• Travel is back in full swing here in the US, and Marriott is pulling out all the stops for modern advertising and the media mix includes TikTok, Snapchat, and more. They’re heavy on social media influencers, which continues to be a successful strategy for brands.
• Speaking of influencers, here’s how you can find Instagram influencers for your next campaign.

🧠 Psychology is marketing

• Time for some quick psychology reading: Let’s learn about The Ikea Effect AKA when people overvalue their creations. The TL;DR is: the more of our work we put into something, the more we value it. It helps us justify our effort and time. If you can involve your customers in the problem-solving process, they might just value you and your business more. Is anyone else terrible at assembling IKEA furniture? I always have leftover parts 😆
• If you run an e-commerce company, and you want to show reviews, here’s a bit of psychology that shows why you should show a 5 star review first. This goes against some advice, which says to list the most recent reviews first. Why? The first review we read about a product has a strong impact on our perceptions of it. One retailer changed up their product review order and sales went up 84%!
• Ok, lots of psychology in this issue. Maybe you’re noticing a common thread about marketing, and that it’s basically just convincing a human to do a thing. Here’s a concept we’re all familiar with: instant gratification. If you sell anything online, it’s almost guaranteed that more people will take you up on an offer of 10% on your current visit vs. 20% on your next purchase. Why? We like things now. And I mean right now! I learned about this via the brilliant Katelyn Bourgin.

📝 SEO, Content, and Email

• Have you ever wanted to learn SEO? Or perhaps broaden your knowledge? Here’s a roadmap to learn SEO that includes free guides and tools.
• Here’s a GREAT study on what types of content become “evergreen” — which is a fancy way of saying it consistently ranks on search engines over time. The TL;DR is, articles focused on “How-To” or lists tend to stay relevant over time. Another takeaway: Podcasts are not very evergreen, who knew? Bookmark this one and give it a read before creating your next blog post.
• This article from the folks over at Really Good Emails details well-designed and effective emails for every step of the customer journey for e-commerce companies. I love a well-designed email 🖼. How to create a Really Good Customer Experience with E-Commerce Automation.
• One thing many businesses face is not knowing which channels to focus their marketing efforts. The best way is to experiment and try different things. What if you’re strapped for money or time (or both!) and can’t spin your wheels deciding where to start? Here’s a handy chart that you can follow to help you determine where to focus, complete with a breakdown of each channel.

🥳 Just For Fun

• This moment between Pharrell Williams and Dave Grohl blew my mind this week. Dave details where the legendary drum intro for “Smells Like Teen Spirit” came from. I won’t spoil it, but even Pharrell was amazed.
• Speaking of musicians, this Bic lighter in-store display featuring Martha Stewart and Snoop is marketing gold, and a testament to the importance of copywriting:

That’s it for another week. I’ve really appreciated getting to know those of you that have been replying to the newsletter. Tell me what you’re up to in the second half of this year and let’s connect!

- Forge / Jordan

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