No Sh*t vs. Oh Sh*t Marketing

I recently gave a talk on this topic at HubSpot’s INBOUND conference in Boston, and because of the overwhelmingly positive response, I figured I’d share the concept (as well as my affinity for swearing in front of a large room of mostly strangers) with you here.  

Truth be told, I was reluctant to give the talk at first, as the audience was made up of mostly HubSpot Partners. (I heard of a few non-partners that snuck in, but don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.) 

I told Patrick Shea, channel marketing manager over at HubSpot, “you want me to preach to the converted on how to do inbound marketing?”  

This room had perhaps the highest concentration of top-level inbound practitioners than any other room at the conference. They don’t need to be patronized with advice on how they should be blogging or engaging with their audience on social media.  

“No shit, John,” they’d say. 

I wish I could tell you something far more profound on how the concept for this talk was conceived, but there it is in all its unabashed glory.  

Too many of us read advice on No Shit marketing every day, or even worse, are practicing it. We follow conventional wisdom, or as it’s sometimes disguised – best practices. We see what everyone else is doing, and we do that too. 

If you’re jumping on the bandwagon, just remember that you can’t be steering it.

Here are the main differences between both concepts. 

No Shit Marketing.

You’re blogging. Several times a week even. 

You’re posting to Facebook and Twitter. 

You understand your sales funnel. 

Your marketing and sales teams communicate. 

You have downloadable content, like ebooks. 

You’re sending emails to reengage prospects. 

You have calls-to-action on important pages on your website. 

You know your target audience.

Your homepage features customer testimonials. 

Oh Shit Marketing. 

You’re sitting in on consultation calls (or maybe even running a few yourself) to identify the most common questions and challenges. Your answers happen to come in the form of blog posts. 

You understand the varying behaviors of each social network...

Facebook: What are those closest with me up to?

Twitter: What’s happening right now? What should I know?

LinkedIn: How can I do my job better? 

…and craft your messaging to support them. 

Not only do you know your sales funnel, but you also know how your particular audience behaves within it. You understand your ecosystem. 

Marketing makes connect calls as an exercise for understanding the assets sales needs to close, and sales contributes their unique insights to the company blog. 

You removed the sidebar of your blog in an effort to improve the reader experience and increase conversion rates. (Say what?)

Your premium content is an extension of the most common challenges your audience is having, and as a result, your overall business objectives. All published content (like blog posts) align with these offers. 

You’re sending emails to segments of your audience based on their behaviors and interests, ensuring more personalized communications. 

You have detailed buyer personas, which are live documents updated by marketing and sales based on data and customer/prospect communications.

Your customer testimonials are strategically placed on the appropriate pages and stages of the buyer’s journey. You even feature customer photos, names, and even social links so prospects can reach out to them. 

Oh Shit marketing is more about brains over tactics. It’s actions over tools. It’s fearless. Different. It breaks things and puts them back together, only this time better. Because that’s what great marketing is. There is no formula. If you’re following one, then no shit, so is someone or everyone else. 

How will you be different? 

P.S. Many have asked, so here are the slides from my INBOUND '14 presentation.