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By definition, I am a creative marketer and strategist.

I hold workshops, speak at conferences, and consult a number of companies, startups, and executives on both their personal brand’s and business’s creative marketing strategy.

But I am not a creative marketer.

In fact, in every single one of my talks, whenever I speak on a podcast, anytime I’m introduced to a new prospective client, I say very clearly, “I am an artist first, and a marketer as a result. I’m going to share with you what I had to learn first-hand for myself.”

Truth be told, I would take offense to anyone who introduced me first as a marketer. That would be like calling a chef a bus boy with a fancy hat.

I got my start in the world of marketing for one reason and one reason only: I graduated from college with a degree in creative writing and wanted to know how to build a career as a writer. My teachers were little help, telling me to print my short stories off in the library, place them in a large yellow envelope, and then ship them to a publishing house — only to then wait for three to six months for a reply, by mail.

…Yes, by physical mail. As in that thing I have never paid attention to ever in my Millennial existence.

I graduated college being told that my bright future would be nothing more than a solemn sunrise pouring in through the window of whatever coffee shop was paying me slightly above minimum wage.

My last semester of college, I applied for a free internship as a copywriter at a local creative marketing agency, where I eventually worked for four years studying the art of marketing. I saw the whole thing as a worthwhile investment. Sure, the work appealed to the strategy side of my brain (the same part that helped me become one of the highest ranked World of Warcraft players in North America as a teenager). But the whole experience was a purposeful move on the chessboard for me to learn what I needed to learn in order to get my writing in front of potential readers.

At the end of 2016, right after leaving my 9–5, I was included on a Forbes list as 1 of 25 marketing influencers to watch in 2017.

Why?

I self-published my first book and reached #2 in two separate categories on Amazon in the first 24 hours; I was named a Top Writer on Quora for the 3rd year in a row; I’ve written over 50 viral articles online (anywhere from 100k to 1M+ views each), and I am a ghostwriter for a number of high profile serial entrepreneurs, influencers, and executives.

In short: I took a craft just about every single person in my life told me was dying, and through “creative marketing” I made writing my career.

Dear Creative Marketers, you have no idea what a “creative marketing strategy” even looks like.

Do you know how many people call themselves marketing influencers?

A lot.

Too many to count, actually.

Because apparently the prerequisite for being a “creative marketer” is the human capacity for tweeting a poorly lit photo of a cup of coffee with the hashtag #entrepreneurlife. Or maybe it’s downloading a free graphic design app and putting a cliché quote on a yellow background, framing it with a rectangle to make it more “creative.” Or maybe it’s just as simple as listing off a bunch of meaningless titles in your bio — a bio that, to anyone who knows what they’re doing, screams incompetency.

You aren’t creative.

You’re noise.

What does “creative marketing” actually mean?

Ask ten different people what “creativity” means and you’ll get ten different answers. It’s one of the most ethereal words in the dictionary.

Combine that with the fickleness of the word “marketing” and you might as well be trying to define Jello. It’s squishy but light; you can chew it but not really; it’s slimy but not like Pepto-Bismol; etc.

Creative marketing has absolutely nothing to do with platforms, content types, color schemes, mediums, or truthfully any of the things the entire industry spends all its breath debating. Creative marketing isn’t video. Creative marketing isn’t a blog. Creative marketing isn’t that ridiculous phrase, “Let’s make something go viral.”

You can’t even make a worthwhile Instagram post.

How are you going to make something to viral?

If you want to be creative, define creativity like this:

Let’s get to the point.

Creativity is something that makes you stop.

Creativity is something that makes you pause, think, and take notice — despite eight million other blinks and flashes and buzzes and notifications popping up around you.

Creativity is something that resonates. Something that, for a brief moment, makes you feel understood.

Which means, at its root, creativity is honesty.

Do you know how many people say that? “We tell human stories.” Yeah, you and every other firm out there. “We speak to the heart of your customer.” Sure you do, with that stock image and that Facebook ad copy written by a communications intern. “We design around the emotions of your target user.” Yup, that goes right out the window as soon as the clie
Jul 29th 2019 02:04