Advertising and Brands: Details matter, know when to quit, …be nice (episode #27)

“Details matter.” That is a key lesson from our latest guest on How I Made It In Marketing. In fairness, it’s probably not a breakthrough new idea to you, right?

But what she said next is the beauty (in my biased opinion) of what we do on the podcast – she told the story of how she lived that lesson with a fascinating example involving Stevie Wonder.

Everybody knows “details matter,” but as Stephen Covey said, “What is common sense isn’t common practice.” That’s why the stories our guest tell can be so helpful – it can give you the information and inspiration to turn these lessons into common practice in your career.

Here’s what her story did for me… while I will never create a VH1 award for Stevie Wonder, her story inspired me to think where I can be more detail oriented as a writer.

And my mind landed on a test I saw Flint McGlaughlin teach in Effective Headlines: How to write the first 4 words for maximum conversion (https://meclabs.com/course/sessions/effective-headlines/), where he showed how dropping four words from a headline lead to an 88% increase in conversion.

I hope our latest guest sparks ways for you to connect the dots in your daily work and overall career. Dr. Mara Einstein is Professor of Media Studies at Queens College (https://www.qc.cuny.edu/), part of the City University of New York system, where she recently launched a program in advertising.

Dr. Einstein has written six books, most recently Black Ops Advertising: Native ads, content marketing, and the covert world of the digital sell (https://www.orbooks.com/catalog/black-ops-advertising-by-mara-einstein/). At the time of our conversation, she was deep into researching her latest book (on multi-level marketing) having just attending a conference hosted by Bill Keep.

Some lessons from Dr. Einstein that emerged in our discussion:

• Always vet the talent.
• Tell the interns that when they aren't doing the job, you’re not going to do them any favors.
• Details matter.
• ...Be nice.
• Know when to quit.
• Help push people to believe they can do more than they think they can.
• There are people who have your back.

Related content mentioned in this episode

Hospitality Marketing: Have a Gumby attitude to any launch (podcast episode #20)(https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/hospitality) – Discussion with Chad Brown, Chief Marketing Officer, JC Hospitality (owner and property manager of Virgin Hotels Las Vegas)

Evidence-based Marketing: This blog post will not solve your most pressing marketing challenges…yet (https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/research-and-measurement/marketin-challenges-survey/)

Content Marketing: Harvard Business School’s Michael Norton discusses surprising consumer behavior research (https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/marketing/content-marketing-consumer-behavior-research/)

About this podcast

This podcast is not about marketing – it is about the marketer. It draws its inspiration from the Flint McGlaughlin quote, “The key to transformative marketing is a transformed marketer” from the

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