My 10 Marketing Commandments

The other day I was messing around on Instagram and next you thing you know I am on the website of some personal trainer who coaches superstar athletes & famous actors (you know how you can just fall into that Instagram hole...)

Anyway, on his site, he had something in the "About Us" section with his 10 Fitness Commandments, and I love the format. It was so simple and really explained how he thinks. So I thought to myself: hey - I could write something like this for marketing and the stuff that I believe.

Before I started writing a made quick rule because I didn't want this to turn into a big project and I wanted it to TRULY be the first 10 things that came to mind (because I could probably come up with 50 of these), and because the things I could recall the quickest were *probably* the lessons that have hit me the most.

I can't claim to have created any of these things, but they have all been drilled into my head from bosses, mentors, CEOs, managers, and people who inspire the way I do marketing.

So, here's my list of 10 Marketing Commandments. Feel free to share, agree, or disagree in the comments and let me know what YOU would add here.

DG'S 10 MARKETING COMMANDMENTS

1. It’s never too early to start marketing your business/service/new product/whatever. I don’t believe in “stealth mode.” Marketing is too hard. Start now.
2. You must build an audience and do it by creating something that has nothing to do with your product and adds real value to your ideal customers (start a blog, start a podcast, start a YouTube channel, create an event, etc.)
3. You must then own that audience. Do this by building an email list above anything else.
4. Creativity is a competitive advantage. Tools & technology have become a commodity in marketing today. Creative is what wins attention today.
5. Copywriting is everything because if you do it right, copywriting is selling with words (imagine being able to sell without picking up the phone?) Learn how to write great copy or hire someone to do it for you. This is the #1 skill in marketing and 99% of marketers are not good at it. Don’t get caught up in the “be a technical marketer” hype. Learn how to write great copy and you will 10x your career & your business.
6. There’s a story behind everything. Every product, feature, partnership, whatever. Even the boring stuff. Find a way to tell that story and you’re 90% of the way there. People are wired to understand & remember stories. Use this to your advantage.
7. Headlines are everything. 99% of people today just read the headline, and yet most marketers spend one minute writing a headline. Sweat the headlines. Your job is to stop them in their tracks with any headline. But your first headline is never the great one. Write 10 to get the bad ones out of your system, then chip away until you get the great one.
8. It won’t stick unless you NAME IT. Name everything. Your podcast, your user conference, a framework you use, the category you’re trying to create. Whatever it is, it will. not. stick. unless you name it. And PS. Often times the actual name doesn’t matter. Just name it. Pick a name and go. People will remember when it *becomes* not if they like they name or not.
9. You MUST use social proof anytime you are asking for something (a sale, a trial, a demo, an email address, an event ticket, a webinar registration, it doesn’t matter).
10. Don’t do what everyone else is doing. Marketing is a game of attention. You can stack the deck and increase the odds people pay attention to you by finding places where your competitors are not. When they go left, you go right. This applies to everything from channels to campaigns to colors.