Curiosity first

“Many who know me say I am also defined by my curiosity and thirst for learning. I buy more books than I can finish. I sign up for more online courses than I can complete. I fundamentally believe that if you are not learning new things, you stop doing great and useful things.”

-Satya Nadella, Email to employees on first day as Microsoft CEO

I’ve interviewed a lot of marketing talent.

I’ve hired a much smaller number.

What differentiates the stars from people who think they want to be marketers is curiosity.

It’s easy to train in the different disciplines, up-skill in a particular area, and progress your career - the hard part is finding people who want to deeply understand how it works and why.

If you want to learn marketing yourself, you don’t need to do it for a job, but you DO need be really interested in small details and seeing the impact that has on what you’re doing.

Here’s some ways you can unpack common problems:

Nobody is replying to my email outreach about partnering with them.

• What time are you sending the emails?
• How long are the emails you’re sending?
• How personalised are they?
• What are you putting in the subject header?
• What are you asking people to do?
• How are you getting their details and do they know who you are?
• What tone are you using and does it fit who you’re contacting?

I set up an offer page - and nobody is clicking through to make a booking.

• Where is the offer page being distributed?
• What does it say?
• What do we want people to do and how are we asking them to do it?
• Is what I’m offering going to appeal to the audience I’m putting it in front of?
• What actions can I take to produce a better outcome?

I can’t get anyone to test my product.

• Have I shown it to enough people?
• What are the people I am showing it doing that shows they’re not interested?
• Is what I’m asking people to unreasonable?
• What’s a way I can make this easier to test?
• What can I do to change this?

All of the above questions arise from having a curious mindset.

The above problems can be frustrating - but curiosity will eventually lead to solutions for all of them.

This does take a lot of humility and self-awareness. I put myself out there all the time and sometimes I think something is really, really good. Do you know what happens next?

Absolutely nothing. Crickets. Nada. Zilch.

It can be disheartening. Yet I know I need to continue the process and checking what I can do better next time to make something I’m putting out there more engaging.

A quick exercise I do before reviewing a marketing challenge, data, or a measurement tool, is a Questions Check.

This involves opening a blank text document, and listing all of the questions I have about the challenge BEFORE looking at any data. This forces me to lead with what I’m asking first, and helps me seek the answers second.

By leading with curiosity first - you’ll always get to a better outcome for next time.