6 Pieces of Advice from Marketing’s Leading Ladies
Today is a little different. For the past month, the crew here at Carney has been working on a project that is meant to help women in marketing push past the limitations and excel in their careers.
We reached out to women from all levels of the marketing world. From those who already have influencer status to those who are still working their way up.
Here are a few questions we asked and a few golden snippets of what Ann Handley, Yasmin Marinaro-Basone, Jennie Akins, and Anna Sullivan had to say.
Was there a key person/book/podcast that made an impact on your career?
- Anna Sullivan – I really love reading or listening to people who talk more about the entrepreneurial side or to the actual brand side – so I can understand pain points and try to brainstorm possible marketing solutions. If I had to answer, I have about three podcasts that I really love: Gary Vee, Startup, and Taste Radio.
What has been your greatest hardship and how did you overcome it?
- Ann Handley – Overcoming vulnerability. It’s scary to put your ideas out there because it opens you up to criticism. People won’t like what you have to say. “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are,” to quote E.E. Cummings. For me, it took years to truly tap into that courage and let it flow – sluggishly at first, then more freely.
How do you stay on top of the ever-changing digital world of marketing?
- Yasmin Marinaro-Basone – I subscribe to a LOT of industry newsletters and I make time to catch up with them a few times a week. I stay close to developments in topics beyond marketing, especially technology, data science, and psychology. The essence of successful digital marketing is a brilliant patchwork of content, tech, data, and behavioral science.
What experience do you think every marketer should have?
- Jennie Akins – The world of marketing has evolved, and you can’t just go on gut anymore. If you have data to back-up your opinions and ideas, you will not only find it easier to gain alignment with your colleagues and leadership, but it will set you up with the foundation to become a data-driven marketer, which is a well sought-after skill today.
So, so, so much more insight from these crazy smart women ↓
A New Facebook Guide to Creating Video and The Shift to Instagram Stories Ads
Things are getting meta today. We’re writing about a podcast, in which the hosts talk about things that were written by other marketers. This is seriously like third level marketing-inception.
Have we gone too deep? Nah, we don’t think so. People just consume content in all sorts of ways.
Anyway, back to today’s topic. Buffer’s Hailley Griffis and her co-host are talking about Facebook video, why brands are shifting ad budgets to Instagram, and a few interesting notes about YouTube.
Let’s dive in…
- (00:57) Marketers are noticing less ROI than ever before from Facebook News Feed ads.
- (01:25) There’s so much content competition that ads are started to be shown less often and at a higher cost for the advertiser.
- (02:21) Facebook is looking toward Instagram to help get revenue back on track.
- (02:40) Brands view Instagram as a brand-awareness platform.
- (03:13) IG Stories are the next big frontier for ads.
- (03:53) Users on Instagram are way more engaged than Facebook users.
- (04:28) According to one marketer, CPM on Stories is 4-5x cheaper than traditional Facebook ads.
- (05:48) The latest tricks of Facebook video
- (06:02) Your Facebook videos should focus on brand awareness. Focus on top of the funnel content — entertainment, contests, rewards, etc. — on Facebook
- (07:00) Drive cold audiences to your TOFU video content and then retarget people based off of interaction with your videos.
- (07:45) Humorous video content can drive higher engagement and a lower cost in ads. It’s difficult to master, but it’s worth trying.
- (08:20) Introduce your brand in the first 1-2 seconds.
- (08:57) FB videos should be 6 – 15 seconds.
- (09:40) Relevance Score is the most important thing Buffer looks at for Facebook ads.
- (11:29) Keep mobile viewers in mind when creating your videos.
- (12:42) Switching to YouTube, the average length of top ranking videos on YouTube is over 14-minutes long.
We covered a ton here, but there’s still plenty more to learn from the Buffer crew…
Just Do It: Serena Williams
Is Serena Williams the greatest athlete of all time? No doubt about it in our minds. Let’s run down some stats:
- 80% winning percentage in finals
- 23 singles Grand Slam Titles
- 14 doubles titles
- 2 mixed doubles titles
- And oh yeah…4 Olympic Gold medals.
We could keep going with amazing stats, but you get the point. She is, hands down, the best athlete ever.
So, when you combine the best athlete ever with the Nike’s creative team, you get an ad that will make you want to run through a wall. Seriously, this new spot from Nike is so motivational that you’re gonna want to head to the gym right now and start training for something.
No need for us to ramble any longer, just watch it…
“Careers are a jungle gym, not a ladder.”
Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook & author of Lean In
Ads from the Past
Ads from the PastTrans World Airline’s ad from 1952, “Who says it’s a man’s world?” diverted from the woman’s place is in the kitchen message that ran across many ads up into the 50s, and presented women with the idea of freely traveling and enjoying themselves.
Here are 18 more ads that show the progression of how the portrayal of women has changed in advertising over the decades.