1.
The Paradox of
Exceptional Marketing
Rand Fishkin | Individual Contributor | Moz

2.
Download:
bit.ly/mozparadox

3.
Why is the Night Sky So Quiet?

4.
The mathematical
odds of Earth being
the only life-bearing
planet in the galaxy
are exceptionally
low.
Milky Way Galaxy:
200-400B Stars
~100B Planets
~11B Earth-like Planets
Orbiting Sun-like Stars
SOURCE:
Planetary Habitability Laboratory

5.
13.8 BILLION YRS AGO
If life can form on other planets
(or if meteors/ comets can pass
life between planets), there are
millions of life-bearing
candidates.

6.
Two Possibilities:
1) We’re alone (for now)
2) We’re unable to perceive whomever else is out there
(and they’ve decided to ignore us)

7.
Type III
Civilization
A civilization colonizing enough of the galaxy to
be perceptible to us here on Earth doesn’t take
long on a cosmic time scale.

8.
If any such civilization existed in the last 13 Billion
years (and their wave emissions lasted long
enough), we could perceive them today.

9.
Something must be filtering out any life that
could colonize the galaxy

10.
The Great Filter
Commonly achieved evolutionary leaps
The Great Filter
An evolutionary leap that no
civilization has passed (yet?).
Type III
Civilization
Species
Origin

11.
Maybe We’re the First?

12.
Maybe We’re Extremely Rare?

13.
Or, Maybe, We’re F#@%d

14.
Fermi’s Paradox

15.
It is no good to try to
stop knowledge from
going forward.
Ignorance is never
better than
knowledge.
-Enrico Fermi (1901-1954)

16.
To Learn More Read: Wait But Why – The Fermi Paradox

17.
A Similar Paradox Exists in the
Web Marketing World

18.
The Average New Startup Won’t Last 2 Years
source

19.
The Web is Huge
200+ Million Active Websites

20.
Most People Will Only Ever Visit 200-2,000 (1-10 in a Million)

21.
The Millions of Search Results Beyond Page One
Are Practically Invisible

22.
Recent Data Suggests Searchers Are Less Biased By
Position #1, But As Unlikely As Ever to Visit Page 2+

23.
Nearly Every Web-Connected Human Adopted
Social Networking in Its First 7 Years of Existence

24.
But standing out in the ever-increasing stream of social sharing is
an enormous challenge.

25.
Avg Brand Engagement Rate
4.21%
0.073%
0.069%
0.035%
Data Via Forrester Research

26.
There are ~100X as many non-spam emails sent
each day as there are Facebook messages and posts

27.
Data Via Mailchimp’s Benchmarks

28.
5.3 Trillion display and retargeting ads are served annually: 1,700
per Internet user per month.

29.
In North America, less than 1 in 10,000 ad views result in a click

30.
Being Signal, Rather Than Noise,
Is An Immense Marketing Challenge

31.
Our Job: Take Companies
from
INVISIBLE KNOWN & LOVED

32.
But, those immense marketing challenges
stand in our path
Us

33.
We Need to Identify, Understand, and Break Through These Filters if
We’re to Create Lasting Companies & Great Marketing

34.
Six of Marketing’s Great Filters
AUDIENCE
COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGE
COST
SERENDIPITY FLYWHEEL
MESSAGE

35.
Ability to Reach the Right Audience

36.
Eric couldn’t have been
more literal!
Tip #1: If You Have Great Customers Today, Find Ways to
ID & Target Their Clones

37.
Long before anyone
searches for this
They search for this
Tip #2: Know What Your Audience Does Before They
Search For You/Your Solution

38.
Even one person passionate
about the service can get it in
front of many others
Tip #3: Even a Small Element of Virality is Worth Repeated
Investment and Testing

39.
Mark was among the first to create a comprehensive guide to
Ello. Timing + content = domination.
Tip #4: Early Adoption Gives an Unfair Advantage

40.
Crafting a Message that Resonates

41.
Tip #1: My Best Content and Stories Always Resonated
Offline Before I Made Them Online.

42.
If you know that this headline works better, change
your page title and social shares, too!
Tip #2: Apply The CRO You Learn in Paid Media to Your
Inbound Efforts

43.
Tip #3: Consistency of Message Matters. Consistency of
Format is Boring.

44.
Tip #4: Powerful Messages Are Simple

45.
Tip #4: Powerful Messages Are Simple

46.
Tip #4: Powerful Messages Are Simple

47.
Fitbit isn’t selling “what,”
they’re selling “why.”
Tip #5: Promoting Your Self/Company is Hard. Promoting a
Cause/Mission is Far Easier.

48.
Cost of Customer Acquisition

49.
Paid Marketing Spend
+
All Marketing Salaries
+
All Marketing T&E
+
All Brand-Focused Spend
Sales Spend
+
All Marketing Tech Costs
+
All Sales Salaries
+
All Sales T&E
+
Deal-Closing Spend
+
All Sales Tech Costs
Tip #1: Break Out Costs of Marketing vs. Sales

50.
Trying to build
competence here early
is far easier than
building it after your
paid marketing
machine is running.
Tip #2: Spend Early in Unpaid Marketing Channels

51.
Tip #3: Measure Acquisition Channels by CLTV
(not just conversion rate)

52.
A free trial may initially show worse converting
customers than a demo, but if you follow up w/
right-looking trialers, you can drastically improve
close rates & CLTV
Tip #4: If Possible, Enable Customer Qualification
that Scales Without Salespeople

53.
Enabling Serendipity

54.
Phone Call
Dinner
Conference
Volunteering
Coffee
Email Reply
Things You “Really Don’t Have Time For”
Tip #1: Increase the Potential Vectors of Exposure

55.
And that’s probably why the
Batman won’t show up
Tip #2: Things You Hate Probably Won’t Bring Serendipity

56.
Fullcontact FTW!
Tip #3: Know Something About People Before You Interact

57.
A Story: Some Recent Serendipity

58.
Find Your Competitive Advantage

59.
Tip #1:

60.
“We could make a better
version of that”
“We can do something 10X
better than any of these”
Tip #2: Consistently Ask “Could We Do That 10X Better?”

61.
Strengths Weaknesses
Facebook Video Social Ads LinkedIn
Twitter
Google+
Trade Show Booths
Spending time
getting up to speed
on these may be a
SEO Retargeting
PPC
net loss.
Content Community
Email
Affiliate
Display
Partnerships
Whitepapers
Content/Native Ads
Tip #3: Don’t Get Bogged Down By Your Weaknesses

62.
Strengths Weaknesses
Facebook Video Social Ads LinkedIn
Twitter
Google+
Trade Show Booths
Hitting cruise control on
SEO Retargeting
PPC
Content Community
Email
Affiliate
these, rather than
pressing an advantage
could seriously hurt, too.
Display
Partnerships
Whitepapers
Content/Native Ads
Tip #4: Don’t Get Complacent About Your Strengths

63.
A Flywheel That Scales Without Friction

64.
Get links Grow authority
Grow network Rank for slightly
Amplify
Publish
more competitive
terms & phrases
Earn search
traffic

65.
Plan for a traffic graph like this
and you’re doomed.
Tip #1: Anticipate the First Few Revolutions of Any Marketing
Flywheel to Be Insanely Challenging

66.
This is much more realistic.
(via Crain’s Detroit)
Tip #1: Anticipate the First Few Revolutions of Any Marketing
Flywheel to Be Insanely Challenging

67.
Get links Grow authority
Grow network Rank for slightly
Amplify
Publish
more competitive
terms & phrases
Earn search
traffic
Our social efforts never grow our
audience… that’s what’s missing.
Tip #2: Relentlessly Search for Your Flywheel’s Friction

68.
Because Moz has had a lot of
success driving organic traffic,
re-targeting is a huge
additional force on our
flywheel
Tip #3: Once a Flywheel is Moving, Any Additional Force Pushes it
Faster – Leverage Those Forces!

69.
There’s
Another
Possibility

70.
There is a Type III Civilization, But
They’re Not Friendly.
Type III
Civilization
The Great Culling
To prevent competition, a civilization may be
killing off any who make it too far.
Species
Origin

71.
“(Messaging extraterrestrials is)
deeply unwise and immature…
The newest children in a strange
and uncertain cosmos should listen
quietly for a long time, patiently
learning about the universe and
comparing notes, before shouting
into an unknown jungle that we do
not understand.”
- Carl Sagan (source), 1934-1996

72.
The 800lb gorilla competitors do not, however,
appear to be the great filters in our world.
Source
Competitors: 19%
Competitors beating you in your own
marketing channels: <19%

73.
Marketing (especially
through inbound
channels) appears to
be a rarely contested
and, thus, uniquely
powerful way to build a
competitive advantage
and barrier to entry.

74.
The Paradox of
Exceptional Marketing
Rand Fishkin | Individual Contributor | Moz