Well said, @adflondon. There are many forms of marketing, and some are better than others. Because this topic comes up so often without any data to back it up, we want to jump in with some stats. https://twitter.com/adflondon/status/1357401824769175553

Advertising:
- You’re 64x more likely to climb Mt Everest than click a banner ad
- The top browser ext is an adblocker; 47% of people use one
- 25% of people viewed ads favourably in 2019, down from ~70% in the 60s
People actively avoid ads, so why bother? https://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2019/03/19/47-percent-of-consumers-are-blocking-ads/?sh=4fa100822037

Paid influencers:
In an Oracle study, 86% of people admitted they didn’t trust paid influencers or bloggers. Consumers want trust to be earned; they see right through paid advertisements.
https://smartercx.com/influencer-marketing-are-influencers-even-influential/

So what type of marketing should we be doing?
To quote David Ogilvy (the greatest marketer who ever lived), “I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information. I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product.”

Content marketing:
- It costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates ~3x more leads
- 70% of people would rather learn about a company from an article/blog post than a traditional ad
- Annual traffic growth is 7.8x higher for CM leaders
https://neilpatel.com/blog/38-content-marketing-stats-that-every-marketer-needs-to-know/

Video marketing:
- A Wyzowl survey shows that ~8/10 users have purchased a piece of software after watching the brand’s video
- 87% of consumers want more video from brands
https://www.convinceandconvert.com/content-marketing/content-marketing-statistics/

Email marketing:
- Every $1 spent on email marketing can return an average of $42
- 81% of small businesses rely on email as their primary customer acquisition channel
https://www.oberlo.com/blog/email-marketing-statistics

Website marketing:
- 75% of consumers judge a company’s credibility based on their website
- ~2/3 of people would rather read beautifully designed content than something expressed plainly
https://www.sweor.com/firstimpressions

Word of mouth marketing:
- 86% of customers trust word-of-mouth reviews and recommendations
- It brings in 5x more sales than paid media
- 74% of consumers identify it as a critical influencer in their purchase decision
https://review42.com/word-of-mouth-marketing-statistics/

The ICON Network does all of these, with varying success. You can demand more, but let’s go beyond step 1:

- For every $92 spent marketing a product, only $1 is spent converting them.

How can we guarantee our efforts lead to more transactions and users?
https://bit.ly/3oNwdtN 

Make products people want to use:

“In the short term, [advertising is] a great way to intro the public to your product, but in the long run, a cash-infused marketing campaign touting less-than-stellar products consumers don't want is destined to fail.”
https://www.engadget.com/2013/11/04/apples-advertising-budget-dwarfed-by-microsoft-and-samsung

“While marketing generates revenue for the next 2 quarters, building a digital application that provides great service will generate revenue for the next 2 years. Creating a great user experience is its own form of marketing.“
https://blog.hubspot.com/agency/ux-vs-marketing-opposites-attract