Dec 27, 2023

Digital Marketing for Mortals

Hey reader —

2024 is upon us, and I couldn’t be more excited about GIVING UP.

I’m halfway through Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, and this book’s theme is hitting hard.

What are humans if not time itself? And if we live 4,000 weeks on average, how can we hoard info and obligations as we do and still be functional, fulfilled people?

So, I’m starting Q1 by giving up unrealistic marketing expectations. Engagement rates, search traffic, ticks tocked… it’s all noise that doesn’t move my bottom line.

Here are the only 3 numbers I care about next quarter:

1. Sales calls booked
2. Networking events attended
3. Email subscribers joined

Focusing on 3 controllable inputs dovetails nicely with my last email. Start with a small effort, execute that repeatedly until it’s second nature, and then iterate or swap your lowest-performing effort every 13 weeks. Push a snowball, become an avalanche.

That’s it! This is how we stop drowning in hours of marketing tasks. I call this Pragmatic Iteration, and it works (hence this very newsletter.)

A big caveat here – you gotta admit to being human.

Which means…

• Identifying 3 KPIs that significantly impact your bottom line
• Prioritizing inputs, conceding outputs (how zen)
• Doubling down on 1-3 experiments, no more
• Diligently executing your plan week-to-week
• Kicking the urge to remap mid-quarter
• Being less precious about material production

Wholly embracing the ephemeral nature of marketing and letting go of all of every should isn’t easy. But just like meditation, you’ll strengthen the right marketing “muscles” and reduce the friction that makes weekly tasks a total slog.

You probably have one metric in mind already. Hit reply and tell me about ’em! I’m happy to be your soundboard.

This letter returns in 2 weeks on Thursday mornings going forward. Happy holidays!

— Jamie Sanchez

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