How to Use Marketing Quotes to Inspire and Catalyse Action

Posts which include quotes are amongst the most shared on social media. Everyone seems to love them. This is because they are short, simple and often inspiring. They also usually fit conveniently into the 140 word limit of Twitter posts.

C³Centricity is no exception; our marketing quote posts are always the most popular, year after year. In fact it has become something of a tradition to share a post of the recent and most inspiring marketing quotes during the Summer and Winter vacation breaks.

Here are some we have found recently and love. As usual, we also add our ideas on how they can inspire action in your own organization. We know you will love them too, as you can add them to presentations and reports to inspire and catalyse needed actions and changes.

“If your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough.”(>>Tweet this<<)

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, 24th & current President of Liberia 

IDEA: If we don’t aim for the stars, we might just end up with a handful of dirt! Customers want to believe that you can bring them the best experience they can get for the price they are willing to invest. Remember it’s value not cost that really counts. With consumers quickly sharing their experiences online these days, the true value of your products and services is known almost immediately after launch. Make sure yours are worth it, and why not even a little more?

“Marketing used to be about making a myth and telling it. Now it’s about telling a truth and sharing it.” (>>Tweet this<<)

Marc Mathieu, Global SVP of Marketing at Unilever.

IDEA: It is almost impossible to pretend to be what you are not. As mentioned above, customers share their opinions – quickly – so be the best you can be and proud of it. Aim to go beyond satisfaction to customer delight. Read more about this concept in “The New Marketing Challenge“.

“Increasingly, the mass marketing is turning into a mass of niches.” (>>Tweet this<<)

Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of Wired

IDEA: Gone are the days of mass marketing. Customers today expect you to understand and speak to them as individuals. This can only be achieved through a deep understanding or their needs, desires and hopefully dreams as well. Use the 4W™ Template and watch the video series about this topic – both available for download in the members area – to ensure you are going deep enough.

“Marketing is telling the world you’re a rock star. Content marketing is showing the world you are one.”

Robert Rose, Chief Strategy Officer for the Content Marketing Institute

IDEA: Customers aren’t listening as they used to. There is so much “noise” today that they turn off to anything that is not  useful, interesting and relevant to them personally. Make sure you’re sharing what the customer wants to hear and not (just) what you want to tell them.

“Your website is your greatest asset. More people view your webpages than anything else.” (>>Tweet this<<)

Amanda Sibley, Campaign Manager at Hubspot

IDEA: Do you spend as much on improving your web pages as you do on your advertising testing? If not, you’re probably wasting your online spend, or most of it. Eye-tracking linked to facial coding for emotional analysis, will quickly tell you what needs to be changed, in all your communication platforms.

“What you prefer or what your designer prefers doesn’t matter if it’s not getting you conversions.” 

Naomi Niles, Brand Strategist

IDEA: Apologies to the C-Suite, but your ideas don’t matter that much anymore. OK you still get to approve the budgets, but think customer first when reviewing product marketing, concepts and communications, rather than expressing purely your own opinion, please.

“The key ingredient to a better content experience is relevance.” (>>Tweet this<<)

Jason Miller, Senior Content Marketing Manager at LinkedIn

IDEA: Just because it’s worked for another brand, doesn’t mean it will work for yours. Start with your customers; is it relevant for them? If it is publish; if it’s not, rework it or forget it! Despite what many online articles may lead you to believe, not everyone wants to watch babies or cats all day long, unless you’re following Gerber or Friskies.

“We need to stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in.”

Craig Davis, former Chief Creative Officer at J. Walter Thompson.

IDEA: Listening is the new skill that marketers need to learn – quickly! No longer can you talk to customers, they now talk to you and they expect you to listen – really hard!

“If your stories are all about your products and services, that’s not storytelling. It’s a brochure. Give yourself permission to make the story bigger.”

Jay Baer, Speaker & Author

IDEA: Make the customer the hero of your story and not your product or service. We all dream of being a hero, so why not grant it if you can? This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t speak about what you have to offer, of course not. Rather, you should show how your product or service fits into the lives of your customers and makes them easier, simpler or more enjoyable. Remember too, that showing is better than telling. (>>Tweet this<<)

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about.” (>>Tweet this<<)

Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the US.

IDEA: There is so much information out there, that customers have (too much) choice as to who and what to believe. Make sure you are that one – every time!  It’s customer value that counts, not what the value is to you, to share your information with your customers.

“Content builds relationships. Relationships are built on trust. Trust drives revenue.”

Andrew Davis, Author of Brandscaping

IDEA: Even if the world has and continues to change, it remains built on trust. We spend money on products and services that we trust will deliver the experience for which we are looking. Your content  should provide the reason to believe and help build that trust.

These are some of our favourite marketing quotes of the moment. You will notice that many refer to social media this time. We believe that advertising and customer connection has reached a tipping point, where mass messaging is replaced by relevant, useful information that is also time relevant. Have we missed your favourite? If so, please add below.

This post includes images from Denyse’s first book Winning Customer Centricity. You can buy it in Hardback, Paperback or EBook format in the members area, where you will usually find a discount code. It is also available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBook and all good bookstores. If you prefer an Audiobook version, or even integrated with Kindle with Amazon’s new Whispersync service, you’ll have to be patient a little longer.

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