5 Inspiring Quotes from Marketing Leaders
ANA events bring together some of the smartest and most-talented marketers in the industry to share insights and best practices that help ANA members get the most out of their own marketing efforts.
Naturally, when ANA members and other top marketers get together, the potential for a great soundbite or two is very high. For this reason, we'll be collecting and sharing the top quotes from ANA events during each month throughout 2023.
Below, you can find the top quotes from ANA speakers for February:
"I was told the web was going to change the world. But, actually, the web has become the mild, mild west. Everything we do [on it] is rote, predictable."
— Phillip Jackson, co-founder of Future Commerce
We love this quote — the "mild, mild west"? Chef's kiss! It came during last month's ANA Email Evolution Conference, and Jackson was criticizing the sea of sameness that exists across web design and particularly with shoppable websites. He argued that by being boring and doing everything safely, brands are losing opportunities to stand out from the competition by offering more memorable experiences. We, for one, would love to see a return to creativity and risk taking within web design.
"People no longer trust ads, but they do trust people."
— Kim Holowiak, brand manager at Nestle DiGiorno
Speaking of the web and in case you haven't heard: Digital advertising is dead. Okay, not really. But it does require a lot more thought and nuance than it did a decade ago. One of the ways around all that annoying thinking and hard work? Having somebody else make the ads for you! That's what DiGiorno did when it decided to launch a comprehensive influencer campaign to connect with gen Z. The strategy paid off in spades for the frozen pizza brand, which saw a 3.1 percent sales lift and a 13 percent increase in new buyers after it started letting influencers do the talking for its pizza.
"Silos are for farmers."
— Jenny Maglio, director of marketing automation at Laughlin Constable
It's funny and it's true. The days of B2B marketing and sales teams existing within their own little universes and having very clear divides is over. In fact, some B2B brands have eliminated marketing and sales teams entirely and re-assigned members from both departments to focus on different phases of the consumer journey. Don't believe us? Well, last month we published an entire story about a company that did exactly that. So there!
"Your KPI should be whatever keeps the lights on in your business."
— Jeanne Jennings, CEO and founder at Email Optimization Shop
Engagement numbers and other vanity metrics are nice. But, now more than ever, marketing is being asked to show how its efforts are contributing to the bottom line. As such, marketers must now measure their campaigns against revenue. There’s really no need to overthink it. Whichever marketing KPI correlates most directly with driving bottom line success for your business is the metric your team needs to hold above all others.
"The last thing I want you to think is that sustainability forces a company to forgo profits. Nothing could be further from the truth. The best-performing brands have figured out how to make ESG and profit work hand-in-hand."
— Jeff Fromm, author of The Purpose Advantage
If you know anything about brand purpose, the above quote probably comes as no surprise to you. But it's always a good time to remind marketers that making the world a better place doesn't need to be done at the expense of business success. In fact, business success has been proven to be a direct result of brands' sustainability efforts. And that correlation stands to become even stronger in the future. So, your business's future success quite literally could depend on what it does to better society. Don't say we didn't warn you.
The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the ANA or imply endorsement from the ANA.
Ryan Dinger is a director of editorial and content development at ANA.