The 3 Marketing Metrics To Rule Them All [Part 1]: How To Prioritize What Matters, Produce Revenue-Generating Results, And Skyrocket To Category Success

Who you are, to others and to yourself, is based on your results.

Dear Friend, Subscriber, and Category Pirate,

Marketing today is confused.

We know this might sound absurd. But we’re asking you to suspend judgment for a few moments, and simply consider that most Marketing is mixed up about the actual name of the game. (Marketers included.)

Innovation is partially to blame. 

In the last decade, Marketing has become more innovative, complex, and sophisticated than in the last 50 years combined. That means we’re experiencing the highest velocity of new categories of marketing thinking, frameworks, and technologies that we’ve ever seen. So it’s no surprise we’re confused.

The question is: what does matter in Marketing?

• Some say it’s brand awareness.

• Others say it’s optimizing the marketing funnel.

• Others preach the scalability of Native Digital success.

• And the most confused disconnect marketing efforts from revenue altogether.

All of these are wrong.

That's because marketing that does not produce revenue is called arts and crafts.

(Was that harsh? Maybe a little. But we’re trying to make a point.)

Before we go any further, we’d like to ask you to swizzle a thought around in your frontal lobe. Imagine for a moment there are only two kinds of marketers: market chasers and category creators.

Category design can (and does) make a difference for market chasers. And who hasn’t chased a few markets? In fact, one of the most effective and powerful approaches in this regard is called DAM The Demand—a technique for shifting demand from one category to another. And as much as it pains us to say, Category Design principles can be applied to a brand with a new Point-of-View that wants to create radical differentiation within an existing category. (We know this because people have told us they've done it!)

But category design is primarily for category creators. 

Category creators want to invent a different future and move the world from one place to a new, different place. They want to create the future, not fight over the past. They have a new take on an old problem, that requires a new answer—or a new problem with a brand-new solution. And they do this by designing a category they can own. 

To succeed as a category creator, it’s important to hone your focus and adopt a different marketing mindset.

So, regardless of your motivations and strategies, we want to share some brass-tack ideas (Non-Obvious and a few Obvious) for driving maximum marketing outcomes, including:

• What metrics matter

• Why results matter

• What made legendary marketers successful

Consider this mini-book both a practical approach and a starting point for your own new and different marketing thinking. Our goal is to make it easier for you to plan and implement a legendary marketing strategy that helps propel your company to Category King or Queen status. And, ultimately, positions you as a mission-critical, must-have marketer that any CEO and Category Designer would pay a King’s ransom to recruit. 

(There’s a massive treasure trove of opportunities to uncover, so this is just the first of a 3-part series!)

Let’s dive in.

The Most Important Equation For Success

Before handing you the compass and map, allow us to activate your thinking.

What makes the most admired category designers, marketers, creators, and entrepreneurs successful?