drift's marketing manifesto

Marketing ManifestoHow We Think About Marketing At Drift

Let’s face it: We’ve all been running the same marketing playbook for years.

We create content.

We set up landing pages for capturing leads.

Then we “nurture” those leads with automated emails.

Until people buy, unsubscribe — or just do nothing, forever.

But take a second and think about the way that you buy and behave as a consumer.

You probably hate filling out forms.

And you probably ignore every cold email that you get.

And for the most part, marketing treats you like a lead — not like a person.

We got tired of doing things that way.

Hi, I’m Dave. I lead marketing here at Drift.

(Just wanted to show my face so you knew who was narrating)

After realizing the way we were doing marketing was broken, we wanted to update our approach.

PS. Here’s a link to read the post where this all started.

We wanted to come up with a marketing philosophy that treats people like people — not leads.

So we put together this manifesto of sorts.

Basically our guiding principles for how we think about marketing at Drift.

This is an internal document at Drift that is always changing.

But since we believe that everything is marketing, we thought we’d share it publicly, too.

Here it is.

1. Be Remarkable

In order for us to succeed, our ideas and product need to spread.

This won’t happen unless our marketing is remarkable.

There’s too much noise out there today.

The only way to compete is by always asking ourselves this one question.

“How can we make this 10x better than anything that’s out there right now?”

2. Words Come First

Hel lo

The words we use are everything. They’re more important than colors or graphics.

So focus on the words you use, and remember: more isn’t always better.

The more important thing is that every sentence — every single one — feels authentic and handcrafted.

3. Design Is Secondary

We love design. We respect design. We believe great design is a competitive advantage …

But until all of the words on a page are awesome, don’t even think about design.

Don’t add menus. Don’t think about images. Just don’t do it.

It’s better to have a plain-text page with amazing words than to have a page with amazing design but mediocre words.

If we have mediocre words and mediocre design, we will go out of business.

4. Write Like You Talk

We are writing and building for people.

Do not, however, address your readers as though they were gathered together in a stadium. When people read your copy, they are alone. Pretend you are writing each of them a letter on behalf of your client. One human being to another, second person singular.

-David Ogilvy

“

So if you wouldn’t say something out loud to a friend, don’t say it in your copy.

Write to be understood, not to be an amazing writer.

In modern society, copywriting is a more critical skill to master than ever before—both online and offline. Why? Consumers today are better educated and more skeptical.

-Robert Bly

“

5. No Jargon

To reiterate, we’re writing for people. So write with simple words.

Unless 99% of our customers would know the word, don’t use it.

When copywriters argue with me about some esoteric word they want to use, I say to them, “Get on a bus. Go to Iowa. Stay on a farm for a week and talk to the farmer. Come back to New York by train and talk to your fellow passengers in the day-coach. If you still want to use the word, go ahead.” Copy should be written in the language people use in everyday conversation.

-David Ogilvy

“

The very best writing goes unnoticed. That’s right. You don’t want someone to read one of your ads and say, “Gosh, that advertisement was sure well written!"

-Gary Halbert

“

6. Be Human

People have learned to tune out marketing that feels like marketing.

So all of our marketing should feel like it's coming from a friend.

People know to tune out robotic messages, like the ones that start with “Hello [First Name].”

And highly designed, promotional emails.

Today, the best form of personalization today is to be human.

7. Be Specific

We love people. But people need instructions.

So in your marketing, you need to be specific.

Tell people exactly where you want them to go and what you want them to do.

8. Customer-Driven (Not Company-Driven)

We value customer-focused collaboration over silos and hierarchy.

When making decisions, we always optimize for the customer.

In other words: Customer > Company.

9. Trust Is Everything

We can never break the trust of our customers and community.

That means we don't buy email lists, and we never spam people that didn't give us the permission to email them. Never.

10. First Principles > Customer-Driven > Data-Driven > Opinion-Driven

We rely on validated learning over opinions & conventions. And we value customer feedback over data.

Data is critical, but it’s a look from the rearview mirror. We can’t lead with just data.

And even higher than customer feedback are first principles—known truths that we can’t change.

Our opinions are interesting, but we should not make decisions solely on our beliefs.

11. Lean Development (Not Agile. Not Waterfall.)

Just like our product team, we focus on adaptive and iterative campaigns over big-bang campaigns.

We prefer running many small experiments over relying on a few big bets.

We rely on flexible vs. rigid planning, which allows us to react to opportunities that might come up.

Don’t get so preoccupied with executing a plan that you fail to notice new opportunities.

12. Good Marketing vs. Bad Marketing

Good marketing is showing, not telling.

Good marketing is delivering stories and experiences that hit on emotions.

Good marketing focuses on solutions to customer problems.

Bad marketing pushes.

Bad marketing spends too much time worrying about the competition.

Bad marketing focuses on features, not benefits.

Bad marketing focuses on company problems, not customer problems.

Remember this: people want holes in the ground, not shovels.

So we sell holes, not shovels.

13. Everything Is Marketing

Marketing doesn't end after a stranger joins our email list, or after a lead becomes a customer.

Marketing isn't just the website, or our words, or our emails.

Marketing is the experience, the way the product feels, the way the design connects to the customer.

Everything at Drift is marketing.

And everyone at Drift is responsible for marketing.

It’s part of how we act, and the products that we build.

Want to learn more about what we’re up to? Come say hello at Drift.com.