Matt Epstein was three years removed from his days at UCF when he decided he’d finally had enough of the job-hunting process. Endlessly sending out resumes without as much as a response had worn him down and he had to take a hard look at why, as a marketer, he couldn’t make himself stand out. marketer,  So he changed his strategy and instead of doing what everyone wanted him to do, he pivoted and took a risk.

“If whatever you’re doing, you’re not feeling a little uncomfortable, then that means you’re not taking risks. And the worst thing you could do as a marketer is not take risks. If you’re not zigging while everyone else is zagging, well then guess what? You’re not going to stand out. And the worst thing you could do as a marketer is not stand out.”

The risk Matt was about to take meant he’d use his entire life savings on one specific campaign: to market himself to tech giants such as Google by using a clever website, GooglePleaseHire.me, which was complete with a video resume designed to make him stand out. Believe it or not, Matt didn’t actually get that job at Google, but the risk still paid off and on this episode of Marketing Trends, Matt explains how.  Plus, Matt details how the early marketing strategies he used helped lay the groundwork for his future campaigns, and how marketers should be taking risks these days.

Main Takeaways:

• Be the Bigger Company: When it comes to competitive advertising, the only instance in which you can go directly at a competitor is if they have significantly more market share. You need to think about the optics of the situation. Companies that are perceived as leaders within their market could be perceived as petty or bullying if they go at a competitor. So a good rule of thumb when it comes to competitive advertising is to punch up, not down.
• Messaging That Works: One of the first things marketers should be doing when they join a new company is to identify a message that not only sticks out, but also cuts through all the noise. If your message is getting lost in the crowd, whatever you do beyond that point will not be successful, regardless of the ad spend you put behind it.
• Are you a Risk-Taker?: Whatever strategy you are pursuing, should make you feel uncomfortable. If you are comfortable as a marketer and as a department, it means you are not taking a risk, which means you are not going to stand out from the crowd. Constantly be challenging yourself and your team to be thinking of new ways that deviate from what everyone else is doing.

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