It’s time for another entry into the Hugoversity library.
This month, prefect Becky has been eating her greens, as well as reading the book by Wiemer Snijders.
Even if you don’t enjoy green vegetables, you are sure to enjoy this book, which is a guide for those in marketing and communications. Read on to see what Becky thought.
What’s it all about?
Don’t be fooled by the title – Eat Your Greens is not a paean to eating more vegetables! Instead, it is a clarion call for marketers and communications professionals everywhere, promising ‘fact-based thinking to improve your brand’s health’ by way of 42 bite-size essays from the great and good of the marketing and communications world.
In a world where everyone who has created a Facebook or Instagram profile considers themselves a marketing expert and the ability to spout a lot of meaningless word-salad on TikTok is regarded more highly than actual training, Eat Your Greens is a breath of fresh air.
What did we learn?
The perils of relying only on short-term sales activation techniques, at the expense of long-term brand building over months and years. Spoiler alert: you need both elements working in unison, but long-term brand building should take the lion’s share of your budget.
The importance of creative, and how it is chronically undervalued, whilst being one of the most important tools for building a strong brand.
The significance of great content. Jerry Daykin notes that “most social media posts don’t get time to ‘wear in’ let alone ‘wear out’, and repeating content – especially high quality video – is much more acceptable than you might think.” A great piece of video content is an investment, but by creating a series of edits of the initial piece that can be used throughout the month, you can build awareness and brand recall without reinventing the wheel every single day.
The importance of capturing attention – the main challenge for brands is not one of persuasion, but of reminding customer’s that they exist. Another tick in the box for consistent PR activity.
What did we think?
Is Eat Your Greens worth your time?
Absolutely.
Dispelling myths and misconceptions, challenging dubious metrics and presenting evidence-based perspectives, Eat Your Greens is jam-packed with valuable insights, and the essay format means that you can dip in and out whenever the mood strikes, which I love.
Including contributions from luminaries such as Peter Field, Mark Ritson, Byron Sharp and Helen Edwards, the pieces are not only valuable in their own right, but you’ll also end up with lots of recommendations for new reading material referenced in the essays – so you can add even more goodies to your ‘to-be-read’ pile.
