2020, An Interesting Year in Marketing (An Honest Letter From The Editor)

by Josh Barney

*If you’d told me that I’d be writing this post at the turn of 2020, I’d have laughed in your face.*

It’s been an interesting year so far, and admittedly, I’ve been very quiet about it – it’s time that changed.

I’ve felt a weight of expectation on my shoulders surrounding the pandemic and lockdown, that comes with the territory of managing and strategising a wide-reaching marketing focussed content hub.

^This is something that I don’t take lightly.^  

The Einstein Marketer blog has grown an audience that we’re proud to call our readers – a group engaged in growing their businesses, building their entrepreneurial empires and upping their digital marketing performance.

It was all going so well for everyone connected with our brand – and then the coronavirus struck.

Why I’ve Been Silent

I have barely spoken a word about covid-19, the worldwide lockdown or it’s effects on our business (or anyone else’s for that matter).

To the many of you who have messaged me directly for advice, to talk about your business, or to enquire about how we’re dealing with it, I truly hope that my replies have helped you during this time.

And to all of our readers, thank you for your patience.

I appreciate that the majority of the world is now coming out of this crisis (fingers-crossed) and this might sound like it’s written posthumously or from a view point of ‘it’s easy for him to say now’.

I’ve been silently watching on, whilst very much going through the motions with the Einstein Marketer content on our website and our social media channels.

I’ve done this with (what I hope) would be the wishes of our audience.

Let me explain…

During the Lockdown…

You cannot imagine how many articles I have had pitched to me in the past 4 or 5 months with a title similar to:

  • 5 Ways To Make The Pandemic Work In Your Business’s Favour
  • How Your Business Can Adapt During Coronavirus Times
  • The Biggest Coronavirus Marketing Trends

^^^I would easily put this number in the hundreds^^^

And then the occasional other with the title:

  • 15 Ways To Impress On Zoom Client Outreach Calls

I have rejected all articles about coronavirus, the lockdown or anything remotely related to it out of hand.

coronavirus marketing search trends

This is not because I think that I know better or I believe I’m morally above it, it’s because I have never marketed or managed a business through a pandemic before.

Honesty is very important to us.

I can’t suggest things to you if I’m not certain that they will work for you.

The Unknown

Our relationship, as somebody who directs marketing-based content to somebody who consumes it, has to be built on known-quantities, strategies and advice.

When I share an article about how to optimise your Facebook ads or create more engaging content, or improve your social performance, it’s because I know it works.

testimonials marketing guide

The content that I create and share for you guys is based on our experience as an agency.

I don’t know how many times I’ve said this, but here it is again – We Actually Do This Stuff Everyday.

We know the strategies in our content work – we’ve proven it.

And in all honesty, I did not know enough about marketing during a pandemic to feel comfortable with sharing 10 Ways to Boost Online Sales During Lockdown.

It was very much the unknown – and that goes against everything the Einstein Marketer blog was built on.

How It Affected Us

The lockdown couldn‘t have come at a more awkward time for us.

We’d just held our inaugural marketing event EMC 2020 (which went down as a massive success btw) were about to move into an awesome new office and vacate our old premises, the team had grown in size (again), we were ready to launch our new YouTube channel, podcast and up our marketing content another notch.

It’s fair to say that despite us losing some clients during the lockdown and it knocking our trajectory off-course, we’ve still managed to come out of this situation much better than others.

Even if we’ve had to furlough staff, sacrifice certain areas of our inbound marketing strategy and forgo our shiny new office.

What Next?

We’re still not operational in the new office (yet)…

…but we will be soon – and when we are, I can guarantee you that we will fulfil what’s previously been promised, including:

  • Video Content
  • More in-depth, high-value content
  • An Einstein Marketer Podcast
  • YouTube Channel
  • More valuable social content
  • More marketing eBooks and long-form explanatory guides
  • A massive website update and refresh

In addition to these promises being fulfilled, I’m also really proud and privileged to announce that we’ll be creating wide-ranging video courses focussed on a variety of digital marketing topics, including Content Marketing, Facebook Advertising & YouTube Advertising (to name just a few) – which will be created by some of the leading figures in these fields.

And of course, EMC will be back again in 2021 – and this year we’ve got some even bigger names attending to share their entrepreneurial and marketing wisdom, including Social Chain Co-Founder Steven Bartlett, and another massive name that everyone in the world of marketing will know (that we’re on the verge of confirming – watch this space).

emc steven bartlett marketing event

BTW: Register for the EMC 2021 Priority List to get first access to tickets (before they sell out!)

2020 has been an incredibly tough year for some and very profitable for others, but collectively, let’s hope the worst is behind us and we can prosper together.

We’ll be doing everything possible to help you.

In the meantime, if you need help or advice with your business or marketing, feel free to contact us and we’ll do our best to offer you honest advice from an agency who not only do this stuff everyday, but are putting in more resources than ever to help you get to the level that you deserve.

Thanks again to all our readers, partners, clients and everyone else connected with the Einstein Marketer brand! We’re all looking forward to speaking to you soon and sharing tons more value through the Einstein Marketer channels. 

Josh is the Founder of We Imagine Media, an award-winning content marketer, best selling author and creator of the www.joshbarney.blog. He creates and strategises content, sharing the most successful tactics with his lovely audience. He hates writing in the third person, follow him on the social links so he can get back to writing as himself.

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