If you work in marketing, you’re probably incompetent.

That’s according to research by the Fournaise Group, whose April 2014 report found that

  • 67% of marketers don’t believe ROI requires a financial outcome
  • 64% cite brand awareness as their chief ROI KPI
  • And 31% think audience reach is marketing ROI

“April 2014?!” you might shout, “by a company who make their money by tracking ROI? Why, this report is clearly both biased and outdated!”

Both valid concerns, but, for me at least, the gist of their research isn’t that difficult to believe.

When was the last time you heard of a colleague reading a marketing text in an effort to learn?

Sorry. Anecdotal 500-word blog posts do not count.

Al Ries. Drayton Bird. Steve Harrison. Byron Sharp. Do any of these names mean anything to you? If not, great news!

Most of your colleagues – freelance copywriters included – are incompetent. Instead of learning from others, they’re guessing. Which means you can very easily be better than them.

Just look up Al Ries, Drayton Bird, Steve Harrison and Byron Sharp. Then look up Karen Nelson-Field, Howard Gossage, Lester Wunderman and Claude Hopkins. Luke Sullivan, Jeremy Bullmore, David Ogilvy and Jack Trout, too.

Read their books and you’ll pretty quickly join the minority.

How long might the texts take to read?

100 hours, I’d say, if you read them swiftly. A book a month is what Steve Harrison (mentioned above) recommended I aim for.

If you don’t have that much time then it might be worth hiring yourself a freelance copywriter for the interim. But remember…

Most of us are incompetent. Shop with care.