{"id":458,"date":"2024-10-25T19:37:19","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T19:37:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/2024\/10\/25\/one-question-that-will-reinvigorate-your-approach-to-marketing\/"},"modified":"2024-10-25T19:37:19","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T19:37:19","slug":"one-question-that-will-reinvigorate-your-approach-to-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/2024\/10\/25\/one-question-that-will-reinvigorate-your-approach-to-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"One Question That Will Reinvigorate Your Approach to Marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2023 We\u2764\ufe0fNYC<\/a> campaign was intended to encourage New Yorkers, still pessimistic in a post-pandemic world, to show love for their city.<\/p>\n

And boy, did it ever<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Last year, Maryam Banikarim royally pissed off the Olsen twins and<\/em> the Jonas Brothers with her We\u2764\ufe0fNYC campaign. But that same campaign earned twice the impressions of a Super Bowl ad \u2026 in 48 hours.<\/p>\n

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A post shared by WE\u2764\ufe0fNYC (@welovenyc)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

I caught up with Banikarim to get her top marketing lessons, and it was immediately clear that she\u2019s the embodiment of \u201cdo what you love\u201d \u2014 and it all stems from asking herself, “What if I did that?”<\/p>\n

So we talked about purpose-driven work, how to use curiosity to power your marketing campaigns, and the best way to stay on top of new tech.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhat if I did that?\u201d<\/h2>\n

1. Good campaigns have tension. That\u2019s what gets people talking.<\/h3>\n

I can see Banikarim\u2019s eyes sparkle through my computer monitor as she tells me how she ruffled the feathers of two <\/em>sets of celebrity siblings. She\u2019s relishing the memory of it.<\/p>\n

Her agency worked on the city-wide ad campaign, which was funded by members of the Partnership for New York City to encourage civic action and community engagement. It capitalized on something New Yorkers care very, very deeply about: New York.<\/p>\n

Once \u201cWe\u2764\ufe0fNYC\u201d began appearing on bus stop signs, at Barclays Center, and across Times Square, \u201ceverybody thought we were trying to get rid of the I\u2764\ufe0fNYmark,\u201d she says. They weren\u2019t, but \u201ccommunication isn\u2019t what I say, it\u2019s what you hear.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

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A post shared by WE\u2764\ufe0fNYC (@welovenyc)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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So once somebody (incorrectly, angrily) posted that the new campaign was trying to oust Milton Glaser\u2019s iconic I\u2764\ufe0fNY, it became a reality of sorts. A reality that was picked up by talk shows, Mary-Kate and Ashley, and the Jonas Brothers \u2014 \u201cit was just a whole thing<\/em>,\u201d Banikarim says with a laugh.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no putting the toothpaste back in the tube: We\u2764\ufe0fNYC was now a putative threat to New Yorkers\u2019 identity and their iconography. Tension built up; tweets rolled in. \u201cMilton Glaser would be so mad.\u201d \u201cCan we please let Milton Glaser rest in the peace he deserves?\u201d \u201cMilton Glaser got it right the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Banikarim is delighted by this. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t have bought that media,\u201c she says.<\/p>\n

Your next campaign probably <\/em>won\u2019t pique the ire of the Olsen twins (though a girl can dream). But know what your target audience feels ownership over, and where to tease out the tension in your marketing campaign.<\/p>\n

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2. DIY \u2014 with curiosity.<\/h3>\n

\u201cI always seem to have a side hustle these days,\u201d she tells me. (One gets the sense that Banikarim has always<\/em> had to have a side hustle.)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just that Banikarim\u2019s side hustles would make most primary hustles envious. Last weekend, she celebrated the third year of The Longest Table<\/a>, a community-building event born out of a need for human connection back when everyone was masking up and sharing tips on finding Lysol wipes.<\/p>\n

She saw a neighbor put a folding table outside so they could eat dinner with a few friends. She introduced herself and thought, \u201cWhat if I did that?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

One also gets the sense that Banikarim doesn\u2019t do rhetorical questions. She started with a few posts on Next Door and an eight-person outdoor potluck on her street in Chelsea. On October 6, 2024, over a thousand people showed up for dinner.<\/p>\n

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A post shared by NYC PHOTOGRAPHER \u2022 INFLUENCER \u2022 ANDY STARK (@yes.stark)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Together they cobbled together a Squarespace website, and \u201cwe use HubSpot to email people.\u201d (We did not bribe, pay, or threaten her to say that.\u2014ed.<\/em>) Banikarim doesn\u2019t complain about DIY marketing tech; on the contrary, she refuses to be outpaced by evolving technology.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cMarketing has always been for people who are curious,\u201d Banikarim says. And \u201cin order to constantly be learning, it\u2019s really helpful to be touching the tools yourself and not just directing from up high.\u201d<\/p>\n

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3. Move sideways, move quickly. And take small bets.<\/h3>\n

Moving sideways means that sometimes you take a job that feels like a lateral move, or even a step backward. That\u2019s not unusual now<\/em>, but Banikarim jokes that she was a millennial before her time, because she\u2019s had so many jobs for somebody in her 50s.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I was always looking for purpose in the job.\u201d Like millennials, she\u2019s \u201clooking for impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Your marketing career \u201cdoesn’t have to always be moving up. You can move sideways. You can move off, you can move in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, millennials don\u2019t need Banikarim to tell them that it\u2019s okay to have a non-linear career. But are you moping about it or are you learning from it? (No judgment; glass houses and all that.)<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2018s a lot of lip service given to this idea that if you fail, it\u2019s \u2018okay,\u2019\u201d she tells me. And then she says what so many of us feel in those moments: \u201cbut it’s not <\/strong>really<\/em><\/strong> okay.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

When I ask her what the biggest waste of money is across the marketing landscape, she says that it isn\u2019t a tool. It\u2019s that \u201cwe all have to be better at finding things that we can test and learn from\u201d \u2014 and we have to stop thinking that if those tests don\u2019t work, then they\u2019re a mistake or a waste of time.<\/p>\n

Her advice: Move quickly. Take the small bets. See where you get signal \u2014 and then go big.<\/p>\n

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