In this episode of “Do This, Not That,” host Jay Schwedelson declares that content is not king! He goes into detail about how the titles of your content and offers matter more than the content itself.
Instead of focusing solely on website design or email formatting, Jay emphasizes that the names we give our content determine its success. Through engaging stories and real-world examples, he underlines the importance of A/B testing these titles to maximize engagement and conversion rates.
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Best Moments:(00:39) Introduction to the podcast topic: the element marketers should be testing but aren’t(01:06) Assertion that “content is not king, the title of your content is king”(01:30) Why people try things based on what they’re called, not the actual content(02:38) Examples of TV shows that changed their names after testing (Friends, Seinfeld, Saved by the Bell)(03:32) Statistics about how people judge books by their covers (57% purchase based solely on covers)(04:05) Real-world examples from PacSun and Ray Ban testing different names for the same offers(05:14) Sponsor mention for Marigold email platform(05:51) “Since You Didn’t Ask” segment about text chain drama in friend groups(08:30) Promotion of the Guru Conference, a free virtual email marketing event(09:11) Closing message and call for subscriptions and five-star reviews=================================================================Check out our FREE + VIRTUAL EVENTS! -> EVENTASTIC.comGuruConference.comDeliveredConference.com=================================================================MASSIVE thank you to our Sponsor, Marigold!!Looking to master consumer engagement in 2025? The 2025 Consumer Trends Index from Marigold reveals how AI, economic pressures, and personalized marketing are shaping consumer expectations. Uncover data-driven insights to foster stronger brand relationships, strike the right balance between personalization and privacy, and turn casual customers into loyal advocates.Download the 2025 Consumer Trends Index today at meetmarigold.com/guru and stay one step ahead of evolving consumer demands!
Transcript
Foreign. Welcome to do this not that, the podcast for marketers. You'll walk away from each episode with actionable tips you can test immediately.
You'll hear from the best minds in marketing who will share tactics, quick wins and pitfalls to avoid. Also, dig into life, pop culture, and the chaos that is our everyday. I'm Jay Schwedelson. Let's do this, not that.
We are back for do this not that podcast presented by Maragold. And today we're talking about the thing that you should be testing that you're not. Everybody's always out there testing, oh, what's my subject line?
I should test it. I should test the time of day. I should test my social media format. Creative. I should test this. I should test my website.
No, the thing you need to test is what you are calling your content, what you are calling your sale. The actual title. People get it backwards. They say content is king. Content is not king. The title of your content is king.
The title of your offer is king. People do not try your product. People do not try your webinar. People do not try your new ebook. People do not try your sale.
They try what it is called. And yet what do we do? We are not testing the name of those things. We're not doing an ab test on the name of the thing that we're trying to promote.
What's happening is, oh, oh, there's new ebook. We got to get this thing downloaded. We got it handed over from whoever created the ebook. We got to promote it. It's called this.
And you just accept that it's called that. Or you come up with a title for your webinar and you just call it that. You're not ab testing the title of that webinar. Or you have a new sale, right?
It's your new spring cleaning sale and you make a title of the sale and you roll with it. But you're not actually testing a B to see what's going to work. And you think that, oh, well, this content's really great.
We know this offer is really great. Who cares? Nobody's going to see your content. Nobody knows what that webinar is about because they're not going to register for it.
So we need to be test the names of our podcast, the name of our webinar, the name of our consumer sale, the name of our blog, the name of our checklist, the name of our ebook. It's the name. People don't give your content a try. They try what your content is called. And this is the case for all things.
Let's talk about the show Friends. Okay? We all love the show Friends, but did you realize that when Friends originally aired, it wasn't called Friends, it was called Friends.
Friends, like us. That name stinks. And you know what? They bailed on it from testing and they switched it over to Friends. How about Seinfeld? Oh, my God. Seinfeld.
Greatest show of all time. It didn't get released as Seinfeld. It got released as the Seinfeld Chronicles.
And from all their testing, they realized that was garbage because it wasn't doing as well as it could, and they changed it to Seinfeld. How about this show? I wonder if you ever watch this show. This show got aired as Good morning, Ms. Bliss.
Like, I've never seen the show Good Morning, Ms. Bliss. Because it's the worst name of all time.
You wouldn't check that show out, but through their testing, they changed the name of that show to Saved by the Bell. Way better. Okay? And when people say they don't judge books by their cover, it's just not true.
There's this stat by one poll, which is big in the book industry and says surveys reveal that 57% of readers purchase books based solely on their covers. And while while 80% of them avoid books due to poor cover design, people judge books by their cover. People are judging your webinar.
Should I register by the title? They're judging the content that you're promoting by the title. And yet what do we do? We come up with one name and we roll with it.
Like, all right, that's not bad. Listen, I got these test emails from Pacsun this past week. Same offer. Same offer. But I know that they're testing. Why?
Because it was about a $30 off on spending $100. All right? And one was branded as $30 off. $100. The spring stock up, exact same offer. I get $30 off long weekend savings. Because they have a clue.
They know, okay, let's see which one does well. And then we're going to double down on the one that does well. Same thing from Ray Ban this week. They had a 25% off sale and they didn't AB test.
Is it? Should it be? This season's must haves versus timeless styles. They went to the same offer page.
If you're not testing the name of your offer, the name of your content, the name of your blog, you're missing out on the most important element. Because it's the door that's opening. If you don't get that door open, who cares what's inside?
Listen, your content, your offer, your sale, your thing. It's not your dog, okay? You can change the name of it. It doesn't matter. What matters is getting people engaged, and that's.
It drives me crazy that we're not testing this critical element. All right, so before we get to. Since you didn't ask, I want you to let you know this podcast is exclusively presented by Marigold.
That is my email sending platform. Marigold is very cool. I use it all the time. We're pumping out a ton of emails.
Business, consumer, Whether you're a small, medium, or large company, they have loyalty programs, retention programs. I'm telling you, you gotta at least check them out. I know you don't like your platform. 99% of the people I talk to like, oh, I hate my platform.
I don't. I like my platform. You need to check them out@meetmaragle.com I am telling you, I've been using them for years. Meet marigold.com awesome platform.
All right, let's get to. Since you didn't ask. Oh, I just had a whole situation that blew up sideways in my friend group. I don't know if anybody else deals with this.
So I have my friend group that we all text, right? All my buddies are on this one text chain. We're always texting, whatever.
And then there's a second text chain where there's two people that we don't have on the text chain that we kind of leave off. Okay. I even have a third situation going on where I text each person individually, too.
And I'm not a big texter, but we have these two primary text chains, one with everybody and one where two people are left off. And the reason we have two people left off is the two people left off are super annoying. I mean, they just are.
Thankfully, nobody listens to my podcast. Among my friend group, they always make fun of me about even having one.
So I know they're not gonna hear this, and I really don't care if they hear it.
So anyway, we were all texting about whatever and then off to the side on the other text chain, we're making fun of the two guys that aren't on the text chain. Really making fun of one of the guys really, really bad. Like shredding him.
And then by accident, one of my idiot friends text to the main text chain that has everybody on it shredding the dude, saying, oh, he's such a. He's the worst. I can't stand when he does this. I Just can't take it anymore. Whatever. And it went to him. It went to the full chain.
And the guy's like, what is this? What? What? What is going on? And then it blew up and we had to come clean. We go, there's another text chain. We're sorry, whatever. And it. Not good.
Crickets. Total crickets. And the dude's like, that's messed up. That's not cool. I thought we were boys. And you know what?
In fairness to him, I think that that's accurate. If it happened to me, I'd be like, screw off. What are you with another text chain? My problem is I need to label my text chains.
I need to, like, write in there like, this is the one you use and this is the one you don't use or something because it's not good. And then I will tell you one other thing that I don't think is right.
And I don't know, I'm not a big text or whatever, but I texted one of my buddies, one on one, something really rude about somebody else. And then he took a screenshot of it and, like, he held onto it, apparently.
And two months later, out of nowhere, in the main text chain, he drops a screenshot of the rude thing I said. He thought it was funny that I said it, but it's like, dude, you don't. You don't do that. You don't screenshot and then drop it into all the. What?
What are we doing? Aren't there rules? Are there rules that we shouldn't be doing these things anyway? It all blew up. I don't care. I don't want to text anybody.
Everyone leave me alone. Who cares? Listen, Guru Conference registration is open. Our giant free virtual email marketing event last year was pretty out of control.
We had Sarah Jessica Parker, we had Joey Chestnut eating spam, and I was like, we had 24, 000 people. I'm like, there's no way we could beat this. It's virtual and it's free@groovecomics.com but then here we are. I can't.
We haven't released everything we're doing. It's going to be completely out of control. We've planned the weirdest, craziest stuff, so I hope you're there.
We have limited virtual seats because after we buy a certain number of virtual seats and then that's it, they're gone. So hope you can check it out@guruconference.com it's going to be bonkers. And, yeah, don't screw up on your text chain later. You did it.
You made it to the end. Nice, but the party's not over.
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