5 Steps To Keep Marketing Simple With Erik Huberman
We’ve all heard the acronym K.I.S.S.: Keep it simple, stupid.
It’s usually used on the football field, but in our case, it can actually apply to your Marketing tactics, too.
Our guest on episode 334 of TMM pod, Erik Huberman, explains how you don’t need to complicate anything to get the job done.
He’s the Founder + CEO of Hawke Media, the full service Marketing agency. He’s got a long list of clients ranging from Barstool Sports to Casamigos and household names like Red Bull and Crocs.
Erik’s Take: “Great product always wins. Like if you build something that people really love—service or product—that’s going to be where you win. Marketing’s easy when that’s the case.”
If your product or service is truly valuable, it does most of the marketing for you.
No amount of clever messaging, media buying, or creative strategy can compensate for a product people don’t genuinely want.
That’s the role of marketing: it’s not a rescue mission for weak products, but it’s a way to grow businesses that already deliver something worth talking about.
Customers who love the product stay longer, buy more, and refer others, boosting LTV and improving every marketing metric downstream.
Erik warns that many marketers blame the wrong problem (messaging, platforms, creatives) when the real issue is that people don’t want what you’re selling.
If marketing campaigns generate interest (like high click-throughs) but still fail to convert, that’s a red flag that the product may not resonate.
Takeaway: Validate that you have a good product.
Sell it yourself (face-to-face or 1:1)
Watch for signs of enthusiasm - are people leaning in? Asking for more? Sharing it?
Look for referral behavior - are early customers telling others?
Track unsolicited growth - are you getting organic traffic, unprompted mentions, or return purchases?
2️⃣. Craft a Clear + Repeatable Positioning Statement.
Erik’s Take: “You need to give people something really concise to say… five to seven words… that creates intrigue in people wanting to check it out.”
Even the best product in the world won't gain traction if people can't understand and describe it easily.
Your brand HAS to be easy to talk about, not just by you, but by your customers, investors, and partners.
Let’s use Hawke Media’s positioning for example.
“We’re your outsourced CMO and marketing team.”
This statement communicates:
- What Hawk Media does
- How it helps you
- And it’s catchy and repeatable
Even when people paraphrased it (“your fractional CMO” or “CMO in a box”), they stayed close to the original idea.
Without a clear positioning statement, customers don’t know how to describe your business. People try to refer to you, but fail to explain what you do.
Takeaway: Develop your 5-7 word statement:
1. Start by explaining your business to real people - watch for confusion vs. intrigue. What’s clicking and what’s not?
2. Change it based on feedback - notice which phrases resonate or get repeated back to you
3. Boil it down to the core - focus on outcome + category (“Netflix for cooking” or “CRM for freelancers”)
4. Seed it in your content and conversations - use it repeatedly in bios, intros, slide decks, and within your team
3️⃣. Understand Your Sales Cycle + Nail the Basics.
Erik’s Take: “From our data, it’s anywhere between three weeks and three months… The idea that you’re going to look at a spend today and then look at the ROI today is… one of the dumbest things you could do.”
Most marketing efforts fail not because of poor creative or bad channels, but because of a misunderstanding of timing and an overcomplication of tactics.
Erik emphasizes that marketers often expect immediate results from channels that function on delayed returns. They chase shiny new tools instead of mastering proven platforms.
Imagine marketing like priming a pump: early spend builds awareness, but conversions trail behind. If you stop too soon, you cut off momentum just as it’s beginning to build.
Once you understand the timeline, the next question is: which channels are worth that time investment?
Erik’s answer: keep it simple and reliable.
“The scalable, repeatable stuff is still the same it has been for 15 years: Google and Meta Ads, maybe TikTok now… Email, SMS, and a great website.”
These channels scale reliably, work across industries, drive measurable ROI over time, and are widely used (meaning customers are already there).
Combine understanding of human buying behavior + commitment to core platforms, and you’ll outperform most marketers who are lost in daily metrics and the latest tech fads.
Takeaway: Stop judging your marketing performance on a daily basis.
Buyers often take weeks or even months to convert. Focus on mastering the core growth channels (Meta, Google, TikTok, Email, SMS), and give your campaigns enough time and nurturing to deliver results before making decisions.
4️⃣. Nurture.
Erik’s Take: “Most people do nothing to nurture their customers… It’s email, it’s SMS, it’s content.”
Many businesses pour resources into getting attention but fail to follow up meaningfully, leaving leads cold and conversions lost.
The biggest gap Erik sees across thousands of brands is a lack of nurturing strategy.
What do you do from the time that someone becomes aware you exist to actually get them to buy?
Without nurturing:
- Leads cool off and forget your brand
- Paid acquisition becomes more expensive (you lose potential ROI)
- Customers only see your brand once, and then disappear
The sales cycle that we mentioned in the last takeaway? It spans weeks or months. Nurturing fills that gap with touchpoints that build familiarity and lower hesitation.
Takeaway: Don’t let your hard-earned leads go cold. Build a nurturing system that keeps your brand top of mind.
Set up automated email flows that educate, build trust, and guide prospects toward conversion. Use SMS for high-intent engagement and publish content that reinforces your value.
5️⃣. Branding = Building Trust All the Time.
Erik’s Take: “75% of people won’t buy from a company they don’t trust. Brand to me is just synonymous with trust.”
Trust is the true currency of conversion. Building a brand is about becoming known, credible, and dependable in the eyes of your customers.
If people don’t trust you, they won’t convert, no matter how clever your ads or how optimized your landing page is.
According to Erik, brand is built through:
- Consistency: Are you delivering the same message and value every time?
- Repetition: Are people seeing your brand enough to remember it?
- Validation: Are others backing you up?
A strong brand ensures that when someone is ready to buy, your company is the one they trust to deliver.
Things like inconsistent messaging, lack of transparency (hidden fees, poor service), and overpromising and underdelivering hurt trust. Once that trust is lost, it’s hard to get it back.
Your brand is what people remember, good or bad.
Takeaway: Put yourself in your customers’ shoes.
Does your website feel credible? Add a few pieces of social proof (reviews, case studies) if you can.
Do you have consistent brand messaging across all channels? If not, refer back to that positioning statement.
Do you have a helpline, email address, or chatbot to message if they need assistance? Your customers deserve to be taken care of after they purchase your product.
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