What is the Scariest Thing in Marketing? Being Forgotten 😱

Every October, the internet fills up with pumpkins, cobwebs and brands dressing up as something spooky for a day. It's fun — and we're all for it. But the most frightening thing in marketing doesn't wear a mask. It's the slow, silent moment when a customer who used to know your name simply… stops thinking about you.

No dramatic failure. No angry review. Just a quiet drift. They needed what you sell, and someone else was the first name that came to mind. That's the real horror story — and it happens to good businesses all the time.

§The vanishing act: inconsistent posting

You know the pattern. A burst of energy, three great posts in a week, then life gets busy and the feed goes silent for a month. To your audience, that silence looks like a closed door. Algorithms notice too: accounts that post irregularly get shown to fewer people, so every comeback starts from a smaller crowd.

• Pick a rhythm you can genuinely keep — two good posts a week beats seven rushed ones
• Batch-create content once a month so busy weeks don't leave gaps
• Recycle your best ideas in new formats: a post becomes a reel, a story, a Journal article
• Plan around real moments — launches, seasons, behind-the-scenes days — not just dates

§Bland is scarier than bold

Plenty of businesses play it safe because standing out feels risky. But copy-and-paste marketing carries its own risk: nobody remembers it. When your website, posts and adverts sound like everyone else's, you've made yourself interchangeable — and interchangeable brands compete on price.

“Playing it safe doesn't protect your brand. It just makes it easier to forget.”

Creative risk doesn't mean being outrageous. It means having a point of view, a recognisable look and a voice that sounds like actual people. A bold colour palette, an honest opinion, a bit of humour, a photo of your real team at work — these are the details that stick.

§Make your website haunt them (in a good way)

Your website is often the first proper conversation someone has with your brand. If it's slow, dated or vague, they'll leave — and they won't come back to check if it improved. A memorable site does three things quickly: it shows who you help, it answers the problem they arrived with, and it looks unmistakably like you.

Quick wins for a more memorable site

• Lead your homepage with the problem you solve, not a list of services
• Use real photography or distinctive imagery instead of generic stock
• Make your contact options obvious on every page
• Add fresh content regularly so returning visitors find something new

§A simple visibility checklist for Q4

October is the perfect moment to get your visibility in order. There's still time to shape the rest of the year before the Christmas rush makes everything louder.

• Audit your last 30 days: how often did you actually show up on each channel?
• Book a realistic posting rhythm into the diary through to December
• Refresh one tired part of your brand — your bio, cover image or homepage headline
• Write down three opinions your business holds, and turn each into a post
• Check your website loads fast and works beautifully on a phone
• Get back in touch with past customers — a friendly email is a powerful reminder