2024: What we wished we knew in 2014

Editor's Notes

1. By show of hands who’s in the audience. B2B or B2C. agency, brand? SME or Corporate.2 things I’m afraid of.1. Our audience is getting harder to reach. prove it with what’s happened over last 10 years. Email, Groupon, 2. Our competition is going to be horribly harder to beat. me / FACE + 14 year old kids & their ROI (boobs and hearts). I grew up changing the VHS digital clock for my dad, these kids are growing up ready to put us out of business.
2. My dad always tell me stories of things he could have done/bought in the 70’s or 80’s… it pisses me off. Houses for £400 - worth over £200,000 each today. If you used Google Adwords in 2001, you’ll know it was like buying houses in that street compared to now. “Personal Injury Claims” 10p a click, now it’s closer to £100 a clickSocial media advertising is currently like google advertising in 2001… and its going to get much more expensive very fast. with the changes FB have made for example, reducing organic reach to virtually 0, you have to pay to play if you want results.Twitter promotion. Facebook Dark Posts are the single most effective means of advertising anything in the world today as it currently stands. Linkedin Sponsored Content. Instagram and Pinterest paid platform is coming… be ready. IF you sell anything to woman.Amass an audience whilst it’s cheap.. it’s too late for today’s audience but go all in for tomorrow’s audience;
3. so much content. more every 48 hours than all content up to 2005… but its all shit. as a generation of marketers, we should be embarrassed - we’re producing shit and we know it… and we still do it. By show of hands, WHo’s been guilty at some point in the past of publishing a blog just ‘becasue’ of keywords, to look busy, to try to be seen to be relevant? some of you, the rest are liars… 2 things I hate hearing: 1. I don’t know what to talk about.2. We don’t do anything interesting… we’re in a boring sector.Our job is to tell interesting stories. I don’t buy those 2 excuses.If you had to keep a diary and that was boring, you might decide to get off your ass and do something about it.Find the value in what you do.INSURANCE…. I love insurance! Be the most interesting person in the room. Redbull. Mayor of London.Creative out reach. IFB Cash machine. CREATE A STORY of your own. Start by walking around the block, leave the office and get inspired.
4. hyperlapse, vine, instagram, youtube, vimeo.. the list goes on.one minute of video is worth 1.8 million words.Products sell 400% faster when video is used to explain, demo and showcase.Youtube is the 2nd biggest search engine behind Google.. I think it will be no.1 in less than 10 years. Our kids used Youtube for everything. Cheats for games, love life advice, how to play the guitar, help with homework. Search engine for words? OR search engine for video? video gets found faster than text.. it carrys more weight.Get comfortable with video. its powerful, its still impressive, it’s not going away… AND ITS NOT EXPENSIVE AT ALL.With Tv converging with the web, Websites will evolve to be something different to what they are now.
5. Look, I think facebook is going to be around for a very long time, but these didn't exist 10 years ago, you can’t bank on all of them sticking around - you need a safety net… You need your own CRM data. it might not be email we use to communicate, it might be in-app communication who knows but you need it.Producing content for engagement is not enough… it needs to be strategically geared towards lead generation and nurturing. convert people on your own domain. apps, podcasts, make friends with influential people - make your discussion more valuable and own the conversation.When new platforms come out, be one of the first to dominate it in your space. Whats the worst that can happen.Early adopter: Get yourself an early adopter department - it pays to be first.Snapchat/Snapcash, Ello, Medium… Early adopters organically gather bigger following quicker and easier. Fact. On the other domains/channels, Be the host. Discussion groups, forums, blogs, youtube channel, write a book, audiobook, ebooks… everything you do counts.understand Attribution modelling… working out the optimum way for prospects and customers to find you. Taco Bell made headlines the other day because they took their website down completely and said use our app if you want to stay in touch with our brand. they questioned the value and possibly de-valued websites that day.
6. Your competition is winning. Marginal gains. By show of hands, who uses some sort of marketing automation software?I hate DIY, I hate it more with the wrong tools. Get the best tools you can. Marketing automation is here. Hubspot.Its tough enough. Have smart CRM, be clever with notifications / alerts, workflows connecting marketing and sales.Learn more about your audience. The more you know the better you can sell.I started life as a designer - I can sit in front of the latest version of photoshop and do whatever i want with an image. I’m familiar with the tools so im not afraid of them - these tools are powerful, dont be afraid of them and start getting used to them - yoiu cant win over the next 10 years by skimping on this stuff.
7. Marketing is about the experience of your audience. relevant. Context.I think this Starbucks experience is a little weird sometimes.. I like to give a false name when I go in :) I like to hear them shout Hercules really loud. But having someone use your name releases endorphins so you like the experience.Persona mapping, market research. Insight. Show them you care. Remember before I was talking about how hard its getting - don’t piss someone off by asking for their details again and again - be smart but put the customer first.In my opinion, the traditional website will converge towards TV and compete against the native app. Apps know your preferences and remember what you did last.. why doesn’t your website know? if you download something and go back, the offer should be different. The email you get should be relevant. Conversions can be up to 1000% higher when you personalise an experience. Your compeition is already thinking about this and you should too.
8. Its no longer acceptable for a company to have a guy or girl wearing converse in a corner of the office championing digital. digital is top down with no compromise.Digital isn’t just marketing. its recruitment, its customer service, it’s R&D it’s How many of you, by show of hands, either is the maverick in the office or you work with one? Its bullshit, it means your company isn’t structured right and it needs to change… All companies will have a media division - its this division that will determine the value of your brand/business…Don't fuck around with this, it’s too important. Apart form anything else, you need to have an environment that’s digital enough to attract those 14 yr old kids currently looking for hearts and boobs.