Showing how switching from working client to agency side can help your career progression
After spending the best part of a decade as an in-house client-side marketer, I recently made the decision to experience life as a marketer within an agency. My ambition is to continually develop myself as a rounded marketer, something I’ve tried to demonstrate using the ‘T-shaped marketer’ approach and I felt the change to agency-side marketing would help me to meet my personal development goals.
There are a number of advantages for marketers who experience both agency and client-side marketing and in this post I’ve tried to summarise some of the stand-out differences that I've experienced and how they can help marketers looking to develop their careers.
Culture
One of the stand-out differences I found when moving from client to agency-side was the company culture. I'd come…
Making purpose core to your marketing strategy
As a futurist, I always remind my clients that the future isn’t just somewhere we go but something we actively create. Simply because our actions today directly influence and shape our business of tomorrow.
In this article I introduce some of the key trends I discussed in my Smart Insights webinar on December 18th 2014- The Marketing Trends Management Toolkit - free registration to view here:
If you attend the webinar you will have a chance to win a free copy of my new book the Trends Management Toolkit with a prize draw…
How do the trends of 2015 compare to 2016 and what are the implications for your marketing investments in the year ahead?
Around November/December/January of every year, there is a flurry of posts discussing the trends for the following Season. This time around is absolutely no exception!
With trends posts already creeping including Dave Chaffey’s Digital Marketing Trends for 2016 post), they undoubtedly make for interesting reading and help you consider further where to prepare for the year ahead. In Dave's post we asked Smart Insights readers to vote not just on 'what's hot' or what they expect to drive the most leads and sales, but what will give the biggest increment - or improvement - a key difference when looking at changes.
In early December we'll be doing a 'deep-dive' into trends for the different channels too at our free online summit - check out the agenda below - you can register in advance…
Use these tools to help you market your business more efficiently using content marketing, SEO and Social media marketing
Whether you’re working on getting your start-up off the ground, or you’ve been working in the field for several years, every business could benefit from some quality digital marketing tools that will make processes more efficient and productive. One of the primary challenges of running a business is enacting effective marketing.
On average, mid to large size companies spend $958 million more than was actually necessary in their marketing campaign. This clearly shows that the majority of companies need to revamp their marketing strategies to make them more efficient, and one way to do just that is to use some of the following marketing productivity tools.
These are my personal set of marketing productivity tools that mainly focus on content marketing, SEO and…
The why and how of writing a business case for marketing investment
‘You’ll need a Business Case for that’ are the words that often strike dread to the hearts of those trying to seek investment in digital initiatives from their FD or CMO. The cynical amongst us suspect it’s delivered with the intent to kill off an idea through forcing us to ‘jump through hoops’ and ‘bureaucracy’.
But as a marketing or Ecommerce manager, the Business Case is actually your best friend! In this post I'll step you through what I have found in my experience is required for an effective business case which will get support from colleagues. If you're an Expert member of Smart Insights, I've also developed a Word template of a Business case for download.
Why have a Business Case?
Packed with solid preparation, a well-researched, well-considered document showing clear…
Weighing up the cost implications of the GDPR
The new EU data law, or General Protection Data Regulation (GDPR), will collectively cost marketing data users billions in becoming technically compliant. A recent survey by Vanson Bourne reveals that nearly 70 per cent of companies will invest in new IT or support services, and 51 per cent have allocated budget for staff training in preparation for the new law.
Every brand and agency faces its own unique compliance challenge, but broadly the to do list is the same in terms of the tasks to be completed. What is certain is that most have not calculated the cost. A report for the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) reveals that 87 per cent of companies are unable to calculate the amount compliance preparation will cost, and 82 per cent of the…
Personalise your reporting with new calculated metrics
There is not a lot that you can’t do with Google Analytics these days, but one feature that has been missing for a while that the community has been requesting is Calculated Metrics. This feature is only available for properties using Universal Analytics and is currently in Beta.
In this post I have gone into some detail about what it is, why you should be exited, what you can do with it, and how to approach this new feature in your business by using examples.
Quick at a glance summary
Google Announced in their November 2015 product update email newsletter
Currently in Beta
Only available for properties using Universal Analytics
You can only have 5 Calculated Metrics per view (50 if you have the paid Premium)
You need to have the right level of access in your GA account to create them
You can mix any metrics or custom metrics…
The key to effective transformation is being connected
If there is one word that seems to be in every conversation today, it’s transformation. It started as digital transformation and now many businesses are panicking about business transformation. This new strategic focus is driven by the disruptions brought through social, mobile, and digital…. which were all the buzz words du jour over the past few years. Remember when every conversation you had last year was about “big data”? And the year before it was all about social and the social enterprise? And a few years back it was all about mobile? And many years ago it was all about digital media and digital channels?
All these are buzz words about a new technology or platform that was evolving from being an emerging trend to becoming mainstream. Digital channels, social enterprise, mobile networks and big…
3 Best practices for Email Marketing Security
Email is an intrinsic part of building and maintaining customer relationships in any field, but customer data needs to be safeguarded. Because email marketing is so prevalent, it can be easy to take this platform for granted. However, it’s also important to remember that client information is sensitive; your customers entrust your business with their names, Social Security information, and credit card or bank account numbers.
Each field has its own security needs, and a privacy breach could reveal all of the above information and more. When it comes to email marketing for customer retention, it’s critical to ensure that all emails are secure from harm.
The Effects of Data Breaches
Data breaches can be catastrophic for large and small businesses alike. In one recent major hack, Anthem Inc., the country’s second largest health insurance provider,…
What do businesses need to do to gain more insights and value from Google Analytics?
You know the way it is with using Google Analytics... nearly all businesses have it installed, but far fewer have customised it correctly for their business AND have a structured approach for using it to improve their online marketing. I think many business owners and marketers know that because of this and the lack of skills to interpret the data, the obvious potential of using Google Analytics to review and improve online marketing is missed by many organisations. The reason for this missed opportunity is not a technology problem. As Avinash Kaushik has pointed out, in his 10/90 rule of managing analytics, that's because this is largely a People issue, i.e. how to provide People with the right processes, tools and KPIs to drive performance.
Those most aware…
