Elevate


Hello fellow marketers. AI is great. But please stop copying and pasting the word elevate. ChatGPT by its own admission loves the word elevate. If you see "elevate" in a subject line, advert, email, etc. It's 99% likely someone has used AI to create that content. If that's a good or a bad thing, I'll let you be the judge. My view is, as marketers our job is to differentiate, get noticed, stand out and be memorable. Why would you use a verb that has become so ubiquitous and dare I say meaningless to "elevate your brand"


War Stories and strategic Vision

  • EMEA marketing. Data servers, culture of buying, GDPR, regulation, payment methods
  • Hiring cam be hard, tales time and energy. 
  • Covid and the shift to digital 
  • Shift from FOMO to FOMU

This is based on a small team of 1 or 2 people, leaning into coporate resources and local agencies. The focus is on Demand Generation working in partnersghip with Sales. BTW the following isn't just a chatgpt list, it's based on on the job experience. It's deliberatley a deliberatley lean list to 

Understand the corporate (and regional) vision. 
  • ARR projections
  • Net retention projections
  • Markets / ICP
  • Corporate GTM (USP, Positioning, etc)
Analysis the current EMEA situation: 
  • SWOT Analysis (including regional issues)
  • Analyse the marketable database of ICP / Persona
  • Lead / Pipeline metrics.
  • Competitive Analysis
  • Content Audit
Planning (EMEA GTM)
  • Strategies for growth (quadrant)
  • Budget / Expected Results (based on historical)
  • Resource planning (internal / external)
  • Tweaked messaging / campaigns for region
  • Set OKRs
Execution (leaning into corporate campaigns and resources).
  • Quarterly marketing plan. Considering country variance: 
    • The Four C's of Marketing (something I've coined)
      • Contacts (build out marketable database)
      • Campaigns (messaging and CTAs)
      • Content (created or re-purposed)
      • Channels (Digital, events etc)
  • ABM Strategy for high-value accounts
  • Programmatic strategy for tier 2 accounts
  • Sales Enablement
Quarterly Business Review
  • Track four OKRs
    1. Demand Generation (Pipeline SQLs)
    2. ICP engagement (Brand Awareness - leads)
    3. Sales Enablement (SQL to Win Conversion Rates)
    4. Customer Advocacy (Case Studies)
  • Adjust plans for next quarter
Ongoing procesess
  • Test, measure and learn
  • Playbooks to document operational efficiencies









What 3 Things

What 3 Things - WTT
As an information worker I live a world of distractions. I wrote about this five years ago (https://lnkd.in/eyw5crPJ) and if anything distractions have become more frequent, and more distracting since 2019.

But, I've been doing this exercise for a while now - I state in the morning the three things I want to get done that day - what three things.

Three things don't sound much. But if these are three major things that are going to really move the needle and you've identified them as such, if you get to the end of the day and you haven't achieved those three things, you've missed a trick,

About a year ago I even thought this could be a website or service. Sharing with someone, or a community that can hold you accountable. Or at least check in on you and then it keeps you hyper-focused during the day to actually get sh!t done. I even created a whatsapp group.

No chat - just what 3 things.

If you think about it, if you ticked off three major important things every day and you achieved them all, that would soon mount up to a hell of a lot of productivity. Doesn't even need to be for business, could be, health, learning, travel, family, finance goals.

Sure, you can do more than three things, but the whole point of this exercise is to hold the course.

The other idea of this service was that you could have people doing entirely different projects or professional careers and would it be fascinating to see how different people are motivated and encouraged get stuff done. You could have the CEO of a Fortune 500 company buddying up with a street food vendor and both learning from each other how to stay motivated. Comparing notes on how to achieve exactly what they need to on a day-to-day basis.

Would love to know what you rekon? What 3 things did you get done today? How do you avoid distractions. Avoid LinedkIn posts like this haha!

Posted on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/markpbishop_what-3-things-wtt-as-an-information-worker-activity-7185961113979691008-L-ZI?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop




QR Codes



I bet as a marketer you've either had a little play with QR codes, or you've been tempted to. Here's a practical guide. Written by me (not AI), on how to use QR codes to bridge the physical and digital worlds. With no rookie mistakes.

1. Don't go crazy and create loads of these codes without a plan. They will be out in the wild. For some time.

2. Because they are usually printed on physical things, which turn up in odd places in the future - pick a URL you control. You really don't want your QR code directing to a 404 because the page no longer exists.

3. The way I do this is is simple. Have a single catch-all for your main QR code - eg www.yourdomain.com/live THEN redirect that page to your content.

4. Only then can you think about designing your QR Code. And yes you should 100% incorporate your logo - easy to do. It looks Gucci.

5. For the landing page it must be Mobile first. Obvious of course, but who designs the first draft on their phone - no one. Just test it on your phone. Always.

6. Gated or Ungated content? The choice is yours. Just reduce friction as much as possible, no-one likes arduous forms. Is your objective maximum audience reach, or lead capture? For lead capture you need to offer something of value, otherwise forget it. No-one will fill in a form to look at a brochure.

7. Think about where you can use the QR code - stickers, event stands, merch, t-shirts, coasters, tattoos, pretty endless list.

8. Never stick a QR code on your competitor's booth.... until they've left the show.

So this brings us back to points 1 & 2. Have a plan and own the URL. Because once you let them loose in the wild, and you need to own that URL and the brand experience.

Overall, QR codes are a bit of fun, and should be a part of your multi-channel approach, rather than thinking of the as a lead magnet.

Fad or fun? Love them? hate them? What do you reckon? Either way they are here to stay and part of the mix for any modern digital marketer...

Cheers and all the best


Only Apple can make ugly a feature.


Only Apple would make a feature of the fact that the camera lens has got massive and sticks way out of the phone. My Samsung is nice and compact and not some massive chunky lens.

Things I've always observed about Apple.

  • Their products are always technically inferior to others
  • They sometimes promote inferior qualities as features or benefits.
All these posters were seen at King's Cross underground station.

Such rubbish marketing. Nut it works. People will lap up the iPhone 15.


Time of day



Cugic

I've re-energised myself with photography on twitter

 


Energy is the source of life and grasp it with all you can.


So I've started to really enjoy twitter as a platform to publish my prolific amount of content. I have several blogs now all with slightly different themes. I'm liking the fact that I'm just using twitter almost anonymously. I have a "work" profile, but I don't really want work folks to see my content creation. I'm not sure why that is. It's mainly because I don't watch TV that I get to create a load more stuff. I think they would judge me. 


So this is where it all begins:

I started taking this account seriously in Jan 2022. It was an account I did nothing with. Let's see how I get on growing it over time. Sure the numbers are big now. 

Here's some more of my thoughts on what I'm up to with twitter and why I love it.

The truth is all social media is kind of a vanity project. However, what I'm also looking to achieve is to document my thoughts and dreams and the journey I'm taking.  Mainly because I don't want to forget the old times. The pandemic has certainly taught me that time endlessly marches forwards and there is nothing any of us can do to turn back the clock. 

Elevate

Hello fellow marketers. AI is great. But please stop copying and pasting the word elevate. ChatGPT by its own admission loves the word eleva...