I was asked to give a talk last week at a marketing conference in north east England. The conference focused on the changing world of digital marketing and many speakers focused on specific technologies or channels; I looked instead on the implications of all this flux on us as marketing leaders and on the type of teams we work with.

For any marketing managers / directors / leaders out there, who may be feeling a little lost, here are some my thoughts:

1. Marketing is now about building Ambassadors for your companies and brands.

We need to look beyond just acquiring and keeping customers; we need to incentivise people to share our stories; and we need to reshape our marketing strategies to centre on those individuals and networks that can help us share.

2. Story-telling is the main way to build ambassadors, and is a key pillar in new marketing.

We need to revisit the story of our brand; is this important to people? Do we have a purpose bigger than our product? People will help us to share our story if we can be relevant / entertaining enough, and if we connect in the right context.

3. Telling stories and encouraging sharing is essential to inbound marketing – we need to learn about this.

As marketers, we need to build insight and develop stories to help us connect; but we also need to develop or link in with more technical skill sets that we can use to convert these stories in business outcomes via optimised landing pages, targeted search strategies, effective exploitation of relevant online networks etc. We can no longer ignore digital marketing tactics and tools – we do not need to understand how they are engineered but we MUST understand what they can do for us and our customers.

4. Marketing has shifted from a single central strategy to multiple, agile, tactical projects.

If we can reshape our marketing strategy to focus on telling stories, encouraging sharing, and driving inbound traffic; and we have great content when people arrive, then we will create ambassadors. However, it may take several attempts to get the stories right; to connect with the right networks – so we need to break our strategy down into distinct tactical projects that we can manage, measure and keep on top of. An agile approach is the only way to do this.

5. Flexible teams will be essential to the future of marketing

And it follows, that if we as marketing leaders need to oversee multiple projects, then we need access to flexible specialists that we can assemble and disband as needed – as we learn what works and doesn’t work for our brands. Static teams with general skills sets cannot deliver the same level of expertise as individual specialists brought together to deliver a targeted campaign.

6. Conversion Management & Understanding Analytics is already key.

And finally, what allows is to manage flexible teams and multiple projects is the fact that we can monitor and assess the effectiveness of our marketing better than ever. We need not to be afraid of the data puke thrown out by an ever-growing crop of analytics tools – but we need to share with each other what tools work and don’t work; and try to focus only on those metrics that are meaningful to our business and about which we have the capabilities to improve.

These are the areas that mark out my plans for personal development as a marketer – creating better stories ; using digital tools more effectively ; improving my abilities to measure and improve. It may not be the case that all marketers need to concentrate on these same aspects – and outbound marketing is absolutely not dead – we just need to insure our futures by starting to connect with the people, tools and businesses that are leading the way in this brave new world – so that we’re not left behind on the old one!

One of the problems with marketing is that it’s a bit of a catch-all phrase. Speak with a hundred marketers and they’ll all give you a different definition and have skills in different areas.

For myself, the parts I’m probably best at are helping companies to nail their market insights, develop effective propositions, and use these to find creative ways to connect with new customers and influencers.

And that’s the problem. I’ve worked with hundreds of organisations and the focus of the marketing brief has always been on entering new markets, reaching new clients, growing the brand. Never once can I remember receiving or writing a brief solely about increasing customer retention. There have been parts of briefs about encouraging referral, but again it is rarely the main thrust: it’s all about the new.

But I believe tables are starting to turn. With marketing budgets reducing, the focus is increasingly on ROI, on finding the most cost-effective way to build brand loyalty and increase sales. And there is no doubt that the most cost-effective way to do this is to improve customer satisfaction – which will in turn increases retention and builds business through referral and recommendation.

In short: the focus now needs to be placed more firmly on looking after existing customers. Yet for many marketers, this just isn’t sexy enough. Given the fact that lots of marketers don’t even like their ‘art’ being associated with the dirty word ‘sales’, many more will cringe to think of their world being associated with that of customer service, which instead conjures up images of call centres and grotty complaint desks.

But it’s time to change this: it’s time to realize that the way in which an organization looks after its customers is at the heart of an organisation’s brand; at the heart of any successful marketing activity; at the heart of successful business growth.

And the facts and figures back this up. It costs six times more to win a new client than to retain existing clients; nearly 70% of customer loss is due to an indifferent attitude by staff but over 70% will stay with you if their problem is resolved; the average ‘wronged’ customer will tell 8 – 16 people about their experience; and customer loyalty can be worth up to 10 times as much as a single purchase.

And as for sexy, the most engaging areas of emerging marketing for me are around co-creation, social influence and referral campaigns, perhaps the creation of Loyalty2.0 where clients win rewards for their friends as well as themselves. The most important voice for any brand is no longer the marketing director, it’s the customer, and the sooner we realize that the better!

This article has been brewing for a while but was crystalised whilst working with Guy Letts, founder of www.customersure.com , software that makes it easy for small businesses to deliver exceptional customer service.

Guy is shortlisted for an award at the moment – so if you believe in the ideas that have inspired this post, please spare a minute to vote for him at : http://bit.ly/iiDliu – thanks!

Last week (thanks to Ryan Foster) I was invited to Stockholme to visit Hyper Island and take part in a concept design seminar for one of their courses – ecommerce Manager.

Having worked with a number of UK education institutions, several things struck me about the way Hyper Island works and how this seems to reflect the general Swedish way of getting things done:

1. Inclusion: the seminar was about reviewing how the course had run in its first years. Students were invited as well as industry representatives and course leaders, and everyone had an equal say – in fact the students led several parts of the day, which was a really refreshing change.

2. No ivory towers: the new CEO of Hyper Island also attended for the whole day – getting involved right in the discussions on how to improve things, not simply glancing through a summary report that may later land on her desk.

3. Tone and style: the whole day was incredibly relaxed, with group discussions and mini workshops hanging seamlessly on an 11am – 4pm framework. Really practical outputs were achieved including some majorly valuable insights from students and course leaders, as well as some practical recommendations for change.

4. No egos: The only way in which such good results were achieved was due to the excellent nature of the facilitation and the open honest tone of the event – no academic egos, just a genuine desire to improve student experience in the future.

5. Accepting negative feedback: Most markedly on this point, the course leaders openly encouraged students to share the parts of the course that didn’t work: nothing was buried and the students didn’t feel intimidated or uncertain about sharing their views, even though final marks aren’t yet in!

6. Awareness of industry needs: a lot of the day focused on trying to understand market needs – from industrial and economic perspectives – were we creating graduates that could seek jobs and create businesses that would thrive.

7. Future & International considerations: the whole day was framed in the context of a group discussion about the future of ecommerce and global business – making it clear to everyone the reality being faced by the graduates. This fuelled loads of debate about whether HI graduates  were designed more for regional or global opportunities – not sure we totally got this one ironed out, but some great ideas were suggested.

8. The reflection: at the close of the seminar we were all asked to reflect on the day and share our thoughts and feelings. Far from being a bit weird (which it may sound) this was actually a really effective and suitable end to the day, leaving every individual uplifted and ready to crack on: a bit of emotion worked well!

9. Barriers to enterprise: it wasn’t all rosy however. One area where UK universities seem to be ahead of the curve (finally) is around enterprise and start-up support. The course is designed to encourage consideration of enterprise and support those who select this. However, it seemed that industry needs were perhaps more significant – and that critically the barriers to actually registering a limited company in Sweden are both time and cost prohibitive for the vast, vast majority of students. See, we don’t have it all bad here in the UK!

Overall an illuminating experience, and a pleasure to experience how to run a seminar Swedish-style. Other observations from the trip were that fish and pickled vegetables seem to be the food of choice for buffets; Swedish Hotels have extremely small pillows; and the posh bars serve cocktails with round round ice cubes (are they still called ice cubes?).

I was asked by a local paper to write a few lines on tech trends I thought would prevail in 2011. I waffled on for a bit longer than the short paragraph I think they wanted, so here’s the full version (10 lines of which may get published!). Please note I’m NOT a technologist; I’m a marketer that appreciates and uses technology – so please adjust your expectations before you read on!

I believe two interesting things will happen in 2011:

1. Businesses will finally get to know and understand the social web.

2. But by then the social web will know us even better, so that won’t matter.

What does this mean?

Well, the explosion of social media in the last couple of years has redefined the relationship between companies and customers. The power balance has shifted – Reviewing is the new Advertising, Broadcast media is giving way to Social media and in some ways brands are losing control of the conversation.

My first prediction for 2011, however, is that businesses will finally stop fighting and will submit. Instead of formulating brand messages and relying on broadcast channels to drive these home; we’ll see businesses focus on turning existing customers into ambassadors – who themselves become the most important marketing tools. We’ll see companies creating network maps of the topics and people that are important influencers, and devising strategies to enter their conversations. Brands and messages will be designed for the ease with which they can be passed on; and the brands that will succeed will be those most closely in touch with the needs and values of their customers.

But just as we’re feeling proud of our mastery over the web; the web will turn round and show us that it’s still one step ahead – that it knows us better than we know it. For this is the future of the web: ‘intelligent’ processing and timely delivery of its now boundless data. The web will know how we think, how we spend, what we like and dislike, and will use this data to reveal to us everything we need to know, when we need to know it, followed by what it thinks we’ll need next. We will no longer use the web to search, like opening and thumbing through the yellow pages; it will become a continual flow of information, through a glittering array of ever-open channels, learning more about us and fine-tuning the suggestions and recommendations it believes will help us through our interactive and socially-networked lives.

It will not, however, be able to control the weather! Be safe in the snow & enjoy Christmas:)

As arctic conditions grip the UK, here’s my take on how to keep business ticking over:

1. Step out of your cave, if you’re still in one, and set up skype. Now.

2. Start work earlier, in your PJs. It will be dark and stormy by half four and you won’t feel like working after that anyway, so get up an hour earlier and get on your laptop to get all the bitty jobs out of the way. You can then be finished in time for Come Dine With Me.

3. Don’t fight it – have fun in it. Snow breaks instead of tea breaks are more fun and better for you – go build a snow man or roll down a hill or two. Maybe get a dog.

4. Drink. Hot beverages obviously, but a nice glass or two of port or a sweet sherry with lunch does create a nice warm glow.

5. If following point 3 above, don’t skype your clients immediately after lunch.

6. Network online. If you can’t get out and about quite as much then give twitter, facebook, linked in a big hug. Use them and let people know you’re still around and not buried under an avalanche.

Would love to build this up to ten, but it’s time for me to go and play out in the snow. Feel free to add your own survival tips below.

One promise I made to myself when setting up Stick Theory was to focus a bit more on my own skills development. And so I quickly enrolled on the first semi-relevant and affordable course I saw – a DSDM Agile project management course.

I found it pretty interesting at the time (back in March I think) but what’s prompted me to write a few words about it now, is that I’ve actually used it. Not just once, but on nearly every project I’ve delivered since. Un-bloody-believable!

So here’s my wholly unauthorised at-a-glance guide to Agile project management should it be of interest to you:

• It’s better than PRINCE2 (not hard)
• It’s best for small to mid-sized projects where you’ve got more than 3 or 4 people involved
• It’s especially ace when your client is a *badword* and expects the moon on a stick
• It allows you to demonstrate to your client the correlation between the 4 main project variables: time, cost, quality, features
• In particular it provides a way to manage projects with a set deadline and set budget ; and to make your client understand that the only thing that can change is features: i.e. FEWER of them not MORE of them
• It therefore allows you not only to eradicate feature creep; but actually for you to plan in FEWER features than desired in order to increase the quality of the end product (i.e. achieve the most important objectives with finesse rather than cram everything in and do none with particular effervescence).
• The specific tool used to manage features is a PRIORITISED REQUIREMENTS LIST (PRL) – this is awesome.
• A PRL starts with a big list of EVERYTHING the client wants (not just needs). You then compare this list with the key objective for the project (e.g. what must this campaign achieve? what must this website encourage the user to do?) and apply the MOSCOW rule.
• The MoSCoW rule is awesome too.
• M = Must (a feature that is essential to achieve the key objective)
• S = Should (a feature that, if time and cost allow, should be in to secure effective and elegant delivery of the key objective)
• C = Could (a feature that could go in because it won’t detract from the key objective, but it’s definitely not essential)
• W = Won’t (tough titties, just not relevant to the key objective)
• And this is the cool thing, if you are delivering an agile project, you are 100% focused on achieving the key objective and this is what you’re getting paid for and what you’re making a promise on – NOT on the addition of non-essential features just because someone once saw it somewhere else and thought it was pretty.
• So you end up with a list of key features, prioritised, and then you plan these into an action plan
• Using TIMEBOXES.
• A TIMEBOX is a unit of activity within a distinct time frame (usually a week or two) where you agree which features you will deliver. And you must finish on time, ideally with all features complete. If they’re not all complete then you end the timebox anyway and re-assess which should be moved forward into the next timebox.
• At the end of the last timebox you should have ALL M’s completed; all the important S’s and maybe a couple of C’s.
• And in doing so the project should have achieved it’s key objective with no time wasted on unnecessary bells and whistles (unless bells and whistles are essential to achieve the key objectives)
• And hopefully the project manager has not a) had a heart attack b) drowned in paperwork.

I have no idea if that makes sense to you but if it has whetted your appetite there are a few places you can look. There’s a group on Linkedin called ‘The DSDM group’ and the guy I did my training with (subsidised through Codeworks) is Keith Richards, who by all accounts is a bit of a guru in this area.

Please note however that Agile is a huge area and involves lots of tools and different approaches – the above is just a quick summary of main points I use and that have helped in the managements of projects like bizpond and The Engine Room.

As explained in my last blog post the concept of Stick Theory was inspired by my dog – who loves chasing what makes her happy: sticks. That was a year ago now and I have indeed spent the last 12 months chasing projects and opportunities that I’ve absolutely loved. Both work & life (I even got hitched a few weeks ago!)

I’m now more convinced than ever that good business & good marketing, in fact all things good, come about when we chase what makes us happy & we encourage others (especially our customers) to do the same. If the product & service we deliver makes our clients or customers happier than anyone else then WE are the ones they’ll tell their mates about. Simples. (If you’re interested in word of mouth marketing, check out womma).

Anyhooow, following this line of thinking I popped a tweet out a couple of days ago asking what makes people happy and the responses were pretty cool – so wanted to share. Hope some of these make you smile:

• kicking up piles of autumn leaves
• blue sky
• chocolate and shoes
• waking up on Sunday morning, thinking it’s Monday, then realising it’s Sunday & I can go back to sleep
• guns. girls. girls with guns
• good food, good wine, good views. and ideally a pool
• finding a fiver in your pocket you forgot you had
• terrible action movies
• slightly aged sponge cake
• strawberry flavoured laces
• being outdoors
• my new baby all squished up asleep on my chest
• taking photos of sock puppets in tourist attractions
• an unexpectedly really good glass of wine
• long, lazy mornings in bed with breakfast, radio 4, a good book and the boy
• making other people happy
• getting close to the mythical ‘inbox zero’
• being appreciated
• me time
• climbing mountains, eating ice cream. Not together necessarily!

I think that’s most of them but feel free to add more below. Not really much of a point to this blog post other than perhaps to think what could you do to make yourself & your customers happier or make life more fun – as I do reckon it’s good for business. (Check out VW’s fun theory if you’re tempted to agree).

Cheers:)

It seems crazy but it’s now over 8 months since I moved on from my last business and embarked upon a new way of working which I decided to call Stick Theory. Loads of you had some interesting takes on what Stick Theory meant. Some of you tried looking it up on wikipedia; others suggested some pretty way out definitions – ‘Is it about carrots and sticks – basically beating people into submission?’ ; ‘Is it about memory sticks – making information easy to pass on?’ ; “Is it about sticky communications – getting people coming back for more”. All perfectly relevant to what I do, but sadly that’s pure coincidence rather than startling foresight on my part!

The rather less impressive truth is that Stick Theory was actually inspired by my 2 year old springer spaniel, Becks (herself name after my fave beer!)

Becks - basically a pretty happy dog

Becks - slippy conditions but still chasing

At the time I was looking at exiting my business and considering what to do next, everything seemed a bit too complicated. But, when out on a morning stroll with Becks, inspiration struck. All she needs to be happy in life is to be chasing & playing with a stick. She knows what makes her happy and she chases it. Simple. And there you have it. STICK THEORY: CHASE WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY!

And so, this essentially became my new business plan. I would work out what made me happy, on the basis that this is probably the stuff I do best; and take it from there. As it turns out, what makes me happy is working with great people on creative projects that challenge my grey matter but can make a pretty big difference if they turn out right. And this is what I try to do through Stick Theory.

I’ve amassed an impressive stock of creative partners, who are a pleasure to work with (look at the project partners for each project in the work section) and some great projects are starting to happen.

The latest collaborative project is bizpond – a website for small businesses, freelancers and consultants in the North East. I won’t say too much about it here but feel free to take a look. The interesting thing for me is how the project came about. It was based on some (unfortunately pretty old but still useful) research from Durham University all about the importance of collaboration and networking amongst small businesses. I was asked to create a ‘thing’ to stimulate useful online links and possible collaboration for people in our region – and that’s where the thinking for bizpond started. The idea was so simple, and the team so good that my initial sketches were improved upon (quite vastly!) and brought to life in about 10 weeks. Pretty chuffed with that.

And so, yes, this Stick Theory idea is working for me quite nicely – and hopefully too for the partners I’m working with. Lessons so far:

• Try to work only on projects you’ll enjoy and where you get on with the other people involved
• This will probably mean cutting costs and keeping business lean
• Know your strengths and drive them throughout every project
• Know your weaknesses and assemble the ideal teams to make up for these
• Treat your partners well and pay them well (and if you can’t pay the earth, then pay on time)
• Acknowledge everyone’s contributions

So far these things seem to be working for me – so get on out there and find YOUR stick!!

Another great conference from the Codeworks crew last week, with the delivery of the DIBI (Design it Build it) Conference.

DIBI conference - 28 April @ the Sage

The conference saw digerati gather from across the UK and beyond for a two track conference about web design and development. The design track got more bums on seats but feedback suggests both were pretty awesome.

As someone who’s not actually a web designer or developer, but who tries to create ideas, tools & tactics that make the best of what the web can offer, here’s the run-down on what I learnt…

From Adii Pienaar (WooThemes):

- design and marketing are more important than engineering

- strong UI + UX = addictive user experience (‘good vibes’)

Sarah Parmenter

- if developing iphone apps, design from the start for what apple wants – what category you fit in & where you are on the serious / fun (x) entertainment / tool axis (y).

Tim Van Damme (@maxvoltar)

- web designers are like spacemen

- real change doesn’t happen in meetings, it happens when people are doing stuff

- fixed pricing for jobs – never do it. It will bit you on the arse

Simon Collinson

- when designing, build & consider mental models for your users (the person, their interaction, environment, experience…)

- try to use the vernacular – appropriate items from the every day world of your user

Dan Rubin

- ‘users don’t care about how it looks, they care about how it works’

- low fidelity testing = good; high fidelity testing = great

- design for user behaviour but business goals – but try to make your business goals about creating great user behaviour

- inconsistency is the arch enemy of good design

Andy Clarke

- Websites will never look the same in all browsers. Stop worrying about it and carry on!

- If you do consider browsers then design from the top down, not the bottom up

Slides and video going up on DIBI website later in month I think – worth checking it out.

Di Gates- still pretty happy

As I finally launch my new website, it’s heartening to think that lots of very clever people all over the world will get to see it within just a day or two.

There are of course downsides to this. If a few of you think it’s absolutely awful and the whole concept of ‘ideas, tools and tactics’ makes no sense at all, then this attitude could soon spread and I’ll be left penniless and unhappy.

Likewise if many of you think that traditional agencies are the only way forward, and that companies should carry on communicating as they are, rather than searching for new and better ways to connect with their customers, the same result could carry.

Hopefully though, some of you will think there’s space in this world for a new type of consultancy. One that takes the best bits of the best agencies (good customer service, clear briefs, nice coffee) and combines these with the new world of freelancing, creative collaboration and crowdsourcing. One that works where marketing and innovation meet.

Hopefully some of you might think that the key to effectively connecting with a customer is to have an IDEA that they’re interested in. And then to find the right TOOLS and TACTICS to help them engage with that idea.

If I dare to dream, some of you may also believe that the world is full of amazingly talented freelancers and small creative collectives who can be brought together (with some decent direction) to deliver these creatively and effectively for companies of all shapes and sizes.

These, at least, are the kind of concepts that underpin Stick Theory. If you too think they’re worth pursuing, please join in, and spread the word. If not, then I always welcome a bit of banter