As digital marketers there is a constant need to stay up to date with the latest trends in technology. This is the primary reason why I think this blog has managed to find a following (it can't be for my poor use of analogies and dad jokes). Of course, the temptation for people working in in-house digital teams is to collect a theoretical knowledge of some key techniques which comprises their 'box of tricks'. With these they then are able to deliver some key projects and impress the less digitally savvy colleagues. Yet, eventually they use up all their tricks or their knowledge goes out of date. They're then left with no other choice but to apply for a new job and start the process all over again.
This is why it is essential that you are given the opportunities to practically try new things. If you don't roll up your sleeves yourself you're limiting your shelf life at a company. It also keeps work interesting and exciting as you trial new platforms, streamline your messaging and learn new ways of achieving your end goals.
This may be easier for digital experts working at agencies but for the in-house team there's a danger that you stray into becoming the maintainer and not the strategist. After all, by building intranets, websites and apps we are constructing managed services which need to be maintained. If we're then the people doing all the maintenance we're bound to get rusty!
A new plan for the new year
I've written before about the importance of selling digital capabilities internally. Without any buy-in from senior management you won't be given the resources to try new things. We're now deep into the planning stage of reviewing our priorities for the year ahead and I'm relishing the chance to be more strategic in our thinking. A key part of our three main priorities for 2017 are visiting senior staff to get them brought in to what we hope to achieve.
By communicating our strategy and then setting clear objectives we can acquire the freedom we need to try something truly different. This communication is two-way as we'll need to fully understand the business to succeed so eventually everybody wins!
It's not just about adding new weapons to your arsenal but also ditching those that no longer work for you. For example, QR codes were jettisoned long ago from our marketing mix and we use apps as sparingly as possible - i.e. only when the native features of the device they're running on are utilised.
So what new things are we looking at? Well, time will tell but in the last few weeks we've sat in on some impressive demos showing augmented/virtual reality, proximity beacons, new social platforms, messaging apps and video. I'm currently plugging these in to our upcoming campaign plan from which we have high hopes in introducing something different to the industry.
Something else completely new for me this year is that I have increased my exercise regime! This all stemmed from the team looking for something we could do to raise money for our new charity partner The Alzheimers Society. I went away for Christmas, ate may own body weight in mince pies and stollen and thought no more of it. I returned to find I'm signed up as part of the team! I suppose I owe it to myself to take part in one last hurrah before my fortieth birthday later this year...
Of course, I've not been able to ignore the lure of technology and am working my way through the excellent 5K runner mobile app. This, combined with my regular kickboxing class and a grueling weekly regiment fitness team session, should have me ready to compete in the Bootneck Challenge on 18th February. I just hope I don't pick up an injury in the meantime running against the sleet on a Monday night.
As this blog enters it's fifth year it's important to assess any progress made in 2016. I'm pleased to say that I'm still always learning and, after a great Christmas break, now feel fully recharged to build upon the foundations which we have laid.
In particular the work we have been doing to sure up our brand is vital in continuing to emphasise a consistent look and feel with our messaging. Our brand is much more than a logo or colour scheme. The brand is our
organisation's personality and should shine through in everything we
do.
Now that this is clearly defined for the business to follow the most important job is ensuring it meshes with who we really are and what we really do. This is a mammoth undertaking as some of the channels in which we represent our brand are in need of a refresh (i.e our website). this is mainly due to a natural evolution which occurs in all companies in both our offering and the way we are structured internally. It is essential that this is communicated in a customer-centric way.
By definition, brand strategy is a long-term plan for the development of a successful brand in order to achieve specific goals. There are many contributing elements to this, so engaging the entire business and mapping out how they overlap is essential. One large consideration is that of the Employee Value proposition (EVP). By working with our colleagues in HR we can then align the messaging around the unique set of benefits which an employee receives in return for the skills, capabilities and experience they bring to our company.
With this is mind, we have been streamlining a process to undertake a full review on our offering. By doing this any new channels/publications we launch are clear from the outset on how they are structured, the tone of voice and the prominence of each business unit. Of course this is the most important part and hopefully reduces the internal wrangling over the importance of one department over another!
As we begin to deep dive into this work there are some key components for us to consider:
Purpose - For most organisations this is to win work/acquire customers and to make money. However, whilst this is important for a brand, marketing must not solely focus on productivity. It should be about giving people what they want and need. We need to show how we can affect and challenge real world issues by adding value to the community or leading on industry-wide issues.
Consistency - Everything we communicate, online and otherwise, should enhance and relate to our brand. People's first touchpoint with you could be one of many mediums (including face to face) and our messaging needs to align across the board. Our existing style guide is there to define this but needs to be more than a guide to the colours and language used as your brand values are played out simultaneously.
Emotion -People have an innate desire to build relationships. This could be by opting to work for a company who they believe can progress then and morally fits with their outlook. By making their life easier or giving them piece of mind you can stand out from the crowd as people remember how you make them feel - not what you want them to hear.
Flexibility - Our old tactics are definitely in need of a refresh. This is where we can use a variety of channels to engage differently with different audiences. For example, we may be targeting younger school leavers for our apprenticeship programmes. By highlighting services and attributes which have never been highlighted we can connect with new customers and remind our old ones why they love us.
Employee involvement - This is essential and should be mapped in at the beginning of the process. Whilst the marketing team may have clearly defined goals and views the only way to get a realistic view is to interview a wide variety of colleagues. This coupled with feedback from our customers, supply chain and joint venture partners. Of course, there's also the trusty old digital analytics to flesh this out yet further. We then have a much better understanding of how we are/should be perceived with evidence to educate colleagues on how to represent us.
Competitor analysis - I am a firm believer in looking outside the industry for best practice - otherwise you are destined to only ever be a follower and not a leader. However, a great benchmark for any progress we make is by constantly monitoring our competition. By reviewing our social media monitoring platform and keeping up with their brand strategies we can further the work to make our offering unique.
I have no doubt that 2017 is going to be the year that sees me take on some of my biggest projects yet. If done right though then we can make a big splash in the markets in which we operate (and hopefully beyond). I'm up for the challenge and have just heard the bell ring for round one...
This week we were asked to present at our annual Marketing and Communications away day. We decided to frame it around the big events of 2016 and end it with a 2017 message. Therefore, I've abridged this for this bumper final blog post of the year!
A lot has been written recently around the social media bubble and how that we are in fact completely insular in our connections. The hypothesis goes that it is human nature to seek out opinions which reinforce our own. This just makes our news feeds an echo chamber of people high-fiving each other for having the same opinions.
Similarly, all the online new aggregators are sculpting what we see online. The algorithms are prioritising content which we are most likely to interact with. Whilst this is in some way an effort to be helpful it is also intended to get us clicking more and these interactions increase our usage of their platforms. By ensuring that certain keywords are given extra heft it also means that interaction is maximised. For example, if you post that you're 'engaged' or 'congratulate' someone you're much more likely to appear on the timelines of your connections. The knock on effect of this can be partly showed in the result of the American election earlier this year:
So, are these systems using us or are we using them? By switching off these algorithms we can at least be more in control of what we see. Having an unfiltered news feed is a step in the right direction of democratising what we see but we must also be able to subject ourselves sometimes to opinions that differ from those of our self created hive mind.
I would certainly rank it as one of the chief issues for a brighter and fairer future. It certainly cannot be a positive thing if we are so insular as to never be subjected to someone with a difference of opinion. The art of debate is essential if we are to progress as a human race and to challenge our own beliefs.
Whilst the media like to paint an entirely negative picture of these constantly evolving forms of communication it's also important to remember that technology can also solve problems. There are some great examples of this out there and of course our business has seen some great success this year.
We have clear objectives which we are exceeding and one of these is to get the right balance of corporate and human news. One thing we are careful of is to not lose credibility as a brand with tenuous links to popular news topics. By being comfortable with who we are we avoid tenuous attempts to be ‘engaging’ and ‘current’ which culminate in brands being laughed at.
But of course, we now need to think about our plans for 2017. Our strategy has served us well but only by putting together some top level predictions we can ensure we are as prepared as possible:
Rise of the chatbots
With many examples already in major use (i.e Siri and Google Assistant) these act as automated messaging services. They can be used to answer common questions and therefore free up the customer service professionals to answer more in depth queries.
Personalisation
The more personal the message the greater it resonates. This has long been utilised in email communications and helps win limited attention in a busy space.
Live streaming video
Facebook and YouTube have made recent inroads in this area and video shows very high levels of engagement. This has a lot of potential to be used for live events or to showcase certain sites or facilities.
Employee advocacy
By using employees as beacons for the brand, getting them to share our content and being passionate social advocates we can really extend our reach.
Expiring content
Platforms such as Snapchat popularised this and are taking it one step further in 2017 with the launch of their 'spectacles'. Other platforms have emulated this feature such as Whatsapp, Instagram and Facebook and by making content time relevant it creates that extra demand.
More vicarious experiences
2017 is going to be less about 'tell' and more about 'show'. Photos are being shared as a way on conversing where previously they were primarily a way to record and document a time in history.
Virtual reality and 360 video
As this becomes more convenient and cheaper to use it will be an excellent way to immerse users into the scope of a building project or service.
Survival of the fittest platforms
Finally, I foresee brands tackling fewer platforms in 2017 with a focus on those that work for their audiences. By narrowing the focus and refining we can ensure good content and engagement where it works best.
It's been quite the year with me and I'm definitely more exhausted than ever! See you in 2017...
I'll begin by holding my begging bowl in my hand! As this blog won
Gold at the Hertfordshire Digital Awards in September I have now been
automatically entered for the the next stage. This is the inaugural
Digital Awards Champions which is a public-voted event.
I will be pitted against the best from all six of our Digital Awards
schemes in 2016 in Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Milton
Keynes and Surrey. So, if you're reading this I'd really appreciate you
taking 10 seconds of your time to vote for me. Just click on the the link
below and select 'Deep Phat Digital' and I'll find out if I'm crowned
winner in February at the ceremony at the BFI Southbank. Thank you!
Now, back down to business! This week has seen me both attending and
assisting at events. The former was in our attendance at the
'Construction Marketing Awards' where we were shortlisted for team of
the year. We didn't win but had an interesting time among the
suppliers and agencies going for glory in the twenty-two categories.
The latter involved me putting my skills to the test in curating the
communications for our annual client drinks reception. Historically this
has been held at Lincolns Inn but this year building work necessitated a
change of venue. The titular Banqueting House in Whitehall was chosen
and the team set to work on the many arrangements to make the night go
without a hitch. My role was to collate and send out over 3,000 invites
and manage all pre and post-event communications. It sounds easy but
required many skills which should be standard practice for all event
marketing managers:
An excellent venue with some really rich history
Design - The change of
venue meant we needed a new design for the email invitations. It was
important to conceptualise the right look and feel to appeal to the
event’s target demographic. This also needed to be consistent across all
collateral.
Copy - In our multi-channel
world different writing styles for each audience and medium is an
increasingly important skill. We also were careful to correctly signpost
any calls to action.
Figures - Once
invited there was constant monitoring of acceptances, declines and
individual responses. Thankfully, we have a capable marketing placement
student who I bought up to speed on producing the many reports required for the
steering group. These needed cutting in many different ways and constant
monitoring and refinement to ensure we didn't exceed the venue's capacity.
Automation -
This was essential to ensure smooth communication and to reduce manual
work. We use Dotmailer and setup various programs meaning different
communications were automatically sent to each defined segment. These
included acceptances, declines, non-opens and various reminders.
Meeting our actors portraying Charles I and Inigo Jones
Organisation -
We needed regular meetings outlining campaign dates, event roles,
meeting planning and database building. Also, we needed to understand
the use of our customer relationship management system (CRM) to keep
detailed records of all our attendees for future event invitations.
Teamwork - As with
any small team we needed to be adept at working with colleagues across
the business. On the night we pulled people from far and wide to help
out. These skills extended to working with our suppliers (actors,
florists, AV equipment) to make it appear seamless to the guests. We
needed to be happy to assist wherever needed - even if this meant a
quick run to Ryman to buy more name badge holders!
Feedback - Once
the event was over the post event communications needed to be sent out.
This included separate surveys both to hosts and to guests. Collating
the responses of these allows us to then learn what we can do better in
the future. It also highlights the different priorities of each
audience.
As with any marketing role the ability to switch
between a variety of skills is essential. But in such a fast paced
environment the most important traits to see you through are energy and
passion. Despite my not having had a full nights sleep for the last
eight weeks I managed two late nights in a row which was almost my
biggest achievement of all. I haven't even needed to crack open my emergency
Berocca which were given to us when we visited LinkedIn's London HQ in November for our team meeting!
As we're now deep into November it can be difficult to find a location for a Saturday outing with the kids.
So after a recommendation from a friend we decided to try the Centre for Computing History in Cambridge. This also afforded us the opportunity for the excitement
of a train ride from Hitchin and with the weather on our side, we set off
on the 30min ride (and mile long walk) to
see what it had on offer.
We were pleasantly surprised with
what we found with every significant console from 1977 onwards plugged
in and ready to play. The working Big Track and Oculus were big
favourites too. The hands on nature of the museum definitely meant we
had plenty to keep us occupied as I lost three rounds of Street Fighter 2 Turbo
against my daughter!
I was particularly struck with how these
old machines were all still in perfect working order. Some of them were
around forty years old yet were in perfect working order. they
certainly don't make them like they used to!
The importance
of building something with the focus being on longevity also struck me
when I visited the Mersey Gateway project last week. The marketing team
there rolled out the red carpet for me. I even went up the forty or so
stories to get a view from the pylon (not recommended for those with a fear
of heights!) The work being carried out there is awe inspiring and the
team and I managed to share some good practice as well.
So,
how does all this relate to the world of digital marketing? Well, the
message for me is that when designing new web services longevity is key.
Too often companies design a website and leave it to rot only to
completely redevelop it and to then start the cycle again.
This
is not a sustainable work ethic as it means having to continually
budget for a large scale revamp. More importantly it means the website
is not allowed to develop based on the behaviours of the users. It's not
'future-proof'.
With this in mind we need to look beyond simple, fixed scope projects and instead focus on
continual testing and iteration. This method is the ethos of all big B2C
companies where they look to evolve their web services rather than to
redesign them.
Lean UX explained which aims
for the delivery of the product first
Generally the ethos there is to begin with a
Minimum Viable Product. Essentially starting small with few features
then relying on gathering insights to advocate/prioritise features. This
is particularly useful in campaigns where starting small and learning
in stages ensures the best hit rate and value for money. These basic principles are the basis of an excellent new book entitled 'Lean UX' which contains various case studies as an alternative to agile project management.
Of
course, the hard bit is selling this approach into senior management. if
you're unveiling a new website then they expect to see it with all the
bells and whistles attached. By educating them that delivering a staged
approach is due to be more cost effective with the developments dictated
by users you can reference other agile approaches. For example, we use
this method for our social media content planning. Our three month
content calendar contains all our important milestones but otherwise a
lot of our content is penciled in.
This means we can then
reassess and priortise content which is likely to achieve a greater
level of engagement. This works in a similar way to an ongoing snagging
list when buying a new build home. Our colleagues at Kier Living have
this part of the process written in their contracts- without them they would
be walking away from their commitments. No-one gets it
right first time.
In digital marketing the most important
thing will always be the ability to test and learn. This can also relate
back to the retro-gaming experience offered at the Computing Centre in
Cambridge. If you lose one round of Street Fighter 2 to your seven year
old daughter then there's always the chance to learn for your mistakes
for round two...!
You are the Prince of Pay Per click, the Sultan of Social Media and
the web Content King. You know the brand back to front and are measuring
every activity in the most minute detail. But do you know your product?
Too often Marketing and Communications professionals are
stuck behind their desks. They rarely venture out to understand the
company's product, how the customers use it every day and the value it
delivers to the business. Quite often they ask their favourite sales
engineer or product manager to summarise it for them. That way they can
continue to just focus on the work they enjoy with easy access to a
kettle - such as updating that blog post or new corporate presentation.
Those
of us who work in marketing will know that quite often the focus is on
them to sell whatever is being offered. They will then often shoulder
the blame if sales are below what is expected. It is not always
marketing’s fault, but often it is true that a great product is
misrepresented by marketing. When this does happen you will find a
marketing team that doesn’t know the customer, is struggling to work
with the product team, or worse has no idea the extent of what the
product actually does.
It is essential that marketers do not
avoid the product or ignore the business. Only by engaging from the
ground up can you then determine the best strategy to sell each unique
service. The best marketing professionals operate from a position of
customer and market insight while taking on the responsibility of
learning the company’s products and solutions.
Colleagues in action at Wellingborough recycling plant
There is no
better learning experience than hands on use. This is why I've been out
and about road testing our latest brand audit app. The idea behind this
is that colleagues from around the business fill in a series of
questions on their designated office, site or depot. Everything is
captured from signage and livery to cleanliness and email signatures.
The
results are then interrogated to determine which division are the most
engaged. We also can see the locations in dire need of an immediate
makeover! As our team has led on this project the only way to ensure it
is as user friendly as possible is to go and undertake audits ourselves.
The welcome bonus of this has been the opportunity to see various operations in action. Whether it
was procurement, housing maintenance or environmental, I have learned
something new at each location. I'm particularly looking forward to a
visit to Mersey Gateway at the end of the week. that will teach me
something new on a grand scale!
Coupled with the work on the
brand audits we also held our quarterly marketing council. This
comprises 50+ marketing and communications professionals from around the
business. Topics of discussion include the latest digital strategy and
tools (my slot) and the sharing of best practice. We also invited our
suppliers and agencies to meet and discuss future developments with
colleagues throughout the business. Many of these colleagues are
embedded in the business overseeing various contracts and joint
ventures. For me this was another opportunity to understand their
individual challenges and to learn how we can guide and support
centrally.
The Kier group marketing council in action
This traveling around will also stand me in good
stead for a massive new project which is looming on the horizon. It will be a first for me so I'm going to need a bigger understanding of the business than ever
before..
Another first for me which I've been alerted to is my being shortlisted at the Digital Awards: Champions. This takes all gold winners from the 2016 events for Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Milton Keynes and Surrey and pits us against one another for overall supremacy. The winners will be decided by public vote from 1st December 2016. This means I'm going to have to call in every favour possible in order to be in with a chance. It's not like there's much else going on in December...!
More big projects on the horizon!
I definitely find driving into work to begin the week much easier when I
have a significant project in motion. Recently I've been managing two
high profile digital initiatives. These are Kier's disposal of Mouchel Consulting and the publication of our 2016 annual report.
The
former has been quite straightforward for me as our marketing teams have
had a good working relationship to this point. So, I've been engaged in
delivering CMS training, asset library and login transfers and
generally ensuring a smooth handover.
Our annual report is a
key document for engaging with shareholders and of similar importance. It communicates not only
the work we have done but outlines the vision for the coming year. Last
year I championed the build of a page on our website which pulled out
the key highlights of this report. Before, digital had been an
afterthought with the annual report being published online just as a
large PDF. Of course, the drawbacks of this were that it was not
searchable and it meant anyone engaging with our content would need to
download a 10MB+ file.
I'm pleased to say that this year we've
gone a step further with a much more integrated and user friendly page.
There was some work to do on cherry-picking the correct content, but
already the combination of financial results and case studies has seen
twice as many unique visitors as last year. This is a case in point of the importance
of adapting content depending on the medium. You wouldn't expect a film
adaption of a novel to simply project the scanned pages onto the big
screen...!
Trying to find a role for digital in everything is
essential in proving the ROI of what the team do. With this in mind I've
been investigated how we bid for new work and the opportunities for us
to add value. Winning new contracts and projects is at the top of the
list when it comes to turning an operational profit. We're favoured to be well
regarded enough to be approached to bid for work but must then do
everything we can in order to win it. Here is how I think digital can help with this process:
Externally seeding content:
Whether
this be via social media, our blog or video production we can do a lot
to highlight our experience and expertise. For example, if we are bidding for work in a specific geographical area we target relevant content
in the form of client testimonials. Planning this in advance means
that the potential client is well aware of our reliability and skills
both before and after the final pitch.
Selling expertise to clients:
With
a professional and well qualified in house digital team we are in many
ways more advanced than most of our competitors. In fact, we've just been shortlisted for 'Marketing Team of the Year' at the Construction Marketing Awards to further highlight our credentials. These skills can
be leveraged to show where we can add value to a project were it to
be awarded to us. This may be in assisting in the build of a microsite,
brand strategy or social media communication and training.
Cross selling and the integrated offer:
Finally,
we have been leading on a project to educate colleagues before they enter
into a bid. In many cases Kier are already working on a contract either
with a council or organisation. By building a bespoke app highlighting
where current work is taking place it fuels the conversation and cements
the impression of a joined-up company ethos. This app also has up to
date contact information allowing colleagues to get in touch with each
other to ensure full transparency pre-pitch. The client can then be educated on
the full benefits of having an integrated workforce who communicate in
the same way.
Championing digital as a set of technologies which can both improve and evolve how we do business is essential in to continue to adapt our operational models. People's behaviour is still evolving in the way they interact with technology and we need to ensure we are looking to do all we can to add value and open up new markets.
This blog will be updated fortnightly (every other Monday) with my views on the latest trends in web, social media and video. I'll also be giving details of projects I have been working on within Higer Education marketing.
