Marketing Study Lab - Actionable Marketing Knowledge

Ever been influenced by something, or even someone. We’ll be covering what an influencer is later, but first we’re discussing all things content with the wonderful Janine Wood.

Janine is a Senior Partner at Armadillo Consulting Group providing Communications and Strategic Management Consultancy where helping organisations capture their target audiences' attention with tailored, impactful content is the name of the game. For over 25 years Janine has worked in a variety of sectors right through from new and disruptive technology to packaging design and loves creating strategic plans and writing the content within them.

Takeaways

- Creating content, content that matters needs to have some form of structure. The main points Janine raised for doing this through thought leadership are:

- What is the overall strategy - Who is their target market and who do they want to be reading about them - Then what will resonate with this market, making it thought provoking - All this before you consider where this content needs to be placed (different channels) - And don't forget that CTA – Call to action - Finally, remember it is always quality over quantity.

- Rather than focus on what people are doing wrong, Janine suggests its more about the opportunities that are being missed. Creating a standard press release and then sending it out to the wider world is not good enough. You need to be selective in your approach and tailor your content accordingly. Remember, it’s your name, your brand and your reputation, so make sure your content is as interesting as you are!

- And finally, thought leadership is very different from being an influencer, although they both look to do similar things. Influencers are more visual and impactful, whereas thought leaders need to be going in-depth with their content. Either way, it is what will fit with the brand that can be the deciding factor.

Influencers

As we’ve been speaking about this today, I thought it would be good to dig a little deeper into this type of Marketing. Now influencer Marketing isn’t anything new. It’s been around since the famous were seen as, famous! But what has heightened the knowledge of this tactic is the accessibility to communicate to hundreds and thousands of people with very little investment, mainly through platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat.

Influencer Marketing is leveraging the popularity of an individual to promote a certain product or service to a desired set of people. The important factor to consider here is the relevance any individual has in a particular market. Both the influencer and the thing that they are promoting must be aligned and have the same principles in order for them to resonate within the market an organisation wants to promote to and persuade to take some sort of action – usually transactional.

If you are still unclear as to what this is all about, take a look on Instagram at a personal trainer called James Smith, although he doesn’t endorse much himself (only the brand he has close ties to and believes in) he does shine a light on the fitness industry and how some celebrities are endorsing products they (a) shouldn't be and (b) are offering false promises to influential people with limited knowledge – check him out and you’ll soon see what I mean (link in the show notes as always).

Happy Marketing Everyone! Peter www.marketingstudylab.co.uk www.linkedin.com/company/marketing-study-lab/ www.facebook.com/marketingstudylab/ https://twitter.com/mktstudylab (@mktstudylab) Music Featured on this Podcast: Sleepy in the Garden Lobo Loco www.musikbrause.de Creative Commons License

Remember blogging, remember actually writing content. That’s what we’ll be talking about later on, but first…

We should all take security seriously, whether its physical or digital, both are important. But with people looking for that frictionless service it is easy to get complacent. Enter Suzanne Girdlestone, who helps SME's protect their own businesses with her company Smart Business IT. Suzanne prides herself on her jargon free service, making the complicated simple and more importantly secure.

Takeaways

- Suzanne took us through a few buzzwords in data security, which was great. But my first takeaway here is, if you don't know, ask! And if you’re still not sure, get an expert in. Don’t try and fix something you know very little about, it will only end one way. 

You wouldn’t try and fix your boiler or switch board without knowing what you were doing would you… well you might, but you wouldn't be around to tell us you have anyway.

- I never realised that cloud-based software is still physically stored… like an idiot! If you use cloud-based software, make sure it is ISO27001 compliant. Do you due diligence and don't scrimp on the security.

- And finally, Suzanne’s three top tips for being extra secure online:

1 – Use a passphrase rather than a password (mines going to be I wandered lonely as a cloud) if anyone is interested

2 – Keep your patches up to date – these are the updates you get from your software provides (but make sure they are legit)

3 – Back-up, back-up and back-up. You can never have to many back-ups!!!!

Blogging

What actually is a blog?

It’s origins lie in people writing a web log, a journal of their day. This was then shortened into simply blog. But since then this journal type entry has been expanded much further than content of someone’s daily life. As always, marketers have ruined it and turned blogging into something that is now seen as more commercial than it is a diarised entry of someone’s day. 

Today blogs are used by large global corporations as well as individual bloggers to provide detailed content for their followers.

The main benefits of a blog are:

- Flexible and versatile with entries being added from most devises, anywhere

- Can help build trust and credibility on particular topics

- They can be a good source of revenue

- They are a good way to keep customers up to date

But a dormant blog is not a good thing and it does take a lot of time, especially to keep it consistent. So if you are considering a blog, make sure you have a plan and can stick to a regular posting schedule so that followers become use to and anticipate your next post.

Happy Marketing Everyone! Peter www.marketingstudylab.co.uk www.linkedin.com/company/marketing-study-lab/ www.facebook.com/marketingstudylab/ https://twitter.com/mktstudylab (@mktstudylab) Music Featured on this Podcast: Sleepy in the Garden Lobo Loco www.musikbrause.de Creative Commons License

LinksSuzanne Girdlestone [email protected] https://smartbusinessit.co.uk LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzanne-girdlestone-7186a383/

App:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.comWhatsApp: https://www.whatsapp.com

I thought we’d take a look at a model that is relatively overlooked in my opinion. The McKinsey's Consumer Decision Journey, but more about that later.

First, let’s meet Ben M Roberts (you can blame his parents for the use of the M). Ben is the Head of Marketing at Talkative, providing software that allows embedded voice, video, chat and co-browsing on websites – which is a really neat idea so check them out. Ben also hosts The Marketing Buzzword Podcast that breaks down common marketing buzzwords to help its listeners, understand and implement them into their Marketing Strategies. 

Takeaways

- Building a rapport and a personal relationship with your customers can provide a better service. By assisting and helping customers, either face-to-face, via messaging or over the phone can break down the barriers that some platforms have put up and helps stop the ‘keyboard warrior’

- You can personalise your B2B communications. Take an app like Bonjoro (link in the show notes) that can provide everyone, even at an exhibition, with a personalised video message. Remember the small things add up! – Break your data down and make your content highly personalised and highly relevant to each client individually.

- Ever heard of snackable content? Well a past guest on this show Julia McCoy discussed this with Ben on his own Podcast – Marketing Buzzwords. And Snackable content can be valuable content that has been sliced and diced from a longer piece of content – take this podcast for example, I could share a quote from the chat with Ben, a quote that is interesting and engaging. Where snackable content doesn't work is when no thought is put into it, as it is such a small piece of content. But isn’t this true of anything. Make it relevant, interesting and engaging…. Always!

McKinsey's Consumer Decision Journey

McKinsey's Consumer Decision Journey is a break from the traditional marketing or sales funnel. Instead of looking at the different stages of a purchasing decision, which is lineal, step-by-step and in a methodical order, where Marketing touch-points are used to guide and influence consumers to the one and only decision – a purchase. This is no long sufficient to replicate the mountain of information and choices that are available to any one consumer. We now live in a Marketing world where there is always a two-way communication and three parties are now involved in the purchasing decision – the buyer, the seller and the opinions of others (think comparison site) – when was the last time you made a purchase without looking to see how many stars are involved?

The in the McKinsey's Consumer Decision Journey it is said that the process is now a circular journey with different four phases:

Initial consideration;

Active evaluation (researching potential purchases);

Closure (when consumers buy brands);

Post-purchase, (when consumers experience them).

The main difference here is that consumer now make the conscious decision to potentially add more options and more brands into the mix while still looking to make that final decision, post their initial consideration.

As Marketers we should now focus our efforts on reaching customers at the moment that will most influence their purchases. Ultimately it is all about being in the right place at the right time, providing the information they need to make the right decisions.

More information on this model can be found using the link provided below: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/the-consumer-decision-journey

Happy Marketing Everyone! Peter www.marketingstudylab.co.uk

We covered a topic very briefly on episode 44 with Mr Ryan Holtz, which was CRM (Customer Relationship Management). We skirted over the idea of what this is and why it was important but not the specifics, which is what we’ll be doing later on in this episode.

But first, lets have a chat with Evan Wyk, a Brand Guardian and believe me, after this conversation you’ll really understand what a brand guardian is and should be. Evan has worked within the media sector over the past 20 some years and now helps brands if they are a bit stuck in today’s busy marketing landscape. Evan helps companies draw the attention of those they seek to serve – their idea clients.

Takeaways

- So what is a brand then? Evan explains that a brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room – I don't think he meant bitchin, well Jeff Bezos didn't when he said it anyway. This goes deeper than a name, it is a perception of quality, that spreads further than an organisation can do so itself. People remember what you told them, not what you sold them!

- Consistency of brand is vital, especially on a Global scale. If it isn’t the same your target market will be getting confused with who you are and what you do. The best way to counteract this or control it – a brand bible, a set of guidelines that is the encyclopedia of your brand and who doesn't love a good encyclopedia.

- And finally, a brand is important for the internal company benefits as well as the benefits it brings to an audience. This means it can build confidence, improve quality and increase the expertise by attracting the best candidates. All of which subsequently means a better customer service.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

So what is Customer Relationship Management. Simply put, it's a massive diary and address book for organisations. But lets get a bit more technical here. A CRM is an approach that an organisation decides to take in regards to its interactions with potential and current customers, using software to have input, manage and analyse this information.

The idea being, that if all the information about a customer is stored in the same, accessible location and kept up to date, then this will make it easier to serve them and ultimately drive revenue. It also offers the opportunity to chop and manipulate the data to produce analytical reports that help in understanding the make-up of your customer base and any current trends. 

Some CRM systems such as Safesforce can now be integrated with other software that allows further admin, marketing, financial and sales functionalities, creating efficiencies with a business and a seamless journey from the customers perspective.

Happy Marketing Everyone! Peter www.marketingstudylab.co.uk www.linkedin.com/company/marketing-study-lab/ www.facebook.com/marketingstudylab/ https://twitter.com/mktstudylab (@mktstudylab) Music Featured on this Podcast: Sleepy in the Garden Lobo Loco www.musikbrause.de Creative Commons License

LinksEvan Wyk www.evanwyk.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/evan.wyk/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evanwyk.development LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evan-wyk/

Books:Strength Finder 2.0 – Tom Wrath: https://amzn.to/2WBLvF3We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver: https://amzn.to/2UJawwz

App:Adobe Spark Post:

Welcome to episode 50! Yes 50, of the Marketing Study Lab. And this is a mega special episode as I speak to, rather nervously I may add – Goldie Chan, as well as finding out the difference between AR and VR.

Hopefully by now you’ve got the jist of what is going on here, but if you don’t, not to worry, you'll soon catch up. And what better way to start this catch-up than with my guest, Goldie Chan.

Goldie has gone from a Biological Science degree to LinkedIn’s Top Voice for 2018 and a contributor to Forbes. Providing social media with purpose, Goldie is currently the strategic lead for Warm Robot, her social media agency, helping Fortune 500 C-level executives. But what caught my eye was the top-performing LinkedIn video series #DailyGoldie offering advice and guidance as well as sparking debate e very day for over 500 consecutive days and still going strong.

Takeaways

- When considering the differences between a personal and an organizational brand, Goldie explained that a personal brand looks at the person, their life, who are they, what do they do and what aspects of daily life can be repeated to be an authentic brand that creates authority, which is similar to organisation branding in that they must be authentic and create authority to mean something.

- If you are starting from zero, zilch, nothing then the best place to start is to find out where your target market is and contribute there. Start to be part of the conversation, before even considering becoming a thought leader in that space. 

- When building an online presence take it one step at a time and one platform at a time. Start with one, master that one, go in-depth, then move on to other places.

- And a special bonus pro tip here – When videoing, pretend the camera is your friend. You will come across as more authentic and real, increasing your engagement.

AR and VR

So what do these acronyms mean?

AR – Augmented Reality is defined as an interactive experience of a real-world environment "augmented" by computer-generated information.

VR – Virtual Reality is defined as an interactive computer-generated experience taking place within a simulated environment. 

The main difference between the two is that one VR is built within an environment that is completely computer-generated, whereas AR relies on both computer generated information as well as the real world in a combination of the two. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, but it is the incorporation of AR into our everyday lives that is the most exciting, opening the possibilities for digital enhancements to our daily activities to make them more efficient, productive and overall reduce friction that can occur when technology is not utilised to our advantage.

Happy Marketing Everyone! Peter www.marketingstudylab.co.uk www.linkedin.com/company/marketing-study-lab/ www.facebook.com/marketingstudylab/ https://twitter.com/mktstudylab (@mktstudylab) Music Featured on this Podcast: Sleepy in the Garden Lobo Loco www.musikbrause.de Creative Commons License

Links

Goldie Chan https://www.warmrobots.com/Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/goldiechan/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/goldie Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goldiecylon/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoldieChan

Books:Never Eat Alone – Keith Ferrazzi & Tahl Raz:

How do you cross-sell? How can be of benefit to a business? And what options do we have when implementing this type of strategy. If you don't know we’ll be chatting about it later.

But first, let's chat to Nicole Osborne, the founder of Lollipop Social a company that provides social media management, consultancy, coaching, strategic development and advertising strategies. Nicole is also a proud Chartered Marketer, studying and achieving this status via the CIM.

Takeaways

- What do you want to be known for?

This is where your social content should be focused. Yes, from a holistic view your content needs to be varied, but the overall objective and underlying themes should always be consistent be it looking to sell cars or cans of soup!

- Nicole’s formula for creating an excellent social strategy follows 9 key steps, I’ve narrowed these down into 7 stages which are:

1. First and foremost, understand the needs of the business
2. Use customer personas to define the market and the platforms that should be used
3. Each platform will require a bespoke strategy that also fits in with the entire Marketing Strategy
4. Optimise each platform to maximize exposure
5. Look to the key influencers within the same marketplace
6. Create a content strategy that is consistent, on message and on brand
7. And remember you must measure and monitor via each platforms metrics.

Nicole refers to this as the Test, Measure, Reflect and Refine model and it works for me.

- And finally, lets bring it back to your studies with a study buddy, which we’ve spoken about in the past on episode 28, but what Nicole highlighted was the fact that a study buddy provides accountability, giving you motivation and encouragement with your CIM Qualifications. So go get one!

Cross-Selling

There are many different ways we can cross-sell before, during and after a purchase or decision has been made by a customer. But what is it?

Cross-selling is the action of selling more than was originally anticipated to an existing customer.

There are loads of great examples but I like to think Amazon do this best, attributing around 35% of all sales to the “customers who bought this item also bought” and “frequently bought together” options.

Other examples range from a car sale including additional features to a fast food outlet asking if you want extra fries with your meal.

What are the benefits of this? Well, there is the obvious of the increased revenue from a customer who is already buying from you. But other benefits such as the introduction of a new / unknown product or service to a customer could extend the customer life cycle or selling existing stock so that you can replace it with newer items. These items should always be linked in some way and offer a benefit to the customer unless there is a danger of isolating them and potentially losing their customer all together.

Happy Marketing Everyone! Peter www.marketingstudylab.co.uk www.linkedin.com/company/marketing-study-lab/ www.facebook.com/marketingstudylab/ https://twitter.com/mktstudylab (@mktstudylab) Music Featured on this Podcast: Sleepy in the Garden Lobo Loco www.musikbrause.de Creative Commons License

LinksNicole Osborne https://lollipopsocial.co.ukLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicoleosborne1/ Twitter: @Lollipop_Social

Books:Steal the Show – Michael Port:

Who’s in your tribe? What the hell is a tribe. We’ll find this out later, but first we’re going to have a chat with Angela Ferrari.

Angela is a children's book author/ illustrator but also the creator and host of Story Spectacular, a twice-weekly children’s podcast featuring characters such as Nutty the Squirrel and FluffleStiltskin, but don't let this fool you. Behind all the imaginative and creative characters Angela is serious and passionate about what she produces for both parent and child.

Takeaways

- What are the pain points of your audience? Can you help to solve them? Although Angela’s target audience is aged 2-5, from a parents perspective these pain points are at bath and bedtimes, so the stories told on story spectacular are aimed at these

- How would you get feedback from an audience that struggles to talk, let alone type an email? Angela makes the most of her audience at live events to get feedback in real time allowing her to tweak stories and elements that may not be working.

But from a parents point of view Angela is very active on social platforms and receives lots of feedback via iTunes reviews. Feedback can be gathered in many different ways and usually the best is where it is easiest to engage with a company

- Finally Angela provided these tips for getting into the creative mindset:

            - Enjoy what you are doing, if you cant enjoy it, no one will

            - Look to incorporate your own emotions and passions into your work

            - Use visuals, they can help elaborate or even enhance the points you are making

            - Relax and find a place a way from distractions (mines in the shower)

Tribes

So what are these things we call tribes? Interesting you should ask that as they haven’t really changed since we were living in caves, its just the location that differs. 

Where you may segment your customers into different categories, a tribe can be classed as a slightly different beast in that it means a group individuals who are linked by their social interests.

Today, these tribes are all over the internet, as it is the perfect place to find people with the same types of varied and niche interests as you, particularly on social channels that allow you to even set up groups (like we do offline) for people that may find your hobbies or passion of interest.

Happy Marketing Everyone! Peter www.marketingstudylab.co.uk www.linkedin.com/company/marketing-study-lab/ www.facebook.com/marketingstudylab/ https://twitter.com/mktstudylab (@mktstudylab) Music Featured on this Podcast: Sleepy in the Garden Lobo Loco www.musikbrause.de Creative Commons License

LinksAngela Ferrari: https://storyspectacular.com[email protected] Twitter: @storytacularInstagram: @storytacularFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/storyspectacular/

Books:Big Magic - Elizabeth Gilbert: https://amzn.to/2Tvxtm6

App:DuoLingo: https://www.duolingo.com

AIDA – Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action. It's a simple tool but one very much worth remembering and we’ll do that later.

Before we get all automated and these intro start to write themselves, let’s have a chat with Natalia Wiechowski a Personal Branding Expert, bilingual keynote speaker, LinkedIn Trainer and an Edutainer, so you know this is going to be a fascinating chat. Oh yeah, Nataila is also a Dr. of Philosophy, Social scientist and a certified digital marketing professional with experience in human behavior & social relationships. So basically she knows what I’m thinking at all times and I’m scared!!!

Takeaways

- People want to hear your story. A story that you can tell and that is trustworthy. Think about the brands you connect with, do you feel like you know them, are they more personable to you than others, relate to you a little more? Do they share the same messages in terms of how you lead your life? They probably do. And this is why you feel connected to them and ultimately make those purchases.

But be cautious, as Natalia put it ‘telling stories is the new big brother’

- Good content, the core or basis of it, consists of 50-60% real life problem solving. Listen to your audience, what are they struggling with and are worried about and how can you help. 

- Natalia discussed her top tip for becoming more employable, straight after you studies – without writing a CV, which sounds bizarre but when you talk through it, it isn’t really, so listen  up:

- Don’t wait until after your studies – the number one rule! - Start networking while you are still studying, building those connections with the people and organisations you want to work for - Get clear on how these organisations function and recruit - Don’t forget that practical experience as well, the proof is in the doing - And finally, ditch the CV (wow big statement), but first of all find a way to gain the attention you need to get people to approach you rather than the other way round – this can be on social channels, blogs, podcasts, how about even singing your resume (I’m not even going to attempt that one), but perhaps you might. 

You want some proof, check out the two examples in the show notes where not using a CV has lead to a dream job: the fearless girl and Nina’s Airbnb story. 

AIDA

AIDA (Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action), the traditional model for describing the stages that a consumer will go through from the first interaction or becoming aware of a product or service through to an actual committed purchase.

One of the benefits of this model is its simplicity and versatility in terms of its use with communication messages as it is seen as a stimulus-response model, which is what we want from our comms, a response.

Times have changed however since the creation of the AIDA model and although still prevalent in many Marketing communication plans it is now seen as to linear in a digital environment, also ignoring post-purchase behavior which is a major factor to be considered.

Test the AIDA model on your next communications plan or assignment, but don't forget that other influential factors outside of this model may need to be considered dependent on your overall objectives.

Happy Marketing Everyone! Peter www.marketingstudylab.co.uk www.linkedin.com/company/marketing-study-lab/ www.facebook.com/marketingstudylab/ https://twitter.com/mktstudylab (@mktstudylab) Music Featured on this Podcast: Sleepy in the Garden Lobo Loco www.musikbrause.de Creative Commons License

LinksNatalia Wiechowski: https://thinknatalia.com

How important is copy within you Marketing Strategy, well it turns out very - and we’ll find out why later.

But before all that, I’d like to introduce Craig Hannan, the Head of Branding and Marketing at The Anfield Wrap, an award winning, independent podcast, website and radio show all about Liverpool Football Club. It’s Craig’s responsibility to drive growth within the company via subscriptions, live events, merchandise, sponsorship and a whole host of other activities that are focused clearly on a passionate footballing demographic. Now this was quite a lengthy interview compared to some of the Marketing Study Lab episodes. I put this down to the passion we both have for Marketing, Football and Liverpool – So apologies, but no apologies cause I enjoyed it and I hope you do to – If you’re into Marketing or Football, this is definitely the episode for you. But before we get into things, I need to know is purple is the new red?

Takeaways

- The power of a marketing strategy. Most people when they think of marketing think of a comms mix – the front of house (advertising, direct mail, social media, etc) but Craig highlighted that a strong strategy can help to change the culture of a company. It provides a focus for the entire ogranisation, where no other department is in a position to do this.

- Don’t be afraid to get creative and implement your own ideas. But make sure you mix these ideas with actual data to back them up, they hold more relevance that way. Take the Anfield Wrap for example, described as fanzine culture for the digital age. They could have kept to the tradition print fanzine, but spotted a niche, a gap in the market, white space and weren’t afraid to be the first to try it.

- As much as Marketers hate to admit it, word of mouth is one of, if not the best marketing tool we have (damn those mouths) – this is especially so in a passionate industry such as football. Using these loyal fans, advocates, to promote your own products and services, combined with a robust communication strategy can be a powerful combination. And remember to listen to the customer, giving them what they want, not what you want.

How Important is copy?

The short answer is very. You wouldn't be listening to me now if it wasn't for an audio version of some copy and you certainly wouldn't have heard of half of the organisations and brand that you hold dear if it wasn't for copy, be it in the form of a script, blog, social posts, literature, advertising. Basically the majority of the comms channels you can think of, then add some more.

But why? Here are some short snippets to explain:

- It creates trust – If your copy is consistent and correct, this adds a layer of trust

- Words are sharable – Especially on social channels and are more likely to be read than a video is to be listened to (unless the video uses copy)!

- SEO – Digitally speaking, optimisation is all about the copy and as we all know, if you’re not on the first page of Google, you’re not on Google

- It makes for a good UX – Everyone loves a great image and a slick webpage, but if the copy isn’t correct, this can detract from the user experience and leads to clicks away from your site

- And finally, it sells, as it appeals to your target audience, and we’re back to the - know, like and trust theory.

Happy Marketing Everyone! Peter www.marketingstudylab.co.uk www.linkedin.com/company/marketing-study-lab/ www.facebook.com/marketingstudylab/ https://twitter.com/mktstudylab (@mktstudylab) Music Featured on this Podcast: Sleepy in the Garden Lobo Loco www.musikbrause.de Creative Commons License

LinksCraig...

Do you think that robots will end civilisation as we know it? Quite a heavy question to start off with, so let's just discuss what Chat Bots are for now and make our way up to that one.

Julia’s back story is a little different - only seven years ago, Julia started her own company and has never looked back, with nearly one hundred members of staff now on board. Express Writers is a writing agency that cerates content, helping to build a brands presence online.

Takeaways

- Your light bulb moment. Have you had any? Don’t panic if not, they will come. The important thing is to keep on going.

- Content creation and storytelling is massively important within Marketing today, but so many are doing it themselves and that is fine, as long as they know what they are doing. If not, bring in the pros. Take fixing your roof for example, the chances are you wouldn’t tackle that on your limited expertise (unless you’re a roofer) you’d call a professional and content creation is no different.

- There are many ways to measure or analyse your content other than your income. Julia describes a few of these as:

- Lead generation - Bottom-line sales and growth - Engagement, shares, likes (basically gaining trust through content)

Yes this last one is a little bit inside the vanity metrics bracket but as long as they are seen as just part of your analysis, you can gain valuable insight into your strategy by reviewing them – just don’t rely on these solely.

- When writing an assignment or essay, get everything down, even if you think its rubbish…. and then walk away. We’ve mentioned this before as a top tip. Walking away, getting some space between you and your work can recharge and reset the brain. If you start to do this as a rinse and repeat cycle it will start to become second nature and really help you in completing a great assignment.

Chat Bots

So what is a chat bot?

You may have heard it called another term: smartbot, talkbot, chatterbot, Bot, IM bot, interactive agent, conversational interface or artificial conversational entity, but lets stick with chat bot for now.

A chat bot is a computer program that mimics conversation with people using artificial intelligence (via audio or copy). They can transform the way we interact over the Internet from a series of self-initiated task and conversations.

What we are saying is that instead of having a conversation with a human over the Internet, we are chatting to software that has been programmed to respond to particular phrases that the majority of consumer would use.

But lets step this up a level. The most recent incarnation of these is what Google calls ‘Google Assistant’ which works in a slightly different way in that a user firstly has to ask Google to arrange something, in this instance a hair appointment. This is what happened:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5VN56jQMWM

Happy Marketing Everyone! Peter www.marketingstudylab.co.uk www.linkedin.com/company/marketing-study-lab/ www.facebook.com/marketingstudylab/ https://twitter.com/mktstudylab (@mktstudylab) Music Featured on this Podcast: Sleepy in the Garden Lobo Loco www.musikbrause.de Creative Commons License

LinksJulia McCoy: www.expresswriters.comwww.expresswriters.com/write-blog Podcast: The Write Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-write-podcast/id1082066558?mt=2 Instagram: