Marketing Study Lab - Actionable Marketing Knowledge

I would like to introduce you to Gill Andrews, who is a copywriter and a web consultant placing her in the prime position to discuss all things copy, communications and web design – the perfect combo. I must point out though  , yet again my guest has stepped up to the plate and delivered so much value I’ve had to split this chat into two – so this is part 1 of 2!

Takeaways

- I love a good analogy and hearing Gill discuss why copy is so important using a classic game (which for this Gill mentioned a train on a track, where as I would say the absolute classic – Lemmings! (not one for the younger generation that – but take a look at what I mean, link in the show notes). Once you’ve set something in motion it needs to guide people through a journey – which is what good copy does 

- Gill describes tips as harmful as they are all encompassing, whereas she firmly believes that a system or strategy with specific tips included, is a more engaging way to produce copy for a target audience or niche within a marketplace

- When creating a website and writing good online copy, you must start with understanding who your target audience is and keep it simple to start with – i.e. what layout will your audience expect to see on your website – don't make super simple tasks difficult! Once this is done, you need to understand what language your audience will expect to see – will it be technical? Descriptive? Funny? – as this will help them feel comfortable and understand what you are – Gill explains this by using the old – if you met someone at a party and they asked what you do, how and what would you say? Make sure they understand you!

- Oh, and use font size 16px, minimum 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 Gill Andrews: https://gillandrews.comhttps://twitter.com/StoriesWithGill https://www.linkedin.com/in/gill-andrews-440488121/ [email protected] Lemmings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9Je6pFueYg Jen Simmons (CSS Grid): https://labs.jensimmons.com Books:Pain Free Process for Writing Your About Page:https://www.enchantingmarketing.com App:Buffer: https://buffer.com Theory:Lift Concept: https://www.widerfunnel.com/the-six-landing-page-conversion-rate-factors/

Let's turn our attention to our next guest. Zoe Stainsby, the Head of Entertainment at Fuse – their basic principal is to create partnerships and experiences, which anyone can do, right? But these experience need to make an impact and a difference to those that are part of it, through the likes of sports, music and gaming. Fuse have worked with an eclectic mix of top named brands: Starbucks, Levi’s, McDonalds, Channel 4 and even the British Olympic Association. And you know you’re going to get a wealth of information out of your guest when you realize they have provided thought leadership at events such as Cannes Lions, Amsterdam Dance Event, Musexpo, Roundhouse Women In Music and Liverpool SoundCity.

Takeaways

- Zoe’s career started off with learning the basics, from the ground up! But Zoe also understood that academia can also help with career progression and took it upon herself to get a qualification that would help in achieving her ambitions around what she is passionate about, music! But it was so interesting to her that it was the cohort that came along with the qualification that really set Zoe’s passion alight

- There are 4 different trends we all need to look out for in the future of Entertainment Marketing:

1) Delivering value via a purchase funnel through entertainment

2) The rise in Reggaeton (South American Hip-Hop) and the Globalisation of music in general

3) Mutual value partnerships (between brands, other brands and / or artists)

4) The rise or cryptocurrencies within the music industry

5) e-Sports and the convergence of Sports and entertainment

- Finally, and most importantly….. If you are looking to progress within this industry you must work hard and be nice to people! Don’t be afraid to fail, have fun while your doing this and network, build up your network and look to get a mentor – someone that has done what you want to do or is where you want to be. Learn from the best!

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 LinksZoe Stainsby: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zoe-stainsby-83706a2a/ [email protected] Fuse: www.fuseint.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/fuse-uk/ Instagram: @fuseagency Books:Merge – Mark Holden: https://amzn.to/2JK7IJp App:Blinkist: https://www.blinkist.com/

Have you ever eaten dog food?

This week we have a shaggy dog story for you as we talk to Kat Knocker, Head of Product and Customer Experience for tails.com.

It is my pleasure to introduce Kat Knocker, who has worked for some really interesting brand such as Innocent Drinks and graze.com throughout her career, but now Kat is all about keeping her customers in the center of everything tails.com does by creating an unforgettable user experience. Tails.com is an online dog food company with a difference, in that it tailors the right mix of food for each and every individual dog, so who should the be target… the dogs? Or their owners? I’ll let Kat deal with that one. But first I wanted to know, what we all wanted to know – what is the worst dog joke you hear all the time?

Takeaways- You must treat each and every one of your customers as an individual as they expect a personal, VIP experience every time. It isn’t only every dog that is unique, it’s also your customers. A clear customer-led value set is key to the success of tails.com.

- A companies customer experience should be seamless and also delightful! As Kat so eloquently put it, remember back to a great restaurant experience where you felt like you were the only one’s in the place and were amazed by, not just the food, but the entire experience and the things you may not have even noticed. But remember that customer expectations change and it is important to keep up with these trends.

- The only way you know if you have created a good, no, great customer experience, is to be a customer yourself. Be a customer from start to finish, go through each part of the process from the customers point of view, not your internal, rose tinted glasses view. You’ll be able to see what works, what doesn't, the pain points and the areas where opportunities to improve are, along with how you or your customers are actually feeling. And test, test everything. If you don’t, you are never really learning, you are just making a change.

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 LinksKat Knocker (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/kat-knocker-1b085211/ Tails.com: https://tails.com CIM marking formula: http://regions.cim.co.uk/london/home/news/2017-march/studying-how-to-meet-the-examiner-s-expectations/ Books:The Lean Start-Up (Eric Ries): https://amzn.to/2KRzgxY App:Evernote: https://evernote.comSpotify: https://www.spotify.com/uk/Sonos: https://www.sonos.com/ Customer Experience:Fitbit - https://www.fitbit.com/uk/home

Employer Branding is probably one of those Marketing topic that can be forgotten about as we focus on the external and turning prospects into clients and customers, but it is integral to an organisations success.

If not implemented correctly, if at all, it can actually hinder not only the progression and growth of a company financially but also diminish opportunities to attracted the best talent in the future.

So who better to show us the path to successful Employer Branding than Kim Kunze, who had a dream to one day work for Siemens and you know what, she does, as part of the Employer Branding and Social Innovations team, but I’ll let Kim explain more of that wonderful insight into dreaming big!

Takeaways

- Every company uses employer brand regardless of if it being given the care and attention it clearly needs or not. It is everything and everywhere, both online and offline and some may say this is just another word for reputation, but it goes further than that and communicates the identity of the brand – its culture, values and beliefs.

- Employer Value Proposition, EVP for short – is the terminology for who we are as an employer and what the we stands for – notice how I didn't use ‘the company’ there as listening to Kim it is obvious that a successful employer brand is more about the ‘we’ than the ‘company’, which considers the outside as well as inside perspective being - Attractive, true, credible, distinctive and sustainable, which then goes on to form the underlying messages of the communications strategy. But make sure that this EVP is resonating with your audience…. Unless you’ll end up with values attributed to one man…. Santa!

- Kim explained that VR is being used to show what it is like to work for Siemens via their Siemens 360 degrees app (links are in the show notes). Now I know I’m not a huge fan of this technology… yet, this is a great interactive way of engaging with the next generation workforce and being at the forefront of such technology puts the Siemens brand in a different place or viewed differently than it would be if it wasn't using or at least trying new technologies.

And using VR as well in such an inventive way by simply using it to highlight that Siemens is more than just ‘washing machines’ – it’s robots, the London Underground and space - sign me up!

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 LinksKim Kunze: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-kunze-3b76b5b/ Siemens: https://www.siemens.com/uk/en/home.html Siemens 360°: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/siemens-360/id1226530343?mt=8 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.siemens.futuremakers&hl=en_GB Books:Reinventing Organisations - Frederic Laloux:https://amzn.to/2t81yxb Theory:Holacracy:https://www.holacracy.org

This episode is part two of a great two parter, you lucky, lucky people, so if you haven’t listened to the first part, do us all a favour and hop back to episode 21 and listen to the first part you will not be disappointed as our guest will not shut up about presenting and presentations – and again, it is marvelous, so marvelous in fact that this is why it’s split it into two parts - so that you can digest all this value in two manageable chunks – double delight.

Presentations are usually a great way to provide colleagues with information internally, so lets get back to our chat with Spencer Waldron, the Regional Director and Head of Story for Prezi in Europe (seamless aren’t we). Spencer has been helping to grow businesses in global markets and in marketing for more than 20 years. Where in the last episode we chatted about bad presentations and how Hollywood is catering for shorter attention spans. Let’s pick it back up on that same theme, but how we consume news in a different way that we used to, Spencer take it away.

Takeaways

- What is your hero’s journey? What has been your struggle? Start your presentations with a story. Tell a story that illustrates the point you will be talking about or want to get across. Remember those emotional connections and engagement.

- Check out the pyramid principal (link is in the show notes) – start with a statement or a conclusion or something you want your audience to believe in. From there, if further convincing is needed, provide three supporting arguments to back this up, and then three pieces of evidence for each of these, if needed. It’s a great way to structure a presentation and construct convincing arguments.

- Augmented Reality (AR) could help us with presenting in the future in more interactive, immersive ways. We already have the technology (Smart Devices), that we are used to using and used to holding up in front of our faces, so the habitual changes aren’t that major.

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

LinksSpencer Waldron:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerwaldron/ Prezi: https://prezi.com Andrew Abela From-To Think-Do Matrix (see page 10): http://extremepresentation.typepad.com/files/the-presentation---ebook---abela.pdf

Books:Impossible to Ignore (Carmen Simon): https://amzn.to/2Maqz1O 

The Hero with A Thousand Faces (Joseph Campbell): https://amzn.to/2KiVZ5U 

The Pyramid Principle:Logic in Writing and Thinking (Barbara Minto ): https://amzn.to/2txW5zm

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

Ever thought of rewarding yourself for doing a great job at something – why not? If not, wait to hear our top tip about just that. Speaking of rewarding, this episode is a two parter, you lucky, lucky people – as our guest would not shut up about presenting and presentations – and it is marvelous, so marvelous we’ve decided to split it into two parts so that you can digest all this value in two manageable chunks – delicious. 

But first we need to chat to Spencer Waldron, the Regional Director and Head of Story for Prezi in Europe. Love that title. Who has been helping to grow businesses in global markets and in marketing for more than 20 years.

For those of you that don’t know, Prezi is a presentation tool that uses motion, zoom, and spatial relationships to bring ideas to life and make you a great presenter – or at least that what it describes itself as! 

What started out for Spencer as a wider offering of Marketing services has led him down a path of specialising in presentations, but what is really interesting however, is the fact that Prezi was created at a time where one player in the presentation world was dominant – PowerPoint. So why take on a giant such a Microsoft in this industry? Because someone, somewhere, along the way, decided – I think I can do better than this! 

Takeaways

- The worst presentations, are the boring ones! Makes sense really. Make sure when you are presenting or you have to produce a presentation that you are making it useful and valuable for the audience. Try and think about what they want to get out of it and deliver. Remember, people are on your side, willing to learn from you, listen to you, they want you to be as good as you want to be so embrace it.

- Check out the Andrew Abela’s From-To Think-Do Matrix. This simple think and do, before and after is really helpful in getting down what you want to achieve through your presentation. But don't forget the third column – feel (because connections are much easier when emotions are used).

- Just be a nice person and look after others. Always try and go above and beyond the expected. Courage, Curiosity and Creativity.

Top Tip – Reward Yourself

Don’t forget to reward yourself during your research and assignment writing – create milestones where you can take a break and look back on how far you have come, it will give you encouragement to keep going and you may even surprise yourself in how much you have learnt. And don't forget to celebrate after you have passed each module and subsequently reached your qualification, as I know you will, you’ll smash it! 

But in all seriousness, it’s important to keep reminding yourself, firstly why you are doing this and secondly how well you have done and are doing. Well done you, well done all of us… especially you!

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

LinksSpencer Waldron:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerwaldron/ Prezi: https://prezi.com Andrew Abela From-To Think-Do Matrix (see page 10): http://extremepresentation.typepad.com/files/the-presentation---ebook---abela.pdf

Books:Impossible to Ignore (Carmen Simon): https://amzn.to/2Maqz1O 

The Hero with A...

Lets say hello to our guest, CEO of Hearts and Science, Frances Ralston-Good. Helping clients find better ways to serve their customers and grow a business has been part of Frances DNA for over 20 years. As CEO, Frances leads Hearts and Science as the data-driven company uses a whole host of algorithms and software to understand the behavior of people and we are talking a lot more than just your average Excel spreadsheet. 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 LinksHearts & Science: https://www.hearts-science.com [email protected] 02037 556 675 Books:Truth, Lies and Advertising (Jon Steel): https://amzn.to/2JavYoOApp:Whatsapp: https://www.whatsapp.com

Our guest this week is Leah Steele, Founder of Searching for Serenity, who has a compelling story to tell, her own story, away from Marketing! The reason I want you all to hear Leah’s story and the advices she brings in abundance, is that I think it may help some of you when overwhelm, stress or anxiety kicks in, regardless of where this comes from - work, home or more specifically in your studies. Leah is a mentor to men and women struggling with exhaustion, burnout and overwhelm by focusing on time management, efficiency and decisive action taking, so its hard to believe she grew up wanting to be a lawyer. 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 LinksLeah Steele: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahysteele/ Searching for Serenity: http://www.searchingforserenity.co.uk Harvard Referencing System: https://my.cim.co.uk/media/34817/harvard-referencing-v3-2016-final.pdf Books:You are a Bad Ass (Jen Sincero): https://amzn.to/2LOuEJG App:Facebook: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.facebook.katana&hl=en_GB https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/facebook/id284882215?mt=8 LinkedIn: https://mobile.linkedin.com Telegram: https://telegram.org

Let's meet our guest. Luke Southern, the Managing Director of DRUM, Omnicom’s award winning content business that makes entertainment for brands, and honestly, you MUST listen to this, as it is a fascinating take on content. Luke’s career (starting with some high profile DJing at University), has covered and still does in his current role – brands, entertainment and technology – He’s a Brand-entertainologist…. I kinda just made that up, but what isn’t made up is that Luke has led the business through years of growth culminating in Cannes Lions award for content agency of the year for entertainment and advertising effectiveness. Luke has made his career journey through some striking brands such as Virgin Media, PlayStation and Sony Music, creating compelling content that is built on winning share of mind, not buying share of voice. So being at the forefront of content creation, the best question to ask Luke to kicks things off was obviously to find out what the greatest music album of all time is? 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 LinksLuke Southern: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-southern-3630a67/ Drum: http://drum.co.uk/ Proctor and Gamble History: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2017/10/04/our-history-p-g-put-soap-soap-opera/732149001/ Puss In Boots – Interactive: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7042082/ Google Speed Insight: https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

CIM Marking Structure Overview: http://regions.cim.co.uk/london/home/news/2016-september/ten-essential-tips-for-studying-members/ Books:The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change - Charles Duhigg: https://amzn.to/2kb7Ur0 App:Coinbase: https://www.coinbase.com

Let's meet our guest – Dr. Fiona Ellis-Chadwick, Senior Lecturer in Retail Management and Director of Impact at the Institute for Research & Consultancy Application at Loughborough University. Fiona had a successful commercial career in retail before becoming an academic in the field of digital marketing and online retail management and has co-authored some of the leading marketing management textbooks as well as having research published in numerous journals (all links are in the show notes as usual). With a passion for bringing management and business education to life through such topics as retail marketing, digital technology and economic growth as well as leading multi-media teaching projects, Fiona has also worked as an academic consultant on The Virtual Revolution, Foods that make Billions, Evan’s business challenges and Radio 4’s The Bottom Line. 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 LinksFiona Ellis Chadwick: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/sbe/staff/fiona-ellis-chadwick/ Books:Principles and Practice of Marketing (UK Higher Education Business Marketing): https://amzn.to/2IcPwbC Principles and Practice of Marketing: https://amzn.to/2I9Mxoh Digital Marketing: https://amzn.to/2jQlC2b Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice: https://amzn.to/2IdAV3P SOSTAC® Guide To Your Perfect Digital Marketing Plan: https://prsmith.org/books/ Google:The Way Back Machine: http://archive.org/web/ App:Uber: https://www.uber.com/en-GB/ Theory:Blue Ocean Strategy, Expanded Edition: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant: https://amzn.to/2IcZ3PM