Why small business is the future of retail

I had the privilege of hosting a webinar recently with Holly Tucker MBE. Holly is a champion of small business. She founded the UK’s first e-marketplace for small makers/retailers, NotOnTheHighSteet.com, and is now running Holly & Co, providing small business support & advice. She’s a passionate, whirlwind of energy and incredibly optimistic about the future of small business. And so I am.

Why? Well, this year for all its challenges has shown me the incredible power of small businesses when it comes to providing a quality product and, more importantly, a great, personal experience. All at a time when many large businesses have been unable to change course/pivot or reinvent.

Now, I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and have no nostalgia for the high street of yesteryear. Service was poor, shops were unpleasant and range was limited. The experience, quite frankly, was awful and many retailers were outmanoeuvred by big box retailers, who gave a cheaper and ultimately better, if somewhat impersonal, experience.

But two things have changed. Firstly, experience now is king. Many consumers are making decisions not necessarily on price, but on customer experience. Secondly, digital technology has been democratised via eCommerce products such as paypal, iZettle, Shopify and Magento, meaning smaller businesses can now offer a slick(er) online experience to complement their previously non-scalable personal approach.

I’ve lost track of the number of small businesses I’ve turned to this year (Full disclosure : its a blended approach - i still buy commoditised items via amazon) and they all provide a “frictionless transaction” together with genuine gratitude for your business.

And that is what the future of retail is about. For those retailers struggling to figure out why people don’t want to buy their sub-standard products in an impersonal warehouse, staffed by disconsolate staff who make you feel like they’re doing you a favour, learn from small business. The future is a personalised, human experience. Small business is doing it REALLY well. And Holly summed this up nicely as, when it comes to marketing, it’s all about “Community, Storytelling & Connection.”

Finally, shout out to some of the small, local businesses that I’ve come to love in 2020. Many are local to me in West London, and most deliver nationally in the UK (of course!)

• PAI Skincare (@paiskincare) for hand sanitiser, that match-donates to key workers

• Chief Coffee (@chief_coffee) for coffee beans ordered via Instagram and delivered to my door within 2 hours

• Lost in Scent (@lostinscent) for amazing, perfumed candles with a lovely handwritten note

• Pearson Cycles (@pearsoncycles) for cycling know-how, and getting stuff delivered by bike

• JJJ Vinyl (@JjjVinyl) for my mystery monthly vinyl record selection, always accompanied by a handwritten note on their choices

• The Rib Man (@theribman) for the best hot sauces

• La Latteria (@lalatteriauk) for freshly made burrata and mozzarella

• Buns from Home (insta: bunsfromhome) for cinnamon croissant-buns

• Dorothy (@Dorothy_UK) for beautifully clever prints and artwork based on pop culture

• Unknown Pleasures (insta: unknownpleasuresdrinks) for premium ready made cocktails (try the Espresso Martini!)

• Only With Love (insta: onlywith_love) fresh beers & kombuchas

• Bookshop to order books from a network of local bookshops

Image : https://holly.co/campaign/marketing-kit

Sometimes, Just One Golden Nugget Can Change Your Life

i was privileged to get involved with Steven Foster’s “One Golden Nugget” project last year. Steven is an amazing character full of energy, ideas and enthusiasm and committed to spreading inspiration and wisdom. His idea was simple - to compile a list of “nuggets” of advice that people could turn to in their careers or personal life. It came from a personal motivation to seek advice from others to address some challenges he was facing in his own life. That personal project became a book, and Steven has compiled over 700 short pieces of advice from CEOs, founders, entrepreneurs, celebrities, lawyers and, ermm, marketers like me. Think of it like tweets for good.

Now, all this was done pre-pandemic, and you would argue that now, more than ever, people need wisdom and inspiration. Which is all the more amazing that One Golden Nugget is now available as a free download. CHECK IT OUT. Steven has now created an Online community which is worth checking out too.

Oh, and for what it’s worth, here was my one (golden?) nugget of advice : “Focus on what you are good at. Focus on your strengths and find work where your strengths can be magnified.”

Goldfish, jeans and the art of B2B content.

Marketing commentators LOVE espousing the idea that consumer attention is fleeting and that we all have the attention of a goldfish. Therefore all content has to be bitesize and digestible in 5/10/20 seconds.

(Still with me?)

Lets be clear, short form content has a place. But it doesn’t follow that its the only format. There is absolutely a role for medium and long form content. Short form content is great for grabbing attention and marking interesting milestones, but sometimes deeper, explanatory content is needed too. The better way to think about it is there’s a role for great content, no matter what the length. The art is to decide at what point in the customer journey you use each format. Perhaps the attraction of short content is that because its shorter its less painful to endure. After all, no one enjoys chewing through a dull old whitepaper. But great long form content does work (see that compelling Neflix boxset).

I particularly like this video by Shopify about one of their customers, Hiut Denim (subsequently beloved of one Meghan Markle). Now, Shopify could’ve done a two page PDF or a perky “ROI” infographic but they chose to make a 30 minute, gorgeously produced documentary about the company & its background.

Why? Well, I can only guess its because Hiut have an extremely emotional story to tell. In 2002, 400 of the world’s most talented jeans makers were suddenly put out of work when their employer outsourced denim production overseas. Overnight, 10 percent of the population of Cardigan, U.K., lost their jobs, as the country’s largest jean factory moved to Morocco. So, Cardigan natives and apparel veterans David and Clare Hieatt looked to put Cardigan back on the map by reopening the factory, and rehiring the original team to make the world’s best jeans under the Hiut brand.

Its a brave move, and as I say I’m not close to the motivations behind its production. But I love it, and its a refreshing change, one that’s appropriate given Hiut’s history. Like all good stories, it builds a strong emotional connection with both Hiut, and Shopify as a brand supporting it. Hiut even feature the video on its website.

So sometimes, stop feeding the goldfish and give your story the space to swim free ;)

Why cakes are the future of B2B Marketing

Misinformation and fake news dominates today’s news agenda as malicious parties aim to influence, twist or dictate popular behaviour. The battleground for consumer attention of course is increasingly social media, with Google, Facebook and others being the sole source of information for a lot of the population. The release of the Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma” has for many rekindled an understanding of how these platforms, whilst originally amazing environments to connect friends and family, have now been almost exclusively optimized for advertising not answers. The sole aim is to maximise ad revenue from us, not help us to broaden our horizons or get a balanced view. Which makes it even more alarming that they have become the source of truth. How many people 20 years ago would’ve said they get all their insights & perspectives from TV advertising?! Ridiculous right?

Of course, when we think misinformation, we think biased political content and subterfuge. But the world of fake content has even come to the cozy world of baking. Check out Ann Reardon’s Youtube channel, “How To Cook That”. She is a baker & cook who started to question the many recipes being put up online. You know the sort, put rainbow Skittles in with microwave popcorn and you get multi-coloured popcorn (spoiler alert : you don’t. you get a burnt mess). But in busting these recipes Ann uncovered an underbelly of content farms churning out literally hundreds of baking videos (yes, crazy I know!). For example “Mr Cakes”, which is operated by a Vietnamese business called YumUp Co. Get this, YumUp operates over 100 cooking channels, attracting a mind blowing 220 million views. Importantly, to recipes that are fake, Why? Not because they have a passion for baking. But because its great click bait that can be sold on to advertisers. And if you’re a legitimate baked goods company, that’s a serious issue. That’s a lot of attention being siphoned away (in fact its equivalent to two thirds of the US population).

And if it can happen to baked goods, believe you me its coming to B2B. As the industry has reluctantly become more digital in its marketing (i’ve been through every phase : do I really need a website? do i really need social media? do webinars really work?) our brands have had to increasingly exist and compete in this misinformation world. Its happening already in several areas - insurance brokers, business computer hardware, office cleaning services - where spurious vloggers, bloggers and commentators define the customers’ perception of their product and/or services, for objective content. Search for “fastest Dell business laptop”. You get a whole bunch of publications and geek sites for something with is totally objective and should come straight from Dell. But as it stands, Dell has to buy its way to the top to own ITS OWN ANSWERS.

But there is hope. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the failings of search engines, and more and more are turning to the brand’s website directly. So, the time is now to act. Invest in digital, get really good at search, and more importantly make sure your own website is kick-ass at answering any customer question. Content farms & click bait are heading your way, so get ahead of the future. For who knows, one day you may be outbaked by Mr Cakes.

The three Cs of marketing : Celebrities, custard and campaigns

We talk a lot about the value of integrated campaigns in marketing, and the nirvana of combining the online and the offline. So I was really pleased to see the latest GoDaddy campaign bring all these elements together.

It’s the one where “I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here” winner (and former football manager) Harry Redknapp relates, in a TV ad, the story of how when he was away in the jungle he missed not his wife but Jam Roly Poly puddings. So he went on to launch his own Roly Poly business, using of course GoDaddy’s web building services to create his business website.

It’s done with a wink and a good balance of wit & semi-seriousness that makes the ad somewhat believable and certainly relatable.

Of course, the marketer in me wanted to dig behind the scenes :

Q1 : Does https://harrysrolypolys.uk/ exist? Of course it does.

Q2 : Can you buy a Harry’s Roly Poly? Yep,

Q3 : If so, who makes them? A specialist baker.

Q4 : OK, so how do they manage demand? Answer : orders are batched up, and baked then shipped on one day a week.

Q5 : So this is just a shameless way to sell cakes and make money? Nope : profits go to charity.

Order placed and I received a lovely package of cakey loveliness. And if there’s one way to win me over its with custard (included).

So a relatable, fun use case that invites customer interaction. An integrated campaign that combines offline and online. A donation to charity. And cake & custard. Love it!

Why "old" tech is dominating my 2019 technology choices

Scary fact : I’ve been working in the software industry for 30 years. I started out in a software timeshare business that sold access to an investment management system to financial services enterprises, connected over dial-up via DEC VT220 terminals.

It pains me to say this, as virtually every word in that sentence is now hopelessly redundant, decrepit old tech.

But hang on! Fast forward three decades and the concept still holds true today - the basic idea is still the same, but now it’s called Software-As-A-Service hosted in the Cloud delivered over the Internet, accessible by any PC. So in many ways, plus ca change!

Anyway, I’m resolutely sticking to that theme in my tech selections for 2019. Not only am I a bit of a geek, with a “Learn It All” mentality, but I’ve also come to love quality, purpose and ease in my tech choices - be that gadgets, devices or apps.

2019 is all about enjoying more the things I like (particularly music) and taking care of myself too. These are unusual choices in the digital era - this is not about building a digital profile, or building more connections. This is old school tech. So here are my Top Four gadgets/devices/apps for the year ahead:

Pro-ject Debut Turntable. I love music. I’ve played in bands, make my own music and messed around with synths & drum machines for many, many years. Despite giving away all my CDs and DVDs in favour of streaming services, I’ve held on to my vinyl collection, and during 2018 dusted off my Pro-ject turntable. Just as I shifted back to printed books for the physical experience, you can’t match vinyl for the same. Pro-ject’s turntable is great quality and easily affordable (they even do bluetooth & USB versions). And whilst the audio quality is phenomenal, nothing beats playing any music through a decent hi-fi system vs a crappy bluetooth speaker or headphones. So even if it’s Spotify - get a decent amp & speakers or upgrade those iPhone earbuds!

Cowon Plenue D Portable Hi-res Music Player. I love music on the go too, but am fed up with the relatively poor quality of downloads, as well as the distractions of having music on the phone. For many years, i’ve championed “dumb devices” or ones that have a single purpose (e.g. the Kindle or the old iPod). We’re all supremely distracted by the digital world, and I don’t think it’s good for us either personally or professionally to be unable to focus on one thing. The Cowon Plenue D is an amazing music player. Not only does it do one thing (i.e. play music), it can also hold content that is of a much higher quality (hi-res) than your music streaming services. So again, if you like listening to the detail of your music, or want a better audio experience - try it. And as a bonus, you’ll also be delighted at the extended battery life of your phone!

Calm Meditation & Sleep App. I’ve definitely become more aware of my health over the past few years, and also to the benefits of relaxation and sleep. Generally bucketed together as “mindfulness”, this side of our lives is one we are just beginning to understand. The focus up to now has been on fitness and exercise, but if you’re not getting enough relaxation or sleep, you’ll never exercise your way to health. I’ll be the first to say it, using an app like Calm is a little cringe-inducing with all those new age narrators, But once you get past that, it’s a relatively easy way to dive into mindfulness

Thriva Health App. Self awareness is a wonderful thing, and I’ve been intrigued by how tech has enabled us to monitor more and more about ourselves - be that weight, steps or heart rate. This year I signed up to Thriva - its a home blood test service with results delivered thru an app and commentary from a qualified GP. You get suggestions for improvement, plus anything that warrants investigation is flagged. Think of it as an early warning system.

So there you are - four “old” choices from 20th Century vinyl, to the timeless idea of looking after yourself. Here’s to a healthy, balanced 2019!

Me + marketo + Adobe

 

10 years ago I took the plunge to become the CMO in a tech startup. With global ambitions and limited resources, I needed some smart tech to solve my customer acquisition challenges.

On one side of the business, an online B2B listings directory,  I invested in SEO & paid search to capture a massive long tail of global search traffic. But on the other, a SaaS e-buying platform, I needed something more comprehensive that could engage, nurture & filter thousands of contacts and highlight those that were in “buying mode”.

Of course this set me on the road to marketing automation and a friend of mine recommended I speak with a new company that was in the early stages of bringing a product to market.

That company was marketo, and I joined the Beta program for their Lead Management solution. In fact I was one of  marketo’s first 50 customers (the “Marketo 50”) and their first customer outside of the US.

I was in London and marketo (numbering I’m guessing less then 40 employees) was in California. We never met, all selling then on-boarding was done by phone (no video conferences in those days) and it took me 20 minutes to install the solution.

That experience was an epiphany to me - how small businesses could afford solutions that previously needed six figure budgets, how we could punch far above our weight with the power of Martech and just how transformative SaaS was in software delivery.

There was a hole at the time though. With efforts to drive web traffic to our site via search and marketo nurturing leads, it was clear to me I needed to get better insights into onsite behaviours. The obvious choice was Omniture (just bought by Adobe and soon to be renamed Adobe Analytics), and I explored bringing that tool into the business, meeting with Adobe & it’s partners. We never completed the transaction, being small we moved on to other things, but marketo + Adobe Analytics seemed to me to be a no-brainer.

That whole experience set me on a path to get on the supplier side of Martech, with the ideal employer being Adobe. The next few years saw me sharing my digital transformation journey at conferences and in webinars. It turned out what I was doing was relatively cutting edge (who knew?), and marketo supported me in winning several industry awards.

A little self promotion never hurts, and the opportunity to join Adobe came in 2013. This week marks my 5th anniversary. This week also sees the completion of Adobe’s acquisition of marketo. Both are incredibly proud moments for me.

I’m not sure back in 2008 I would’ve dreamt that Adobe & Marketo would join forces, but based on that personal experience I’m so excited by the future of Adobe & marketo coming together. It’s funny how things turn out...

My dream team of brands

I was honoured to participate in a panel discussion this week at the launch of the WPP BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2018. One the questions asked was "If you were creating a dream team of brands, what team of brands would you select and why?"

It's a really great question, as in considering the team, I started to think about the attributes of what makes a brand truly great. And for me that's a mix of a compelling story showing the "why" not just the "what" of what you do, together with the desire to deliver an amazing experience built on knowing there's a better way to do things.

So here was my answer:

• TESLA for the MISSION. Not quite yet impacting the average consumer's life, but nonetheless a company with big, bold ambitions. Tesla’s mission statement was “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable transport.” However, in mid-2016, under Elon Musk’s leadership, the company changed the corporate mission to “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.” Who doesn't want to be inspired when dealing with a brand. It shows desire, big thinking and ultimately appeals to our emotional side.
• SPOTIFY for DISRUPTION. My formative years were spent buying records, cassettes and CDs priced at £10-£15 for approx 9 songs. I could likely 60 albums or 540 songs a year at a cost of around £600. Along comes spotify and disrupts this hugely inefficient supply for the consumer and delivers 40 million tracks for approx £120 per year. That's disruption. And all delivered across any device at any time.
• SONOS for DESIGN. Boy do I love Sonos. Again, they brought disruption to the music industry and indeed I bought into some of the earlier iterations of their products back in 2006. Lets just say, the technology was a little shaky back then, but what's always been core to Sonos is an amazing focus on design & simplicity. They make wonderful consumer devices that deliver complex functionality in a sleek, easy to use form that just makes the act of listening to music at home a frictionless experience.
• AMAZON for CONVENIENCE. OK, they seem to be coming under fire these days for getting too big, but the bar they've set for choice, ease & delivery is truly mind-blowing. They've totally changed my expectation of every other online retailer. If you can't get it to me within 48 hours then I'm not interested. Convenience is now the #1 criteria I place on product selection. That's a huge shift.
• STRAVA for COMMUNITY. If every brand could have the passion of cyclists and runners then we'd all be on to a winner. Strava harnesses this community in a powerful way, again leveraging design to make their app supremely easy to use. Share PBs, plan rides/runs, tap into local activities. It's an amazing network of like-minded individuals.

So there's my choices, but what would be your dream team of brands and why?

Why your next marketing campaign may just land on a doormat

I'm so delighted that my good friend, Jason Miller, over at LinkedIn is championing physical content with his Sophisticated Marketer's Quarterly. A PRINT publication that lands every quarter on your doormat full of amazing B2B marketing goodness.

The fallacy of the digital age is that offline channels are now dead and that every interaction has to be digital. So bye bye events, direct mail, telemarketing etc. 

Not so. 

The reality is its all about a MIX of channels. In fact, at Adobe, we can see that every channel (including direct mail) has a role to play in our marketing. OK, well, not every channel. I think fax marketing is off the table.

[A personal anecdote : I get so few things in the post, that when I do get something I get an email notification from our reception! Direct mail is one of the better ways to get my attention, along with twitter. See, its a mix.]

We all now have the data to see the effectiveness of our marketing and make decisions based on insights, not on gut feel. So if 40% of your marketing should be events, fine. Conversely if you should go all in on Facebook, don't hesitate. And if you get a higher response rate for direct mail, go for it! But don't feel peer pressure to do what's wrong for your business. Use data, not your gut. Above all, do what's right.

So zig when everyone else zags. And potentially be one of the few marketers that can proudly use the phrase "lands on your doormat" again :)

[Get your Yoda Mat at HMV here]

2018 : More content, less social media

I've been increasingly frustrated with social media and the amazing time-sink that it now represents. I've been a relatively early adopter of most platforms, mainly as in my job it's easy to become a marketing dinosaur in the blink of a post.

However, it's been an ongoing journey of discovery, immersion and filtering. I stopped using location platforms (foursquare, swarm, Gowalla) a few years back after I was investing hours of my time in a platform that told me that Jeff in Dundee was the King of his local gas station (whoopee!). I've restricted my Facebook account to friends & family only, plus I've kept LinkedIn to business contacts that I know or have met. I also switched off notifications (on phone and by email) from all platforms. I really don't know why anyone has these enabled as you'll be in the app virtually every hour anyway.

 Last year I uninstalled Facebook, LinkedIn and twitter from my mobile devices to save me the endless cycle of checking twitter, then LinkedIn, then Facebook and repeating ad nauseum hundreds of times a day due to FOMO. 

The reality is, of course, I'm not missing out. The problem is that feeding and interacting with the networks has become a thing in its own right. I love seeing posts from friends on what they're up to, but I can scroll through pages of suggested posts and ads, and sometimes never see a single piece of orignal content from a human being. And, no, seeing that someone I used to work with 15 years ago likes their local pet shop in Albuquerque does not constitute interesting content. And don't get me started on the non-time-linear algorithm that tries to throw up what's interesting. Try following a sports match on Facebook. It's painful. 

That's not to say I'm opting out of social media. The reason I originally loved social media was content-based, not ad click-based. And I'm sure we'll see future developments that will improve the utility of the various platforms back towards human connection. These have to come, mainly as the next generation has already opted out of ad-driven platforms preferring more messenger-like forms of direct connection (Snapchat, WhatsApp, Instagram Stories etc.). 

For me, it's about moderation. And focussing on creating, sharing and consuming content. So here's what I'm doing:

1. Less social media

• Restrict use of social media to desktop only. Except Instagram* :)
• Facebook : Opt out of brands devoid of content in my feed (right hand column ads work just fine for that for me thanks), keep just real people.. You'll be amazed how that transforms your feed. You'll also notice what little content people post. No more infinity scrolling in hope of some nugget or other! 

2. More content.

• Start the day with the (London) Times and New York Times. I subscribe to the digital editions of both, but hardly read the publications. (BTW - their Facebook feeds suck, as even as a subscriber you have to sign in for every single article).
• Try out new sources of content. I use Stack and it is amazing - you get a different independent magazine each month, showcasing the best in content and design.
• Read books! I have a varied backlog of books (some pictured above) - from music bios to business books to thrillers. When I was a teenager I used to get up early to read the latest sci-fi release before I went to school. In 2017 I think I read three books in total!
• Write more business posts on this blog (I wrote exactly zero in 2017).
• *Invest more time in photography. I still enjoy Instagram and love taking photos and seeing others'. I need to dust off the SLR and get back into Adobe Lightroom too.

Hopefully this'll rebalance my social media diet and make for a happier & healthier 2018. What are your plans?

And of course feel free to connect with me on Instagram, twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook (personal friends only)!