business

Social commerce tops marketing trends for 2016

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With 2016 now just weeks away, marketers are turning their attention to new year planning with a new study revealing the biggest trends and anxieties marketers will face in the coming year – with social commerce topping the list.

The study of 100 UK marketers by digital marketing agency Greenlight, suggests that more than half of marketers (52%) believe that social commerce will be the most rapidly growing trend in 2016. This is closely followed by location-based marketing technology for 49% of respondents, and predictive targeting for 43% of those surveyed. The growth of wearable technology was backed by 39% of respondents.

Personalisation is likely to be a key driver in 2016, with 42% currently using location targeting to personalise their marketing and a third targeting by age group and another third by intent – such as purchase history. However, the survey also showed opportunity for improvement with more than a quarter (27%) currently not targeting by location, age group, intent, socio-economic group, religion, or sexual orientation.

Concern was revealed about the dominance of tech titans such as Yahoo! and Apple with 57% worried about their use of data, 32% concerned about becoming over reliant on their services, and 25% concerned about the cost.

However, the marketers surveyed also said such companies supported their online retail strategy. 86% of marketers said that Google helped them deliver on their aims whilst 71% considered Facebook a friend to online retail. 69% said the same of Twitter.

As marketers look to what skills they need for 2016 respondents identified a number of skills priorities. 59% said data analysis, 52% better content optimisation skills, 45% a better alignment with the sales team, 42% greater financial modelling and budgeting, 40% improved SEM and SEO competence, and the ability to code for 23%.

Andreas Pouros, COO and co-founder at Greenlight, said marketers had to consider what they were after. “Before investing consider your next move carefully. Question whether new tools and services will really impact your business and how much value investment in these areas will deliver. Marketers also need to make sure they have the skills to handle new technologies,” he said.

Resources: marketingtechnews.co

Understanding online behaviour key to making the most of digital marketing investment

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When trying to understand where to put digital marketing investment and budget, it is crucial to understand which route to market is the most effective for your customer base since you don’t want to be wasting investment on a path your customers don’t often tread.

A new study by TextMaster and Similar Web suggests that when broken down by country direct traffic dominates over other methods of accessing brands such as search, referral or social with direct traffic the highest for German customers.

And yet for online dominant industries such as fashion, mobile apps and news and entertainment it is search traffic that provides the biggest generator of visits over direct hits. The research shows that for apps search traffic generates nearly half of all visits (46%). In fashion a third of visits come through search traffic and for news and entertainment 29%. Paid search generates the most amount of traffic for fashion companies at 14% whilst for news and entertainment the amount of traffic is minimal at only 0.43%.

Broken down by country the number of internet users using search engines to find fashion websites was highest in both the UK and France at 42% and 39% respectively.

The success of display ads meanwhile differs according to both industry and country with the method the most effective for driving traffic in Italy. For the fashion industry display ads generate 7.36% of traffic compared to only 1.23% for entertainment.

The study also showed the role of referral traffic with the method twice as important in the US at 30% than in the UK which hit only 16%.

Despite social increasingly being adopted by the fashion industry the research found that whilst social networks generated 19% of traffic for the news and entertainment industry for fashion it was minimal at 5%. However across industries it was Facebook that topped the chart as the top social network as driving most traffic.

Resources: marketingtechnews.co

7 Mental Shifts That Allowed to Become a Young Millionaire

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1. Age is just a number.

Embrace your youth wholeheartedly. If you spin your age as an asset, which can be done in a variety of ways, it can be an extremely powerful differentiator. The moment you begin to give yourself an excuse for not being successful is the moment of almost certain failure.

If you believe you can really make it then you will make it. Besides, there is nothing people want to see more than a hard-working, intelligent and dedicated young professional who succeeds. Create a snowball of momentum that makes people want to be a part of your life.

 

2. Reinvest in yourself.

The best safest investment made is in future is Reading. Read at least 30 minutes a day, listen to relevant podcasts while driving and seek out mentors vigorously. You don’t just need to be a master in your field, you need to be a well-rounded genius capable of talking about any subject whether it is financial, political or sports related. Consume knowledge like air and put your pursuit of learning above all else.

It is critically important to spoil yourself to a healthy extreme in order to reward your hard work and avoid burnout. Consider splurging on memorable experiences and luxuries that will enhance your lifestyle. I get a weekly massage like clockwork, and it is one of the best productivity hacks I employ.

 

3. Avoid decision fatigue.

Attention is a finite daily resource and can be a bottleneck on productivity. No matter the mental stamina developed over time, there is always going to be a threshold where you break down and your remaining efforts for the day become suboptimal. Conserve your mental power by making easily reversible decisions as quickly as possible and aggressively planning recurring actions so you can execute simple tasks on autopilot.

 

4. Build a resilient mind.

The biggest differentiator between mediocrity and meteoric success is the ability to work productively for hours at a time. These long stretches are when important work is almost exclusively completed. Focus is paramount and, without intentionally developing mental stamina, you won’t be able to effectively compete with those who have systematically built up their endurance over decades in the business world.

Fast track your skills by being mindful of distractions and recognizing when you begin to wander out of focus. Perform a thorough analysis of your daily activities each night and aggressively seek opportunities for improvement.

 

5. Think big. Be big.

The science behind goal setting and its remarkable ability to accelerate success is infallible. If you don’t already have your one-, five- and 10-year goals written out and visible to you on a daily basis, do so right now. I read mine the second I wake up every single morning. Now ask yourself, what would have to happen to accomplish your 10-year goals in just one year?

The inherent power in maintaining consistency with your acknowledged goals can work both positively and negatively, and is cause for concern if you anchor yourself to a slower timeline of achievement. Be mindful and diligent in charting an optimal path that pushes you to your limit.

 

6. Be methodical.

Plan your work and then work your plan. Perhaps my biggest breakthrough was large-scale automation of my marketing systems. I created a process that allowed me to quintuple my marketing output while increasing my conversion rate considerably.

The simplest way to put your own content plan in motion is to create a multi-step campaign that touches a prospect through a variety of different mediums every week for at least a month. Follow a logical order and craft your content in a persistent way, while never becoming annoying.

Not in a sales role? You can take a similar approach to any analytical, creative or administrative position by developing rigid organizational systems that help improve your efficiency when faced with repetitive tasks.

 

7. Believe in yourself.

Someone has to make it, and nothing is stopping you from being the person who accomplishes your wildest dreams. Nearly every person who has ever failed has had an excuse. Successful people have stories of the challenges that they overcame with creative solutions. The moment you confidently feel that there is nothing you can’t learn or develop to solve the most complex of problems is the moment of guaranteed greatness.

If you still aren’t sure how to begin, start with a promise to work towards the achievement of consistent excellence each moment of every day. This is the basic building block and mentality with which I am building my career.

Keep it simple and remember that success is not an entitlement. If you really want to excel, you have to get out there and earn it every day for the rest of your life.

Sources: Entrepreneur.net

3 Ways to Increase Employee Vitality as You Grow

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If you’re in charge of a company with an expanding client base and quick financial growth, it can be easy to forget one key factor of your company’s success — your employees.

No matter how big your brand becomes, your company is nothing without the people who make it run. While it’s easy to think of your business as something that belongs only to you, it’s important to treat your employees as vital contributors to its health.

Keeping employees invested and engaged during your growing pains takes effort, but what’s worse is allowing them to get left behind. Gathered from my own experience growing a business, here are three tips to keep your team happy and united:

1. Set expectations early.

Setting expectations early on — for workloads, company culture, benefits, etc. — helps employees remain happy over time. If your team knows what they are agreeing to, they are more likely to remain involved during periods of growth.

One way to establish expectations is through a robust orientation schedule. At the onset of employment, new hires should meet with peers across all departments as well as the leadership team. Encourage team to not only share what their role is in the company and how they will interact with the new employee, but also to share some personal insights such as family, hobbies, etc. When employees can understand other roles and how their own positions interact across the company, they can feel confident in their contribution and status.

 

2. Communicate often.

How often and how well you communicate with your employees is tough and often overlooked. Whereas profits and sales are quantifiable, talking with your team is not. The communicate on a regular and consistent basis able to understand them more in term of their feeling and work task. There are also ways to incorporate communication into events that stimulate engagement. Plan a happy hour for an upcoming holiday, or do something more unique, like celebrating Monday instead of Friday. For example, our team tends to host impromptu celebrations ranging from barbecues to work-hours parties such as our event to unveil a new logo. Although these get-togethers seem simple, they create avenues for communication where your team can enjoy the benefits of their hard work.

 

3. Get to know your employees personally.

As your brand continues to expand, it can become stressful to sacrifice valuable work hours to spend time with your employees. However, during periods of growth, knowing your team personally is important. Employees who feel a direct and genuine connection to upper management will feel a stronger relationship and accountability to their company, too.

Finding the time to build personal relationships starts with setting the time aside. Rather than just saying you will meet with employees, budget real time into your calendar and then stick to it. There are many fun ways to schedule this time. For instance, I like to host monthly feedback lunches. Not only do these lunches give me the chance to learn more about my team in a casual setting — we all share a fun fact about ourselves — but they are also a great opportunity for unfiltered company feedback.

Not only does consistently interacting with your employees build relationships, but it also weeds out the weaker connections. When you create a culture where everybody works together toward the same goal, it’s likely a mutual feeling when it’s not the right fit. By setting expectations early on, it’s relatively easy to tell when an employee’s values and objectives are not aligned with the company’s. Separation becomes natural, and when employees do leave, it’s typically for the right reason — or another sensible opportunity — not because they feel left behind.

There’s never a wrong time to start engaging employees and building out the practices to do so. While you might not be in a state of growth right now, you can only hope that one is just around the corner.

Sources: Entrepreneur.co

5 Challenges Successful People Overcome

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It’s truly fascinating how successful people approach problems. Where others see impenetrable barriers, they see challenges to embrace and obstacles to overcome.

Their confidence in the face of hardship is driven by the ability to let go of the negativity that holds so many otherwise sensible people back.

Success isn’t the only thing determined by your mindset. Much higher rates of depression in people who attribute their failures to personal deficits. Optimists fare better; they treat failure as learning experiences and believe they can do better in the future.

This success mindset requires emotional intelligence (EQ), and it’s no wonder that, among the million-plus people that TalentSmart has tested, 90% of top performers have high EQs.

Maintaining the success mindset isn’t easy. There are five things, in particular, that tend to shatter it. These challenges drag people down because they appear to be barriers that cannot be overcome. Not so for successful people, as these seven challenges never hold them back.

1. Age

Age really is just a number. Successful people don’t let their age define who they are and what they are capable of. Just ask Betty White or any young, thriving entrepreneur.

Without fail, people feel compelled to tell you what you should and shouldn’t do because of your age. Don’t listen to them. Successful people certainly don’t. They follow their heart and allow their passion—not the body they’re living in—to be their guide.

“They follow their heart and allow their passion—not the body they’re living in—to be their guide.”

 

2. What Other People Think

When your sense of pleasure and satisfaction are derived from comparing yourself to others, you are no longer the master of your own destiny. While it’s impossible to turn off your reactions to what others think of you, you don’t have to hold up your accomplishments to anyone else’s, and you can always take people’s opinions with a grain of salt. That way, no matter what other people are thinking or doing, your self-worth comes from within.

Successful people know that caring about what other people think is a waste of time and energy. When successful people feel good about something that they’ve done, they don’t let anyone’s opinions take that away from them.

“No matter what other people think of you at any particular moment, one thing is certain—you’re never as good or bad as they say you are.”

 

3. Toxic People

Successful people believe in a simple notion: you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

Just think about it—some of the most successful companies in recent history were founded by brilliant pairs. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak of Apple lived in the same neighborhood, Bill Gates and Paul Allen of Microsoft met in prep school, and Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google met at Stanford.

Just as great people help you to reach your full potential, toxic people drag you right down with them. Whether it’s negativity, cruelty, the victim syndrome, or just plain craziness, toxic people create stress and strife that should be avoided at all costs.

If you’re unhappy with where you are in your life, just take a look around. More often than not, the people you’ve surrounded yourself with are the root of your problems.

“You’ll never reach your peak until you surround yourself with the right people.”

 

4. Fear

Fear is nothing more than a lingering emotion that’s fueled by your imagination. Danger is real. It’s the uncomfortable rush of adrenaline you get when you almost step in front of a bus. Fear is a choice. Successful people know this better than anyone does, so they flip fear on its head. They are addicted to the euphoric feeling they get from conquering their fears.

Don’t ever hold back in life just because you feel scared. I often hear people say, “What’s the worst thing that can happen to you? Will it kill you?” Yet, death isn’t the worst thing that can happen to you…

“The worst thing that can happen to you is allowing yourself to die inside while you’re still alive.”

 

5. The Past or the Future

Like fear, the past and the future are products of your mind. No amount of guilt can change the past, and no amount of anxiety can change the future. Successful people know this, and they focus on living in the present moment. It’s impossible to reach your full potential if you’re constantly somewhere else, unable to fully embrace the reality (good or bad) of this very moment.

To live in the moment, you must do two things:

1) Accept your past. If you don’t make peace with your past, it will never leave you and it will create your future. Successful people know the only good time to look at the past is to see how far you’ve come.

2) Accept the uncertainty of the future, and don’t place unnecessary expectations upon yourself. Worry has no place in the here and now. As Mark Twain once said,

“Worrying is like paying a debt you don’t owe.”

Bringing It All Together

Your success is driven by your mindset. With discipline and focus, you can ensure that these seven obstacles never hold you back from reaching your full potential.

Sources: Entrepreneur.co

10 Practices for Becoming a Self-Made Millionaire

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Becoming a self-made millionaire is no easy task. Yet, for the individuals who have accomplished this major feat in the past, the process involves following a few set rules like these or guidelines that have proven to help self-made professionals, no matter what industry they may be in. If you have your sights focused on a life as a self-made millionaire then consider these rules to live by.

 

1. Do it for the challenge.

If you ask any self-made millionaire why they got started in the field they did, chances are they will not just say “to make a million dollars.” The true story behind most people’s success is that they wanted to accept the challenge of following their dreams and becoming successful on their own terms.

 

2. Never get too comfortable.

There should never be a time in your journey to the top where you stop and think “Ok, I’ve done enough, I can stop working so hard.” If you’ve met your goal and made a million dollars, set another one. You should never be comfortable, you should always be working for more.

 

3. Study and work harder than anyone.

No matter how talented you are, you will never reach your full potential success unless you are willing to study and work harder than anyone else. This is the only way to truly achieve your goals.

 

4. Learn from failures and mistakes.

You are going to make mistakes and you are going to fail. How you react to those failures is what makes you successful. If you fall, don’t get down on yourself, but look at why you failed, take it as a learning experience, brush it off and move on.

 

5. Read every day.

This rule cannot be emphasized enough — you need to be reading all the time. Never stop reading and never stop finding new topics to read about. You need to keep aware of the cutting edge movements within your industry to stay ahead of the trends.

 

6. Keep your mind and body healthy.

Exercise along with mental health breaks are all an important part of being the most successful version of yourself that you can be. Work out daily, eat right and always get plenty of sleep.

 

7. Surround yourself with successful like-minded people.

Surrounding yourself with the wrong people can be a major drain on you. Make sure that you are around people who share your same goals and visions, who are motivated and are true peers that also want financial success. Being around these individuals will motivate you and help you stay focused. Avoid people who don’t care about work. People who spend all of their time partying are not good for your success.

 

8. Give to the less fortunate and take care of loved ones.

We’ve talked about taking care of your mind and body, but it is also important to take care of your soul. Never lose sight of the world around you and those who are in need. Taking care of your loved ones is one of the best ways to enjoy your financial success.

Give back to those in need. I started my Timothy Sykes Foundation to help those who are less fortunate. It has really made a difference in my perspective and work ethic.

 

9. Be honest and transparent.

Lying and being deceitful will never get you as far as you think. You need to always be honest, straightforward and transparent with people. This is a truly important and undervalued practice that will help you earn the long-term professional success you have always wanted.

 

10. To succeed think long-term, not short term.

So many people are focused only on their short-term success and have goals like “I want to make X amount of money in the next year.” Don’t focus on short-term goals, focus on the long-term big picture of where you want your life to be. These are the types of goals that will get you motivated to being truly self-sufficient and building actual wealth for you and your family.

While there undoubtedly is a certain amount of challenge that comes with becoming a self-made millionaire, if you keep these rules in mind and learn from the success of those who have accomplished this goal in the past, then you will be armed with the insight you need to help make your financial goals a reality.

Resources: Entrepreneur.co

7 Hobbies Science Says Will Make You Smarter

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For a long time, it was believed that people are born with a given level of intelligence and the best we could do in life was to live up to our potential. We now know that by learning new skills the brain creates new neural pathways that make it work faster and better.

Here is a list of seven hobbies that make you smarter and why.

1. Play a musical instrument.

Playing music helps with creativity, analytical skills, language, math, fine motor skills and more. While these are all great advantages, some people argue that playing team sports might do as many things. What playing musical instruments does that other activities don’t is strengthen the corpus callosum that links the hemispheres of the brain by creating new connections.

An improved corpus callosum helps with executive skills, memory, problem solving and overall brain function, regardless of how old you are.

 

2. Read anything.

The benefits of reading are the same whether you are enjoying Game of Thrones, Harry Potter or the latest issue of the Wall Street Journal. Reading reduces stress, which makes you feel better about yourself, and increases all three types of intelligence — crystallised, fluid and emotional. That helps with problem solving, putting different pieces of knowledge together to better navigate everyday life, detecting patterns, understanding processes and accurately interpreting and responding to other people’s feelings.

At work, this translates into better understanding how to make things happen and better managerial skills.

3. Exercise regularly.

Occasional exercise alone doesn’t do the trick. Regular exercise is much more effective than hard work-outs every now and then. When exercising regularly the cells are flooded with BDNF, a protein that helps with memory, learning, focus, concentration and understanding. This is also often referred to as mental acuity.

Some scientists speculate that sitting down for prolonged periods of time has the opposite affect and actually hinders our brain from working as well as it could.

 

4. Learn a new language.

Forget solving puzzles to improve your memory and learn a foreign language instead. Research has shown that people who are bilingual are better at solving puzzles than people who speak only one language. Successfully learning new languages enables your brain to better perform any mentally demanding tasks. This includes the typical executive skills such as planning and problem-solving.

Additionally, speaking at least two languages positively affects your skill to monitor your environment and to better direct your attention to processes. Many people are told that because executives speak languages, they should learn Spanish or French if they want to move up the ranks. Based on how the brain reacts to learning languages, it might be the other way around. Learning another language might be the last missing link people need to get their brain ready to take on C-level jobs.

 

5. Test your cumulative learning.

Many intelligent students in high school and college “cram” for finals and seem to have mastered the topic the day of the big test. The trouble with that is we tend to forget these things quickly because we are rarely, if ever, required to repeat that knowledge in that same way. One reason studying a new language makes us smarter is because it requires cumulative learning. Because we need them over and over again, the grammar and vocabulary we learn is repeated countless times as we improve our foreign language skills.

Apply the concept of cumulative learning to every day life and your work place by keeping track of noteworthy bits of knowledge you acquire. Go through takeaways from recent books, observations during an important negotiation, or keep a small journal with anything that strikes your attention. Start integrating cumulative learning into your self-improvement program.

 

6. Work out your brain.

Sudoku, puzzles, riddles, board games, video games, card games, and similar activities increase neuroplasticity. This encompasses a wide variety of changes in neural pathways and synapses that is basically the ability of the brain to reorganize itself. When nerve cells respond in new ways, that  increases neuroplasticity, which allows us more ability to see things from different points-of-view andunderstand cause and effect of behaviors and emotions. We become aware of new patterns and our cognitive abilities are improved.

Considering that neuroplasticity is involved in impairments such as tinnitus, an increased amount can help prevent certain conditions. For instance, people with high neurplasticity are less prone to anxiety and depression while learning faster and memorizing more.

 

7. Meditate.

Meditation became interesting to ambitious people because the study implied that we can control our own brain waves and feel whatever we want to feel whenever we want to. This means that can feel more powerful right before a negotiation, more confident when asking for a raise and more convincing during a sales call.

The general idea is that the brain can develop further and you can do it on purpose. Different activities stimulate different areas of your brain, so you can work on becoming unbeatable at your strengths as well as improving your weaknesses. Focusing self-improvement on the brain is a good idea for anyone who feels they are at their professional peak (or maybe just have stopped getting better), ambitious professionals and of course entrepreneurs who are looking to maximize their potential.

Resources: entrepreneur.net

Are You a Manager or a Leader? Here’s How to Tell the Difference.

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Within any organization, systems and structure is required to ensure that all the trains run on time. Having an applied universal system in which all members can follow and abide by is a great way to uphold standards, increase accountability and promote unity. You need people whose responsibility is carrying out these systems and assuring that they are implemented properly. Throughout time, these people have held many different names and titles — chief, official, lord and duke, just to name a few. In today’s day and age, we have added new positions to the list, such as supervisor, CEO or manager.

While the names attached to these positions of power are constantly shifting and fluctuating, there is one title that has transcended the years and remains the same — leader.

The reason for this is that a leader can accomplish things that none of these other positions can. Leaders possess unique qualities and traits which prevent them from being molded or classified as simply a supervisor or manager. Here are a few of these qualities.

 

1. Followers versus subordinates

Managing those below you means overseeing your subordinates. Delegating responsibilities, designating tasks and expecting results in return is the way in which a manager operates. Those working under a manager will do what they are told, not because of any blinding devotion, but in expectation of a reward, be it money, accolades or a possible promotion.

In contrast, the most obvious and apparent indicator of a leader is one who has followers. A leader does not have people below them but rather people behind them. Those who work for a true leader are constantly encouraged and inspired, and this is the driving factor behind their work. When you have followers instead of subordinates, they will strive to go above and beyond to achieve a goal, will stay loyal to you through the ups and downs, and will, most importantly, place their trust in you.

 

2. Sustainer versus grower

When a manager is considering how best to achieve their goals, they are usually concerned with sustaining whatever it is they are managing. That is to say, they think of the best ways to maintain the system in which they find themselves. While there is not necessarily anything wrong with this, it does not leave much room for advancement or expansion.

If you are only concerned with how to keep things running the same way, you will become stagnant and, consequently, invite others to surpass you. A leader is someone who is constantly looking forward. They are innovators who possess a growth mindset and are not comfortable with simply performing at the same level.

Marshall Goldsmith says it best in his book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful. Sometimes the systems and strategies that got you to where you are will not take you to the next level. Managers sustain what they have, and leaders shift and change to take their team to the next level. Each day we get older, we become less flexible. Leaders who grow people and organizations know that and try to become more agile each day. When a leader is in charge, they will strive to venture into uncharted territory and reach heights that others may not even think possible.

 

3. Systems versus people

A good manager knows how to work within a system and ensure that others are doing the same. With that being said, their main concern is to perfect the system and then to work different people into it. On the other hand, leaders put people first and create systems to support the people themselves. Leaders have the ability to relate with and understand people. This skill means that they can get the best out of those that they work with, and adjust the system accordingly.

Focusing on the team members who are actually doing the work gives you access to a wealth of knowledge and potential that a set of rules, company policy or handbook, could never provide.

Looking at these traits, it is easy to understand why the title of leader stands in a category of its own. A manager serves an important role and is vital to organizational success, but a true leader is invaluable. Knowing the difference between the two is imperative. If you can recognize and understand what it takes to be a leader, you can then use that knowledge to develop your own leadership skills as well as the skills of the people around you.

It is also important to realize that although these traits can and should be found in every leader, there is no universal handbook to leadership. We are all individuals with our own backgrounds, strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, it is inevitable that everyone’s leadership style will be different. Herein lies the beauty of leadership. To be a proper manager, you must follow the rules and keep the order as best as possible. To be a leader, however, you have to think creatively, add your own personal flair and inspire as many people to join you as possible along the way.

Sources: Entrepreneur.net

Listen to your customers: Why crowdfunding of brands is the future

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‘The customer is always right’ is the mantra of many a brand. But it has taken us decades, if not centuries, to really incorporate customer feedback into brands; to make the customer’s voice the loudest in our brand evolution.

With customer feedback sychronising with customer purchase through cookie capture and machine-to-machine technology, crowdsourcing of brands is the future.

Customers driving change in brands

Customer data has always been an important tool in the evolution of product development. However how we generate this data has been revolutionised through technology to the point where brand guardians can track almost every aspect of the customer journey from desire to purchase.

Larger enterprises are already using customer forums to crowdsource ideas for future development with Starbucks launching My Starbucks Idea, giving the customer not only a voice in the NPD of their products and services but also their voice a presence in their development strategy – giving the customers and Starbucks the feel good factor.

Likewise General Electric’s #EcoImagination has turned the brand into a driver for change – a brand named as one of the worst pollutants in the world a decade ago, GE has recently been named by Fortune as one of the greenest brands around today. How? Through listening to the chant of their customers and responding to their voice.

And look at the phenomenal success of social media and analytics tool, BrandWatch, which has seen 100% growth year on year from 2009 to 2013. What does it do?  It records what customers are saying about a brand, analyses it and reports back to the brand guardian.

At Platform, we have already seen the rise of the Customer Experience Centre, which started out life as a showcase and a courting space for clients, but quickly transformed into a place to dismantle and co-create brands with customers and clients alike. Second guessing your customers is dangerous – listening to them makes business sense.

Intermediaries driving change

Harnessing customer feedback is nothing new though even if utilising this data in the most effective way is still an on-going challenge for marketers.  However, what about the intermediaries influence? Those who are at the customer coalface – the sales manager, the client liaison officer? How do you aggregate this information which is correlated to purchase but more anecdotal than statistical?

Again, forward thinking companies are already realising the power of the employee, not only paying lipservice to their thoughts but giving them a real voice in the evolution of their brands.  Technology is facilitating this listening with companies, including Platform, launching business apps that aggregate data from customer and sales meetings and then reconfiguring that information back to them alongside competitor data – like their own learning machine, fed with real data and feedback and personalised to their own market, customers, products and services.

Digital data is allowing us broader access to realtime data about what our customer wants and their everyday interactions and engagement with our teams be it our salesforce or our customer service team.

External drivers of change

Then there is the third level of change – the external influence that can drive and shape a brand through credibility and influence with the rise of the blogger/vlogger.

Bringing credibility and endorsement to a brand has always been the Holy Grail of the brand guardian. Previously the charge and power of the media, the b/vlogger is taking the crown of the journalist to become top influencer of the brand. So how do brands access this channel of influence? And how do they influence the data that the b/vloggers are accessing about their brand, and respectively communicating to their target audiences about their products and services? And how does that change the experience of the brand in the future? Will bloggers and vloggers be the ones driving brand change?

For many audiences, the b/vlogger started out as an embodiment of the voice of the customer. Saying the things about a product or a brand that the customer didn’t have a public or collective outlet for – and being rewarded by a following that agreed or at least valued their opinion.

However, as the b/vloggers have become more influential their voice has become more valued – not only by customers but by brands, and as a result now commands a high price in exchange for positive PR. When crowdsourcing of an idea from customers or staff, there is an element of trust to it, but with the blog/vlog landscape how much credibility and transparency is there?  Is the commercialism of advocacy destroying trust and openness of a brand?

There is no doubt that we have passed a point of no return in the evolution of the brand – that crowdsourcing the future of brands will become the norm in the world where everyone has a say and the channels of communication are open for all to voice and see.  It will be those brand guardians who stay close to their customers and influencers, who listen and who are truly transparent who will be the winners in their brands’ PR battlefield.

Resources: marketingtechnews.co

4 Ways to Be a More Collaborative Leader

by

There are two types of leadership—“me” and “we.” Where do you fall? Do you like your office door closed, no distractions allowed? Or do you prefer your door open, interruptions welcome?

Beware that by tucking yourself away in the corner office, you are isolating yourself… and successful leadership requires collaboration, the opposite of isolation. So if you’re about to lock the door behind you, think instead about leaving it open, literally and figuratively—shift from that detrimental “me” space to the more effective “we” space.

Effectively connecting with your team is more than paying lip service or showing your face on your way in or out of the building. Working in a truly collaborative way means understanding why you need to be a part of your team, rather than being apart from it.

If you are used to operating from a place of “This is my idea, my project, outcome, my result and my credit,” it can be incredibly difficult to switch your mindset. But the business landscape has, and will, continue to change at a rapid rate—and you are only one person. You would need to be superhuman to be able to grasp every aspect of what is necessary to survive. Your team is absolutely essential to continuing success. As a team, you have the complete skillset to turn average work into expert work—to turn threats into opportunities.

Try taking these small steps to make the transition:

 

1. Fix the working environment.

Don’t set yourself up in a cushy corner office with closed walls. Studies have shown that working within a collaborative physical environment actually improves team engagement and drives results. Why? Because collaborative workspaces engender a sense of belonging and a feeling that nobody is excluded from the big decisions that will affect the whole team.

(This doesn’t mean that there isn’t a need for thoughtful “outspaces,” which allow for privacy and quiet and the chance to create and reflect.)

 

2. Be vulnerable.

Allowing yourself to show weakness in front of your team is not weak—it is strong. It can and will lead to reconnection.

If you are able to admit when you have made a less-than-stellar decision or that you are having trouble reaching a successful solution to a problem and need assistance, you will create trust. Opening up gives your team an assumed “permission” to speak up and admit if they need assistance, too. It also opens the opportunity for them to showcase skills you might not have recognized or acknowledged in the past.

 

3. Give credit where it’s due.

Too often, it is easy for a leader to stand solo in the spotlight, leaving the team in the shadows. That attitude creates an internal disconnect—and therefore a lack of trust and an unwillingness to give 100 percent to future projects.

Make sure that you are adequately acknowledging when your team members are the ones responsible for a result, whether that is an idea or a product. When someone adds value, it is essential to acknowledge that contribution—and to do it publicly.

 

4. Be brave.

Be willing to take risks for the benefit of your team—even if they may not necessarily benefit you in the short-term. Your team will see not just a leader but someone who has their collective interests at heart.

This requires a degree of business bravery. Think about this: How does your team currently view you? As someone who stands up for their best interests, or as someone who pushes everyone out of the way for the lifeboats?

Take a leap—not for those lifeboats, but for your team.

Resources: success.net