What do you actually Do?

Having been asked “What do you actually Do?” many many times given the apparent diversity and number of Roles I play concurrently, I thought it time to spend some time on developing a simple effective elevator pitch/mantra.

And came up with my new Mantra

So why?

And what does it mean?

Helping Businesses of the Present Understand the Future … 

Some years ago when I co-founded See Global Medium – (SGM BrandConnectors) – a business aiming to connect businesses with markets in Asia (esp China) via new Digital forms of “advertising/marketing” using data and content as the keys to communication and connection.

I quickly realised there were great opportunities for new startup businesses (especially in digital media) because of the connections and trust (the currency of business in China)  we were developing in business, media and the highest levels of Government in China. So I immersed myself in the rapidly developing Adelaide Innovation Ecosystem.

Here through mentoring, judging, lecturing etc at Universities, Incubators, CoWorking spaces I realised that existing businesses in Australia had much to learn and if they didnt start to learn they would be in decline at best and soon. And this was just before the major Disruptors like Under, Amazon and AirbnB rose to prominence.

My focus moved from Innovation to The Future of Work and much research on what the business world was going to need to do in 5 / 10 /15 years.

Almost 10 years ago I co authored “The Grumpy Old Managers Guide to Social Media”  with my business partner and daughter Nikki to help existing conservative Adelaide businesses understand this emerging new media. Now I know that unless these same existing business embrace new Technology, Data and Trends they will at best stagnate.

In looking ahead five years as I did with the Grumpy Guide its clear almost everything will change. But there is very good news for those that embrace the opportunities by focussing on outcomes and information rather than the Technology as defined in Kevin Kelly’s fantastic book The Inevitable

Seduce and Enjoy – Engaging and Entertaining your Audience

Some time ago I planned to write an article about the increasing importance and value of Event Marketing.  I planned the headline and the picture as I do to get  the story in my head as i do every time, when I start thinking about what I will  write about.

But this is not the article I planned to write on why Event Marketing needs to be a key component in every brand building and sales campaign these days.

The more I thought about the importance of Event Marketing and adding High Touch in a High Tech world was important I realised most EVENTS are missing some key components and we have not changed the basic way we do events of all types in business. The two key elements overlooked or lacking for all manner of reasons, not the least of which is we avoid things that are new and disruptive, are Event Media (as opposed to Marketing) and Event Presentation (as opposed to Production) …. as they just become part of the Marketing or Management and don’t get the focus deserved these days in a much changed world because they get squeezed out in a largely operational budgeting exercise.

Leaders Eat Last and Never Go Hungry

There are many words that are thrown about when people talk about Leadership and what makes a good leader .

But really I think the fundamentals are Passion, Confidence, Trust and Respect.

Passion which I wrote about recently in Find Your Why ….. If you want to really be passionate about anything is the foundation to build upon.

Passion I believe leads to Vision, Creativity, Innovation and an Emotional Connection which in turn creates an environment of Confidence in not only the leadership but the organisation.

Trust is the next vital aspect that a true leader needs to have in his people and exhibit to them and in return gain their trust … this develops Loyalty and in turn Mutual Trust. If people Trust you and you trust them and you also have confidence in each other you are well on the way to being a great leader.

Write Drunk ….. Edit Sober

Now that I have your attention with that headline let me explain why that Hemmingway quote is way more appropriate than it looks.

In my constant quest for new and valuable sayings for the The Grumpy Old Manger’s Guide (aka Me) to get his message across simply to the masses I recently came up with the words on the left.

Everytime I start a blog or any project for that matter that involves writing I am well aware of the old addage Less is More.  This is particularly so in an age where we are being bombarded by messages and information in one way shape or form all day long.

But first let me explain why I believe in the age of YouTube, Pinterest, SlideShare, SnapChat ,Instagram etc etc why writing is an even more vital business skill than ever.

Even better let me have Ann Handley author of several books and articles on the topic put it very succinctly

If you have a website, you are a publisher. If you are on social media, you are in marketing. And that means we are all writers.

Writing matters more now, not less. Our online words are our emissaries: They tell our customers who we are.

Our writing can make us look smart or it can make us look stupid. It can make us seem fun, or warm, or competent, or trustworthy—or it can make us seem humdrum or discombobulated or flat-out boring. That’s true whether you’re writing a listicle or the words on a SlideShare deck, and it’s also true of the words you’re reading right here, right now…

– See more at: http://annhandley.com/everybodywrites/#sthash.y7rj6Y6j.dpuf

I totally agree with Ann on the absolute importance of writing in business today but would add two elements to her words Begin with Creativity and End with Brevity.  In other words start by making it interesting to you and end with an edit that makes it interesting to the reader.

Dont Trust Techos with your Sales and Marketing Vision

http://media.dmnews.com/

Laura McLellan, a research VP at Gartner, caused quite a stir at the beginning of this year when she boldly predicted that by 2017, CMOs will spend more on IT than CIOs.

And now that is proving to be very true as marketing is becoming the most technology dependant part of any business.

As a result many businesses are developing new roles to bridge the Marketing – Technology divide. This role known as Chief Marketing Technologist will, I believe, play a key role in the future as they need to be:

• Part Strategist
• Part Technologist
• Part Leader and Teacher

Having spent my formative years in DP/MIS/IT and most of my working life in Marketing and Sales I can clearly see why this role is vital. And if it’s not a full time role, every business needs this kind of expertise in house.

For too long the fear of technology and confusion about terminology have held too many businesses back and in some cases it has the technologists to blame.

In the early days just like lawyers and accountants we developed a language and style that made what we did look hard and confused our customers to keep our value up and make sure we kept control.

Its not just what you do that counts …but why you do it….. and how you do it

Every business can tell you what they do ….some better than others with Mission and Vision statements etc. But very few can ever succinctly explain why they do it….  apart from making a profit of course. Recently when talking about setting up a new Joint Venture –  MoreThanaTVcommercial.com – with a long term associate business – Vision House – I was asked the why question.

That made me reconsider the What and How of our plans as well. I doing so I read widely about other similar businesses in advertising, marketing communications, digital media etc etc. Whether I read it in the news papers or an a website there were certain words and phases that stuck with me in analysing the What and the  Why of our planned approach.

So I must apologies to anyone whose words I have used without credit …but I just dont remember where some of my notes came from ……  Sorry!! With the apologies out of the way here goes – my concise wording …. not an easy task for someone prone to premature elaboration….