Caring : the difference between good and great people

I've just completed a post on Linkedin that I've had brewing for some while.

It's titled "Why Caring Makes The Difference" and I spend a explain in 500 words why I think caring makes a difference in industries as varied as hospitality and the digital one I work in.

Also, whilst I was writing it, I thought about my care for what I do and how it makes a difference to me too. It's therefore not just about having the opportunity to surround yourself with those that give a monkeys about what they create.... it's being in the middle of it helping them to deliver improvements that make a difference.

The Internet Population is HUGE now!

In 1995 less than 1% of the world population had an Internet connection, now around 40% do.

And, if you plot the rise in the internet population over the last 10 years you see that there has been a steady growth rate. [source]

According to the Central Intelligence Agency (yes, the CIA!) the biggest single country with a connected population is China, with over 626,000,000 users. This is the same as the USA (3rd), India (4th) and Japan (5th) combined!

What Users Find Most Valuable About Apps

Google have just released a useful report on the adoption and usage of mobile apps.

Named "How people discover, use, and stay engaged with apps" the document is a helpful resource for those who are looking to develop or improve their apps.

There's some good insight included, such as whether price or privacy are most important when deciding whether to install an app. And that the average number of apps that users have installed on their smartphone is 35.

But perhaps the most important finding concerned what users find most valuable about their favourite apps... and the perhaps unsurprising finding is that they rate usability highest. Yup, the fact that they’re easy to use and navigate makes users love apps the most.

Read the full Google report here

What is Agile Marketing ?

I use the term Agile Marketing quite a lot these days and regard it as an approach that organisations need to adopt.

Here's what I mean by this:

1. Embrace test & learn

The days of "fire & forget" for a campaign are over. If you are launching a digital marketing initiative lasting longer than a week, then you really need to consider how you're going to improve it over time. For example... Sending an email out to more that a handful of people? Then test multiple subject lines first

Note: This approach also goes hand-in-hand with the philosophy that...

2. You need to understand that you're not going to get it all right first time

In much the same way as your developers create an MVT (minimum viable product) that releases working but evolving software to customers, learn that your marketing campaigns are never going to be the best they could be unless you change them based upon insight and understanding. And rapidly....

3. Use data to gain insight and understanding

If you are not using your digital analytics tools to their full capability, they you are doing you and your organisation a disservice. Use clack tracking, surveys and even the raw data to understand & refine what your users want (and are not getting). Then also Learn who are your true social media influencers and online friends. The finally...

4. Become your digital agency's best friend and worst enemy

Unless you have in-sourced absolutely everything to do with your digital marketing & development (from programmatic display media through to website testing) then you're going to be using an agency. Therefore get to know their strengths and their weakness... and play to them to get the most of out them... ideally for the best value possible.

You Are Not A Digital Transformation Consultant Until....

Take a look on Professional networking social platforms (such as Linkedin) or some job listing websites... and you will see people stating they are Digital Transformation Consultants or something similar. I know.... because I'm one.

But am quite dubious of some of these people, who just seem to be Digital Project Managers or Digitsl Business Analysts who have just given themselves a new title.

So here's my short list of things a person who claim to be Digital Transformation Consultants should have done:

1. Transformed something
   It is pretty obvious to state and nobody is criticising someone for consistently delivering decent projects to scope and budget... but if a person hasn't actually transformed a business, they shouldn't say they actually have.
2. Delivered something
   Yes, I know I said above that just being a Project Manager isn't enough to qualify as being a Digital Transformation Consultant, but neither is not having a hand in the delivery. If a person just comes up with a few lines in a PowerPoint presentation about "a move to digital" or "facilitating self-service" and then moves onto the next job... then that's not enough in my opinion.

I'm sure I'll add to this list in future.

So have I missed anything?

No tills, No assistants. Is this the future of Retail?

Amazon has caused quite a stir today with its concept Amazon Go concept store.

 Apparently via some technical wizardry of sensors and computing power (but no mention of RFID) Amazon can now allow you to walk into a store, take an item and walk out again.... without handing over cash, credit cards, etc.

The store will be officially launched later in 2017, but as an idea....it might gain some momentum.  And with one of the biggest names in online retail behind it, it's got an even better chance of being successful (or at least of having different individual features adopted across the High Street).

Christmas & How Twitter Users Love Planning

On the run-up to Christmas 2016, Twitter have released an interesting Infographic about shopping behaviour and using the rather long hashtag #christmasisallaround

There's some interesting findings and some pretty obvious stuff mentioned, but overall it provides a useful insight into the planning of the festive season. Especially by Millennials.

Full PDF version is here

 

Google Mobile Friendly Test Site Revamp

It is good to see that the useful Mobile website friendliness testing tool from Google has had a bit of a face-lift.

I wonder if the functionality, to check just how compatible a website is for mobile compatibility, has also changed....

Try it for yourself:
https://testmysite.withgoogle.com/intl/en-gb/

 

Everything Is Software - including your Christmas Presents

The world is gradually and surely turning into software.

Once upon a time we only had physical products to: keep us entertained, support us in the office and help us improve our everyday lives..... But now we have a raft of digital products and services that deliver our needs.

Consider the average teenager's Christmas present list 20 years ago and it would have included items such as : CD/tape music player, Compact Discs (or cassette tapes), pocket camera, alarm clock (well, I asked for one), games, etc.
 

Now all of these are all available as apps in your average smartphone and mostly free ones.

So what software is the average teenager asking Santa for this year?

Why Include WWW When Marketing Your URL?

I've seen a bunch of recent criticism (on Linkedin actually) for a company that used "www" at the beginning of their URL in some of their marketing material. Although there was a bunch of other issues with the advert shown.... in my opinion the use of "www" in the web address didn't even warrant a mention, let alone an outburst of ridicule. But apparently this was a major modern digital marketing faux pas.

So does adding the prefix, short of World Wide Web, really look dated or unprofessional?

I don't think so.

Whilst technically you can have either (with or without the "www" sub-domain) I don't think it makes a bit of difference whether you show it or not.

However...

For Search Engine Optimisation benefit, make sure your site is available on just one of the two URLs ("www" and "non-www") and not both at the same time... by redirecting all traffic to the main one

You can obviously decide not to show the "www" in your adverts if you want to make better use of space (again, make sure you have the correct URL redirection in-place)

Fake News on Facebook

It seems that Facebook is in denial about the amount of fake news that now propagates across the popular social media platform.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37983571

So whilst the general user (you and I) find some mirth in reading hilarious and sometime almost truthful articles... Facebook claims these false news sites are not an issue.
Thereby admitting that they actually are!

Note: Fake news isn't a new thing. In the UK newspapers have been publishing knowingly a
nd blatant fake news items for decades. And some have even made its very creation a business. 

I'm now off to look at the supermoon to see if I can find that World War II bomber the Daily Sport once told me had landed there.

The Social Media Maturity Matrix 2016

A path to the comprehensive and effective organisational use of Social Media - Updated from 2012 to 2016

The Social Media Maturity Matrix 2016 from Hayden Sutherland

How inappropriate are your emails?

Just how inappropriate can an email marketing campaign be?
 

Here's one for Village Hotels I have just received, that in my opinion crosses over the line of decency.
 

What do you think?
 

Digital Strategy For Dummies

Ever get that sinking feeling you're not hitting the spot with your digital strategy?

Have you looked through slide after slide of PowerPoint presentations only to think "Mmmmmm...... It all makes sense from a multi-channel engagement perspective... But I'm sure there's something I've missed".

Or do you lie awake half the night worrying that the ROI model for your client's latest online business case doesn't quite line up with their commercial plans or board expectations?

Perhaps it's because there's no single framework for a comprehensive digital strategy. And there's no 'one size fits all' model when looking to transform processes and engagement via a new Digital self-service platform.

In short....Wouldn't it be good if there really was a "Digital Strategy for Dummies" guide?

Why does Google Analytics show cities not postcodes?

As you may have seen in Google Analytics, it is possible to identify your digital visitors down to the city level. This is cleverly done by Google taking multiple data sources and then "guessing" where visitors are coming from.

Firstly there is something called reverse IP address lookup. This is when your Internet Service Provider gives information away about where you are connecting from. Then there's other big hints online users give away about their location, such as using a Chrome Browser on a mobile device or use Google Maps to look at their local vicinity. Each gives Google major indications as to where users actually are.

But this "guessing" does not go down to postcode level in Google Analytics.

My view is that some postcode area (e.g. PA = Paisley) are so broad they cover hundreds & hundreds of square miles and even postcode districts cover large amounts of land & people (e.g. PA1).

However postcodes themselves change over time can be so detailed as to cover as little as one house.... which would identify a person or household, which is against Google's data policy.

The Wider CIO Role In A Digital Age

The role of the CIO has evolved over the last decade or so. In my opinion this is primarily as the technology services, digital products and online marketing industries have changed considerably over that period.

Cloud, Apps, SaaS, micro services, and a bunch of other technologies & paradigms now means that:

• Hosting a online service with 99.9% availability is just a £10/month subscription rather than a £100,000 per year investment
• Developers no longer go to offices and work where work is, but instead sit in their bedrooms and offer themselves to the most innovative opportunities
• Your customer (or customer's customer) is now online at any time... and more than ever before likely to be viewing your services via a smartphone
• The new Chief Digital Officer role came & went, with a lot of their work being picked-up by the CIO (and some by the CMO)
• Vendor lock-in is less of a concern than a vendor that doesn't have an API

All this also means the CIO role in the digital age has become more strategic than ever to the CEO. 

This is because, as software replaces more and more things, every business is becoming a technology business.

Personas vs Customer Segmentation

I my opinion the process of developing customer segmentation is different from creating personas.

Segments are different customer types based upon similar attributes such as demographics (and usually just cuts of your existing customer data). They are typically used to focus marketing spend.

Personas should also go into defining the customer's attitude, propensity to buy, purchase history, device usage, etc. They are there to shape the user experience by giving you (crude) stereotypes to build product/functionality and create content for.

When Does The Nastiness Stop?

The World is a paradox.

As a parent we each teach our children to be considerate, share their possessions and respect others. "Everyone is equal", "play nicely with others" and other such phrases are stated to the younger generation in a concerted effort to encourage them to grow up with care and love for their fellow man.

But as adults we live in a dog-eat-dog world where some people in the playground of life refuse to play nicely with others.

Therefore as we grow up, we gradually come to realise that not all things are equal and that love & respect are a rare commodity. And that people don't always get the comeuppance they deserve.

Isn't it a shame?

Digital Roles Overlap

I think it is becoming harder and harder to understand all the roles a modern and competent digital organisation needs. In my opinion this is because each specific skill-set now overlaps others.

This makes is difficult to classify some roles and the people that could fill them. 

Hopefully this diagram goes some way to explain things.

Can Google Continue To Increase Revenues?

You've no doubt heard the phrase "nothing lasts forever", well that line works just as well in business as elsewhere. Yet in recent years Google seems to have bucked the boom & bust trend on other online companies and continues to record record revenues.

As this graph from Statista.com shows, Google posted $74.54 Billion in revenue in 2015.
Google's revenue is mainly made up by advertising, of which Google AdWords is a major factor, which in 2015 accounted for $67.39Billion or over 90%. Currently Google is the Internet company with the highest market capitalization, $373Billion - 5 times its revenue.

But the question for me is.... is this rate of growth sustainable?
Or more realistically I think we need to ask at what point Google's revenue slows down as it finds the optimum way to extract money from advertising customers.