Marketing activities do not always include creativity. Many tasks are repetitive and mundane.
Over time, when you grow and so does your number of leads, doing these activities is most likely going to tire you.
So why not automate them?
If you can automate, then you can spend your precious time elsewhere. But what is the first step towards automation?
The first step is to identify all the activities in your routine that are repetitive.
77% of the Chief Marketing Officers (think: Corporate) say that the sole objective of marketing activities automation is to help grow the revenue and decrease your costs.
In this article, I have listed out 5 processes that are common to most of the online businesses and can be automated effortlessly. These are simple, but effective business development strategies. You can forget about lead generation, customer relations, organization, actual stats measurement and more.
It’s time to set and forget!
According to Litmus, the majority of companies produce somewhere between one to five emails at a time. So if most marketers send out multiple emails in a month, those weeks can add up fast.
What does this mean? Marketers spend way too much time on emails leaving less time for other important tasks.
This is where email automation comes in and helps save precious time and money that goes into thinking and typing emails.
How to leverage?
Most companies now have successfully automated their lead generation sequence to a point where they can generate leads on an unbelievable scale without devoting much time to the process.
Instead, they use their human resources in tasks that software or AI can’t perform just yet.
Even if you are just starting off, I would suggest you invest in a software that does not only automate lead generation but can also give you useful stats on lead behavioural patterns.
With growth, you will be spending more and more time
Zapier is an app that helps you integrate your client relations and sales.
How To leverage?
Client relationship management is quintessential in today’s age to keep all the leads warm. But it is a tedious process nonetheless.
Now, with Zapier you could integrate every sale with your email sequencing and with every sale, an email will be sent out with the message that best suits your requirements.
Marketing analytics is the backbone to formulate alternative strategies for any business. But with all the variables and data, it becomes a tedious and time consuming job.
Whether a business is succeeding or failing, it is always essential to take corrective measures to boost your success of mitigating your loss based on your actuals.
This is a crucial step in any marketing strategy. But why keep continuously checking the stats to stay updated?
How to leverage?
Having software like hubspot to take care of your marketing analytics lets you concentrate your attention on other pivotal activities while remaining careless about the actuals.
Do you spend way too much time sorting and keeping up with your email to never miss a vital mail? Most people do.
With ever alert tone (notification), I usually get distracted into thinking that I might have received an important mail from either a client or a prospect.
This hinders my workflow.
Sometimes when I am in the zone and onto something, a notification can disrupt my entire concentration.
How to leverage?
Not only that, I have a filter for my team, friends, different projects, leads and many more.
Welcome emails, thank you emails and even reminder emails can all be automated.
Statistics say that any lead or prospect is the most active and likely to respond to your messages within the first two days of interaction with you or your business.
Missing out on this is an opportunity cost lost.
How to leverage?
Whether you have a new subscriber or a sale, there is always room to upsell or even promote your brand for making a loyal fan base in the future.
An autoresponder sends out emails that would have otherwise taken much time and also there is no room for missing out on any lead.
If you are a big firm, with a lot of workload and tonnes of inbound data, you’re going to spend a lot of time managing the overlapping project.
For this reason, it’s important to leverage agile project management tools to automate and organize intensive management in a simple and easy manner.
Why? Because it’s a much better alternative than having to use your team’s valuable resources.
These tools are generally a one stop shop for all your marketing related needs. You do not have to purchase different tools or even hire people to handle one great task “Your complete marketing needs”.
Lastly, I would like to bring to your attention that content forms the basis of all automation. You would not want your prospects to feel like they are only dealing with a machine.
No one wants to sit and compile stats and information and then make sure they are presented clearly. This process can be automated and it should be as well.
Automated analytics, customer relations, and organization can help ensure that you don’t make an expensive mistake.
Have something else on your mind that can be automated? Don’t keep it to yourself. Let me know how you automated a marketing activity and how has it helped you?
Share and care. Comment below and let us know if you have any alternative options to the tools and guides in this article.
Charities are starting to innovate digitally. Innovation teams are spluttering into life, and some charities are building new digital products and services that will reach new audiences, create new potential income streams and increase their impact. But it’s slow, hard going. Why is this?
Do charities have the desire, the imagination? Do they have the vision at board level? Is risk-aversion the big blocker? Do funding models stymie innovation? Or do previous failed attempts mean they’re once burned, twice shy? Frankly, do they have the guts?
All of the above and more is probably the answer. But, here, I’ll focus on overcoming the barriers to charities adapting the type of modern, agile product development process that drives digital product innovation from the civil service to Silicon Valley.
Let’s kick this off with money. In charities, procurement teams and budget holders like to know what they’re buying. They like big specs, clear outcomes and fixed costs. They’re less keen on Minimum Viable Products (MVPs), iterative development, testing learning and pivoting – uncertainty. Unfortunately, that difficult stuff is at the heart of agile project development.
If you aren’t ready to totally change the way you procure, a starting point is to break projects into small, affordable chunks. Assuming you are working with an agency partner: start with an innovation workshop; if that works take an idea forward in a ‘design sprint’ (roughly £15k to £25k); iterate on it; run story mapping to build a roadmap. Make each stage a micro-tollgate like a mini government service standards assessment. This way projects actually get started so they can gather momentum, and they ‘fail fast’ if they aren’t worth pursuing.
An example of this in practice is MQ Mental Health who are building a new product to engage the public in mental health research. MQ leveraged the prototype we built with them in a design sprint – to attract funding to build an MVP. MQ have funded this whole product development one step at a time, using the quality outputs of each phase to help engage the funders of the next. This can be slow, but at least it’s moving.
Be creative with the process too. We recently ran a Design Sprint with Sue Ryder (who are building a new in-browser video service to provide bereavement counselling and support ) with a ‘money back guarantee ’ – if they weren’t completely satisfied with the design sprint, they wouldn’t pay a penny. This gave the procurement team the confidence to sign off the initial phases of the project, while both teams got stuck into it with extra enthusiasm.
Creating a product culture in the charity space is tough. There’s not much experience about, yet experience is a really valuable component. We believe that the critical piece of the puzzle, is an engaged, skilled, empowered, client-side product manager. A good product manager keeps development aligned to business objectives and holds delivery teams to account, whether internal or external (this is particularly important when working ‘agile-ly’.)
This may all sound challenging for most charities – accepting more risk, changing funding and procurement models, developing an effective product culture – so let’s make it simple.
Here is a formula that might help you kick start innovation in your organisation:
Finally, try to remember agile projects can (and do) fail. Particularly, if you don’t have the right processes, people and culture in place. And failure is scary in the charity sector; especially if it threatens your public image. Nevertheless, ‘fixed scope’ innovation is an oxymoron. Leaders need to be brave enough to be prepared to fail.
Well-run product development processes, as outlined above, fail early, which helps. Something that doesn’t help is annual budgets. Ben Holt said in his valedictory post about the Disruptive Innovation Lab at Cancer Research UK, “disruptive ideas need to impact strategy with an eye on the future, not the annual planning cycle” and that is something we should all try to keep in mind.
Innovation products need a new, flexible ‘as and when’ funding approach, one where funding is aligned to goals or outcomes, rather than ‘project scope’ and that is something the sector will have to keep working towards.
Torchbox run a free Charity Digital Innovation Series of breakfast events. Here you can see the details and video of their last one, for Heads and Directors of Digital – where the discussions were on this same topic of challenges and success of Digital Innovation. Keep up to date on all Torchbox events on Twitter.
This article first appeared in Charity Comms.
*This event is now SOLD OUT. Please add your name to the waitlist and we’ll confirm if a ticket becomes available*
Humans are innately illogical, and make unconscious decisions based largely on our emotions. Yet when confronted with a business or personal challenge, we have become obsessed with absolute logic, rationality, algorithms and data, and it’s threatening to stunt us: politically, socially and economically. What if there were an alternative to logic and rationality –a ‘psycho-logic’–that was far more pervasive and powerful than we realise, and when employed correctly, creates the kind of magic (or alchemy) most businesses or economists can only dream of?
Join us for a keynote with Rory Sutherland, the legendary Ogilvy Vice Chairman, the ‘Don Draper of the UK’, and one of our most acclaimed behavioural economists, who will share insights into his book ‘Alchemy – The Surprising Power of Ideas that don’t make Sense.’
Sutherland will use real case studies from his work and research with the world’s biggest brands and influencers, to reveal how we must learn to identify and understand the basics of ‘psycho-logic’, to get ahead in the modern world.
This keynote takes place between 12.30 – 14.00 on Tuesday 28th January at Foot Anstey, 2 Glass Wharf, Bristol BS2 0FR.
Tickets are 45+VAT for Bristol Media members (£60+VAT for non-members), a limited number are available to Bristol Media Freelance Members for £25+VAT.
Tickets include a buffet lunch and a copy of Rory’s book ‘Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas that don’t make Sense’ to take away.
Rory is the Vice Chairman of Ogilvy, an attractively vague job title which has allowed him to co-found a behavioural science practice within the agency.
He works with a consulting practice of psychology graduates who look for ‘unseen opportunities’ in consumer behaviour – these are the very small contextual changes which can have enormous effects on the decisions people make. It is a hugely valuable activity – but, alas, not particularly lucrative. This is because clients generally do not have budgets for solving problems they have not noticed.
Before founding Ogilvy Change, Rory was a copywriter and creative director at Ogilvy for over 20 years, having joined as a graduate trainee in 1988. He has variously been President of the IPA, Chair of the Judges for the Direct Jury at Cannes, and has spoken at TED Global. He writes regular columns for the Spectator, Market Leader and Impact, and also occasional pieces for Wired. He is the author of two books: The Wiki Man, available on Amazon at prices between £1.96 and £2,345.54, depending on whether the algorithm is having a bad day, and Alchemy, The Surprising Power of Ideas that don’t make Sense, published in the UK and US in March 2019.
Check out more Bristol Media events on the What’s On pages
Sometimes I feel like I’m still a newbie and only left my part-time job in retail a few months ago, but the reality is I’ve actually been a Junior Content Producer Apprentice with Bristol Media and AMBITIOUS PR for over a year now!
Since the last time I checked in, things have really taken off. Social Media Week Bristol 2019 has come and gone (read about my life on the digital squad in my blog), I’ve met and featured 5 (soon to be 6) Bristol Media members, and have worked alongside both teams on some really exciting projects. Not to mention that I’ve also been busy at College experimenting with VR and learning about video production.
With my apprenticeship coming to an end and the new year about to begin, it’s the perfect time to reflect on my experience and think about the future. Here are three things I’ve learnt during my time as an apprentice…
Something I struggled with at the beginning of my apprenticeship (and still a bit now) is confidence in myself and my work. Some great advice a colleague gave me is to not doubt myself because of my age or absence in experience. Because when I walk into a meeting or event, no one knows those things, and I can use that to my advantage. What’s the worst that can happen if I approach someone to network at an event? Or offer my input during a collaborative meeting? I’ve realised that people are actually interested in hearing what I have to say and it’s really great to know that.
When I say communication, I mean ALL communications. Whether it be as simple as answering the office phone or communicating brand values, I’m sure my colleagues can vouch for me when I say that since I first started back in November 2018, my internal and external comms have significantly matured. I guess spending 2 days a week at a comms agency will do that to you…
Of course, my apprenticeship has proven challenging at times. I have been thrown into the deep end on a few occasions. Naturally, I like to stick to familiar tasks, things I know that I can do well, but when in a sink or swim position I can either wait for someone else to save me or jump right in. Ultimately I know that I’ll impress my team a lot more if I try and give it my best go. On one occasion I made a video for a client that I really wasn’t confident about doing, but once I’d got past the stress and panic it turned out great.
One year on, I know that I made the right decision choosing to go down the apprenticeship route with Cirencester College. I am super pleased to have finished my exams with a Distinction overall and a job offer from AMBITIOUS PR as Junior Content Executive!
Cycling safety brand Indik8a has launched its first ever marketing campaign with the support of creativity consultancy Firehaus.
Lightweight and easy to use, the brand’s technology enables cyclists of all ages and ability to signal with certainty. Firehaus has been responsible for the brand strategy and launch communications, developed for use across digital channels. Production was through Hurricane and photographer Charles Emerson.
Indik8a is the latest start-up to have turned to Firehaus in recent months, taking advantage of the consultancy’s flexible and fast-track approach to developing brand ideas and communications for fledgling businesses.
Ian Bates, Founder and Creative Partner at Firehaus, said: “Entrepreneurs help fuel innovation and dynamism in the economy, so we’re pleased to have been able to help Indik8a at this vital stage of their evolution. With assets now handed over to Doug and his team, we wish the brand best of luck with its ongoing innovation both here and in global markets.”
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Events have often been considered as a “nice to have”, supplemental activity – budget dependent – to support more traditional marketing activities. But as companies battle it out to communicate in an increasingly noisy market-place, those that are embracing events are reaping the rewards.
And I’m not just talking about the experimental activations we see in town centres up and down the country (though these can be awesome!). I’m talking about companies running meet-ups, workshops and conferences as platforms to showcase what they do, develop leads and strengthen brand loyalty.
Events are unique as a marketing tool. What other medium lets your customers see, hear, touch, smell and taste (if you’re clever!) what you do? With event marketing you don’t need to hope a great photo will capture what your business does. You don’t need to commission a film to communicate how you’re different. With events you can develop a powerful shared experience that your customers will want to engage with and (when done right) will leave them with a rich understanding of your offering and a deep connection to your brand.
For an example of how to do this well, look no further than Bristol-based digital marketing agency Noisy Little Monkey. In just three years the team has developed their monthly meet-ups into the biannual Digital Gaggle conference attracting a sell-out crowd of over 200. As well as providing an unparalleled platform to demonstrate their sector leadership and brand personality the Digital Gaggle audience is full of buyers and brand advocates. What’s more – and this is the best bit – the event is cost-neutral.
Of course, you can’t just invite people to an event and expect it to pay off. The value of events comes through the communication around them, how attendees are engaged on the day, the messages they leave with and the insights gained by the organiser. Post-event, savvy businesses are then amplifying their messaging (and further increasing event ROI) by using content developed through the event activity to keep the story going across their marketing channels. None of this should be left to chance.
To learn more about the role events can play in your marketing mix register for your free place at MEET South West 2020, the region’s only conference dedicated to the event industry. As well as a presentation from the Noisy Little Monkey team, the event will also feature a programme of talks on event sustainability, VR and AI in events, event sponsorship, wellbeing and much more. The show also features an exhibition of over 60 South West event suppliers, venues and agencies.
Meet South West
31 January 2020
Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel
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Yesterday I found myself in a bit of a nightmare. I woke up to find my LinkedIN account had been hacked, and I was receiving around one message a minute from my network of clients, colleagues, friends and peers.
So what happened?
I don’t exactly know how, probably an associated mobile app, but my LinkedIN account was hacked and the platform shut me out entirely. My recovery emails and two step verification was rendered obsolete and I couldn’t use my phone number to unblock it. Perhaps the most surprising part, is that in just the few hours it took for me to find this out, hackers had managed to contact 4,723 people in my LinkedIN network and sent an agency brief attached. They opened up 75 two-way conversations which were so convincingly from me, I had to look twice to see if I’d actually written them. Unfortunately some people had shared their private email addresses and phone numbers (I urge you to never do this in an LinkedIN message anyway). I haven’t quite worked out if these conversations were initiated by an AI powered chatbot, or humans, but the security team seem to think it could be a cleverly automated machine – scary stuff!
The stark realisation that I was inadvertently sending thousands of people in my network a rather convincing message about a potential agency brief was at worst shock and awe and and at best pretty embarrassing. Not least because I run an agency, inhabit the digital world, and advise people on LinkedIN outreach programmes. But most of all because I consider myself pretty security conscious and like to think I avoid all the obvious mistakes.
When life gives you lemons
For a vast number of people our business networks are now our LinkedIN networks, an open source database if you will, that contains thousands of people I have known and worked with for over twenty years. Some who I work with regularly, others who I’ve lost regular communication with. What I realised is that this could present me with an opportunity to run some data analysis on my contacts, and potentially review how effective LinkedIN actually is as a real time networking tool.
What is interesting is the numbers. For you direct marketers out there, the hackers sent out 4,723 messages along with an attachment. Thankfully only a proportion of my connections. They did this between 11pm and 6am the following morning, which was the time I found out and managed to contact the LinkedIN security team. Out of 4,723 people, 3,919 were opened / viewed by mid-day. That’s an 83% open rate. I think this is staggering high considering most of my network are in GMT and would therefore have only had a few hours to have seen it. What’s even more interesting is that 37% of those who opened the message thought to respond to me, contact me to get involved, to check if it was legit, or simply warn me of the impending tidal wave. 19% did so via email outside of the platform which I think shows real concern and connection, and one person phoned me – which I am very touched by. One unexpected outcome is that the whole ordeal has reignited a number of connections that I hadn’t spoken to for a number of years – and am now set to meet up with again.
So what this unfortunate incident has shown me is that my LinkedIN network is a far more engaged humanised community than I had possibly thought, and although I’m fairly active on the platform, and use it mostly for recruiting agency folk and building the AgencyUK brand, I had perhaps lost sight of just how well it enables us to keep our business connections alive.
I wouldn’t wish it on anyone – but if you do get hacked it’s nice to know so many people have your back.
Is that a not so distant jingling of sleigh bells, we hear? Oh yes it is! With Christmas just around the corner, the Homies have been thinking about how they can give back – giving really is the frankincense and myrrh of life after all.
To celebrate this, Home are running a week-long series of intimate and cosy wonder-ful evening events furnishing you with not only skills, but with fabulous gifts to share with your loved ones. You can come to one, or come to all – Home would just love to share a bit of Christmas magic with you.
By booking a ticket to one of our festive workshops not only will you come away with a brand-new skill and maybe some new friends or indeed contacts, but those good feels will be fully in action. All money raised from ticket sales will go to Cancer Research – a fantastically worthy cause that’s close to so many hearts at Home and beyond.
So, don your fake beard, elf shoes or whatever takes your fancy and join Home to celebrate Christmas 2019 in serious style – read below to find out more and head to the eventbrite page to get your tickets (link below). Spaces are limited so be quick!
Monday 2nd December – Book binding with a festive twist
Everyone loves a recycled (materials) present. Tony will be wearing his chequered trousers as well as teaching you how to sew, bind and create a masterpiece of a notebook made of old wrapping paper or cards. These gorgeous stocking fillers will have your family and friends making lists like there’s no tomorrow.
Tuesday 3rd December – Perfect the perfect wreath
Be the envy of your neighborhood after learning to make your very own Christmas wreath. Qualified florists Kate and Sarah will instill you with green fingers (don’t worry, we’ll give you gloves) and you’ll get to take your unique decoration, as well as your new skills, home.
Wednesday 4th December – Master a mean mince pie
Over the past 10 years Carol has painstakingly created the ultimate mince pie recipe. Now for the first time she’s prepared to share her simple recipe and skillfully demonstrate how to make them. You will never buy another again.
Thursday 5th December – Hand letter a beautiful bauble
It’s time to add some sparkle to your Christmas with a festive workshop about all things lettering with Louise. Alliteration at its finest. Learn the basics of modern calligraphy and create the perfect baubles and gift tags.
Friday 5th December – Mingle as well as jingle!
The Grand Finale. Come and meet all your fellow workshop attendees and some of the lovely Homies. Learn how to make mulled wine, and practice drinking it, with Home’s very own secret recipe. Get in the spirit of Christmas with some Carols around our tree, conveniently with Carol (and Fiona – a professional singer!).
Get your tickets here, we can’t wait to see you! https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-week-of-christmas-wonder-at-home-tickets-80904476467
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Want more? Read the full interview to find out about Keri’s thoughts on Bristol, her work with Cancer Research UK and why she decided to take the freelance route as a social media consultant.
What’s your favourite place in Bristol/this area?
Finzels Reach, hands down. Spicer + Cole is a great place for meetings and getting in a few hours of work over a coffee (or three). And Left Handed Giant is a great place to head in the evening (they have gin and tonic on tap – blows my mind!). They also have a great event space too – lovely local agency Maya recently held an art exhibition there with local artists to raise money for mental health charities: OTR and Bristol Mind.
Finzels is becoming a real creative hub too, with BDH and Channel 4 already calling it home and a co-working space due to open next year. Exciting times!
What are you most proud of as a business?
Definitely my work with Cancer Research UK, during which I was the social media lead for its mass participation events (such as Race for Life). I focused on driving event entries, encouraging fundraising, raising awareness of cancer prevention and educating our followers on our scientists’ work. While I love working for brands, working at CRUK allowed me to truly make a difference. I was able to track how much of the money raised through events could be attributed to social media – and it ran into the hundreds of thousands during my time there.
I also worked on the #nomakeupselfie campaign, which raised £8million in just a few days. The selfie challenge wasn’t actually planned – we saw it trending on Twitter and thought we’d jump on it and see what happens, and it just flew. A great example of being in the right place at the right time and capitalising on it.
What gadget could you not live without?
I couldn’t live without my phone (not a massive shock, coming from a social media consultant!). My favourite app is Twitter, I feel like it’s the only social platform that’s kept its original essence. It’s not bloated with ads, and the focus remains on the users. Of course, there are huge downsides – much needs to be done to combat trolls and bots. But it’s still the first place I turn to when something big happens. I love the drama! I’m also a big believer in curating your own social media feeds for self-care; I’ve got all sorts of words muted (‘Snowflake’ – ugh) and focus on following funny and interesting accounts.
What exciting plans have you got coming up?
Lots! I’m delivering an Instagram workshop with Bristol Media and Jess Siggers, giving a 2020 Social Media Trends talk, and I’m also excited for our next Glug Bristol event. We’re focusing on creativity for good, with talks from Ben Akers, Epoch and The Bard Collective, with all proceeds from the event donated to Caring in Bristol.
Whose work do you admire and why?
I want to give a massive shout out to Joyann Boyce for the work she’s doing to raise awareness of diversity in the industry. We need to make some big changes – and I’d fully encourage you to get in touch with her to start that discussion.
Also big up Tiny Giant for its brilliant AI experiments, McCann for its backwards poems campaign for domestic abuse charity Refuge, and Rubber Republic for its hilarious videos.
What encouraged you to go freelance when you first started out?
I’d always thought about going freelance; the freedom of being able to choose who I worked for, and when and where I worked were always attractive. But taking the jump was always a bit too scary; it was safer to stay employed. But then, at the end of 2017, I was made redundant – so I didn’t have much choice! I figured that I’d try freelancing out and see how it went, and two years later, I’m still going.
It’s definitely a challenge, but I’ve learnt a LOT. I’ve also been able to diversify. In my previous role, I managed the social media delivery team – so most of my focus was on creative strategy, client services and line management. Since going freelance, I’ve expanded my services into training, workshops and public talks, as well as offering general consultancy. And because I manage my time, I’ve also been able to carve out invaluable space to explore other projects, such as launching Glug Bristol. I never thought I’d run events, but here we are – 12 Glugs later!
Keen to feature your business? If you’d like to be part of our Featured Member series, get in touch for more information.
Digitally-centred marketing, shopper & sales promotion agency, Activation, has announced that it has appointed Claire Moyne as Client Services Director. Previously the Managing Director at Bristol-based Edo, a digital customer experience consultancy, Claire has joined to support Activation with it’s ambitious growth plans, leading and developing client relationships whilst heading the client services function within the agency as a member of the senior management team.
With 23% growth last year, and following a number of recent wins, Activation has a number of exciting brands on its books, and leading these relationships will be an area of focus for Claire. The agency also launched it’s reworked proposition in the summer, with a uniquely differentiated offering in digitally-centred brand, shopper and promotional marketing. This proposition is generating interest in the grocery sector, leading to a growing new business pipeline.
Matt Ramsay, MD of Activation comments – Claire brings with her a unique mix of skills with her experience in leadership, digital, customer and client experience and grocery brand promotions – we know Claire will be an asset to the business and we’re really looking forward to working together and introducing her to our clients, where her abilities will help us grow and improve our overall business. I’m delighted to welcome Claire to the A-Team
With this role, the agency has also embraced flexible working, with Claire also working the role around her recent purchase of a coffee shop in Bristol!
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