Opinion | Furthr

Forget e-commerce. This is the age of e-influence

March 28, 2016

There has long been a debate about the return investment generated by brands’ social media activity.

Put simply: there were no numbers that suggested social media sold product.

One of the most amusing writers on this topic is the Ad Contrarian. Here’s a great piece about what he calls “incrementalism”, namely chasing the tiny audiences of Facebook by brands eager not to miss out.

But now, even social media boosters are admitting that social media doesn’t directly lead to conversions.

Forget E-commerce. This is the age of E-influence.

The argument goes like this: Back in 2013, one in six consumers going into stores had been touched by digital. Now it’s two in three.

The big mistake marketing managers make is sizing their digital spend to their e-commerce business.

Instead, they should size their digital spend to their overall business. That’s how important digital is to consumers.

We just can’t prove it.

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The rot is setting in at Apple already. Look for excitement elsewhere

March 24, 2016

When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 the company had lost its way with a confusing lineup of undistinguished products, Steve Wozniak recently tweeted.

Where are we now?

According to Quartz Apple now sells 55 different Apple Watch bands and watches made out of five different materials, in two sizes. (That’s not to mention the myriad Hermès and Edition versions it also sells.)

Apple sells iPads in five sizes and three colours, and has five iPhones in three sizes and four colours. It has laptops with 11, 12, 13 and 15-inch screens, some of which are available in multiple colours.

Since the smartwatch, Apple’s innovations are just Apple products in every size and shape you can think of.

Samsung reportedly makes 26 different tablets, each with different screen sizes to capture just about everyone who might possibly want a tablet.

Are Apple now playing the same game?

This year or next, Apple will almost certainly announce the following:

The iPhone 7
The Apple Watch 2
The MacBook 2
The iPad Pro 2
A new iMac
A new Mac Mini
A new Apple TV

Apple now has 1 billion active users of its products, and some are suggesting that as the company turns 40, it’s entering middle age. If Apple can keep making decent products that sell, perhaps being a boring middle-aged company will suit it just fine.

But you will need to look for excitement elsewhere.

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Get real! Programmatic is the opposite of ad creativity, whatever anyone says

March 18, 2016

Whenever you see literature advertising training about programmatic advertising, invariably it will raise – and dismiss – the concern that programmatic advertising will destroy the creativity of the ad business.

Here is an example from a major digital training company that I received today:

47% of agencies, publishers and brands believe programmatic is actually leading

to new forms of storytelling in advertising.

Of course, this could mean 53% think that creativity has nothing to do with programmatic.

Well, that mythical 53% are right. (And the 47% can believe anything they want, it won’t make it so.)

As you know, programmatic is the algorithmic approach to media buying. Its benefit is that it can read behavioural data and then predict when a customer is thinking of making a purchase. Then it can deliver an ad at just the right moment, to just the right person. That is where it’s creativity lies – in the algorithm – not the message. If it isn’t working, you make the algorithm better.

In ad agencies, creativity is used to persuade someone to buy a product. But with programmatic advertising, persuasion is not required – all you have to do is get the product under the customer’s nose. That is its great strength.

No persuasion required, no creativity required.

I don’t have a problem with that, far from it. But I don’t see any point in perpetuating a falsehood just to make everyone feel better.

Got that, 47%?

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Let’s be clear: tech does not create jobs, it destroys them

February 15, 2016

While tech companies try to maintain their status as job creators, the facts show another story.

For example, it takes six people at Facebook, eight people at Google, and 60 to 70 people at an ad agency like Publicis to generate $10 million in revenue.

Tech does not create jobs. It has the reverse effect.

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Marissa Mayer should be fired and Yahoo sold RIGHT NOW

February 11, 2016

Yahoo MUST be sold right now!

Yahoo is as unbelievable asset, one of the most trafficked sites in the world with over 5.7 billion users. It has a great reputation for news, finance and sports content.

(Full disclosure: I used to write a blog for Yahoo. It got three million uniques a month. )

Yet CEO Marissa Mayer has never found a way to make money and her governance of the company has been poor.

Let’s look at the numbers:

In November 2015, Yahoo’s market capitalization was $31.1 billion.

If you subtract Yahoo’s stake in Alibaba – which Yahoo acquired in 2005 before Mayer’s tenure began – ($28.8 billion) and their stake in Yahoo Japan ($7.9 billion) the core service that Ms Mayer is responsible for has an enterprise value of -$5.6 billion.

That’s right. According to the market, the company she presides over is worth less than zero.

Yahoo must be sold and perhaps it’s time for Ms Mayer to be let go.

But Andy, you may say, that’s a bit harsh isn’t it?

Well, her severance package is around $100m. Not bad for running a company into a market cap of -£5.6 billion.

I’m interested in a FREE content audit

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This is the real reason Apple is such an unusual brand

February 9, 2016

There are only three real kinds of businesses. Those that appeal to the head, the heart or, um, somewhere lower down.

Apple are one of the only brands who throughout their 35 year history have appealed to all three.

The company started making computers. Apple Macs were products bought by rational consumers. Like all rational products, margins were low.

When Apple started making iPods their business began to take off. Offering customers access to music, meant they had moved into a business that people loved. (Fast moving consumer goods also seek to appeal to consumers hearts too by selling their products based on feelings rather than rational benefits. SOap powder is often sold to housewives as proof they love their families and want the best for them.)

Now Apple have completed their move down the human torso by becoming a luxury brand. Luxury products, at their base, are designed to make us more attractive to the opposite sex – to make us look like a more suitable mate. Nothing now says successful genes like owning an iPhone.

Apple have completed their journey. They have moved out of the tech hardware sector – a terrible neighbourhood where profits are low – and moved into the luxury market, where consumers are irrational and, as a result, margins are sky-high.

I’m interested in a FREE content audit

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Jack Dorsey! Your plan to increase Twitter’s character limit is a disaster

January 7, 2016

Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey says his company is poised to increase the tweet character limit from 140 to as much as 10,000. Here’s his post:

Big mistake. Here’s why:

1. Brevity is the soul of wit. Shakespeare. Boom!

2. Twitter will lose its USP – now all social media will look the same and Twitter will never ever beat Facebook.

3. We will lose Twitter’s live”feeling”. Journalism is literature in a hurry and nothing is as timely as 140 characters, written on the hoof. 10,000 words is a long form snoozefest you can find anywhere.

4. You are opening the door to death by marketing messages.

5. True art LOVES limits. There is even a Lars Von Trier film about it, called The Five Obstructions.

Good luck with it, Jack. You are going to need it.

I’m interested in a Furthr social media training course.

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Social media for B2B sales is steaming ahead

January 5, 2016

Digital marketing and sales channels are significantly changing customer behaviors, yet, in a recent survey only 12% of B2B owners feel well prepared for the digital disruption.

One effective way to make a strong impression with buyers early in their search is to develop authentic, insightful content and syndicate it through relevant channels where buyers can easily consume it.

Content that speaks to customers’ pressing needs — such as speed to market, cost reduction, reliability, and reputation building — proves more influential than traditional advertising or a sales brochure that outlines features and functions.

When a software firm writes about how the evolution of the cloud will affect health care delivery, they stake out a position as a thoughtful, empathetic supplier.

Maersk Line, the world’s largest container shipping company, started experimenting with social media several years ago and now has 1.1 million followers on Facebook and large audiences on other channels including Twitter and Pinterest.

Maersk has learned to publish captains’ blogs and stories about people, environmental issues, and other topics at a fraction of the cost of advertising.

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One unvaccinated person undermines the efforts of everyone else

February 3, 2015

Herd immunity is the idea that a group (the “herd”) can avoid exposure to a disease by ensuring that enough people – between 90-95% – are immune so that no sustained chains of transmission can be established. This protects an entire population, especially those who are too young or too sick to be vaccinated. The Anti-vaxxers at Disneyland, where as many as 95 cases of measles were reported by January 28, have threatened this herd immunity. A disease once under control, is now threatening the young and the infirm once again. A little ignorance goes a long way!

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Putting the user at the heart of your content

October 16, 2014

As part of my role with the Content Marketing Association I organise and host the monthly Digital Breakfasts, writes Tim Tucker. It’s one of the highlights of my month, as I get to talk to some of the most experienced and inspirational minds in the UK’s creative industries.

This month we led on the theme of ‘User Centred Design and Content’, with presentations from:

* Jonny Kaldor, Co-Founder at Kaldor Product Development Group
* Andy Budd, Founder and Managing Director, Clearleft
* Alex Watson, Director of Product, Tablet and Apps, Dennis Publishing

What is a magazine?

Alex Watson, speaking at the CMA Digital Breakfast June 2013.

Having come from a background in magazine journalism, I’ve seen the impact that digital has has had on this industry first-hand. As Alex Watson said in his presentation, the publishing industry been forced to ask itself: ‘What is a magazine?’ and ‘What does our product do for its users?’

That’s not an easy question to answer, and will vary from title to title. In fact, as Alex showed, a magazine is many things across its lifespan – it’s an advert, some relevant content, a reference tool, a souvenir, and more.

User centred design and content

All three speakers argued that the key to providing value in digital media is to put the end user at the heart of the design process.

Andy Budd highlighted another important tenet – failure is a core part of the product development process and a pre-requisite for success (adapted from the ‘lean start-up’ movement).

In reviewing the process of launching Dennis Publishing’s The Week magazine on iPad, Andy referenced the classic architect’s mistake of designing for a fictitious user behaviour that only existed in the designers’ heads.

This is how print magazines are often developed, and publishers invariably adopt the same approach when it comes to digital launches.

For digital designers and creatives, it’s important to evaluate the product design in context. That means testing your product early enough in the process, and often enough to identify any problems.

Andy was bold enough to share some of the details of the failure of the first prototype for the Week. What’s important is that those insights informed the finished design, which went on to become a great success for the app with readers and subscribers.

Take a look at Andy’s full presentation, and check out this book for more on UX for Lean Startups.

This article originally appeared at Tim Tucker online.

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