4 behaviours that set top-performing marketers apart
Earlier this year the Harvard Business Review published a research paper that set out the top behaviours of the most successful CEOs. With many business leaders failing in their roles (from 2000 to 2013 25% of the Fortune 500 chief executives who left their firms were forced out) the authors conducted a study based on research conducted over 10 years with a database of 17,000 C-suite executives - including more than 2,000 CEOs - which covers all major industry sectors and a full range of company sizes.
It’s a fascinating article based on some really interesting research, revealing that one of the major reasons for CEO failure is that there’s a disconnect between what boards of directors think makes for an ideal CEO and what actually leads to high performance.
After reading the article it occurred to me that many of the problems, causes and behaviours…
Chart of the Day: Smart digital home assistants are the fastest-growing consumer tech with shipments to surpass 50 million in 2018
With many individuals and families starting 2018 with a new personal digital home assistant in their lives, this research highlights the likely future popularity of these new devices:
The research shows that in 2017, the Amazon Echo devices were the most popular, but with Google Home devices already accounting for around a quarter of sales; an impressive start since they weren't available throughout the year.
The prediction considers all the available options from the more established Amazon Echo variants, Google Home assistants, plus Apple's anticipated Home Pod and the Microsoft phone. Although the report is titled 'smart speakers' this is a bit of misnomer since Amazon recently released the Amazon Echo Show which still has speakers true, but is an Echo with…
Chart of the day: Female Instagrammers are about 30% more likely to be interested in beauty products
Instagram has increasingly become one of the key platforms for interactions and engagement. Due to its visual nature, Instagram has become a popular platform for the beauty industry. These beauty brands are now using micro-influencers to expand their organic reach.
According to Global Web Index compared to the average female internet user, female Instagrammers are about 30% more likely to be interested in beauty products. Over a quarter of these Instagrammers have followed a new brand/company in the last month or visited a brand’s Instagram page.
According to one source brands on Instagram can organically reach 100% of their followers per post, while brands on Facebook typically only reach 2% of their followers. This means Instagram also has the highest conversion rate from browser to shopper of any social network. If you are in the beauty…
4 areas where leaders can effectively manage the chaos
Project managers are faced with an ever-changing landscape of new technology, media outlets, and remote workforces.
Some people end up in very static careers. They do the exact same tasks for 30 years, because the job itself barely changes. For better or worse, project managers don’t fall into that group of professionals.
Project managers face constant changes that they must respond to. The nature of their job, technology they use and compliance requirements can change on any given day with little notice.
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A lot of major changes have shaken the career in 2017. Here are some of the biggest things project managers must prepare for in 2018 and beyond.
Agile management is expanding into new fields
Agile management has been the cornerstone of…
Acquiring an existing website is much less work than creating one from scratch; how can marketing managers ensure their success online?
Web businesses are certainly an attractive proposition for business owners and marketing managers looking to take on a new brand. One thing’s for sure – it’s much easier to acquire a website than it is to purchase a traditional business, what with staff, leases, and so on. When you buy a website that already has a name for itself, perhaps even a following, the effort required to publicize it comes right down.
Find a website that already has some strong backlinks, traffic, and a popular niche, and you’ll be well on your way to running a lucrative business which, with a smart marketing strategy, will draw in customers and earn money in far less time than a brand new website.
First things first: what customers are looking for
When you’re scouting for a…
Cheap isn’t necessarily bad
The word cheap can have bad connotations - as in, poorly made, or won’t last for long. This may be true for many products. But when it comes to services, cheap can be good, because it forces you to wring the maximum value out of a modest research investment. Thankfully, in the case of customer insights, you don’t have to spend much to get the customer feedback you need.
In fact, assuming that your website gets a significant amount of traffic (more than 100K visitors per month), you can collect a critical mass of feedback - from which you can glean key initial customer insights - for less than $1000. In this post I share how you or an analysis-capable colleague can make this happen.
I’ll start by discussing the automated feedback side. Then I’ll cover the human feedback channels you can tap…
Referral marketing is a great way to harness the love that customers have for your brand and in turn drive new customer acquisition
Research consistently shows that consumers are most likely to listen to recommendations from friends and family than traditional advertising channels.
Of course, for someone to refer your product, it needs to be something they love and believe their friends will love too. Nobody wants to put their name behind something that might damage their reputation.
Whilst a quality product or service means that refer-a-friend can drive new sales, there are some elements which can take referral to another level.
So, what are the secrets of highly referable brands?
1. Unique
Disruptor brands typically identify a pain point for customers and seek to remedy it with a unique solution. These brands tend to extremely referable. Not only are they solving an issue with a great customer experience, people love to share something they feel…
How to integrate digital media and technology to increase the contribution of digital marketing
Please see our latest 2019 marketing trends posts for our most recent insights.
I feel fortunate to have followed some of the amazing major changes in digital marketing and technology over the last 15 or 20 years. I'm sure you will have enjoyed living through, following and acting on these changes too. Looking back, we've seen a phenomenal growth in the importance of organic, then paid search, then social media and more recently, incredible worldwide growth in mobile and particularly smartphone usage.
As well as this article, to help Smart Insights members, we also have a more detailed free download of the marketing megatrends, which are 9 digital marketing and martech megatrends that will help give you an edge in 2017.
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Chart of the day: Most marketers are running 1-2 Conversion Rate Optimization tests, such as AB testing, every month.
It's worth noting though that around 7% also run 20 or more tests, the majority run no more than 4 tests per month.
It's no doubt testing is hugely important to marketers, I don't see to sell anyone the benefit of AB testing or Multivariate testing, but for those who'd like to know the difference, I've summarised below.
I've taken the following definitions from Dr David Travis who is a UX consultant, has produced a very popular UX course on Udemy and has a Psychology PhD. The definitions are from his Udemy course.
AB testing - a comparison of two designs, tested with live users and a large number of users. You can run tests until you have a "winner" for example, one which outperforms the other one statistically
Multivariate testing - where there…
Chart of the day: Data management and marketing technology are the most difficult digital marketing tactics to execute, according to marketers
Data management and Martech require skills, resource and training. With GDPR heading with speed towards marketers, data management is increasingly important. Marketers also realize the potential of what it can bring to their marketing plans. Benefits of increased personalization and marketing automation are becoming clearer. We know a lack of digital skills is also a problem though.
Search and social ads were the least difficult digital marketing tactics, email and social media marketing are also much more mastered by marketers than Data management, marketing technology and content marketing. SEO is in the middle as expected, as it takes a lot of work, time and patience - but many are seeing the benefits of it and have SEO strategies which are…
