Do you recognise these 5 Marketing Sins?

It’s that time of year again, and I’m not referring to some of us heading towards winter. We’re reviewing the results of this year's marketing efforts, rueing some decisions and celebrating others. We’re also looking to next year and asking “where do we go from here”? Dependent on this years results you're possibly busy justifying, arguing, rejoicing and, if you’re smart, we’re planning what’s next.

Are you about to screw it up?

The next three months is when, we’d suggest, you’re most likely to screw up next years marketing, and it'll be down to what you don't do. A marketing screw up will most likely be down to one or more of five dynamics - we call them The Sins. Unfortunately they tend to fall into each other and accelerate, like the proverbial plug-hole. The good news is that, it's all fixable with some…

Key ingredients of the modern marketer's portfolio

For many new graduates encountering the job market for the first time, they’re discovering a very harsh and competitive environment. In the UK, unemployment has been falling recently, but the number of long-term jobless has hit a 17-year high illustrating that competition for jobs has never be tougher for both young and experienced professionals.

However, with the explosion of social media and other digital communication channels, it’s sometimes difficult to understand why prospective employees still rely primarily on the trusty 2-page CV to promote themselves. Whilst still a very important tool, the CV often paints a very one-dimensional picture of one’s professional history, skills and achievements.

In contrast, digital channels such as websites, blogs, podcasts and social networks can be used to build up a much deeper, more fluid representation of one’s interests, passions and professional experience. When we look at what these channels…

Which trends are on your Radar? Which new techniques are you using now?

Adopting the latest marketing technologies and techniques before competitors has always given options for companies to get an edge. 2013 has been no exception, we have reported on many new innovations across all the main digital services in our weekly and monthly updates. Now I'm thinking through which of these will be significant enough to become mainstream trends in marketing practice in 2014. I'm writing this short post to get feedback on which new marketing techniques or digital technologies you are investing in now which you weren't a year ago and which you see as significant in the year ahead. Please add to the comments or use the short hashtag #marketingtrends2014 plus your suggestions for the tools or techniques which you see as significant for you or your business in 2014 and explain why. I'm deliberately not mentioning any specific…

Recommendations on time management platforms for marketing agencies or in-house marketing teams

In another post I reviewed alternative agency costing models and suggested how simple budgets and quotes for marketing projects can be prepared using a spreadsheet. Larger agencies will require more features to manage multiple quotes and to relate proposals back to live projects. I’m often asked about the project proposal and time recording systems I recommend, so in this post I give some of the main contenders that are most widely used.

If you haven’t already done so, you should consider cost (and job management) platforms. Spreadsheets are useful (especially when starting out), but job management platforms are worth investigating for cross-­agency collaboration on both estimate creation and ongoing time / resource management. Supporting the agency’s profitability endeavours by providing easily accessed and accurate reporting.

Time-recording features

Time recording is seen as a huge pain for most agency staff. But are…

Using the Agile process to achieve results faster and reduce development time

While the concept of Agile (Yes, with a capital 'A'), may have started out as a software development technique, the concept has now spread across other areas of business and product development. Businesses are also successfully using the Agile process in marketing, product development and even creative projects. One of the best simple examples of a company using the Agile process successfully is Oreo. Their 'You can still dunk in the dark' Tweet during the Super Bowl outage has become the stuff of legend. It could only have happened with a team put together using the Agile approach.

What is the Agile approach, anyway?

The overall aim of the Agile approach is to produce a functional product in a short time. Traditionally, the client sees the product only when it’s ready. In the Agile approach, the client is…

Sharing ideas on managing a remote team using social media

While it might be true that in some cases absence makes the heart grow fonder, this is not necessarily so in the workplace. Fortunately, modern technology and a little bit of extra effort and creativity can help overcome the difficulties of building relationships between team members and colleagues.

Source: Image: Bingmanson / Flickr

Out of sight, out of mind..? As someone who has worked and lived in several countries, I am used to working with people from different cultural backgrounds who speak different languages. However in my current position I have the additional challenge of managing a team which is split between two countries: half of my team are at our Head Office…

If social networks are your online resume, how do you stand out?

Recruiters are now scouring social media sites to either head-hunt candidates and/or to check credentials, and candidates are actively searching for roles, uploading CVs - some without realising that their LinkedIn profile is their on-line resume!.

Earlier on in the year, we interviewed top recruiters who reinforced this view and provided tips for companies looking to recruit the right digital staff online following it through to interview questions.

Reed Global have released an infographic, sourcing information from sites including Reed Employment and the Guardian, to provide the top ten tips on how a candidate can use social media to improve their job search, including savvy ways to produce a CV - ever considered creating an Infographic?

If you are an active user of LinkedIn, we produced a …

Changing your mindset to make yourself more valuable

Back in 2012, I wrote a blog post,  Time to create your own future, it referred to the gradual cultural change facing our global economy, in part due to the recent global recession but also moving away from the Industrial era and moving towards a more globally connected economy. It questioned how many more of us are beginning to change our working culture, how more of us are taking charge of our own destiny, or, even working for organisations, how you can change your mindset to make yourself more indispensable?.

Godin's reference to PERL

In the book Linchpin '"How to drive your career and create a remarkable future", Godin refers to a system used by corporations synonymous within the industrial era and a system that still…

Suggestions needed for good interview style questions for a Digital Marketing Assistant position?

This was the question recently asked by David Pool in our Smartinsights Answers forum.

We had some great responses from members, both on the forum and in our LinkedIn group too. Since so many valuable tips were shared, we thought it would be useful to summarise the tips from the contributors on recruiting the right candidates with the right skills, and ensuring they can ' talk and deliver'.

If recruiting for digital marketing, or landing a role is relevant for you, you may also find our Guide on Recruitment for Digital Marketing useful. This highlights the team structures, roles, responsibilities along with additional interview techniques from recruiters.

Our summary of the interview questions

I have grouped the…

The One Infographic About the Digital Revolution You Need to Understand

I really like this infographic, it reveals why marketing is so much more complicated than only 5 years ago, in one fantastic visual. The implications for managing marketing are well worth checking out - it has a commentary by David Edelman of McKinsey on his LinkedIn blog. …