The role of the marketer has changed. From the pre-digital days to modern times, this shift has left the marketers’ without the ability to be versatile behind. Historically, marketing campaigns only consisted of a few channels. Now, with the rise of technology, there’s the internet, mobile phones, social media channels and smartphone apps. All of which are instrumental to a successful campaign. Recognising this transition and moving with it, is paramount to the success of a marketer. 

Within the next few years, the marketing industry will change so drastically because of robotic technology that all marketers will be learning to do their jobs a new way. Unfortunately for the companies that don't progress with the innovation and continue selling the same old marketing skill, they set will no longer be able to keep their doors open. 

Wouldn’t it be nice to live in a world of endless PTO, stunning vacation destinations, and perfect work-life balance? Unfortunately for most small business or startups, this is the stuff of dreams. They are often more focused on “surviving” than “thriving”. 

When the focus is on “surviving”, the more creative aspects of a business such as content marketing can be stifled. Keeping up with emerging technologies and societal trends and consistently meeting the customer’s ever-changing needs is exhausting. To make it a little easier, we broke it down for you. 

There really is nothing like travelling to broaden your horizons and open your eyes a little more. So why do we believe every marketer need to take the time to travel once in their career?

“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Have you completed your businesses marketing strategy for 2017/18? If you want to hit and execute your sales goals for the coming year then you might want to take action now. 

If you have left it until now to write your 2017/18 marketing strategy, then you are really hitting a fine line, because there is a lot to be done before executing a powerful, deliberate marketing campaign in July that will see your company hit sales targets, connect with customers and accelerate your potential in the marketing for the year to come.

'No matter how busy you are, you always have time to make a difference.' 

I'm so busy right now. I am working very long hours and am in the office each morning before the sun rises. Not that I want to complain. I am doing something that I an incredibly passionate about and every single part of my business is going ballistic, so it's "time" to take it all the way.

When things go a big 'crazy' I call in the experts - my mentors. I ask them what they think about what I am doing and whether or not they think it will be successful. It's like having an educated bouncing board that have been there and done that.

There is one thing that employees can learn from a Navy Seal that will be life changing - and that is to make your bed every morning to perfection. By completing this task, according to Navy Admiral William H. McRaven, who gave a talk to 8000 graduating students from the University of Texas last month, you would have completed the first task of the day.

I watched the video of his speech that clocked up 1.7 million views in 2 weeks on YouTube a few weeks ago and was inspired.

Of his 10 Life Lessons From A Navy Seal, here are 4 that resonated most with me:

JWT in Atlanta hosted their second CLEVER : Ideas made kinetic breakfast seminar this week with leading mobile marketing expert, Brent Hieggelke of Urban Airship as keynote speaker.

The presentation on "How 10 Brand Leaders Are Redefining Their Customer Relationships" talked to the crowd of about 30 or 40 people on how important it is for marketers to take mobile marketing seriously.

According to the invite;

"Mobile now sets the bar for brand relevancy, and Urban Airship is leading the shift from interruption-based marketing strategies to personalized, invitation-geared messaging."

Brent Hieggelke, a man that clearly knows what he is talking about, pulls from years of research done by his firm on best-practices for employing digital wallets, apps, location data, and targeted customer insight to drive meaningful, and profitable, brand engagement. 

"Top power brands aren't just building consumer connections, they're redefining the context."

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If you think about it, as Hieggelke says, your customers are spending 80% of their time on mobiles or smart tablets and they love apps. As much as consumers download apps, their attention spans are short, so its highly likely that after 30 days, they will delete it and be onto the next best thing, namely because smart phones have limited real estate.

What apps allows B2C marketers to do is forge a direct relationship with the consumer and understand them at a level that has never been available to do so before. By downloading an app, customers are giving you permission to access data on them so that you can tailor your message to the end-user and ensure that you are one-to-one marketing at every touch point.

Hieggelke gave 5 key points at the presentation as to what to consider when using mobile marketing. Here are 3 of them:

1.  Create a real utility for the customer. For example; news 
2.  Location is the the mobile game changer - you can now do push notifications based on what location the consumer is at, enticing them to buy or experience things in close proximity.
3.  Not every push deserves a shove. Sometimes a push notification can be taken the wrong way by a consumer and the damage of that is that within seconds, your "shove" may mean that you go viral on twitter or other social media platforms.

Mobile is a marketing mind shift and its notable that cuotmers love their mobile devices and use every available minute to look at them. How often have you been out of drinks with friends to find that the conversation has stalled because everyone is checking their mobile phones or that while you are waiting for the restroom, instead of just standing in line, you are quickly checking your messages or getting an update on the news?

So, developing a mobile app strategy is no longer something that "others" do, but a marketing platform that every business whether you are B2B or B2C needs to think seriously about.

To prepare for the mobile mind shift, your mobile strategy needs to evolve and it must centralize around the consumer and what their needs, likes, wants and desires may be. 

About Ideas Tools : JWT Atlanta

CLEVER is a JWT Atlanta art, performance and insight series revolving around leading innovators, independent thinkers and creative visionaries. CLEVER is ideas made kinetic.

JWT Atlanta

Inspired by collaboration and innovation, JWT Atlanta operates an integrated suite of strategic, creative, digital, technology, media, production and analytics services. We rely on data and strategy and daily multidisciplinary collaborations to identify and quickly take advantage of opportunities for growth within our client partners; markets and categories.

A few months ago, I was walking in the park. Seagulls were flying around above me. It was a weird place for them to be as the park is situated at least 10 kilometres from the ocean.

As I looked up, I decided to capture the moment.

The seagulls flew off and I began to think...