Marketing Eye

Expert Marketing Blog - Page 65

I am mad. Very mad. In case anyone has forgotten, it is 2014 and people are still senselessly killing others. Terrorists not only exist, but take the lives of our loved one's who innocently fall victim just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Thursday 17th July, 2014, will go down as the day that it stopped being another terrorist attack and started being something that every person became responsible for. A human life is valuable whether they are young or old, man or child - it all means the same. That person deserves the right to live in a safe world, not scared to walk out on their doorstep, or take a flight.

The plane had not sent a distress signal. It reportedly came apart at a cruising altitude of 33,000 feet, with its wreckage landing in territory held by pro-Russian insurgents who have been fighting the central government in Kiev.
Read more about: Flight MH17 - All lines have been crossed in this crime against humanity
Last month I sent a team member to a two-day class to learn about "The Project Success Method".

As a company, we handle many projects, all at the one time, for multiple clients across multiple offices. Ensuring that everything runs as smoothly as possible is critical. 

I had read quite a bit about Clinton Padgett and his proven Project Success Method. What prompted me to take action was the fact that our company is growing exponentially and we have so many international projects on that unless our people are equipped to run these projects, something will fail. Most importantly is that qualified people train the project leaders, who then in turn work with their teams to train them.
Read more about: 5 Ways you can have a stress free project delivered on-time, every time.
The lines blurred sometime in the last 10 years, but I don't know exactly when it happened.

Having started my first business at 25 years of age, specializing in technology marketing, I thought I had it all. A marketer who understood technology marketing and who could talk the talk which at that time seemed to be, the height of the dot com boom, the most lucrative marketing position one could hold.

Then of course, someone came along and started talking about company culture, and marketers took a turn to start embellishing the on-boarding process of new recruits, with a mixture of "people marketing" with "technology marketing" - and for a time, that was all the rage. It seemed to be the only thing people were talking about and marketers starting play a role in human resources, giving recruiters and in-house HR managers the tools to "sell their brands" like they were a front line sales executive needing to close the deal in order to reach their quotas.
Read more about: Appoint a Chief Marketing Technology Officer or fail
The next 12-months is going to be incredibly different for people who work at Marketing Eye. After years of working hard at establishing a product and service that is unsurpassed by industry standards, driven by technology, systems and processes, we are now working tirelessly on how to build the right culture going forward.

There have been many hit and misses and lots of unnecessary frustration, but finally I think as a team we have hit the nail on the head and I am about to test it to the enth degree.

Flat Organizational Structure

Weaning employees off hierarchy-driven decision making has been a test of both patience and perseverance. Gen-Y's have been told that they need leadership in order to be successful, yet some of the most successful companies in the world, like Google, are saying quite the opposite. Their investment in a flat organizational structure has not only shown dividends on the balance sheet, but it has created a workplace and culture that the world-over admires and respects.
Read more about: Why your marketing agency needs a flat organizational structure
Recently, a client shared a sage piece of marketing advice, he said “If you have just $100 left in your advertising budget, your best investment is to use it to travel and share your story with your market face-to-face”. Today Marketing Eye put this advice to the test, with great success for one of our clients – Papa Gusto.

Marketing plans do not have to be intricate to be effective, nor do they to be supported by exorbitant budgets.  We keep it simple and achieve results.  
Read more about: Outside of the box: our $7 PR campaign
Everyone at some time in their lives has felt that their world has curved in. Things become heavy, dark and almost impossible to keep afloat - but there is light at the end of the tunnel, if only we all can see it.

It's how we handle these experiences of difficulties that show our real character and ability to be resilient in the face of adversity now and in the future.

Read more about: That which does not kill us makes us stronger
The Wolf of Wall Street was in many people's opinions a celebration of the bad life - drugs, sex, expensive toys, opulent homes and super expensive suits.

As we watched on as Leonardo DiCaprio spruiked, "The way I look at it, their money was better off in my pocket," many of us couldn't believe that world existed quite like that. But it does. And it's right here on our doorstep too.

Read more about: The Wolf Is Dangerous
I had to laugh when I came into work today and found these three balloons. It's so true that in a consulting company, if clients are happy, employees are happy and the end result is "boss is happy".

But it is a tough gig and anyone who says otherwise must know something that I certainly do not know.

Today, I have an amazing team of people. They are bright, energetic, young, vibrant, thought-leaders. That's right... thought-leaders. They are not just sitting there doing their jobs, but instead they are thinking about what's next for our clients and how can they help grow Marketing Eye in new, exciting directions while fulfilling their own career goals.
Read more about: Happy clients = Happy Employees = Happy Boss
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:

1. If you want to change the world, start off by making your own bed. This makes perfect sense to me as once you have completed this task, it is easier to complete others. It also signifies that its the little things that we all have to do in our lives that at times we may see as pointless, that are instrumental in helping us achieve our goals.

2. If you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle. You cannot do it by yourself no matter how good you think you are. Working as a team can help you accomplish things more quickly and effectively, keeping employees accountable to each other and increasing motivation to achieve the end goal.

3. If you want to change the world, don't be afraid of circuses. This means that you should not be afraid of failing and the repercussion of that. There will be times where you fail and as McRaven says, it will be painful, discouraging and will test you to your core. The ability to get through this and know that not only have you come through to the other end, but there will be more circuses in the future, will make you stronger and more determined to succeed.

4. If you want to change the world, don't ever, ever ring the bell. Giving up means you won't have to have any more circuses and it will give you immediate relief from the pain or challenges you may be facing, but if you do this, you will have the same situation pop up over and over again in life and you will do the same thing - ring the bell. It is impossible to succeed if you keep ringing the bell.







Read more about: What employees can learn from a Navy Seal
Start-ups by their very nature are exactly that; just a start. The journey to building a successful business is often equal parts energizing and anxiety-inducing. The creator of Little Sale Birdy Laszlo Szabo shares his experience of operating a successful start-up and reveals the hard truths that he learned in his first year (that they won’t teach you at marketing or business school).
Read more about: 7 lessons you learn in your start-ups first year
Who would have thought that a blog titled "Why married women are more successful" would receive 47,284 views in less than 24 hours, 525 likes, 550 comments, 467 Facebook likes, 2,371 shares on LinkedIn and 74 retweets on Twitter? I did. And that's exactly why I wrote it.

I am a new author on LinkedIn and I know a thing or two about blogging and going viral. If I just write about marketing, at most, I will get between 1,000 and 10,000 views over a week. If I write about something personal - more. But if I write about something that people have strong opinions on or that hits a raw nerve - the sky is literally the limit.
Read more about: How to get 47,284 views of your blog in less than 24 hours
Meet Ronan Farrow; the son of actress Mia Farrow and filmmaker Woody Allen. He’s also a journalist, lawyer and former U.S. government advisor. In his position many would have submitted to nepotism and explored the bright lights of Hollywood, but not Farrow, the 26-year-old is busy using his business acumen and social capital to change the world around us.

Ronan Farrow is a Social Entrepreneur, the hungry breed of Generation Y philanthropists. They are a group of marketing and tech-savvy movers and shakers (typically, PR pros) that find innovative solutions to solve the world’s most pressing social problems, and Farrow is just one of them leading the way. Here’s a look at four other social entrepreneurs shaping the way we look at business, and its ability to shape our future for the better:
Read more about: 5 Social Entrepreneurs you have to meet
Let’s be honest.  Generally, businesses in general are happy to celebrate their wins, and sweep their losses under the rug.  We drink champagne when our marketing strategies work, and suck lemons when they don’t.  But the minute we stop running from our failures, we can stop and examine them to find solutions and refine our approach. 
Socialmediabomb

Not every marketing campaign comes to fruition; sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.  Let’s get very honest and face the five possible reasons yours flopped:
Read more about: 6 Reasons Why Your Marketing Campaign Bombed