Newsletter Archives - Page 8 of 12 - Christopher S. Penn

Almost Timely News, 24 April 2022: Set up for Success, Incrementality, Talkwalker Interview

Almost Timely News, 24 April 2022: Set up for Success, Incrementality, Talkwalker Interview (4/24) :: View in Browser

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Almost Timely News, 24 April 2022: Set up for Success, Incrementality, Talkwalker Interview

Watch this video on YouTube.

Click here for the video version of this newsletter on YouTube »

Click here for an MP3 audio only version »

What’s On My Mind: Set Up For Success

One of the cliches I’ve heard most in business, especially the last decade, is the expression “set someone up for success”. My old boss at the agency I used to work at said this about nearly every new hire, about how we all had to help set the new person up for success.

What does this actually MEAN, though? How do you set someone up for success? I asked around on social media and here were a couple of responses:

“Give them whatever resources you have… tools or knowledge… so that they’re going into the situation as prepared as possible.” – Aaron Hockley

“Give them the tools to do a good job themselves.” – Andi Robinson

While I don’t disagree that giving someone resources, tools, and knowledge is a critical part of helping them succeed, there’s a different angle we should consider.

In my martial arts class today, we were working on the opposite of setting someone up for success. Using positioning, timing, and knowledge of psychology, we performed techniques designed to set someone – an aggressor – up to fail. No matter what your antagonist does, they dig themselves into a deeper and deeper hole until victory is impossible for them.

How? By taking away their options. Position yourself on one side of their body so they’re inclined to punch a certain way, ruling out other kinds of strikes. Place your hand in a guarding position at an angle where they have to work around it, making their next move predictable. Time your defense so that each attack they throw puts them off balance and vulnerable to counterattack.

Think about it for a second. If you just stand square on in front of someone, they have limitless ways to attack you – any angle of their choosing, any target of their choosing. When you position yourself properly with distance and timing, you take away their options. You’re at the wrong distance to be kicked. You’re at a strange angle for them to jab, so they have to step through and punch or throw a cross.

By taking away their options, their choices, you set them up to fail because you know what’s probably going to happen and the fight occurs on your terms, not theirs. You lead them to the inevitable conclusion – their defeat, their inability to cause you serious harm.

So… what if we flipped that around? Instead of leading someone to failure, we lead them to success. How would we do that?

By taking away options. Instead of taking away avenues of success, we provide ONLY avenues of success. We take away the things that are likely to cause them to fail.

What would that look like? You’ve seen it already in action. If you’ve ever been at or seen a little kids’ bowling party at a bowling alley (or even not-little kids), what do bowling alleys do? They put up the rails or inflatable bumpers so that the kids cannot throw a gutter ball. You take away their ability to fail by taking away options, taking away choices.

Suppose you have a novice chef on the line. How do you help them succeed? You take away options. You focus them on one thing. Chop these carrots in quarter-inch slices on a bias using a 6-inch chef knife. To what Aaron and Andi said, you give them a decent knife, a good cutting board, and show them an example of how you want it done – but then you take away every other distraction so they only do what’s asked of them and success is as simple as possible.

Suppose you’re talking marketing analytics. When we do Google Analytics implementations for clients, a lot of the time it’s about taking options away, just doing stuff for them rather than having them do it themselves. Taking away those choices – with appropriate subject matter expertise – is how to help someone succeed by removing likely avenues of failure.

If you want to set someone up for success, what can you take away so that they only have one path to follow, one way to go – the way to success? What options can you reduce? What focus can you give them?

Perhaps setting someone up for success is just as much about what you take away as what you give. Perhaps it’s even more about what you take away so that things don’t get in the way of success.

Something to think about.

Share With a Friend or Colleague

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ICYMI: In Case You Missed it

Besides the new Search Console course I’m relentlessly promoting (sorry not sorry), I would recommend reading the piece I did on incrementality. It’s a measurement a lot of the C-suite asks for, but not many of us know how to effectively deliver.

Skill Up With Classes

These are just a few of the classes I have available over at the Trust Insights website that you can take.

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Get Back to Work!

Folks who post jobs in the free Analytics for Marketers Slack community may have those jobs shared here, too. If you’re looking for work, check out these five most recent open positions, and check out the Slack group for the comprehensive list.

Advertisement: Google Search Console for Marketers

Of the many tools in the Google Marketing Platform, none is more overlooked than Google Search Console. Marketers assume it’s just for SEO, but the information contained within benefits search, social media, public relations, advertising, and so much more. In my new Google Search Console for Marketers course, you’ll learn what Google Search Console is, why it matters to all marketers, and then dig deep into each of the features of the platform.

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Click/tap here to register – and use discount code ALMOSTTIMELY for $50 off the registration »

Thank You Notes

These are the places you’ve had or mentioned me – on your podcast, on your blog, in your newsletter. Thank you!

What I’m Reading: Your Stuff

Let’s look at the most interesting content from around the web on topics you care about, some of which you might have even written.

Social Media Marketing

Media and Content

SEO, Google, and Paid Media

Advertisement: Ukraine Humanitarian Fund

If you’d like to support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine, the National Bank of Ukraine has set up a fund specifically for relief efforts. You can donate using a Visa/Mastercard or Google Pay.

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Tools, Machine Learning, and AI

Analytics, Stats, and Data Science

Advertisement: Inbox Insights Newsletter

If you enjoy this newsletter, you’ll also enjoy Inbox Insights, the Trust Insights newsletter. Every Wednesday, get new perspectives, fresh data you won’t find anywhere else, plus a roundup of content we’ve made for the week, like our podcast and our livestream.

Here’s an example issue.

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Events I’ll Be At

Here’s where I’m speaking and attending. Say hi if you’re at an event also:

Spark.me Social Media, June 2022, Montenegro
MarTech Conference, June 2022, virtual
MAICON, August 2022, Cleveland, OH – use code PENN150 for $150 off any conference ticket
MarketingProfs B2B Forum, October 2022, Boston

Events marked with a physical location may become virtual if conditions and safety warrant it.

If you’re an event organizer, let me help your event shine. Visit my speaking page for more details.

Can’t be at an event? Stop by my private Slack group instead, Analytics for Marketers.

How to Stay in Touch

Let’s make sure we’re connected in the places it suits you best. Here’s where you can find different content:

My blog – daily videos, blog posts, and podcast episodes
My YouTube channel – daily videos, conference talks, and all things video
My company, Trust Insights – marketing analytics help
My podcast, Marketing over Coffee – weekly episodes of what’s worth noting in marketing
My second podcast, In-Ear Insights – the Trust Insights weekly podcast focused on data and analytics
On Twitter – multiple daily updates of marketing news
On LinkedIn – daily videos and news
On Instagram – personal photos and travels
My free Slack discussion forum, Analytics for Marketers – open conversations about marketing and analytics

Required Disclosures

Events with links have purchased sponsorships in this newsletter and as a result, I receive direct financial compensation for promoting them.

Advertisements in this newsletter have paid to be promoted, and as a result, I receive direct financial compensation for promoting them.

My company, Trust Insights, maintains business partnerships with companies including, but not limited to, IBM, Cisco Systems, Amazon, Talkwalker, MarketingProfs, MarketMuse, Agorapulse, Hubspot, Informa, Demandbase, The Marketing AI Institute, and others. While links shared from partners are not explicit endorsements, nor do they directly financially benefit Trust Insights, a commercial relationship exists for which Trust Insights may receive indirect financial benefit, and thus I may receive indirect financial benefit from them as well.

Thank You!

Thanks for subscribing and reading this far. I appreciate it. As always, thank you for your support, your attention, and your kindness.

See you next week,

Christopher S. Penn

April 23, 2022

Almost Timely News, 17 April 2022: Future of Digital Marketing, Analytics Maturity

Almost Timely News, 17 April 2022: Future of Digital Marketing, Analytics Maturity (4/17) :: View in Browser

Get my free B2B Marketer’s Essential Planning Guide for 2022 to learn when to time your major campaigns »

Watch This Newsletter On YouTube

Almost Timely News, 17 April 2022: Future of Digital Marketing, Analytics Maturity

Watch this video on YouTube.

Click here for the video version of this newsletter on YouTube »

Click here for an MP3 audio only version »

What’s On My Mind: The Future of Digital Marketing

My friend Ramon Ray asked a question the other day about the future of digital marketing and listed out a long list of things like Web3, NFTs, cookieless futures, etc. and wanted to know what we all though the future of digital marketing looked like. I’m hesitant to use individual technologies when thinking about the future. Instead, I tend to think about what we as people want, what we as people are going to experience, and what makes companies money.

Let’s start with some obvious macro trends. People have become accustomed to, and expect universally, access to the Internet through a supercomputer they carry around on their person. 15 years ago, Apple introduced the iPhone. It had a 412 Mhz ARM 11 processor, up to 16 GB of internal memory, a single 2 MP camera, and GSM connectivity. Today, Apple’s iPhone 13 Pro Max offers a 6 core CPU at 3.23 Ghz, a 5 core GPU, multiple 12 MP cameras, and 5G connectivity.

To give you a sense of scale, today’s iPhone is more than 15x faster, and the Internet speeds are 15,625 times as fast. These absurd advances are why we say the world is mobile-first now in marketing and user experience – not because marketing wants it to be, but because our customers are literally carrying around supercomputers every day – and expect every digital experience to match the power of the hardware they operate.

Rather than retreat inside a virtual world, we are transforming the real world around us into a computing environment. Our phones are our hybrid interfaces to both worlds; Google Lens can look at a leaf or flower and tell you what kind of plant it is, or translate a sign or a conversation in real-time.

Second, all this ubiquitous, always-on power means we expect absolutely frictionless experiences. Again, I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. Mega-merchants like Amazon now make it so easy and frictionless to shop that you can yell out loud in your home without ever leaving your couch and order a crate of toilet paper or Ukrainian pickles.

Our tolerance for friction in transactions of any kind has dramatically decreased. Customers perceive wait times for anything as intolerable, and convenience beats loyalty. When the competition is one tap of an app away, you have to bring your A-game every moment of every day. Search engines like Google return knowledge to us in the blink of an eye – and that’s the standard we all have to meet.

Third, artificial intelligence is rewiring our brains. The most powerful, barely-seen technology shaping everything in our heads is the recommendation engine. From movies and shows to social media posts to merchandise, AI is governing how we experience the world. Every time you see a recommendation given to you by something non-human, there’s a good chance that AI is involved in the process. That power can be used for good and evil alike; the power of recommendation engines has killed millions of people by showcasing fake news and disinformation about things like masks and COVID-19 vaccines, causing people to believe incorrect information and not accept life-saving medicine. (to be clear, masks work and COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective) AI is a hidden intermediary that works through our pocket supercomputers and governs our behaviors.

Thus, we prioritize several key things as consumers, as a population. We like cheap, but we really like and expect fast. We expect frictionless experiences. We display a shocking acceptance of whatever machines recommend to us because artificial intelligence is ultimately helping us think less and still get what we want.

Now, through those lenses, evaluate all the major technologies and trends people are promoting. Let’s take NFTs for example. Are they a fast, mobile-first experience? Sort of. A lot of the app ecosystems around NFTs are still very immature. Are they frictionless? Good heavens no. They’re the opposite of frictionless. They’re a pain to buy because you have to buy a cryptocurrency first and then find an exchange and jump through hoops to acquire them. Do they help you think less? Also most definitely not. Thus, as it stands right now, NFTs are a curiosity and not something to bake into your marketing plans.

What about the cookieless future? Will that impact mobility? No, not really. What about frictionless transactions? It will slow them down for a period of time, but first-party cookies will largely remain unaffected for a while. What will take time for marketers to adjust to is working with less personal data and more with behavioral data – but the savviest marketing organizations will race to adopt behavior-based AI to mitigate these problems – and that in turn will help us create those recommendations consumers love.

Look at every proposed trend and technology through the lenses of mobility, frictionless interactions, and making consumers think less. Machines and technologies are advancing at incredible rates, developing powerful new capabilities, but the flesh and blood humans at the end of the value chain haven’t changed much at all. Align yourself with the things that the humans want, and evaluating up and coming trends and technologies becomes much easier.

Share With a Friend or Colleague

If you enjoy this newsletter and want to share it with a friend/colleague, please do. Send this URL to your friend/colleague:

https://www.christopherspenn.com/newsletter

ICYMI: In Case You Missed it

Besides the new Search Console course I’m relentlessly promoting (sorry not sorry), I would recommend reading the piece I did on advancing your analytics maturity.