Nick Baggott's CRM and Digital Marketing Blog

The Most Inspirational Person in Marketing (as an ex agency man)

I have had the pleasure of having some great mentors over my marketing career:

Nigel Coxhead - My first boss as a Saturday boy in the Loading Bay in Debenhams Reading, who taught me that management is sometimes about rolling up your sleaves and just helping, but also to let people help you who have skills that you don't

Chris May - My first boss and owner of Richardson Carpenter Advertising at that time, who taught me how to nurture key accounts

Justin Hicklin - my first boss at FKB Carlson, who taught me about the world of sales promotion

Chris Killingbeck - the top man! The greatest ideas person I worked with and a business partner when we set up KCJB all those years ago

Joe Garton - the guy who tested me the most and pushed me to be better

Duncan March - the most entrepreneurial man that I know

Dr David James - the inspirational Hult Professor

And too many others that I should mention.....

 

But, if you are starting out inn marketing today. Particularly if you want to go agency side, then follow Sir John Hegarty on Linked in 

He posts regularly and always speaks total sense. He is pragmatic, honest and inspirational. 

Who is your top mentor and how do they help you? 

10 Most Common AI Mistakes & How to Write a Good Prompt

I have been teaching AI for Marketing for the Chartered Institute of Marketing since April 2023. It is the most in-demand course that CIM has ever had in terms of numbers. Most CIM courses run every 6-8 weeks. This course runs every 1-2 weeks, due to overwhelming demand. Having delivered it so many times and having worked with hundreds of delegates, I am now in a good position to share my top 10 common AI mistakes. This is a shortened version of a 90 minute presentation that I delivered for alumni students in Milan for Hult International Business School in September 2024. This is just a teaser. If you want me to deliver this presentation to your team, get in touch ([email protected]) or find me on Linked In (nickbaggott)

1) You can always trust the answers that AI gives you (beware of hallucinations)

2) I can just use the free versions (your data could be at risk and you are missing out on extra functionality)

3) AI is just for content generation (you can use it to manage web pages, email marketing, social media ads, chat bots and so much more)

4) I can write a simple prompt and get what I want first time (see thoughts below on how to write a good prompt)

5) I will amend the content myself online (if you do this your AI wont learn your preferences)

6) ChatGPT is just for writing copy (it can write video scripts, research questionnaires, marketing plans , media recommendations and so much more, including poetry...)

7) AI doesn't generate decent video content (check out this ad (screen shot below) developed using sora!)

8) My brand or personal brand is safe (beware unethical fake content)

9) I don't need to understand predictive modelling (AI is a predictive model, you need to understand the principles, but also AI can help you predict so much that will help plan a marketing strategy

10) I can build an AI strategy on my own (you need to collaborate with colleagues in other departments as AI will affect almost everyone in your business in some way)

Prompt Engineering Tips

• What is the intent eg what do you want it to write about?
• What media / format is it being created for eg a blog / report / questionnaire?
• Who is the audience? Their roles / ages / knowledge etc
• What is the style / tone of voice that you want it to write in?
• What language eg American English?
• What is the context? Why are you creating this content? Who are you?
• Are their specific commands? What do you want to include / exclude?

I hope that helps you. If you want to know more, please get in touch on Linked In or email ([email protected])

 

The best creative ideas are often beautifully simple

I came across this old ad for 2012 for Staedtler pencils. Its simplicity is brilliant. Quite simply, even the greatest creations start with a simple sketch. Thanks to Jeff Bullas

What is the best, beautifully simple ad that you can think of?

How to choose the right #hashtags

Hashtags are crucial to social media success, whether you are using Twitter, Instagram, Linked In or any other social platform.

So, how do you select a good # and why are they important? Let's start with some basics first (these tips come from Hootsuite):

• They always start with # but they won’t work if you use spaces, punctuation or symbols.
• Make sure your accounts are public. Otherwise the hashtagged content you write won’t be seen by any non-followers.
• Don’t string too many words together. The best hashtags tend to be relatively short and easy to remember.
• Use relevant and specific hashtags. If it is too obscure, it will be hard to find and it won’t likely be used by other social media users.
• Limit the number of hashtags you use. More isn’t always better. It actually looks spammy.

So, why use # at all?

• They increase the reach of your posts, because they are searchable
• They increase engagement with your posts, because they add context
• They allow you to show support for a cause eg #blacklivesmatter
• They add context to your posts eg #socialmediatips

Finally, the all important question. How do you select a good #?

There are some great tools that you can use to help you, such as Hashtagify

Personally, I like Ritetag - this tools allows you to input the copy for your tweet and it will suggest popular # that relate to your post. Here is an example: 

As you can see, the suggestions are not perfect. Including a photo of me presenting, has led to some suggestions about what I am wearing as hashtags, but this at least illustrates that ritetag is interpreting both the picture and the wording of the tweet. 

Of course, you should also monitor # used by other people in your industry and what has worked on your previous posts too. On Twitter I would suggest limiting to no more than 3 hashtags (you have a limited number of characters and you don't want your post to look like spam. Whereas, on Instagram I would suggest using more, say 5-8 hashtags.

Newsjacking:

Newsjacking is where you use a # that is trending at the time, in order to attract people to your post, who are following that news story. An example might be using #Olympics this summer, if you want your post read by followers of the Games. But only use a hashtag in this way if you are adding value to the Olympics debate and your post is relevant. Make sure that you don't breach any copyright laws or restrictions too. The Olympics marketing team are pretty hot on unauthorised people trying to sell their services using their identity. You must not imply that you are a sponsor or involved in the Games if you are not.

Hope that helps you. #goodluck

 

 

 

New role at Hult International Business School

I am delighted to have joined the wonderful team at Hult International Business School as a Professor for the Digital Media and Communications Masters module, as part of the Masters in International Marketing course. I recently completed teaching this module (10 x 3 hour classes) and I loved it. The students were excellent and I would highly recommend the School if anyone is considering a Masters. 

I will also be delivering the Strategic Brand Management elective module in June and July. I cannot wait. 

 

How has brand content evolved since COVID? Key themes used by brands...

Have you communicated differently since the onset of Corona Virus? Have you become more empathetic? more customer focused? More service focused? More willing to share your brand purpose? If you haven't changed, then why not? The world has changed, customer behaviours have changed, surely your customer insights must have changed too. Branded content must continually adapt to reflect the markets and people that we serve. If you haven't changed, then you are probably in the minority.

But don't just take my word for it (although I feel I am in a good place to comment as a digital marketing consultant and trainer that probably speaks directly to over 50 marketers a week, from different countries, industries and brands). I have worked in over 50 countries and in pretty much every market sector. So, what does the data tell us?

Discover.ai has complied a fascinating report, analysing how the messages and themes communicated by brands have evolved since lockdown. This free report is entitled "100 projects since lockdown". In the report, discover.ai analyse the key messages conveyed across these campaigns and summarise the key themes and approaches taken. I would advise you to take a look for yourself. That link will take you to a page where you can register to request a free copy. As a teaser, here are some of the key findings and a sample of the ideas contained within it. 

This shows the communication themes that have increased and decreased in usage since Lockdown. You can see that brands have been keen to portray themselves as empathetic and reflect how people are feeling. 

We can then see what keywords match to these themes, to help us understand what each theme represents:

Then discover.ai has analysed each of these in more detail and clustered the messaging into 7 key themes. These themes are:

• Wanting more texture from life
• Voicing a renewed purpose
• Gaining in poise
• Peering over into the wild other
• Grasping after possibility
• Finding their spiritual home
• Riding on the waves of solidarity

For each of the themes, they have outlined what the key messages are, with examples of brands articulating them. I recommend you download the report here to understand what each one means in more detail.

From my own personal experience, working with my client contacts, I have noticed a greater emphasis on two of these in particular. That is "Voicing a renewed purpose" and "waves of solidarity". An example of waves of solidarity, could be a brand like Japanine Games, who have offered to give bricks and mortar retailers 50% of the revenue when someone buys on their brand eCommerce store, even though they are fulfilling the order directly, because they realise how important it is to their customers to have physical stores that they can visit to meet friends and discover new products, once lockdown finishes. To give you a flavour of what is in the report, here is an example:

I have been reassured at how most brands have listened and reacted to the changing needs of their audiences and adapted their messaging. This report is an excellent piece of evidence, which underlines the importance of customer insight and agility in marketing.

I would love to know how your messaging has evolved and the reaction that it has had from your audience. Please share examples in the comments section. 

The future of face to face training

With the second wave of Covid about to hit Europe again, I thought it was a good time to reflect on the last 6 months and how training has been impacted and developed. Up until March 2020, I was delivering around 90% of my marketing training face to face in classroom or company office environments. Whether it was open public training, where delegates would pay per day and mix with others from different companies, or in-house deliveries of bespoke courses for marketing teams from within that country, face to face was the preferred medium of delivery.

All that changed in early March. Suddenly, I couldn't work in company offices as my clients were all told to work from home and training venues and hotels were closed. My initial thought was that it would be temporary, but my work was about to dry up.

Luckily for me, I have had some experience of virtual deliveries for many years, with larger global brands like HP and BP moving to virtual deliveries a few years ago to save on travelling costs and to allow more people to attend. One of the issues of face to face training, is that it is hard to justify the cost of travel for the employees who work away from regional head offices. As a trainer, you assume that the travel costs for you to travel are the only costs, but typically that is just the tip of the iceberg as delegates have to come into the regional hubs themselves which adds time and costs for the client. I would travel from London to Singapore, but delegates may fly in from Japan, China, South Korea etc which adds substantial cost and inconvenience for delegates. 

Of course, that has now changed. Every client that I am working with has switched to virtual. Some clients delayed face to face for a while, thinking it was a temporary postponement, but most of those have now re-booked virtual courses. 

What has been interesting to me, as I do more virtual and hopefully become more accomplished at it, is that there are many benefits to virtual training (in addition to the travel cost savings):

Here are some of those benefits:

• Everyone can attend - you don't have to be based in Head Office or close by
• More people can attend - you are not limited by room size, so you an invite other delegates from different teams and departments 
• Timings are so much more flexible - almost all classes were a full day, I now do 1, 2, 3, 4 and even 7 hour virtual class sessions
• It is easier to schedule classes - previously, all delegates had to be in one place on the same day, now we can be flexible, running multiple sessions in different time zones. Also, it is much easier to get a 2 hour slot in everyone's diaries when they are working at home, then finding a day when everyone is available in the office
• Quieter delegates can join in - there are so many ways for delegates to interact via polls, quizzes, chats and whiteboards - in a class room it can be intimidating for quieter or less confident delegates to speak up
• Delegates are more relaxed - they haven't had the early start to catch the train in, they are not jet lagged from flying in, they are in their home working environment. They get regular breaks, so they can do what needs to be done and get back on the call.

The biggest news though, is that delegates are MORE SATISFIED. By reviewing my delegate feedback forms from all of my clients, I can see that satisfaction and recommendations are higher than classroom sessions.

So, if you are considering what your training programme looks like and wondering if virtual is the way to go, don't hesitate, give it a try. I use Zoom, Teams, Adobe Connect, GoToMeeting - there are so many platforms and all have strengths and weaknesses. That is for another day! I'd love to know your opinions on this, please comment and let me know what you think. Will we ever go back to face to face?

I believe that the future will be a mixture of virtual and face to face, they complement each other well. I don't think I will get as many Air Miles in future, but I believe I will be more productive and will be able to offer clients a more cost efficient and flexible range of formats and training styles. 

 

 

 

 

Ultimate SEO Checklist from SEMrush

SEMrush have just posted this excellent quick SEO checklist on their Twitter account 

There is also a link to an excellent and very detailed article, I have pasted the link at the end of this short post. When I am running digital marketing training courses that cover SEO as part of a wider range of topics, I tend to get clients to focus on selecting keywords (particularly long tail phrases), then focusing on their mobile optimisation, external link building and writing copy in an engaging way that will help with SEO. Don't forget, if you focus on creating great content, you are on the right lines. 

The Only SEO Checklist You Will Need in 2020: 41 Best Practices

 

Back to work

Sorry for the lack of posts over the summer. I have taken some time out to recharge the batteries. Now the schools and colleges are going back to work, I shall be back too. I'll be posting here again very soon

How has digital channel usage changed during Covid-19?

Every January Hootsuite produces the most comprehensive and reliable study of digital marketing that is available. I use their studies regularly as reference materials for my training and consulting.

In April, Hootsuite published an updated report, looking specifically at uses of digital channels during April of this year as the Pandemic took hold. The report is called "Digital 2020 - April Global Statshot Report"

Here are some highlights: 

• Smart phone usage is up by 76%
• Laptop computer usage is up 45%
• Tablet usage is up 22%
• TV Streaming is up 34%
• Gaming is up 17%

And the amount of time we use each channel is up to, as the image below demonstrates:

We can also see that consumers want new content and ideally they want it to be original, exclusive and live. When asked what type of content they wanted to watch during lockdown, old repeats of TV shows and sporting events are seen as less desirable than films, how to videos and funny memes. We want to be entertained, we are prepared to laugh about the challenges we face and I am guessing we also want to switch off and we want to be bale to help ourselves. I have always been an advocate of brands creating "how to..." videos, and they can be particularly helpful when lockdown means that people have to fix their own issues and find wasy to entertain themselves and their families.

Social media usage is up substantially across the board with females increasing their use of social more than men, across all ages, globally. No surprise that the most downloaded app in the world in April 2020 was TikTok.

The report has lots of great info, so download it yourself Hootsuite April 2020 Update. Here is one last chart, showing social media usage growth by age and gender. 

If you see any more data on Covid-19 behaviours, please share it. I'd love to see it. Stay safe...