Nick Baggott's CRM and Digital Marketing Blog

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. 

 

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. 

 

 

 

 

2 New blog posts for Chartered Institute of Marketing about communicating in the Corona Virus Crisis

I have recently guest written 2 posts for the Chartered Institute of Marketing's blog

They are: Are you striking the right tone on social media

And: Adapting your content marketing in the age of coronavirus

In these articles, I explore how brands should be adapting their communications in these tough times and show case examples of companies that I believe have struck the right tone. I have tried to feature businesses that are not known for their marketing expertise, such as Hotel Football and Blue Orchid Bakery, as I believe many small businesses have shown their bigger, less agile rivals, the way.

I was impressed with Admiral Car Insurance, who have spontaneously contacted their customers to say that they were reducing premiums as less cars on the road has led to fewer claims, but this came out after my articles were submitted. 

Please check out both articles and other excellent pieces, written by other expert CIM Course Directors on the CIM Exchange blog. 

If you are interested in contacting me to discuss either attending a CIM Course, or if you need help with your digital marketing strategy, you can also reach me on all of the usual social media channels:

Twitter - @njbaggott

Linked In - nick-baggott

Web site - Navigate Consulting Ltd

Or if you have any questions or comments about how best to communicate in these challenging times, please comment on this post...

Good luck and stay safe

Tips on working from home from someone who is self isolating from my family

I don't have a spleen. I had it taken out 30 years ago when as a student i had a rare condition called ITP. For 30 years, it hasn't been a problem apart from remembering to take my penicillin tablet every morning. But with Coronavirus taking hold here in the UK, it poses a bit of a challenge for me. Whilst i am no more likely to catch it than anyone else, if I do get it and it develops into pneumonia or similar, then it could be more serious. So, the sensible thing to do is give myself the best chance of not getting it, which means self isolating from my family as well as society in general.

We have divided up our home (we are lucky to have a big enough house to do that). I have a separate bathroom and I have put a single bed in my home office. We have divided up our lounge, so I have a chair on one side of the room to use in the evenings and there is a safe distance between me and other family members if we are watching TV together. We use the kitchen at separate times and after using it, I put my things into the dishwasher and wash my hands again. My wife and eldest son both work in schools, so they are still regularly coming into contact with others. We are all fine and I have it easy compared to most. The reason for this introduction, is to give some context to the point of my post i.e. how to work at home.

It is not unusual for me to work at home. I am effectively self employed. I deliver training courses and marketing consultancy. In a normal week I would be out with clients for say 3 days and working at home for 2 days. I quite like that arrangement. But on days that I work at home, I normally try to get out for a walk or socialise more that evening. I can still go for walks, as long as i keep my social distance, like everyone else.

So, for what they are worth. Here are my tips:

1) Keep to a regular working routine. I have disciplined myself, so that I am working in my home office from 9-5 Monday to Friday. 

2) When I am not working, I try to avoid going into my home office. So that going into that room feels like going to work and breaks up the day.

3) Turn your webcam on. My time is full of conference calls, Skype and Zoom meetings and training sessions. It is good to see human faces and other people's working environments. My eldest son has a Psychology degree and masters ans is now teaching psychology - he tells me that when people are isolated they need to see human faces, so I appreciate it when people turn their cameras on

4) Make your work space somewhere that works for you. I am now sleeping in mine, so after I finish work at 5, I leave the room. When I come back at night to sleep in it, I try t make it feel like a bedroom. I unplug all of the computer equipment, so there are no standby neon lights and put my bedside lamp on to read before I sleep. During the day, I use the bed as a storage space putting books and files on it. These are all put away on my desk at night.

5) Get a good headset! It makes those video calls so much easier

6) Take time to catch up with people before you start the meeting. You will miss the impromptu water cooler chats and bumping into people in corridors or reception and having a natter about stuff, so take time to do that at the start of the calls

7) Go for a walk. Take a break, get outside. I loved it yesterday when I went outside and felt the rain on my face.

In case you are interested, here is a pic of my bed from my desk....

Stay safe everyone. The world will be back to normal soon and we can enjoy those water cooler chats again.

 

I am doing a free webinar on Building an Audience Driven Social Media campaign

I shall be delivering a free webinar on behalf of Crowd Control HQ on March 31st

It is entitled "6 Steps to building an audience-driven social media plan". If you'd like to sign up, please do so. It would be great to see you there. Here is the link https://content.crowdcontrolhq.com/6-step-audience-driven-social-media-marketing-plan

The Launch of Digital Experteers - fancy becoming a digital marketing consultant?

My blog has been quiet recently. That is because I have been putting a great deal of effort into the launch of a new business...

Digital Experteers is a new concept. If you have an ambition to set up your own digital marketing consultancy business, then this is your opportunity to do just that. Our aim, is to build a network of independent digital marketing consultants, who will all have access to the IP, tools and experience of the business' two founders (myself and Paul Haworth). Members will be self employed (it is not a franchise business), but will have the support of the founders, other members and a range of partners that we have linked up with, covering data analysis, web site build, e-learning and hosting services. You can find out more about the member benefits here. 

We have taken the content and tools that I have been developing for my consulting and training business over the last 12 years and added Paul's knowledge and experience and built some new planning and measurement tools. We call our process the ABC3 model. This model covers all aspects f digital marketing from developing your strategy to executing and measuring campaigns. Our data analytics partner, Coniak, have helped us to develop a new ABC3 evaluation tool, which will be going live very soon too. This is what the ABC3 model covers:

We will be having a free half day launch event soon, so if you are interested, please visit the site to sign up. 

 

Strategic Marketing in Nigeria

I have just recently returned from delivery 2 x 2 day strategic marketing workshops in Nigeria. 

I have to admit, I was concerned before I went (if you look at the Foreign Office website before you travel, you probably wouldn't go!). However, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I met some inspirational people, some very talented marketers and learned a great deal. They welcomed me like a long lost friend and appreciated everything that I did for them.

I have often found that as I travel around the world (this was my 52nd country), the marketers that you meet in developing countries (Nigeria, Kenya, Colombia are great examples) tend to be more motivated, entrepreneurial and keen to learn than their western counter parts. My trip was split into 2 parts, both 2 day workshops. The first one was with marketing managers and the second one was with the marketing leadership team. The second workshop was run over the weekend and no-one seemed to mind giving up their precious family time to learn. Nigerians are very spiritual people, who attend church in great numbers on a Sunday, so I know that attending the session was a major commitment for many. 

I hope and expect this to be the start of a long and fruitful relationship with our client, Heirs Holdings. They are an impressive business with many interests around Africa in banking, healthcare and hotels. They have the inspirational Tony O. Elumelu as their leader and their work with the Tony Elumelu Foundation is helping small African entrepreneurs to grow and develop. Check out @TonyOElumelu on Twitter.

Here are a few photos of me with some of the delegates and Mr Elumelu

Marketing in Developing Countries

I have recently completed a very large consulting project to deliver a Marketing Toolkit for a large charitable foundation, who support start up businesses in emerging markets. The focus is on Africa and India. It was a substantial piece of work that involved developing a stand alone document that businesses could use to do everything from setting objectives and planning their campaigns, to understanding their customers, competitors and the markets that they are operating in, through to advice on implementing campaigns on and off line, above and below the line and how to measure them.

As part of the process, I spoke to many inspiring local entrepreneurs, who show constant ingenuity in the face of a lack of data, research and structure. They have to think on their feet. For example, one business owner who runs a ferry across a large and dangerous lake had to decide where to start and end his ferry route. I asked him how he did his research and he told me that he had paid a boy to sit buy the lake each day, counting the number of canoe taxis that leave and arrive at each point of the lake, until he discovered what the most popular routes are.

I have also been hunting for great case studies in emerging markets from international and local businesses to show case. This YouTube video is the story of one of my favourite campaigns that I found. It is from India and is called "Share my Dabba"

 

Developing Marketing Tool Kit

Sorry my posts have been pretty infrequent recently.

I have been commissioned by a large international development fund to develop a marketing tool kit to be used by the businesses that they support in Africa, Latin America and India. It is a mammoth project and taking up lots of my time (hence the infrequent blogging).

But the good news, is that once it is finished, I shall have lots of tools and insights to share. I am learning a great deal about marketing to brands who sell to low income rural consumers in developing countries and have now done around 12 skype calls to the company owners. Their ingenuity is incredible and it makes you re-think the principles and tactics that we use in the developed world. I look forward to sharing some of this with you soon

New website is now live

Thanks for your patience. My updated web site is now live, so I'll be updating the blog again from now.

Hope you like the new web site for Navigate Consulting Ltd