Will regulators ever catch up with innovators?

Will regulators ever catch up with innovators?

Nov 3, 2017 | Change, Governance, Leadership

 

Following on from the rant about the dominance of Gooface a short while ago, comes this ‘explanatory‘ note from Facebook about a test being carried out in several countries that smacks of changes being made to the newsfeed that will remove completely organic posts from a company you might follow.

In other words, if a company wants to communicate with you, the current squeeze that applies is insufficient, there is a revenue opportunity available to Facebook by removing completely the currently thin chance their posts will get into your feed.

Josh Bernoff explains it clearly, in this post  along with his usual dose of cynical amusement at the arrogance of Facebook.

If there was ever evidence needed that marketers have no option than to build, over time, their own digital presence, based on digital properties they own,  it is this move to eliminate the organic reach that gave the social platforms their start, in the chase for revenue.

In this country (Australia) we have been beset by an ongoing debate about the rules governing the ownership of media. Back in the 80’s, rules were imposed and adjusted over time, that prevented ownership in one regional (in Australia) market summarised as ‘no more than 2 out of three and  75% reach’.   They were designed to ensure the diversity of ownership and therefore points of view being expressed by the few who had the wherewithal to own a media outlet. It finally dawned on the geniuses in Canberra that by stealth, while they were not watching, Gooface and their ilk had changed the face of media, and the rules were the equivalent of banning the shooting of dinosaurs.

Righteous,  but a little redundant.

Now everybody can own a media outlet, everyone can be a publisher, for a few dollars.

I suspect the answer to the question in the headline of this post is a definitive ‘No’ and we all know the problems that emerge when you are doing nothing but playing catch-up in an environment where your domain knowledge is limited to non-existent. You get the  sort of reactionary decision making and half-baked ideas that make you look stupid.

It strikes me that this is the core of the lack of confidence slowly eroding the respect and confidence we have in our institutions, and the only true antidote to that sickness is a solid dose of leadership.

I am not holding my breath.

 

Message to the new CEO.

Message to the new CEO.

Nov 1, 2017 | Change, Governance, Leadership

It is a scary place, no matter how much you have worked  and trained for it, suddenly you are the man (or woman) everyone is looking to for the cues they will use that drives behaviour and ultimately results.

No person can do everything, but every leader needs to tell those around them what is important, and in every business, there are always 5 things worth putting on the table as your priorities.

Cash flow.

Cash is the lifeblood of every business, without it, the business is dead. Too often I see little or no attention paid to the cash that flows into and out of  a business, the leader relying on the monthly P&L for the financial feedback. Cash flow and the P&L are different, they give a different picture of the health of the business. Both are essential, but neither gives a full picture of performance without the other. However, failing to actively manage your cash is akin to going swimming in the Alligator river.

Hire the best people you can find.

The mark of a great leader is to find engage and motivate people who are better than they are, even in their areas of strength. Delegate the things you do not like to do to someone who not only does it well, but who you can trust to give honest and considered feedback.

Focus.

Focus relentlessly on the manner in which the organisation delivers value to customers, and secondly on the development and deployment of the capabilities necessary to ensure that value is sustainable because it is able to evolve faster than the surrounding competitive environment.

Build a management rhythm.

Every business has a rhythm that dictates the order  and importance of jobs to be done. In my experience, starting with the macro, and working progressively to more detailed reporting and task allocation ensuring extensive feedback and adjustment loops along the way  is the most productive and efficient way.

Embody the culture you want to build.

The only person who can really change the shape of the culture in a business is the person at the top, so it pays to be very explicit about the culture you want to build. You need to talk the talk, while walking the walk, and be able to do  both without faltering, and with absolute consistency, in even the tiniest detail. We have all heard the quote  ‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast’ by Peter Drucker.  It remains absolutely true, and do not forget it.

Good luck, and have fun and build lasting personal relationships with those around you, after all, you only get one life.

 

The right tool is still not enough 

The right tool is still not enough 

Oct 30, 2017 | Change, Governance, Management

A huge impediment to effective and ultimately successful marketing is our obsession with the tools, especially the new and shiny ones.

My father was a very keen golfer who practised and sweated for years to get his handicap down to 20. One of his mates was a very good golfer, could easily do a round within 5 strokes of par with Dads clubs.

Same tools, different user.

Marketing tools are no different.

While every tool has its limitations, you would not use a sand wedge off a tee except perhaps on a very short uphill par 3, the skill of the user also has a profound impact on the outcome.

A tool is just an item that gives you leverage, able to do more with less, how much more depends on the skill of the user.

Every business uses a range of tools to deliver leverage, it is the means by which they scale. However, just having the tools deployed and at your disposal is nowhere near enough. The winners are those who extract the most value from them.

 

 

The ‘Rocking Horse Shit’ story.

The ‘Rocking Horse Shit’ story.

Oct 27, 2017 | Communication

Years ago in a corporate strategy retreat that was also a reason to have a nasty headache on Thursday morning, we had a session on responding publicly with little or no notice. The disciplines required to be able to speak publicly with clarity and authority, while delivering the necessary message without the benefit of any preparation time.

Big call for most of us.

In the session, the presenter gave us a number of techniques, all of which I remember and use today, but one in particular stuck.

“Do everything in groups of three” he told us.

Three has a rhythm that both enables us to assemble, remember and recite back complex thoughts, and it enables us to instantly respond to a question or proposition in a logical and clear manner.

The presenter had given us a pep talk on some of the techniques, with emphasis on the ‘Three’ method, and finished by offering to speak for 10 minutes on any topic we chose to nominate. From the  following silence finally came the suggestion ‘Rocking horse shit’  from a jaded member of the sales team.

He proceeded to entertain us for 10 minutes on the differences that could be detected in rocking horse shit depending on the wood the rocking horse was made from, and two other variables. I still remember that Oregon originating RHS has a sweeter smell that that emanating from a horse made from a more exotic material like mahogany, but the best came from a horse made from the wood of the tropical and now rare Sandalwood tree.

All was arranged into logical groups of three.

This memory of this lesson was triggered by the wasted ½ hour I spent last week being tortured by a rambling, and monotonic delivery of what should have been interesting information.

There has been so much written about how to make presentations interesting, engaging and therefore useful, that it eludes me how supposedly intelligent people can still deliver this sort of crud, destroying any value the information may have, and their reputation at the same time.

Having the opportunity to make a presentation is a gift. Organisers are giving you the status of being an authority, having something worth saying, and the audience is giving you their most valuable resource: their time and attention. To waste either is an insult to both.

 

Photo credit: JohnBoy84 via Flikr

Will Apples ad barrier slow down Gooface?

Will Apples ad barrier slow down Gooface?

Oct 25, 2017 | Branding, Communication, Governance

In September last year (2016), Facebook conceded publicly that they had over-estimated the average  time viewers spent on video on their site by 60-80%. They did not tell us how long they had known of this ‘error’ but I suspect it was for  quite a while, as they aggressively pushed the ‘video first’ bandwagon.

It does not seem to have dented the volume of money going into the coffers of the GooFace (Google/Facebook) digital advertising duopoly, although it may have slowed a little after Mark Pritchard, the CMO of Procter and Gamble with an ad budget in the billions fired both barrels at the stupidity, complicity and fraud that underpins the digital advertising industry.

Digital advertising has been blighted not just by hype, hyperbole, fraud, but by tracking, and we know it is a blight, because something like 700 million devises now have ad blockers installed, and the big platforms are increasingly removing the ‘skip ad’ option that was initially in place.

GooFace make almost all their money from ads, and cross site tracking is a fundamental part of their arsenal, which they will protect at all costs. Making all sorts of claims supported by flimsy data, and more hyperbolic assertions (I suspect they will make tobacco companies look like beginners when they get a bit more practice) is to be expected. Apple  by contrast make almost no money out of advertising, so has loudly rattled the cage by announcing a new feature on an upgrade of Safari that  prevents cross site tracking.

Brilliant.

I wonder who will follow suit, as the march of subscription services without ads together with the blockers, must be biting deeply into advertising effectiveness, assuming we could see and analyse the data objectively.

Follow up Nov. 8, 2017.  Has the charm offensive stated?  This article in Marketing Week would suggest it has.