Tag: marketers - Page 3

If you run a marketing team, you will realise a few things; firstly that no marketing team can be all the same, and secondly, a mixture of personalities and skills is required for optimum performance. When choosing a team, it's best to steer away from selecting people just like you, or like another person who you rate as being a good marketer on your team. The reason is simple; a strong, competent, successful marketing team has to have a mixture of personalities that collaborate, support, encourage, nurture and push each other to reach their full potential both individually and as a team.

While this may seem idealistic, it's a reality for any competent marketing manager who has the 'balls' to think outside the box when they are putting together a team of people to take a company to the next level.

As an avid technology enthusiast and entrepreneur, findng new and upcoming technologies that may be instrumental in either Marketing Eye's or our clients future marketing campaigns is a passion. 

Recently, one such technology asked for Marketing Eye's competitors, and did an analysis on where they sit from a digital perspective compared to Marketing Eye Atlanta. It was fascinating. Our company is a mere 4 years old in the US, and in year one, we realised that we outperformed all our competitors on Google listings/rankings and all areas of social media. It was something we were very proud of, as we don't spend all day pushing this medium, but a bit over 30 minutes in total including writing this blog.

I have never been more busy in my life. I remember 2 years ago feeling completely overwhelmed by having so much on my plate, and feeling as though I was floundering.

I kept on taking on more 'stuff' and it wasn't a case of not being able to say no. I simply wanted to do all the things I was doing and they were important to me. I hired two personal assistants and that worked wonders, except I decided that they were too good to be personal assistants and moved them promptly into other roles.

Challenges that we face today, are the making of us tomorrow. How we cope under extreme pressure and instability, really acts only as an indicator of how well we can weather a storm. 

No business in the world has smooth sailing every day. It may look like some do, but they don't - I can assure you of that.

I am in a privileged position these days, as I work 'on' the business and not 'in' the business. I have changed from being a business owner from 25 years of age to 30, then an entrepreneur from 30 to 41 years of age, and now I am definitely an innovator. Our direction is ahead of the curve, and at the forefront of marketing globally. We don't look at our own backyard as our competitive landscape, but instead a global market that continually changes and with that, we need to adapt and forge ahead with new ways in which to do business.

It's not by accident that creative marketers are paid more money, are in greater demand and hold the key to a successful marketing campaign. 

Some are born that way and can come up with a creative campaign on the way to work, other's like to spend their time being inspired by the environment in which they live in, and of course, the one's who are time poor and like to surf the net, find the internet a great source for inspiration.

I personally like a combination of both and collaborative creative ideas always seem to draw the best inspiration from each of the different sources.

If you are looking for inspiration online, here is where I like to go:

1. Behance:
This is a designers go to point for inspiration. Mostly the designs are clean and creative, and they cross many industry sectors allowing for creatives to be inspired by variety and relevancy which is very important.

2. Creative Boom:
There is a cross section of creativity on this site. It is inspiring and pushes boundaries while staying sometimes within the lines. 

I'm in Sydney and the weather is phenomenal, the harbour is drawing me in, and the team is so busy that I think that they are going to burst at some stage today - but somehow, they never do.

Instead, they step it up, take control, become better organised and push boundaries.

How does that happen?

Old school marketers are dead. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that.

I have been putting magazines together since the Czech Republic applied for membership to the EU. That was 1996 and back then Tupac was still alive, Trainspotting was released into cinemas and the French halted nuclear testing in the Pacific.

Magazine production has been my passion for almost 20 years, and whilst I am making myself feel old writing this blog, there has remained a sense of achievement with each and every issue of the thousands I have helped produce, including the latest issue of Marketing Eye.

Why are some marketers more successful than others? Is it that they are smarter? Do they have a secret sauce? Are they just in the right place at the right time, surrounded by the right people?

I've seen some mind-blowing marketers in my time, and I've also seen some marketers that are just terrible and give marketing a very bad name. But there are some particular things that stand out in successful marketers that we all can learn from. They have some basic fundamentals that they live by; either intentionally or not. Their behaviours are consistent and without exception.

In the past few months, I have had a business that is fairly much smooth sailing. We are adapting to our growth issues and ensuring that we streamline processes and constantly improve what we are doing in every facet of the business.

It's interesting to go through this process and realise that after 10 years, some sort of switch has been turned on, and we are picking and choosing our clients. We can't scale fast enough to cater for our burgeoning growth. Scale for most businesses isn't hard as long as you have the right processes in place. But for us, it is extremely difficult.