Embracing doubt helps you do things differently
Helen EdwardsIf you are wondering whether you have the confidence to make it in the marketing industry, remember to listen to in-vogue marketing mantra less and the consumer a bit more.
Helen Edwards
Marketing’s claim to the C-suite is more than strong enough
Helen EdwardsMarketing is infuriatingly hard to articulate, and apt to languish unnoticed and unappreciated by those in harder-edged corporate roles. It can, however, make the difference between a corporation and its brands hobbling along the ground or soaring up into the stratosphere.
Here’s what I hope will change in 2020
Helen EdwardsA change of decade carries with it a weight of hopes and predicted changes. Here’s my wish list of the ways I hope marketing will be better in 2020.
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Even the simplest metrics require forensic analysis
Helen EdwardsMarketing metrics have a tendency to tell you how you’re doing without telling you what to do and to exist within something infinitely more complex.
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‘Buccaneering’ British business is just a political fantasy
Helen EdwardsWhy are British politicians so content to use the language of pirates to shed light on business?
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Great marketers don’t sell dreams, they sell realities
Helen EdwardsMarketers who incorporate data into storytelling to explain the ‘how’ as well as the ‘what’, ‘who’ and ‘why’ will have a far greater chance of engaging listeners.
Marketing needs to go back to extreme basics
Helen EdwardsBefore climbing up the benefits ladder marketers need to focus on getting the simple things right.
Being a ‘me-too’ brand is more desirable than it sounds
Helen EdwardsIt’s all very well being differentiated, disruptive and revolutionary, but if your main competitor makes a meaningful improvement, your brand will drop behind if you don’t follow suit.
There’s no perfect method for measuring creative
Helen EdwardsAs the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity draws to an end for another year, many marketers will be patting themselves on the back for wins at the awards. But are they really measuring the effectiveness of their creativity?
Vision and purpose should stand above commercial considerations
Helen EdwardsAsking whether purpose will increase market share is the wrong question. But brands all have a deep-seated vision, which marketers should dust off and use to inspire their approach to innovating for, and engaging with, consumers.
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It’s midlife consumers who most need brands’ love
Helen EdwardsMarketers could do worse than reflect on both the substantive and affective trials of those aged 35 to 55 and find ways to contribute positively to both.
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It takes courage to push back against consensus
Helen EdwardsDisagreeing with someone on Twitter is one thing but calling out a colleague’s way of thinking takes a lot more courage.
Use technology to show more humanity, not less
Helen EdwardsMarketers need to get involved in conversations around technology to ensure it is put to use in a meaningful way that will enhance consumers’ experience rather than leave them feeling cold.
Creative teams often suffer from the same three blind spots
Helen EdwardsFrom identikit ads for small businesses to the same outdated image of the over-60s, creatives need to look beyond the obvious and stop falling into the same old traps.
The marketing discourse is sorely lacking in respect – let’s change that in 2019
Helen EdwardsCovert insults in research groups, demeaning consumer descriptors and polarisation in the workplace are creating an out-dated and churlish impression of the industry, which if not addressed will be to its detriment.