The metrics of ‘maybe’: Why you need to step off the proven paths
Helen EdwardsObsessively repeating what has proven effective may deliver results but leaves you vulnerable to disruption, so always leave some space to experiment.
Helen Edwards
Five research techniques that are living on borrowed time
Helen EdwardsEvery research agency has a methodology it wants to sell, but here are five that marketers should consign to the scrap heap.
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For a true view of the consumer, get them to talk like themselves
Helen EdwardsUnfiltered, unfettered conversations among real people reveal their values and priorities, so make your focus groups more spontaneous and less controlled.
Try, try again – especially if you think you got it right first time
Helen EdwardsToo much marketing feels like the product of a workshop settling too quickly on a solution. Instead, iterate your ideas and push yourself to do better.
Emotions are contagious: Don’t let fear be your team’s underlying emotional current
Helen EdwardsThe way marketing leaders behave directly influences their team. Positive CMOs are more likely to get their teams to deliver positive outcomes – and the same is true at the other end of the scale.
Search for the sweet spot between optimism and realism
Helen EdwardsMarketers aiming to be entrepreneurial mustn’t be too ambitious or too negative, but instead be a ‘spotist’, who sees both the opportunities and challenges without being overwhelmed by either.
Consumers are cutting back – is your brand next for the chop?
Helen EdwardsInflation forces consumers to edit brands out of their lives. To retain a starring role, your brand must be essential to their day, or inject it with joy.
Having second thoughts about first-person branding? You should be
Helen EdwardsBrands and products that refer to themselves as ‘I’ come across as infantile and annoying. Think twice when creating your tone of voice.
Marketing’s transformative questions don’t start with ‘how?’
Helen EdwardsMarketers are often preoccupied with practical challenges, but also need to address questions of vision that start with ‘why?’ and ‘what if?’.
The key ingredient your brand – and sector – is missing
Helen EdwardsEvery sector has a blind spot in the experience that brands offer, and by addressing it you could gain a real competitive advantage.
Marketers must prove ‘sustainable consumption’ is not an oxymoron
Helen EdwardsBrands need to encourage better – not more – consumption, if they are to have a place in a sustainable future for our planet and society.
Five habits CMOs should avoid if they want to retain young talent
Helen EdwardsThere’s increased competition from employers for junior marketers, so to boost the chances of holding onto their brightest talent, CMOs need to rethink unconscious habits.
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Reducing the ‘friction’ of too many choices makes your buyer’s decision easier
Helen EdwardsMarketers might not like the idea of cutting down their ranges, but reducing choice is one way to stop ‘micro-frictions’ getting in the way of the sale.
It’s not just Oatly’s tone of voice that’s distinctive, it’s the business’s openness
Helen EdwardsOatly’s failed trademark claim against a rival won’t hurt its ability to differentiate, as long as it stays humble and human in the way it does business.
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Emotion is overdone, rational branding is the big opportunity
Helen EdwardsAll marketers are desperate to claim emotional benefits for their brand, thinking these influence purchase, which leaves a wide-open opportunity for brands brave enough to go back to rational messages.
How brands can avoid the curse of convergence
Helen EdwardsAs much as marketers want to differentiate from competitors, brands in the same market often follow the same formulas. To resist that outcome, watch out for these five pitfalls.