Online marketing magazine for SMEs
THE VAULT ISSUE #2
STEVEN SHOVE ON REALLY WILD BUSINESS
SUSAN PAYTON
ON BUSINESS STORYTELLING KFC AND ASOS ONLINE APOLOGIES
THE BUSINESS TRAVELLER
& MUCH, MUCH MORE!
THE VAULT
THE VAULT ISSUE 2 EDITORIAL Stacey Kehoe - Editor stacey@brandlective.com Rachel Akiboye- Editorial Assistant rachel@brandlective.com Zenya Smith - Content Editor zenya@brandlective.com
DESIGN & PRODUCTION Mark Rimmer mark@mrmograph.com
CONTRIBUTORS Alex Obertelli Briony Quinn Lucy Gordon Rachel Akiboye Will Baxter-Hughes Zenya Smith
PHOTOGRAPHERS Kurt Rebry www.kurtrebry.com
ADVERTISING Alex Obertelli - Advert Design alex@brandlective.com If you are interested in advertising in the next edition of BrandMag, please contact us at sales@brandlective.com for more information about our advertising rates.
CONTACT BRANDLECTIVE
FROM THE EDITOR Digital marketing seems to be moving in so many directions right now, so I’m so excited to share this edition with you. Colossal fail by KFC and ASOS were high on the agenda for the editorial team at The Vault. We share how these brands turned these PR opportunities into positive brand experiences for their customers. Have you found yourself struggling to stand out from the crowd online? Perhaps storytelling will give you the edge you have been looking for in your business. Our feature with Susan Payton, Founder of The Business of Stories, provides us with some insight into how a killer brand story can lead to success. For those of you struggling to cope without your latest fix of Netflix series, Black Mirror, our article on China’s move towards social outcasting is not to be missed. Does this violate human rights? Or help to keep the law of the land? Finally, our cover feature with Steven Shove, the mastermind behind Really Wild Business relates business and the great outdoors. The Vault team were lucky enough to attend one of his 1-day survival workshops recently and can vouch for his skills when it comes to learning to survive in the wild in order to thrive in business. It is a must read…… Until the next edition....
STACEY KEHOE - EDITOR
Email: info@brandlective.com Phone: +44 0207-407-2672 Address: 73b Weston Street, London Bridge SE1 3RS
Disclaimer: The rights and licences for all Shutterstock imagery in this publication have been authorised and obtained.
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THE VAULT
CONT 18
WAR OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS What happens when social platforms go head-to-head? It is a millennial minefield, who will be the next to unleash their nuclear update? It’s war of the social media platforms.
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THE POWER OF AWARDS Turning an award win into a marketing opportunity. A look at the internal and external benefits as well as the statistics.
HISTORICAL BERLIN
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THE VAULT
TENTS 08
CHINA’S BLACK MIRROR
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STORYTELLING WITH SUSAN PAYTON
FROM TV SCREENS TO SOCIETY
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THE MARKETING GUESSING GAME A look at how creating a customer avatar can be great for marketing your business.
FCK UP ONLINE? How brands such as KFC and ASOS covered their mistakes through marketing and social media.
NO ASSETS? NO PROBLEM The ‘middlemen‘ business built on creativity before capital.
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STEVEN SHOVE REALLY WILD BUSINESS
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ARE YOU PLAYING A MARKETING GUESSING GAME? WHY YOU NEED TO CREATE A CUSTOMER AVATAR By Zenya Smith
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he famous saying goes ‘If you try to please everyone, you’ll end up pleasing no one’, and this couldn’t be more relevant in business. We’ve shared how creating a customer avatar is the crucial first step in promoting your brand effectively and closing more sales. How much do you REALLY know about your ideal customer; the kind of customer who is guaranteed to buy your product? While you may be able to pinpoint a particular age range and understand their common pain points, can you envision what they look like? What television shows they watch? Their political persuasion? If not, then you need to develop your customer avatar. Successful marketing has moved beyond demographics and is now digging deeper than ever before to understand
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consumer behaviour. This is allowing smart marketers to build a detailed, fictitious profile of a brand’s ideal consumer, which has become a critical step in delivering a product or service with high market demand. As a small business owner, creating your own customer avatar will allow you to view your prospects as real people, rather than a faceless compilation of various broad demographics. It will enable you to look beyond your customer’s relationship with your product or service and think more about their behaviour, such as what social media platform they use the most, where they get their news, and if they work out or not. These seemingly insignificant questions will build a layered character profile and help you to narrow your target market and understand how best to reach and engage with prospects.
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How Deep do You Go? The short answer? As deep as you can! As mentioned above, even the most seemingly insignificant factors can be essential in understanding your ideal consumers. Often, businesses barely scratch the surface when building a customer avatar and get stuck using vague terms and corporate language. Start by giving your avatar a name, think about where they work, how old they are, their level of education, and how they spend their free time. Once you begin to think about your avatar as a real person you’ll find it easier to flesh out their behaviour and characteristics.
with your audience. Whereas, using a customer avatar of your typical consumer will allow you to be far more specific. You’ll be able to evaluate how long on average they spend on that platform, the time of day they are most active, and the likelihood of them interacting with content; saving you both time and money while simultaneously boosting the impact of your campaign.
The problem with using statistics is it causes businesses to focus on too broad an audience, meaning they waste time and money trying to be all things, to all people. Creating a customer avatar helps you to find more specific solutions to customer problems by thinking in terms of what your avatar would want or how they would behave. For example, if you’re thinking about launching a social media campaign, looking at statistics might help to find out which social media platform is most popular
HOW DO I CREATE AN AVATAR? STEP 1 Give your Avatar a name and occupation
STEP 2 Refer to existing research and information
STEP 3 Think about your Avatar’s goals and values
STEP 4 Create a narrative
It can also help to put a face to the name. Try scoping out a stock profile picture online, or create your own cartoon avatar on sites such as Avachara or Cartoonify.
From any research you have done up to this point, flesh out your customer’s likes, dislikes, behaviour, habits, hobbies etc.
What does your avatar want to achieve? What do they care most about? How will your service or product assist them in reaching this goal, while also respecting and supporting their values?
Imagine you are your avatar and write down every aspect of their journey with your product or service. How did they discover your brand? What about it appealed to them and hooked them in? What could be improved? Creating a narrative will help you to understand how your product or service will fit into your consumers’ lives.
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FCK THE VAULT
Up Online? BY WILIAM BAXTER-HUGHES
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he first quarter of 2018 was an interesting month for two of the biggest names in the UK. KFC and ASOS both had their issues to deal with, but the major talking point didn’t end up being the issues they had endured, it was the way the turned their negatives into positives. Marketing has the power to change perceptions, it is all about how you work with the hand you’ve been dealt. One of the world’s favourite fried chicken outlets KFC, had to close hundreds of restaurants following a catastrophic issue with its supplier. The fast-food outlet had to close 700 of its 900 stores as a result. In addition to that, online clothes retailer ASOS suffered their own faux pas when they printed 17,000 shipping bags with a typo. However, both companies had well-prepared strategies to deal with the crisis in a swift manner to limit the financial damage, and their reputation. KFC explicitly described in an advertisement precisely what the issue was to the national press. They described it as a chicken restaurant without any chicken, within hours of the initial problems coming to light. Customers knew exactly what had gone wrong, how it was going to be resolved and when it would be fixed.
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THE VAULT
KFC’s speed of response was core to managing the crisis successfully. Its important for any company caught up in a pending disaster to take early control of the situation, but this isn’t the same as an admission of guilt. Further to their swift response KFC released a tongue in cheek ad in two British newspapers, with a picture of a family bucket with the letters rearranged to show ‘FCK’. The humour used took the sting out of any repercussions for the global brand.
The online retail powerhouse ASOS, unwittingly printed 17,000 shipping bags that said “onilne” instead of “online.” The firm took control of the issue way before the public noticed by tweeting a picture of the bags in question followed by a statement, “Ok, so we *may* have printed 17,000 bags with a typo. We’re calling it a limited edition.” The firm understood that tossing the bags would be wasteful and detrimental public relations nightmare, admitting the mistake was the way to go. As proven by both KFC and ASOS, taking ownership of a problem and reacting positively with a clear plan, companies can limit the damage caused. However, their reactions were considered, and it’s important to asses all the options before jumping in and pointing fingers.
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CHOOSE YOUR WORDS CAREFULLY
BY ZENYA SMITH
HOW TO OPTIMISE YOUR VIDEO CONTENT FOR SOCIAL FEEDS
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hether you fancy yourself as the next Spielberg or would simply like to showcase your brand in a new light, video has become a highly successful way of breaking through the noise and reaching new consumers online. However, many brands are missing one critical component when creating video content, which is causing their efforts to fall dramatically short. Should you be using video to promote your brand? Well if recent research is anything to go by, the answer is a resounding yes. Did you know that your brand is 53 percent more likely to appear in a Google search if your website hosts video content? Or that 57 percent of consumers admit to having a higher level of trust in a company if they use video? Video can have a direct impact on your sales conversions too. Studies have found that 74 percent of people who have watched a product explainer video have gone on to purchase that product. However, to truly succeed in video marketing you need to optimise your videos, and one factor you can’t afford to overlook is the importance of captioning your video content. Here are three reasons why you should add subtitles to your next brand video.
Not Everyone Can Listen To The Audio Did you know that over 5 percent of the world’s population – that’s roughly 466 million people have hearing difficulties? By failing to add subtitles you are indirectly excluding this audience. Furthermore, due to the rise in mobile browsing, many people are often in a public place when viewing video content and are unable to turn on audio. As a result, 85 percent of Facebook videos are now watched on mute, so a lack of subtitles means many people will miss out on your marketing message.
Subtitles Improve Engagement Research has found that 80 percent more people will watch a video right to the end if it is subtitled. Subtitles can also dramatically impact your social reach. On Facebook, for example, videos with captions have a 16 percent higher reach and receive 15 percent more shares.
Search Engines Love Subtitles Search engines are fundamentally built to read text and cannot adequately interpret video content, meaning video is unlikely to display highly in search results. This is unless you add subtitles. Subtitles automatically add a text transcript to videos, allowing the Google search algorithm to ‘read’ your content and display it in relevant search results.
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THE VAULT
REALLY WILD BUSINESS A DIFFERENT TYPE OF CONSULTANCY BY LUCY GORDON
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teven Shove, the mastermind behind Really Wild tells us how he relates business coaching and consultancy with the great outdoors. Steven Shove is the innovator behind the Really Wild Group, a business coaching, events and consultancy firm with a surprising twist. The business follows the ethos that if they can teach individuals and teams how to survive and thrive in the wild, with few or apparently no resources, then alongside best modern practices, they can certainly teach them how to survive and thrive in the highly competitive world of business. The business founder tells us how his experienced team take pride in meeting the needs of a company. “This often involves taking teams from their offices in the city to beautiful woodlands in the southeast, where the principles
of thriving in the wild are applied to the specific needs of each company, team or individual back in the workplace. Some of our clients travel as far afield as the jungles of Borneo or to the wilds of the Arctic. We cover it all and are looking to do more for senior leadership teams and executives who want to develop their personal and organisational performance in the most exciting and inspiring of ways!� Really Wild Business aids teams from all industries whatever their competitive challenges. These can include the need to improve sales performance, to review their strategic direction, or to develop team working abilities, leadership and management capabilities for example. The Really Wild team has a wealth of experience behind them and tailors each engagement specifically to the needs of that business and ideally each business function and person within it, e.g. sales, strategy, marketing, operations etc.
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“There is no environment more competitive than the Wild! We are passionate about standing out amongst other business coaching and consultancy firms. Others often follow a generic skills development programme. We are all about inspiring people and personalisation, making everything relevant and useful to everyone’s specific function, situation or circumstance. In this way, we get better results that last for longer,” states Steven.
performance and by inspiring people to become the very best they can be, and then equipping them and enabling them to do so with the tools and attitudes needed to succeed, we believe we help people lead more secure, rewarding and fulfilling lives. This can only be good for business and society as a whole.”
Companies regularly suffer from inadequate or inconsistent results. This can lead to cash flow troubles, difficulties with investor confidence and overall growth concerns amongst other more unique issues. “Really Wild is designed around creating tailored programmes. We generate a lasting and profound effect on each singular individual within the companies that we serve. I think that’s invaluable,” explains Steven. Steven’s passion for his service shines through as he describes the organisation’s driving force. “By improving personal and organisational
What can clients expect? The Really Wild ideology is that each programme, (whether a one-day workshop, a weekend-long retreat or an ongoing programme of events, (coaching and consultancy), will deliver lasting results. “The Really Wild experience is about improving performance and creating a cultural change by developing a common value set, language and skills across all functions and hierarchies,” declares the business owner. There is not a more competitive environment than the wild! By taking teams outdoors, they learn to see the competitive world of business and their position within it through new eyes. Eyes that begin to see tremendous opportunity and that appreciate the genuinely competitive nature of the world. Teams learn the consequences of their choices in very real ways and then apply these lessons to their own environments. When should we act? How should we act? With whom we should act? And how can we best manage or create the resources necessary for success? All are examples of the critical questions that are frequently raised during these experiences. Highly engaging activities are interspersed with mentoring and facilitated workshops that apply the lessons learned directly to the business. Such events are usually preceded with a planning engagement to
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make sure everything that is done will be relevant, and then followed up with findings from the event, alongside coaching and consultancy to further help deliver desired results. Really Wild has also collaborated with Bodyshot Performance, a company focused on corporate wellbeing, helping businesses to understand the holistic needs of their staff and why it is essential to nurture the mental health of all individuals in such high-pressure environments, aiding the contribution to a successful work-life balance. “This is an aspect most corporate organisations gloss over, or even forget. Mindful health and mindful business are essential in demanding and stress-inducing industries, and we are eager to get that across throughout our events,” reflects the entrepreneur.
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A Really Wild case study Steven concludes with one of his most valued case studies, A key example of the business’s past work. Steven and his team worked with an organisation with critical questions concerning its strategy and plans for growth, staffing, operational performance and sales performance. “We ran an initial workshop set in the stunning British woodland to engage and inspire each individual and to profile the team in an open and supportive way to ensure each understood the behaviours of the other and to verify that the right people were in the right jobs. We then ran
two further outdoor based strategy development sessions, each interspersed and followed up with inspiring activities and plenary sessions to secure ideas and buy-in from each stakeholder. This was backed up with senior executive and business development/sales coaching support and some consulting around the most key strategic decisions. The strategy was launched successfully. This led to a clear purpose and direction and motivated and well-organised teams that have seen the operation’s revenues grow by about 30 percent and expand very significantly in their geographical reach.”
About Steven
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eally Wild Founding Director, Steven Shove MBA, DipM has a strong background in leadership, team development, sales and strategic business performance amongst a plethora of other skills. The entrepreneur has had a previous career in the world of sales as Vice President of a European office for an American enterprise. The idea for Really Wild was first ignited during the 2009 financial crisis, recognising the need for enterprises to understand the changing environment and how to further mitigate risks by creating more opportunity and better-enabling staff and leaders to achieve their best more consistently and sustainably. Steven is set to release a book entitled ‘Really Wild Success’ that focuses on his unique methodology that can be explicitly applied to a vast array of industries and business functions. The business owner details the fact that modern businesses have more opportunity than ever. How to survive and thrive in business and in life, are the central themes of this incredibly inspiring and practical guide. www.reallywildbusiness.com
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THE VAULT BRANDMAG
A Guide To Berlin The Business Traveller BY ALEX OBERTELLI
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hile each continent, country, nation and city has its own unique history - very few can boast such a fascinatingly tumultuous past as Berlin. What city experienced the 20th Century with more ferocity than Berlin?
In case you were asleep during your history lessons, Berlin used to be divided in two parts, East Berlin and West Berlin, separated by a great stone wall - the Berlin Wall. This wall made travel between East and West Germany impossible until late 1989. On October 3rd 1990, Berlin was reunified, and once again chosen as the capital city of Germany.
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THE VAULT BRANDMAG
Where To Stay Entrepreneurs and those visiting on business should try and secure accommodation in, or near, the Mitte district - as this is where a lot of startups and SME’s are located. It’s a hub of activity. There are plenty of coworking spaces and cafes to work from, in addition to having good transport connections.
Watching the sunrise or sunset here is breathtaking. The glass viewing dome sits on top of ‘Dem Deutschen Volke’ like a futuristic cherry and acts as a spectacular addition to Berlin’s skyline.
Other options outside Mitte include the Raddisson Blu - a hotel housing a large cylindrical fish tank. Yes, really. There’s also Hotel Adlon - the infamous Michael Jackson ‘baby balcony’ hotel.
If you are attending a trade fair or conference at Messe Berlin and have a spare hour between meetings, whizz up the Funkturm, a 1920s radio tower offering great views of the city from its viewing platform. It costs €5 to get in and is open every day from 10am to 11pm (8pm on Mondays). Finally, for those of you looking to replenish your creative juices, we’d suggest hopping on a train to the Eastside Gallery, where one of the last remaining parts of the Berlin Wall has been, err ‘re-decorated’, in a forward thinking and artistic manner.
If you fancy something cultural before or after work, then head to the city’s historic Reichstag building, which is located 10 minutes walking distance away from Friedrichstraße train station. Originally built to house the German Empire (Imperial Diet), the building was opened in 1894 and housed the Diet until 1933. The visitor entrance is on the West side on Scheidemannstraße - and remember to register your application before you arrive, as they only take advanced bookings.
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THE VAULT
NO ASSETS? NO PROBLEM: THE ‘MIDDLEMEN’ BUSINESSES BUILT ON CREATIVITY BEFORE CAPITAL BY ALEX OBERTELLI
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ince the Industrial Revolution in 1760, the world has developed complex supply chains that can be seen in almost every country across the globe. From designers to manufacturers, from distributors to importers, wholesalers and retailers - it’s the progression that has allowed billions of products to be made, shipped, bought and enjoyed globally. Well, this might have all changed. Thanks to the progression of Internet and social technology, we’re now seeing a new wave of visionaries, entrepreneurs and fully operational businesses that are capitalising on being middlemen by fulfilling and anticipating consumer needs. Today, some of the biggest businesses in existence lack major assets. Airbnb and Booking.com own no real estate. Uber owns no cars. Even Facebook, the world’s most popular media platform, creates little to no content. This is because they are the middlemen - the facilitators to enhance or make the customer experience easier, or to solve a digital need. Simply put, the power of the Internet and smartphone technology has unleashed a movement that’s rapidly destroying previous business models and moving power to new places. While moving away from traditional ‘brick and mortar’ type business to online ones still feels like a fairly new concept, many people believe it to be the earliest falling domino in what is set to be a world where the Internet will simply exist as part of everyday interactions. Indeed, right now consumers have to ‘go to’ the Internet or unlock their phones, but by 2030 many entrepreneurs predict that the technology will be integrated seamlessly with daily life, just like the air you’re breathing while reading this article. Presuming the eggheads are right, what does this mean for the future of start-up businesses built from scratch in such a digitally saturated future?
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For me, this restores my faith in the notion that starting a business can be done by any-one with a brilliant idea and a sound work ethic - pouring cold water on the belief that it takes money to start a business. Think of the ‘American Dream’ the idea that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. While that may be less the case now than it was back in 1931 when the term was defined, this new prevalence of successful middlemen businesses shares a similar connotation and sparks similar aspirational feelings.
“Many entrepreneurs today are turning to loans to fund their ventures, but with only 20% of businesses surviving past the first year, this can be a risky approach. Is investing personal time towards a business built on creativity before capital viable enough to consider instead?” Companies like Airbnb and Uber have shown that thinking big doesn’t have to cost big. There is a new power with customer interfaces and businesses that can somehow make the life of the intended consumer easier. The entrepreneurs of tomorrow are the ones that will be thinking about how they can improve a current process for consumers without having to own any major assets. I believe there are significant opportunities for creative minds and cunning entrepreneurs to create hugely successful businesses that address consumer needs - even in incremental ways - that provides some sort of time or money-saving value beyond what exists currently. So. Time to get your thinking cap on?
STORYTELLING WHY GREAT BUSINESSES NEED TO BE GREAT STORYTELLERS
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’m sure you’ve heard the saying “Facts tell, stories sell”? It’s true. Take three sisters who were bringing out a set of make-up brushes. They had not launched yet but had amassed over 100K followers on Instagram and were the no.1 trending topic on Facebook within days of setting up their page. Due to overwhelming demand, they had had to stop taking pre-orders. What was so special about their make-up brushes? They were adaptations of the Harry Potter Wizard Wands! That’s it. Stories sell.
But, what should your brand story be about? When we talk about a brand narrative, we’re talking about what your business exists to do, and crucially, what you help your customers do. Your brand story needs to be about the awesome outcome you give to your customers. Having a narrative that focuses on what they want, what might be holding them back and how you can help them go on to win the day, is what will help you break through the noise. People don’t buy a product or service. They buy the goal, the result, the dream that product or service is going to help them to fulfil. Apple doesn’t talk about the technical specifications of their devices, because limited consumers will understand or care about these details. They tell stories about being creative and thinking differently. Coca-Cola doesn’t talk about their product, its taste and smell. They tell stories of happy times with friends, first loves and teaching the world to sing!
BY SUSAN PAYTON
3 stages of crafting a brand narrative that will connect you with your ideal client Clarify Start by unpacking your stories: Your story. What has led you here, to where you are now and why do you do what you do? Your business story. Why does your business exist? What does it stand for and where is it going? Your customer’s story. Who is your ideal client and what’s happening in their lives right now? What’s their story? Unpacking those individual elements will help you to achieve clarity around the value you deliver and the difference you make to your customers.
Craft Once you have that clarity, you can start to craft the narrative that will engage your target market. It’s important to use words and phrases that will resonate with them. So, listen to them. How do they talk about the problem they have? How is it making them feel? What words do they use to describe the outcome they want to achieve? Craft a narrative that positions you as the business or brand that can help them get there.
Connect If you get the first two stages right and you know who you are talking to, what they want and what language will resonate with them, the people you love working with will start to connect with your messaging and brand. You don’t achieve business connection until you achieve human connection. Storytelling is the most powerful way to initiate that connection very quickly.
About Susan Payton Susan Payton is a story strategist, author, coach, trainer and speaker. Her 7-step framework for crafting a KILLER brand story has helped many business owners create content that engages their dream clients and converts them into paying clients. Find out more at: thebusinessofstories.com/seven-steps-training
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WAR OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS BY LUCY GORDON
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t’s no secret that social media platforms are consistently seeking new and improved features, continually looking to push them ahead of their competitors. Yet, what happens when social platforms go head-to-head? It is a millennial minefield, who will be the next to unleash their nuclear update? It’s war of the social media platforms. The recent copycat epidemic in the social media sphere has seen many platforms introduce features such as live broadcasting and temporary stories or posts. It can be argued that each new feature is at the mercy of big players in the game because surely each social media user wants one app to rule them all?
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The war of social media platforms has already claimed some victims, with specific apps facing an early demise at the hands of fan favourites adopting their “unique” features. Amongst those we lost too soon was Vine, a short video hosting application owned by Twitter that allowed users to generate sixsecond-long looping video clips, the app stopped its services in 2017. Also held by Twitter was the live streaming service, Periscope. Although still used by a small number of users, Twitter has even seemingly abandoned the app, with no significant updates in years. At the heart of the domino effect is Mark Zuckerburg, now having a hand in the development of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Although in his quest for complete social media domination is Zuckerburg merely opening the market for more unique apps to take the lead?
Zuckerburg has tried to buy Snapchat for $3 million in 2013 reportedly, but with a deal not being achieved has Instagram’s recent ‘stories’ feature destroyed the competition? Snapchat has arguably tried to fight back with a recent update, but with platform influencers with a follower count of millions such as, Kylie Jenner abandoning the app, what is left for the image and video focused platform? So, why is this behaviour welcome in the social media sector? It seems monopolising the market is the principal focus of the Facebook founder, and heading lessons from Internet ruler, Google it seems that destroying the competition is the secret to success. Peter Thiel, Facebook’s initial investor, has addressed the theory, stating “In business, money is either an important thing or it is everything. Monopolists can think about things other than making money; nonmonopolists can’t … ” Monopolising an industry is not a new tactic, nor is it groundbreaking. But, with frequent updates, and a recent focus on the Facebook scandal how many of Zuckerburg’s intentions are in the interests of the social media user?
It seems monopolising the market is the principal focus of the Facebook founder, and heading lessons from Internet ruler, Google it seems that destroying the competition is the secret to success. 19
THE VAULT
CHINAS BLACK MIRROR FROM TV SCREENS TO SOCIETY
AUTHOR: ALEX OBERTELLI
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hat if there was a government system in place that rated what kind of citizen you were - by giving you a score out of 10?
No wonder it’s drawing comparisons with the TV show - it’s practically identical.
Well, unbeknownst and a little under the radar, one of China’s governing cabinets publicly called for the creation of such a classification, calling it a ‘credit system that covers the whole society,’ back in 2014. It’s now being rolled out in present-day 2018 via early trials, preventing accused wrongdoers from travelling on trains, planes, and buses - mimicking Black Mirror’s third-season episode ‘Nosedive’ which imagined a world controlled by ratings.
In April 2018 it was revealed that over 12 million people had already been slapped with domestic travel bans as punishment for bad behaviour. While many have claimed this as a breach of human rights, plenty have reversely labelled it as a mere progression of digital technology’s relationship with society.
Various forms of volunteering, donating blood, and recycling can all boost one’s social credit score in China. However, racking up credit card bills or badmouthing the government can leave citizens blacklisted, unable to buy property, take out loans, or engage in some forms of travel. Those punished under the system will also be named and shamed online by having their names listed on websites for up to one week.
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Personally, I was a little on the fence about the whole thing - until I discovered that even minor misdemeanours like obstructing footpaths would negatively impact a citizen’s rating. I mean - imagine if that was rolled out on the London Underground. As someone who considers my rush hour commute a ‘the floor is lava’ style assault course at the best of times, my score would quickly enter the minus numbers.
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Well, we don’t live in China, so we’re fine, right? Well, for now - but is it such a radical suggestion that the West will one day follow suit? Indeed, a socially shallow future might be a far nearer horizon than some would care to acknowledge. In England, as is the case in many other countries, we have Uber ratings, which often determines one’s accessibility to receive a taxi ride to a desired location on the popular transportation app. This score is based entirely on previous encounters with drivers - an opinion of yourself, essentially, by the driver themselves. It is my opinion that the only thing stopping such a widespread system of up and down voting citizens encompassing wider society, in general, is our government. So for me, it all boils down to how much we trust the powers that be. I mean, It’s not like Great Britain is the most spied on country in the world… Oh, wait. Widely touted as the nation with the most CCTV cameras in the world, we indeed have become an incarnation of the nightmare vision George Orwell had when he wrote 1984.
While this notion provides a fairly morbid outlook into the potentially shallow future of tomorrow, I think social media has a lot to answer for.
We are just coming to realise the role it plays in business and personal spheres of life. Digital dramas are rife on social media channels, where consumers tend to portray a desired self rather than a more authentic self. This brings identity conflicts as well as upward self-comparisons to an unauthentic image. I believe that this ‘desired self’ can be mirrored with the ‘desired citizen’ that both the Chinese and fictional Black Mirror government were so clearly in pursuit of. There’s no doubt that social media has been brilliant in providing exposure to brands looking for customers online, and for creating networks where people can interact and engage in content from anywhere in the world - but the darker, socially outcasting side of this media rarely get’s put on trial. Maybe it’s about time it should.
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THE POWER OF AWARDS TURNING AN AWARD WIN INTO A MARKETING OPPORTUNITY
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eceiving an accolade is not only a tremendous personal achievement but also an incredible marketing opportunity that companies and individuals can harness to their advantage. An award win is proof of quality of work and helps to build credibility. It also creates influence and more importantly, trust, which is often lacking in today’s modern market. While many brands struggle to create brand loyalty, an accolade can potentially have a considerable impact on a companies ability to attract and retain both customers and talent alike. Award wins carry a multitude of internal and external benefits that can be turned into a marketing opportunity for the savvy.
INTERNAL ADVANTAGES
EXTERNAL ADVANTAGES
Boosted Morale
PR
A company award win can have a tremendous impact on staff morale, instilling a sense of pride and togetherness. An award can lead to improved engagement levels with staff, which in turn can boost productivity and turnover.
An award win is a great news story for companies to share on their websites and social media, generating positive public relations. Companies can also benefit from displaying the award in public areas and on all business communications.
Recruitment
Credibility
Recruitment is highly competitive, and for companies looking to attract top talent, an award win will assist in their search to find better quality candidates as well as retention of assets.
An award win is effectively an endorsement of the business by a third party, which organically builds trust and credibility. Winning an award also allows a business to stand out from their competitors, giving companies a significant competitive edge while simultaneously building reliability.
Financial Performance With an award win helping companies to build credibility and trust, it can lead to the acquisition of new contracts and improved sales, resulting in an increased turnover.
Corporate Profile In the digital age, creating a strong corporate profile can have tremendous benefits. An award win is recognition of great work and achievements, and it gives validity to a business and their services. An award win also puts a company on the map, ultimately contributing to a strong corporate profile.
THE STATISTICS • A study conducted by the University of Leicester for the British Quality Foundation for Quality Management tracked the financial performance of 120 award-winning companies over an eleven year period and discovered that these businesses showed improvements in financial performance just twelve months after winning their first award. • Three years after an award win, the 120 companies in the study outperformed comparison companies by an average of 17 percent in sales. • Large companies experienced a 40% increase in operating income and a 37 percent growth in sales in comparison to non-winners. Smaller companies experienced a 63% increase in operating income and a 39 percent growth in sales compared to non-winners.
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