Experiences

I love experiences and I'm particularly fascinated by how businesses create them.

I recently went to a couple of new restaurants, Ortolana and Milse in Britomart.

Amazing. As I walk in the door, I can really get the vision and passion behind it. The attention to detail, the passionate staff and the decor. Copper pans, hand made plates and bowls, beautiful wooden table.

Having those experiences makes me even clearer that's what I want to help create more of.

What sort of marketer am I?

I'm having an identity crisis. I'm trying to label the type of marketer that I am so that I can focus in one area.

I can be a soccer player but you're not just the best soccer player. When you're putting together a team, you're picking the best forward, midfielder and defender. Each position has its special skills and training.

The first problem I have is that marketing disciplines aren't really that well defined. Digital marketing is all encompassing. Content marketers in theory will also be video marketing and viral marketing. Social media marketers should also be grounded in customer service strategy.

So perhaps I shouldn't be trying to label myself but first look at what I enjoy doing.

There are a few things that really stand out for me when it comes to marketing.

- innovating and standing out
- building relationships
- creating memorable experiences
- being creative
- creating experiences that involve all the senses
- building brands
- delighting people and putting smiles on faces

What I don't enjoy is:

- repetitive marketing strategies (me too strategies)
- marketing that's solely focused on capturing leads and sales (rather than building communities and delighting customers)
- old fashioned mass advertising vs smart marketing

Perhaps I want to be an experiential marketer? That shoe seems to fit the best so far.

What do I blog about?

It's a question I ask remarkably often. It's funny, it's not the lack of ideas that stops me from writing but quite the opposite.

There are so many ideas that I don't know where to start. I've created this blog as an expression of my ideas and thoughts but it'll also serve to develop my personal brand.

But what do I want my brand to say? I've been blogging about marketing and I've talked about entrepreneurship. I've also thought about blogging about icecream and cars. Regardless of what it is, it's important that it's something I'm passionate about.

For now, I'm going to keep writing and expressing my ideas. This very process of getting it down is helping out. Just keep writing!

Customer Service - Who knew it could be so exciting?

I've been reading an absolutely fantastic book.

It's called "What's the Secret?" by John DiJulius. I've read a lot of books recently and I must say this is right up the top so far.

It's all about customer service and what it means to a business. He's written about the topic so clearly and so practically that it's a must read for anyone that's in business - especially one that deals with the consumer.

Customer service doesn't get the attention it deserves. It has the power to completely cripple your business or send you flying head and shoulders above your competition. In practice, it can be completely free yet yield you the best return out of any marketing activity.

Based on his research, John DiJulius states that 79% of companies reach a customer service level of average at best. 18% are above average and only 3% are excellent.

It's hard to impress a customer that expects and consistently receive excellent customer service but given those statistics. You don't really need to do much extra to impress...

Social media - where do we find the time?

It's the way things are heading. That's what a lot of experts are saying and I don't disagree.

Facebook's graph search is going to be a very valuable new service and I'm looking forward to giving it a go. If you don't know about it already, it'll allow to do a search such as "pizza restaurants that my friends in Auckland like" using information already captured in Facebook.

This is an important development, one that Google isn't currently capable of providing. It draws on social information to help you make choices that are already validated by your friends.

As our online world becomes more social, that's where we must direct our attention and therein lies my dilemma. There's so much opportunity to network, to start building a profile for myself as a marketer but how do we fit it all in?


A little at a time. Right now, I keep mindful of this blog at the back of my mind and I make sure I post regularly. It takes discipline and when I get started, it takes a surprisingly short amount of time.

I'm taking one step at a time, forming a habit. I think of it like an investment.