Ever wondered how to master digital-first marketing? Join me as we explore the transformative world of digital marketing in my latest episode! This week, I introduce my fifth book, Digital Threads: The Small Business and Entrepreneur Playbook for Digital-First Marketing.
I literally do a reading of the introduction and first chapter of the book to help set the stage of how the Covid-19 pandemic reshaped consumer behavior, pushing businesses to adopt a digital-first approach. I help you unlock insights on navigating the new digital landscape, with a special focus on creating genuine connections online.
Grab a free preview of my new book here: https://nealschaffer.com/free-preview-ebook-digital-threads/
and join my Kickstarter campaign for exclusive rewards here: https://nealschaffer.com/kickstarter
Stay ahead, stay digital â check it out now!
Grab a copy of Digital Threads during its Kickstarter pre-sales campaign here; https://nealschaffer.com/kickstarter
Learn More:
- Join My Digital First Mastermind: https://nealschaffer.com/membership/
- Learn about My Fractional CMO Consulting Services: https://nealschaffer.com/cmo
- Download My Free Ebooks Here: https://nealschaffer.com/freebies/
- Subscribe to my YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/nealschaffer
- All My Podcast Show Notes: https://podcast.nealschaffer.com
Speaker 1: Digital Threads the small business and entrepreneur
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playbook for digital-first marketing.
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This is my next, fifth book that I've been working on for
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several months that I'm excited to introduce to you on this
00:00:15
special edition of the your Digital Marketing Coach podcast.
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Speaker 2: Digital social media content, influencer marketing,
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blogging, podcasting, vlogging, tiktoking, linkedin, twitter,
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facebook, instagram, youtube, seo, sem, ppc, email marketing
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there's a lot to cover.
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Whether you're a marketing professional, entrepreneur or
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business owner, you need someone you can rely on for expert
00:00:44
advice.
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Good thing you've got Neil on your side, because Neil Schaefer
00:00:50
is your digital marketing coach , helping you grow your business
00:00:57
with digital first marketing, one episode at a time.
00:01:01
This is your digital marketing coach and this is Neil Schafer.
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Speaker 1: Hey everybody, this is your digital marketing coach,
00:01:11
neil Schafer.
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Welcome to episode number 372 of this podcast.
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I'd like to begin with the latest in industry news, a few
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interesting things going on vis-a-vis Google.
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For those of you that don't know, google has reversed their
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stance on third-party cookies.
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So originally, cookies that allow us to retarget around the
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web via ads and be able to use cookies for other purposes.
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There was going to be a move by Google to really stop using
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these altogether, which would have made it really hard to do a
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lot of things that we're used to doing in digital advertising,
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but Google has now reversed their policy.
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So it's still important to stay compliant with privacy
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regulations like GDPR and CCPA, and obviously you want to
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continue to collect first-party data, but this means that life
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will continue as usual for those of us that are doing digital
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advertising.
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So I think that was very positive news.
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In other, I believe, positive news, google saw their search
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revenue grow by 14% in Q2 of 2024.
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They saw just increase in search ads in both mobile and
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desktop and in YouTube ads, so I think this is a very strong
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number.
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That shows that there is still a lot of businesses advertising
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on Google for a lot of good reasons.
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Right, there's tremendous ROI that could be had through
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digital advertising and, despite the emergence of generative AI,
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the fact that Google is still able to serve ads and benefit
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the businesses that are advertising there.
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I think that's a really positive sign for the industry.
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On another note, there was a very, very interesting article
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from Marketing Charts that really detailed this report from
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an organization called YouGov.
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Now, obviously, depending on the generation that you want to
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reach, you need to choose the right social media site.
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So it should come as no surprise that only 13% of weekly
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Facebook users in the US are of Gen Z.
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I was actually surprised to hear that there were that many.
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On the other hand, baby boomers and Gen Xers make up 56% of its
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weekly users, and Snapchat and TikTok amongst younger users
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comprise 75 and 71%.
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So very, very interesting to see that there's actually more
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younger users on TikTok than there are older users on
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Facebook.
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But if you want the latest data in terms of demographics and
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social networks, make sure you check out marketingchartscom.
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Obviously, if you sign up to my weekly newsletter,
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neilschafercom slash newsletter, you will get all the links and
00:03:53
information included in this latest news.
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These are just some of the things that I am looking at Some
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of the other things that I talk about in the newsletter this
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week are Google sharing tips on improving SEO through internal
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links.
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I think that this should be common sense, but if not and
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you're looking for some SEO advice, I found that to be solid
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advice.
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I am very big on internal linking for a lot of reasons and
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I do it religiously at my own site, neilschafercom.
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Also an interesting article from SEMrush on AI for Facebook ads.
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I have been doing a new campaign for Facebook ads for
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the special preview edition of Digital Threads.
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That is a special free preview that you can download, and I'll
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make sure to include that link in the show notes as well.
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And I could go into ChatGPT, upload the creative and say
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please make a title description and all in the headline and all
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the other things that you need for Facebook ads, and ChatGPT
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thought they did a really good job of doing that for five
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different variations based on the different visual aspects of
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each of those five ads.
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This is using ChachiBT's latest 4.0 version.
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The article actually goes into a tool that I have mentioned on
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my own blog called adcreativeai that actually will go ahead and
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create the visuals for your Facebook ad using AI as well.
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So this is how far we've come with AI, as you can imagine, and
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I thought it was a really, really great article from
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SEMrush.
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Once again, all this is saving us time and potentially
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improving quality so that we can invest our time and resources
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in maybe more important things for us as marketers and as
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entrepreneurs and business people.
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So those are the highlights for this week.
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Once again, neilschafercom slash newsletter if you're not
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part of my newsletter subscribers.
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On personal news, I just came back from a week in Tokyo.
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I did a presentation on digital threads for the first time, and
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in Japanese, no less, but that went over really well.
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It's very interesting to see how certain chapters resonate
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with certain audiences.
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This was a B2B marketing group people in the software industry.
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A lot of people in SaaS marketers were there, and Japan
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is still really far behind when it comes to digital marketing in
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B2B and the chapter that really resonated with them was
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actually the one on own media, on creating a library of content
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.
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Really really interesting to hear people talk about that.
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After that event, I also did a guest lecture at a university
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there, and it's a unique university filled with students
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that really take four years of entrepreneurship classes with
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the idea that after four years they're going to launch their
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own company.
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So very excited to speak in front of young entrepreneurs,
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went through digital Threads and also introduced my next book
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after Digital Threads, which is going to be on LinkedIn, and as
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part of my time there they actually had to create a
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LinkedIn profile from scratch.
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So really good to see them progress on that.
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I also met with a potential Japanese publisher for Digital
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Threads and that was very positive as well.
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So, all in all, a very, very targeted few days in Tokyo, but
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time well spent Back here, a little jet lagged but excited to
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be moving forward with my own book.
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And if you are subscribed to my newsletter, you will know that
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the Kickstarter has officially launched.
00:07:20
So if you go to neilschafercom slash Kickstarter, you will be
00:07:24
forwarded to the Kickstarter that actually has already been
00:07:28
funded.
00:07:28
So I set a fairly low goal of $500 because to me it's not
00:07:33
about the amount of money, but really getting this book into
00:07:35
the hands of my fans as soon as possible, and that launched on
00:07:39
my way to Tokyo, literally at the LA airport, and I'm really
00:07:43
happy to announce that five days ago it already reached this
00:07:46
$500 goal and we're now above $600.
00:07:49
I have created what are called stretch goals, so if we reach a
00:07:54
thousand dollars, I am going to be including a free one hour.
00:07:58
Ask me anything, zoom call.
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That is just for the backers of my campaign.
00:08:03
So if you haven't backed it yet , there's never been a greater
00:08:07
time.
00:08:08
It ends on August 8th, but once again, this will give you a
00:08:12
chance to get this book in your hands, in your ears, in your
00:08:16
Kindle device or any other ebook device before anyone else does,
00:08:20
as the tentative date for selling this on Amazon and
00:08:22
worldwide is going to be October 1st.
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So head over to neilschafercom slash Kickstarter if you want to
00:08:29
back the campaign and, with that said, today's episode, just
00:08:33
like I did.
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Well, it's been four years since I introduced you all to the Age
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of Influence.
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I wonder how many of you were listening back then, in the
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midst of COVID, when I introduced that book.
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I want to give you a formal introduction to digital threads
00:08:46
by actually reading you some portions of it to give you a
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feel for the book.
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So, as I've mentioned before, this book really is about my
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experience as a fractional CMO since the days of COVID, really
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since publishing the Age of Influence.
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So I'd like to read to you the introduction and then chapter
00:09:06
one of part one.
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This book actually has 20 different chapters in it and the
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chapters one and two are really setting the stage for what the
00:09:16
book is going to be about.
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If you go to my Kickstarter page, you can actually see the
00:09:20
table of contents to get a better feel, and actually on
00:09:23
that Kickstarter page there is a link that will allow you to
00:09:26
download the free preview.
00:09:27
So make sure you check that out .
00:09:29
But let me give you a little taste of what this book is going
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to be about and hopefully just this reading alone will serve
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you in other ways, without your even needing to potentially buy
00:09:39
the book, which obviously I hope you do.
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But that is optional.
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So here we go.
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I've yet to record the audio book for this book, so this is
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going to be good practice as well and really give you a feel
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for what the audio book is going to sound like.
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So introduction how the heck am I supposed to promote my new
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book from my home office in lockdown?
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Like you, I also struggled with juggling all the aspects of
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digital marketing to grow my business.
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My journey of writing this book began when my last book, the
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Age of Influence was published on March 17th 2020.
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Perfect timing, right that week , for those that don't remember
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saw most of the world grind to a halt with the pandemic Two days
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later my hometown and all of California would go into
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mandatory lockdown.
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Our post-pandemic lives will never go back to how they were.
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One lasting result has been the acceleration of the digital
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consumer.
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This brings new challenges for established companies.
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It has also led to a landscape full of opportunities for those
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entrepreneurs and small businesses who smartly pivot.
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The COVID-19 restrictions affected companies and consumers
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in different ways.
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Companies could no longer count on people to come to their
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stores and were forced to shift more to the digital realm.
00:10:51
Communicating with customers and potential clients became a
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purely online, digital-first proposition.
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On the other side of the transaction, consumers were
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engaging with companies in new ways while turning their time
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and resources to be more present online.
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These shifts in consumer culture won't go back into the
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box.
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They're loose.
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They're already spurring the next change in culture.
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Social media had been around for well over a decade before the
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pandemic lockdowns.
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As people, we had already become accustomed to
00:11:21
communicating there.
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As companies, we had acclimated to it.
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The lockdown came at the time of TikTok's emergence, perhaps
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playing into it.
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Now we become used to consuming what marketers commonly call
00:11:34
short-form videos.
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Authentic and raw content is in .
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Aspirational content is out.
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Influencers like to be called content creators.
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Now those shifts in the culture presented challenges to every
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business, including my own.
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Because of the emerging lockdowns, I had to find other
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ways to promote my new book.
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Book tours were out.
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My usual speaking engagements were canceled.
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Some moved online, but the engagement and ability to
00:12:00
connect with attendees was just not the same.
00:12:02
At the time of that first lockdown, I had advised and
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taught others for over a decade on how to use social media for
00:12:09
marketing.
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The pandemic, coinciding with the release of my book, meant I
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had to re-examine my own marketing strategies.
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I realized I hadn't covered my own digital basis.
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In fact, apart from social media, they've been long
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neglected, without the ability to meet people face-to-face and
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engage with them at conferences.
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I had no choice but to adopt a digital-first approach myself.
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I defined the concept digital-first marketing as a
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mindset that forces us to think about how we can build and grow
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our businesses.
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If we had to do it 100% digitally In a virtual world
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with a virtual store which is what some retail outlets felt
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like during the pandemic how would you promote your business?
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You would primarily, if not solely, conduct your marketing
00:12:53
online.
00:12:53
This places digital marketing as the first step, not an
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afterthought.
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To adapt to this isn't to prepare for another pandemic.
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It's about adapting to the digital reality of today.
00:13:05
From my home office in Southern California, I had no choice but
00:13:08
to explore other strategies I hadn't seriously considered
00:13:11
before to promote my book.
00:13:12
This gave me a chance to see the world of marketing in a new
00:13:16
and refreshing way.
00:13:17
While some marketers might have been jaded by old school
00:13:20
digital marketing, such as search engine optimization and
00:13:22
email marketing, I found a value in them that had been forgotten
00:13:27
with the emergence of social media.
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Clients that I worked with over that time were in a similar
00:13:32
position.
00:13:32
After reading the Age of Influence, they wanted to reset
00:13:35
their own marketing to capitalize on social media and
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leverage the power of influencer marketing.
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In many cases, they were not in the position to do that.
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They just didn't have the marketing infrastructure in
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place with the other essential tools of a strategy to deal with
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a digital first world.
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Some were playing, or I should say some were using old
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strategies to play catch up.
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It was like trying to build upon an already unstable Jenga
00:14:01
tower, trying to throw a rope across a river to make a bridge
00:14:05
without making sure the footing was secure.
00:14:07
The foundation was simply not there to make a powerful push
00:14:10
with newer strategies.
00:14:11
The new landscape doesn't allow that.
00:14:15
This is when I also realized that there was an order of
00:14:17
digital marketing tactics that would allow for the greatest
00:14:20
growth.
00:14:20
There was an inherent synergy, when one step was taken before
00:14:24
the next, that they naturally prepped the next stage for
00:14:28
success.
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The concept behind digital threads and how the chapters
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would be laid out in this book in a certain order, was born.
00:14:35
Now businesses, on the other hand, were looking for a
00:14:39
shortcut to a digital presence.
00:14:40
They wanted to build up one marketing channel while locking
00:14:43
presence on other essential channels.
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This would only lead to imbalance and hurt the overall
00:14:49
effectiveness of their efforts.
00:14:51
Now, all of my fractional CMO clients are different.
00:14:54
They range from solopreneurs to small business owners to
00:14:57
executives at larger companies.
00:14:58
Some are content creators looking to expand into
00:15:01
entrepreneurship.
00:15:02
Others are established industry leaders looking for a way to
00:15:08
expand their reach and understand that what worked
00:15:10
yesterday won't work tomorrow.
00:15:10
There's no cookie cutter approach to such a wide range of
00:15:13
needs over a wide range of industries and audiences.
00:15:16
What is common, though, is the need to communicate effectively
00:15:20
on many levels with their customers and prospects.
00:15:23
Through this varied work, I realized that executing these
00:15:27
things in a specific order is crucial for maximum
00:15:30
effectiveness.
00:15:32
When clients came to me, I felt like a doctor, diagnosing what
00:15:36
was missing, what was causing the imbalance and illness.
00:15:39
I would prescribe the course of action to take.
00:15:41
There was an engagement deficiency when they thought
00:15:45
posting more would help.
00:15:45
The proper solution was working more in integrating their
00:15:49
message across platforms, or they could engage their email
00:15:52
list, or perhaps they had neglected building an email list
00:15:54
.
00:15:54
I would find these sorts of gaps in what the clients wanted
00:15:58
to achieve and the digital avenues they were using to get
00:16:01
there.
00:16:01
Many would come to me with a desire to do influencer
00:16:05
marketing.
00:16:05
They'd read my book and seen the power it could generate.
00:16:08
But when we dug deeper into their objectives, I could guide
00:16:11
them to other digital marketing channels that would get them
00:16:13
quicker to their desired reach and audience.
00:16:17
There is not one quick fix solution to all your marketing
00:16:20
problems.
00:16:20
By just working with influencers or engaging on
00:16:23
TikTok or injecting more ad spend, you will only address one
00:16:27
part of your issue.
00:16:28
To be most effective, there are multiple digital threads that
00:16:31
need to be understood, implemented and, ideally, woven
00:16:34
together for maximum impact.
00:16:36
When you engage all of them meaningfully and with intent,
00:16:41
then your digital marketing strategy will be strong.
00:16:43
Doing them in the correct order will make your strategy even
00:16:46
more impactful.
00:16:47
The world and consumers have changed.
00:16:50
The channels for truly communicating your message have
00:16:53
also changed.
00:16:54
These are the digital threads that hold the secrets for growth
00:16:58
through digital marketing.
00:16:59
This book will focus on the specifics of each digital thread
00:17:03
that will determine the destiny of your digital-first marketing
00:17:06
.
00:17:06
While you might be tempted to skip ahead, I urge you to read
00:17:11
in its intended flow so that you also make sure that you don't
00:17:14
have any gaps of your own in your marketing infrastructure.
00:17:17
And, by the way, I have also invested the time to put
00:17:21
together a companion workbook featuring over 70 exercises that
00:17:25
will help you brainstorm ideas, internalize what you learn in
00:17:28
this book and ultimately effectively implement what I
00:17:32
teach you so that your business can reap the benefits of digital
00:17:35
threads book.
00:17:37
You will get access to this workbook, which I will be
00:17:41
providing the ebook version of for free.
00:17:43
The paperback workbook will be for sale on Kickstarter and on
00:17:51
Amazon, so that introduction should give you a feel as to why
00:17:53
I'm writing the book and the background.
00:17:54
I now want to read you just this very first chapter to give you
00:17:57
a feel on where the book is going to go.
00:18:00
So this is my part, one which I call begin, and what I'm trying
00:18:05
to do is really create a playbook.
00:18:06
If you're a startup, or starting from scratch if you go
00:18:09
in order, but if you already are established in marketing or
00:18:13
with your company's marketing, this book is really meant to be
00:18:17
a refresher or a way of thinking about resetting what you're
00:18:20
doing, to try to glean new knowledge and really go to new
00:18:24
heights with your digital marketing.
00:18:26
So that's why part one is called Begin, and I begin with a
00:18:29
quote, and I begin all of my parts and chapters with quotes.
00:18:32
This one comes from JP Morgan.
00:18:34
The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you're
00:18:37
not going to stay where you are, and this is very much one of
00:18:40
the themes of digital threads is that you want to change, you
00:18:43
want to implement positive change and you want to think
00:18:47
about these old technologies and old strategies in a brand new
00:18:51
way.
00:18:51
So chapter one is called the new digital landscape of today,
00:18:56
and I go a little bit further into defining what this is.
00:18:58
The quote to begin this chapter , one of my favorites is the
00:19:02
boxer, mike Tyson.
00:19:03
Everyone has a plan until they get.
00:19:05
So I'll begin reading this chapter.
00:19:09
The marketing landscape is always in motion.
00:19:12
It is always shifting.
00:19:13
Sometimes these shifts move slowly like tectonic plates New
00:19:18
media, new platforms, new strategies and new audiences are
00:19:21
always emerging.
00:19:22
Other times it's faster A complete ground shift that
00:19:26
causes us to reconsider our footing and the wider landscape
00:19:30
we stand on.
00:19:30
Businesses are always playing catch up with the needs and
00:19:34
habits of their customers.
00:19:35
Without aggressively and constantly changing your
00:19:38
approach, you leave money on the table and risk losing share to
00:19:42
your competitors.
00:19:42
This is as true for marketing as it is for other aspects of
00:19:46
business.
00:19:46
These digital threads are not an option in modern marketing.
00:19:50
They represent the new playbook that empowers successful
00:19:54
businesses today.
00:19:56
The cost of not adapting is the risk of being left behind in
00:19:59
what worked yesterday.
00:20:00
You might maintain your sales volume, but that often comes at
00:20:05
a cost of losing market share and visibility.
00:20:07
Sometimes it's a setback, sometimes it's bigger.
00:20:10
Even famous empires have fallen this way.
00:20:13
Sears, for those that remember the American department store,
00:20:17
ruled the mail order world to where their name was synonymous
00:20:20
with catalog ordering.
00:20:21
When the internet wound its web everywhere, sears failed to
00:20:25
shift to the online world, leaving the space where Amazon
00:20:28
took root.
00:20:28
Blockbuster suffered a similar fate when they failed to adapt
00:20:32
to the possibilities of online streaming.
00:20:34
Consumer preferences and new technologies also caused Kodak,
00:20:39
a once household name synonymous with cameras, to be barely
00:20:42
remembered today.
00:20:43
Remember how dominant Motorola, nokia and BlackBerry were in
00:20:47
cell phones.
00:20:48
The list goes on and on and on.
00:20:51
The acceleration of change.
00:20:52
The COVID-19 pandemic saw an acceleration to the shifts that
00:20:56
were already underway in modern consumer culture.
00:20:58
Technology was in place for more remote work and online
00:21:02
meetings.
00:21:02
The shift to online shopping over the previous two decades
00:21:06
meant that infrastructure and consumer trust were both in
00:21:09
place for the shift to a larger digital economy.
00:21:11
Over the pandemic, trust in online research had grown on the
00:21:15
back of the shift to being comfortable on social media With
00:21:18
so much time in lockdown.
00:21:19
People shifted to consuming even more online content, and
00:21:23
there was more of it in more engaging formats to consume.
00:21:26
This shift was already on the way.
00:21:28
It was in 2019, the year before the pandemic, when digital
00:21:32
marketing spend overtook traditional marketing spend.
00:21:35
In just five years, from 2017 to 2022, the percentage of
00:21:40
marketing budgets spent on digital advertising globally
00:21:43
increased from just under 40% to almost 54%.
00:21:47
Part of the shift was the change in budgets during the
00:21:49
pandemic, but it was a movement that was already happening Over
00:21:53
the first two plus decades of the 21st century.
00:21:56
We have all changed how we communicate.
00:21:58
We have changed what content we consume and how we consume it.
00:22:01
In the wild days of the dial-up internet in the 1990s, we were
00:22:05
told to be careful what we shared.
00:22:06
Online, we hid our addresses and real names.
00:22:09
Now we openly share every moment of our lives, while
00:22:13
online we upload photos, share our opinions, tell our friends
00:22:16
all we are doing, we order everything from groceries to
00:22:20
clothing and electronics to be delivered right to our friend
00:22:22
door.
00:22:23
We use apps to pay friends and often share our transactions in
00:22:27
public, like we do on Venmo.
00:22:29
The infrastructure was already in place to make this future
00:22:33
viable.
00:22:33
The pandemic made it a necessity for the present.
00:22:36
The speed of change and of transition, of acceptance in the
00:22:40
digital world doesn't even touch on the tremendous growth
00:22:43
of generative AI.
00:22:44
Since the lockdowns have ended Opportunities and challenges.
00:22:47
Like any other time in history, changes bring both challenges
00:22:53
and or opportunities, depending on if you see a glass being half
00:22:56
full or half empty.
00:22:57
This changed landscape means that you can now communicate
00:23:00
with and ship directly to customers, but it's not so
00:23:04
straightforward.
00:23:05
Consumers are now more skeptical.
00:23:07
99% of consumers today research products before buying them and
00:23:11
87% do so regularly or always, a number that has actually
00:23:16
increased compared to pre-pandemic behavior.
00:23:18
Consumers find more information through reviews online, through
00:23:22
social media posts, youtube reviews and, yes, even TikTok
00:23:26
videos, rather than going to stores to look at a product.
00:23:29
The post-pandemic consumer will engage other digital and online
00:23:33
avenues to make their decision.
00:23:35
And even when they are in a store, a majority of shoppers
00:23:39
will go online to read reviews.
00:23:41
The consumer's approach has truly become digital first.
00:23:44
Our online presence persists even when we are offline.
00:23:48
The opportunity to engage in a digital first approach puts your
00:23:52
brand or business in a strong position right in front of the
00:23:55
consumer.
00:23:56
The challenge is to do this in an authentic and meaningful way
00:23:59
that actually engages your customer.
00:24:01
If you are still doing things in the pre-pandemic way for no
00:24:05
other reason that that's how it's always been done then
00:24:08
you're already behind.
00:24:09
Jumping into social media marketing or relying solely on
00:24:12
influencers to transition into the post-pandemic reality is
00:24:16
simply not enough.
00:24:17
You need to establish a solid foundation in this new landscape
00:24:21
.
00:24:21
Just throwing money at it won't suffice.
00:24:23
The argument parallels the shift to working at home.
00:24:26
Nimble companies will take advantage of the shift.
00:24:29
They will find opportunities to enrich their team.
00:24:31
Some will take longer.
00:24:33
Others will lack the imagination to make this new
00:24:38
reality part of their infrastructure and they risk
00:24:39
losing their workforce to organizations able to engage in
00:24:42
the new reality for their employees.
00:24:44
The new landscape is unfamiliar.
00:24:46
It takes a new outlook to adapt , but therein lies the
00:24:49
opportunity.
00:24:50
Outlook to adapt, but therein lies the opportunity.
00:24:54
You need a digital-first approach to leverage all the
00:24:56
different opportunities that the digital threads give you to
00:24:57
engage in the buyer's journey.
00:24:58
Don't throw it all out.
00:25:00
Building new infrastructure in an unfamiliar landscape should
00:25:04
still follow the principles that have proven effective in the
00:25:07
past.
00:25:07
They just won't work in the same way as before.
00:25:10
I've often said that social media replaces nothing, yet
00:25:13
complements everything.
00:25:14
This philosophy can also apply to the well-known marketing
00:25:18
framework of the four Ps and digital media.
00:25:21
The four Ps cover those workhorses of marketing, product
00:25:25
price, place and promotion In a digital first approach.
00:25:29
The first two of these pretty much remain the same.
00:25:31
Of course, there's some changes in product when you can adapt,
00:25:34
such as offering unique digital products like subscriptions
00:25:38
besides one-off purchases.
00:25:40
At their core, though, those two really don't change too much
00:25:43
.
00:25:43
Meeting your customers in the right place is essential.
00:25:47
Now that place in a digital-first world world is
00:25:50
primarily and ever increasingly online.
00:25:53
Sure, there are more e-commerce marketplaces where you can
00:25:56
promote your product in, but it is more than that.
00:25:59
There are social media platforms and search engines.
00:26:01
With TikTok or YouTube, social media is quickly becoming its
00:26:05
own search engine and with TikTok Shop, its own marketplace
00:26:09
, generating an estimated $20 billion in sales in 2023.
00:26:14
We still go to retail stores or a trendy temporary physical
00:26:18
pop-up shop, but once again, these are also primarily being
00:26:22
promoted digitally.
00:26:23
The biggest mindset shift for most businesses, however, must
00:26:27
take place regarding the final P promotion.
00:26:31
Traditionally, people have looked at promotion as a
00:26:33
one-to-many affair.
00:26:34
The thinking was to blast your messages through TV, radio,
00:26:37
magazine, newspapers and even digital ads to disrupt viewers,
00:26:41
hoping to gain eyeballs and sales.
00:26:43
Much has been said of how disruptive traditional marketing
00:26:46
has been.
00:26:47
This has led the modern consumer to fast forward where
00:26:50
possible during ad breaks and try their best to divert their
00:26:53
attention away from that very disruption.
00:26:55
The message is an ad, it sticks out and it's not what the
00:27:00
consumer willingly wants to consume.
00:27:02
Obviously, this attention-seeking approach still
00:27:05
works to some extent in many of the traditional channels, but
00:27:08
in social media, which is one of the most important channels in
00:27:11
digital marketing, this approach will often be simply a waste of
00:27:15
your time and budget, even when it appears to be performing.
00:27:18
Diverting your efforts into other digital threads might have
00:27:21
yielded better results for the same budget.
00:27:24
Not that paid social or paid media.
00:27:27
Via social media advertising does not work.
00:27:29
It is an important digital thread, but it is not a shortcut
00:27:32
.
00:27:32
Every marketer knows that promoting to your customers, or
00:27:35
even a warm audience, will always produce better results
00:27:39
than advertising to a cold audience.
00:27:41
The importance of relationship manifests itself in other ways.
00:27:45
The most effective type of marketing for centuries has been
00:27:48
, and continues to be, relationship-driven
00:27:52
word-of-mouth marketing.
00:27:53
There is no better place for that to happen at scale than in
00:27:56
social media.
00:27:57
While it happens on rare occasion, though, your social
00:28:01
media ads will not generate the word-of-mouth at scale that
00:28:04
organic content can.
00:28:06
That was never their intention.
00:28:07
There has always been a relationship aspect to promotion
00:28:11
.
00:28:11
The online world means that those relationships are now
00:28:15
digital.
00:28:15
It's with people who are in different places around the
00:28:18
world, giving you the opportunity to connect and scale
00:28:21
outside your own local influence.
00:28:23
The promotion is done with social media, the town halls and
00:28:27
meeting places of the post-pandemic world.
00:28:29
New rules for relationships.
00:28:35
To be effective in communicating your message in a digital-first
00:28:37
world, you need to build relationships not just with
00:28:38
people but with algorithms, another critical digital thread
00:28:41
to master.
00:28:41
Search engines and social media networks are driven by
00:28:45
algorithms.
00:28:45
It is essential, then, to understand how to best put your
00:28:49
content in terms that help the algorithm show it to the right
00:28:52
people.
00:28:53
In the 1890s, almond Brown Stroger was working as an
00:28:57
undertaker and noticed he was losing business.
00:28:59
He traced the cause of this to the phone operator in Indiana
00:29:03
where he was working.
00:29:04
The phone operator just happened to be the wife of his
00:29:08
competitor.
00:29:09
Anytime there was a call that came through and asked to be
00:29:12
connected to an undertaker service, the phone operator
00:29:15
would divert the call to her husband a town over, instead of
00:29:18
Stroger.
00:29:18
That would be an influential relationship to have, and it
00:29:22
affected Stroger's business so much that he, with the help of
00:29:25
his nephew and others, created the first automatic
00:29:29
electromechanical telephone exchange.
00:29:31
Now, unlike Strauger, you're not in the position to cut out
00:29:35
the middleman, the algorithm that shows your competitors'
00:29:38
content.
00:29:38
Instead, you must understand and embrace the way it works
00:29:43
Analog skills in the digital world.
00:29:46
Another thing that I have been saying for a decade regarding
00:29:49
social media applies equally to digital-first marketing New
00:29:53
tools, old rules, while the shift is to the digital-first
00:29:57
world.
00:29:57
Communicating to people, even online, is most effective when
00:30:01
we communicate as people, as humans.
00:30:04
This is even truer with the emergence of bots and artificial
00:30:07
intelligence that can easily create content.
00:30:10
Trying to create something that will go viral is not about
00:30:13
making something shiny and digital for the masses.
00:30:15
It is about wanting to communicate with one person
00:30:18
genuinely and effectively.
00:30:20
Naturally, we hope it goes beyond that one person to many.
00:30:24
During the pandemic, when we couldn't communicate
00:30:26
face-to-face or in-person, consumers moved online, but they
00:30:29
still wanted a human interaction.
00:30:31
Consumers purchased more from those companies who could
00:30:34
connect earnestly.
00:30:35
It was communicating on a level that worked on an individual
00:30:39
level.
00:30:39
The numbers reflect this.
00:30:41
90% of people buy from brands they follow on social media.
00:30:45
63% of consumers state that the quality of customer service in
00:30:49
social media significantly affects their brand loyalty.
00:30:50
47% of consumers state that the quality of customer service in
00:30:51
social media significantly affects their brand loyalty.
00:30:52
47% of consumers have actually made a purchase through social
00:30:56
media.
00:30:56
79% of people say UGC, or content generated by social
00:31:02
media users, highly affects their purchasing decisions.
00:31:06
Another aspect that bears mentioning here they need to be
00:31:08
more relatable and authentic, especially when trying to win
00:31:11
the hearts and wallets of younger customers.
00:31:14
A viewer of one of my recent live streams reminded me of this
00:31:17
aspect when they commented that I seem more approachable in my
00:31:21
work-from-home t-shirt apparel than in the black suit and royal
00:31:24
blue book.
00:31:25
Brothers dress shirt I use on my social media profiles and
00:31:28
website.
00:31:29
Brother's dress shirt I use on my social media profiles and
00:31:33
website.
00:31:33
When we stop thinking about social media as a place to
00:31:34
promote, but as an excellent venue to relate, you will
00:31:36
understand the potential that this digital thread can have for
00:31:39
your business.
00:31:40
The takeaway is that it is essential.
00:31:43
We need to develop ways to stay human while being in a digital
00:31:46
world.
00:31:47
So are the four Ps product, place, price and promotion still
00:31:51
relevant, absolutely, and so are the other tenets of
00:31:55
marketing.
00:31:55
But since the consumer and how and where they consume content
00:31:59
has progressed, so must we.
00:32:01
The place to meet your customers is online.
00:32:04
It is digital first, and it is on social media.
00:32:07
Promoting a product is not about simply putting your
00:32:09
product online.
00:32:10
That is not enough.
00:32:12
You need to work with the algorithm to be found.
00:32:14
You need to engage on social media platforms to join
00:32:17
conversations and use social media the way it is intended to
00:32:21
be used.
00:32:23
Digital Threads is about adapting these principles for
00:32:25
the post-COVID world.
00:32:26
It is about weaving together the tools at our disposal to
00:32:30
make the fabric of your marketing flexible and
00:32:32
hard-wearing.
00:32:33
Approaching your marketing with a digital-first philosophy does
00:32:36
not mean throwing the old marketing tenets out the window.
00:32:39
These fundamental principles are integral, for good reason.
00:32:43
They've stood the test of time.
00:32:44
There are trends that come and go, but principles underpin
00:32:48
marketing through all climates and landscapes.
00:32:50
But if there was ever a time to pivot for the survival and
00:32:54
renewed growth of your business, now is it.
00:32:58
Key takeaways the groundwork was in place for what sped up
00:33:01
during the pandemic a move to a digital first approach.
00:33:04
While the core principles of marketing remain, the landscape
00:33:08
of interaction and its locations have undergone a permanent
00:33:11
transformation.
00:33:12
The essential ways of communicating between people
00:33:16
have not changed, but the places and methods have.
00:33:19
It is now a digital first world Companion workbook exercises
00:33:25
1.1, how much do you buy online?
00:33:27
1.2, how much research do you do online.
00:33:31
And this is very much the format of every chapter.
00:33:34
I have key takeaways at the end , a few bullet points and then
00:33:37
an introduction to the companion workbook exercises that
00:33:42
basically I've created for every single chapter.
00:33:44
So digital threads is very much a tactical playbook.
00:33:48
But just like in all of my presentations if you were to
00:33:52
hear me speak in person.
00:33:53
We need to reset the mindset we need.
00:33:56
That is when we get into rethinking the meaning of search
00:34:14
engine optimization, of email marketing, of social media and
00:34:17
then, with that new knowledge and new mindset, we go into the
00:34:20
remainder of the book, which are all extremely tactical,
00:34:23
playbook style chapters and advice.
00:34:26
So I hope you enjoyed that preview to Digital Threads.
00:34:29
Once again, if you go to neilschafercom slash Kickstarter
00:34:32
before August 8th, you can back the campaign and get an early
00:34:36
edition with special discounts.
00:34:38
For instance, every paper book order includes a free ebook copy
00:34:43
and you can get the Digital Threads Companion Workbook the
00:34:47
PDF version of that for free immediately as well.
00:34:50
So hope you'll check that out and you'll join me on this new
00:34:58
exciting journey as this book gets released slowly into the
00:34:59
general public.
00:34:59
Well, that is it for another exciting edition of the your
00:35:02
Digital Marketing Coach podcast.
00:35:04
I do hope that you, if you haven't already hit that
00:35:08
subscribe button to this podcast , next week I am going to be
00:35:10
interviewing Mr Likeable Dave Kirpin.
00:35:11
If you haven't already hit that subscribe button to this podcast
00:35:13
, next week I am going to be interviewing Mr Likeable Dave
00:35:14
Kirpin.
00:35:14
If you don't know, dave, he's written a few books with the
00:35:17
likeable term, likeable social media, what have you?
00:35:20
We're actually going to be talking about delegating, and
00:35:23
from my perspective, delegating also means outsourcing.
00:35:27
I actually have a chapter in digital threads, chapter 18,
00:35:30
scale people, that is really directly related to what Dave
00:35:34
and I talk about in that interview, so be on the lookout.
00:35:37
That'll be episode number 373.
00:35:39
And until next time, this is your digital marketing coach,
00:35:42
neil Schafer, signing off.
00:35:45
Speaker 2: You've been listening to your digital marketing coach
00:35:48
.
00:35:48
You've been listening to your digital marketing coach.
00:35:52
Questions, comments, requests, links.
00:35:56
Go to podcastneilschafercom.
00:35:56
Get the show notes to this and 200 plus podcast episodes at
00:35:59
neilschafercom to tap into the 400 plus blog posts that Neil
00:36:04
has published to support your business.
00:36:07
While you're there, check out Neil's digital first group
00:36:10
coaching membership community if you or your business needs a
00:36:14
little helping hand.
00:36:15
See you next time on your digital marketing coach.
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