Category: 5 Must-Read Posts

From innovation to execution and from twitter to real world impact, this week’s five must-read posts run the gamut.

1. Theo Priestley reminds us that you are what you tweet. And that employers are scouring social media sites to learn more about your history, behaviour and suitability.
2. The more things change, the more things stay the same. In fact, things may change, but our behaviour only shifts in small increments. Check out John Dodds’ seven year marketing itch.
3. Are you marketing to millennials? Then Blair Reeves says, you’d best take them seriously. Great article!
4. Do you live inside the circle or outside it? Dan Pink reminds us that the future won’t be that similar to the past. Time to get with the program.
5. Aden Hepburn shares this great campaign against child abuse. Who says lenticulars are just toys?

If you are like me, when life get busy, the first thing that stops is writing. And when life gets busier still, the next thing that disappears is reading.

But it’s not that reading and writing disappears completely. It’s more that the type and style changes. The choice narrows. We self-select. Rataionalise. Focus only on the most urgent. The most pressing. Important.

If this sound like you, then these five must-reads may be just what you are looking for:

1. Jonathan Crossfield explains – in true storytelling style – just why content marketing should be a choose your own adventure.
2. Let’s face it, there are a lot of lazy marketers out there. And a lot of lazy agencies. But if you want results, you have to shake things up. Don’t just slap your new TVC into a pre-roll format online. Matt Chisolm says it’s time to challenge your agency to add some value online.
3. We all know how hard, intensive and complicated it can be to create a short message. How then, do you get the most out of Facebook sponsored posts? Laurel Papworth provides some clues.
4. Dave Gray has an awesome article on the very funky Medium.com. It’s on Connecting Government. And it may well blow your mind.
5. If you work in marketing and advertising, you may lament that the days of the long lunch are over. These days, almost everyone I know works long, hard hours. Neil Patel shares some tips on how to be a workaholic and not get burned out. Wurd.

A blast of innovation this week with a focus on ideas, creativity and transforming them into something useful. Like work. Or customers. Or a change in the world we’re living in. What’s not to love?

1. If there is one thing we crave, it is surety. But, of course, everything we face is uncertain – which can lead to a certain level of anxiety. How do we then best meet uncertainty? Ben Kunz shares three ideas for doing so.
2. Can you force a good idea or do you have to wait for them to visit upon you? The Bull suggests that your best ideas will come unexpectedly. What do you think?
3. Sheryl Sandberg has attracted plenty of positive and negative attention with her book Lean In. But what’s the message that goes deeper? Ann Handley heard the Facebook COO speak in person and her summary may surprise you.
4. There is no doubt that retail needs to be reinvented. But what would that look like? PSFK take a closer look at virtual grocery displays. Is it a glimpse into the near future?
5. I mobile innovation on your agenda this year? CK thinks it should be part of every marketer’s arsenal. Here’s why.

Over the last week there have been dozens of brilliant articles published. But these five posts really caught my attention – with original thinking and expression and a point of view that is hard to ignore.

Hope you enjoy them all!

1. A welcome return post by Rob Campbell delights us all.
2. Paul Wallbank shares yet another way businesses damage their brands by outsourcing the customer experience. Here’s what he has to say about Energy Australia and AGL.
3. Neil Patel explains how we need to think like Google.
4. A great new Tumblr arises thanks to James Sims – a great repository of digital campaigns that don’t suck
5. I’ve long been suspicious of TED, but couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Umair Haque gives voice to my misgivings with the excellent Let’s Save Great Ideas from the Ideas Industry

These days we see a lot of blog posts masquerading as news – about the industry, media, technology and so on. But there is often not a lot of insight, or action. There’s opinion and sometimes a few ideas – but precious few wrestle with what it means to live in media-saturated, always connected age. Here are five posts from last week that do. I hope they kickstart your brain for the week!

1. Mark Hurst has an unusual point of view about Google Glasses – and it’s not about the technology. It’s about the experience. But it’s not what you think. It’s the feature no one is talking about. HT @ozdj
2. Katie shares images from a photographer’s point of view. And how does he see the world? Framed by the view of his girlfriend. Great storytelling.
3. The world is changing – but we sometimes forget that it changes at different rates for different people. Becky Lang shares some advice for college kids – what they don’t hear, but should.
4. Great article from Edward Boches reminding us that social media isn’t about reach, controlling or drowning out the message, but about participation. And here’s what can happen when you do it right.
5. Finally, powerhouse marketing innovator, CK has delivered a knockout transformation with her new website AllThingsCK, complete with mobile experience, an eBook and a range of new services designed to help you and your business. Get the full details on her blog.

This week there has been plenty of discussion around the world of digital. From metrics to trust  and selling to strategy, it feels like digital – as a disruptive force – is itself being disrupted. This reinforces the sense that we must continuously update our skills and expertise – and work with one foot in the present and an eye on the future.

1. Great article from Ben Kunz on the changing world of digital metrics. In Going for Global Metrics, comScore Dismisses Clicks, he explains that changing consumer behaviour warrants a rethinking of what we measure and how we measure in the digital domain.
2. Drew McLellan says the hard sell doesn’t work anymore and argues that Selling Shouldn’t Equal Annoying. I think I agree.
3. I almost missed this one – but am glad I didn’t. Roger Martin reminds us that Strategy is Not Planning.
4. Have you ever shared a link without checking it first? Admit it! Well, Adrian Snood has a warning for you.
5. Ellis Hamburger says you’re not gonna Like it: Facebook’s new search struggles with the real world

The last week seems to have been introspective – a looking back rather than looking forward. And also a sense of pausing before the next onward push. Maybe it is to do with the (now) Chinese Year of the Snake. Or maybe it’s just a collective deep breath. Either way, these five must-read posts from last week go deep. Take a snorkel. And a box of tissues.

1. In this busy world, rather than rushing to do, sometimes we need to take time out, disconnect from the world and reconnect with our sense of purpose. Anne Lise Kjaer says we need Time to Think.
2. Often when we think about marketing strategy, we think about “touch points”. But what does it mean to really touch someone? What does it mean to break through their senses and change someone’s life? Theo Priestley reminds us that the customer experience IS the journey
3. A powerful, personal story by Alexander Ross Charchar on the colours of grief
4. Our dreams can take us on unexpected journeys – they can feel real and sometimes even more than real. But how would you describe the night you met Tom Waits?
5. Marketing may be the art of stimulating desire – but it’s heart taps profoundly human characteristics. Sometimes we have to look behind the scenery.

Let’s face it, we all love a bit of drama.

Some of us like to create it.

Some of us like to clean it up.

And many of us just like to grab a beer and watch it unfold before our very eyes.

This week’s five must-read posts have more than a touch of drama – which is the perfect way to start your week.

Enjoy.

1. I may be late to this one, but it’s a great train wreck of a story. One author outs another over gaming the Amazon best seller list. Get the main meal here.
2. And if you’re in the mood for more, pick up your dessert over here.
3. We all know that emotion, not facts, drives the kind of marketing behaviour we want to see … yet so many marketing conversations, strategies and activations centre on facts. Here’s the problem with facts.
4. If you want to turn your customers into fans, you need more than a little drama. In fact, you’ll need Mack Colliers upcoming book Think Like a Rock Star.
5. Will co-working spaces become the new classrooms? They may already be halfway there.

Each week I collect articles that inspire me.

Sometimes that means that I have dozens of extra tabs open in my web browser, and sometimes I rely on the astounding feedly feed reader. In both cases this week, I ended with a surfeit of great articles. Here are the best five of about 20 that could easily been published.

1. Mark Pollard relentlessly plumbs personal experience to challenge our own stories and behaviours. He thinks the world would be less strange if we stopped making strangers out of men. I think he should write a book rather than a blog 😉
2. How is enterprise software changing? Ken Yeung sits in on a conversation with some of the innovators who are eyeing up potential disruption in the enterprise market, and the message is clear: end users are the new CIO
3. Not only do our in-built biases protect us, they also help us move forward, to dream impossible dreams. Maria Popova explains the science of our optimism bias and the life-cycle of happiness. Awesome
4. Has Facebook lost its sheen for you or your brand? Do you feel you have lost control of your content? The Guardian is ending its year-long experiment in social reading and is moving away from Facebook. Will you?
5. Ever wondered why your calls to action fall on deaf ears? Eaon Pritchard explains in terms of the diffusion of responsibility. Be sure to read it and make a comment. Be specific.