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		<title>Brand Conduct: smarter brands, adaptable organisations</title>
		<link>http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/brand/brand-conduct-making-smarter-brands-and-adaptable-organisations?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=brand-conduct-making-smarter-brands-and-adaptable-organisations</link>
		<comments>http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/brand/brand-conduct-making-smarter-brands-and-adaptable-organisations#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:07:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>nsones</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Communications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Competitive Advantage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Relevance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reputation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales and marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brand Conduct]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brand planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brand strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[business strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[evolution in branding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gap analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[smart brand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[smart content]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/?p=2868</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>As organisations flex and respond to rapidly changing buyer behaviour, influence and engagement – driven by the usual perfect storm of technology, globalization and empowerment – traditional business and engagement models are under pressure. Businesses are looking for a more intelligent, inherently responsive way to direct everything. This ranges from production and distribution of their [...]</p><p>The post <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/brand/brand-conduct-making-smarter-brands-and-adaptable-organisations">Brand Conduct: smarter brands, adaptable organisations</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com">Marketing Team Direct</a>.</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">As organisations flex and respond to rapidly changing buyer behaviour, influence and engagement – driven by the usual perfect storm of technology, globalization and empowerment – traditional business and engagement models are under pressure. Businesses are looking for a more intelligent, inherently responsive way to direct everything. This ranges from production and distribution of their products and services to the way they are seen, heard and thought of in a different world. Brand and marketing strategy and manifestation, in fact the whole focus, remit and construct of brand and marketing functions, must shift, dramatically – across every sector, and from business-focused to consumer-focused – to meet the expectations of every buyer, end-user and reputation community.</span></b></p>
<p><a href="http://smartblogs.com/social-media/2013/04/08/the-collaborative-marketing-workout-5-steps-to-becoming-a-collaborative-brand/" target="_blank">Engaged, aware brands are recognizing that they need to be more collaborative than ever</a> – both to enable consumers and buyers, and to come together more effectively. They need to connect and coordinate more powerfully and flexibly, across entire organisational functions and operating units, to deliver what the business – and the Total Marketing Organisation that drives everything the business does into the world – to function.</p>
<p>This is more than branding – because brand strategy, business strategy and change definition and management are now coming together. We call it <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/what-we-do" target="_blank"><strong>Br</strong><b>and Conduct</b></a>; a new way of helping organisations to stay and move together to help their buyers, geared for a new world of business where brand is recognised as central to operational as well as marketing effectiveness.</p>
<h6>Using Brand Conduct, we give you unfair advantage in a more competitive world</h6>
<p>Brand Conduct is the ‘unfair advantage’ we give our clients, in today’s faster, more fluctuating business environment, creating organisations that are ‘fit for purpose’ today and able to respond to the future. <b>Brand Conduct has evolved from our collective experience in brand, strategy and marketing consultancies, some of the worlds most respected creative agencies and embedded full time in critical business, brand and change leadership roles within major global client brands. </b></p>
<p>The result is more than a defined, creative ‘brand’. It’s a more effective, efficient and adaptable organisation as a whole that can constantly change and deliver against the needs of the business and consumers.</p>
<h6>Brand Conduct in practice</h6>
<p>Brand Conduct is a structured process that enables us to identify and create the vital collaborations and cross-function strategies today’s marketing organisation must engage with, to meet the needs of every buyer, at every part of the buyer enablement journey. Using Brand Conduct enables greater clarity about the necessary fusion of business and brand in today’s more agile world. Our work to deliver Brand Conduct has created surprising and beneficial collaborations, extending marketing, creating Total Marketing Organisations and delivering new values, for clients around the world.</p>
<p>Brand Conduct is used to identify why new ways are required, define where change and collaboration must exist to create new efficiencies and to maximise resources, knowledge, insight, content and action. Key to it is not only looking at the external manifestation of brand ideas (and ideals) but also focusing on and driving internal advocacy and engagement programmes. We use it to inspire positive change, and provoke collaboration, by finding new ways to create and develop communities within the business – which then drive forwards together, accelerating effective and efficient progress.</p>
<p>Today, we use Brand Conduct methods to inform and arm across C-Suites, support CMOs as they define and develop changed global marketing communities, shape fine-grain and business-wide go-to-market strategies, drive sales, brand and marketing collaborations and forge closer links between global and regional teams.</p>
<p>Brand Conduct enables all these things to be created, shaped and managed – whether at a purely operational level geared towards marketing and product/service campaigns, or at the highest level of operational, marketing, brand and business strategy. And it is the way, we believe, all organisations should consider restructuring how they define brand and marketing, all bound together by clear internal communication channels, community insight share, common goals and compelling positioning.</p>
<p>In a way, <a href="http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/2013/04/4-brand-transformation-lessons-from-jc-penney.html#.UXZNK2AZzbo" target="_blank">Brand Conduct is the way brands must live and transform now</a> in a world where old habits can kill, where being flexible is more important than being iconic, and where consumers sense and respond to commitment. We simply help it to become a reality – in a new reality of business.</p>
<p><img src='http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Tree-hands.jpg'></p><p>The post <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/brand/brand-conduct-making-smarter-brands-and-adaptable-organisations">Brand Conduct: smarter brands, adaptable organisations</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com">Marketing Team Direct</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>IT can still give competitive advantage &#8211; if you use it right</title>
		<link>http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/competitive-advantage/it-can-still-give-competitive-advantage-if-you-use-it-right?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=it-can-still-give-competitive-advantage-if-you-use-it-right</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Apr 2013 08:15:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>nsones</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Competitive Advantage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Relevance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales and marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benefits-led marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[business technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[C-Suite]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IT]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/?p=2849</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>If everyone has the same tool, can it still give you an edge? Of course: it depends, like everything else, on how you use it.  IT is a condition of business; so you might think it&#8217;s simply a hygiene factor. But as Karen Goulart’s interview with Dave Wittwer, CIO of TDS Telecommunications, on techtarget.com points [...]</p><p>The post <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/competitive-advantage/it-can-still-give-competitive-advantage-if-you-use-it-right">IT can still give competitive advantage &#8211; if you use it right</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com">Marketing Team Direct</a>.</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If everyone has the same tool, can it still give you an edge? Of course: it depends, like everything else, on how you use it. </p>
<p>IT is a condition of business; so you might think it&#8217;s simply a hygiene factor. But as <a href="http://searchcio.techtarget.com/news/2240179871/IT-as-competitive-advantage-A-CEO-advises-CIOs-on-keeping-relevant?utm_medium=EM&amp;asrc=EM_NLN_21207606&amp;utm_campaign=20130403_IT%20as%20a%20competitive%20advantage_emclaughlin&amp;utm_source=NLN&amp;track=NL-1808&amp;ad=885962" target="_blank">Karen Goulart’s interview with Dave Wittwer, CIO of TDS Telecommunications, on techtarget.com</a> points out clearly, the way you use it and your business is prepared for it can still give measurable competitive advantage. What’s most fascinating is that Wittwer’s arguments are openly a call not just for better technology or business excellence, but for cohesive brand and marketing strategies, as key to delivering advantage through technology:</p>
<ul>
<li><b>Aligning C-suite. </b>Obvious, but often forgotten. This is about culture, business philosophy and vision. Establishing the brand’s ideas of itself. <strong><br /></strong></li>
<li><b>Deep understanding</b>. This requires a profound commitment to insight, information gathering, and sharing. A brand ideal.</li>
<li><b>Be flexible</b>. The business must be able to understand how IT needs flex and change. This requires instant responsiveness to need – and this needs a real brand vision and understanding.</li>
<li><b>Talk benefits</b>. The benefits and risks of technology change must be clear at every step, believes Wittwer. If you can be as plain as saying ‘our infrastructure isn’t working’ the business can understand. Abstruse tech benefits and risks won’t be heard at Board level. Again, this is not just technology; it’s about a coherent internal and external communications strategy, built on a strong brand architecture.</li>
<li><b>The next step</b>. The business must constantly find the most effective way forwards. IT must evolve to enable this forward progress – by not trying to adhere to one technology plan, but adapting it for the needs and changing priorities of the business.</li>
</ul>
<p>All of these are technology promises to the business, and the businesses’ promise to its own brand. Only by tying business, brand and tools together can a CIO (or anyone else) ensure adaptable growth, change and success. </p>
<p><img src='http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/distinct1.jpg'></p><p>The post <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/competitive-advantage/it-can-still-give-competitive-advantage-if-you-use-it-right">IT can still give competitive advantage &#8211; if you use it right</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com">Marketing Team Direct</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Caution, all: what the rise in police cautioning can teach us about data, decisions and relevance</title>
		<link>http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/relevance/2836?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=2836</link>
		<comments>http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/relevance/2836#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:36:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>nsones</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Data]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Empathy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Relevance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Big Data]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[decision-making]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Occam's Razor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[police]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[statistics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/?p=2836</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>A week or so ago Evan Davis was interviewing the Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire, asking why so many seemingly major crimes (burglary, some sexual and violent crimes) were being dealt with by issuing formal cautions, rather than involving courts. This felt, initially, reasonable: Sex crimes! Violence! Theft! These surely must be punishable, across the board, [...]</p><p>The post <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/relevance/2836">Caution, all: what the rise in police cautioning can teach us about data, decisions and relevance</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com">Marketing Team Direct</a>.</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A week or so ago Evan Davis was interviewing the Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire, asking why so many seemingly major crimes (burglary, some sexual and violent crimes) were being dealt with by issuing formal cautions, rather than involving courts.</p>
<p>This felt, initially, reasonable: Sex crimes! Violence! Theft! These surely must be punishable, across the board, through the courts! The police are just trying to avoid work!</p>
<p>There, that’s my Daily Mail diatribe for the day. And it seems to be a view of quite a few people, which is why this ‘overcautioning’ as it were <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/apr/03/police-cautions-reviewed" target="_blank">is being investigated by Parliament</a> (that well known repository of detection excellence).</p>
<p>Evan pressed this point. But Chief Bobby, as I&#8217;ll call him for a moment) was in my opinion crystal clear about the reasons this might be happening. He pointed out, not unreasonably, that inside the apparent data there is complexity that isn’t subject to categorisation. For instance, a burglary can mean something very low-level, committed out of impulse (stealing a pair of garden sheers, for example) – or a planned, coordinated invasion of a home; violent crime can mean just pushing and shoving after a drink &#8211; or something much worse. One size, and one punishment, does not fit every incident, and the officers on the ground must make decisions based on complex sets of information. </p>
<p>What’s the point of all this, for us? Well, let’s be charitable and take out simple ‘cost avoidance’ as a key issue for police forces. Other than that, five things:</p>
<ul>
<li><b>Data is not everything. It is a human construct and must have human relevance.</b> Categories are just categories, without interpretation. Forgetting this takes away both the ability to scope and use data, and the ability to create real ‘scenarios’ that are flexible and enable real decisions. This is a major lesson for anyone interested in automation of marketing or anything else.</li>
<li><b>People on the ground must be trusted to make live decisions in real time. </b>These are not always perfect, but must be allowed, because life, business (and in this case, government) will stop otherwise.</li>
<li><b>The simplest answer should always be considered before a complex one.</b> This of course basic Occam&#8217;s Razor principle. But in the cautioning/courts debate the apparent simple answer is the default one: send them to court! But this is actually the most complex answer possible, involving huge amounts of money, infrastructure and time, as well as inefficiency, with uncertain results. The simple answer may often be to caution, as this involves few actions, is fast, and treats the circumstances.</li>
<li><b>Community is the centre of relevance.</b> The decisions that respect the needs of people and their interaction communities are the ones that matter. Sending someone to court is not an answer; it’s a delayed problem, as they come out of court or prison more educated as criminals, more disadvantaged and more ‘outside the system’.</li>
<li><b>Labels and categories are too powerful to fight. </b>Despite all this reasonableness, the use of words like sex, crime, violence, theft is all we hear. Hence the parliamentary investigation – and hence, I’m sure, a clampdown on cautions, sensible or not, in the future.</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><img src='http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/police-line.jpg'></p><p>The post <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/relevance/2836">Caution, all: what the rise in police cautioning can teach us about data, decisions and relevance</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com">Marketing Team Direct</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Retail: time for a new survival strategy</title>
		<link>http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/competitive-advantage/retail-time-for-a-new-survival-strategy?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=retail-time-for-a-new-survival-strategy</link>
		<comments>http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/competitive-advantage/retail-time-for-a-new-survival-strategy#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Apr 2013 09:00:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>nsones</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Competitive Advantage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Relevance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[business model]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Buyer to Brand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[in-store experiences]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online shopping]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[retail]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[supply chain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[survival]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[value chain]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/?p=2827</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Buyer to Brand Sector by Sector We decided to take a look at the issues confronting major industries. Our goal was to make gentle suggestions of how they might use marketing and brand lessons to make a difference to their core, put in place simple operational and strategic changes, and bring buyers to their brands [...]</p><p>The post <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/competitive-advantage/retail-time-for-a-new-survival-strategy">Retail: time for a new survival strategy</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com">Marketing Team Direct</a>.</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><b>Buyer to Brand Sector by Sector</b></p>
<p>We decided to take a look at the issues confronting major industries. Our goal was to make gentle suggestions of how they might use marketing and brand lessons to make a difference to their core, put in place simple operational and strategic changes, and bring buyers to their brands more effectively.</p>
<p><b>Retail: struggle for existence &#8211; and a need to regroup</b></p>
<p>Life, for retailers, is not fun. Most retailers are at least under pressure and many are struggling for survival, the ones who are still alive, that is. There are issues that are hard to overcome; but there are also ways to achieve uniqueness and if not compete with online shopping, join it – and add value it can’t achieve.</p>
<p>High street retailers do have a problem that isn’t easy to overcome. They cannot easily compete with online retailers for convenience, price, speed and volume. And it goes (almost) without saying that <a href="http://www.retail-week.com/multichannel/analysis-retail-2013-the-year-to-come-in-uk-retail/5045126.article" target="_blank">online retail and shopping is still far and away the key growth area in retail overall</a>. But this has combined with the panic and chaos caused by the global downturn to confuse retailers, prompt them to rash action, and run. The result is – as running away from predators usually is – destruction. And a continual attempt to redefine the business model based around deals.</p>
<p>This is natural. But it’s based on a slight misunderstanding of the reason retail exists – which has never been price, but value.</p>
<p><b>Brand confusion: price, speed and volume are not your core promise. Value, responsiveness and understanding are. But how do you retain these core values, while becoming more efficient in doing so? </b></p>
<p>There is nothing that traditional retailers can do about the price, speed and volume issues. They have been outevolved if they try to compete in this space alone. Now they must adapt. And to do that they have to look, from a marketing context, at what online retailers cannot: <a href="http://www.interbrand.com/files/podcasts/demand-and-desire-retail-why-you-buy.mp3" target="_blank">stress their ability to offer a real, valuable experience that enables informed choice</a> – and then combine this with modern tools.</p>
<p>Here, online retailers are at a disadvantage. They cannot enable the consumer to ‘try before you buy’. The importance of this is underlined by the continued strength of the clothing industry, where ‘trying on’ is a vital part of the experience and not easily replaced. Retailers have always succeeded when they increase the proximity of experience and made buyers feel good. This is still true. Now, however, traditional retailers must link an emphasis on real experiences that make customers the subject of a powerful interaction – with the most modern distribution and response models. <a href="http://www.douglasstafford.com/blog/2012/01/06/customer-experience-will-add-value-to-retail-success/" target="_blank">The essence of retail – the experience of being in the store – is still the key to success</a>, but it must twist and adapt to new circumstances.</p>
<p>Again, <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregpetro/2012/11/05/the-future-of-fashion-retailing-the-hm-approach-part-3-of-3/" target="_blank">take a look at the fashion industry to see how three major retailers – here, Uniqlo, Zara and H&amp;M</a> have found different ways to link modern supply and technology to their store presence to create the best of both worlds.</p>
<p>What’s fascinating in these examples is how these retailers have created responsive experiences (in a sector which cannot respond instantly) that reflect trends and needs well &#8211; and which use the best of what online offers to create something new. In the process Zara at least has raised its margins in a time when retailers are under the highest pressure from a panicking market to lower them. They have all taken the most relevant ideas from the online retail world – speed and efficiency of manufacture, use of IT to empower design and production, and a smooth value chain – to respond even more effectively. And ultimately, they have realised the core job of the retailer: to welcome customers, listen to their stories, and find a way to help them realise their needs and create the experience around them. <a href="http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662269/four-keys-to-surviving-the-future-of-retail" target="_blank">As this article from 2010 illustrates brilliantly, all this will help you to ‘stay in touch’ with consumers.</a></p>
<p>What of the most beleaguered segments of the traditional retail sector? Well, for some, collaboration may be the way forward. Combinations of different experiences, collected together, might enable survival.</p>
<p>For others, the sad truth is that many traditional models just don’t work, and aren’t going to. There are some products we don’t feel the need to see, touch and experience in order to buy. This is, sadly, the way of the world. But the lessons learned in this cruelest of markets can be used elsewhere. Failed in retail? Remember the lesson, which is ultimately about how your model is supported by your strategy and brand, apply it elsewhere if you dare, and remember that events (and trends) can change your world very easily.</p>
<p><b>Possible Buyer to brand action: As ever, there&#8217;s no hard and fast rules &#8211; but perhaps retailers should stop panicking, regroup and look at what they&#8217;re good at. Some are. Some aren&#8217;t. But the &#8216;flock panic&#8217; the sector in is infectious. </b></p>
<p><b>So &#8211; stop defining ‘giving the best deal’ as your reason for existence, or it will soon be the reason for your nonexistence. Instead, stress giving the best value, the best experience. Don&#8217;t forget you are in a physical industry, but use modern tools to bring the best of the online and technology-enabled world to you and your customers. Internally, stress excellence of service and consideration for customer need – by embracing customer’s stories, you can become part of them. </b></p>
<p>The battle for retail is like any other: often the best idea is not to run away, but turn, regroup, change strategy (and marketing strategy) and fight. </p>
<p><img src='http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/polar-bear-survival.jpg'></p><p>The post <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/competitive-advantage/retail-time-for-a-new-survival-strategy">Retail: time for a new survival strategy</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com">Marketing Team Direct</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Switching off 2: the effect of burnout on you, your business and on marketing</title>
		<link>http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/brand/switching-off-2-the-effect-of-burnout-on-youyour-business-and-on-marketing?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=switching-off-2-the-effect-of-burnout-on-youyour-business-and-on-marketing</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:30:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>nsones</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Empathy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Relevance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[burnout]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[connection]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[decision-making]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[effectiveness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[switchoff]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/?p=2817</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>We recently talked about the need for people to switch off more. To create clarity, concentrate on matters of real depth, and find powerful answers – that can’t perhaps be found through today’s tendency towards always-on, crowdsourced connection. The other reason, of course, is that too much connection can destroy your understanding of what matters [...]</p><p>The post <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/brand/switching-off-2-the-effect-of-burnout-on-youyour-business-and-on-marketing">Switching off 2: the effect of burnout on you, your business and on marketing</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com">Marketing Team Direct</a>.</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We recently talked about the <a title="Turn your mind on MTD blog" href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/data-and-measurement/turn-off-distraction-turn-your-mind-on" target="_blank">need for people to switch off more</a>. To create clarity, concentrate on matters of real depth, and find powerful answers – that can’t perhaps be found through today’s tendency towards always-on, crowdsourced connection.</p>
<p>The other reason, of course, is that too much connection can destroy your understanding of what matters in life. <a href="http://digitalmarketingshow.co.uk/industry-news/half-of-professionals-check-emails-every-day-on-holiday" target="_blank">Recent studies show that many workers refuse to disconnect from their work, even at home or on holiday.</a></p>
<p>I’m sure this appears necessary and good to many. But it’s hugely dangerous, and we naturally distrust those who do it too much. Because we see, and believe, that they are not concentrating on what matters. This can affect our trust of their state, decision making, and working pattern.</p>
<p>Remember that your ability to prioritise and focus on important matters directly and indirectly affects:</p>
<p><b>What matters to you</b></p>
<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture-professionals-network/culture-professionals-blog/2012/may/24/burnout-advice-recognise-prevent-deal" target="_blank">Avoiding burnout. Engaging with reality.</a> Become a fully rounded human through a real work-life balance. Where you enjoy work, but enjoy your personal life in a different way. They do not mix (or at least, not often). By working too much at work, you are destroying what makes your opinion and input matters – by being unable to see real relevance and importance. And you’re less interesting, too.</p>
<p><b>What matters to other workers</b></p>
<p>We trust decisions and opinions voiced by people with a varied perspective, a wide culture, and a healthy understanding of reality. We tend to trust less emails sent at 11pm by someone who hasn’t switched off all day: there’s a chance they’re too close to things, reacting rather than thinking, and can’t understand real needs, relevance and best next steps. Also, they’re probably knackered – and if you can’t get what you need to do done in a normal day (allowing for the fact that everyone is maxed from time to time) then what are you doing? This eats at trust; it destroys confidence in individual and group decisions.</p>
<p><b>What matters to your audiences</b></p>
<p>By keeping too close a connection to the minutiae of work and communications, you are missing out on a critical element of work, which is to make it relevant to your consumers, buyers, clients etc. They will not love you, no matter how many emails you send. And by obsessing about constant connection, missing out on the wider story of life, you are likely to confuse your internal needs with the needs of the world – which are simpler, more powerful and truer: that what you do must be relevant to the world and people, not just to your internal processes.</p>
<p>From all three sides, therefore, switching off at home is not just advisable. It’s a necessity of happiness, effectiveness, and relevance.</p>
<p><strong>Avoid <a href="http://sereneprincess.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/what-is-marketers-burnout-and-how-to-avoid-it/" target="_blank">marketers&#8217; burnout </a>- switch on in the right way, at the right time</strong></p>
<p>Naturally, this is only partly about the way we tend to maintain connection with work and work matters through our smartphones. It&#8217;s about a wider burnout that can affect marketers (especially since we&#8217;re increasingly supposed to be &#8216;always on&#8217;, in &#8216;every channel&#8217; and &#8216;across every technology&#8217;). It not only kills your personal creativity. It kills your ability to reach buyers and understand how to move them to your (or your clients&#8217;) brand &#8211; and it can kill off their interest in you very quickly. </p>
<p>It is about something bigger. It&#8217;s about rediscovering the ability to focus, on what matters, when it matters. Perhaps it&#8217;s also about rediscovering what it means to be human &#8211; because by showing we understand how to engage, prioritise and decide, we not only help ourselves (and those around us) we create trust in co worker, build team cohesion, align with business effectiveness and ensure we can always engage with our audiences. </p>
<p>But just as a starter, turn off your smartphone sometimes. Switch off. Or how do you know you’re really switching on?</p>
<p><img src='http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/burnt-out-dolls-house.jpg'></p><p>The post <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/brand/switching-off-2-the-effect-of-burnout-on-youyour-business-and-on-marketing">Switching off 2: the effect of burnout on you, your business and on marketing</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com">Marketing Team Direct</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Gap analysis: don’t mind the gaps – embrace them to improve marketing operations, marketing strategy and brand value</title>
		<link>http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/brand/gap-analysis-dont-mind-the-gaps-embrace-them-to-improve-marketing-operations-marketing-strategy-and-brand-value?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=gap-analysis-dont-mind-the-gaps-embrace-them-to-improve-marketing-operations-marketing-strategy-and-brand-value</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Apr 2013 09:52:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>nsones</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Communications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Competitive Advantage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Relevance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reputation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales and marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gap analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing operations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing strategy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/?p=2812</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>‘Mind the Gap’. It’s a useful thing to read on a station platform. We don’t want to fall down those gaps. But brand gap analysis is one of the most important tools in our box; using it well can make the difference between success and failure, growth and decline – of any organisation from a [...]</p><p>The post <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/brand/gap-analysis-dont-mind-the-gaps-embrace-them-to-improve-marketing-operations-marketing-strategy-and-brand-value">Gap analysis: don’t mind the gaps – embrace them to improve marketing operations, marketing strategy and brand value</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com">Marketing Team Direct</a>.</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>‘Mind the Gap’. It’s a useful thing to read on a station platform. We don’t want to fall down those gaps. But brand gap analysis is one of the most important tools in our box; using it well can make the difference between success and failure, <a href="http://strengtheningbrandamerica.com/blog/2011/09/designing-the-future-gap-analysis/" target="_blank">growth and decline – of any organisation from a business to a nation</a>, <a href="http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/desi.2007.23.1.28?journalCode=desi" target="_blank">great design and poor design</a> – and even <a href="http://reliefweb.int/map/somalia/somalia-humanitarian-gap-analysis-map-may-2012" target="_blank">life and death</a>.</p>
<p>Because there is always a gap. It’s pretty much a condition of life.</p>
<p>But let’s pull back and look at the gaps in brand, marketing and business? We shouldn’t mind (avoid) the gaps here. We must dive into them – with every sense awake, and all our tools to hand – to explore their depth and width, understand their cause, and close them.</p>
<p>At MTD we use Gap Analysis as a critical stage in our work to bring buyers to brands – ranging from</p>
<ul>
<li>Brand gap analysis</li>
<li>Market gap analysis</li>
<li>Buyer gap analysis</li>
<li>And gaps between effective brand conduct and winning buyer enablement.</li>
</ul>
<p>In each, we have 9 defined organizational and operational areas for gap analysis, designed to contribute to the strategic definition and organizational development critical to meeting buyer needs and business ambition. We use these with our clients from the earliest stages of insight gathering right through to tactical implementation.  We use them in client workshops, 1-2-1 sessions with C-suite leadership and team meetings and in our own client development work.</p>
<p>It’s only by doing this that we can really understand the gaps properly and know how to fill them. Not paper over them. Not ignore them. And not simply mind them.</p>
<p>Gaps are everywhere. And they are usually seen as problems, the elephant in the room or the things that if looked into could open up a whole can of worms that could wreck BAU &#8211; and a tendency to &#8216;mind the gap&#8217; emerges &#8211; i.e. avoid it. This is of course false economy.</p>
<p>We see it as our mission to find those gaps. It’s the only way that we can create true forward motion for our clients, define how to get them from a to b, c, d…z – from where they are now to where they need to be in the future.</p>
<p>And here’s something people don’t often say: that it’s often within the gap that true uniqueness – and a better future state for the business and brand – lies.  For that to happen of course the gaps have to be analysed, understood and addressed, before they can be used to define true strategy, new market activity, new sales and marketing focus, reshaped organizational structure, operation and conduct. They lead to realisations. They can enable us to see the wood, despite the trees.</p>
<p>At MTD, we don’t ‘Mind the Gap’ and we don’t think anyone else should; instead, let’s explore them for all their possibilities.   </p>
<p><img src='http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Bakerloo_line_-_Waterloo_-_Mind_the_gap.jpg'></p><p>The post <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/brand/gap-analysis-dont-mind-the-gaps-embrace-them-to-improve-marketing-operations-marketing-strategy-and-brand-value">Gap analysis: don’t mind the gaps – embrace them to improve marketing operations, marketing strategy and brand value</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com">Marketing Team Direct</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Financial services: how to turn that frown upside down</title>
		<link>http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/brand/financial-services-how-to-turn-that-frown-upside-down?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=financial-services-how-to-turn-that-frown-upside-down</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Apr 2013 11:03:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>nsones</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Empathy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Relevance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reputation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[banking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Big Data]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bitcoin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brand Promise]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[contact centre]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer intimacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer relationship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[efficient services]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Financial Services]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[First Direct]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Interbrand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online banking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Simple bank]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trust]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trust equation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/?p=2797</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Buyer to Brand, Sector by Sector We thought we’d take a look at the issues confronting key sectors, suggesting ways they might use lessons from marketing and advertising to focus on their core, make operational and strategic changes, and bring buyers to their brands more effectively. It’s time to change the model – and the [...]</p><p>The post <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/brand/financial-services-how-to-turn-that-frown-upside-down">Financial services: how to turn that frown upside down</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com">Marketing Team Direct</a>.</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><b>Buyer to Brand, Sector by Sector</b></p>
<p>We thought we’d take a look at the issues confronting key sectors, suggesting ways they might use lessons from marketing and advertising to focus on their core, make operational and strategic changes, and bring buyers to their brands more effectively.</p>
<p><b>It’s time to change the model – and the relationship – in financial services</b></p>
<p>Financial services need to remodel themselves and be seen as reliable again. Vast effort and expense – and legislation – is going into ensuring this. But potentially, the sector is confused on a fundamental level about its brand promise, and risks making another false promise in the future.  </p>
<p>It might seem a simple thing – of course we want to regain trust in the financial sector; but the routes to doing so have been confused, perhaps fatally so, by financial businesses. And right now, they (and national governments) are rightly wary, because it looks like everything we do in finance could change &#8211; as people <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/apr/07/bitcoin-scares-banks-governments">move beyond not only traditional banking but also traditional money with alternative currencies like Bitcoin</a>. </p>
<p><b>Big Data is an answer – but not <i>the </i>answer</b></p>
<p>Most FS businesses are investing heavily Big Data and automation. But if the relationship between financial organisations and customers isn’t right, all that data proliferation will do is to switch them off more: we will see things go full circle, with customers refusing to surrender data, feeling pestered by banks and insurers, and the financial model will break.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.redlambda.com/top-7-big-data-trends-for-financial-services/">Big Data – like any other tool – is while essential, only as good as the thinking that goes into it.</a> If you’re not using it to drive real conversations and closer relationships with customers then customers will quickly see through you, with the same result: breaking the model.</p>
<p>But can anything be done through a brand understanding? Yes – by understanding, analyzing and solving some major brand confusions.</p>
<p><b>Brand confusion 1: moral trust is not the same as financial trust – or an equitable relationship</b></p>
<p>Bankers aren’t trusted. Enough: we know. However, <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/04/02/uk-britain-banks-integrity-idUKLNE93100O20130402">recent moves to get investment and wholesale bankers to pass ethical exams</a> may be confusing the issue. Panic has set in, and as a result entire business strategies for financial organisations are being redesigned around one key thing: moral trust.</p>
<p>But moral trust is not the basic promise of the financial sector: trust is just a route to the real promise: <b>handling, growing and advising me on my wealth</b>. <a href="http://www.interbrand.com/en/knowledge/iq/2013/iq-whats-in-store/financial-services.aspx">Trust is about combining intimacy with credibility and excellence – as per Interbrand’s ‘trust equation’.</a> Ignoring this is very dangerous.</p>
<p>To handle my wealth, I do not need to trust you as an ethical human being who always makes ethical choices. I’d suggest it helps, directly, establishing a true relationship, etc.; however, there’s a chance that by selecting for moral trust rather than financial trust, you select out the decisiveness that you expect from someone charged with growing your wealth. You mess with the ruthlessness of banking experts at your peril. The system and structure around them should protect investors and the economy, not their moral nature.</p>
<p><b><i>Buyer to brand remedy: instead of saying ‘trust me’ say ‘trust me to help you grow and protect your wealth’. Grow internal cohesion to ensure natural decisiveness takes place in a setting of control, not laissez-faire.</i></b></p>
<p><b>Brand and market confusion 2: banking customers want advice even more than they want efficiency</b></p>
<p>The retail-banking sector especially, in response to the stated need from customers for quicker, easier service – and to the internal pressure to reduce costs and ‘drag’ – has invested heavily in automation and cost-effective service centers.</p>
<p>But – again – efficiency is not the fundamental brand promise of the financial world. It’s a hygiene factor, particularly as internet-based, stripped-down, almost entirely legacy-free banks like <a href="http://www.newsroom.firstdirect.com/press/release/first_direct_ranked_top_financ">First Direct</a> and <a href="https://simple.com/">Simple</a> prove that (a) efficiency is a given and (b) only valuable if it’s accompanied by great service. These banks are masters of true customer intimacy, and manifest it everywhere &#8211; <a href="http://www.facebook.com/firstdirect/app_453277464713226">as witness First Direct&#8217;s recent Facebook campaign</a>. </p>
<p>What Simple, First Direct and other similar banks emphasise is <b>intelligent financial service delivered at the point of contact with the customer</b>. This is <em>not </em>the same thing as &#8216;efficiency at any cost&#8217;. Many banks have not only removed their own expertise from the frontline, but have set up barriers preventing their businesses from interacting with and steering customers to independent financial advisors. This replaces ‘insightful customer service’ with ‘automated processes’ alone.</p>
<p>The net result is not only that in effect, retail banks not only run the risk of not servicing customers properly (and therefore losing them, becoming ineffective in the race to efficiency) but also of forcing customers to sidestep banks altogether – because customers are seeking, like anyone else, an edge. More wealth. And if independent advice is easy to access and use, they’ll seek it outside the traditional banking system.</p>
<p>Today’s financial businesses must offer more than a repository of money and a mechanism for moving it. <a href="http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2013/2/7/technology/making-traditional-banking-obsolete">Or they can be easily rendered obsolete – and replaced</a> – by <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/patrickdixonfuturist/future-of-telcos-and-banks-telecom-customers-banking-insurance-financial-services-conference-keynote-speaker">Telcos, for example, </a>who are provably excellent at providing mobile, multichannel experiences, adapting them to customer need, and achieving intimacy. </p>
<p><b>Buyer to brand remedy: put real service back into your system – at the front line – now. Make a new promise: ‘we are real people, who help you make the best choice for your money’. Create the right kind of intimacy. And reorganise service centres around the concept of service, not the concept of centralization. </b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/joris-luyendijk-banking-blog/2013/jan/31/banker-africa-voice-finance"><b>And enable banking for anyone – whatever their worth, and however simple their needs.</b></a></p>
<p><b>Or pay the price.</b></p>
<p><img src='http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/sad-pig.jpg'></p><p>The post <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/brand/financial-services-how-to-turn-that-frown-upside-down">Financial services: how to turn that frown upside down</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com">Marketing Team Direct</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Turn off distraction. Turn your mind on.</title>
		<link>http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/data-and-measurement/turn-off-distraction-turn-your-mind-on?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=turn-off-distraction-turn-your-mind-on</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 05 Apr 2013 10:42:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>nsones</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Data and Measurement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Relevance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[big ideas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clarity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crowdsourcing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[focus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing Magazine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nicholas Carr]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[switch off]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Shallows]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tweets]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/?p=2734</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Backlashes happen. For a while we’ve been told to switch on and connect. But should we switch off instead? Perhaps being ‘always on’ doesn’t always work. We’re not built to parallel process and constantly be connected – even with the actual brain structure of millennial minds changing to make multiprocessing easier, it’s still not something [...]</p><p>The post <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/data-and-measurement/turn-off-distraction-turn-your-mind-on">Turn off distraction. Turn your mind on.</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com">Marketing Team Direct</a>.</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Backlashes happen. For a while we’ve been told to switch on and connect. But should we switch off instead?</p>
<p>Perhaps being ‘always on’ doesn’t always work. We’re not built to parallel process and constantly be connected – even with the actual brain structure of millennial minds changing to make multiprocessing easier, it’s still not something we’re great at.</p>
<p><strong>Quest for simplicity? Or fear of the new?</strong></p>
<p>A recent <a title="embrace the new simplicity" href="http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1176005/Tuning-Out-Why-brands-need-disconnect-embrace-new-simplicity/">Marketing magazine article</a> looked at going back to a &#8216;new simplicity&#8217; &#8211; turning off our smart devices to think simply and powerfully about something focused and deep. Ignoring the noise, making better choices from fewer, better options.</p>
<p>This chimes with me. But then perhaps this this could be just fear and lack of education. A gamified, multitasking world, where complex data problems, for example, can be crowdsourced successfully, is a massive future shock. Maybe younger people don’t need that lack of distraction. Maybe they can truly multitask.</p>
<p>Well, sure we’re afraid of obsolescence. But also, perhaps that constant, global smart conversation isn&#8217;t that smart. And maybe multitasking is still a bit of a myth.</p>
<p><strong>Nothing new under the sun </strong></p>
<p>This call for simplicity and &#8216;switching off&#8217; for greater clarity, creativity and simplicity are not new. <a title="meet Nicholas Carr" href="http://www.theshallowsbook.com/nicholascarr/Nicholas_Carrs_The_Shallows.html">Nicholas Carr&#8217;s book <em>The Shallows </em></a>argued that micro attention could be a myth &#8211; that actually, all you&#8217;re getting is distributed non-attention. It’s been a debate since the beginning of human thought, in other guises – or the concept of <a title="meditate to avoid distraction" href="http://99u.com/articles/6947/what-happened-to-downtime-the-extinction-of-deep-thinking-sacred-space">meditation wouldn’t exist, and we wouldn&#8217;t call media &#8216;distraction&#8217;</a>. </p>
<p><strong>A general truth </strong></p>
<p>The truth is of course that you have to be able to do both. Humanity works best (as a species) as a generalist; focusing on one thing or another is just not our thing. That&#8217;s why we&#8217;re omnivores, and all the carnivorous species are on our walls. We need all the tools we can use, including a shift towards parallel-processing, always-on behaviour. But we shouldn’t forget the ability to concentrate on one thing is not a vice. </p>
<p><strong>Primary problems solved by primary primates</strong></p>
<p>The world we live in (the world that enabled the creation of our technology and devices) was built by people solving what you might call ‘primary problems’. Maths. Gravity. Quantum mechanics. Cracked not by groupthink, or not the same kind of groupthink (I&#8217;m ignoring for a moment, Bletchley Park and Los Alamos); these problems were created by focused minds, thinking really, really hard. They either found answers after decades of thinking, or by the kind of sudden intuitive leap that only true genius allied to deep understanding can take.</p>
<p>I believe we’re in a world where we still need to solve ‘primary problems’ – massive challenges that only deep thought can address. Some of these will be suited to ‘cracking’ by groupthink and crowdsourcing. Some won’t. And we must remember that while brevity, and sharing, is vital, some things &#8211; and some problems &#8211; <a title="Cambridge Forum - let's think big" href="http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/events/big-ideas-big-solutions-how-can-we-solve-more-big-problems/">can neither be reduced to Tweets of 140 characters or less, nor shared,</a> because they require a deeper understanding than others. </p>
<p><strong>Switch off connection, switch on thought</strong></p>
<p>Without daring to switch off, without daring to look deeply and favour (sometimes) depth over breadth, simplicity over complexity, solitude over constant connection, and introspection over constant conversation, we run the risk of over-specialising. This has, historically, led to one thing: extinction.</p>
<p>So maybe it&#8217;s time to switch off, just a little, and think in the old way.</p>
<p>If nothing else, it helps you get things done.</p>
<p><img src='http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/zen-garden.jpg'></p><p>The post <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-blog/data-and-measurement/turn-off-distraction-turn-your-mind-on">Turn off distraction. Turn your mind on.</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com">Marketing Team Direct</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Marketing Automation partnership</title>
		<link>http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-news/marketing-automation-partnership?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=marketing-automation-partnership</link>
		<comments>http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-news/marketing-automation-partnership#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Mar 2013 01:48:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>marketing-team</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Content]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lead generation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing Automation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing campaign]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Strategic partner]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/?p=2690</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Marketing Team Direct is delighted to announce a new partnership with CleverTouch, EMEA’s largest, independent Marketing Automation (MA) services business.</p><p>The post <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-news/marketing-automation-partnership">Marketing Automation partnership</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com">Marketing Team Direct</a>.</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Marketing Team Direct (MTD) is delighted to announce a new partnership with <a title="CleverTouch web home page" href="http://www.clever-touch.com/" target="_blank">CleverTouch</a>, EMEA’s largest, independent Marketing Automation (MA) services business.</p>
<p>Now more than ever it is imperative that compelling content and social themes are served up and discoverable to a relevant and filtered audience, at the right time and in the right places.</p>
<p>Many brands are trying to establish marketing best practices within MA environments and facing daily data and data governance challenges. We believe that our joint offer will address these issues, accelerating time to market with more clearly differentiated propositions and offers, and deliver the robust revenue profile model required from marketing campaigns.</p>
<p>MTD felt it important to partner with MA specialists who have a proven track record in guiding clients towards optimisation of the investment they are making. As experts in the leading MA platforms and a platinum Eloqua partner, CleverTouch is regarded as a thought leader in this space. They work with organisations such as VMWare, RBI, Elsevier, PayPal, Rackspace and Parcelforce Worldwide to deliver cutting edge activity and are partners to the IDM, B2B Marketing and <a title="MTD eConsultancy web page" href="http://econsultancy.com/uk/directories/suppliers/marketing-team-direct" target="_blank">eConsultancy</a>.</p>
<p>“What we really like about CleverTouch is that they are true marketers. The leadership team all held regional/global marketing director roles and totally understand the realities and challenges of today’s brands and buyers,” comments Andy Jordan, Managing Director at MTD.</p>
<p>“We are delighted to be partnering with Marketing Team Direct with its unique proposition to brand strategy, marketing and communications. Like us, they understand how to create and deliver great results for customers and the part technology plays in that” said Adam Sharp, Group Managing Director at CleverTouch.</p>
<p>By combining our <a title="MTD Buyer to Brand page" href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/what-we-do" target="_blank">Buyer to Brand</a> proposition, campaign platform and content development expertise together with the technical, digital campaign and data knowledge of CleverTouch, we believe it’s a winning partnership that will ensure you not only invest in the MA platform that is right for you, but once invested, your campaign design and execution will be best of breed and deliver predictable pipeline and accelerated revenue.</p>
<p>If you would like to know more about our joint offer please <a title="MTD contact us page" href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/contact-_10" target="_blank">contact</a> Andy Jordan on 0044 (0) 1608 819421.</p>
<p><img src='http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Campaign-Workflow.png'></p><p>The post <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-news/marketing-automation-partnership">Marketing Automation partnership</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com">Marketing Team Direct</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Creating a compelling new website for Yunano</title>
		<link>http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-news/yunano-website?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=yunano-website</link>
		<comments>http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-news/yunano-website#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Mar 2013 15:02:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>marketing-team</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cloud]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CRM]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer journey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[data management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[differentiation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ERP]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[user interface]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[website]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Yunano]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/?p=2670</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Simple effective cloud software. Developed and sold by Yunano. Creatively expressed and delivered by Marketing Team Direct.</p><p>The post <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-news/yunano-website">Creating a compelling new website for Yunano</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com">Marketing Team Direct</a>.</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>All our work is focused on making<strong> </strong>our clients stand out in crowded markets and<strong> bringing more relevant buyers to their brands</strong>. We proved this for cloud innovator Yunano, by <a title="Yunano website" href="http://www.yunano-cloud.com/" target="_blank">creating a rich, interactive website</a> that gave them a powerful online presence, developed and articulated their brand, gave them a clear point of difference – and drove leads for their distinctive Software-as-a-Service portfolio.</p>
<p><strong>MTD&#8217;s strategy-to-implementation approach let us get to the heart of Yunano’s needs from the start.</strong> We worked closely with Yunano’s leadership team, to define their value proposition and identify their differentiator. This, we soon saw, lay in the fact that whereas other cloud players’ propositions were indistinct, Yunano’s focus was crystal-clear: a simplified, solid proposition to deliver only ERP and CRM solutions through the cloud. Our ‘Calm in the Storm’ positioning and visually arresting theme emerged from this insight, and gave Yunano a flexible and differentiated way to express their proposition.</p>
<p>This led to the creation of a highly interactive site that gave all visitors (from technical experts to C-level decision makers) relevant information, a clear journey, and simple steps to find out more. Full integration with Yunano’s CRM ensured that every piece of user data could be used to track, measure and follow up on contact.</p>
<p>The outcome was success. Yunano now has the simple, effective online presence that mirrored its brand, as well as an efficient way to generate, nurture and qualify sales leads.</p>
<p><strong>Simple effective cloud software. Developed and sold by Yunano. Creatively expressed and delivered by Marketing Team Direct.</strong></p>
<p><strong><strong>Bringing buyers to Brands.</strong> <br /></strong></p>
<p><img src='http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/yunano-website.jpg'></p><p>The post <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com/mtd-news/yunano-website">Creating a compelling new website for Yunano</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.marketingteamdirect.com">Marketing Team Direct</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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