[Who is] Mark Schaefer?
Marketing leaders bring the best of marketing from America to French marketers and entrepreneurs. That starts by knowing who is who. Today, focus on …
Mark Schaefer
Mark Schaeffer is a leading authority in the marketing industry for more than 30 years. He is a globally acclaimed educator, consultant, speaker, and author.
He is one of the world’s most popular business-related keynote speakers and has spoken in 35 different countries.
Mark has developed corporate marketing strategies for some of the most famous global brands.
His blog {grow} is hailed as one of the top marketing blogs in the world. His podcast, The Marketing Companion, has been downloaded more than 1.2 million times and is one of the top 10 marketing podcasts on iTunes.
Mark is also well known for accurately predicted, way ahead of time, trends like:
Influencer marketing,
The rises of Instagram,
The true economics of content marketing
The elevation of personal branding.
He is the bestselling author of nine books including most recently Cumulative Advantage: how to build momentum for your ideas, business, and life against all odds.
Mark was my guest at marketing Leaders 😇!!
Some must-reads from Mark:
Mark wrote about every crucial aspect of marketing. And some of his posts had really been true “hits” within the American web on the marketing topic. The kinds of that led to best-sellers books and made him the true “marketing guru” able to anticipate marketing trends like no one else. Here are some of Mark’s must-reads (I had to pick):
Emphasis on celebrity over authority is blowing up influencer strategy: “The dynamics of influencer strategy are fragmenting in an interesting new way (…). The new reality is that today, creators (generally) aren’t experts of trusted resources. They’re celebrities in training”.
Why I take Instagram seriously, and you should, too: “What I’m offering today isn’t rocket science but I think it’s a subtle point. Even if you’re only posting pictures of your favorite meals, your dog, and an occasional sunset, Instagram isn’t fluff. It’s YOU. And for your reputation and ultimate business success, that might be everything”.
Why “resonance” is the future of SEO? “Content and authority … there are really two basic content strategies you can use to win new business: Content meant to win SEO and content meant to earn authority (content that resonates with readers). And of course, you can have overlap between these strategies. (…) for 90% percent of the business out there who will never win the SEO battle, content built on authority might be the best and the only strategic option”.
Why 2021 will be the most important year in the history of marketing? “We need to assume nothing and reconsider everything. These changing habits, attitudes, and values will certainly impact product development, design, packaging, distribution, channels, messaging, content strategy, trust. If you think you know your customers, think again. 2021 is a time for marketers to be humble and engage fully in “listening mode”.”
Lil Miquela does not exist. She just made $12 million: “Lil Miquela is the hottest social media star in the world. But she isn’t real. Meet the future of marketing”.
What makes you a digital influencer? “My book came out in 2012 and I predicted that within two years, influencer marketing would become a mainstream channel. That came true. Many brands obsess over a person’s number of followers or rate of engagement. A digital influencer strives to breakthrough, thinking they need to be prettier or goofier, or louder. But the most successful digital influencers are driven by brand relationships and brands really only care about one thing — does our message spread? Literally, it’s that simple. The economic value of content that is not seen and shared is zero. The economic driver of digital marketing isn’t content. It’s content that MOVES. An ability to move content is the greatest asset you can bring to a brand”.
The myth of the 1,000 true fans: “Monetizing any product takes more than simply having 1000 true fans, even though on the surface, the math seems so simple. In this very noisy and competitive world, simply telling your fans you have something to sell isn’t enough. You still have to promote the hell out of it. You have to build momentum for your product, and then build more momentum to sustain sales over time. Having 1000 true fans or 100,000 fans doesn’t entitle you to anything. You still have to earn a customer’s loyalty, attention, trust, and money every day”.
Top 5 reasons why marketing leaders won’t change with the times:
“If you’re not transforming your digital marketing organization at least every two years, it’s time to lookup
Marketing leaders hate change and risk (…) to survive in marketing you have to be a change junkie
Marketing leaders love their ads (…) we have to re-negotiate our love affair with traditional ads and the people who make them.
Lack of modern leadership (…) It takes a special kind of courage to drive the change that’s needed when it may be in conflict with traditional CMO duties.
Measurement: “We’re in a period where we MUST experiment with new ideas and approaches like word of mouth and experiential marketing, even if don’t know how to measure them yet. Measurement is a highly emotional issue. Suggesting that you embark on a marketing path that cannot be easily measured represents heresy in many companies. Yet holding onto familiar metrics dashboard, and measures that are easy to count like “likes” may become meaningless today. (…) overcoming this measurement hurdle will be the primary obstacle to change for marketing leaders in this new consumer age”.”
Why breaking up Big Tech won’t work: “Intellectually, breaking up big tech makes sense. But a major reason a break-up won’t work is that deep in our hearts, we don’t want the government to upset the fabric of our lives. (…) Sure … the tech giants are so powerful they’re scary. But don’t overlook the fact that market forces are at work building new commercial pathways that will delight consumers in inventive new ways. (…) While I am skeptical that breaking up big tech will work, I am positive this industry is heading for significant new regulations”.
What does digital transformation mean to marketing? An interview from Mark’s podcast, the Marketing Companion, from Mark and Tom Webster interviewing Bryan E. Jones, VP North America Commercial Marketing for Dell Technologies.
And of course… Content Shock: why content marketing is not a sustainable strategy. One of his hits that lead him to find what was the winning marketing strategy in the face of overwhelming information density? What was the formula to overcome Content Shock? Questions he answers in his best-selling book: The Content Code.
To reach out to Mark
Subscribe to his blog Grow 👉 here
Get one his 9 books 📚 here
Subscribe to his podcast, the Marketing Companion
Ask him an instant marketing advice
For anything related to customer care and digital advertising, reach out to him at B Squared Media
Or simply contact him 👉 here
If you want to learn more about the others Marketing Leaders that I interviewed such as Robert Rose, Marcus Colling, Marcus Sheridan, and many more … 👇👇👇
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