One of my favorite strategic brainiacs is Mathew Sweezey, and we used our latest podcast episode to explore the ideas we’re most excited about for the New Year. I think these are non-obvious, interesting, and worth your time!

Some of the items we discuss:

• Why enterprise-level AI integrations will finally begin to drive ROI
• The human-driven opportunity of experiential marketing
• Why brand communities are the new media
• Why marketing success might depend on change management
• How marketers will overcome a pandemic of dull

… and more!

Sit at the table with us, won’t you? Listen in as Mathew and I explore what the year has in store for us. All you have to do is click here:

Click here to enjoy Marketing Companion Episode 306

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Now, any business can build automated customer experiences, email marketing workflows, and landing pages that guide your customer to your main message. We are here to support businesses successfully navigating their digital presence to strengthen their customer relationships.

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The post Six marketing megatrends we’re watching right now appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

There was one moment in my career that was a defining line between having a human existence and having an inhuman corporate career.

Perhaps you don’t remember a time before cell phones and laptop computers, but it was glorious because you could hide from your boss. Now, I was a hard worker and a responsible employee, but before the digital revolution, if you needed a mental health break, you could simply hide for awhile. If I was on the road, the only way for my boss to contact me would be over a pay phone some place. So I could just be “out of reach” for a little bit if I needed a breather.

Then there was this moment that I will never forget. I received my first laptop computer, and a report was due to my boss. I was living in California, so I was working at night so he would have it when he arrived in his office on East Coast time. And I had strep throat. I was so sick I could hardly be upright but there I was, typing out this report at my kitchen table. And my wife said, “What are you doing? The doctor said you had to be in bed!”

And in that moment I realized there was no more hiding. There was no more personal independence. I was now tethered to technology, bound to my work in an unavoidable way that introduced a new level of stress to every moment of the day.

Some time in my 30s, I began to realize that I had to make different choices. I was working in a way that was making me sick and taking too much time away from my family. So I started removing myself from the rat race and began mindfully pursuing a path of personal peace. I made choices for contentment over money, and started working for myself 17 years ago.

I’ve written about this journey toward personal peace from time to time, including:

The single word that changed my life

Why I stopped growing my business

Mistakes along the way

The meaning of life

But I’ve never talked about this subject on a podcast … until now.

Mathew Sweezey has been on a similar journey, figuring out this tricky balance of peace and the natural stress that comes with work. On this new episode of The Marketing Companion, we compare notes and share our own progress and hurdles as we seek personal peace in a hectic world.

We cover

• The balance between financial security and freedom
• The elusive concept of contentment
• Meaningful work
• How we calm down in the face of stress
• Psychedelics

… and much more. Please click below to enjoy this wonderful conversation!

Click here to enjoy Marketing Companion Episode 294

Please support our sponsor, who brings you this amazing episode.

Bravo for Brevo!

This episode is brought to you by Brevo (formerly Sendinblue). Brevo gives you the tools to attract, engage, and nurture customer relationships.

Now any business can build automated customer experiences, email marketing workflows, and landing pages that guide your customer to your main message. We are here to support businesses successfully navigating their digital presence in order to strengthen their customer relationships.

Go to https://www.brevo.com/marketingcompanion to sign up for Brevo for free and use the code COMPANION to save 50% on your first three months of Brevo’s Starter & Business plan!

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We live in one of the most confounding and exciting times as philosophers and scientists grapple with an improbable question: “What is the role of humans in an AI world?”

It seems bizarre we would even have to consider the possibility of the shrinking relevance of a carbon-based human. In AI, we are creating something magnificent and frightening. Deep Mind founder Mustafa Suleyman (who currently leads AI for Microsoft) says AI is a digital species that can see, hear, think, and respond to its environment. In a new TED talk, he said “AI is us.”

Now hold on. AI is not us. AI is not my mom, my child, or my spouse. “AI is us” makes a good sound bite, but that is just not true. So, what is AI? This is the question of the moment, and it made for a wonderful discussion on the new episode of The Marketing Companion podcast.

In this episode, my genius friend Mathew Sweezey and I begin to explore the role of humans when AI rules the marketing world. Some of our discussion points:

• Humans will still need to create experiences and human-to-human connections that deliver outcomes. Connecting to customers and the human touch.
• The new emphasis on artisanal — isn’t that what we cherish most?
• AI will make customers expect perfect things faster
• AI as an enabler for humans, especially smaller businesses
• The human skills that will be the most cherished
• The aspect of humanity that still defines our marketing

As you see, this is a fascinating and vital conversation. To listen in, simply click here:

Listen to Marketing Companion EPISODE 289

Please support our sponsor, who brings you this amazing episode.

Bravo for Brevo!

This episode is brought to you by Brevo (formerly Sendinblue). Brevo gives you the tools to attract, engage, and nurture customer relationships.

Now any business can build automated customer experiences, email marketing workflows, and landing pages that guide your customer to your main message. We are here to support businesses successfully navigating their digital presence in order to strengthen their customer relationships.

Go to https://www.brevo.com/marketingcompanion to sign up for Brevo for free and use the code COMPANION to save 50% on your first three months of Brevo’s Starter & Business plan!

Illustration courtesy MidJourney

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Major brands are taking a new look at loyalty programs in light of new consumer needs and technological opportunities.

Mark Schaefer and Mathew Sweezey explore the opportunities in a new episode of The Marketing Companion podcast.

Click here to enjoy Marketing Companion episode 282

Please support our sponsor, who brings you this amazing episode.

Bravo for Brevo!

This episode is brought to you by Brevo (formerly Sendinblue). Brevo gives you the tools to attract, engage, and nurture customer relationships.

Now any business can build automated customer experiences, email marketing workflows, and landing pages that guide your customer to your main message. We are here to support businesses successfully navigating their digital presence in order to strengthen their customer relationships.

Go to https://www.brevo.com/marketingcompanion to sign up for Brevo for free and use the code COMPANION to save 50% on your first three months of Brevo’s Starter & Business plan!

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The post A New Look at Loyalty appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

The impact on AI on businesses and marketing has been dominating the content stream for months now. But what about a personal view of the AI impact?

How is this impacting us as people? As business professionals?

I thought this would be a great discussion to have with Mathew Sweezey and we devoted an episode of The Marketing Companion podcast to this subject — a personal view of the impact of AI. We cover:

• Our diverging views on how AI is impacting our professions.
• A view of professional adjustments and job loss.
• How we are applying AI in our work life
• A personal view of the impact of AI on our home life.

Mat always has a fresh and inspiring take on the world and he made me think a lot in this discussion! I think this discussion will make you think too! Just click here to listen in on this conversation!

Click to hear Episode 270

Please support our wonderful sponsors who bring this content to your inbox.

Bravo for Brevo!

This episode is brought to you by Brevo (formerly Sendinblue). Brevo gives you the tools to attract, engage, and nurture customer relationships.

Now any business can build automated customer experiences, email marketing workflows, and landing pages that guide your customer to your main message. We are here to support businesses successfully navigating their digital presence in order to strengthen their customer relationships.

Go to https://www.brevo.com/marketingcompanion to sign up for Brevo for free and use the code COMPANION to save 50% on your first three months of Brevo’s Starter & Business plan!

Build Your Brand with the Architects

Introducing a research-first podcast that builds revenue, not condos — The Marketing Architects!  Keep up with the biggest marketing trends and news through discussions based in marketing, psychology, and economics research. Along the way, learn about marketing accountability, category leadership, brand-building, and much more. Featuring a team of experienced marketers whose blueprints for success are marketing strategies that have actually been proven to work.

Illustration courtesy Unsplash.com

The post A personal view of the AI impact on marketing appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

Whatever happened to Web3?

Not long ago, every conference was stuffed with speakers pontificating about NFTs, tokenized economies, and digital wallets. We were promised that

• Web3 is ownership.
• Web3 is freedom.
• Decentralization is the future.

In 2022, Web3 was the dominant topic at the SXSW annual gathering of thought leaders. In 2023, there was barely a mention. When was the last time you used a Web3 function? That’s what I thought.

The rapid disinterest in Web3 is reflected in these Google Trend charts:

NFTs

Web3

Metaverse

We can’t overlook the fact that millions of dollars were invested in these ideas and those investments aren’t going to fade into the night. Will there be a time for Web3? Should marketers still pay attention?

I think so, and today I’ll tell you why.

First let’s look at the challenges facing Web3 development and adoption (at least from my point of view). The following points are GENERALIZATIONS. There are exceptions, of course, so don’t beat me up.

1. Disconnected from business value

Let’s start with the fact that too much focus has been on the sizzle without the steak.

An example. My biggest Web3 annoyance has been POAPs (Proof of Attendance Protocol). This is a simple NFT that is generally a memento from an event. A symbol that you attended something.

In my own community, every time we had an event, somebody was sure to suggest that I create a POAP. The conversation would go like this:

Web3 fan: “This event was great. You should create a POAP.”

Me: “Why?”

“Because we can.”

“But why?”

“Because we should.”

“But why?”

“It would be a nice memory.”

“But it takes work to mint this, and then it sits on a server somewhere burning energy forever. I don’t wanna.”

To me, a POAP is like the cheap pen or sticker you pick up at a trade show, and then you throw it out when you clean out your desk. Except you can’t throw out a POAP.

My point is, that many Web3 ideas are irrational products disconnected from real business cases. Too often, it is cool technology in search of a problem.

2. It’s not user-friendly

I was early to dabble in NFTs because I wanted to experiment and experience what it was all about. I set up a digital wallet, figured out what this eth “gas” was all about, and finally put it all together over two days to actually make a purchase. It was a pain in the ass. Still is.

It has been difficult to “on-board” to Web3, which has depressed consumer adoption.

3. Disconnected from the real world

The breakthrough for the success of the “Web2” internet was the user interface.

If you wanted to save a file, you dragged it to a “folder.”

If you wanted to get rid of a file, you put it in an icon of a trash can.

Every Web2 action was tethered to something you could understand from the real world.

Web3 introduced us to altcoins, defi, degens, hodlers, and other concepts that don’t intersect the real world. In a way, that’s what made it fun for the early adopters. Speaking this cryptographic language made you one of the cool kids and kept others out. But that’s also why Web3 has not been widely adopted.

4. Tarnished reputation

Let’s say I was selling a new sports car. We’ll call it the Mark500. It’s a visionary, futuristic vehicle with a retro vibe, so the most passionate automotive fans rushed to buy one. This created scarcity, and the value of my car soared as favorable press coverage documented that the Mark500 was a great investment! 

Oh happy day! Mark is getting rich. I can buy a Taylor Swift ticket!

But there’s one little problem. Everybody can copy my car. I have no meaningful intellectual property to protect my product. Thousands of low-quality Mark500 rip-offs enter the market. It’s confusing to know which car is real.

And then owners discover a big problem. The brakes on the Mark500 don’t work. Every day there seems to be another story of the Mark500 crashing into a tree or driving off a cliff. At first, the early Mark500 owners deny the problems. They are irrationally in love with the technology and want to protect their investments.

But soon, it’s undeniable. The press is reporting brake failures everywhere. Even after I repair my product, there is so much negative publicity that my brand will never fully recover.

The parable of the Mark500 is a story about NFTs. There was so much corruption, so many “rug pulls” and broken promises that most people could not trust the NFT “brand” any more. Sure, a few people held on to their Mark500, hoping for a turnaround. But the general public has moved on.

5. It’s not really decentralized

One of the things I could never understand about Web3 is why people were so in love with “decentralization.” Communities would become democratized and decisions would be made by shareholders, based on how many NFTs or tokens were held. That is almost always a lousy way to make decisions.

Decentralization meant a shift toward a more personalized internet, where data is controlled and owned by the individual. It also meant that owning the rights to your data and owning the rights to a community or product meant that everyone had a say, and everyone could be properly compensated for their time and data.

In a decentralized organization, the shareholders rule.

Occasionally, a democratic process is a good way to make decisions, like an election. But it is usually a terrible way to make most business decisions. That’s a story for another day, but suffice to say that touting “decentralization” as a goal is not really a business advantage in many cases when you need speed, expertise, and decisiveness to win the day.

We may not be happy that companies own our data, but most people are resigned to that reality in exchange for a personalized and free web experience. “Data ownership” is simply not a burning problem for the general population.

Further, as reality played out, it turns out that these Web3 platforms weren’t really decentralized at all. Jack Dorsey famously said:

You don’t own web3. The VCs and their LPs (limited partners) do. It will never escape their incentives. It’s ultimately a centralized entity with a different label.

If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you know that in 2021 I launched a creator cryptocurrency through a platform called Rally. It was a way for people to own a “share” of me. But in the end, Rally was just another VC investment that made stupid decisions and ignored its stakeholders. You can read the story of the rise and fall of my crypto token here.

And yet …

There are aspects of Web3 that I loved. My crypto token helped me build a wonderful, caring RISE  community. I could use the token to thank people and reward loyalty. It opened up new business models for monetization. Looking past the silliness of POAPs, NFTs represent a proof of ownership and authenticity, an elegant new way to create contracts, enable new business models, and reward loyalty.

There is SO MUCH POTENTIAL.

But clearly, problems have to be solved.

Web3 must be focused on true business value and grounded best practices tethered to reality. Obstacles to mass adoption like digital wallets and ridiculous “gas fees” have to go away or at least become invisible in the consumer journey.

And, we’ll probably have to stop using tarnished words like NFT or Web3, just like the doomed Mark500 would have to be reimagined and re-branded to be trusted again.

Now, here is the good news.

It’s happening. These problems are being solved. There is an undercurrent of Web3 successes bubbling up in mainstream businesses.

One example of this is an idea called “Open Loyalty” being pioneered by brainiacs like Mathew Sweezey. Mathew was a co-founder of the Salesforce Web3 Studio and is now on his own, helping brands apply Web3 in a rational way. Web3 is being reimagined!

To learn what Open Loyalty is all about and glimpse how Web3 is evolving into a truly customer-friendly experience, please listen to what Mathew has to say in the latest episode of The Marketing Companion podcast. I predict you’ll agree with me — Web3 is not over yet. It may be just beginning.

All you have to do is click here to hear the show:

Click here to listen to episode 274

Mark Schaefer is the executive director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions. He is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books and is an acclaimed keynote speaker, college educator, and business consultant. The Marketing Companion podcast is among the top business podcasts in the world. Contact Mark to have him speak at your company event or conference soon.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram.

The post Whatever happened to Web3? appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

In the latest episode of The Marketing Companion, Mark Schaefer and Mathew Sweezey of Salesforce select the most impactful marketing moments of 2022 and peer into what’s ahead for 2023.

Highlights include:

• The best commercial of the year
• What the crypto collapse means to marketing
• Will AR overwhelm VR as the metaverse champion?
• The phenomenal impact of having 2 million people on ChatGPT
• The best interactive experiences of the year
• Why social media will be reimagined in 2023

Join the fun!

Click on this link to listen to hear Episode 262

Other ways to enjoy our podcast

• Try this! “Alexa, play the latest episode of The Marketing Companion.”
• Click here to download the latest episode or subscribe on iTunes
• Listen to us on iHeart Radio
• Find us on Google Play
• Find the podcast on Stitcher
• Complete Marketing Companion Episode Guide

Illustration generated by AI through MidJourney

The post Big Marketing Ideas for 2023 and Beyond appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

Recently a friend posted a photo from his trip to Alaska. He was hiking by a river and spotted a massive grizzly bear on the opposite river bank. His comment under the photo: “I am simultaneously fascinated and terrified.”

This is also a common reaction when it comes to marketing and NFTs. Fascinating potential. But terrifying in their ability to crush hopes and dreams, as evidenced by some recent scams and “rug pulls.”

On the new Marketing Companion episode, Mathew Sweezey, a Co-Founder of the Salesforce Web3 Studio, and I explore current NFT case studies that illustrate the extremes when it comes to NFTs and marketing:

• How CNN jeopardized its reputation by suddenly ending a high-profile NFT project
• How a spirits company is building community with a creative NFT issue
• A developer group crowd-funded a conference through NFT sales

We also got into a great discussion of trust versus truth. A snippet from Mathew:

“What is really brilliant and profound is that we’re moving into this world where truth is more important than trust. Trust was usually created through how we talked about our brand, and we always did things to make ourselves more trustworthy. But the reality is, we look around the world from a global standpoint, no one really believes those things anymore.

“But when a consumer says something, they talk the truth. It’s from their mouth. It’s their motive, not your motive, a very different intrinsic motive. That is very different from a brand that is trying to protect trust.”

You won’t want to miss this fascinating discussion on NFT case studies. I learned a lot, and I think you will, too!

Click on this link to listen to hear Episode 255

Other ways to enjoy our podcast

• Try this! “Alexa, play the latest episode of The Marketing Companion.”
• Click here to download the latest episode or subscribe on iTunes
• Listen to us on iHeart Radio
• Find us on Google Play
• Find the podcast on Stitcher
• Complete Marketing Companion Episode Guide

Illustration created by AI through MidJourney

The post Three significant NFT case studies for marketing appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

Welcome to the TENTH SEASON of The Marketing Companion podcast!

In the new Marketing Companion episode, we hear from Mathew Sweezey on the evolving role of crypto and Web3 in the marketing mix. Mathew is uniquely qualified to provide this overview since he works on some of the most significant Web3/NFT brand projects in the world through his position at Salesforce.

A few highlights from this fascinating show:

On crypto winter — “I agree with most of the experts out there on crypto winter. This is a necessary shake-out that gets us back to our core. What will disappear is all that is silly. Many of us are excited about this point in time.”

Future of NFTs — “I see companies saying that NFTs are the next major revenue for source for their brand. This is the next billion-dollar product. Others are giving them away for free. That’s the data play. It’s reverse CRM.”

NFT strategy — “When we are working with brands on Web3, everybody wants to do everything. It’s yes, yes, yes. Marketers have to establish a set of guiding principles. We have to guide brands to be ethical.”

Consumer as brand creator — “The future is much more collaborative. We are changing the relationships with brands. We are actually transferring ownership of IP. It changes the role of consumer from somebody who is buying to someone who is co-owning and brand creator.”

This is an incredibly valuable glimpse into the future of marketing and you won’t want to miss it:

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The post The Transformation is Happening: Consumers as Brand Creator appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.