January turned out to be just like that. A month of thinking and reviewing last year’s progress and challenges (with its successes and failures), a month of making resolutions, personal and professional plans, while keeping in check the bigger picture of 2018. That’s how it ended with the event that Econsultancy hosted – “Digital Outlook 2018“. The near future(2018), as the experts are seeing it, is …. inspiring( if I’d have to choose between inspiring or scary).
Having had the opportunity to attend this year, I must say, it’s with a bit of mixed emotions. It’s inspiring to have access to how experts see the year and perhaps it gives us a blanket to keep and hold throughout the year. In the same time, it’s freakin scary. Listening, taking it in and realizing that, it’s more than what we do, day in and day out. What we do today, it’s sometimes not strategic. It’s reacting to the immediate needs, it’s taking little steps in a direction and hoping it’s the right one. But what we do, day-in and day-out, is quote often, functioning like robots ourselves and just keeping sane at the end of the day. The scary part is, when you realize the world doesn’t have patience, you don’t have patience, but time doesn’t wait and its passing doesn’t do you any good if you loose yourself into the reactive nature, into the other’s needs and you focus on delivering and not on growing yourself and others while delivering.
Out of the talks at Digital Outlook 2018, the key takeaways for me were:
- Marketplaces are on the rise.
- Facebook and Google are still the big players of Online Advertising. For this year at least.
- AI is here. For Marketing.
- Data is Hard. But, the New Data will allow previously invisible data to prevail and be measured and optimized.
- Storytelling is moving to Data Analytics and Reporting/Dashboards.
- Data visualization will take more natural languages form, for customers to understand it, when they need it.
- Digital Transformation is: Strategy + Engagement + Innovation + Technology + Data&Analytics.
Your people, your culture and the people’s skills and capabilities power it. - Take one piece of the equation lightly( any of them ) and you will fail ( 84% of the companies do )
- Digital Transformation is a Marketing function. You must have buy-in top and down to even dream to start it.
- When you start your Digital Transformation journey, choose one of the 2 goals( and it must be ony one) : Cost Reduction or Demand Generation.
- Design thinking, technology, the ability to experiment and innovate fast will shape the future. Collaborate with a vast network of experts to achieve it fast and scalable.
- User Experience – is no longer expected and demanded for customer products, but also for backend systems.
- How do you enhance your productivity with 400% and half resources in the next 5 years?
- Whatever you do, whatever you deliver, whatever your role is, add value. Keep continuing to add value. Through solutions, innovative ideas and strategy.
- The job of a marketer is to understand customer needs and inner desires before they even need them. Move a step up and work with product teams, to deliver and sell.
- Understand the market, reach the market. Then you’ll succeed.
- The most important value you can offer is Trust.
- China has become a Digital Leader, it is no longer a Follower. ( see WeChat/Weibo ). The future is already there.
Scary and inspiring right? You tell me which emotion is higher for you. But I know, that we can do it. There is a lot of work to do, but if I continue to stay focus, have the end in mind, I will be able to contribute to the Outlook of the year that started and looks to be an exciting one.
Are you ready?
