As technology becomes more commonplace, people are changing the way they interact with it. In search, we are seeing that people are beginning to use more basic conversational search queries, which allows them to ask more pointed and specific questions about our products and services. Such as “Alexa, what laptop should I buy?” Mobile searches for “should I” have grown over 65% in just two years.

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What does it mean for us marketers? Whether a person’s intent is obvious or masked behind something that seems more like seeking advice and guidance, create responses that meet their nuanced customer needs.

Because consumers are growing more and more at ease with technology, consider using more natural language and creating intuitive experiences across all of your digital touch points.

If we can be of assistance with this or any other marketing issue, please feel free to contact us.

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This report highlights a significant disconnect between what consumers expect from multichannel ad campaigns and what marketers are actually delivering. As with everything else marketing, campaigns need a strong central idea with coherent and consistent imagery and messaging across platforms to avoid fragmentation and yield consistent positive results.

The fix is simple really. This signals the need for marketers to design compelling campaigns around a fascinating single idea. This makes for a better understanding of how to reach consumers in unobtrusive and creative ways on the platforms or channels where consumers are most receptive to your message. Otherwise, you risk encouraging further adoption of technology like ad blockers or just having your audience tune you out all together.

The choice is yours, continuing boring customers into a coma, or reach for the stars.

Imagine you are a fly on the wall in a conference room where a team is meeting attempting to solve a new and complex matter. It appears that everyone is afraid to talk and make a mistake, that they will appear weak, uninformed and maybe even stupid, and nobody wants to appear stupid.

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You know that groups perform best when mistakes are treated with curiosity and shared responsibility for the outcomes. Psychological safety is the belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or even mistakes. To solve problems today, we all must be more curious, inquiring, experimental and nurturing. Management needs to stop being hierarchical, directive, controlling and even indifferent to their teams and needs to be a part of the team.

When you fail to foster a high-quality interaction between all parties, we all lose out on the benefit of discourse between people who see things differently. The result is a lack of deep understanding, fewer creative options, diminished commitment to act, increased anxiety and resistance, and most importantly reduced morale and wellbeing.

Business leaders need to consider not only how they will act, but more importantly, how they will not act. If leaders focus on enhancing the quality of interaction of their teams, business performance and wellbeing will follow.

The ultimate symbol of an organization’s new-age techniques to be politically correct is to approach marketing with a marketing committee. A marketing committee is often formed to tackle the strategic and design functions of marketing when internal politics demand that everybody has a say and that all opinions matter. Not to mention the fact that leaders can pawn the final decisions off on the committee if it doesn’t work out. It would be naïve of me to say that all committees are a bad idea, but not by much. Just take a look at the United States Congress and you get my drift.

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Everything about marketing communications is subjective. What one person considers perfect and right on target may be hated by the person sitting right next to them who considers it the worst idea they ever saw because they and their friends will not like it. No specific reason given, they just don’t like it and their mother won’t either.

We attempt to stay away from committees, as we remember the words of ad legend David Oglivy who famously said, “Search all the parks in your cities you will find no statues dedicated to committees.” He’s right of course. Statues are always dedicated to a single brave soul − a President, a Military General, an Inventor, a Hero who rushed into a burning house to pull children out. That’s the way America works. We love the individual who has the vision, the strength, and the backbone to stick to their guns and make the hard choices.

There are two types of experts in the world: Real experts, and fake ones. The real experts are the pros who spend many years refining their knowledge and skillset in a particular area and become masters − much like the difference between a brain surgeon and a plastic surgeon that alters people’s features. Fake experts, you know the type, are not interested in solving your problems but building their own egos and reputations as some kind of thought leaders. Both of these groups share one problem: they misunderstand the business of expertise. One group undervalues real knowledge; the other group overvalues fake knowledge.

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Becoming an expert is not easy at all. You become an expert through repeated exposure to similar patterns and situations. Experts can often see a problem and quickly provide a solution, and that makes them valuable, even though it appears easy and quick in that particular instance. I’ve worked alongside many real experts, belong to councils that we are all part of, and compete with or hire them when the situation calls for it.

Recall the old story of a ship stuck at port because it’s engine wouldn’t start? The ship’s owner brought in a few people that promoted themselves as ship engine experts, and they spent weeks and thousands of dollars on the ship engine, and it still would not work. So finally the ship’s owner decided to call an old hand at ship motors who was very set in his ways and turned most people off, as it was his way or the highway. Well, he came in, looked at the motor, put his ear to the main parts of the engine and then tapped it once with a sledgehammer. The old engine fired to life and he handed a $1,000 invoice to the ship’s owner. “Why so much for just one stroke of a sledgehammer?” he asked, “Oh,” said the repairman, “I forgot to itemize that.”

One Swing of a Sledgehammer: $50

Knowing where to hit the engine with Sledgehammer” $950

Real experts know the value and there is no questioning them.

Imagine that you and your organization have been struggling with an issue for a long time, just can’t seem to get your arms around it. You are frustrated. It’s costing you money and you need to move forward. But no matter what you try, the issue persists.

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Now imagine that the next time the problem is discussed, you go out on a limb and offer a slightly bizarre suggestion. You are the boss, so people will listen no matter how unique. It causes people to pause, discussion ensues, and everyone agrees that your crazy thought could work. You once again are the problem solver and it’s obvious why you are in charge.

That one out-of-the-ordinary, perhaps even risky, thought maybe not the best idea but the different idea that made the difference. It’s what John Lennon was singing about decades ago with “Imagine.” You need to add Imagine to your vocabulary. The author, Frank Luntz, called Imagine “the most powerful word in the English Language.” Walt Disney famously said, “Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age, dreams are forever.” Put the word Imagine into your daily lexicon and you will likely achieve unexpected results due to your desire to have something better.