Shelly Palmer - Digital Wisdom (Introduction) lyrics

Introduction Most senior executives know that it is rarely a good idea to use oneself as a focus group. While it is possible that your personal tastes and pa**ions may be a perfect match for some segment of your target audience, it is very unlikely that it is a perfect match for your entire audience. This is such an obvious truth, it should go without saying. But I guess it's not obvious enough. Over the past few months I've noticed more and more business leaders citing personal examples during strategic discussions. This is understandable, because everyone now has a smartphone or a tablet or both, but it's an alarming trend. I was working with a very large FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) client, and the CMO (chief marketing officer) said, “I have that app. It s**s. I never use it ... ever.” The app in question was a super-popular movie ticket app and the strategy session was about a program that would leverage moviegoers and movie enthusiasts. Just for fun, I asked the CMO what about the app was off-putting. The answer blew me away, and I quote: “It always asks if it's OK to use my location. Can't the stupid app figure out where I am and know it's OK to use my location? ... The app s**s!” So ... I found myself in a room full of self-described “digital marketers,” most of whom didn't know anything about the current implementation of privacy regulations. And to make matters worse, those who did know were scared to say a word because they didn't want to correct the boss. Amusing, but not uncommon. That said, I get paid to make sure this stuff doesn't happen, so I politely explained the difference between the iPhone's permission request and the app's capabilities. To everyone's delight, the CMO accepted the explanation as fact, but then said: “It doesn't matter if it's the app or this iOS thing, people won't use it ... it s**s!” I'm sure you can imagine how much fun the rest of the meeting was. A few years back, before iPhones, before Android phones, before iPads, CMOs knew what they didn't know, and most of the great ones relied on market research and empirical data to set the stage for key strategic decisions. You could argue that the best marketers relied on their gut instincts, but I would push back and say that even the most emotional and artistic CMOs worked from a brand brief. However, in the past 18 months or so, there has been a remarkable (and somewhat disturbing) trend toward the concept of “digital marketer,” as opposed to just plain “marketer,” who happens to use digital tools to help achieve marketing objectives. This unfortunate naming convention is in no way limited to the marketing department. Adding the word “digital” to just about any title has become a worrisome trend. Now, while I've never heard any chief marketers announce which TV shows they personally enjoy when describing a TV buy, I've yet to have a conversation about social media, apps or online advertising that didn't include highly opinionated bias born of personal technology use. This is intrinsically bad, but not all bad. The good news is that from the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street to social networks, everyone is getting in the game. People—consumers and marketers alike—are eagerly using technology to create meaning in their lives, and there is a growing understanding about how things like wireless networks and smart devices can change the world. The bad news is that everyone has such an emotional connection to their technology that people, including business leaders, are forgetting that everyone's experience is different. There is no reason or rationale for formulating a worldview through the lens of your preferred technology and projecting it upon your target audience. If it sounded stupid when you read the previous sentence, it's even stupider when you enact it without realizing you're doing it. The curse of personal experience is something business leaders have been successfully guarding against for years. Perhaps it's time to redouble our efforts to prevent “focus groups of one” from having undue influence. A little vigilance might prevent you from making serious tactical mistakes, such as k**ing partnerships with wildly popular, highly targeted apps just because you think they s**. That said, this book is about digital leadership. It's a new twist on an old sk** set. Digital leadership is a mindset, a discipline, a philosophy and a religion all rolled into one. If you are guilty of imposing your inexperienced digital worldview on your business, you're not alone. The good news is you're reading this book and you are thinking about how to succeed in a connected world. I don't have all the answers. In fact, I don't even have all the questions. But if I've done my job, the following collection of topics and ideas will empower you to think about how our connected world is evolving and how you can both lead and succeed.