Daniel Newman is a master of the digital landscape where both marketing and marketing related technology is concerned.  He is the Principal Analyst of Futurum Research and the CEO of Broadsuite Media Group.  He is someone who you need to be paying attention to, and you can start doing so with this episode of Leading Matters.

I’m going to be as straight up as I can about this episode, you will be sorry if you don’t listen to the entire show. 

Dan Newman is one of those rare talents that not only can effectively and provocatively communicate perspective, he shares his perspective from a position of learned experience.  He’s been there, done it, writes about it, and speaks about it.  Some of the largest companies in the world seek his help in navigating the ever-evolving new media landscape so that they may better understand what they should be paying attention to and how they leverage the power of today’s digital communications.

Just one warning, be prepared to be challenged, think differently, and to step way with a little bit of anxiety over the rate of change in digital marketing that has probably already left you in the dust.

HIGHLIGHTS

Digital Social Media is Pulling Us Further Apart
Daniel gave a Tedx talk last year about the impact that digital and social media has had on his life.  The talk is both revealing and personal for Daniel, intentionally so.  He sincerely believes that the risk of the new media and communication landscape is that we forget to invest in and build strong relationships.  Building relationships is good for business, but it is better for who we are as human beings.

The Robots Are Coming And We Chase Likes
The volume of data that is available to each of us is increasing exponentially on not an annual basis but a daily if not hourly basis.  We simply are not equipped to consume it all.  This is what will give rise to artificial intelligence, Daniel believes, because we will need help to mine value out of all of the noise that is out there.  But we are social beings, and tend to be driven by a need for shares, re-tweets and likes.  Our thirst for social activity cannot remain self-interested but be embedded in a desire to be helpful with the content we decide to create.

Marketing Must Admit That Enslavement to Metrics Has Lowered Content Quality
Let’s be clear metrics matter, but measuring mediocrity gets us mediocre results.  Sales teams need air coverage at every single stage of their prospecting and selling.  If marketing isn’t weaving a compelling and dramatic story to tell sales is underserved, lead quality is degraded, and the gap between marketing and sales widens.

Generally a Generalist Owns a Special Advantage Over a Specialist
The rate of change in media and technology make it nearly impossible to invest in specialties.  Once a company has mastered an area of their marketing mix they are probably already late on the next channel that they need to consider.  The fix is to be open to creative ways to build a team, and focus on producing quality.

Owned Media Might Be the Only Thing You Can Afford
Adverting on social media platforms might someday be affordable to only big brands with big budgets.  This makes our owned media approach even more critical, yet so many companies abandon their owned media when the going gets tough.  Do not do that, double down on the media you produce.

Seek New Agencies That Want to (and can) Do It All
You can’t break down your marketing budget for outside services by small little categories any longer.  And keeping everything in house, in Daniel’s opinion, leads to bad strategy and worse execution.  The answer is to seek highly specialized partners that have a comprehensive approach to helping you with your content and media strategies.

Show Notes
Daniel’s TedX Talk
Daniel Newman Speaks (all of Dan’s resources and links to his companies)
Daniel Newman on Twitter