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Key Person of Influence with Kevin Appleby & Graham Arrowsmith

Are you a Key Person of Influence?

In last week’s podcast Dr Jo North recommended Daniel Priestley’s Key Person of Influence book. Kevin Appleby downloaded the book to his Kindle and something struck him in the first chapter.

Key Person of Influence with Graham Arrowsmith and Kevin Appleby on The Next 100 Days Podcast

Kevin has been creating courses for management accountants. All about the 21st Century Business Partner. How they can be effective.

Daniel Priestley makes the case that the knowledge and skills we prised 5 years ago will not be relevant today. The tech is still there. It is what you do to take action. Amplify your voice and take action. But he says the stuff you learned 5 years ago, isn’t relevant anymore.

Daniel Priestley, Jo North, The Next 100 Days Podcast

What has changed in Your Business?

What has happened in the world of marketing to the affluent? Over the last 5 years. If you take direct marketing, 3 years we were pre-GDPR. It reminded Graham of the Millennium Bug and Y2K pre-2000 and Fortress Europe in 1992, where we were worried that the Walls of Europe would go up and we’d be excluded.

Graham argued that the fear itself is the thing that stops you making changes. Perspective helps you.

Direct marketing hasn’t changed in 100 years. 3 or 4 years ago, people used to ask a lot of email lists for affluent people. It was supposed to be cost effective. Open rates and click through rates were poor. Direct mail, is a long lasting method to contact the affluent over 50s. Receiving direct mail is also being appreciated  by younger people too.

But it is FEAR that prevents people from doing something.

 

The Prevalence of FREE and Social Media

Kevin brought up FREE, following from Dr Jo North’s episode last week. Kevin asserts there are no 5 simple steps. Email has been bloated to the point of failure. Graham qualified, email is not effective with consumer acquisition. However, once you have permission, then email marketing works way better, such as keeping in touch between first contact and conversion.

Jason Van Orden, a previous guest, was mentioned too. A recent email received by Kevin from Jason, suggested finding audiences and networking with them. This has been Kevin’s approach with LinkedProfessionally.

Kevin asked what’s changed in the last 5 years. Graham mentions that Dan Kennedy warns his readers that the internet marketing attracts a lot of silly n’ stupid businesses, willing to be colonised by the owners of  internet media (Facebook, Google, etc).

In Facebook’s case they recently kicked off an orthodontist for upsetting people with negative BEFORE images of teeth/people, which “make people feel bade about themselves”. Well, isn’t that the point of before and after images? He says that these media owners are behaving unlike any previous media owners, in that they treat advertisers with utter contempt, and as fools.

So, don’t put your eggs in one basket.

Platforms are enabling Business

Teachable. Is it dangerous to build a business on one of these sites? Or LinkedIn? or even Google?

Mark Taylor, another guest shared this post today. It highlights the plight of a large media outlet – The Daily Mail – who lost 50% of its traffic overnight, without any changes at their end.

Kevin has 3 Alexa enabled devices in his home!

Everything You Knew 5 Years Ago is BAGGAGE?

Difficult to accept. 5 Years ago, we were all encouraged to blog. Is it still relevant? I think so. But write longer and more detailed blogs.

One of Kevin’s issues is that his personal branding is too wide.

But, Graham stresses again, that when it comes to marketing think about three things:

 

What is Different in Finance?

Double entry book keeping hasn’t changed for hundreds of years. But some things have changed. Making Tax Digital, for example.

Kevin recalls the first IBM PC being used in the office. That changed things.

Functional Jobs

Priestley says in his book that a lot of people are functional in their jobs. Look around. How many people are doing functional jobs. Contrast that with vital jobs, creating value. The big worry for these jobs is Artificial Intelligence programmes.

If you are functional, you’ll be automated OUT of a job. So, be vital. Priestley makes the point that small companies can be agile, act quickly. Big companies had an advantage and a natural barrier, can now be regarded as a weakness.

What do we advise?

Have a look at what you are doing today. How long have you been doing it? Does it still engage your audience? Of the things you are doing, what is functional and what is vital? Free your time and get the functional delegated.

Graham points out that Priestley’s work appears to work on PROJECT FEAR. Change stuff or don’t become a Key Person of Influence.

But, do not throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Keep a weather eye on the horizon, life around you will change, but there are pervasive things in life.

Do let Kevin and Graham Know Your Views!

Thank you for listening and reading!

The next 100 days podcast is brought to you by Kevin Appleby and Graham Arrowsmith