SEO is dead Digital marketing is deadpages.searchmetrics.com/rs/656-KWJ-035/images/Jono Alderson... · Digital marketing is dead ... Stop thinking about channels, buying cycles, advertising

@jonoalderson | @distilled

SEO is deadDigital marketing is deadSurvival tips for what comes next

https://twitter.com/jonoalderson

https://twitter.com/distilled


Let’s set the scene.




http://bit.ly/jono-future




Amazon“anything in a box”“everything as a service”




The Next Billion PeopleWill come online, and disrupt our markets




The Nascent Distributed Content Ecosystem…represents a paradigm shift in how we build our empires.




3D (and 4D) Printing...opens up new routes to market, and reduces the cost+value of commodity goods




Marketplaces...become the new marketplaces.

Commodity goods get cheaper, closer and better.




New Interfaces...create new challenges




IPAsMake decisions on our behalf, and

constrict the top and the bottom of your funnel




Machine LearningSystems become better pattern-matchers than us.




I’m more concerned about tomorrow than I am about 2020.




I think we’re all screwed.




So...What’s keeping me awake at night?




1.The finite capabilities of humans and businesses

As remits broaden, we’ll struggle.




Q.What does it take to be a successful SEO?







!




That’s fine...We’re all rockstar ninja guru unicorns.

Bring it on.




Except...People’s skills don’t scale infinitely.




Awareness Consideration Evaluation Purchase

SE EtcSEO PPC Affiliates Display

Retention & Advocacy

Email




So brands struggleBudgets, structures and performance are constrained

vertically by people doing the thing-they-do.

KPIs. Risk aversion. Management. Accountability.




Awareness Consideration Evaluation Purchase

SE EtcSEO PPC Affiliates Display


EmailOffline Mobile & Apps




PurchaseAwareness

Consideration

Evaluation

EtcSEO PPC

Affiliates

Display


Email

Offline

Mobile & Apps




PurchaseAwareness

Consideration

Evaluation

EtcSEO PPC

Affiliates

Display


Email

Offline

Mobile & Apps




PurchaseAwareness

VR/ARConsideration

Evaluation

IPA purchase recommendations

EtcSEO PPC

Affiliates

IPA purchase decisions

Display


Email

Offline

Mobile & Apps

3rd party marketplaces

AMPPWAs




PurchaseAwareness

VR/ARConsideration

Evaluation

IPA purchase recommendations

EtcSEO PPC

Affiliates

IPA purchase decisions

Display


Email

Offline

AMPPWAs

Mobile & Apps

3rd party marketplaces




This is a messWe’re trying to fit our channel mechanics to

consumer behaviour.




It doesn’t matter how agile you areThe tech, and your audience, moves faster than your

organisation and capabilities




What if...We structured our activity around the

consumer, not our channels?




Demand retention

Demand creation Growing awareness, and winning hearts and minds

Matching demand to supply (within constraints)

Surprise and delight, to retain and grow advocacy

Demand fulfillment




Working on it!




Everybody needs to find their own flavour of holacracyhttp://bit.ly/holacracyplus



http://bit.ly/agile-digital-teams

http://bit.ly/holacracyplus


Everybody needs to find their own flavour of holacracyhttp://bit.ly/holacracyplus



http://bit.ly/agile-digital-teams

http://bit.ly/holacracyplus


Companies need to operate like this now

Because tomorrow, there are 100x more channels, and today’s structures don’t scale.




We’re screwed.Because most businesses aren’t designed for this.Because people aren’t rational and invested.

Because we’re still relying on unicorns.




2.Assistants will use past behaviour as a proxy for preference

The way we need to think about marketing changes.The top and the bottom of the funnel constrict.




Marketing & advertising...Assumes that you can interrupt or

purchase my attention.




Consumer need (a moment)

Expression of intent

Brand (re)action




Moment

Build (or adjust) a consideration set

Reduce consideration set

Evaluate & reduce risk

Choose

Act




Moment

Build (or adjust) a consideration set

Reduce consideration set

Evaluate & reduce risk

Choose

Act

Happens invisibly




How do you influence the consideration set, when the customer isn’t there?










Systems will use three concepts to make these decisions.

1. AvailabilityIs it open/nearby/valid?

2. SuitabilityIs it good/right/cheap?

3. Implied PreferenceDoes it align with what I understand of your values?




Implied Preference is complexSystems will use past behaviour and

connected data as a proxy for preference




Explicit actions:

● Read an article

● Liked/shared a social post

● Installed an app

● Reviewed a service/product

Network actions:

● Actions from peers

Lookalike actions

● Behaviour & characteristics of lookalike audience




You need to influence the consideration set, six months(?) before the customer expresses a need...




More than just past actions

What happens when they can monitor emotional and subconscious preference, too?

http://bit.ly/emotiontracking



https://www.kindred.ai

http://bit.ly/emotiontracking


What if they know more than you do about your preferences & priorities?

http://bit.ly/googlecancer

How should this affect recommendations, results, choices?



http://bit.ly/deepminddata

http://bit.ly/googlecancer


Negative interactionsKILL




So, we need to get in before the demand exists...and create implicit and/or explicit value and preference signals from an

audience who may never buy, and never ever get a bad review...




We’re screwed.Because we can’t access the market.

Because most of us aren’t P&G.

Because this is thoroughly impractical.




3.Brands need to reinvent themselves

You’ll need strategies to access the market, to stand out, and to pivot.




Small/new brands should focus on reputation and recommendation

Influencer marketing is the future (again); you need ‘sponsors’ and networks to recommend and endorse you



#SquaredPresents

#SquaredPresents

#SquaredPresents

In a commodified world,this is going to get harder

Success requires that your brand deliver a valuable experience*

*What does this mean?

The service is available, and is of a quality I

expect

Brand interactions answer to a slice of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Fulfillment

Experience

Story / Proposition

The service is available, and is of a quality I expect

Messaging or elements of the service differentiates it from the competition

The Brand Value Hierarchy


expect

Fulfillment

Experience

Story / Proposition


Stickiness

P&G put things I need onto shelves

Fitbit makes me feel like I’m in control of my health

Uber make my travel completely frictionless (through the removal of uncertainty)

Amazon (retail) has everything I’ll ever need, ‘frictionlessly’

Having Amazon Prime means I ‘already have’ everything I need


expect

Fulfillment

Experience

Story / Proposition


Whiskas create the food my cat eats

Promise

Experience

And when the consumer’s not involved...


And what about agencies?




The Agency Survival Challenge(reduce)Cost

(increase)Quality

(reduce)Time




The Agency Survival Challenge

(increase)Comms

(increase)Execution

(increase)Planning

(reduce)Cost

(increase)Quality

(reduce)Time

!




The Agency Survival Challenge(reduce)Cost

(increase)Quality

(reduce)Time

(increase)Comms

(increase)Execution

(increase)Planning



@jonoalderson

We’re screwed.Because brands are driven by shareholders

Because agencies are driven by compromiseBecause nobody gets fired for maintaining the status quo



4.Technological breakthroughs disrupt industry and society

Machine learning, automation and VR chip away at our commercial models, and trigger an arms race for data.




Automated factories reduce cost of production

All commodity goods radically reduce in price.How do you compete?




Doing smart stuff?

It doesn’t matter, if your job involves pattern matching.




And it’s not just pattern matching

What happens when we train the machines to think like us?

Kindred.ai





And it’s deeper inference than we can achieveWhat happens when they think differently with more connectedness than us?

http://bit.ly/autolocation




http://bit.ly/autolocation


How useful are you, really?

What happens when you strip away all of the

pattern-matching skills?







If we had more time, we could speculate on the socio-political ramifications...




...and explore how connected devices, VR, and universal income irrevocably

break capitalism...




...and how we’ll need to reinvent Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs for an

automated world.




But, what do we do in the meantime?




I’ve wrapped all of this into five tips to help you survive.




1.Take stock of your organisations, and yourself.

Where are your strengths, weaknesses, threats & opportunities?How do these stack up against your competitors, and against the

changing landscape?




2.Unlearn bad habits.

Stop thinking about channels, buying cycles, advertising. Structure your teams and projects around consumer needs.




3.Optimise brands for agility.

Be prepared to pivot on platform, positioning, and product.Build hub-and-spoke models to remain flexible.

Play to your brand strengths, and learn to reinvent.




4.Build partnerships with other brands.

Find other brands where you’re stronger together.Create ways to earn attention and preference in other ecosystems.




5.Learn to love the machine.

Identify skills and expertise which are easily replaceable.Map out the organisational impact.

Start broadening and reinventing your own skillset.




THINK HAPPY THOUGHTS




Thanks!



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SEO is dead Digital marketing is deadpages.searchmetrics.com/rs/656-KWJ-035/images/Jono Alderson... · Digital marketing is dead ... Stop thinking about channels, buying cycles, advertising