Why Employee Advocacy On Social Media Will Help You Reach New Customers

Consumers trust the words and recommendations of their friends and family over and above messages from corporations. An obvious and absolutely logical concept. So why are so many brands overlooking this social strategy?

Employee advocacy – Not just for the Starbucks of this world

Starbucks is perhaps the epitome of a brand that gets social media right. Take their latest Tweet-a-Coffee campaign, which drove $180,000 in direct sales in less than 30 days. Of course, this achievement is in some part due to this global brand having an entire social department. What many don’t know, however, is that they also invest in employee social advocacy – with staff tweeting, posting and commenting on behalf of the company from their own accounts. While few SMEs and mid-sized corporations have the budgets for marketing on a Starbucks-scale, all companies (not matter their size) can tap into the power of employee advocacy. And from DSMN8’s whitepaper research, we can put this in concrete figures:

• Employee reach on Twitter is 13x greater than the corporate accounts

• LinkedIn research shows that employees enjoy a 2x higher click-through rate than their employers when sharing the same content

• 77% of consumers are more likely to buy from a company when they hear about it from someone they trust.

 

With the case made for employee advocacy the only question that remains is how to go about creating a profitable and sustainable strategy. Here are 3 steps for doing just that…

1. Start small (and skip the heavy investments in paid social media)

Most companies know that social media is now a medium not to be ignored (after all, it is involved in influencing three-quarters of buying behaviour). However, gaining followers and then growing the numbers is tough. Consequently, a positive ROI can be difficult to achieve (often putting businesses off paid social media following some months of investment). For this challenge, there is employee advocacy – harnessing the staff whom you already pay, requiring no additional capital outlay whatsoever.

2. Make it all-inclusive

Social posts shared by employees garner eight times more engagement than corporate messages. So it simply makes sense to involve every employee – with 50 staff involved in your social efforts, each of whom have 250 connections, you could gain a reach to an audience of 12,500.

3. Put guidelines in place

The uptake of social employee advocacy has been lacklustre to say the least, brands remain unsold on the idea (despite the compelling research). Perhaps this is in no small part down to the room for missteps, mistakes and misunderstandings, as well as tricky questions that must be answered pre-launch, such as who’ll govern what should be said? How will employees be motivated to become involved? And is there a risk that followers could simply get sick of a flood of messages? To overcome these challenges, you need firm guidelines…

• Ensure that employees want to share the content – This marketing strategy mustn’t be forced on your employees. Gaining involvement begins with a positive company culture – with employees who are passionate for their brand, which can be made all the more effective by incentives.

• Carefully craft a strategy between organic shares and promoted content – Someone must be in control of the messages that are sent, and the times at which they go out. This includes updates that are ad-hoc and posted of your employees’ own accord – nurturing these spontaneous posts is a key element for successful employee advocacy. For promoted content, it’s necessary to get the messaging right and choose their frequency carefully.

• Consider audience alignment – Who are the connections of your employees? What do they care about? They may not be so interested in the Sales VP’s latest profits report (although those in the same industry, over on LinkedIn, may). Employee advocacy is at its most powerful when employees have relevant networks for your messages.

• The entire process must be simple – Employees are short on time, they need convenience, and for optimal results, they require a fast, efficient ‘one-click’ process. A traditional route that some take is to create draft messages (although avoiding mass copying and pasting of this message is critical if your employee advocacy strategy isn’t going to lose all effectiveness). This also involves far more than one step – copy and pasting, editing, logging into a social network, sharing. DSMN8 was created with this stumbling block in mind – allowing employees to pick and choose what they share, where they share it and when – fast, efficient and the business remains in control (while participation amongst employees sky rockets).
• Trust. Overlook it at your peril – An employee advocacy strategy relies on trust for its success. It is effective simply because the messages are genuine – from fellow friends, family and associates. Should users suddenly be presented with mass company messaging, all is lost (and in fact, this could achieve the polar opposite of what is being aimed for – negatively impacting on the brand). Equally, for your employees, this could impact the way they are perceived by those they know.

Employee advocacy is gaining traction and attention – and yet it remains drastically underused by even the largest brands around the world. Whilst the reasons behind this lack of uptake may be wide and varied, one thing remains clear: for those brands that choose to take the plunge with a carefully thought out strategy, there exists an as yet untrodden path to growing sales and sustainable, employee-powered profit.

How Employee Advocacy builds Brand Equity

Word of mouth is given the royal treatment within marketing blogs and serves as a fundamental building block within the description of a marketing mix in any textbook. Little wonder, really, when

“92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends and family over all forms of advertising” (Nielsen).

After all, our trust as consumers is innately better placed in our fellow consumers than in the shiny words that arrive in the latest glossy brochure or on that pixel perfect website.

And yet despite the powers of persuasion that this medium holds, little to nothing is done by brands to leverage this tool – instead, it is seen as a natural by-product of good customer service, high quality products and simply doing things well. This is in spite of the deadening impact that negative word of mouth can have on a brand – and the fact that it would be logical to counter this, if only as a prudent step toward balance. To highlight just how large a divide there is between the power of word of mouth, and the notable lack of action plans, consider this:

“64% of marketing executives believe word of mouth is the most effective form of marketing. And yet just 6% say they have mastered it” (WOMMA).

Brand Drivers – Looking beyond The Usual Suspects

Pricing, packaging, positioning and distribution are just some of the influencers on pushing for consumer brand preference over and above others. But amongst the day to day tasks and month to month analysis for your marketing department, it’s likely that dramatic changes aren’t undertaken on the core of your marketing mix. In the process, this ensures that the most powerful, persuasive and compelling business asset you have is unharnessed and overlooked for driving the power of word of mouth marketing.

We talk, of course, of your employees – those who can be your strongest brand voice and the biggest advocates of your brand. They are capable of making your message personal, and are privy to scores of social connections which together add up to a follower count that your marketing department could likely only dream of. There is power in numbers – and when your employees are your advocates, you benefit from an incredible audience reach.

“Employee networks are up to 50x larger than corporate accounts” – DSMN8 Whitepaper “The Social Employee” (2016)

Consumers trust company employees over and above the official voice of the brand, such as the CEO – and trust is what makes for repeat purchases, consumer loyalty and the potential for consumers, themselves, transforming into brand advocates.

“60% of employees said they would be more likely to create or share company content if employers made it easier to do so” – DSMN8 Whitepaper “The Social Employee” (2016)

Content creation, conversations and customer interactions

Capitalising upon employee advocacy can mean interactions by email, social media, forums, discussion boards or blogs – but you must empower your employees to allow them to do so, breaking away from archaic social media user policies and encouraging them to get out there, in the digital world, to spread the word.

“Overlap of employee social networks with brand networks is less than 8% – a huge opportunity to reach new audience” – DSMN8 Whitepaper “The Social Employee” (2016)

If we take the stat above, we come to appreciate the vast potential of employee advocacy – and beyond reach, lies something that brands could spend thousands or even millions on purchasing – and that’s trust. But even then, the slickest of PR campaigns really can’t come close to the authenticity that is generated by employee advocacy.

KPIs and a clear view ahead

Clarifying your KPIs and marketing objectives are the critical first steps to crafting an effective employee advocacy strategy. It’s time to ask some pretty important questions:

• Who is your target audience?
• Are you aiming to improve the perception of your brand?
• Are you seeking to boost brand awareness?
• Are you looking to influence new customers?

No matter the ultimate aim of your employee advocacy strategy, the point of it comes down to this: your employees can amplify your brand voice and create invaluable brand equity through trust and credibility. For the pioneers of employee advocacy, rich pickings await, whilst for those who lag behind and consider this brave new world of marketing too much trouble, there exists only opportunity to be overtaken by companies that have nailed down this powerful, persuasive medium of marketing.

DSMN8 Team: Introducing Roel van de Ven – Enterprise Sales

Regardless how innovative the idea, or how widespread the problem that it solves, any start-up must sell their solution to the masses: communicating why, exactly, a market must embrace and adopt a product.

While the start-up world turns at a head-spinning pace, and traditional thinking has long argued for a stripped to the core, lean approach for the start-up team – without the right sales talent, even the most ground-breaking products would falter.

As others around us in the software industry continue to advocate services teams as nothing more than a cost – to be replaced instead with third-parties, we know that strong customer communication and on-the-ground insight can only come from the right sales talent – for which, we’ve found Roel van de Ven, our new Enterprise Sales Executive.

Introducing – Roel van de Ven – Enterprise Sales Executive

From taking his first steps into the corporate world as an office assistant at an Attorneys’ Firm, Roel has taken increasingly larger leaps – moving onwards from Junior Business Developer at G4S, onto Henkel, a world leader in adhesive technologies, beauty care and home care, grossing €18 billion a year.

Roel’s initial internship would transition into positions on steadily higher levels – Regional Marketing Assistant, to Regional Product Management and finally securing Regional Pricing Manager, all in the space of 3 short years.

This heady rise into the upper echelons of a global leader’s business team demonstrates an impressive business acumen, yet Roel’s career history has been far from all work and no play. Following a stint as a Wealth Manager, he would go on to become co-owner in a wakeboarding business in Dubai – quite the stark contrast to the straight laced and serious world of financial services. The tenacity to be just as effective for high-net-worth individuals seeking financial advice, as adrenaline junkies looking for a speed thrill, is not to be underestimated (and truth be told, as an avid wakeboarder for over a decade, this is also a real labour of love).

As DSMN8 prepares for growth, it is in Roel’s direction, communication and insight that we’ll secure interest, clients and, ultimately, long-term sustainability.

Q&A 

What did you do before joining DSMN8? 

I ran my own water sports company called Wake Evolution, based in Dubai, which is still going strong. Prior to that I was part of the Regional Marketing team at Henkel – spearheading campaigns and growth in India, the Middle East and Africa (IMEA).

Describe your role in 5 words

Develop and maximize growth opportunities.

Who or what inspires you?

There are many great people in the world who I’m inspired by, but I would say my top 3 would be: Tony Robbins, Will Smith and Richard Branson. Each of whom have taken on industries, questioned the status quo and achieved progression by breaking with convention. They also know what true leadership looks like, Branson puts this best:

“A company is people … employees want to know… am I being listened to or am I a cog in the wheel? People really need to feel wanted.”

Why did you choose to work at DSMN8? 

For the challenge, potential and opportunities – challenge comes in many forms when positioned in the fast-paced start-up world, whereas potential can only be realised when ground-breaking opportunities are fully understood and strategically exploited. Around me are a team of leaders who have track-records for success – alongside them, we’ll be hitting the ground running at a speed that start-ups demand.

How does your role fit into the rest of the DSMN8 Team? 

I bring the business to the table – but this begins with a robust understanding of the product features and the ways in which I can bridge the divide between the end user, and our development team. In this way, I’m the cog that makes refinement of features and UX possible. This link is critical to developing a product that users need, and that users love to use.

What are the main challenges for Enterprise Sales at a Startup organisation? 

Starting from ground zero is fraught with many challenges – from an enterprise sales perspective, the most imposing is getting your name out there in front of big brands, over and above your more established rivals.

We’ve achieved this with vigorous research on what customers want from an advocacy platform – this has ensured we’re developing the right features and user experience. Of equal crucial importance, is our robust sales funnel, and our CRM that helps us talk about the right things, to the right people.

What sales tech do you use to make your life easier in identifying leads and booking pitches?

We use HubSpot which is an awesome tool for prospect and pipeline management. Besides that, we use old school tools: LinkedIn, cold calling and networking. Perhaps the most vital form of networking are trade shows, which place us face-to-face with industry leaders. We’ve met some fantastic brands at CES, NAMM and most recently IPSO.

How do you spend your time out of the office? 

I’m a wakeboarding addict, when not in the office, you’ll likely find me in the water at Wake Evolution or at the cable at Al Forsan.

DSMN8 Team: Introducing Ryan Marsh – CTO

89% of employees believe that a social media presence helps promote a company’s products and services to consumers

Employees, on average, are trusted 16 percentage points more than CEOs

77% of consumers are more likely to buy from a company when they hear about it from someone they trust.

 source: DSMN8 White Paper: The Social Employee (2016); Edelman Trust Barometer (2017)

A compelling argument has been made for brands to adopt the previously unheard of marketing medium of employee advocacy. But no mistake should be made: this is an unexplored realm for the majority of industries. To say that this is a brave new world would be an understatement. And if the challenges of employers harnessing workforce advocacy is imposing, then designing an app to empower them in grasping this model is inevitably even more so.

DSMN8 is being developed to help brands do just this – coded to capitalise on the power of employee advocacy. At the helm of our tech start-up is CTO Ryan Marsh – central to our efforts to create a ground-breaking app.

Setting out in his career some thirteen years ago, Ryan began as a software and web developer; he moved onto increasingly senior roles spanning technical architect, lead developer and senior developer that would take him from New Zealand to London; and now to Dubai, stepping into the fast and furious world of tech start-ups, where agility is critical, and a clear direction is vital.

Q&A 

Describe your role in 5 words

Deliver the business’s product vision.

Who or what inspires you?

Curiosity, technology, mountains and space (the latter three of which we’d all likely know less about if it weren’t for curiosity).

Can you describe DSMN8’s current architecture?

Micro serviced distributed nodeJS.

How do you define the launch features of a product or service, and how do you prioritise features in a development cycle?

Quite simply, it always comes down to the purpose of the tool. Everything that is required to deliver on this purpose is given priority, anything else is placed on a back burner to be built upon later – features that are weighed up in terms of benefits to the users, versus risks to the business. As we progress through development, potential features naturally emerge as either required or redundant.

Maintaining a focus on a lean platform is key to being able to adapt to this. Ultimately, we aim to be agile – to get users onto the platform, get feedback, evaluate, implement and deliver.

What are your top tips for effective communication with a development team?

Trust and respect – it goes both ways and at DSMN8 we have an open door policy for all.

Every member of the team relies on each another to achieve what are our collective goals. You can have all the meticulous planning and impressive project management tools in the world, but without a solid team, you’re unlikely to succeed.

I always place great value on video calls with those working remotely – it adds something to the line of communication that goes beyond the average email or phone call.

What are the main challenges in creating a product that scales, and how do you overcome them?

Code that runs fine during testing but blows up under load can be hard to identify unless you are actively reviewing code for that reason, as the platform grows this gets harder to control. To reduce the risk of this I take a lot of time with the team to discuss the patterns that produce scalable systems, raising the teams overall understanding and knowledge on the topic is the most useful method I find to produce predictable outcomes.

DSMN8 is set to use machine learning – what challenges are you facing?

Machine learning is taking centre stage for DSMN8 – providing insights into optimal times for particular activities, offering useful suggestions about content and feeding back on common patterns that deliver higher click rates.

But here’s the crux of the matter – a machine can’t learn without data, and in development (when we lack real world data), this presents a challenge. To overcome this, our platform is publishing as many relevant data points as possible, which we’ll start feeding into our learning system. We already have a pretty good idea as to what the churned out insights will be – although the excitement lies in the data that is unexpected.

What are the main challenges facing start-up CTO’s today?

Talent. It’s as simple as that – building the right team, from the right people is something that a start-up’s culture relies on.

Of course the rapid evolvement and advancement of technology is also a consideration – as are the increasing number of platforms that spring up, but with the right strategy, tech advancement can almost always lead to opportunity.

My Week At CES: AI With Everything

CES. The tech event of the year. 100,000 tech fanatics, 32,949 tech buyers, and 7,545 journalists each jostling to see exactly what the next twelve months are going to be serving up on a silver motherboard. So, had the future arrived? My week at CES was bitter sweet. Here’s why.

Virtual Reality (is what I’m looking for… and I might just have to keep on looking)

I’ll admit it. I was pretty excited at the prospect of what would be happening in the realm of VR. But what was happening was very little – quite unlike the wizardry VR and augmented reality offerings I imagined, CES seemed to present product after product of affordable VR headsets, each were hoping to get in on the Oculus/HTC action (take Lenovo as a typical example). Whilst there were a few start-ups excitedly announcing their VR/AR prototypes, it’s a sad fact of technological life that without a funding miracle, they’ll likely come to little more than the prototypes of their present form.

AI, next. Onwards and upwards. I thought.

Artificial Intelligence (Artificial being the operative word)

‘AI’ appeared everywhere at CES. Every product, every gadget, everywhere – from self-rocking robot crib Snoo bassinet, to the sleep habit-tracking Beddit Bed.

But, whilst it was all pretty smart, it was also a long way of true AI. Take the house bot Kuri – the makers of this robot have bestowed Kuri with the tagline of being “insanely cute with some serious technology”. And this little guy can do all sorts of things – he can recognise voices, avoid taking a tumble down the stairs and respond with sounds, flashy lights and emotive eyes. Impressive specs, innovative tech – but the purpose escapes me.

Right now, I can’t help but feel that all too many are rushing to sate the consumer appetite for AI novelty. This artificial intelligence is all feeling a little artificial – failing abjectly to actually progress onto machine learning, and authentic AI that truly integrates with every element of our lives – helping us live better, healthier and assisting us to advance.

Just like a kid a Christmas who didn’t get that toy he’d set his heart on, I’m left drawing on feelings that range from mild disappointment to stamp-my-feet, all-out frustration.

We’re missing a trick here. And worse still, consumers are soon going to wise up to the fact that ‘AI’ really means nothing more than pretty damn smart, but not quite intelligent.

AI, Cars and going back to the future

Concept cars designers have long since seemed to root around in a generic imaginary scrap yard of parts and features – the hidden wheels that are so hidden it seems to suggest that soon, our dreams of Total Recall hover cars are going to become reality; those side lifting doors that are most definitely obligatory and strangely Back to the Future Delorean-esque (seriously, if they didn’t take off in the 80’s, I’m really not sure why they would now).

But asides from questions about style, do they have any substance – do they provide a subtext for what’s to come?

Showcasing their wears were Nissan, Audi, BMW, Faraday Future and just about every car manufacturer under the sun (a sun that notably has failed to start solar powering our cars – as was suggested by Ford’s concept car back at CES 2014).

Features included BMW’s floating displays; Faraday’s impressive 1000 horse power beast; and Nissan’s ability to grab control of a car where dangerous circumstances arise (with a special nod granted to Mercedes-Benz, who demoed their autonomous drone-like delivery van).

 

But with so much hustle and bustle at CES, I wonder whether they have any inkling that driverless cars may well be much ado about nothing. A recent survey found that consumers still remain uncertain as to whether they want anything more than car tech that can park for them, stop an accident or prevent their car from being stolen.

Perhaps we simply don’t trust tech in this way – if so, the question is, will we ever? Consumer trust hasn’t been helped by the much publicised Tesla fatality, although it must be said that less attention has been paid to the Tesla owner saved by his own car (that’s despite the autopilot not even being engaged).

In any event – all this may well be by the by. Even if there is appetite, there are other stumbling blocks too. As Kevin Clark chief executive of Delphi (a company launching its own concept car at CES), points out:

“The reality is that the tech exists today… the biggest problem for the manufacturers is the cost, legal and liability responsibilities.” – Kevin Clark chief executive of Delphi

 

It seems then that the realm of driverless cars are potentially as unwanted and challenged as AI gadgets are lacking in actual AI. And that, is why my week at CES was bitter sweet – so much promise, so little delivered. But there’s always next year, right? Tell me what you think

Fake News: Brands and Social Media Credibility

With the advent of social media came hope that consumers would be treated to a world where the truth prevailed – a brave new world powered by the people against global media moguls peddling propaganda. Now, it appears the situation has been turned on its head, with the likes of Pepsi, New Balance, Macy’s, Grubhub, and Oreo falling victim to fake news that spread rapidly via social media.

Social media – A breeding ground for viral (but fake) content

Brands have a real problem with platforms such as Facebook and the like. Social media is now so ingrained within our lives that consumers seem to believe every last word, of every shared post. And the trouble is, we truly trust it.

Like lambs to the slaughter, brands are potentially killed off by a single post from those who profiteer on click bait. At least we knew the clear positions of media outlets – vested interests, self-declared political persuasions and (with a little research) their connections to the world of big business. Now this no-holds-barred free-speech is looking less like a utopia, and more like an Orwellian nightmare for brands doing battle with news fakery.

Compared to mainstream news, this fakery is altogether more difficult to decipher – both the origins and the intent. There are those who create click-bait for a rush of penny-click profit (something Google has vowed to get to grips with when it comes to AdSense) – but these are the easy guys to tackle. There are then those doing it just for kicks – the pre-teen in his bedroom, bored between tea and bedtime.

And the potential result? Outcomes that range from the bizarre to the financially devastating

Fake news can (allegedly) be held at least partly to blame for electing a megalomaniac business man – now the most powerful in the world (Buzzfeed’s take on this). It can also be credited with Kylie Jenner having been awarded the Medal of Freedom for – “realizing stuff”. Amazing. Ok, you could argue that target market of the Kardashian clan is arguably less intellectually gifted than the average man, but even market traders (who we’d like to think are pretty smart) aren’t immune : £1.05m losses suffered by shareholders of two companies following fake tweets that both were under US government investigation.

Brands – You’ve got a challenge on your hands. And you (may be) on your own with this one.

There’s been much heat on the likes of Facebook to get on top of this issue. Mark Zuckerberg spearheads the importance of free speech, yet his position on the antithesis of free speech – propaganda and brand BS – has until recently been a flat out denial of the issue. Bottom line? It’s debatable whether this is the responsibility of social media platforms, and even if it were, brands can’t rely on them for protection from fake news.

PR guru Tony Telloni says that it takes anywhere from six weeks to six months for brands to recover from the impact of a fake news story. The need for a reactive and finely honed strategy is then a non-negotiable for brands of any and every industry. But when it comes to the crunch, brands have two big problems – the speed at which these stories spread and being able to counter the impact by being able to reach people on-mass (and even then – will the consumer listen?).

So, how can brands manage the risk of fake news?

As a first step, straight-from-the-horse’s-mouth communications from brand to consumer need to be innovative and engaging enough to contend with the allure of fake news. But beyond this line of messaging is the need for a reply to such stories with a voice that goes beyond the official announcement with a voice that is authentic and credible. And there may be no more an authentic or credible voice than real, fellow social media users. But when faced with a viral fake story, some brands are missing a trick by ruling out thousands of potential mouthpieces that could aptly counteract mistruths and rumours – their employees.

Whilst employee advocacy has been harnessed and accepted as important for tasks such as productivity, recruiting, brand awareness, social selling, event attendance and more, brands have been slow to catch onto employee advocacy as a tool for fighting fake news.

One example that others may learn a lot from is healthcare company Humana, where staff aren’t only granted access to social media, but are promoted to a level where they themselves can become original content creators. This is the kind of innovation that could be capable of truly tackling social media news fakery.

By comparison, 54% of employees in the wider working world are banned entirely from social media. It’s all pretty archaic, to say the least, and in fact 45% of companies ban it exactly because they fear it’ll damage business reputation (Lewis Communications and HCL Technologies), when in fact, quite the opposite could be true.

Whilst we can hope that Facebook etc get to grips with the issue of fake stories, brands need to presume that all responsibility currently lies at their door.

When it comes to voices to whom consumers may listen, employee advocacy is a critical tool to be harnessed – and yet all too many companies fall at the first hurdle by not even allowing their staff online – all whilst the world may well be falling down around their ears.

Ultimately companies of every industry need to think hard on their strategies if they’re to limit the impact of any future fake story – and this may well be such an imposing challenge that global businesses may need to completely rip up corporation-wide communication policies.

If You Can Keep Your Head When All About You Are Losing Theirs…

2016 is shaping up to be quite the annus horribilis. Quite apart from the passing of such legends as Bowie, Rickman, Cohen, Wogan and Corbet, there has been unprecedented political turmoil, with UK’s vote to leave the EU (“Brexit”) and the election of Donald Trump to the US Presidency.

It’s these last two events that have caused all businesses – but particularly start-ups – to face increased uncertainty, difficult markets and most of all, higher levels of risk. Though I think Brexit is likely to affect UK businesses more than Trump’s success (it’s going to be a key topic of discussion at the ‘TechCrunch Disrupt London’ event in December), even sectors such as renewable energies are facing disruption after the election, according to Elon Musk.

“An Entrepreneur is someone who jumps off a cliff and builds a plane on the way down” Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn.

So what’s the problem? Entrepreneurs thrive on this risk and uncertainty – without the thrill of riding out the waves of uncertainty there would be little interest in venturing into the world of start-ups to begin with. When uncertainty hits, it’s natural for your brain tell you to panic, but those with entrepreneurial acumen automatically begin thinking rationally – how can they effectively assimilate and deal with this new information? How do you keep your head and continue building your plane?

When I started my last business I had absolutely no money, no staff, no business plan and a sizable amount of unsecured debt to my name – not to mention my wife, Viki, and Ofelia, our six-month-old baby, to support. And it was slap bang in the middle of a recession! Five years later, at the age of 31, I sold my company, E-Tale Marketing Solutions Ltd., in a multi-million-dollar deal; after selling to, and competing with, some of the biggest businesses in the world. Despite the challenges it was something i felt compelled to do. I simply had to do it, and i trusted myself that, whatever the challenge, I could overcome it. The journey was peppered with a huge amount of risk and uncertainty, but it’s how you deal with it that marks you out for success. These are some of the mental strategies that kept me going:

1. Think Positive

During the good times, entrepreneurs can find is easy to forget about focusing their mood, because the smiles come easy. But when the tough times present themselves – and they will – try to find a happy or positive thought to rebalance the panicked reaction. Whether it is a business breakthrough from recent weeks, or a promising event happening soon, remind yourself that good things can (and will) happen and that focusing on negativity will not help you to get through it.

 2. Let Go

As much as the entrepreneurial instinct is to micro-manage everything, there are some things that are simply out of your control – such as the outcome of an election. When these situations arise, you need to be able to accept that, yes, this will affect your business, but no, you cannot prevent it or ignore it. So your job is to ride it out and decide the best course of action to see the other side with minimal damage. Try not to exaggerate the situation to yourself or those around you – acknowledge it with a level head for exactly what it is and plan using the information you have available.

3. Prioritise

Understanding the difference between a make-or-break decision and an inconsequential one is vital for when tumultuous situations arise. The truth is that every decision made during the running of a start-up brings uncertainty, but by using the information available and focusing on the most important decisions first, whilst weighing up a range of possible outcomes will save a lot of your energy and relieve enough stress to allow you to wiz through the small choices later.

4. Trust Yourself

You started the business on your own and sometimes you must trust the same instincts, that used to scream at you that this was a good idea, to carry it forward. Start by listening to your instincts on small matters and learn whether your first impressions are to be relied upon or if you’re the kind of person who needs to research more thoroughly. Many top entrepreneurs know how to settle their brain and focus on the issues – Steve Jobs took walks to make decisions, whilst Einstein went sailing to clear his mental blocks.

5. Stay Agile

I’ve said it before, agility to is the best defence against uncertainty and by adopting an agile, or flexible approach to your business, you gain a competitive advantage. Now is the time to take a progressive view, remain dynamic and revert to Entrepreneur 101: remain agile and look for opportunities.

 

Knowledge is the key, and whilst it is vital to remember that there will be things you cannot possibly know – you can take the information you do have and build upon it to make plans. Whether it’s finding funding, or choosing the people you want to be by your side, plan ahead and never let negativity hold you back.

How do you see it? Is your business facing new challenges as a result of Brexit or Trump? How do you handle uncertainty? – let me know below.

The Apple Falls – From ‘It Just Works’ to ‘It’s Hard Work’

Something is wrong at Apple – they seem to be lost in a mire of confusion and missed opportunities. I started to feel this after the iPhone7 launch; the new MacBook Pro launch just cements it. I’ve long been a fan of Apple’s (well, Steve Jobs’) ethos: creating beautiful products that make your life better. I simply don’t think that they are doing that anymore. Their last two product launches have been disappointing to say the least, with poor decisions – dropping headphone jacks and USB ports – and lack of innovation. But more than that, their crown of creativity is now being wrested from them. Google’s Pixel phone is an iPhone killer. Even Chinese super-manufacturer Xiaomi is launching a phone that looks like the iPhone7 should have been. And now the severely compromised MacBook Pro’s. Apple’s product range used to ‘just work’, now it’s just hard work.

MacBook Pro Fails

The latest MacBooks have missed the point completely. In abandoning USB in favour of Thunderbolt ports, you now basically have to carry a bag of dongles and cables to connect your other devices. You can’t even connect an iPhone 7 with the cables they provide out of the box – epic fail! They also didn’t bother to increase the power of the chips – with similar RAM and processor specs to those released years ago (still 2.4Ghz as standard, so 2010. 2.9Ghz?, oh that’ll be $3,000…). And the Touch Bar not only fails to add real value (quick access emojis ffs!), it does away with the ‘Esc’ key – effectively alienating one of their core demographic –  programmers and developers. They focused too much of their energy on ensuring that apps and programs can communicate effectively and seamlessly through Cloud software but forgot the basics.

Lack of Innovation

The introduction of the Touch Bar had the potential to be innovative but they sacrificed the function keys to make room for it. It’s almost they said ‘You don’t need those complicated things! Look – shiny icons!” – it feels more like a distraction rather than an innovation. Apple are forcing users to divert their attention away from the screen whilst they scroll through selected icons to find the app or program they need. Microsoft, in the meantime, came up with the Surface Dial – a cleverly designed peripheral allowing users to interact with every millimeter of the display.

The Surface Dial is an all-encompassing control device which combines simplicity and practicality – bringing a new dimension to hardware and software interaction. When placed side-by-side, there are some obvious advantages to having a dial which can be placed directly onto the screen, rather than the Touch Bar – which users actively have to break their concentration to use. Compared to the Apple Touch Bar the Surface Dial is innovative, has almost limitless applications, and is perfectly targeted at its audience – creative designers and developers, an audience that used to buy Apple without question.

In the summer, I wrote a piece about how important it is to ignore your competitors and listen to your customers instead. Apple seem to have done neither of these things, preferring instead to  look to the past. Now even Microsoft – formerly the antithesis of Apple, creatively – are beating them at their own game.

I’m Out

On the one hand it’s great to see more competition at the top end of the tech market. Ultimately this is good for consumers – more choice, better products, lower prices. But I’ve long been a fan of Apple, and it’s sad to see them fail so hard. Steve Jobs changed the world with his manic desire for beautiful designed products that define perfect user experience. The limitations of the new MacBook Pro are simply too much for me. I’m ditching my iPhone and switching to Google’s Pixel phone, and i’ll take Microsoft’s Surface Studio, or the Lenovo Yoga. I don’t think Steve would be happy with this state of affairs.

How do you feel about Apple’s new developments? Have i missed some genius strategy in their product line-up, or are they now being left behind by Microsoft and Google? Let me know in the comments using #NewMacBookPro.

5 Keys To Hiring The Best Talent

Dyson launched a recruitment campaign last week, kick-starting their quest to recruit three thousand engineers over the next four years. They have effectively done away with traditional recruitment techniques in favour of a series of ‘cryptic’ puzzles designed to attract and identify lateral thinkers.

Investing in staff is crucial for the growth of any business; whether start-up, growing SME or mega-corporation, each will face a different landscape when it comes to hiring. Whilst large, well-established corporations can rely on their brand, reputation and large budgets to create intricate recruitment campaigns and cherry-pick from a pool of talent, start-ups face several limitations. However, there are a few key things you can do to improve your chances of hiring the best talent out there.

1. Hire Early to Stay Ahead of The Curve

This does involve hiring more people than you need right now, but I don’t mean that you should hire people unnecessarily – what it does involve is looking to the future. Staff who are able to support customers, fix bugs and hold the fort when the time comes, need to be in place before they are needed. Try not to worry about excess employees sitting around with nothing to do. When it comes to start-ups, there’s always something to do…

2. Your First Hire Should Get Stuff Done.

Early staff within start-ups need to be willing, able and flexible enough to do whatever needs doing. There are often responsibilities from different sectors being undertaken by one person.Hiring staff in advance of their necessity means these ‘extra’ people can help to take the weight off and make sure that the workload is spread evenly. When hiring staff, it is important to make sure that they understand the need for flexibility, new hires must have an adaptable outlook on their role. As Miles Jenner, of Recruiter.com, says:

“All companies must now assume the inevitability of change, if not disruption, for which there is no manual. It’s imperative to hire for this challenge, which can only be met with agile, adaptable and flexible minds that are capable of constant learning.”

3. Employees like Money – It’s Not Rocket Science.

Knowing that your first few hires will be taking on much more than their specified position entails, it is worth thinking seriously about their pay. According to ‘JobVite,  61% of job seekers see higher pay as a bigger draw toward a job than other factors, including location, flexibility and company mission, especially when they factor in the often heavy workload and instability of the company. Clarity on this last point needs to be addressed directly and as early as possible, reassuring new hires that they will be looked after should the worst happen.

4. Recruit in The Same Way You Work.

The transition from candidate to employee can be fraught, but to make it as seamless as possible, and to avoid giving your chosen candidate a nasty culture shock once they’re through the door. Your recruitment process should match the company culture. For example, if online processes are an integral part of your business, they should be a part of your recruitment strategy. Recruitee.com have some great tips for integrating digital innovations into the recruitment process. Closely matching your recruitment technique to your company’s culture also allows you to see how well candidates will respond to, and integrate with the current working order of things – it may also give you the opportunity to receive feedback and opinions for improvement.

5.  Always be Looking

50% of employees see their current position as a placeholder and job satisfaction is no longer a guarantee of employee loyalty, therefore, it is impossible to know whether your current employees are planning to remain with the company. This does not mean that you should be hiring continuously, rather you should be making connections within your industry, reaching out to potential candidates and keeping them informed about future possibilities, so that they are primed and ready to commit, should the opportunity become available. Bas Kohnke, co-founder at Impraise says:

 “It can take a great deal of time to find the right candidates once you need them, so make sure you start looking for new talent way ahead. Developers especially can be hard to find, so ideally keep a watch list of talent that you can approach later.”

Whilst putting so much thought into a start-up recruitment campaign may seem daunting, these steps are the foundation of the recruitment process which will stay with the company throughout its growth and expansion. Even when you have grown to the point where you can justify an HR department, these guidelines can still be used to hire the best talent for your business.

‘Proposition Q’ and CSR: We’re Better Than This

This week a story I saw in The Guardian, TechCrunch and others really fired up my jets. Basically a few highly influential tech entrepreneurs and investors are funding a proposal that gives SFPD the power to remove homeless tents from the sidewalks of SanFrancisco. Officially called ‘Proposition Q’, to date it has principally been funded by Michael Moritz (Sequoia Capital), Ron Conway (a tech Angel Investor), William Oberndorf (SPO Partners) and Zachary Bogue (Mr Marisa Mayer) who between them have donated more than $150,000 to the Proposition Q campaign (the majority of the current $270,000 campaign fund).

Proposition Q is being sold as an attempt to help the homeless, but in reality they just want to hide the problem: the visible evidence of homelessness. It doesn’t address the issue of homelessness, nor does it provide any alternative accommodation for those who have the only shelter available to them, forcibly taken. There has to be a better way of dealing with the problem than this.

Entrepreneurial Responsibility 

It’s great that these individuals want to do something about an issue that is on their doorstep. Personally, I believe that it’s really important for Entrepreneurs (well all individuals, really) to support causes that are close to their hearts. For example, I am actively involved in the UAE with a charity that rescues abandoned cats and ensures they are cared for and re-homed.

At the other end of the spectrum, high profile tech entrepreneurs and UHNW individuals – Zuckerberg; Gates; Buffett – are committing large amounts to solving some huge social, environmental, education and medical issues. Consider the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which offers grants to causes who apply and has a website full of great statements, such as

“We believe that by giving people the tools to lead healthy, productive lives, we can help them lift themselves out of poverty.”

In contrast to spending money to hide a problem, The Gates Foundation works to address the root causes and find sustainable solutions to the problems facing some of the most disadvantaged groups and locations.

The guys funding Proposition Q should be ashamed of themselves. They are not funding a coherent plan to help the homeless, they’re just removing the only shelter they have in a massively insensitive way. Entrepreneurs, especially those who are successful on the scale of Moritz (net worth $3.1bn), have a responsibility to deliver on their platitudes that they want to “make the world a better place”. Homelessness has long been an issue in San Francisco, so why can’t these guys work together with the other Silicon Valley heroes and use their technology and influence to incentivise, fund, sponsor or create shelters and programs that provide a step to permanent accommodation for homeless individuals? I’m thinking along the lines of an X Prize  – get some great entrepreneurial minds to address the root causes of the problem, rather than attempting to hide the evidence of a broken system out of view. In this connected world, if we have the means, we should all work together for the greater good.

CSR = Win Win

In addition to the greater social benefit that CSR provides to the world at large, it also has an extremely positive impact on brand image, making you more appealing to investors and boosting the morale of both employees and stakeholders. The three main wins for enterprises generated by developing socially responsible practices are:

 

1. Morale & Recruitment

Employees want to feel like they are part of something more than a profit-turning machine, and a socially responsible company attracts higher standard of candidates when it comes to recruitment, as well as improving the morale of both existing employees and managements – the feeling of making the world a better place can work wonders for motivation.

2. Cost Saving

Committing to improving your companies’ stance on environment causes, such as cutting down on paper usage, waste or increasing recycling can help businesses – by reducing overheads.

3. Brand Value

Social entrepreneurship is important in the modern climate – especially when the general public – also known as your customers and clients – are becoming more and more socially aware and starting to base their decisions on charitable and socially responsible actions made by companies. Socially responsible companies are a more favourable option for cause-conscious consumers.

I’m reminded of a Steve Jobs Quote:

“Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them the tools they’ll do wonderful things with them”

In an increasingly socially aware world it’s time for all of us to take responsibility for our actions and make smarter choices.