For years I have heard marketing leaders talk about digital transformation in marketing orgs say we are going to focus on "Platforms, Process and People" and for years I felt like something was missing because I have also seen so few people successfully build marketing orgs around these things alone.  Especially in the fast changing world of digital.

The problem is that this is a very ego centric approach to change; as if you just were a bit cooler all your customers would invite you to the party. The reality is though that if the customer is at the center of your business transformation you can accelerate change while still touching on the pillars of Platforms, Process and People.

True leaders in the digital space rapidly outperform their peers across industries and it is hard not to think that this must be a consequence of some essential differences in approach to advancement.  I love looking at what my successful peers are doing and try to separate the non-essentials from what is really happening. Many people think that the key must mean budgets. Yet who hasn't seen companies that spend millions without moving market share position at all and companies with tiny OPEX budgets destroying incumbents. 

So what makes the difference? Personally, I believe that the most successful companies are digital natives (A topic for another time) but there also seems to be a strong correlation to their approach to the customer. Companies with the customer at the center of their digital strategy do better. Seems obvious, but I think we get lost in the possibilities of new tools, new platforms or a kind of digital envy of our peers and forget that we exist to market and sell a product or service not to just make great ads.

Here are few things I have been preaching a lot to my peers in the industry and to my own team: 

1.  Our customers don't wake up thinking about what widget they are going to buy (ok sometimes I wake up thinking about new Leica camera's but bear with me.)
2. Customers think about about their lives and the things that matter to them.  But it is from their point of view not yours.
3.  Your product must fit into their idea of who they want to be. (People don't buy products, they buy better versions of themselves.)

Even in B2B and some pretty "boring" product spaces consumers have a journey they are on that may include many different touch points and I have always said the key to successful marketing is being at the right place at the right time with the right message.  This is the heart to understanding the customer journey.

When you understand the customer journey and how it is changing over time you can better create the requirements for your organization. Iterating on People, Platforms and process as you go. 

All this talk of programmatic, attribution models and algorithms but our media plans look no different than in the age of TV and Radio (How much money goes in each category and what the reach will be).

We live in a world of non-linear purchase paths. Customer Journeys don't begin and end in a neat funnel, the customer may take many touch points to purchase and may not end after they press "add to cart." People can find and buy anything, anytime but we are still buying media and even creating organic content as though the purchase is linear. We hesitate to work backwards from the goal because it means talking about sales (the dirtiest of words.) and you rarely get ADDYs or CLIOs for sales. And don't get me started with adblockers or all the FUD about adblockers.

Yet the media plans are all the same. It's more like a Dim Sum menu than a strategy. It's not in the interest of the agency's or the media platforms to show value. But for the best buyers we live in a world where if we are savvy and doing it right we can determine the value of audiences.   In 2011 in a Fast Company article on why Ad Agencies should be more like tech startups they nailed what has become my primary thinking:

"Retainer-based relationships, by nature, encourage bureaucracy and inefficiency (anyone that’s ever had to pay a lawyer can attest to this). In advertising, it's a vicious cycle: Clients demand heaps of work because they pay an arm and a leg each month for service. This heightened demand, in turn, increases the need for more agency resources."

In simpler terms:  The agency model as it is designed today isn't designed to extract value from the marketplace but is instead designed to extract value from the client's belief in the value of the marketplace.  

We need a better way.  I have been saying for a long time that way is to make Digital Marketing, SEO, SEM, etc essential activities and competencies in-house and to see the marketing as essential to the product.  It doesn't mean agencies may not have value but those agencies that do must change how they extract profits and deliver.   EDIT:  There is an opportunity for agencies to re-examine their model as well and change the game for them and their clients but they are the enemy of that transformation because they benefited most under the old model.

The best case for this was dropped in my in-box this week (Video below at the 11 min mark) and I would encourage anyone responsible for marketing budgets and plans to watch. And if you are in the Mar-tech space I would be working on designing my service and sales model on supporting direct to the buyer vs. the agency model.   I will leave it to Machine Zone to tell you their view but I suspect more companies will be moving this direction and those that move first will win the customer first.

It's time for a change and the businesses that lead in the future will take note of the success of companies like Machine Zone.

iPhones photos don't do this camera justice

I have been collecting camera's since I was 17. I have lots.  I am not a great photographer and I am not even sure I aspire to be. I just like taking pictures.  I also love the hardware. Some people like watches or fast cars.  Me, I love cameras. I have dreamed of having any number of the digital rangefinders from Leica the M (240) is near perfection as far as I am concerned, but I have had cars that cost less and honestly I am afraid I would not take them out and shoot.

I have other digital cameras (Olympus OM-D EM-5 and D-LUX 4) and even take lots of pictures with my iphone, but ever since I first saw it I have wanted this camera. The Leica T is really the perfect camera for me at 16MP and without a full frame sensor it is a bit underpowered compared to its big brothers and sisters, but it is the kind of camera I can have in my bag all the time.  

I have had it for one month. Perhaps someday I will write more about the technical specifics of it or an in-depth review but it doesn't matter what I say because there are photography experts who will say "you could have have bought a Micro Four Thirds camera and all the lenses for what you spent on that camera, but unlike my Olympus since I pulled this out of the box it has not left my bag.  

I have had the chance twice now to shoot with some M Lenses as well as take it around the world with me to Europe and I enjoy every time I pick it up and isn't that what it is all about.

Here are some shots from the first 30 days of wandering with this:

It doesn't get any more hipster than small batch flavored toothpicks, but this caught my attention this morning. I don't know for sure what to make of these I sure love some whiskey especially small batch scotch whiskeys, but flavored toothpicks might be a bit over the top. I am going to be watching for them to come back in stock just to give them a try.  A good toothpick can come in very handy.  

Sold in 4 packs these will cost you about $20 USD.  

The first time I heard about the stir desk I wasn't super impressed compared to some other models, especially at a 5k price tag, but this new model looks really good and at 2990 is at least in line with a number of other major manufacturers but for most people the extra features may not be enough to justify the cost above and beyond what you might pay for a geek desk or a Focal desk.   I would love to try it for a while compared to my current steelcase desk and see how it compares but as of right now my upgrade path is probably to a Focal Desk.

Scandinavian people, my people, take coffee very seriously. Not always on the quality of the coffee but on the ritual of the coffee.  I have very vivid memories of going to the Anderson Lumber Yard and sitting with my grandpa, a couple of great uncles and other men in my family for their 10:00 coffee in the summer time.  The men would be sitting near the carpet section of the store with cups in hand, not saying much about anything.  This is what a respectable man would do. Drink your coffee.

• The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo [ READ 1/12/2015 ]
  • This book is small but you could write so much more about this than even in the book.  I am pretty organized person and I have always followed some of the advice this book offers like to sort by category. But I like the idea this pushes of one big clean and then keeping things in their place. I know people who do this well and as I aspire to be even more organized and reduce clutter even more this is a great book for a lot of people. She really captures the emotion people go through when organizing and eliminating clutter.
• Law, Legislation and Liberty, Volume 2 by F.A. Hayek
• How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff
• So good they can't ignore you by Cal Newport [ READ 1/5/2015 ]
  • So I completed this one while still on holiday, I had heard about this book many times from Merlin Mann on the back to work podcast mention in more episodes than I can remember.  Lots of good things on finding mission, work you love and focus.  Highly recommend.
• How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life By Russ Roberts [ READ 1/22/2015 ]
  • Worth a read... Still processing this one. I probably need to reread moral sentiments, this book made me feel like I missed a few things. Probably in the language that Smith uses. I really appreciate the idea that we should consider our actions with the thought of an impartial spectator who may judge you. So much of this also seems like a guidebook for how to behave on an airplane.
• The Martian By Andy Weir [ READ 2/20/2015 ]
  • Really enjoyable read although as the book went on it was clear he would survive and the pacing seemed a little more hurried to get our protagonist where he needed to be.  I see why it seems to be a popular read on a lot of book lists.
• Primal Branding by Patrick Hanlon [ READ 3/3/205 ]
  • Can't recommend. There are better books on the topic.
• Zero To One by Peter Thiel
• How to make sense of any mess by Abby Covert [ READ 3/10/2015 ]
  • Worth the read if you have any impact on product design, user experience, or web design. Even more important if you are working with these kind of professionals. Highly recommend this little guy and will keep it on my shelf and possibly share it.
• Kinfolk Table by Nathan Williams [ READ 2/14/2015 ]
  • Solid cookbook, cool stories and nice photography.  I enjoy reading cookbooks while I cook so this was a pretty quick read. I have worked my way through a number of the most interesting recipes. 
• Brief: Make a bigger impact by saying less by Joseph McCormack
• The Histories by Herodotus
• Results Without Authority: Controlling a Project When the Team Doesn't Report to You by Tom Kendrick
• This is Service Design Thinking by Marc Stickdorn 
• Adolf Loos: Why a man should be well-dressed by Adolf Loos
• Parsing Techniques: A Practical Guide by Dick Grune
• Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the world of wall street by John Brooks
• The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

Some books I hope to re-read this year:

• My Life in Advertising and Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
• Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• A clockwork orange by Anthony Burgess

There is probably a lot more that should be on here so I will add as I go again this year and fill in some details as I complete some of these.  

“A book must be interesting to the particular reader at that particular time.” - Teddy Roosevelt 

Life it tough. There is so much out of your control. But... I can control how I respond to things. You don't need to wear a Velcro suit and let everything stick to you or you can, that is your choice. 

H/T: ALTNYTTERFARLIG (EVERYTHING NEW IS DANGEROUS)

I started collecting antique cameras in 1999. My first camera was a Rolleiflex Twin Lens camera. I loved it because, I love how it was made as much as I loved the pictures I could take with it. Then I happened on a Leica M3 Rangefinder and even though it is hard to shoot it is one of the finest pieces of craftsmanship I have ever owned. Even though I am not a professional photographer, it means that I have spent a lot of hard earned cash on Lenses and Leica products over the years. But my Leica M9 doesn't travel with me everywhere I go because the risks to having it stolen are absurd.

So when leaks of the T system from Leica started showing up I got really excited. I currently carry a Olympus OM-D EM-5 pretty much everywhere I go. Its a good camera that looks cool and isn't too heavy in my bag. But now...  I am so excited because here is a Leica with some amazing features that comes is a small package.

I am most excited about the large screen on the back where all the buttons and controls are what looks like a innovative touchscreen design. Most 4/3s or other cameras are starting to add touchscreens, but the controls are small and not totally useful. Leica has not been known to move very effectively into the digital era, so this whole package and design could be a first for them too. I don't want to get into the specs here and I probably won't run out and buy one right away ($1399 USD for the body alone) but once some reviews come out and I get a chance to put my hands on one I will probably be talking about it on Twitter ;)

There are real limitations, with the new mount, there are only a few lenses for this rig, but with an adapter and the optical sensor on the camera for detecting lenses a wide range of potential lenses will become available.   

If you are a design nerd I recommend checking out the accessories too which are amazing. 

If you are at all familiar with Comixology you probably know about the amazon purchase of comixology and how this week they removed the in-app purchase ability and forced the download of a new app. This sucks as an experience, I hope amazon will return to a simple model, but given the 30% transaction cost that Apple charges I don't think that will happen.

That said, this isn't the end of the world.  As a user anytime I have to shop somewhere else it sucks, but I have some advice for people just so simplify your experience. 

1. Go to the comixology site on Safari and add payment options (I used paypal since saving that is easy, although if pay with Amazon comes that will make it even easier on a mobile device)
2. If you use 1Password, I just login through there and shop this is a super quick way to explore and make a purchase.  It does lose some of the magic of the explore and purchase environment but it works.
3. If you don't use 1Password, I created a bookmark for the store and posted that bookmark to the desktop.  This lets me have it ready to go when I am looking to purchase a new book. 

Its so obvious.

As a ecommerce and digital marketing guy I should try to explain why this experience may cause friction and reduce sales or maybe I should be outraged that Amazon or Apple is up to some nefarious plot, but instead I am just going to try and make it work.  I will let the rest of you get all angsty. I recommend listening to this episode of Back to Work on the change. This blog post is my way of saying "Word" to Merlin and Dan.

H/T autofocus and nana

I didn't write much about my two trips to Mexico city last year but one thing I will remember was my trip to Restaurante Pujol in DF Mexico.   What an amazing experience to eat a 10 course meal from Enrique Olvera one of the best Chefs in the world right now.  My favorite thing was probably this pork belly that was served with a carrot salsa.  There is too much to share in one post, but the atmosphere and the attention to detail for both the wine, food and the dining area was one of the best I have ever seen.

I highly recommend that you take a look at the video below where he talks about his process and the food. It is in spanish but very revealing in my opinion.  Below is a gallery of my meal and some of the other food.

I was in NYC last week speaking at Conductor's C3 annual conference. I was asked to speak on the topic of how I built my career in SEO and defined success for myself and the companies I have worked for. 

So in my talk, I shared a bit about my career and how I ended up working in Search and how I have found that succeeding as an SEO is more than just tracking the latest algo changes. It involves solving the right problem at the right level, knowing when to commit to narrowing scope and defining what success is in a way that builds support for future efforts.

I also shared a few thoughts on how to be a T shaped individual, how I keep a beginners mind and work to develop the curiosity to keep evolving. If you are interested in hearing this talk let me know. I am glad to present it again.   

This was a new one for me, so I wanted to share a couple of followup thoughts to my talk. 

Controlling the trajectory of your career is hard 

I wish I could tell people that I dreamed of having the career I have today, but that isn't the truth. As a kid I wanted to be a hockey player and as a high school student I had no idea. I knew I was good with computers and design. I dreamed of making money and products. That was it. Nothing more.  

In September 1997, I read an article that would change my life forever.  The article was "The Brand Called You. "  by Tom Peters.  (We can debate the idea of people as brands, but I have always felt this article was a different idea than the "brand you" we hear a lot in social media.) This article changed my life because as a college freshman I started to Panic. Was my education going to add value to my career? Was I missing a window of the dotcom growth?

Almost every decision about my education and my professional career which started just 8 months later were influenced by this one article. Then what I thought was going to be a rockstar life was completely blown up in 2001 when layoffs and resets after the bust hit me and my team at the company I worked at.  For all my efforts to build a career that I owned, I went 8 months without work, without a degree, without any money to show for my effort. I learned that life has a way of making it hard for you to control the trajectory. Instead of upward everything went sideways...

Failure is a requirement. 

One of the best things that ever happened to me was failing at Bing. Despite my best efforts (a long and complicated story) I didn't fit. My manager and I could not define success together in a way that worked for me or him. Having moved from a straight engineering role into a role that was more marketing and evangelism, I didn't know how to make the role work.  So I walked away.  I decided it was over.   

But I have learned so much about who I am, what kind of manager I want to be and how to decide what work to do at that job.  I hope I never fail like this again, but for all the pain of that, so much good has come out of it.

We are here to add value. 

When I started at Logitech I had a job, a job I understood and was good at.  In 2011, my boss who hired me asked me to take on a different role (one I felt ill prepared for) it was more sales and marketing and even further from the data nerdy engineering I began my career with. But I trusted him and so I said I would do it. This was the first of two times I have done this and so far I don't regret either.  Because I understand that I exist at the company to make something happen not to be a witness to the inevitable.  

"One must get along without the security of neat and simple, ready-made solutions. There are things one has to think out, all over again, for oneself." - A Search for Solitude: Thomas Merton; page 132

I miss things all the time. It is impossible to do everything that is required in a knowledge work environment but I try really hard to focus on next actions. What is the the next most important thing I need to do. I always want to be getting better at this. I have a long way to go in so many ways but I think this is key.  Too often we create expectational debt and forget that the people who are waiting on us for items are just as busy as us.  

The Digital CMO

One of the advantages of coming from a search background it the view that search has given me into demand fulfillment vs demand generation. I am surprised at how many big CMOs I meet who can't articulate the difference. One of the things I long for is to meet a fortune 500 C level executive who has a true digital marketing background with experience in search. Too often these individuals come from consumer packaged goods and every marketing solution somehow begins and ends with TV.  Not that TV doesn't work, but to a CPG person TV is a hammer and every marketing campaign is a nail.

My hope is that someday we will see more CMOs that start with digital first in their planning and their efforts.  TV is very valuable but so often it comes at the expense of new shopper behaviors. 

So that's that. 

I want to thank everyone who came to my session and put up with my rambling.  I hope it was useful and I have some of the references I made are available on my presentation reference page. 

This is a bit of a soft launch.  I have been working on the move in the background for a few weeks, but there will be more work to get this up-to-date.   If you have feedback you can let me know on twitter @jeremiah. 

Or send me a note via my form here:

I hate New Years Resolutions. I have written at length about them and so I won't do that despite my yearly protests, you will probably make and break a handful because we are being marketed to that this is the best thing we should do at the beginning of the new year. So instead I will offer my take on some resolutions you should try and keep. I offer them without commentary; make of them what you will:

1. If you take something out, put it away
2. If you make a mess, clean it up
3. Pay yourself first
4. Read something everyday
5. Take dead aim
6. Call your mother, she needs to hear your voice
7. Drive with the radio off at least once a week
8. Spend more, on less.
9. Pet your dog every day
10. Stand at your desk
11. Find the right speed. No one ever looked good in a hurry.
12. Make bread from time to time, it will teach you patience
13. Share a sandwich with someone
14. Drink more water
15. Shut off your phone every once in a while
16. Go in that museum. 30 mins will change your life.
17. Be an owner not a victim
18. Save early, Save often
19. Always know where the nearest exit is
20. Go for a walk
21. Put off buying something, pay with cash
22. Listen to someone else talk
23. Start an emergency fund
24. When things get tough… Close your eyes and think of England.
25. Make something
26. Cook your friends dinner

A couple of words from Rilke:

"When your daily life seems barren, do not blame it; blame yourself rather and tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches; for the creative worker knows no barrenness and no poor indifferent place."

And from Teddy Roosevelt:

"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."

Happy New Year