I'm still amazed at how bad marketers are at explaining our jobs to other people. 

Not just friends and family, but colleagues, even...

Just got off the phone from a Sales Leader and he summed up the way people buy.  Note this isn't the way people sell (yet), it's the...

What you're reading here is borne out of serious frustration. 

See, as an enabler of business within the travel ecosystem, part of my...

Are you an avid 'Ad skipper', or an Ad blocker, or maybe even both?

More and more of us are finding ways to block out or skip those...

The guys who introduced the world to digital TV boxes that allowed us to to manually skip adverts are launching an automated function...

Did you know that by 'skipping' those YouTube adverts your actually doing the advertiser a favour?

Apologies, I came across this tired...

As ad fraud continues to rise advertisers are constantly scratching around to find ways to ensure that the traffic that get reported is...

As more and more web browsers are having to adapt or die in the increasingly draconian world of data privacy, the impact is being felt...

If you're a small business, and you enjoy blogging about what you do, why you do it, and sometimes 'how' you do it can be a great source...

A lot is written about digital transformation.  Is it cloud? Is it IOT? Is It Blockchain?

It's none of these things, it's you.

The article below from Forbes, offers 13 useful tips for connecting with new prospects.  

I have whittled this down to 7 and given...

Have you deployed an 'Ad Blocker' yet? 

There's lots to choose from in order your online experience is improved regardless of device,...

Are you on Instagram and FaceBook?

I read that 1 in 4 post on those platform are now Ads, I also read that in order to maintain demand...

Do you spend your marketing budget on digital advertising?

If you do you'll have seen the cost of those ads going up, factor in circa...

$230 Billion is the figure forecast to be spent on mobile ads in 2019, as with other channels and devices it's an extremely lucrative...

I'm writing this on a Sunday, I've just finished a volunteer session down at my local park.  There is a River that runs down the...

We believed when we started Digital Leadership Associates dlaignie.com that Social Media will transform society both externally to...

She used to say to me,

"Mark, don't sit so close to the TV". - Now I put a VR headset on and watch a cinema screen.

"Mark, Don't talk to...

In my second book "Smarketing - How to achieve competitive advantage through blended sales and marketing" (sorry about the shameless...

This article is half right.

As with many people it uses old techniques in a new world.  If you are using social selling properly, you...

The thing about Account Based Marketing (ABM) is that it's a new way of doing business, but people approach it using old tools and...

Brian has written a really great article here, where he creates a "dictionary definition" of Digital Transformation.  Well worth a...

Enter the ad blocker. Ahh, a gift from developer gods.

One of the great things about what it is I do is to be able to write about the...

"Skip The Ad"

Who can't wait for that few initial seconds to be over so you can get to see the content that sparked your interest in the...

Hands up, how many of you can't wait for the 'Skip Ad' button to arrive on YouTube, how many of you put the kettle on, or leave the room...

Buzzwords are everywhere today, the term omni-channel entered into the digital arena some 15 years ago as B2C woke up to the fact that...

The role of the CMO is forever in a state of flux, to adapt we must be open to the forces that are shaping the digital world we and our...

Ad Tech is currently made up of over 7k+ different companies, all of them are involved in the digital ad buying eco-system, this is a...

There is a growing online trend happening called #TurnOffAdTech, and I have to say it's long overdue, and is rapidly gathering momentum,...

My journey into marketing started in operations, and then into general management, back in the day I moved up the corporate ladder...

I recently wrote a blog about some of the trials and tribulations many physical store retailers are going through, and whilst 'Marks and...

Think about how much work has changed ... the internet, social media and mobile has changed everything.

I've just come back from holiday...

The world we live in today is more globally connected at a community level than any time in history.

The number of 'eligible' people on...

Would you buy a Mattress direct from the manufacturer rather than going to the retailer?

It's no secret that many brands are looking to...

Whatever your social media goals are, what matters is that you bring value to your audience. 

This is one of the biggest mindset...

PPC is a great way to generate immediate traffic and boost sales. A marketer shouldn’t doubt the potential of Pay-per-click (PPC). But...

Social Selling is the reaction that us sellers need to take to the change in buying.  Where as 20 years ago, to buy, you had to talk...

When we started Digital Leadership Associates (DLA) 3 years ago, while we had a proven ROI and best selling book, but we didn’t have a...

We often see companies charging ahead with digital transformation in a whole host of areas.  But when you look carefully, at...

Interesting how "Social First" is being discussed in mainstream magazines like this one.

"Social First" is where the whole of your...

The short answer to the headline question is you already have one, but chances are you haven't really thought about what it is, and only...

A key part of any personal brand strategy is the consistent creation, curation, and production of content, especially if you are on a

That got your attention didn't it, C'mon admit it, its a 'spicy' headline, its about the one thing every single human being does which is...

All businesses today rely on multiple forms of technology or another, the buzz word of the moment 'digital' is being used as the panacea...

Take responsibility for your reputation, before your reputation takes over you, or in modern parlez, 'your brand is what others perceive...

If your reading this it could be that my business headline intrigued you enough to explore it further, or that your simply interested in...

A short view on how you can help to get your 'content' optimised for SEO on all search platforms.

However, before we go into that I want...

Like a lot of articles on digital transformation of the Human Resources (HR) or the Human Capital Management (HCM) department, the one...

When Adam, Alex and I started Digital Leadership Associates (DLA) dlaignite.com we knew we needed to be known for something.  So we...

Many articles about Executive Presence assume “your presence” starts in a meeting and it talks about how you should conduct yourself....

When Adam, Alex and I started Digital Leadership Associates (DLA) dlaignite.com we were asked by one of our clients what our global roll...

Here’s a thing.

I was recently in Seattle and had a conversation with an organiser of a big conference there. It went like this.

Me: We...

What is Sales Enablement?

It’s a question I ask many people. I then ask the person to answer the question without mentioning some type of...

We have 2 generations coming through to the workplace, one of them (Millennial) are already here, and they're making waves in the brave...

Digital Transformation is not about moving to cloud, IOT, Blockchain or whatever technology is flavour of the month right now.

Digital...

If your company got 40k of your followers engaging with just one of your post I guess you would be delighted?

If you got circa 1m people...

I started writing this article with the line, 'blame the intern.' In my head I could see the usual set up. Intern hired to manage social...

Wherever I travel, people are using social media, the internet and mobile as a way to make and inform their decisions.

While I know many...

Only if it is shared. I am sure you have all heard this before. This is not ground breaking news.

The World Wide Web changed the future of...

How many times have you seen businesses spend enormous amounts of money designing logo's for their company because they're being led that...

"Content Marketing is 3 times more effective than outbound strategies. 

It can increase organic search traffic, grow your brand, and...

If you’re a start-up business then 'agile marketing' is driven more out of urgency and necessity around the lack of finance and...

In my last role I was on the Board of a large tech vendor and we had a problem, well it was really an opportunity.

We had a sales team of...

I write a lot about the intrusive advertising industry, if your regular reader of my blogs you will already know why.

I look at everything...

I find most adverts intrusive, how about you?

I get it that there are those of you who think they're not too bad, but my guess is your sat...

I read with some interest that 'British Airways' (BA) have been handed a hefty fine from the 'Information Commissioners Office' (ICO) for...

Content, Content, Content, its everywhere for a very good reason, and that reason is due to a combination of 'social media', significant...

Lets assume you have to answer the next 2 questions in order for you to stay in business, and you have to answer them today;

1) What are...

According to this article, Cold Calling has never gone out of style.  Well, I agree, if your style is the 1980's along with power...

Over the years I've worked with numerous media agencies, some global ones, some local, in the UK and Internationally.

Along the way I've...

Hedge funds continue to short the world’s leading advertisers. Shares of WPP have already fallen, other global 'MadMen' type agencies are...

Let's imagine you're sat in a bar, but this isn't just any bar, this bar is where you go to 'listen' to what people are saying about...

Always find these articles “interesting” if a little “off putting”. Is it just me that finds them a little “ivory tower”?

I know the...

There is a lot of BS talked about in the world of influencer marketing. 

I think this is because if people, that is, consumers think...

Apart from ad agencies and people who sell Facebook, Linkedin and Instagram ads, nobody reads ads anymore!

It's a fact of life.

I have no...

This is a great story from the Atlantic. Aspiring Instagram influencers are posting product placement style photos, typically in the...

As I travel the US, everybody I talk to say that cold calling is dead and laugh at these gurus that still push this legacy sales method.

"A recent McKinsey study indicates that CPG companies with innovative sales and marketing teams grow 4.1% faster than those who lack...

As someone whose extremely vocal and passionate about intrusive advertising, in particular the stealthy, and potentially illegal way the...

Social media firms risk losing advertising revenue from UK businesses unless they do more to protect users on their platforms, marketers...

Many companies we are talking about digital transformation. It’s cloud or it’s IOT, or it’s blockchain or it’s 3D printing or, or.... or...

Just goes to prove that it’s an employers duty to teach ALL employees how to use Social Media!

While social networks mature, there are...

When the CMO of the largest CRM vendor in the world say that the 'marketing campaign' is over - and they sell marketing automation...

Has B2B Marketing really changed?

25 years ago when I started in sales we sent out letters, now we send out emails, we have saved the cost...