The future is constantly coming at us. It’s not a theoretical “later.” Later is now. This is the reality that business leaders must face. Whatever premise or notion they may have to the contrary is probably their security blanket, clinging to it for comfort. But that’s not going to change what’s coming. And what’s coming is moving faster than ever due to COVID.
So what is a clear-eyed business leader to do? That’s the focus of this article with world-renowned visionary, digital expert and community leader, Mitch Joel. As a Canadian business leader, you already know that Mitch speaks frequently to diverse groups like Google, Walmart, Starbucks, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter and Gamble, Twitter, Unilever and every organization and association in between.
With a captivating glimpse into the world around us today and what this means for what’s next, keep reading for his perspective. The you of tomorrow will thank you as you take every head start you can get today.
Change Keeps on Changing So Get Ahead Now
When people hear the words disruption, innovation or transformation, they can mean basically anything. What Mitch is trying to accomplish in his presentations and content is to always level set for real practitioners who are in it daily. They’re the people who are trying to think differently about how the world is and how it could be.
Mitch often reflects on where marketing is going based on his experience building an agency, selling it and exiting it. But he wanted to broaden it beyond marketing. Not that he fatigued on the topic at all but there was limited opportunity to evolve the profession.
Marketing is now fully integrated into a business-as-usual mindset. It’s now difficult to change that.
Because of Mitch’s background with technology and communications, he can expand his perspective into a greater sort of business context. He asks each of us to disrupt the cycle of disruption that so often comes “at” business. Mitch argues this is a core imperative and therefore is his greatest gift as a consultant and speaker. To put businesses – instead of on their heels – into a more proactive stance on the balls of their feet.
The “Three Little Pigs” for the Future
If the ‘big bad wolf’ of business is disruption, there must then be three little pigs. Mitch encourages you to consider these as you get ready for what’s next.
Transformation
First, how do you actually transform businesses to be ready for the future? Not enough leaders are asking, “how do we work with the same tools and technologies that our customers work with?” Or “how do we ensure that we’re not constantly fighting customers because we’re on legacy systems?” Consider: are you building a desktop landing page in a world where everybody’s on their smartphone? If so, you’re already way behind.
Innovation
Second, the question of how companies can innovate is often a marketing-driven function. To launch a new product is more than just understanding a consumer need and solving for it. Brands are fortunately in a very likeable position. They can create digital products and services that not only create a connection with the customer, but actually engage with them, day in and day out. At the same time, if done well, it can be provide solid profit margins.
There’s a guitar retailer in Tarzana, California called Norman’s Rare Guitars. As a YouTuber, he shows celebrities buying guitars and kids trying them out in the store. But he built this other thing called the All Guitar Network which is essentially the Golf Channel for guitars. It borrows a Netflix model in that for a small monthly fee, you get access to everything from documentaries to instructions to interviews and more. To Mitch, that is a brilliant example of real innovation. It’s an entirely new business channel that has actual revenue attached to it. It is taking them into a more digitally-focused world and especially during a pandemic, you can see how much this product could resonate.
Transactions
Third is transactions, which is a more complex word for sale. Everybody talks about big data and machine learning and AI. Fine. But in reality, what you really want to know is this: what does it take to get somebody from someone seeing a brand to purchasing it. That’s where Mitch came up with this notion of microtransactions. Watching a Facebook video; a like on YouTube; someone signs up to a newsletter or someone meeting you at a physical conference. All of these are microtransactions.
Your goal should be to understand what the smallest amount of microtransactions are that will lead you to the ultimate sale: the macro transaction.
So, if you think about that from a really macro level, how do we act internally? What does the customer see? What does the customer do on their journey with you?
Data Helps Make the Connection
Answering these questions has come from Mitch’s research, podcasting, talking to entrepreneurs and investing in businesses. You can measure if someone watched a video and signed up to a newsletter there was a 70 plus percent chance you could convert them to a customer. When you know that, where is your energy going to be focused? If you create more videos, that can create potentially more newsletters. You know that’s going to lead to sales.
Focus on your marketing inputs and the resulting outputs rather than chasing shiny objects.
If you don’t actually know what those steps are to achieve a purchase, stop there. Once you master that, consider how to then augment your available options. Don’t spend money without understanding the output.
COVID Brought the Future Forward
Since March, we’ve all been focused on survival. Then we hit this different moment in August where it was no longer about survival but about sustaining. Mitch asks, how do we sustain this now? What are we going to do to engage our team members who have very much shifted in terms of where they sit and in what they do? How are we going to engage with our customers? With our competition?
Mitch discovered a lot over the years in front of audiences on stage, creating podcasts and writing books. With COVID, it became clear that people needed to move quickly towards the future. Whatever future that might be. All COVID did is accelerate it. Some brands saw promise; a quick example is Shopify. The current pace of adoption for ecommerce was supposed to only happen by 2035. Shopify in March had a stock market capitalization of $40B. It’s now over $120B. Incredible.
Some people talk about this moment as the Great Depression. It’s not. It’s the great compression.
For years, Mitch has been talking with the world’s largest companies about digital opportunities and thinking differently. It’s not an option for anyone anymore. Now they’re scrambling to change very aggressively, very quickly. We even see this from small fruit shops on main streets offering order-ahead contactless pickups to sushi restaurants offering instructional videos and grab-and-go meal boxes.
Winners and Losers: Today and in the Future
Even for the supposed winners in all of this, Amazon for one, many customers discover it’s going to take six weeks for a product to arrive. Many people then realize they can drive to their local Canadian Tire and have a sales associate pop out and drop the same item in the trunk of their car with no contact.
We’re now seeing an environment at the physical retail level that brands are adapting to the fact that people aren’t shopping and experiencing as much as they’re there to buy.
What’s fascinating is the businesses you would think would be in dire straits who are actually doing phenomenally well. Some that you think will do phenomenally well are suddenly going bankrupt. They not adapting; they are just a victim of the moment, according to Mitch. At a bigger level, in the months and years ahead, we’re likely to see massive unemployment and massive economic challenges. The stock market can do whatever it wants with four or five stocks taking 30% of the total (mostly tech stocks).
Many years ago, Mitch wrote a book called Six Pixels of Separation, which was about the fact that we are all interconnected. He believes that the term is still very prescient because that’s what we’re seeing today. COVID economic impacts are going to trickle into every single corner and you’re going to have massive disparity. If we thought it was bad before, it’s going to be worse now.
On the Bright Side
The opportunity now is that we have to think differently about what business we are in. In this sense, Mitch is reflective. All of the people who are out there thinking, gee, I should start a restaurant, might now be thinking differently. Perhaps it’s about “how do I build a brand with a ghost kitchen and offer a really amazing in-home dining experience that is much better than ordering pizza?” When you think about it from that perspective, it can be very exciting. Suddenly, you have one core idea being thought about and new, myriad distribution models and channels. The bigger aspect of it is we used to say that people don’t buy things they buy experiences. People want experiences, but for the next while, something bigger will overtake experiences and services, Mitch believes.
Every business – whether they are product based or service based – is going to be thinking more seriously about digital-based services.
They will need to layer on and expand to different business models. Clearly, there’s opportunity and there’s some reason for optimism for those who evolve their thinking. As long as you’re looking at what does a different world look like for you, that’s great. Mitch suggests you’ll have a chance to succeed.
Simplifying it While Making it More Complex
Many people now operate, on one hand, with this idea that the world is forever changed. We’re going to have social distancing, masks, etc well into the future. But, on the other hand, some expect to look back on 2020-2021 and think it was bizarre during that time but everything is “back to what we thought to be normal.” The guiding advice from Mitch is clear:
The opportunity isn’t to think about either our COVID experience continuing or a return to normal. Plan your business to prepare for both simultaneously.
These are both realistic outcomes right now. It depends where you live, what business you’re in, what you’re trying to accomplish. But the trick is the ability to really reimagine everything about the model at present that you see as a positive or negative.
Let’s Help Each Other Now and Into the Future
Imagine you are a franchisee and you are in a strip mall and your business has always been successful. But your shop neighbours are no longer there because nobody’s going to the dry cleaner because they’re going to work less. The shoemaker isn’t that busy because people are just buying sneakers. The person who makes suits is struggling because people are wearing more loungewear. Mitch points out that there’s a cancer in that nobody will go to that strip mall as much anymore.
We have to really think about our neighbours. You can easily say your job doesn’t require you to go downtown right now so you can now move further out to the country. But what is the impact on all of the businesses and to the core of the city? What is the impact on the ability for the city to bring in things like concerts, museums, expositions and exhibitions? In this reality, Mitch is concerned.
We are making myopic decisions and statements about what’s good or bad in this moment of a pandemic without really thinking it through.
If you live somewhere that becomes extremely hollowed out, it creates a very different environment. It might get more scary since there may be more dangerous crime. Mitch worries that many people are still very much concerned with their own survival and sustaining their own model. This is versus thinking about the decisions that they’re making and what are the actual implications on the businesses around them. But many people say that “this is capitalism so, sure, go build your own business. But if I find another shop who’s selling something better, that’s their problem.” To a certain degree, we don’t have to be that way anymore.
Disruption is inevitable in any business at any time. But Mitch suggests at this scale – and that people are making such harsh choices after only a matter of months – it doesn’t take long for behaviour to change permanently. The implications of it at a macro level beyond our own household or family perspective is concerning. So what is one to do? Get prepared for the future starting now. It’s already here.
In Partnership With
Mitch Joel helps leaders decode the future. As Founder of Six Pixels Group, he has been called a visionary, digital expert and community leader. He is also an entrepreneur, investor, bestselling business book author, trusted advisor, chronic reader and passionate speaker who connects with people worldwide by sharing his insights on business transformation, innovation and marketing.
Tim Bishop, CM is a multi-disciplined executive with a proven record of optimizing strategic efforts to expand the influence of leading organizations, such as the Canadian Marketing Association, Cineplex Entertainment, Lavalife.com, IMI International and Northstar Research Partners. In Partnership With is his latest focus to curate Canadian marketing experts to celebrate the power of strategic partnerships in a perspective-based content series.