'Ben Thinking' -- 2024, Issue 8

As we turn to the summer months, I need to remind everyone that this is the perfect time to be taking a step back and looking at planning for next year.

The biggest area of focus needs to be your stakeholders. How are you reaching, securing and nurturing your audiences? From SEO challenges to labor shortages to making sure customer know what you sell (v. what you make), the time to poke and pull at this is now.

Thing is, I’m not telling you anything you don’t know. And you may be saying to me ‘yea, we know…but there’s no time.’ Well, you’re not telling me anything I don’t know. Which is why we’ve simplified our approach to solving and strategizing for challenges like these. We’re talking weeks, not months. Let me know if you want to learn more about taking the first step.

Now, onto what I’ve Ben Thinking about, featuring a must read report in the number one slot.

Hey, speaking of taking a big picture view of your business…

This PwC CEO survey summary featured in Quartz is absolutely fantastic. It’s full of so much rich information if you truly want to think about challenging your status quo. The stat it (wisely) touts to pull you in: 45% of CEOs see their companies becoming unviable within a decade if they don’t challenge the status quo.?

Young consumers are turning to social more frequently for business discovery purposes.

Who you’re showing up to is becoming more important than how you’re showing up. I guess it’s always been that way though? No one is executing a channel strategy program without a specific audience in mind. (No one is doing that, right?)

But in this case, the who is very important as Gen Z continues to grow up and flex its spending power. Will your brand be what they find? And if you think I’m just talking to consumer product companies, think again…

B2B influencers are on the rise.

I’ll save you some time – every major study is showing the usage of influencers in B2B campaigns are up. Way up. So now what? Check out the article this links to and let me know if you want to learn more. Is it a shift and will it seem a little uncomfortable? Yes. But as we learned earlier in this newsletter, that means it’s the right thing to do!

Walmart is taking its worker shortage into its own hands.

Bet you didn’t know there’s a labor shortage.

This story is pretty interesting time because a.) so many companies are facing a shortage; and b.) so few are investing in programs beyond three month recruiting or incentive campaigns.

Similar to content and social strategies, any campaign to build your pipeline needs to be designed for the long-haul. And specific to you.

Don’t read this…but do reference it.

Listen, no offense to the author whatsoever. But sometimes I think HBR puts articles up as pure filler and hopes that because it’s on HBR people will just accept it. Well not today!?

Today I use this story that really isn’t saying much at all to remind you that you have power to tell your story. The next time you think people aren’t interested or it would be too difficult to do, think about this piece. If this can get placed…just imagine what we can do with your cool story.

Do you have an outbreak of ‘Busy Bragging’ in your workplace?

I’m not sure who would want to be the person doing the bragging in this case…but we all know. It happens.

For the pod squad: For Immediate Release “Just another fad”

AI is just another fad. Just like email, the web, social media, podcasts and livestreaming before it. Probably best to just let it pass.

Fast Five:

1.???? Nvidia passed Apple on its way to becoming the second largest public company.

2.???? The AI chip market is projected to grow at annual rate of 42% through 2032.

3.???? The NBA Finals start tonight! (Cue the Titanic meme of ‘it’s been 84 years’)

4.???? Happy Pride Month!

5.???? Caitlin Clark. I just felt like I had to mention her since everyone else is.

Need a speaker, facilitator, panelist or moderator?

I would be happy to contribute to your next event or planning session. Contact me to talk more.

Feel free to share with anyone else you think would enjoy the articles and resources!

Thanks for reading!

-Ben