InMarketing This Week: Walk the talk

Innovate > Interact > Influence

Written for CEOs, marketers and other leaders in the financial sector, InMarketing This Week is a showcase for news likely to impact them - delivered with insight on why it matters and ideas on what to do about it.

What’s new?

On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission, and a group of 48 US attorneys-general, hit Facebook with its first antitrust charges on home soil. The Financial Times reported the two lawsuits allege that Facebook has defended its social media monopoly for years with a “buy or bury” approach to its rivals, such as Instagram and WhatsApp. In short:

• "If the FTC and the state attorneys-general can convince the courts that Facebook’s allegedly anti-competitive behaviour has damaged the market, the default solution is nothing short of the dismantling of the company."
• "The FTC repeatedly cites as evidence an internal email sent by Mr Zuckerberg in 2008 in which he says 'it is better to buy than compete'."
• "In pushing for a break-up, the FTC has gone further than the Justice department’s similar case against Google in October, which did not mention any specific remedies it was seeking."

Why does it matter?

This is important news for many reasons, not least because of what it says about US regulators' new found appetite for getting to grips with Big Tech's seeming disregard for the law. But there are cleverer and better informed commentators than me to offer you insight into the important tensions between technology and regulation.

What strikes me about this story is that this is also the culmination of years of pent-up frustration on the part of the government (and indirectly the public at large) at Facebook's attitude and the complete disconnect between what the company says and what the company does. Time after time, Facebook's senior leadership team, including and most prominently Mark Zuckerberg, have been asked by lawmakers to explain and change its practices - not just with regards to antitrust but also, and arguably more importantly, data privacy. Time after time, Zuckerberg has promised to mend his ways then done precisely nothing about it.

Time after time, Zuckerberg has promised to mend his ways, then done nothing about it.

This failure of the company's corporate communications (which, despite prominently hiring Nick Clegg two years ago, shows no sign of improving) means that Zuckerberg is neither trusted nor particularly liked. Not by Facebook's users, and certainly not by US lawmakers. And the reason for that isn't his automaton-like appearance, his lack of empathy or indeed his arrogant demeanour. All of those things could be (and it amazes me, given his resources, that they haven't been) fixed with some good public speaking training. No, the reason Zuckerberg is neither trusted nor liked is that he has, time and again, failed to live up to his promises.

Corporate communications best-practice is that when things go wrong, you should apologise, explain what happened, lay out a plan to address it, then commit to coming back to report on progress. He never does. Instead, he regularly sweeps concerns from regulators about data privacy breaches and anti-competitive behaviour under the rug with vague statements, in only somewhat contrite tones, about the company 'listening', 'taking criticism on board', 'being committed to change' and then delivering absolutely nothing in terms of tangible action.

When your communications and your actions are out of sync, you're going to run into trouble. This week, Facebook finally did. 

What’s next?

1. Take action

TAKEAWAY: Ensure your actions match your communications and your product lives up to its marketing

The lesson here is simple: no matter how well-conceived and slickly delivered your communications, they will ultimately fail unless they're in sync with your actions. In short, you have to walk the talk.

Similarly, the best marketing in the world won’t save you if your product is sub-par. You might be able to fly on fumes for a while but, ultimately, your customers and the market will catch up with you and you'll come crashing down to earth.

This is why your marketing and product people need to work hand-in-hand; it's why, as I wrote a couple of weeks ago, your marketing people should have a seat at the table when you're building your digital experiences. This is also how a good CMO earns his place at the top table. It's why your Head of Communications or your PR adviser is such a valuable asset when the chips are down.

The key though is to ensure that you're crafting strategy and communications as a whole, not hoping the latter will compensate for or obscurate the former.

2. Get help

TAKEAWAY: Whether it be as a permanent member of your team or with 'on demand' support from WhatsNext Partners, let me know if you need my help.

In the post-Covid age of depleted marketing budgets and remote teams with skills gaps, many organisations need marketing and communications support that’s agile, flexible, on demand and risk free. That’s why I founded WhatsNext Partners.

3. Share with colleagues and subscribe

TAKEAWAY: If you would like future issues delivered straight to your inbox as soon as they're published, please subscribe.

Sharing valuable content is integral to building any brand, including your own. If you found this post useful or know someone who would, please like, comment on or share it using the buttons below. 

What else?

Three other articles from the last seven days that are worthy of your time.

FINANCE

The Financial Times, 13 December 2020: Future of the City - Where did all the jobs go?

TAKEAWAY: Brexit exodus hasn't materialised but new ventures won't be based in London.

• "The expected flood of bankers leaving London has so far proved to be more of a trickle."
• "Most investment bankers and traders headed to Frankfurt and Paris, while asset managers favoured Luxembourg, and back-office operations have gone to Dublin and Warsaw."
• "David Benamou, chief investment officer at French asset manager Axiom Alternative Investments believes that instead of setting up in London and expanding into Europe, the opposite is happening. 'Now if I had to start a business from zero, of course I would start from the continent, because there wouldn’t be any point starting from the UK,' he said."

TECHNOLOGY

The Economist, 12 December 2020: Why is Uber selling its autonomous-vehicle division? 

TAKEAWAY: Focus on the core.

• "On December 7th Uber announced the sale of its self-driving arm to a firm called Aurora."
• "In 2016, Travis Kalanick, then Uber’s chief executive, described self-driving cars as mission-critical. If somebody managed to beat Uber to making them work, he said, then the rival’s ability to offer taxi trips without paying for human drivers would mean that 'Uber is no longer a thing'.”
• "High-tech distractions like self-driving cars—or flying ones—may be the last thing the firm needs. It is under pressure not just from rivals and investors but also from regulatory probes."

MEDIA & MARKETING

Financial Times, 7 December 2020: Ikea takes ‘emotional’ decision to close catalogue

TAKEAWAY: Even the most popular book in the world is no longer a match for digital

• "Ikea is to stop producing its iconic catalogue, once the most-printed book in the world ahead of the Bible and Koran."
• "At its peak in 2015, Ikea produced more than 200m copies of the catalogue."
• "Shoppers are increasingly combining online and physical shopping, checking out furniture beforehand online or sitting on it in store before ordering from the website."

Quotable

Elon Musk, speaking at the Wall Street Journal's CEO Council this week:

"Spend less time in spreadsheets, PowerPoint decks…make your product better. That’s all that really matters."

One more thing...

I was honoured to be part of a panel hosted by Payal Raina of FinTech B2B Marketing last Wednesday. With Lucy Heavens and April Rudin, we discussed generating leads using webinars and how to make them more compelling. If you missed it, the replay is here.

About

Written for CEOs, marketers and other leaders in the financial sector, InMarketing This Week is a showcase for news likely to impact them - delivered with insight on why it matters and ideas on what to do about it.

It’s published every Sunday evening to give you a head start on the week. Read it here, or have it delivered straight to your inbox.

InMarketing is a broader celebration of marketing that innovates, interacts and influences. It's available on Twitter, on LinkedIn, and as a Flipboard magazine.