TRILOGY chapter I: Break The Loop.

Why Break The Loop?

Do you know what it is to break the loop? Do you even know how to break the loop? Maybe the loop is already broken, yet it has not crumbled to your advantage. As I sit here and write this article, I know we truly are breaking the loop.

The Roaring 20’s

The roaring 20’s are back, so will we see a return to flapper dresses, Jazz and Art Deco? Maybe. Prohibition? Perhaps not! Of course, it’s now 2020, meaning we are a whole century away from the original roaring twenties. 100 years since those prosperous, dynamic times. Yet also 100 years inside the loop, 100 years of the same rules, 100 years without fascination.

Of course, I am generalising somewhat. I refer to 100 years inside my industry. That industry is Hospitality and Travel Technology. While I haven’t been present for all of those 100 years, I have been around for almost 20% of that time, which is no small number! I’d like to say that in the time I have seen revolution in the way products and solutions are marketed, alas I have not.

The last 100 years have brought both evolution and revolution in technology. As marketers we have embraced these technologies, often allowing them to influence our strategy. We have seen evolution in our strategy, but perhaps not the revolution that technology can offer. One thing I am certain of though, is that we have stayed very much inside the loop.

The last 10 to 15 years have seen a growth of a new type of marketing manager. One who is already well aligned with modern technology. You’re probably familiar with the digital marketer. The problem is, as I see it, is they still aren’t truly digital. The name is somewhat of a misnomer. Digital marketer. Digital marketing.

My mantra is educate, empower, entertain. I hope my audience finds pathways to success and the power within themselves to find success. – Glenn Haussman, No Vacancy News

Educate, Empower, Entertain

After spending some time working with me, Glenn Haussman of No Vacancy News gave me the above gem. Educate, empower, entertain. These are fascinating words. The idea of finding pathways and power within themselves for success.

As marketers, that’s exactly what we are here for. We need to provide the content that allows the consumer to come to their own answers. Yes, we may want to create and structure the content in such a way that leads towards something in which we have a vested interest. Of course, this has long been the aim of marketing. Though as I said before, in the 2020’s to achieve this, we must break the loop.

In a recent Interview with Maribel Esparcia, I asked her, quite inquisitively, why she thinks that people no longer wish to consume Filtered, edited, planned content. The succinct answer she gave to me really got me thinking.

“Due to social media saturation and unauthentic content.”

That really is it. I think as of 2020 we have hit peak “insta-life”. We know life is full of “instagrammable events”, but actually we have reached a point of saturation with manufactured moments. Now, that’s not to say people no longer wish to consume the content, oh no, quite the opposite. Actually we wish to consume the content of others more than ever. The difference is now, we want the truth.

We Want The Truth

You may think that I’m actually contradicting myself. You see what I’m saying is the world wants the content, but content which is real. Yet here I am, writing to you in a blog post. An edited blog post. In a recent conversation I had with Marco Mari, CTO of 5Stelle*, he summed it up nicely:

“…The blog is not dead, but it is narrowing the field of action. A blog is useful for an announcement, or to explain legislation. Instead, it is clear that there is a prairie in content creation that has opened up and goes beyond the possibilities of the traditional blog…..”

Like me, Marco wants to break the loop. He has realised it is time to break the loop. He knows that the desire for content is big, but that the desire is for the truth of which I speak. 

As 2020 has progressed though, it has become clearer than ever that we must change. As I write this, in March 2020, a large percentage of the globe is on lock down due to the Coronavirus pandemic. This makes it clear that the time for something different is now, as we are unable to carry on as normal. We need to recover from this unprecedented situation, and fast, how before we can continue we must keep calm and carry on! The only way to do this? Break the loop!

Going back to Marco’s quote, he knows that blog posts are part of the picture. However, if an artist were to paint a picture, it’s unlikely he would use only one colour. I also feel it’s unlikely he would use only one type of brush. He would probably have a pallet, full of the colours he suspected he would use. A selection of brushes, all for accomplishing different tasks. That pallet, those brushes, they are his arsenal. Ready whenever he needs them. Ready to allow him to create something that will fascinate. Our artist has already learned to break the loop.

Using a Full Pallet to Break The Loop

As marketers we are not so different from our artist. We just need to learn to fill our pallet. Just to add some weight to this, here’s some statistics from Hostingtribunal.com:

Over 77% of the internet users read blogs regularly (i.e., at least once per month).

WordPress Blogs see over 70 million posts and more than 50 million comments every month.

When you remove one single word from the first statement, you get the picture. 77% of internet users consume content regularly. 77%! Add to that 70 million new posts and 50 million new comments every month, that tells us 2 things. Firstly there are a lot of people out there ready to consume content. Secondly, people want to interact with the content, because they are commenting.

So, let us approach these consumers with our pallet. Consumers who wish to interact with our content. Let’s give them every colour, every brush stroke we have. Throw in oils or watercolours, canvas or paper, let’s fascinate them.

However, in breaking the loop, something unexpected happened. We actually created a new loop! This time though, we have an organic loop. FunnelTV was founded by 2 people, yet within only 2 months a team of 6 existed. Did we advertise for staff, recruit people, or list contract opportunities? No, we did what we do best and created live unfiltered content. The contributors came to us! They were excited by us, interested in our content and fascinated by what we are doing.

So, now we know why we want to break the loop. Want to know more about how we are changing the rules? Interestingly, in these turbulent times, Daniel Craig, founder of ReKnown touched on it, in this article here.

To break the rules, one does exactly that. You take the accepted way, the norm, and you deviate from it. This is fine, but ultimately does little for the advancement of your field…… Carried on in our next post, when I talk about how we really are changing, not breaking the rules! Not only that, we talk about how we intend to fascinate our consumers!

Read TRILOGY: Break the Loop here!

The FunnelTV Team

from left: Enzo Aita Founder of FunnelTV, James Harrison Consultant Director HotelTCS, Rita Jusztina Varga Founder of WHTT, Simone Puorto Founder of Travel Singularity, Christoph Hütter non-traditional Revenue Management, Jean Aita Founder of OPIUM Muzik.