Catherine Coale’s Post

There was a bit of tense jostling to get into Katie Richman's talk at #B2BMarketingExpo yesterday and I managed to bag a front row seat 😊 My lovely friend Samantha Martin-Woodgate had been telling me to talk to ChatGPT like a real person and Katie showed me exactly how.... This is how she gives ChatGPT her feedback... "This is way too typical. Think out of the box. Show me what you’re embarrassed to show me. Show me your favourite. Explain why it’s your favourite.” And these were her 3 hot tips... #1 She gets the best results when she provide positive encouragement before critical notes – she has no idea why but it works. #2 She tells ChatGPT what she wants to change about the results (Katie said to include fans… I need to re-read this part to make sense of it) #3 She gives it output parameters (requests 3-5 ideas) and asks ChatGPT to explain its choices. Katie works for Technormal, offering AI executive coaching and business consulting - she kindly offered the presentation in her post below.

I’ve been back freelancing for almost 3 years now and there’s one thing I miss about not working for a big organisation… The training. And the personal growth opportunities you get from the sheer scale of being inside a big company. The diverse people around you, the big projects you’re naturally surrounded by. I’ve learnt that you have to be super disciplined about investing in yourself. In 2021 I did a 6-week online retreat with the Modern Elder Academy looking at intergenerational wisdom, and reframing work for the second half of life (I wrote about this a lot at the time: https://lnkd.in/gWUwMNy). I don’t quite have that much spare time right now, but I am open to ideas please. So far I have: 1)   BLUE SKY STUFF: signed up with Amanda Baker to rewire how I tell my own story and learn her 5 Stories Methodology. I met Amanda at TEDx Shoreditch (thanks 🧙🏽♀️ Sabrina). Her own letter to Fear (and Fear’s reply to her) was a great comedy moment whilst also being an incredibly poignant way to tell her story and it stole the show for me. 2)   PRAGMATIC STUFF: reconnected with the brilliant Laura S.. We share a lot of common ground right now so we’re getting together more regularly to help each other out. 3)   WHO-KNOWS! STUFF: re-potting (I wrote about this concept previously here https://lnkd.in/eQcB2it4). Getting out of familiar surroundings and shaking up your perspective. Today I chose to do that at B2B Marketing Expo (more on that later). 4)   LOVELY PEOPLE STUFF: saved little time slots to catch up with people that inspire me. Who knew I would bump into Adam Gray today. The universe was working its magic. Have you got any other bright ideas for me?

If you know me, then you’ll know how I feel about cake 🥰 This one is from my boss 👍 To say thank you for the “monumental effort involved in their new website” (it is a big one 😯) It was intended for everyone involved but half of us were WFH, and the Enovate team were in their own office so how do you share cake digitally? Cake HAS to be shared so we found a way to spread the love to some of us at least (and the rest made a lovely breakfast). Goodbye old website, hello new ideas https://datahq.co.uk/ #newwebsite #cakelove

Are 41% of marketing metrics vanity metrics? Wow this is a big statement. I’ve lost support for projects historically because I couldn’t prove the results in the language the business wanted to hear so it caught my eye. I’m a big fan of Tom Fishburne's work (and this cartoon made me chuckle). In the commentary he highlights the tension that can exist between the marketing function & CFO and details where that 41% stat comes from. But I’m wondering if the tech and the vendors have a role to play here too? The last 20 years has seen a prolific rise in the amount of tech at a marketer’s fingertips. To justify their licence fee (and renewal), that tech has to prove it’s worth and often does that by dangling its own version of positive “outcomes” with the promise of helping us delivering them. These outcomes can be disconnected from all our other platforms’ outcomes, leaving the marketer with an ever-increasing number of stats to decipher and prioritise. I confess I love a stat. But if one day, we decide that stat isn’t important, then does that also mean the tech has no value? I’m pondering this one at the moment. Help! **The extract from Tom's post I'm referring to** “Recently the Digital and Marketing Association (DMA) reported some insights from how marketers described results for the more than 1,000 marketing campaigns submitted for DMA awards since 2017. The DMA found that marketers used a “bewildering” number of metrics — 170 in total — to measure effectiveness. The DMA categorized 41% of the submitted metrics as “vanity metrics” and only 6% as “business metrics.” If even the marketers that make up the DMA struggle to make sense of how marketers describe the results of marketing campaigns, it’s easy to imagine the “bewilderment” of finance, when so few metrics used are “business metrics.” #marketing #marketingmetrics

This has gone onto my favourites Ted list. It was almost midnight and I was adding it to my playlist for an upcoming long drive. But it started playing and I was hooked. I ended up listening to the whole thing there and then. It has a powerful punch line… moral of the story… it really struck a chord. I know the talk has ‘passion’ in the title, but it’s something else that’s quite a twist. I won’t spoil it for you. Eric Doyle (F.ISP) you are an amazing story teller, and this is one hell of a story. https://lnkd.in/emhDfXSx

Am I being naive here? Does anybody still respond to these sorts of messages to make them worth the sender's while? I'm surprised I still get them. I really thought they were a thing of the past?

What a brilliant bin I spotted at our local leisure centre! I wish I saw more that shouted LANDFILL instead of "General Waste". It certainly made me hesitate and think for a minute. 1.8 million people live in Essex, and each of us throws away a whopping half a tonne of stuff a year, recycling only 49% of what we throw (2020/21 FY). Apparently if you chuck everything into landfill, materials are biodegradable and produce methane which can be  28 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. So the last thing they want is material that could have been composted or recycled going into landfill. Essex County Council are aiming for zero landfill by 2030. From what I’m now learning they work towards this by sending our black sacks and the stuff we throw into the general waste section of bins to expensive processing plants to be sifted through (more Council Tax I'm guessing??). Im no expert but I’m wondering why more places don't have bins like these.

Listening to all the different viewpoints on the Rubiales and Hermoso discussion, I hear a clear signal of how people want to be respected in their workplace, wherever that is and regardless of hierarchy, and I reflect on my own approaches and whether I need to review. I can be a tactile person. I’ve greeted some colleagues and associates with a hug in the workplace. But I’m pretty certain now that it’s time for me to take more consideration with this and perhaps stop being the one to initiate it. 8 years ago I asked someone at interview why they’d chosen to come in a denim jacket. In 2023 no one cares and my own work wardrobe is totally changed. 3 years ago I would review interview candidates’ social accounts to learn more about them. Now I know it can give people ‘the ick’ to have their manager cross that boundary into their personal space (even if their profile is public). Our world is changing ALL THE TIME. What was ok yesterday, might not be tomorrow. I have to be open to changing my view and our approach to things. When stories like “the kiss” break, I get drawn into the usual media on my phone. I also find it’s worth taking some time to listen more deeply for a few hours. I know I have to work at this all the time. A well moderated radio show is my source for: - Hearing both sides of an argument from a broader audience than my own peer group. - Understanding current thinking (good and bad). - Learning how opinions are changing. - Evolving my own position. For me, it's like tapping into an instant qualitative poll (without the trolling 😊 ). #useful p.s. as I was searching for an image to go with this post, Shutterstock have one labelled "The boss hugs his employees to congratulate him". Might need a small amendment now. Image credit: Benis Aropavic, www.vecteezy.com

My train to work this morning. Where is everyone?

Which one are you? I can't believe I missed this 2021 Gartner gem in my previous research. Being a Sense Maker is their answer to our current tendency to drown our B2B clients in information and content in the hope of influencing a sale - especially now that we know our clients prefer to research online without us for a big chunk of the buying process. Gartner surveyed 1100 B2B decision makers. The good news is they think that 90% of the content we produce is of high quality. The bad news is: - 50% find our content undifferentiated. - 40% find it contradictory. The bottom line is that we're adding to the complexity for them. And they've quantified the outcome: - The giving approach leads to 3 out of 10 high quality, no regret deals. - The telling approach leads to 5 - The sense making leads to 8 It's worth a look. #sensemaking