2.6.10 On location / vacation
Reflections on my week in my world of social value, business need, data driven and digital impact
Social Purpose
I’m on holiday at the moment.
Badly timed if considering our greatest marketing initiative since we started Golden Marzipan. This weekend we are featured in a Sky Executive tv channel about digital transformation in the public sector.
“Digital Transformation: Digital Innovations welcomes those at the vanguard of a digital revolution alongside their customers whose experience and expertise bears witness to rapid evolution.. Golden Marzipan combines a number of key technologies — with passionately driven people and a culture that brings everything together. Golden Marzipan was created by those who simply believe in the potential of further innovation especially in the Social Housing sector”.
But otherwise a holiday is always good timing, unless there’s a airport-slash-climate-slash-war crisis.
Business Need
If you are an entrepreneurial business with a small marketing budget trying to break into a mature marketplace, where do you invest your business development activities?
The traditional options:
- Conference speaking / stand / attendance
- Sector press articles
- LinkedIn / Twitter posts
Or do you learn from what others are doing outside of the sector?
When COVID-19 disrupted our world, we decided to try something unique. We’d be happy to share our approach with anyone wishing to listen but essentially we built our marketing strategy around being different, true collaboration, storytelling and disruptive pricing*.
*The most shocking aspect of the current conference landscape is the cost of attendance for both a supplier and a delegate. Our Breakfast Briefings provide all the same features and benefits on a smaller scale for zero cost.
So when I was approached by a media company to take part in a niche tv channel / series it aligned with our own marketing mix and was the perfect opportunity. We created a storyboard with WDH and Yorkshire Housing to promote digital transformation in social housing in Leeds City Region.
Watch the programme at ExecutiveTV. We’d love your feedback.
Data Analytics
What I probably underestimated was the amount of detail and logistics that the initiative consumed over the next 4 months. I not saying it competed with Spielberg, but it came pretty close! .
“really appreciate the way this has been coordinated — very professional and uber organised!” — co-contributor @NickAtkin.
We filmed on Friday 28 January around Leeds Dock and Yorkshire Housing new premises. I was worried at the time because of the post Christmas Covid-19 wave and the winter weather.
And 4 months later, height of summer (where I am anyway), first screening on Sky 182 Channel.
Digital Impact
And why did we do this…
In social housing, there’s historically a lot of friction in processes that can be removed by using digital technologies. Our expertise is in identifying where and how technology can best support housing associations, and helping them to become more agile and customer-centric.
The programme featured two housing associations as case studies on how the we are facilitating technology-driven cultural change that benefits both customers and staff. Golden Marzipan clients Yorkshire Housing and Wakefield and District Housing shared how they implemented digital change and what that looked like for them — from modernising IT systems to using drones.
Implementing digital change benefits both the organisation and their customers. Greater customer self-service, faster response times, less staff administration — it all ultimately leads to greater value for money for the sector and a better customer experience.
And great fun to do something outside my comfort zone.
