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People Doing Cool Stuff – Perth Happenings | Pieta Sharpe

I’m lucky enough to meet a lot of inspirational business people who are doing cool stuff!

You’ve probably heard of Perth Happenings. You either follow their Instagram, or have looked for stuff to do on their site – maybe even advertised your event there! But do you know the lovely face behind the brand?

Let’s get to know Pieta Sharpe a bit better, and in the process we’ll find out how Perth Happenings was born!

Tell us a bit about yourself and Perth Happenings!

I’m Pieta, 37 year old solo Mum of two sensational young men. I’m passionate about community building, people in general and creating a beautiful life for my family and those around me. I have spent way too much money at uni, am on the board of my old high school and I’m an ambassador for Youth Focus which I am so proud of.

Perth Happenings was created when we saw a gap in the ‘market’ per se. There are so many large scale event websites and social media that don’t really create a space or give any air time to smaller, local community events.

When building Perth Happenings we felt it was important to develop community pages to create that point of difference.

So we have 8 – North, south, east, west, central, freo, hills and out of town. You can head to that local community page and see events in the area, local blogs, local businesses and really get a feel for what is in your community or conversely try a NEW community.

Perth is very spread out and we tend to stay in our comfort zones and not travel out of our space. Having community pages means that if you feel like a weekend in the Hills and you live in Freo you can check it out and plan ahead.

We offer free online listings to almost any event in Perth and will often select random community events to provide free promotion and upgrades to. We also offer 50% off silver and gold packages to Not for Profit and local community organisations.

We will never be focussed on the large scale events and the multinational organisations and that means we won’t attract the bigger bucks but that is a-ok for us. Our audience are supportive of our dream of building an online community to keep the people of Perth engaged with each other and we showcase many events that others really don’t!

We have a TV show in the pipeline too so keep your eyes out for that!

 

Tell us about your journey, how did you get to this point?

I have a background in psychology, education and community services alongside currently completing my Master of Marketing and Innovation. All of my education is based on people – learning about them, engaging with them – I just love people.

Motivating and inspiring them and just helping us to be the best humans in the best society that we possibly can!

I feel Perth Happenings has allowed me to develop a platform to make a difference and I am looking forward to developing that.

 

What music/song have you got on high rotation right now?

I went to Falls Festival as a reviewer (terrible aspect of my business!) and I absolutely fell in love with Glass Animals and fell back in love with Peking Duck.

The two songs I don’t seem to be sick of are Life Itself (Glass Animals) and Let you down (Peking Duck).

I think I play them seven to ten times a day.

 

How do you stay motivated?

This may sound cliché but knowing my 13 and 10 year old sons are watching and learning from me at all times keeps me motivated. I want to show them you can achieve any dream you can think up be it in business, health or fitness either with a partner or be ok on your own.

 

 

I regularly go to F45 sessions and hope the dream of doing burpees and unassisted pullups is a reality soon too!

 

What/who inspires you?

Besides my boys, my group of friends inspires me every day. They are just some of the most amazing people you could meet.

Additionally, knowing that as an ambassador for Youth Focus, I may inspire and motivate a young person one day – that keeps me focussed on the prize.

If I can use my story to help others believe in themselves then there is no greater reason to do what I do.

 

How do you deal with impostor syndrome?

It’s a funny one this imposter syndrome theory.

I think with regards to Perth Happenings I don’t really have it. I have worked super hard to strategize and get to where we are. I have put in lots of love and time and am proud of my achievements. I think often we see those who say – yep I deserve this and I AM awesome as being conceited, so I wonder if we all actually do it because we feel we should or because we’re afraid of the ramifications of praising ourselves.

 

What’s your favorite place/way to relax?

I love the beach.  I adore just sitting there or walking and collecting shells.

I also enjoy music – listening, dancing, singing very badly, and yoga, F45 – plus I love just talking and engaging with my boys. It is simple but true.

 

If you hadn’t started your business what do you think you’d be doing right now?

Still working in Not for Profit organisations wondering how I can make more of a difference and be a little frustrated.

 

What’s been your most successful Social Media platform for your business? Do you think you’d be in the same place if it wasn’t for Social Media?

We are an online business so digital marketing strategy and social media are paramount for us. One important component of building the business has been that I have been very true to my audience.

Starting Perth Happenings our growth was slow because community isn’t as sexy as big bands and fancy restaurants. However once we got the momentum we’ve had a steady climb.

Constant reviewing and making changes has resulted in lowering our bounce rate of our website by providing more blogs and other events on the pages.

I altered our strategy in October and have seen a 72% increase in website traffic to date since November which I am of course VERY proud of.

I researched into my secondary market (24-34 year old women) and looked at what we could offer on our Facebook that would attract them and encourage engagement.

Knowing your audience is key!

 

Have you hit any huge problems that made you re-think your whole career? How did you get around it? What was your approach to solving the issue?

I rethought my whole career when working with underprivileged children and realising how under resourced and often poorly funded not for profit community groups are.

I couldn’t handle working with these kids and seeing that really what they, and their families needed was community engagement and feeling they were a part of something. Bigger picture, I am hoping to provide an online community as a conduit to that feeling real life connection.

Fingers crossed!

 

What is the hardest thing about your work?

Relationship building. We have struggled to get the local councils on board with what we are trying to do which is frustrating and challenging considering they are the perfect partner for collaboration.

Finding the right people with the same vision is harder that I anticipated from a corporate level.

Otherwise it would be all the movie premieres and concerts I get to go to… tough!

How do you manage it all with such a busy schedule?

That is something I am working on!

I am focusing this year on quality. I want quality relationships with businesses and people I can trust and WANT to work with. I say yes to much too much and need to reign that in.

 

What’s next for you?

The Perth Happenings Youtube channel development and the Perth Happenings TV show.

Both coming soon to a screen near you!

 

How do we find and follow your cool story?

Facebook

Website

Instagram

 

So now you now more about the brains behind Perth Happenings!

I hope you’re enjoying this series of People Doing Cool Stuff, I’ve got loads more fun peeps to introduce you to, so make sure you stay tuned!

People Doing Cool Stuff – Chalk of the Town | Megan Manning

I’m lucky enough to meet a lot of people from all over the world who are doing cool stuff!

 

Having spent a lot of time working in pubs with prominent chalkboards like the Belgian Beer Cafe, The Greenwood and The Albion, I know how important it is to have them done professionally so they are neat, legible, and inviting. And I know it’s MUCH harder than it looks!

Let’s have a chat with Chalk Of The Town’s Megan Manning and find out how she does it!

Tell us a bit about yourself and your business – what is Chalk Of The Town all about?

I’m Meg and I run and operate Chalk of the Town signwriting.  What’s Chalk of the Town you ask? Well, I’m an artist and I work mainly with Chalkboards.

 

Tell us about your journey, how did you get to this point?

I started my little business when I lived in Europe and needed to start making some money. I have always been creative and good at art so when the opportunity to work closely with a local artist to learn my trade arose I jumped at the opportunity.

I trained alongside my mentor for 6 months in Spain before returning to Australia and starting up my little business here 2 years ago and haven’t looked back yet.

Have you ever seen one of those fancy colourful chalkboards in a pub or a restaurant and wondered how or who did that? Well that’s what I do. I’m the person they hire to create those masterpieces!

I also create beautiful signage for weddings, parties, events and businesses which is cool because I get to work with other businesses and wedding vendors on photoshoots and all sorts.

 

What music/song have you got on high rotation right now?

Well, It’s a pretty funny story. Most likely a ‘you have to be there kind of moment’ but, our kids LOVE Detroit Rock City from KISS so as we can imagine we have to play this every time we get in the car or are at home listening to music.

They all know the words (even the 2 and 3 year old) and jump around like crazy when it comes on. They are so cute!

 

How do you stay motivated?

Hmmm, this is a hard one because sometimes I do struggle to motivate myself BUT I Love what I do so I just remind myself of that and it kicks me up the butt on the days that I need it.

 

What/who inspires you?

This is so super soppy of me but I would have to say the person who does inspire me if my Husband to be. He is the most amazing person I have ever met and he inspires me to be the best person that I can be and to always work hard and to never give up.

 

How do you deal with impostor syndrome?

Well, I just remind myself that I AM good at what I do and how far I have become.

 

What’s your favorited place/way to relax?

My husband and I both work fulltime and we have 3 kids so we never really get to relax, because as you can imagine our life is pretty full on!

But when we do get a chance to have some ‘us time’ and relax our number 1 destination is Busselton, We often grab our snorkelling gear and go off snorkelling for the day. In this beautiful country it would be stupid not to, Right?

 

If you hadn’t started your business what do you think you’d be doing right now?

A long long time ago before I became a mum I actually studied Graphic Design at university (this also comes in very handy for my business now) so most likely I would be doing something creative anyway.

 

What’s been your most successful Social Media platform for your business? Do you think you’d be in the same place if it wasn’t for Social Media?

My Major Marketing Platform that I use is Facebook. About 99.9 % of my clientele has seen my work on Facebook or via word of mouth.

 

Have you hit any huge problems that made you re-think your whole career? How did you get around it? What was your approach to solving the issue?

Yes, but only with Bride funnily enough.

I recently took 6 months out because of some not very nice people. I won’t go into details but it was a very stressful time that was completely unnecessary.

Thankfully thought I fought back and came out even stronger and more determined than ever.

 

What is the hardest thing about your work?

I love my Job, I love the creativity and the freedom but sometimes you just meet people that have no idea about advertising, or don’t have a creative bone in there body and they are so adamant on an idea of what they want which is complete poo but they just won’t listen to your advice.

I find this hard because number 1 its my name on the artwork and number 2 it makes me cringe haha, but apart from that I am really luckily to be doing what I do.

 

How do you manage it all with such a busy schedule?

It’s taken me A long time to balance work with life but we are getting there. I am very strict about the hours that I work and where I work.

I have to work from home so I can take care of my children and I will not work after hours or at the weekend as that is family time. I have found balance and I manage to do all of my work and be a mum and wife at the same time. Its great.

 

What’s next for you?

I would like to teach some hand lettering courses to the general public so that could be something I look into this year.

We will see how we go.

 

How do we find and follow your cool story?

Facebook

Website

 

Make sure you stay tuned for more cool stories! And if you think you’re doing something cool – get in touch!

People Doing Cool Stuff – Alythea’s Pooch Palace

I’m lucky enough to meet a lot of people from all over the world who are doing cool stuff!

And sometimes you just get a bit blown away by someone, and that’s how I feel about eleven year old Thea Campbell. When I was eleven I was definitely not doing anything this cool.

As a rescue advocate and mum to a rescue dog, I wholeheartedly support her vision. As a human I can’t help but feel completely inspired by Thea, and I hope you are too.

So enough from me, let’s hear about his exceptional young woman and her mission!

Alythea’s Pooch Palace

My name is Thea Campbell and I am 11 and I got my puppy, Rozie, when I was 8 for my birthday present. I had been asking for a puppy for over two years! She is just a little bundle of joy; also very silly, if a thought occurs to her she gets very worried, but we can calm her down with some cheese!

I am home educated by my parents, which means that not only am I ahead in my academics, I can focus on my own projects like my charity project – raising money for the Shenton Park Dog Refuge.

About six months ago, I was going home from my brother’s final hockey game and I said to Dad: ‘I have a good idea! What about a Doggie Dinner Movie Night themed with Lady and the Tramp: there could be doggie mocktails and dog spaghetti and Italian food for the owners. I could do it as a fundraiser for the Shenton Park Dog Refuge!’ I said to Dad that I could do that in a few years but he said ‘why not now?’

So I have spent the last six months working with local people to get my event up and running. It has been challenging but also rewarding.

I have been able to learn to use facebook as well as type better formal emails.

When I was 10 I had this big plan for a self-funding dog shelter. It would have other dog related businesses, that profit share to help fund the shelter.

I would have businesses like barkeries, butchers, dog friendly café, dog and owner day spa, veterinarian, gift shop grooming, photograph studio, outreach services and much more!

Then about a month later I came up with my name – Alythea’s Pooch Palace for Homeless Dogs – and 10 year plan ahead of me.

 

What type of music or song have you got on high rotation?

The Guardians of the Galaxy Soundtrack.

 

How do you stay motivated?

Knowing that I am helping dogs.

 

What inspires you?

The homeless dogs are who inspires me. Knowing that I am helping one dog somewhere really helps me stay inspired and focussed when I am finding I’m stressed.

 

How do you you deal with imposter syndrome?

I don’t think I have this just yet, as I am just starting out in life. However, I do struggle with getting stuck in my head and worried about little, tiny details.

I find talking to my mum, going over the niggly things with her and seeing that the things I am worried about are quite fixable or easily solved helps.

 

What’s your favourite way to relax?

Chilling out in front of the TV with Rozie, watching dog films, or heading to the park and watching my puppies run!

Being sighthounds, they are VERY fast!

 

If you hadn’t started Alythea’s Pooch Palace, what do you think you’d be doing right now?

I think that if I hadn’t left mainstream school I would still be surrounded by school and homework and boring lunches (I don’t cope well with only eating one type of food) and would not have found my amazing idea.

Having the space to follow my dreams, even though I am really young, means I can follow them my whole life!

I am learning so many amazing skills too, that I wouldn’t learn in school. I have had meetings with our State and Federal parliamentarians, cooked with our WA Food Ambassador, Chef Don Hancey, and travelled all around the state with my parents and our bees!

 

How do you you Social Media in promoting your business?

OMG, social media!

Tactic: lots of posts, everyday and specifically asking businesses and people to share your post. And cross your fingers. Though I am lucky – people LOVE dogs!

 

Did you hit any huge problems that made you re-think the whole thing? How did you get around it? 

Being taken seriously – since I am ‘a kid’ – but my mum and dad have helped me work out how to set meetings and write mature emails.

I have great experience with customers and people anyway from my parents Honey business (from their shop and market events).

I have also had some help from my Grandma too about planning and things like that.

 

What is the hardest thing about your work?

Doing all of my work while managing my schoolwork, as I am planned to finish by 15/16 I am already in year 7. It is heaps easier planning my event now it is the school holidays.

Being able to say no, and being clear with people about my vision.

 

How do you manage it all with your busy schedule?

I do some of my school work in the car and I always make sure that I do at least 3 things for my event each day.

So many emails!

 

What’s next for you?

I think I am going to be planning next years event. It will be K-9 themed – there’s an 80’s movie called K9!

I’ll try and get the police dogs down there as well as have something related to K-9 (another Guinness world record)

 

How do we follow more of your story?

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Alytheas-Pooch-Palace-for-Homeless-Dogs

Email: alytheaspoochpalace@gmail.com

 

How do we get tickets for you upcoming event?

You can book HERE!

 

What do you think – pretty cool huh? Is your mind totally blown?

Make sure you head along to Doggie Dinner Movie Night and take your pup to see Lady and The Tramp, participate in some raffles, and help her try to break the Guiness Book of World Records for the most dogs at a grooming session!

You might even see Lisa Baker MLA and Member for Cowan, Anne Aly.

People Doing Cool Stuff – Tiffany Andrews | Ngapuhi Photography

I’m lucky enough to meet a lot of people from all over the world who are doing cool stuff!

Tiff Andrews isn’t just a regular photographer, she’s got a specific niche she works with! Her business is called Ngapuhi Photography, which she named after her tribe as a way of paying homage to her roots in Northland, New Zealand. Little did she know this would steer her photography business so much that she’d become one of Australia’s only cultural portraiture specialists.

So let’s have a look at some examples of her work and chat to her about her business!

Tiff Andrews and Ngapuhi Photography

I am of Maori heritage and Ngapuhi is the name of the tribe I’m from and calling my business that is a way of me paying homage to where I am from. I got into doing the cultural portraiture after being asked by so many Kiwi’s if I did them (because of the name of my business) I actually started out in photography as a Gig photographer and followed several Maori/Kiwi groups around.

I saw there was a market here in Australia for the cultural portraiture and decided to embark on that path and see where it would lead too. Generally Maori for example won’t go to a non-Maori photographer for these type of photos as the shots can be very emotional, and you need to understand what they are feeling and help support them along the way.

I specialize in Maori Portraiture as its my own culture and I’m sensitive to our customs and protocols. I have also photographed, Cook Island, Samoan, Tongan and Aboriginal cultures.

I also do the regular photography, Weddings, Maternity, Team Photos but I’m known for the Cultural Images.

There are a few of us that specialize in this genre, only 3 in Australia I’m aware of. We all have different styles of shooting so none of us are the same and most people can tell who did what images by looking at the style. I’ve never had someone try and impersonate my work.

You can tell a LOT about someone by their taste in music. What type of music or song have you got on high rotation?

Growing up in NZ, Reggae music was what I listened to as child and teenager along with our own cultural music. Things haven’t changed and I still listen to the same style music as well as basically anything that my ears enjoy.

Currently Conkarah from Jamaica is my fav tunes.

 

How do you stay motivated?

Sometimes it’s hard to stay motivated when I’m not shooting, you just need to give yourself a kick in the pants and keep going.

The reactions I get out of making people happy with their photos is the best satisfaction I can get, and it can be addictive.

 

What’s your favorite way to relax?

My fav place and way to relax is shutting of the mind from work (which can be very hard) and just spending quality time with my family at the park or beach or catching a movie together.

 

If you weren’t running your cultural portraiture business, what do you think you’d be doing right now?

If I wasn’t doing this I would probably still be doing school photography. I quit that job due to the demands of my own work.

ngapuhi photography

 

How do you you Social Media in promoting your business?

Facebook has been the main driving force behind my marketing, next to word of mouth. I started out with a Facebook page I added a few images to, and within a few months I had 5000 followers!

When I post openings for bookings and trips I generally get a lot of activity on my page, comments, shares, and private messages.

Without Facebook I wouldn’t be as established as I am now.

I’m very fortunate to have a lot of Polynesian Facebook Groups share my images on their pages and Instagram pages. Sometimes these pages have in excess of 10’s of thousands of members.

 

Did you hit any huge problems that made you re-think the whole thing? How did you get around it? 

The big problems I have found with my career is being to trusting and generous with my work.

I’ve had a lot of people mess me around, deals that I’ve fulfilled on my side and they haven’t on theirs to name one. You learn to tighten up on your procedures, what you are willing to do in exchange for something else and who you will and won’t trust to work with in the future.

 

What is the hardest thing about your work?

The hardest thing about my work and every photographer can relate, is generating business.

I’m fortunate that I have very little competition and have a niche product that stands out from other local photographers, but it is still hard.

 

How do you manage it all with your busy schedule?

The only way I can manage my schedule is to WRITE IT DOWN in my diary.

My brain is usually focused on photos and without my diary I would probably forget EVERTHING else!

 

What’s next for you Tiff?

This year I hope to keep doing more of what I’m already doing, more trips lined up and the start of a book I want to put together about my journey as this type of photographer but using the clothing I use in my shoots to represent me as a person. The cloaks (Korowai) I use for my photos I now make myself as they are usually very expensive and hard to source.

I’m also in the process of putting a collection of Art Photography Images together for an exhibition I’m hoping to organize myself at a later stage.

So far in the few short years I have been doing these portraits, I have travelled to NZ, Brisbane, Melbourne and LA to hold portrait sessions. Whilst in LA I had images exhibited in a Kiwi’s in LA Annual Art Exhibition and was the first person to display my style of images since they began.

I also got to shoot a family’s portraits on Malibu Beach!

I’ve been interviewed for a radio station in NZ, had a four-page spread published in a New Zealand Newspaper Magazine (its was about my artist friend but they used my images and gave photo credit)

 

How do we follow more of your story?

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ngapuhiphotography

Website: www.ngapuhi-photography.com

Instagram: @ngapuhiphotography

 

 

What do you think, Tiff’s pretty cool huh? If you or someone you know needs cultural portraits done make sure you get in touch.

And stay tuned for more awesome stories from more People Doing Cool Stuff!

People Doing Cool Stuff – Ritu From Logojoy

I’m lucky enough to meet a lot of people from all over the world who are doing cool stuff!

I’m going to share some of their stories with you – and here we’re going to chat with Ritu from Logojoy!

 

So What is Logojoy?

Logojoy is a tech startup from Toronto that uses AI to provide personalized design services.

 

Why do we need it?

Logojoy is trying to revolutionize the way small businesses, startups, and entrepreneurs approach their graphic design visions and challenges by guiding them through the development of their logos.

 

Tell us a bit about yourself, your background and your journey, how did you get to this point?

One of my first jobs was at a health startup in Brooklyn, which was more advertising focused. After six years of various roles in digital advertising, I felt like I hit a ceiling and wanted to start helping people through communications.

This lead me to taking marketing and communications roles at startups because in this environment, I could have a lot more impact than at bigger corporate organizations.

RituYou can tell a LOT about someone by their taste in music. What type of music or song have you got on high rotation?

I’m currently obsessed with Camilla Cabello. I love her soulful voice and catchy rhythms.

I also love listening to mantras when I work because of their meditative quality. My favorite mantra song is Narayana by Chakrini; I’ll never get tired of it.

 

How do you stay motivated?

This is a difficult one because I’m a highly emotive person and am also affected by the different seasons. The one thing that always gets my motivation back up when it I’m running low is exercise and reading.

Feeding my body with high energy and activity and feeding my mind with stories gets my motivation levels up.

 

What/who inspires you?

I’m inspired by people who live outside of their comfort zone.

Whether it is a founder who is constantly doing this for the survival of her business or a runner who always pushes himself to run that extra 500 meters. I’m inspired by these people because the biggest growth happens when you are willing to be uncomfortable and try something new or go further than you ever thought you could – the impossible starts to become possible.

 

This is a big one. How do you deal with impostor syndrome?

Imposter syndrome affects most people whether they realize it or not, or rather whether they realize it earlier or later.

For example, for me, it hit be when my performance in my work was low and I had to ask myself why that was. Faking it until you make it is an easy way to make yourself vulnerable to imposter syndrome.

For me, the best way to deal with it is to humble myself, admit that I was wrong and ask for help. No one will judge you for reaching out to them. You will be surprised by how much your self-worth increases when you are willing to humble yourself and ask for help.

 

What’s your favorite place/way to relax?

It is so important to give yourself a day once in awhile to do anything you want, even if that’s doing nothing.

I tend to push myself beyond normal work-life balance during the week, so one day per week, I shut down, cozy in at home and spend the day in my sweatpants. The Mondays after such a weekend are usually the most productive ones!

 

If you hadn’t made Logojoy – what do you think you’d be doing right now?

As the Director of Customer Marketing at Logojoy, storytelling is what I like best about my role at Logojoy, and gathering data and information from our customers.

There are amazing stories in the data, and I love sharing those stories. If I wasn’t doing this job, you’d find me traveling in Europe with a camera attached to my hand taking portraits of the locals.

 

How have you incorporated Social Media into the promotion of the site, and do you think it’s been successful?

At Logojoy, Social Media is a huge priority.

We use it to build community and also to provide customer support. We get dozens of urgent customer support requests on social and we’re committed to helping our customers no matter what channel they choose to ask for help.

 

Did you hit any huge problems that made you re-think the whole project? How did you get around it? What was your approach to solving the issue?

Our biggest priority at Logojoy is growth and a part of that means constantly experimenting and trying different strategies out. Some are successful and some are not.

The biggest challenge is monitoring the results accurately and having the courage to end an experiment when it fails, and then, start the next experiment. Being comfortable to constant change is important here.

 

What was the hardest piece of the site to put together technically?

Our founders, Dawson Whitfield and Rares Crisan designed the website using an approach called “microservices architecture,” or simply, microservices.

This is an increasingly popular method for developing software; rather than building a huge, complicated site that does everything at once, it puts together small, independently deployable, modular tasks that can communicate with each other and be combined toward a bigger goal.

 

I’ve noticed (and received) very attentive and personalised support from you in using your services, is this something that’s important for you to be directly involved in?

Customer service and more importantly the success of our customers is very important to us.

We pride ourselves on our mission of helping entrepreneurs start new businesses and making a logo is a crucial part of that.

Personally, I answer every single message that comes to me directly or via our support team. So much can be learnt from listening to your customers, so they should be prioritized in you any business.

 

How do you manage it all with your busy schedule?

I’m a huge fan of meditation and it is as essential to my daily routine as brushing my teeth. It’s the only thing that keeps me sane. I also teach meditation in my spare time. I highly recommend Atma Kriya Yoga style of meditation. If you are looking to integrate meditation into your daily life and if you’re not afraid of positive change and personal growth, then you should definitely try this out.

 

What’s next for Logojoy?

We are constantly trying to improve our product at Logojoy and we are working hard to make our artificial design engine smarter and smarter. We have some incredible technological innovations on the way.

Stay tuned to hear more!

logojoy

What’s next for Ritu?

Even though I admire those who live their lives outside of the comfort zone, I don’t think I practice this enough. I’m in the process of setting some time bound and actionable goals that will help me to do this more at work and also in my personal life.

 

Anything to add?

I’d love to connect with you. Let’s hang out on social media:

Logojoy: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Ritu: Instagram | Twitter | Linkedin

 

So there you have it guys, my first People Doing Cool Stuff post! What do you think? Feel free to leave me (or Ritu) a comment.

I’ve got some more awesome folks in the pipeline – and if you are Doing Cool Stuff I’d LOVE to hear from you too!

2017 Digital Marketing Predictions | Part Two | The Interviews

Digital Marketing Predictions…

They’re everywhere! I published mine, and then I thought – one person’s predictions are not enough! We need more data! Let’s ask some people I know who work in Digital Marketing and see if they’d like to share their 2017 Digital Marketing predictions with me (so that I could share them with you)

So I did. And they did! I sent some questions as prompts and this post is a collection of the responses I received.

I hope you gain some insight into the direction/s Digital Marketing is heading!

Digital Marketing Clayton Smith

Clayton Smith – Social Media Manager

Founder of Smith Social, Clayton offers an end to end Digital solution to small businesses in Perth.

Fun fact – him and Carma are birthday twins!

Me: What were the main platforms you concentrated on in 2016 as a Digital Marketer?

Clayton: Facebook, Instagram & Email Marketing

Me: Will this change in 2017?

Clayton:

No. In the world of small business, using social media as a marketing tool is still a developing idea, especially in Perth, WA. When you have a very limited marketing budget, very little time and little knowledge of digital platforms, investing in social and digital can seem daunting. So, the two main platforms of Facebook & Instagram get all the focus, where small business owners know the vast majority of their customers will definitely be.

Me: What are some emerging trends you noticed in Digital Marketing in 2016?

Clayton: Live Video arrived and it’s kind of a big deal. Email Marketing keeps on keeping on. 

Me: Do you think these will continue?

Clayton: Absolutely!

Live video, as well as semi permanent video (snapchat style where content disappears after a set amount of time) has arrived and it is kind of a big deal.

The ability to live broadcast from anywhere in the palm of your hand is as amazing as it sounds. So amazing in fact, everyone is still trying to figure out what’s happening, and like any goldrush, the miners who made it to the goldfields first had a much better chance of finding gold. Every social platform is flying headfirst into video and the businesses and brands who took advantage are reaping huge benefits. I just listened to an international digital marketing podcast with a massive listenership where they interviewed a Sydney chocolatier who has built a following. Some guy from Sydney with one little chocolate shop! WHAT? That’s amazing. Once again, those who get their pickaxes in the video dirt first have the best chance to strike follower gold. Get live people!

Email Marketing – If live video is the wild west of digital marketing, email marketing is the well trodden, boring city road. It isn’t anywhere near as exciting, BUT, email subscription is still the most direct digital marketing channel we have, and although people’s inboxes are crowded, if you have done the work and developed a good relationship with your subscriber by providing them quality content that they want to see, you will still convert and convert well.

Me: Do you use video content in your Digital Marketing?

Clayton: Minimal

Me: Will this increase in 2017?

Clayton:

Yes. Getting a small business to start doing video is turning out to be tricky, just starting a regular consistent blog is a tough challenge for most. Let alone video content, and don’t even think about live video.

Unless of course the business owner themselves is already doing it, that’s a different story. It’s power cannot be ignored though, and I will be pushing clients to get started with video content.

Me: Did you use bots in your Digital Marketing in 2016?

Clayton: No.

Me: Will you be using them in 2017?

Clayton:  

Not likely. Small businesses do not have the enquiry traffic that would warrant investing in bots, especially when a selling point of most small businesses is the one on one, bespoke personal service they can provide.

Me: Do you have any predictions on the overall state of Digital Marketing for 2017?

Clayton:

Live Video, 360 live video especially, will continue to lead the way on social platforms, with the platforms themselves looking to better monetise video content.

The Snapchat Vs Facebook/Instagram Battle will be the best and biggest show in town, and it will be fascinating to see who makes what move next. Mr Zuckerberg has shown he is not scared to rip off Snapchat ideas and incorporate into his own platforms, making it an interesting challenge for Snapchat to continue it’s incredible growth rates. I think Snapchat will need to evolve to differentiate itself from the Big Blue Book, both to draw new users in and keep their young follower base interested at the same time.

I will put my money where my mouth is and have a guess at a much better “Discover” experience and some sort of ability to post a link in a video as well.

Me: Are there any trends you feel have been exhausted and will drop off in 2017?

Clayton: Hopefully dabbing?

Digital Marketer Lloyd Birch

Lloyd Birch – Digital Development Specialist

I was given my first computer at a very young age, the first thing I did was take it to pieces. I’ve always been enthused by computers and technology. At school I loved business and marketing, most intrigued by consumer behaviours. My goals have always been a mixture of these elements, creating digital marketing with the consumer in mind.

Growing up in the era of mobile internet and the boom of internet on the go, devices are a huge part of my life. Utilising this, I always aim to create content that looks beautiful and is easy to consume no matter what device is being used, as I’d expect this myself.

With my experiences in website development, promotional email creation, search engine marketing, social media marketing and everything else digital that you can imagine, I aim to produce usable design that is consistent across all platforms.

Me: What were the main platforms you concentrated on in 2016 as a Digital Marketer?

Lloyd: Web, Email, LinkedIn, a little facebook and twitter.

Me: Why LinkedIn?

Lloyd:

I Moved into a B2B market. LinkedIn seems to be making strides to better market itself as a selling tool, it’s still full of recruiters that hound people like a plague which is it’s major downfall as a professional social media space but there are much better tools to gain information and target advertising which is an improvement.

Me: Do you use video content in your Digital Marketing?

Lloyd:

Not currently. I don’t personally like video advertising but can see it’s merit in certain marketing platforms.

Video advertising is shifting from being a marketing led sales pitch to being a more adhoc story based approach. People don’t seek out advertising and feel invaded when marketing is thrust upon them, so a more story based approach works well. The best use of video advertising I’ve seen recently was a cleaning product called Vanish (UK) that asked people to record their own tips and tricks for using their product. This community and story based approach advertises the key USPs of their product without being a corporate sales message and created a community of interest. Also, bonus, it was probably really cheap to do!

Me: Did you include Facebook LIVE (or live on other platforms) in your Digital Marketing in 2016?

Lloyd: No

Me: Will you be adding it to your content types in 2017?

Lloyd:

Facebook isn’t on my radar in the B2B industry, but I also think Facebook Live as an advertising tool is a lot of investment for potentially very little gain if the video isn’t backed up by a larger viral campaign. I personally believe the novelty of Facebook Live will fade away.

Me: Did you use bots in your Digital Marketing in 2016?

Lloyd: 

Due to the nature of B2B marketing, there is much more emphasis of knowledge rather than data, therefore bots don’t have a huge part to play as it requires a human touch to understand and act upon the information gathered. B2B is very granular but very small marketing pools can produce large yields, so it makes sense to have a much more human approach to marketing.

That being said, I am in the process of producing automated email sign up campaigns to automate the release of information initially as repetitive human content distribution isn’t time effective.

Me: Do you have any predictions on the overall state of Digital Marketing for 2017?

Lloyd:

I think 2017 is going to be the year marketing gets quicker, shorter, and more regular. With the increasing use of multiple channel advertising and more targeted campaigns people are becoming more consumed, therefore less responsive, and it seems to be a trend that right place right time marketing is more persuasive than loyalty or brand retention due to the huge amount of competition and consumers are becoming more likely to try new products or services they’d never considered before, a lot of this is driven by big data from grassroots such as reviews ratings etc as people see other people as more trustworthy than brand marketing, which has always been the case but it’s becoming more readily accessible every day.
There’s also lot of distrust going around lately! Especially social media, it seems to be more and more of an avenue to air grievances. People like to hurt a brands appearance publicly when they feel the services aren’t up to scratch. Maybe because having a one to one discussion with the company in private doesn’t satisfy consumer grievance.

All this is good for small business, the barriers to entry are becoming more and more relaxed every day. Big businesses are seeing their brand recognition doesn’t mean as much as it used to, in some cases the bigger the brand is the more the diseconomies of scale are hurting their public perception as a faceless entity focused on profit rather than satisfying consumer need.

Me: Are there any trends you feel have been exhausted and will drop off in 2017?

Lloyd: 

I think one trend that will drop off in 2017 is brands attempts to hijack new and upcoming social media tools, as the rate at which these tools crop up and brands are trying to encompass all forms of media, usually with little success as they are not prepared to adapt their marketing strategies to cope with the different approach each platform makes. An example of this would be snapchat and boomerang for Instagram.

As companies jump on the bandwagon and try to ride the wave of the latest craze, few companies stop to think whether the platform is appropriate for their target audience or communication style and this leads to wasted investment. Many companies are now not as willing to jump on the hype train as they weigh up the return on investment of new and upcoming media channels.

Many businesses are now creating marketing plans that focus on a select few modes of communication based on whether they reflect the communication style of the business and target audience so that they can effectively manage their resources rather than try and be across all platforms.

Alana Christidis – Digital Marketing Specialist

Alana is a Social Media enthusiast from way back. She enjoys creating Facebook advertising strategies just as much as lurking through memes.
As an avid consumer of content, she loves finding new, exciting ways to share a brand’s story.

Me: What were the main platforms you concentrated on in 2016 as a Digital Marketer?

Alana: 

Facebook and Instagram with a heavy emphasis on advertising – and I can’t imagine that changing too drastically in 2017. 

With the introduction of awesome features like Stories, Instagram was a really fun, engaging platform that did really well in telling a story for brands.  Facebook was my predominate focus, especially in advertising. I really focused on generating ROI with killer ad strategies. 

Me: What are some emerging trends you noticed in Digital Marketing in 2016?

Alana:

Augmented Reality was a big emerging trend in my opinion. As someone who opens Snapchat every day just to check what new filters I can use and celebrated like a crazy person when I caught a Dragonite in Kings Park playing Pokemon Go, I think that we’re going to see more and more opportunity with it in 2017.

Me: Do you use video content in your Digital Marketing?

Alana:

Video was a big player in my content strategies. In a sea of articles and photos, video stood out and got a lot of engagement as a result.

Super short, bite sized videos quickly grab attention when no one has time to read your 5,000 world article. This year, my focus will be on quality over quantity when it comes to my content – rather than smashing the posts, create quality pieces.

Me: Did you include Facebook LIVE (or live on other platforms) in your Digital Marketing in 2016?

Alana:

While I didn’t personally use Facebook Live in my Digital Marketing, I think it’s a fantastic method of communication for brands to tell a story and get real time engagement – if it’s done right! Brands need to be aware that swapping to the front camera on their phone and um-ing through a script isn’t amazing content just because it’s live. It’s just awkward to watch.

Be authentic in your storytelling and in my eyes, you have a winning piece of content.

Me: Did you use bots in your Digital Marketing in 2016?

Alana:

I haven’t used them but I sure love talking to them. The use of bots is only going to grow this year. It’s such a smart way to improve customer interactions and increase conversions in the process. Since messaging apps have surpassed social media platforms in terms of users, it’s natural that people are looking to messages to communicate with their brands.

Me: Do you have any predictions on the overall state of Digital Marketing for 2017?

Alana:

The decrease in social media automation and the growth of storytelling. People are looking for authenticity when it comes to the brands that they follow and humanistic exchanges.

With the exception of bots, I think digital marketers will move away from automated, robotic feeling responses to their consumers and the inevitable blunders that come along with it and move to more personalised exchanges.

Me: Are there any trends you feel have been exhausted and will drop off in 2017?

Alana: 

I think Twitter’s struggle to remain relevant is going to become even bigger this year. With the continued popularity of visual content, it’s hard to see how they will keep up.

I also really hope people stop screenshotting their Snapchat filtered photos and posting them to Instagram.

Kelly Nelson Digital Marketer

Kelly Nelson – Marketing Consultant

A marketing professional with over 13 years experience having worked in a number of different industries including state & local government, mining, construction, IT and not-for-profit.

Kelly has worked in Scotland, Canada and Australia and specialises in online marketing and social media.

Me: What were the main platforms you concentrated on in 2016 as a Digital Marketer?

Kelly: Social Media, Email marketing & Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Me: Will this change in 2017?

Kelly:

No. I think these are the big players in digital marketing – these platforms have been around for a while and businesses continue to see results when using them.

Social Media is continually evolving and changing and it’s a really exciting platform to work with. Businesses know that they need to be on social media to gain exposure, they’re just uncertain on where or how to start.

Email Marketing is still a great platform to use. It’s free, personable and is delivered straight to a captured audience (depending on how you created your database!). You’d be surprised how many people still sign up for newsletters while visiting an organisation’s website or place of business.

I think SEO is still an underused, unknown (but very valuable) digital marketing tool. Clients often don’t understand the importance of having an optimised website until it’s mentioned that it’s an easy way to get your website found by your target audience. Additionally, many digital marketing platforms direct online traffic to an organisation’s website. Once your potential customer is there, you want them to stay! It’s so important to understand what they want and how they may navigate your website.

Me: What are some emerging trends you noticed in Digital Marketing in 2016?

Kelly:

The increased use of video and imagery (including GIF and memes) in social media.  The increased use of a marketing strategy and well defined target audiences.

Me: Do you think these will continue?

Kelly:

Yes. Many people use social media on a mobile device, in short amounts of time, such as sitting on the train or over a quick coffee.  Digital marketing content that is relatable, quick to skim and arouses emotion (whether it be laugh out loud or pull at the heart strings) is more likely to be engaged with and go viral. Video and imagery do just that.

It’s refreshing to see more organisations having a defined marketing strategy, campaign and target audience/s. There used to be a time where digital marketing was a ‘free-for-all’, whereby content was wishy-washy and an organisation’s brand had to be everywhere, all the time. Perhaps the slower economic climate has allowed management and marketers to take a step back and analyse their business objectives and how this ties in with digital marketing.

Me: Do you use video content in your Digital Marketing?

Kelly: Yes

Me: Will this increase 2017?

Kelly:

Yes. As I mentioned earlier, people are more engaged with content that is quick to look at and watch. With the increasing use of mobile devices (and wearable devices such as GoPro), more videos are also being created and shared by users. There’s been numerous additions to Social Media platforms to enable the use of video content, including Facebook advertising, Facebook LIVE, Instagram and the phenomenal growth of Snapchat. Plus YouTube is still HUGE. Video is only going to be used more in 2017.

Me: Did you include Facebook LIVE (or live on other platforms) in your Digital Marketing in 2016?

Kelly: No

Me: Will you be adding it to your content types in 2017?

Kelly:

Yes. The digital world is forever changing, therefore Digital Marketing has to evolve with it. However it’s still important to reassess each digital media platform to see if it would suit your businesses needs and if it captures your target audience.

Me: Do you have any predictions on the overall state of Digital Marketing for 2017?

Kelly:

I think wearables (e.g. Apple Watch, activity trackers) will start to emerge more in Australia in 2017. Wearables are one of the hottest consumer commodities in the US. People already track their physical activity (eg 5km run) and share on Social Media. It will be interesting to see what companies do with this data, and how they can use it to market their product and target potential customers.

Virtual Reality (VR) will also be making its appearance soon! Mark Zuckerberg has already demonstrated using Messenger in VR, so it won’t be far from Facebook

Me: Are there any trends you feel have been exhausted and will drop off in 2017?

Kelly:

Display advertising including banners, ads and pop-ups. I feel that these are really annoying and wonder if people really actually read what’s there? I tend to ignore them. I hope they will drop off but I doubt it. Wishful thinking.

Businesses thinking that they don’t need to spend money on social media because it’s free. Well it isn’t anymore! The social media arena is busy, busy, busy and the majority of businesses will need to add social media advertising into their marketing budget in order to gain targeted exposure.

Paul Ramondo – CEO Ramondo Media

Paul Ramondo teaches entrepreneurs how to use Facebook Ads and Digital Marketing Funnels to generate qualified leads and sales from their websites.

Me: What were the main platforms you concentrated on in 2016 as a Digital Marketer?

Paul: Facebook, Instagram & Snapchat

Me: Will this change in 2017?

Paul:

I plan to go all in on Facebook as a paid media platform and will scale back the time and effort I invest into Instagram. I also plan to keep my marketing and personal branding efforts on Snapchat consistent (just got the new Spectacles… they’re super fun and present awesome new opportunities for unique first person storytelling – come give me a creep if you’re curious – U/N = paulramondo)

Me: Why?

Paul: 

In a nutshell … Facebook Ads’ ability to provide concrete ROI is unparalleled by other platforms, and I only see it improving from here.

I’m also really excited to see how much Facebook expands its product offering this year as it continues to swallow the internet as a whole…

Happy days though… More platforms owned by Facebook + more Facebook product offerings = increased average time on site per user + more data about those user’s behaviours.

This means the total supply of media for ads will increase (driving costs down for advertisers – ceteris paribus). It also means advertiser’s ability to pinpoint and target desired audiences will increase simultaneously

Me: What are some emerging trends you noticed in Digital Marketing in 2016?

Paul: 

The lines separating our digital and “real” lives continued to blur as disruptive tech (like Snap Inc’s “Spectacles”) have started to become ubiquitous.

Me: Do you think these will continue?

Paul: Yes, exponentially.

Me: Why is that?

Paul:

I think we’ll continue to society’s obsession with on-demand, document everything, eyes glued to smartphones increase as these trends become more habitual and second nature than ever before.

This of course will be met with increased advertising as brands both big and small scramble to capture people’s attention long enough for them to hear their story.

Me: Do you use video content in your Digital Marketing?

Paul: Yes – (mainly) Facebook Ads, YouTube and Snapchat

Me: Will this increase or decrease in 2017?

Paul: 

Increase. I’ll be investing a lot more time into creating immersive content experiences for my audience through video as it is by far the best way for me to generate a return on my time and ad spend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Casey Bryan – Search Specialist & Blogger

Casey Bryan by day is an SEO geek at White Chalk Road in her role as a Senior Online Marketing Account Manager looking after a portfolio of local and national clients.

By night she is a wine blogger for travellingcorkscrew.com.au, making sure no wine goes un-tasted

At White Chalk Road where I work as a Senior Account Manager our speciality is Search Engine Marketing (SEM), we are one of very few boutique agencies in Perth who focus solely on SEO and Google AdWords. We understand how vital these online strategies are for businesses small and large and there’s no doubt in 2017 many more websites will put more time, money and emphasis on these channels as they provide positive ROI.

We all know how quickly the digital landscape changes. With more and more businesses actively doing SEM it means competition is ramping up so being on top of your game is a must in 2017. What you were doing for SEM 2 years ago simply won’t cut it today.

In 2016 there were countless changes, from penguin 4.0 (focus on toxic links) to the possum update (local search) and of course there was the big Mobile-Friendly ‘Mobilegeddon’ update in May which caused everyone to rush out and make sure Google deemed their websites as user-friendly for visitors on mobile devices. That’s just a handful of the SEO changes and then there’s the Google AdWords updates; from the new extended text ads to no right-hand side ads in the SERP’s to paid local search ads. There’s no denying you have to constantly be on your toes and ready to adapt your strategy when working in SEM.

Me: So what do I think we should be aware of in 2017 with regards to SEM?

Casey:

1. Secure Websites

By this I mean, shifting to HTTPS and making sure when you make the move, you don’t loose any of the hard work you’ve put into improving your organic search results. In terms of a ranking factor, if you have an HTTPS website rather than HTTP you will have a very small advantage however there’s no doubt this ranking factor is going to get stronger whether that’s in 2017 or 2018. My advice is to move sooner than later as it’ll be less pages to redirect, thus making your job easier. There are risks with moving to HTTPS so make sure you know what you’re doing.

2. Mobile Website Optimisation

We live in a mobile-first world and this is not going to change in 2017. In 2016 we finally saw mobile overtake desktop as the primary device users are on when accessing websites and that teamed with Google’s plan to move to mobile-first indexing means you NEED to be all over your mobile marketing.

3. Website Page Speed

Ain’t nobody got time for that! Both your desktop and mobile versions of your website must be as quick as possible in 2017. This has not changed since 2016 however with mobile becoming even more important this year, then the need to keep things as quick as possible is a strategy we should all live by moving forward.

4. Website Content

Again this shouldn’t be news to anyone online – good quality, unique content is what the web is all about. The more of this type of content you can put up on your website the better, if you don’t have a blog/news section then add one now! This content is not only good for your readers/customers but it can skyrocket your SEO results. All websites should aim for at least 1 piece of new content a month, minimum 600 words – the more the better really but it needs to be useful and interesting content. Make the content as shareworthy as possible so readers want to share it on social media and link to it. Natural link-building doesn’t come easy but by gosh it’s worth it!

2017 is going to be a big year for search. I am excited to be a part of it with the White Chalk Road team alongside building up my blog, Travelling Corkscrew, which welcomed over 75,000 organic visitors in 2016!

So there you have it folks!

A broad range of backgrounds, experience and niches produced different views of where Digital Marketing is heading in 2017! A big thanks to Clayton, Lloyd, Kelly, Alana, Casey and Paul for taking the time to share their thoughts with me (and you guys!)

If you have your own predictions and would like to be featured I’d love to hear from you, or if you just have a comment or question use the comment section below, I’m always welcome for feedback 🙂

Time will only tell what 2017 holds for us in the Digital Marketing world, but it never hurts to have professional insight into future trends to help you target your marketing efforts!

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