I remember the day vividly, I had attended my first business conference and the keynote speaker of the day spent almost 45 minutes talking about purpose. Very similar to Simon Sinek he reiterated time and time again, “why is that you do what you do?” To be honest it caught me by surprise because I had never really thought about it. The path I had taken up until this point was one that was manufactured for me; go to school, get good grades, finish year 12, select a course at university which you find the most appealing with the score your received, finish the course and find a job. At no point in time did I get asked “why”, so when this conference was over I was left utterly confused. From that day forward I was set on a wild goose chase to find my why.
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I am lucky enough to have worked in some amazing business’s such as tech giant Salesforce & creative powerhouse TBWA. My career has had some extremely memorable moments, I have designed award winning work and made life-long friends, however I always had this glowing neon question mark hovering over my head.

The answer appeared on the 25th of May 2017 when my son was born. I realised that I had been living life by the wrong set of values, you can say I had an epiphany. I got so much enjoyment by the small things in life again; a smile, a cry, a laugh, a word, a clap….I didn’t get much enjoyment from changing nappies but it was part of the package. I realised that not everything I did day-to-day had to revolve around trying to change the world, it can start by just improving one persons world at a time. I realised through the journey of being a father the happiness and completeness comes from being selfless. I also realised that instead of trying to mask my creativity I should embrace it, bring 100% of me to the workforce everyday.

Since the age of 18 I have been writing and producing music however never shared it with many people. A few months after my son was born I decided to write a story for him called Baby On The Moon. The story was about a little boy who sets off on a space adventure to the moon with his best friend, a little black dog. The story ended up turning into a song and I am actually really proud of the end result, watch below.
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​My greatest achievement in life is undoubtably becoming a father. It has helped me in every facet of my life, including my career by realigning my values and belief system to rediscovering my creative confidence. To all the other hard working dad’s out there who are balancing a demanding job and have a family at home, hats off to you. It’s not an easy gig and someday’s it’s extremely hard walking out the front door, especially when your little one is crawling behind you screaming “dada.” There is a silver lining though, having children gives you the confidence to step outside your comfort zone and pushes you mentally and physically in ways that you never thought were possible.

2. Customer Journey Management
Enabling organisations to effectively segment customers and build behaviour-driven journeys through the creation of automated activities prompted by real-time events. These activities send the right message, through the right channel, at the right time, to the right individual, based on their behaviour. The key to doing this successfully is researching and understanding the journeys your customers go through when interacting with your company; whether it be for a product, service, issue, delivery etc.

3. Marketing Automation
There are plenty of technologies designed for marketing departments and organisations to more effectively communicate on multiple channels (such as email, social media, print, websites, etc.) Marketing automation technologies also create operational efficiencies as they can automate repetitive tasks such as data imports.

Here are few marketing automation tools:

- Salesforce Marketing Cloud
- Adobe Marketing Cloud
- Marketo
- Silverpop
- Autopilot

4. Technology Understanding
​A marketer’s job is no longer about just managing the advertising agency. They now need to understand the functionality of multiple cloud based platforms and systems. I like to call it understanding your businesses 'Marketecture'; which includes everything from CRM, e-commerce, social listening, marketing automation, business intelligence and analytics.

5. SEO & SEM
Thanks to smart phones and the quick accessibility we have to the internet, according to Google it has forever changed the way we live - It has fractured the customer journey into hundreds of real-time, intent-driven micro-moments. SEO and SEM has never been more important as you fight to identify search terms that will give your website higher ranking. Optimise your content, website, and blog for organic earned search.

6. Data Analysis
​Yes...unfortunately you need to understand data, but you don't have to be a Data Scientist. Data holds you accountable, it highlights where you are successful and where there are areas for improvement. Basic data visualisation tools can help you read the data and benchmark it against previous campaigns or even industry statistics. For example Google Analytics is a great tool to analyse:

- Where leads are coming from
- Average time on site
- Bounce rate
- Average transaction value
- Most viewed products etc.

See below for an overview of how data and creativity intersect:

7. Collaborative Consumption
Marketers need to understand and recognise the new business models which are disrupting industries. Collaborative consumption describes the shift in consumer values from ownership to access. Together, entire communities and cities around the world are using network technologies to do more with less by renting, lending, swapping, bartering, gifting and sharing products on a scale never before possible.

From Airbnb to Uber to Taskrabbit, collaborative consumption is transforming business, consumerism and the way we live for a more fulfilling and sustainable quality of life.

8. Targeted Online Advertising
A recent study from Salesforce & Facebook showed that sending an email and a social ad about the same campaign to the same group resulted in 22 per cent uplift in conversion and 77 per cent uplift in reach. Salesforce's new Advertising Studio allows businesses to send targeted ads to a customers based on their CRM data.

9. Email Marketing
For every $1 invested, email marketing generates an average return of $38. Email still generates on average around a 21% open rate and 3.5% click through rate. Consumers today receive more emails than ever before and claim to have inbox fatigue - however marketers have to become better at mastering the art of timely and targeted emails.

10. Mobile Marketing
With over 50% of emails now being opened on mobiles and the boom of the app world - we now need to think mobile first. Many brands still have a website that is not mobile responsive and have no apps to make it easy for customers to engage with you. Think about the potential of geo-location push messages from a service perspective; for example you have entered the airport ready for your flight interstate and receive a real-time alert about the flight delay, followed by an offer to head into the Qantas lounge for free. 

11. Social Listening & Engagement
A brand is the sum of the conversations being had about them. Since the launch of social media, customers have found it easier to praise or call out brands about their experiences. A smart marketer would have their finger on the pulse and be listening to online behaviour to identify areas of concern or competitive advantage. Take a look at Salesforce's new Social Studio product for an overview.

12. User Experience
Pixel perfection and eye for detail is important. Design isn't just how something looks and feels, it's also about how it works. It's important to understand the different devices that consumers use like a desktop, tablet and mobile; but also how they use them. 

13. Content Creation
Content is the foundation for all marketing according to Joe Pulizzi. You need to start blogging, creating engaging images, infographics, free eBooks, and much more. Content is the main driver to generating leads.

14. Business Savvy
While I don't expect all marketers to have an MBA - they need to understand some simple metrics such as average transaction value (ATV), customer lifetime value (CLV), net promoter score (NPS) and return on investment (ROI). The list could go one but I thought I would keep it short. The line between service, sales and marketing is blending and every campaign you send needs to have a clear measurable goal. If there is no goal, then ask yourself why are you sending it in the first place?  

15. Prototyping Mindset
With the adoption of Design Thinking it has allowed employees to take their ideas and make them reality in a cost effective way that doesn't impact the business. Anyone can have an idea - it's the critical process of making that idea a tangible prototype that drives innovation. A prototype can be interacted with and reveal to the creator some valuable learnings to refine over time. We need to embrace that everything in life needs continuous improvement.