Dave Hieatt’s keynote at OI cardiff 2014 – A manufacturers perspective on social media
Digital conferences can be fun. I don’t go to as many as I used to. Not because they aren’t fun but because you tend to get similar people preaching to the converted.
A degree of skepticism is a healthy thing and it’s easy to get caught up in what Evgeny Morozov calls the ‘Filter Bubble’. For better ideas you often need to look outside of the normal channels.
So I came across this clip from the recent OI 14 Conference in Cardiff interviewing Dave Hieatt. Dave Hieatt has an strong branding and marketing pedigree, writing for Saatchi, developing Howies and launching his newest project the Hiut Denim brand.
Building a jeans factory and a content factory
The interesting aspect for me is that Hieatt is both a brand builder, social media exponent and a manufacturer.
I deliver online marketing courses and quite often talk about the requirement for businesses (including manafacturers) to become publishers to a certain degree. So it resonated with me when Hieatt uttered the following phrase
we started a jeans factory, the next thing we had to start is a content factory
Now you are probably thinking that I am going to launch into a sermon about content marketing. But knowing what Hieatt did with Howies I don’t think he will be paying bloggers or writers to pump out “5 mistakes people make when people choose jeans”style posts.
Marketing guru (I hate that word but you could probably get away with it for this guy) Philip Kotler once defined ‘marketing as the art of knowing what to make’. It makes perfect sense therefore that a marketer/manufacturer mix is a potent force.
Digital technology brings this within reach for forward thinking manufacturers and digital marketers capable of really understanding businesses outside of their online bubble.
You don’t need to outrun the tiger, just the other people being chased.
OK we are not all going to launch a global fashion brand. In Dave Trott’s book Predatory Thinking he tells the story of two people being chased by a tiger. I won’t repeat the story but the is that to avoid being eaten you need to out run your companions (the competition) not the Tiger.
If you are a manufacturer and you want to leverage the digital environement it seems to me that you need to adopt at least some of Dave Hieatt’s attitude.
Your strategy won’t be the same.
You may not need a content factory.
You only need to be producing publishing better content than your competition.
The post OI 14 Cardiff David Hieatt & Social media for manufacturers. appeared first on Internet Marketing Agency, Cardiff, Wales | Fluidounce.
