Every day, media outlets both large and small fill their feeds with articles that offer insightful tips and tricks to help modern marketers stay abreast of the latest trends and best practices. In today’s digital world, this advice is seemingly endless, opening the door to new growth opportunities for small agencies and their teams.
At Ideaworks, staying up-to-date on reading and research is a task that our team members incorporate into their daily to-do lists. Throughout his career, our owner and CCO Peter Steve has seen first-hand how critical reading and research are to success. As such, this is a quality Peter has come to instill into each member of our team. Therefore, we found it fitting to pose the following question to five of our team members: “What is the most influential article you have read in the last few months?”
Peter Steve could not choose an article in particular but instead selected a motivating book: Soccer Thinking for Management Success: Lessons for Organizations from the World’s Game by Peter Loge, which suggests that management is even more relatable to routine activities than we might have once thought. When asked why this has been his favorite read over the past few months, Peter remarked, “I loved it because it provided great insight into how the game of soccer (a sport near and dear to me) directly relates to how organizations are structured and managed.”
Donna Hansbury, president and CEO, chose “The Evolution of Marketing to Women” as her pick for the best industry read she’s delved into over the past few months. Donna explains, “I never hesitate to find insightful articles from Mintel, but I found this one particularly refreshing because it provides an excellent look at authenticity in marketing and where our industry is headed. The celebration of females’ unique strengths, beauty and empowerment is inspiring more marketing campaigns, and it is something I hope to see even more frequently in the future.”
Chelsey Tupper, director of operations and client development, shared, “Southwest Airlines’ Awful Week Shows the Difference Between Customer Service and Customer Centricity.” Published on medium.com, this blog post delves into the criticality of ensuring that the entire customer experience journey is top-notch. Chelsey explains why she chose this article: “It illustrates that customers have to be at the center of ALL business decisions within a company, which also highlights the evolution of marketing over the past 10 years. It’s no longer about the brand – it HAS to be about the customer.”
Peter Froehlich, director of marketing communications, recently transitioned from the world of academia to agency life at Ideaworks. Peter understands the unique professional situation the Harvard Business Review outlines in “Facing your Mid-Career Crisis.” He explains, “I chose this article because it speaks to my situation pretty eloquently. I identified with feeling stale in a workplace routine. It was painful to leave a familiar career behind, but I’m finding a lot more excitement and satisfaction in marcom than I had felt in teaching and research in ages!”
“Good Copywriting Starts with a Graphic Designer” was senior manager of marketing communication Alyssa Ellsworth’s pick for the most inspirational and influential article she’s read over the past few months. “I love this article because it showcases how important it is for copywriters and graphic designers to engage in true collaboration on client projects – something that we do every day at Ideaworks.”
These are only a few of the latest industry articles that stood out to our team. You can bet that we will most certainly continue reading and growing as an agency to better understand the many different perspectives that impact our business and industry. We invite you to share your favorite marketing read with us in the comments below!
