Mike Saunders

We're proud to announce that DigitLab will be hosting The Digital Agenda on the 15th of June 2017 at S43 in Durban.

The DigitLab Academy was launched last year in 2016 and we've been very busy adding value to the Digital Marketing Industry. We wanted to take some time to update you on what we have been up to. Our focus has been in three main areas covered in this video breakdown and the article below:

The Five Year isn’t just a book about the digital marketing industry and the lessons learnt during the toughest years of building a business. It also discusses the power of dreams and the courage needed to be brave in life and business.

We are proud to announce that our work on The Grainfather E-Commerce site has earned us a spot in the finals at the 2017 IAB Bookmark Awards.

Decision making is part and parcel of being an entrepreneur. But, many entrepreneurs make the mistake of making decisions without thinking things through. Entrepreneurs often act too quickly because they're are occupied by massive responsibilities and have huge volumes of work to deal with.

Keith Coats, the man who was both my mentor and mentoree, helped me realise that helping people unlock their true potential meant they needed to be motivated and inspired.

There are many different leadership styles and ways of motivating staff, but Keith approached motivation in a similar way to Fredrick Hertzberg.

I’ve always admired how people come together to create something new and spectacular. Musicians do this frequently. They’re more interested in making great music than self-promotion, making them more willing to work together.

Great musicians are always looking for new talent to collaborate with - people they can perform, write and ultimately promote the music industry with. Collaboration helps musicians introduce themselves to new audiences, learn, grow and network. It helps build both the industry and the individuals involved.

I remember sitting in a conference in Morocco listening to the Ogilvy MD, Matthieu Plassard, as he shared that marketing in Africa was less about selling products and more about solving problems. He highlighted that in a world where the share of wallet is limited, brands need to drive lifestyle solutions instead of products aimed at disposable income. Matthieu’s comment echoed the sentiment I have been hearing from underground conversations in marketing circles. Building solutions for people is fast becoming the most valuable marketing tool that marketers can spend their time doing. Brand love won’t come from lifestyle alignment and it won’t come from fancy content.

It’s always great to look at how celebrities use online marketing to build their brand and career. Over the last few years we have watched as Conan O’Brien receive a seemingly big blow to his career through a fall out with NBC. He has, however, managed to reinvent himself through this fall out, and has successfully used online marketing to rebuild his career. Let’s take a look at the lesson learnt:

As people wind down for the holidays we will see an increase in Micro-Moments online.