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So, what is really going on right now? What is the truth? Whilst BoJo and his team of co-conspirators look to dismantle the NHS and crash it during a plague. As he and his cronies have said “let the bodies pile high” and then gaslight us with repeating failed concepts; experimenting with the immunity of the heard. Using a metaphor that leaves the British public framed as not just animals and beasts but ones that are tamed, controlled and devoured by their masters. It is clear they have one thing on their agenda: the economy.

For the economy read the bank balances of them and their buddies for which all us, as beasts, are expendable. And whilst his Virgin lobbyist 1%’ers dazzle and distract us by dancing around in space as they ripped new holes in the ozone, the truth goes unnoticed. As we paid for Branson and his cohorts to take their flights of fancy by the many tax avoidance schemes of the billionaire club, he lies to the poor children of the 99% remaining by saying that…

Estimated 3 minutes read: It is not too far of a stretch to say that data is the 21st centuries crude oil. Big data is King, and the data scientist is the wizard that cast their spells within its kingdom. The reality, of course, is that for data to be so valuable, it needs to be rich, useful and actionable. Without these critical facts, it just becomes noise. And as businesses big and small and government bodies alike tackle the beast of big data and try to understand its worth it's easy for crucial concerns of data privacy and proper use to get missed or swept under the carpet.   

Let's face it; we have become the product. Our data is sold, bought, traded,…

1min Read: Opinion: Conspiracy and War on Sensemaking

You would be amiss to have not noticed there is a war on our ability to make sense of the world going on right now. The information wars are raging in the western world. The war on reality, the war on facts and the idea of fake news and “alternative facts” has become prevalent.

Trump is the most obvious and outspoken spokesperson for this, but he is not working alone, and it is not only the far right that that is adding to and causing confusion. We could be forgiven for thinking that the world is going crazy because that is how it feels most of the time.

I would argue that ever since 2015 and the Brexit vote in the UK, swiftly followed by the election of Trump in 2016, we have seen a constant onslaught on our sensemaking abilities primarily through social media.

Say what you like about Trump and Brexit, and I have said plenty, but they knew how to use social media and behavioural targeting to sway…

Estimated 4 minutes read: Controlling the Narratives and the Weaponization of Language in 2020 

It doesn’t take a behavioural linguistic analysis of government's narratives and the systems of control of information around Covid-19 to see what is going on. 

Even using the words/labels “Covid-19” or “CoronaVirus” could, and probably will get this article flagged and suppressed when posted on social media and in search engine rankings. Such is the monitoring of information, the suppression of debate and the control of the narrative. 

The language patterns of the UK government and other governments around the world around this pandemic are very telling. Telling in both what it is and is not saying. 

Two statements we heard around the world at the start of this pandemic were “flu-like symptoms” and that those people who had died from it had “underlying health conditions.” 

Both statements had since…

Introduction

For as long as I can remember I have been obsessed with communication. It is probably why I got into sales and marketing. I have been obsessed with not only how we communicate and what it tells us about our thinking, behaviour and actions but also how often we miscommunicate and misunderstand each other.

I may have told you this story before but as a small child, I spent a lot of time in the company of groups of adults. Often, I was sat in the room listening to conversations that I probably shouldn’t have been hearing and often being told to ‘close my ears’, however you are meant to do that I have never discovered. But the one factor that I noticed so often was people miscommunicating, talking past and at each other. Often stating the same points and opinions but in such different ways that somehow it would snowball into arguments and misunderstanding.

Often as a way of gaining understanding, and I now know a way of me trying to ‘cool the situation…

Estimated 2 minutes read: Article Marketing: It is Good to End With a Resource Box: Series Marketing Your Cause

When we look at books in the store, we always see the cover with the title and the name of the author printed on both the front and the side. In article marketing, details of who wrote it the article and other important details about the individual must always be placed at the bottom which is known as the resource box. 

The resource box is the “author’s bio.” It is also called “sig” which is short for signature. There are certain things that should be placed here which you must never forget to include so people will know who you are.

First, is your name. Some people use their real names while others use a pen name. If you are a doctor, mention your title as well because this adds credibility to your article.

If the article that you wrote is promoting a cause or campaign and you want others to…

Estimated two minutes read: Article Marketing Is Important: Series Marketing Your Cause

Article marketing has been used for years. From media publications, it has shifted to the web which many experts say is timeless thus making it very important in the digital age.

The reason why article marketing is so important is that it will not only enhance your website with information but it will also make it go up the ranks of major search engines which all boils down to quality traffic.

This means that chances of people signing up to your cause via the web are much higher and some of these supporters might even come from out of state or from a different country.

1. You can make this happen simply by choosing the right keywords which the search engines will pick up when someone decides to look for it.
2. Another option is to send your articles only to those that cater to it.…

This is a repost of an article written by me in 2016/17 from a site I have now closed down. 

The last three major elections/votes in the US and UK have been filled with shock. First came Brexit, then came Trump and now we have a hung parliament in the UK.

How does this happen? How do the pundits get it so wrong? How does this big data not make forecasts more predictable?

There are many theories as to why these votes turned out the way they did. But one underlying issue is that communication and segmented echo chambers on social media became an issue.

Some of this will be because politicians tapped into qualitative data, feelings and frustrations of the general public and used this to steer their communications strategy.

Others will have taken on a more quantitative approach taking on board data science and behavioural science to design their communications strategy.

This is not just theory. One company Cambridge Analytica worked with Ted…

The term social marketing often gets confused with social media marketing. To make matters worse social marketing quite often uses social media in its marketing toolkit. But social marketing is actually a discipline in and of itself. It is used to influence positive behavioural changes in society, communities and organisations.  

Social marketers have to have a keen understanding of not just marketing and communications techniques but also behavioural psychology, sociology and socioeconomics to name just a few. Understanding of political and environmental issues is also of keen benefit.  

There are many examples of where this has been applied and no more so than listed in this article from the Guardian back in 2011…

We keep stepping forward, each breath through time,

Each step moving closer to death and rebirth,

In a continual continuum of space,

Stepping in beat,

Moving forward,

Falling off one’s own feet,

Tumbling from this event, that thing and when,

Not really getting a grasp,

A hold of what’s going on,

Tumble forth into disaster, love and loss,

The world revolving around you,

The universe bends to your own rules,

We are the gods of our own universe,

Tumbling through rebirth and rebirth,

And not learning a bloody thing.

We live in a fractured world. I don’t think that is a surprise to anyone or a controversial statement. We have some hope with the changes in leadership in the US but even with a new leader over there the country is fractured, torn down the middle by political and racial conflict, not to mention Covid.

How do we make sense of the senseless world?

How do we deal with the constant bombardment of negative news on our mental and physical health?

The previous president of the United States, and no I will not use his name as it only adds to his branding, shook the very meaning of reality by promoting the idea of alternative facts and fake news.

The fact that there are alternative theories is true but even scientists will say that there are no facts just proven or yet to be disproven theories. But that doesn’t mean complete fabrication is the same as a competing theory.

And yes, there is fake news out there. In both fringe alternative media and,…

The initial onslaught of hype, panic and surge in consultants offering advice on GDPR up to its official launch in May 2018 certainly made it feel, to marketers at least, like a massive constraint in marketing. We had just gotten used to phrases such as ‘big data’, ‘data science’ and ‘automation’.

We had been sold the hype of programmatic advertising, real time bidding and the use of behavioral economics with this creative art had becoming part science. Not just MADMEN but Math Men/Women/non-binary marketers.

The famous line, I think attributed to the former CEO of Coca Cola, of “I know 50% of my advertising is working and 50% isn’t, the problem is I just don’t which is which” or words to that affect, seemed like a thing of the past.

At that time, we realized we could know more about our customers than they or their friends and family knew, and we could market and sell to them in real time, for products they were about to need before they even knew…

Start off by Setting Three to Four Simple KPI’s 

The first place to start is with something simple. Setting KPI’s. I say simple sometimes deciding on what these are can be somewhat difficult and open to interpretation as to what the main drivers are depending on the size of your organisation.  

For me, if I take this site as an example, I would have the following three areas;…

Business today can be tricky and sometimes you need the financial support to make the right investment in technology or infrastructure to maximise on the opportunities when they come. On this site, we do not offer financial advice but we do put you in touch with the lenders who can and who specialises in helping small and medium-sized businesses in the UK. 

If you are looking for asset…

We spend our days being bombarded by words. From the first thoughts that jump into our heads as we wake up to the very last thoughts that fill our minds as we try to fall asleep.  

Some of these we notice, some we do not.  

We have words thrown at us from every direction. Infiltrating our very thoughts.  

Whether we throw on the TV, switch on the radio or just look at our smartphones first thing we start our days with the words of others entering into our reality. If we don’t filter this it can impact on our day, our thinking, our feelings and even our health. 

Far too often our thoughts and the words bouncing around inside our heads are to someone else’s agenda. Whether that be our work colleagues, our partners or that of a furtherly detached third party such as those that filter through to us from the mass media or social ecosystems.  

If words become thoughts, and if thoughts become feelings, and if these feelings cause chemical reactions to…

Our words matter.

In fact, they are paramount.

The words we choose to speak, listen to and tell ourselves shape the narratives of our lives and the lives around us. Words and the narratives they form shape society and indeed the world.

Through your words, I have a window into your world and far too often your words betray your inner secrets.

I can use your words to market to you. To sell you an idea and to get inside your mind.

Words and cutlery separate us from the animals.

Words form inside our minds and shape our story.

Sometimes our words are used to build others up, and sometimes to knock them down. Sometimes they are used wisely and all too often they betray us.

We only seem to remember the negative ones and so seldom the positive. And if we can become metacognitive enough to really stop and watch the words that form our thoughts, we can gain real insight into our own inner world and how it is influenced by the stories,…