All I needed to know about digital marketing that I learned from Nix Eniego

Though I’m on the digital marketing team at HR-tech Sprout Solutions, I’ll be the first to tell you: “Don’t ever try to learn digital marketing.”

I say this because most workshops and seminars that teach digital marketing in the Philippines focus on the nuts-and-bolts of the craft: the tools to use, the best practices to employ, and the strategies to apply. The problem with this approach is that by the time students get back to their computers, eager to implement what they learned about X platform or Y channel, the information they picked up may already be outdated, or they may simply not know where to start, overwhelmed as they are with the overload of tips and tricks.

Digital moves at the speed of light, far faster than any teacher in the world can bottle it into a neat, actionable presentation.

A much more sound approach is internalizing the culture that is integral to any successful effort in digital marketing. This statement may sound vague, so let me explain it with something we must have all learned in the fourth or fifth grade. Think of history’s greatest scientists – from Darwin and Edison to Einstein and Hawking – and imagine where they started. They did not emerge from the womb, ready to articulate their great insights in biology or astronomy or physics. They all began their illustrious careers by mastering the scientific method – the simple procedure through which all discoveries, both big and small, must be made.

In much the same way that scientists must rely on the scientific method, I believe the digital marketers must also lean on a fundamental body of principles that will carry them across their career, even as platforms, tools, and channels change. As I learned them from Nix Eniego, a digital marketing thought leader in the Philippines who also happens to lead the department at Sprout, I like to call them the Nix rules – they will help you build the culture essential to great digital marketing.

1. Experiment until you find the answer

When I first started at Sprout as a fresh grad, I often asked Nix if he thought a particular digital marketing idea, strategy, or campaign I had come up with would work. His answer was always the same: “Try it,” he’d casually say. Though workplace culture in the Philippines can involve a lot of saving face, you need to open yourself up to making mistakes in digital marketing. Only through trial-and-error will you find what works, and if you move aggressively enough, you may gain a first-mover advantage in your space.

2. Ignore conventional wisdom when it suits you

Backed by data from Facebook, most social media gurus will tell you that the ideal time to post content on your company page is sometime in the afternoon, as that’s when everyone is online. We followed this best practice initially, only to find out it doesn’t apply to us. Why? While HR professionals may be on Facebook in the afternoon, they are online only in a very loose sense of the word: They may have the window open on their browser, but they’ll be busy doing other administrative tasks.

We found that the best time to reach them is in the evening, in fact, when they are truly free from the demands of work. Nix encourages us to buck conventional wisdom like this all the time, instead asking us to steer our decision-making by one question alone: “Does it work for us?”

Also read: I bet you did not know these 2 social media platforms can make you rich

3. Integrate online and offline marketing

Digital marketers in the Philippines often make it seem as though digital marketing is all you need – as in: this platform will give you all your leads, or that channel will get you the revenue you want. Brands really need to balance what they do online with what they they do offline, a philosophy I got from Nix. Under his leadership at Sprout, we built a 1,000-strong community of HR leaders who want to understand how technology is changing their space, largely through in-person seminars and events. We then strengthen this community by providing them with relevant content, such as our downloadable State of HR in the Philippines report. By combining online and offline, we can be with our community 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

4. Give value with no exceptions or limits

Most Filipino brands will immediately try to sell you their products. The craftier companies will give value first before introducing you to what they do. Nix takes this latter approach to its logical extreme: He insists we provide so much value to our community, in the way of digital content, in-person classes, and everything in between, that they will be the ones to approach us and ask us to present Sprout’s solutions. He often calls this approach “guilt marketing” in jest, but there’s a deeper truth he’s stumbled upon here: When your community trusts you to empower them as professionals, they will also entrust you with helping them solve their biggest problems.

Adopting the Nix rules will not turn a team into digital marketing experts overnight, but they will lay the groundwork for the open-minded, ambitious culture necessary to seizing opportunities online, no matter the season.

—-

Editor’s note: e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

Featured Image: 123RF

The post 4 unconventional digital marketing tips for experts and starters alike appeared first on e27.