Rob Reed from SOCi discusses why marketing is a game about challenging your assumptions to achieve continuous growth.
“I’m looking for the way that gets us there fastest with the least amount of energy and resources. It’s often better to work smart than to work hard. “
1. Tell us about your role at SOCi?
I’m a Senior Advisor – Enterprise Brands, so I’m focused on supporting sales into large enterprise brands.
2. Can you tell us about your journey into this market?
I founded MomentFeed in 2010, which was one of the first multi-location marketing platforms. I departed the company in 2016 shortly before the Series C round. I joined SOCi in 2020 when I decided to return to the market.
3. How has the data-driven approach had an impact on your advisory?
Well, everything we do is data driven these days, and it’s been that way for a while. So just more of the same, I guess.
4. Do you agree that smartphones have started playing an important role in designing strategies?
Smartphones are the whole reason this market exists. That was the enabling technology for digital-local marketing.
5. What are some of the distinctive factors that you keep in mind before raising a strategic dialogue for an impending decision?
There are generally a number of ways to get from point A to point B. I’m looking for the way that gets us there fastest with the least amount of energy and resources. It’s often better to work smart than to work hard. But we’ll get the most accomplished when we do both.
6. With AI and ML coming in, what are some of the challenges/opportunities you see approaching in the location-based marketing arena?
The core challenge of localized marketing is how to scale it. That’s essentially why SOCi exists; it’s just not possible without a solution like SOCi. But that alone doesn’t solve for a lot of the challenges marketers face.
In order for localized marketing to truly scale and gain widespread adoption, the AI/ML layer will need to be there.
7. What work-related hack do you follow to enjoy maximum productivity?
I devote most of my time to the things that will have the biggest impact. We can get bogged down in the minutia and in sweating small details that suck up our time. You have to continue to center your efforts on impact, value, and actually delivering work product.
8. How do you prepare for an AI-Centric world?
By watching the Terminator series over and over
9. What would be the one piece of advice that you would give to the marketing companies to stay relevant?
The leadership team needs to consume as much content as possible that is relevant to their market space. It’s all about learning.
You can’t assume that you know anything because things change so fast. What was true last year may not be true next year. The only way to know is to continually challenge your assumptions while continuing to educate yourself.
So that’s via books, podcasts, blogs, industry media outlets, Twitter, etc. Learning should be a daily practice.
10. Which book are you reading these days?
I’m listening to the Prof G Podcast by Scott Galloway, the NYU professor, and will probably read his books eventually.
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Rob Reed joins SOCi as a Senior Advisor for Enterprise Brands. Rob is a successful entrepreneur and journalist. In 2010, he founded MomentFeed, one of the first technology platforms designed for multi-location marketing. In 2005, he wrote The Way of the Snowboarder, a book about the history and people of the sport. He’s been a regular contributor for The Huffington Post and currently writes a column for Forbes Magazine.
SOCi is an award-winning all-in-one local marketing platform built specifically for "next-level" multi-location marketers. Our customers include top brands and influencers like Ace Hardware, Sport Clips, and Anytime Fitness who have the impossible challenge of managing their digital presence across hundreds and thousands of locations. The SOCi platform empowers local management of the entire customer journey across multiple mediums including local business listings, social, reviews, listening, ads, and more. As a central command for multi-location marketers, SOCi makes the impossible possible by enabling top brands and their locations to strengthen and scale their digital presence across limitless local search and social pages while protecting what matters most, their reputation. For more information on how SOCi can help fuel your localized marketing success - visit us at www.meetsoci.com