07939 544413 stuart@limeslade.com

Six Years – What’s Changed?

So, it’s been six years. Originally, I thought I’d see if I could make this idea last for six months or so. But it turns out a specialist marketing & BD service with people who understand the sector in which they work is something people actually find quite useful!

From our first retainer client, through to various one-off jobs. To Expertise Rocks, events in Dubai and our ConstructionCast series, we’ve had some fun over the past six years. But what’s changed? And what next?

Plus Ca Change…

Well… Much has changed and yet, much has stayed the same!

People still seem to struggle with social media. Inexplicably, the “congrats on your work anniversary” messages keep flowing in, despite them being possibly the most impersonal and arguably anti-social feature of social media. Remember, if you don’t personalise these messages, it really shows how little you care.

But things have (remarkably) become even worse. Folk are now trying to automate tasks on social media leading to a glut of nonsense. In the latest madness to hit LinkedIn, the brilliant Ayo Abbas has been targeted as a potential drug mule, and I’ve been the target of a number of mid-life crisis fitness scams!

Over on Twitter, Elon Musk has done his level best to make the platform entirely unusable by anyone other than the far right and conspiracy theorists. One recent suggestion from the platform for me saw a heady mix of both!

The pandemic saw some positive changes. We’re all now familiar with the mute button in both teams and zoom, which is nice. And it’s given us yet another way to interact with people online.

But the remoteness of COVID also led to a lack of understanding of the importance of personal interactions. We have a number of clients who previously found it difficult to encourage team members to get out and meet people. They now find it almost impossible.

The Robots Are Coming…

A recent innovation which should strike fear into the heart of any marketer, or indeed anyone who writes anything for a living is the now notorious ‘Chat GPT’. The AI tool (which is probably more machine learning than AI really) is supposedly going to replace us. However, despite being valued at £29 billion, the owners concede it, “sometimes writes plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers”. Having tried it out, there’s definitely a long way to go before robots take over the world!

Events are back! After a while in the wilderness, it seems confidence in events is back. People are out and about, networking and business development, building relationships and making friends. If the last few months are anything to go by, then fears that COVID has killed off face-to-face events have been greatly exaggerated. The London Constructing Excellence breakfast was sold out last week, our Masterclass in Dubai last year was also really well attended, despite being at peak conference time, and our new CE group in Essex is rapidly gathering momentum.

#WICE

Finally, massive congratulations to Annie Clift, who has reached the finalist’s list for the Women in Construction and Engineering Awards, BD Category. We don’t generally enter awards, but this one seemed well worth it, fingers crossed for a positive result on the night! And here’s to the next six years. Huge thanks to all our clients and friends for your support over the past six years.