Human Interaction: Why I Am Dropping Digital Marketing

One thing I think we must all do in business is adapt. Times change, the market changes, and we change – and being prepared to adapt is something that I think is very important.

With over 25 years’ experience in sales, marketing, and digital, I am genuinely one of the most experienced digital marketers I know. But the pace at which digital marketing is progressing, and the direction in which it is going, has made me think about my business values, purpose, and service offering in much more depth. I believe prioritising genuine human interaction in business is the key to standing out in today's noisy landscape. This is something I spent a lot of time thinking about on my recent holiday abroad.

The Power of Taking a Digital Detox

It’s wonderful how spending time away from your desk and getting closer to nature can open your mind so your thoughts flow more freely. My break certainly allowed me the thinking time that I needed. No screens – just sun, sea, swimming, walking, talking, and lots of thinking.

I can highly recommend this type of digital detox to any small business owner for wellbeing reasons, both mentally and physically. I also think taking time out and away from screens can be a great way to make good business progress, as it gives you the time to properly think about your business instead of being caught up in it.

Dropping Digital to Stand Out

My experience in sales, marketing, and digital spans a mass of different areas, from advertising (digital and offline), branding, and content planning/writing to digital planning, keyword strategy, SEO, social selling, and website development. Over the past 25 years, I have held several senior-level digital marketing roles for big brands and worked for (and with) numerous digital agencies.

But I realised on holiday that I simply cannot do everything. Whilst my broad and extensive knowledge, experience, and expertise in the digital sector can add immense value for clients, it is a major hindrance to me and my business.

It’s a hindrance primarily because the SME marketplace and marketing have changed drastically in the past couple of years. Things are so busy and noisy now! To succeed, I firmly believe we all need to be more focussed than ever before, as this is what enables us to stand out and be seen.

I am someone with all-round sales and marketing experience, and I talk about the value of a hybrid approach (offline and online) for SMEs in my book, 'Sales Before Marketing'. I published my book nearly a year ago, and since then, I think the offline side of this hybrid approach has become increasingly important. In my opinion, having a great strategy and approach with offline (that works in conjunction with strong digital foundations) is what will give many SMEs the edge over the competition.

3 Areas of Focus: Connect, Create, Communicate

If I were to choose one phrase to describe what I have decided to focus on going forward, that phrase would be "Human Interaction".

To focus on human interaction, it’s time for me to drop a big part of the digital marketing work I do and the continual learning I do in this area. It’s simply way too time-consuming for me to keep on top of this when my heart is pulling me towards focusing on people and people skills.

Having a clear focus helps you to be more strategic, which can help you cut through the noise. For me, it was quite a wrench to make the decision to move away from many areas of digital marketing. But my time on holiday made it clear that this is the right move. Digital marketing work isn’t representative of my values anymore, nor is it something I enjoy doing these days.

My focus going forward is to concentrate heavily on the human element of things and the value of connections, communication, and human-led creativity/storytelling for both my client work and my own business progression:

1. Connect
Client Work: Helping small business owners learn networking skills and how to network effectively (offline and online), including developing and strengthening relationships.
Business Progression: Building strong connections with my existing network and creating new connections to grow the writing and speaking side of my business.

2. Create
Client Work: Helping small business owners create strong foundations for sales and marketing activity (offline and online), focusing on creative ideas and storytelling while leaving digital strategy implementation to other specialists.
Business Progression: Continuing to create books, poetry, and nature photography as part of my creative work.

3. Communicate
Client Work: Helping small business owners communicate their messages more effectively in person and via direct human contact, such as elevator pitches, sales pitches, and direct marketing materials.
Business Progression: Communicating my beliefs about the value of human interaction and creativity through my speaking services and LinkedIn.

What Made Me Sure Human Interaction Is the Right Focus

There are now way too many self-proclaimed specialists on social media channels claiming to be high-quality digital marketing specialists, making it harder for real specialists to make their voices heard. It also makes it harder for business owners to know who to choose to work with.

Furthermore, AI has flooded the market. People are being swept along on the AI wave believing it can propel their businesses to produce better sales results on its own. Trying to sell digital development services when people believe AI can do all this for them is an uphill struggle. AI can be a good tool, but quality human input is pivotal to its success.

Digital marketing (particularly social media) has become overused and overhyped, often used ineffectively. I want to spend more time relaying how people can use these channels far more effectively when they put human interaction and storytelling centre stage.

I also dislike how tech seems to be put at the forefront of everything. We are losing the art of communication, which negatively impacts relationship building, sales results, and certain groups of people, including those with neurodiverse conditions (such as myself). Moreover, the overuse of digital can negatively impact mental health, whereas human interaction and creativity have a wonderfully positive effect.

Insights and Next Steps

This is where I am going with things – I am now all about human interaction through three key pillars: Connect, Create, and Communicate. I hope this gives you some insight into the importance of having very clear areas of focus for your business, why people skills are so valuable, and how taking time for human-led creativity can help you progress productively.

To find out about the services I offer via Brand Planning that could help you in the areas mentioned in this article – such as networking skills workshops or consultancy – then send us an enquiry