Indeed, consultancy McKinsey predicts the value of the sector will top £260bn by 2024, due principally to marketers (such as Yours Truly) who continue to champion the medium, alongside what are now regarded as ‘conventional’ online channels.

In fact, it’s those very online channels that are powering print growth, with cloud computing allowing multinational firms to connect with print houses around the world; equipping them to produce infinitely personalised marketing materials, highly cost-effectively - where they’re needed, and on demand.

So, despite being around for more than 500 years, print is now extremely agile too - more than ‘fit for purpose’ for modern marketing.

There’s more good news for old school advertisers.

With consumers receiving less and less, research suggests that ‘snail mail’ garners greater attention than ever before - if, that is, it’s accurately targeted, relevant and timely.

And it’s not just direct mail and brochureware that are enjoying an unexpected comeback. Rather, it seems many niche publications (magazines and newsletters) are flourishing too. And no wonder.

Fact is, folk are glued to their PCs, tablets and smartphones throughput the working day. And many look forward to the opportunity to unplug: to disconnect from digital.

As sector leader CHIL pointed out in its recent report: “[Print ] provides a mental oasis from the hurricane of information that our devices can overwhelm us with, which helps explain why print is becoming more popular in our digital age.

“A single source of information, we are free to digest it at our leisure without the need to invest energy quieting the 100s of background voices all vying to stand centre-stage.”

Of course cynics may respond: well, they would say that, wouldn’t they?

And it’s fair comment, I suppose.

But until I’m presented with a tablet that I can safely read in the bath… I’m all for it.

The data never lie: location-based ad spend will top $15 Billion by 2018 (source: Berg Insight).

Far and away the most direct form of advertising your marketing bucks can buy, geographically targeted mobile advertising delivers unparalleled results - equipping you to tailor your messages to a raft of variables, from the time of day to the prevailing weather.

And most critically to your customers’ location: their proximity to your (and even your competitors’) stores.

Mobile advertising, in its many forms, has been around since the turn of the decade. And it works - harnessing real-time info to target customers and prospects with highly personalised ads.

Those ads may be hyperlocal - reaching your target audience when they’re close by.

Or geoconquest targeted: used to ‘ambush’ prospects with competing messages - such as sale info, ‘today only’ offers, lunch-hour specials, discount coupons and the like - when they’re passing your rivals.

Sneaky, huh?

Critically, too, mobile ad costs remain relatively low compared to traditional media - making hyperlocal one of the most compelling, and cost effective, strategies to drive traffic to your store, and sales for your business.

So, if you’ve yet to add mobile to your marketing, maybe it’s time you did. Before your competitors start heading your punters off at the pass.

The problem is one not just of scale, but of scope: a consequence of the plethora and diversity of sources in which Big Data is to be found.

Some sources, such as smart grids and sensors, GPS systems, smartphone usage, loyalty cards and purchase transaction records deliver data which is reasonably structured - and thus (relatively) straightforward to analyse.

The remaining (Gartner suggests) 80% or so of data is, unfortunately, unstructured – comprising anything and everything from contact centre call reports to user generated content (such as customer reviews, blogs and video), online newspapers and magazines, government reports and - of particular significance to marketers - social media.

The rise and rise of social networks such as Facebook (online home to a combined audience of 1.23bn), Twitter (with 330 million monthly users), YouTube (1 billion active users), Instagram (an estimated 100 million active users) and LinkedIn (over 460 million users) has given rise to unprecedented volumes of raw marketing data.
Yet despite this, a recent Saïd Business School survey concludes, fewer than half of firms with a Big Data strategy collect any social media data at all.

Lacking a standardised length and format (e.g.: numbers, dates and defined groups of words) those data - which could take the form of text or video, images or audio, in multiple languages - simply cannot be tamed using ‘conventional weapons’ (databases and spreadsheets).

Rather, Big Data deployments necessitate the use of highly sophisticated analytical software tools; tools that ‘understand’ subtle nuances of language - such as slang, colloquialisms and even misspellings.

Big Data deployments demand prodigious amounts of storage space and computing power too. Oh, and a team of experts blessed with a unique blend of analytical, programming and commercial skills.

All of which adds up to… a hefty price tag. Or at least: it did.

Today, there exist literally 1,000s of Big Data tools, enabling SMEs to inspect, clean, transform and model their internal and external data - garnering critical information with unprecedented accuracy and in record time.

Consequently, those SMEs are now better placed than ever to level the playing field – leveraging technologies that might previously have been the sole province of multinational corporations to streamline their business processes, cut their costs, accelerate their time to market and maximise their profitable revenues.

The choice for SMEs is therefore clear.

Either catch the wave - or risk being swept aside by your competitors.

And I’m not talking about underemployed ‘yoof’, here. Quite the contrary. From CEOs to office interns, it seems few of us are immune to the siren-call of Candy Crush, Scrabble, Sudoku... and myriad Android and Apple apps in between.

In all, the research suggests, more than two billion mobile gamers worldwide rack up in excess of three billion hours’ play every week. And unlike PC and console gaming, the split of males-to-females is fairly even too.

The opportunity for advertisers is clear. And leading brands from Audi to Zenith have been quick to take advantage, incorporating mobile gaming into their marketing mix from the ‘get-go’.

As a result, tech consultancy Forbes predicts in-app advertising to be a key driver of mobile growth in years to come, with ‘rewarded ads’ - which offer users in-game freebies such as avatars, points, currency and levels - proving particularly effective.

The Wall Street Journal too anticipates an upswing in mobile game advertising, noting that 78% of the 50 highest-grossing apps featured ads in 2017 (vs. 45% in 2016).

Resistance to advertising is, it seems, not only futile - it’s close to non-existent, with Facebook Audience Network reporting that 73 percent of gamers “are happy with the ad-funded model of app games”.

With CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions) rates starting at around £3, maybe it’s time you took a closer a look at small screen advertising for your business?

Business leaders are, by their very nature, DIYers.

That’s not to say they spend every spare moment prowling the office corridors, spanner in hand: even the most sanguine of entrepreneurs would draw the line at servicing the company boiler. (Well, hopefully.)

They might, however, be tempted to - for example – have a stab at writing their next ad campaign; ‘knocking out’ a direct mail piece; taking a crash-course in WordPress - with a view to self-publishing their next website…

… or indeed tackling any of the myriad marcomms tasks that are now, prima facie, ‘a breeze’ thanks to a plethora of low- and no-cost publishing tools.

Unfortunately… those same tools don’t turn dilettantes into authorities: rather, they seduce the unwary into believing they really can market themselves – and, perhaps most enticingly, they can do it on a shoestring budget.

Big mistake.

In the best-case scenario, following a few false starts (concluding, usually, with a stream of invective) reason will prevail: the resulting communication will be found wanting, and the exercise written off as an infuriating waste of valuable time.

Worst case, however is that, the ‘finished’ (“Oh, it’ll do”) mail piece… or email… or case study… or whatever… actually makes it to prospective customers’ desks.

With costly consequences: credibility undermined, opportunity lost.

Much the same applies to the burgeoning use of social media - Facebook, Twitter, et al.

Lured by the prospect of communicating directly with “millions of prospective customers”, businesses are now Posting, Tweeting, Sharing and ‘Pin’ing like hyperactive pre-teens. And with similar results.

Lacking strategic direction (not to mention, essential content, communications and journalistic expertise), the majority of corporate posts serve only to add to the general melange of (frequently misspelt, often impenetrably obscure) missives and messages – the ‘white noise’ if you will that the average Timeline appears to comprise.

Let’s be clear: the use of social media doesn’t make for smarter marketers – it simply provides a forum for maladroits to parade their shortcomings to a wider audience.

The problem, often (though far from always), is not an inability to write engaging, grammatically correct English. Or indeed, a diminished sense of ‘the aesthetic’. Rather, it’s a lack of objectivity: business-owners are simply too close to their own brands.

And, to be successful, marketing demands a genuinely unbiased perspective: an awareness of products’ core strengths, uniques and differentiators - and of their shortcomings, weaknesses and competitive threats.

It also requires an intimate knowledge of marketers’ entire (and constantly evolving) ‘toolset’: from press ads and PR to search, content and social marketing; email, mobile… and much more besides.

Righty-ho, then; we’ll have to hire someone, you say. Excellent idea.

Until, that is, you consider the requisite skillset.

You see, like it or not, we live in age of marketing specialisation: the demise of ‘the generalist’ is at hand. And in-demand digital skills – in areas such as marketing automation, big data and mobile - are in short supply.

And costly.

Outside of London a reasonably experienced ‘middleweight’ might command a salary of the order £40,000 - £50,000.

In all probability, s/he will also expect some form of bonus, a contributory pension scheme, health insurance and four weeks’ holiday entitlement. (Oh, and don’t forget your Employer’s NI obligations: a figure somewhere north of £4,000pa.)

So all in all, the real cost of a single marketing all-rounder may be closer to £60,000. And of course you’ll have to continue to pay them when they are absent through illness - nervous exhaustion being an inevitable consequence of carrying such broad marketing responsibility on a single set of shoulders.

I’m kidding, of course. In reality, if they’re really that good… they won’t hang around for more than a year or two anyway. Because they’ll be poached. Probably by an agency.

Taking your IP with them.

Now consider the alternative: outsourcing to that same agency.

£60,000 buys you an awful lot of expertise: more, probably, than you’re likely to need. And it enables you to tap into the specific disciplines you need, when (and only when) you need them.

Good agencies are ready to hit the ground the running: no employee training or HR involvement required.

They don’t go sick. They don’t take holidays. And they’re able to draw on a collective expertise that is simply not available in a single individual.

Factor in the related cost savings, and it’s clear: outsourcing really is the ‘smart play’ for ambitious enterprises.

And hey; it may even free up your time to take a look at that pesky boiler.

Whilst this is a great shame for the six journos affected by the closure, I can’t help but feel the writing’s on the wall for the paper’s competitors too - if, that is, the performance of their ad sales teams is any gauge.

You’d think, would you not, that the freesheets in particular - which depend exclusively on ad revenues for their survival - would employ the slickest systems and hottest sales folk, to maximise their ad revenues?

If my recent experience is any measure, however, this is clearly not the case.

Having collected the keys to the 4,500 ft2 warehouse, which is to be home to Fishing Republic’s new tackle superstore in sunny Bucks, I was keen to secure ad space, both to promote the forthcoming launch and secure new staff.

A straightforward exercise, surely.

And a simple commercial dynamic: I want to buy ad space at the best price; the sales folk want to sell me that space at a profit; we agree terms and trip off into the sunset.

Simples.

Or so you’d think.

Unfortunately, in order to reach that happy conclusion, I first had to get through to said sales folk. Which is not so easy, when every inbound call redirects to voice mail.

No matter. Message duly left, I waited for the inevitable call back.

And waited. And waited.

And tried again - this time reaching a receptionist, who had no record of my call, but would happily put me through to the Sales Department.

Except, she didn’t. Instead, she cut me off.

I tried again. Engaged.

And again: “So sorry for the mix-up; I’ll put you through now.” To the wrong department.

I could go on. But I won’t.

Rather, suffice to say, ultimately I gave up, choosing instead to post our job ad on Facebook.

Net result: three new and highly qualified members of staff. At no cost to us.

Deciding to persevere with local press for the launch, I was finally able to book a series of ads. Though based on prior (all-too-painful) experience, I declined the offer of “Design Services” - since Johnston Press, like so many others, now outsource their design work to Asia; with less than hilarious consequences.

Overall, however, the experience led me to question whether declining print sales are both inevitable; and deserved.

With the result that online - and in particular social - will soon be the only game in town.

Why?

Because it provides a forum for people who, frankly, should never be given a forum: barely-literate malcontents who couldn’t be trusted to write a shopping list with a crayon, let alone (as they so frequently do) to hold forth on any and every ‘topic du jour’ - from macro economic policy, human rights and the sacking of Jeremy Clarkson to, inevitably and most recently, ‘Islamic State’.

Or, to borrow the preferred non sequitur: “Them @#$@ing Muslims”.

Now, Mr Zuckerberg and his ilk contend that we all have a right to free speech: to share our views with anyone and everyone - however unpalatable or imbecilic those views may be.

Which means I, in turn, can suggest that these same asinine oiks should be sterilised immediately and shipped forthwith to an uninhabited, unserviced (certainly not by broadband) island somewhere north of the Barents Sea.

Or preferably in it.

But here’s the rub.

Like it or not, by providing them with a platform, and a global audience, Facebook and the like enable, indeed encourage, this bellicose Kyle-folder to forward the IS cause: equipping them to disseminate their militant missives worldwide, in so doing fuelling the fires of the very pogrom which this particular band of genocidal thugs (IS, that is; not our own indigenous whackjobs) is striving to achieve.

I cite by way of example the parade of incendiary ‘calls to arms’ that have spread faster than dengue fever on an analeptic mosquito following the latest atrocities - the general theme, inevitably, being: “It’s time for ‘the common man’ [SIC] to make a stand!”

Err; against whom exactly?

Aahil the accountant?

Well I can tell you beyond a scintilla of doubt that he was not involved in the Paris obscenity; I know this because he was working on our company’s Year End (a magnum opus of fiction demanding his entire attention for several days).

A’iisha the nurse? Uh-uh; she spent Friday night ministering to, stitching up and removing domestic appliances from the bottoms of our very own drunken halfwits.

Usman the 24 hour petrol station proprietor? Nope; last I saw (5am Saturday), he was patiently dispensing Costa coffee, Mars bars and Benson & Hedges to a procession of market traders, truckers and potheads.

Mohid, the mild mannered janitor?

Could be!

But then again… probably not; he works 80 hours a week holding down three jobs, so I doubt he has the energy or appetite for Jihad just now.

You see, and this may surprise a few of our Facebook brethren: much as most Catholics are not, in fact, fully paid up members of the IRA - and Italians are not “pasta-eating surrender monkeys” - the great majority of Muslims aren’t actually terrorists.

If indeed said terrorists may be described as ‘Muslims’ at all.

In reality,of course, Islam - or rather a corrupted interpretation thereof - merely provides rationalisation for the paranoid fantasies and psychotic impulses of a cadre of self-aggrandising hypocrites; and a foundation for their twisted doctrine - a doctrine which is embraced by feckless, gullible, underachieving (sorry, ‘disenfranchised’) ‘yoofs’ who, being utterly incapable of individual thought or worthwhile deed, are quickly indoctrinated, radicalised and measured up for their one-use-only waistcoats.

In fairness, the ensuing “fight them on the beaches, fight them in the Post Office queues” rhetoric, though commonplace, is not ubiquitous.

Indeed, many of these self-professed citizen journalists - the true humanitarians of the Facebook ‘far right’ - moot that we should simply “send them back home”.

But... where exactly is ‘home’?

Bradford, probably. And dear Lord: haven’t they suffered enough?

Others still, those who acknowledge the existence of newspapers other than the Daily Mail, favour an out-and-out assault on the real villains of the piece; IS - targeting readily identifiable strongholds in Syria and elsewhere.

With this, I can agree. Alas, however...

History tells us, those same proponents of air strikes and (necessarily, like it or not) ‘boots on the ground’, are as likely - when the dust settles, and the body count is complete - to brand Cameron and his croneys ‘war criminals’.

Much as they did Tony Blair - whose war, illegal or not, brought about the demise of a homicidal despot who (not unlike IS) was responsible for the deaths of 100,000s of people.

The difference this time around is that such bandwagon-jumping u-turns - like the jingoistic ravings that precede them - will be a matter of public record.

And it’s all thanks to Facebook.

Given which, maybe Mr Zuckerberg’s injudicious organ serves some useful purpose after all: to expose the capriciousness of its more zealous adherents.

Fast forward to 2015 and, we’re told, around 50% of small businesses still don't have a website (Ipsos, 2013). And, of those that do, only six percent have optimised their sites for mobile (Hibu, 2013).

Which means, for many prospective customers, they may as well not have a site at all. Because these days, when browsing the web, we’re more likely to turn to our smartphones and tablets than our PCs: those of us who go online “mostly via desktop” are in a minority - of just 11 percent (InMobi, 2014).

Almost as alarming is the recent report from Barlow Researchers, which concluded that almost half of businesses that don’t have a website “believe they don’t need an online presence”.

A further 30 percent have been dissuaded by “the cost or time involved in getting online”.

That’s bad news for them. Good news for us – because, it seems, we need simply dust off our old notes, tweak the language a little, and we have a seminar programme that’s as valid today as it was 20 years ago.

In reality, every business needs a website. And thanks to a plethora of proven, dependable and, above all, easy to use content management systems, they can be up and trading in days – for less than £1,000.

Inevitably, the most common excuse (for such it is) for eschewing online is the contention: we only operate locally – so we don’t need a global presence.

This, clearly, is tosh.

A website will ramp awareness, leads and sales for any business. Period.

In fact, as a recent study by LocalVox revealed, 60 percent of consumers search for local businesses on their smartphones.

Inevitably, marketers have come up with an acronym to support this phenomenon: ‘ROBO’ - a reference to the growing number of customers who Research Online, Buy Offline.

Which means, if you don’t have a web presence – and a mobile one at that – you’ve no chance of even making this rapidly growing cohort’s shortlist: you are, quite simply, invisible.

Worse still, a series of polls suggests, up to 56 percent of consumers “don’t trust a business without a website”.

And rightly so. Firms today are simply expected to be to have a dedicated online presence - showcasing their expertise and experience, and underpinning their stability.

So, not only are these web-averse enterprises missing an opportunity; they may also be damaging their credibility - in their regional markets and beyond.

They’re also missing out on an unprecedented opportunity to enhance their reputation and revenues, at no additional cost – by leveraging social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In et al.

Indeed, according to research by Yahoo, 15 percent of shoppers have made a purchase based on a recommendation received through a social network. And that trend can only grow, with the ever-wider adoption of social media amongst all age ranges and demographics.

Moreover, an online presence is not just about attracting new customers: it’s about retaining your existing customers.

To accept marketing ‘lore’ - that it costs up to five times as much to generate new customers as it does to keep existing ones - is to validate the importance of online: as a vehicle to nurture and support firms’ existing customer bases; keeping them right up to date with the latest news, offers and innovations, and supporting them with real time help, advice and information.

At this juncture cynics will no doubt look to the heavens, before citing a raft of businesses – artists and artisans alike - who are doing ‘perfectly well, thank you’ with no need for a website (mobile or otherwise).

And who are we to argue – for now, at least. But consider: how long will they be able to hold back the tide?

And how much better would those businesses be doing if they did have a website?

Fact is, whether you’re serving local, national or indeed international markets, the stats really do speak for themselves. UK shoppers alone are spending more than £6.6 billion online, each year (Office of National Statistics).

And they’re doing that shopping when and where they choose: at 6am, when they go ‘off shift’; whilst they’re watching TV; on the bus; in the pub; and anytime before, after (and even during) their Christmas dinner.

Given this, we may comfortably conclude today’s ‘sermon’ with a two-decades-old cliché:

Get online now - and you’ll never have to hang a Closed sign on your door again.

Technology is transforming the world of work – equipping tech-savvy SMEs to streamline business processes, slash costs, enhance cross-border collaboration, accelerate new product development… and create all new markets.

But, whilst the country’s more innovative firms have been quick to ‘capture the zeitgeist’ – adopting the latest tools and technologies in their organisations – others, in particular smaller firms, have it seems been slower to respond to changing trends.

Committed to making the UK “the world’s most digitally skilled nation”, Lloyds Bank’s recently published Business Digital Index tracks the use of technology among smaller businesses and charities. And it’s found British firms sadly lacking.

The problem, Lloyds believe, lies not in a fundamental dearth of IT skills, nor even connectivity issues. Rather, it seems, small businesses are simply unaware of the efficiency, productivity and – ultimately – revenue and profits gains to be derived from the use of, for example, 3-D printing, mobile, Big Data and cloud computing.

Firms ignore the new, and not so new, tools at their peril. As the Boston Consulting Group (2013) reports: “There is potential for SME revenue to grow by a combined $770 billion… if more SMEs could achieve the growth rates of those SMEs that use modern IT.”

Harnessing businesses’ ‘collective intelligence’

Thanks in large part to recent legislation, flexible working and ‘remote collaboration’ are now at the forefront of many employers’ minds – resulting in a plethora of (low- and even no-cost) tools designed to support the growing ranks of home-based and mobile workers.

Whilst the ‘industry standards’, Google Docs and Microsoft Office 365, continue to grow in popularity – enabling geographically dispersed staff to share and edit documents in real time – the last five years have also seen a rapid increase in the use of desktop-sharing and virtual meeting applications such as JoinMe, TeamViewer, Windows Remote Desktop and Apple’s Messages.

Also fast gaining favour are the many ‘collaboration portals’ such as Huddle and SharePoint, which enable the creation and management of virtual teams and workspaces – equipping remote workers to track and contribute to colleagues’ projects, share documents and data, and leverage an array of so-called ‘social computing’ tools to harness and contribute to firms’ ‘collective intelligence’: promoting new ideas, sharing suggestions and best practice, and helping to solve problems throughout the extended enterprise – from any device with an Internet connection.

Of course, much of the impetus for the growth in ‘any time anywhere’ collaboration tools originates in the wider adoption of cloud computing – with business critical software applications (and even entire infrastructures and development platforms) now being delivered via Internet on a utility-style ‘pay-as-you-go’ basis.

By providing essential IT resources ‘on demand’, cloud computing equips firms to concentrate on their core business – secure in the knowledge that troubleshooting, maintenance and upgrades will all be taken care of.

Eliminating the need for a hefty upfront investment in hardware and software, cloud computing offers firms a compelling array of supplementary benefits too – not least, improved system reliability, business continuity and disaster recovery, thanks to the use of multiple redundant sites and state of the art back up and security.

Cloud users can also be confident their hardware and software will always be right up to date, and absolutely relevant: with self-service provisioning enabling them to add and remove applications and services – and ramp (or cut) capacity – almost instantly.

CYOD: the new BYOD

Of particular significance for SMEs is the way in which cloud computing is helping extended ‘virtual’ teams to collaborate via any device – giving rise to the growing phenomenon known as BYOD.

BYOD stands for Bring Your Own Device: allowing staff to use their own laptops, tablets, smartphones and other devices for work purposes.

The benefits of a BYOD approach are many and varied – not least because the devices in question are, often, more powerful, functional and feature-packed than the ‘standard kit’ that is provided by employers.

Consequently, recent research from Microsoft concludes, BYOD delivers demonstrable improvements in productivity – with almost one in five SMEs achieving productivity gains of more than 30% as a result of applying a BYOD policy.

Cloud-based video conferencing, file sharing and real-time communications enable new hires to hit the ground running - to ‘plug in’ to existing teams almost instantly. And BYOD saves businesses money too, eliminating the need to equip their increasingly mobile workforce with otherwise costly hardware. And freeing up IT resources to focus on ‘the bigger picture’.

There is, however, a downside.

For those same IT personnel, BYOD creates a whole new set of challenges – in terms of data security, vulnerability (to viruses) and a general loss of control.

The solution says leading hardware manufacture Dell, is a compromise: CYOD (Choose Your Own Device) – which offers employees a choice of pre-approved devices, installed with the appropriate security and standardisation.

In effect, CYOD bridges the gap between employee preference and technical teams’ management and security concerns – delivering the productivity benefits and flexibility (if not the cost savings) of BYOD, within a secure, managed infrastructure.

Ubiquitous VOIP

Mobile workers are enjoying a further boost thanks to ubiquitous VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol), which enables staff to make and receive voice calls via the Internet using their laptop, mobile, landline and/or VOIP phone.

With employees’ now having the statutory right to request flexible working after 26 weeks’ employment – and companies recognising the productivity gains that can result from a reduction in commute times and employee absence – it’s an idea whose time has come.

By eliminating the need for expensive landlines and PBXs (not to mention, offering free long distance calling), VOIP helps SMEs to slash their telecoms costs. And by equipping employees to spend some or all of their workdays away from their desks, it allows firms to downsize their office space too – cutting overheads whilst further enhancing their green credentials.

The wider adoption of flexible working practices enables employers to recruit the very best talent too, regardless of their location – with VOIP and the many other collaboration tools enabling home-based personnel to contribute (almost) as effectively as office-based staff.

Taming Big Data

Whilst IT teams concentrate on protecting their business data, marketers appear intent on producing more and more of it: up to 2.5 exabytes more every day, according to research from IDC and Econsultancy.

The problem is, Big Data is not just, well, big – it also originates in a raft of sources.

Some of those sources, such as smart grids and sensors, GPS systems, smartphones, loyalty cards and purchase transaction records may yield data that is relatively structured – and thus reasonably straightforward to analyse and interpret (given the necessary computing power).

Unfortunately, the other 80% or so is… unstructured (Gartner, 2013) – comprising anything and everything from contact centre call logs, online video and blogs, to user generated customer reviews, government reports and social media.

The challenge for businesses is clear: to transform the growing mountain of unstructured internal and external data into valuable business insight.

Here again the cloud provides the key, with a raft of SaaS (Software as a Service) style Big Data applications capable of storing, analysing and intuiting usable business intelligence – allowing businesses to make smarter decisions faster.

And because these tools and services are available on a ‘pay-as-you-go’ basis, they eliminate the need for firms to invest in the (prohibitively expensive) hardware, software and skills needed to realise a ‘bespoke’ Big Data deployment.

3-D printing: the future of rapid prototyping – and bespoke production.

Big Data is also accelerating the path to paperless working, which is expected to gather pace as a new generation of employees enter the world of work – many of whom may not even own a printer.

That is to say, they may not own a ‘traditional’ printer. They may however have their eyes set on a more sophisticated form of printing: 3-D printing.

In addition to producing working prototypes and replacement parts in record time – and at considerably lower costs than outsourced manufacturers – 3-D printers allow businesses to customise products to their customers’ precise specifications.

And to charge premium prices for the privilege.

Best of all, with entry level printer prices starting at around £1,000, 3-D printing is now a realistic proposition for businesses of all sizes – from traditional engineering companies to home-based retailers.

No surprise, then, that the combined global 3-D printing market – including printer sales, materials and services – is set to reach $16.2 billion by 2018 (Canalys, 2014).

In 3-D printing, as with the many emerging technologies to which Lloyds’ report alludes, SMEs either ‘catch the wave’ – or risk being swept aside by their nimbler, more tech-aware competitors.

Half a decade later (the schadenfreude’s on me, Bartender) I find myself ‘back in harness’ - and bewildered at how little has changed.

In fact, I’d go so far as to say - where digital is concerned - we haven’t really progressed at all.

The ‘lingua marketer’ has, however, evolved out of all recognition.

‘twas ever thus. Since Merypath and Nefertiti launched the first pyramid selling scheme at Giza Town Hall, circa 2500BC, marketers have adopted and adapted their own – invariably arcane, often patently absurd – lexicon to baffle and bamboozle the uninitiated. (I speak with confidence – having attended the couple’s inaugural ‘Opportunity Meeting’.)

Now, as I approach middle age (albeit from the wrong side), I’ve come to realise that, though the argot may change, the underlying proposition does not. And all that we learned about content, search and engagement ‘back in the day’ - and that has since become second nature – is as valid now as it ever was.

Albeit, it’s been given a facelift: re-badged, re-skinned and re-launched onto a new and unsuspecting audience as… [insert the ‘buzzword du jour here’].

In particular, since my re-emergence into the heady acronym-ridden world of the professional huckster, I’ve been beset with requests to write ‘Thought Leadership’ pieces – “to position our business as a trusted provider in our target markets”.

This clearly is a nice problem to have: it’s gratifying that past clients have returned to the fold, acknowledging that there’s life in the old dog yet. So colour me ‘ungrateful’ when I refer to said Thought Leadership as something of a Blagger’s Charter.

Thought Leadership is defined by Wikipedia (which, let’s face it, is where the majority of scribblers get their facts, these days) as: ‘business jargon’.

The definition is apposite.

Although real Thought Leadership is about becoming a genuine authority on a given topic – offering a unique and informed perspective on subjects that are important to customers – the reality is rather different, resembling more closely the advertorials that were our stock in trade in the 80s and 90s.

The conversation, invariably, goes something like this.

“Steve, we need a Thought Leadership piece to go in Advanced Widgets Online.”

“Great; what’s the topic?”

“Dunno – but around 3,000 words should do it.”

“So what are we trying to achieve here?”

“Pardon?”

“What’s the purpose of the piece?”

“To get in the magazine.”

“Umm; OK – so who’s the ‘thought leader’?”

“Me.”

“Great; when can we set up the interview?”

“Oh, I don’t have time for that; just grab some stuff off the web.”

Mm.

The thing is, I really have no problem with this approach. There’s no shame in ‘content curation’: aggregating and paring down material to provide interested readers with a useful digest of the topic at hand (in so doing enhancing clients’ websites with valuable search engine optimised content).

After all, what’s ‘bleedin’ obvious’ to you may be new information to Charlene Farnes-Barnes, who’s developing a revolutionary new powder coating from the back of her shed, in Slough.

But please: don’t call it Thought Leadership. Because it isn’t.

It’s advertorial (at least, that’s what we used to call it, back in the 80s). And it’s not terribly sophisticated advertorial at that.

Real Thought Leadership requires, well… real thought.

Regarded by more erudite folk than I as a key component of content marketing -- which in turn was exulted by a fellow named Bill Gates … a mere 30 years ago -- it is (or should be) the result of an overarching commercial strategy: an inevitable bi-product of innovation, success… and ubiquity.

But hey: what do I know?

I’m just a humble Cross-media Content Strategist, Implementer and Analyst.

Tell you what though: given the brave new (same-old) world we now inhabit, I can’t help but feel it’s time to resurrect another 1980s corporate ‘staple’ .

Bullsh*t bingo.