If you’re anything like me, you’re probably wondering … “Hey, where’s the digital marketing content from this digital marketing firm?” You might also ask, “Why do the cobbler’s children wear no shoes?” Or my personal favorite … “Does anybody know what happened to the tech industry in 2023?” Well, I’m here to answer a couple of those questions for you … the short answer is … we’ve been BUILDING!
We spent 2023 building new programs, packaging services for new industries, and developing software to transform the marketing industry. If you were negatively impacted by shifts in the tech industry in 2023, please accept my sincere condolences. It’s been rough. Most people I know were impacted in one way or another. But on the other side of that very sharp sword emerged new technologies and innovations that will quite literally disrupt industries and drive transformations we haven’t even dreamed of yet! It may be “too soon” to celebrate the positive impacts of the past year but make no mistake … incredible change is coming. The adoption of ChatGPT, the launch of Microsoft Copilot, and the announcement of Apple Vision Pro, are just a few examples of how technology is changing the way we learn, work, and play. Taking a moment to imagine how these technologies will impact industries like healthcare, construction, agriculture, and manufacturing is mind boggling. At The Odigo Group, we’ve been doing just that … leveraging rapidly emerging technologies to create solutions that will disrupt a $487 billion content marketing industry, and can then be packaged to serve new clients in new industries as we build again … and again … and again.
And now, we are on the cusp of LAUNCHING some *very exciting* initiatives that we are thrilled to share with you here, on our social media platforms. {Laces up new shoes from the cobbler.} I’ll be honest … I feel like I need to catch my breath from all the BUILDING we’ve been doing before we take off running toward LAUNCH, but have you noticed the pace of change recently? I’m here to tell you … we’ve experienced more change in marketing strategies, customer segmentation tools and tactics, communication channels, marketing automation platforms, buyers’ journeys, focus on customer experience, and visual marketing content since 2020 than we have since I started working in this industry nearly 25 years ago. And phew … the past few years have been intense. But we’re here to continue that disruption!
The beauty of digital marketing and apps built on Microsoft Azure is that the data is quite literally at your fingertips – all day every day. Gone are the days of monthly reporting and reconciliation. Today, we can see how campaigns perform in real time, which features and functionality users prefer, and determine how to better message or position something to make it resonate better or easier to use. So, we are actually in a continuous loop of improvement – a concept that has eluded executives for decades. Gathering data, making decisions, and building something a little bit different to make it even better than before.
We’re glad you’ve joined us on our journey! Here’s a sneak peek at a few of the initiatives we have in store for 2024 …
The Odigo Group for the tech industry isn’t new. It’s where we were born and raised. Serving tech giants from global software companies to start-up ISVs is what we do. But no matter how long we’ve been in the industry and watched partner programs and solutions and services evolve, one constant remains the same … every new product engineer, start-up CEO, or dev team has a brilliant idea. Technologies that will change the world. A big, beautiful vision that they masterfully turn into a tangible product with so many features and benefits, the list can’t even fit on a single page. And yet, speaking about those features and benefits as solutions to their audience’s unique pain points is a seemingly insurmountable challenge.
I’ve been writing about neuro-science−driven persona-based customer pains, solutions, benefits, and proof points for decades now. But now that we are in the midst of developing our own SaaS App, I will be the first to admit … I’m so excited about the power of this technology … all the things it can do, the AI integrations, the ingenious UI that will lead to phenomenal UX … that I find myself speaking like a product developer and not a marketer. I can rattle off all the “built in the Cloud” capabilities and integrated security functionality and platform decisions. I’ve learned to navigate development servers and staging servers and production servers in ways I never cared to know before. But when I start trying to explain what our app does to friends and family, I have to remember to step outside of that dev space to explain how it could help them change the way they do business, because that’s what resonates.
So, with a newfound empathy for the plight of the tech developer trying to take a product to market, we’ve packaged our best-in-class marketing offers into bite-sized pieces that start-up and mid-sized tech companies can consume. Having worked in the enterprise space for the past 24 years, we often receive projects from marketing experts who just need our help to create content, run events, or launch campaigns. They know what they’re doing, and we are supporting their efforts. But in the start-up and mid-sized spaces, these companies are often too small to have marketing teams (or even a marketing person), and the CEO is wearing multiple hats – ranging from lead developer to operations and sales, leading many to ask, “What is marketing, and why do I need it?” We’ve answered that very question in a set of upcoming webinars planned to launch this quarter – complete with the tools, templates, and services to help clients get started. Look for digital campaigns from The Odigo Group to start filling your feeds soon – and tell your partners to sign up for the webinars!
Another mantra we’ve been preaching for years without practicing is … package your solutions and scale them to new industries! We’ve been so deeply entrenched in the tech industry that we haven’t considered broadening our horizons. But, when we sat down to brainstorm how best to expand our marketing communications services, we asked ourselves … what industry needs our services the most? Marketing is ubiquitous. The first evidence of marketing dates back to Ancient Mesopotamia and spans all industries and cultures. It is quite literally “the service everybody needs.” Even though we lecture our clients repeatedly that “not everybody needs your service.” And yet, we know intimately that we can’t be all things to all people all the time. So, we decided to narrow our focus to expand into a single new sector, and The Odigo Group for Government was born.
We selected Government as our area of focus because we believe there’s a gap between the services and benefits the Government provides and understanding by the citizens it serves. We think stronger marketing, messaging, and audience targeting would enable local, state, and national government agencies to communicate more efficiently with communities that could benefit from the services available to them and create a greater awareness and understanding of how those organizations function. You can read more about that decision here, but the net-net is that we’re busy navigating the new systems and tools required to expand into a new industry. Gaining new certifications and NAICS codes. Responding to massive RFPs. But the exciting news is that we’re uncovering opportunities to support Suicide Prevention Services, Dairy Farmers, Educational Institutions, Transportation Departments, Parks and Historical Reserves, and so many other fascinating services that keep our communities safe, healthy, and operational on a daily basis. So many of the services we take for granted or don’t even know exist are making our lives easier to navigate and we don’t even know about it … or receive misinformation about them, because communication channels are not optimized.
One of our team members likes to say, “Will work for Cause.” And that’s the spirit we’re moving forward with in 2024 … using our finely honed skills and experiences for human impact. Check our social media channels often, as we’ll be sure to share and promote any Government campaigns we do put in market as the year unfolds.
Speaking of human impact, we’ve been deeply attuned to the rapid emergence of Artificial Intelligence in 2023. And, we’ve been particularly interested in the issues of diversity and representation in AI for a few years now. There is a lot happening in this space. The landscape is dynamic. There are more questions than answers about ethics in AI, legislating new technologies, and a lot of fear around AI taking over the world. Again, based on a fundamental lack of understanding of how AI functions today, how we can harness the power of that technology for good, and the irreplaceable impact of human-centric design. Naturally, where there is chaos and confusion, we find ourselves jumping in head-first. 😊 So, here we are, spinning up a new business …
You’ve seen me mention the new app we are building that will transform the way marketing content is developed – Quality Content at Scale, to be specific. It’s full of decades of marketing expertise, guidance, tips & tricks, and AI tools to help accelerate the content development process so you can get more campaigns in market faster and with exceptional quality. We’re not quite ready to share it with the world, but we’ve wrapped up Private Preview, are implementing the last of the changes, and heading toward Pilot. Announcements are coming soon!
Meanwhile, we’ve developed deep experience in Product Development, Product Management, and helping teams understand how AI can enhance their technologies. Enter ConteSaaS-AI: Where innovation meets empowerment! Still mostly in incubation, we believe the future is emerging before our eyes. A few years ago, in a leadership brainstorming meeting, our lead designer said, “I bet 10 years from now, we’ll be developing apps.” Fast forward about 12 months from that conversation, and we were developing apps. In the same way that “marketing is the new sales,” we believe AI-driven apps will be the new productivity suite. But we are mindful that AI cannot replace the human experience, and that AI solutions should enhance that experience instead. So, we’re working on a technology company that is human-centric and AI-powered. We’re in the early stages of building, launching, and evaluating. We’ll certainly be iterating on it again and again. Let us know if you’d like to collaborate!
So, to answer the original questions … where has this digital marketing firm been hiding? Well … getting our heads and hearts around what was happening in the tech industry in 2023 and trying to make sense of how it will lead us into 2024 and beyond! We hope you’ll join us, follow along, comment, engage, collaborate, and meet up with us at events as the year unfolds. Cheers!