Author: Kevin Adelsberger

Why is Apple releasing a privacy-focused update and why is Facebook spending enormous amounts of money to object? It affects the core of both of their business models. 

Apple has positioned itself as the privacy champion in the digital space. I do believe this will be a winning bet for the company to make. And much like other seismic shifts Apple makes expect the other tech companies to follow suit after Apple has set the standard. Also, while this may seem like a moral high ground move, it is ultimately a business decision. 

With the release of iOS 14.5 Apple is taking the first big shot in the tech world against the way the system of internet advertising has been run. Here is a summary: 

-iOS is on somewhere between 40-60% of the smartphone market in the US.

-The way iOS addresses things will affect how others in the space behave.

-iOS14.5 has a privacy update that does not allow apps to track you unless you opt-in. 

-Previously apps would track you by default, now they require permission to track from the default. 

-Facebook and the internet has almost always worked on an opt-out model, so you were by default being tracked.

What it’s not: 

The end of Facebook advertising. You can still target those who are already your customers with permission. This primarily affects third party advertisers like companies that most people have never heard of. Facebook will still have lots of data on its users to use for targeting but third-party sites may have less info to work off of. 

What the results of this going to be? 

More paid apps, less targeted advertising, more privacy online, more income for Apple via the app store and less income for Facebook and other digital advertisers. Delayed results and less accurate results from ad campaigns. 

What to do?

If you are running eCommerce conversions or app conversions, read up more on Facebook’s news releases. If you are running web conversions, be sure to verify your domain. Consider investing in Email Marketing and Google ads as we are unsure of how much damage this will do to Facebook ad campaigns. 

For further reading:
Facebook Releases- https://www.facebook.com/business/help/331612538028890?id=428636648170202

Apple Releases- https://developer.apple.com/app-store/user-privacy-and-data-use/

*This blog is partially highlighting Sticker Mule, a company we use, as a sort of sponsored post, just wanted to put that out there*

As previously mentioned, we love themes instead of new years resolutions. Themes give you a much better chance at success in making your life more of what you would like it to be over the course of a year. But how do you keep it up? You must think about it and revisit it regularly. As a team, we talk about it weekly at our staff meeting. As a person, I have a reminder in my task manager to make time to work our on our big annual projects every other day.

So far we are doing great. We have hit our executions for that theme for January. Most of these things will not be known to the public but it will be important to us.

But I also believe that making an idea visual – making it be available to be seen in places that will make it help stick and become part of your vocabulary and your daily operating system of life. One of the ways I frequently do this is by changing the background of my phone lock screen. I put inspirational or challenging messages here regularly to help remind me to work harder. Our process theme is captured in the quote by Richmond sculptor Elizabeth King: “Process saves us from the poverty of our intentions.” With some hand-lettered art by local artist, Maria Stewart, we have made that a cell phone background here.

But we also had stickers made by Sticker Mule that we have given to our team. I am putting them on places like my laptop, which is a place I can not help but see it everyday:

If you want to make an idea work, you have to be persistent about it. Revisit it often, evaluate what it means, and spend time implementing it. Two books I would recommend on making ideas happen for your team: Traction (Wickman) and the 4 Disciplines of Execution (McChesney, Huling, Covey).

Also, be sure to expose yourself to it all the time.

A great way to do that is with a sticker. Sticker Mule also has some new tools to make stickers easier to make if you don’t have a graphic design team on standby: Trace​​, Upscale​​, & Redraw​​. These tools can help you take your idea and make into reality (the reality of a sticker of course).

Even if you see an idea every day, without action, it will remain a simple sticker, or a few lines of text, and fail to become the life-improving concept that it could be.

Resolutions are trash; themes are much better. 

Resolutions are inflexible and a year is a long time for a person to stay focused on a goal. I find that quarters are a much better time frame for goals. Annual themes save us from likely failure from having hard set goals. It also gives us the opportunity to modify the meaning of the theme as the year progresses. For example, Kevin in January is different and in a different situation from Kevin in July. (Imagine, if you will, something that could completely change a year for an entire planet.) Read about last year’s theme here.

2021s annual theme for myself and Adelsberger Marketing will be PROCESS. While reading Seth Godin’s new book, The Practice,  I came across this quote from Richmond sculptor Elizabeth King: “Process saves us from the poverty of our intentions.”

Having a set process for what we want to achieve can help us do our best work even on days or times when we may not feel like it. If you want to be a writer, it’s a good idea to write every day. You may not want to write every day. But making it part of your daily process can help with forcing yourself through the “writers block.” I did this one year without thinking much about it. I decided I was going to post a new photo on instagram every day for a year. There were a lot of days I didn’t want to do that. But forcing myself through the process of posting everyday helped me see more of the beauty around me. I was even able to see more opportunities for photography in the everyday world.

Process as a theme works itself out in a few different ways for us:

1. Process in personal life.
2. Process helps pursue the best.  
3. Process allows growth and decentralization.

Because we are professionals, we have to show up. We have to show up every day. We have to do the work. Even when we don’t want to or feel lazy. Or when we are too busy. I want to implement more processes to save me from myself on days when I feel tired, lazy, or overbooked. Our intentions can waver. But if we craft our processes carefully, they will provide correction for our intentions.

One of the major ways this will play out for Adelsberger Marketing in 2021 is outlining the processes we already do in a documented format. This way, we can make sure we complete the steps each time. Process will not only save us from disinterest or laziness but also help us fight against forgetfulness.  Many of these processes will take the form of checklists. Checklists can be profoundly helpful for humans. In 2008, the WHO created a standard checklist for surgeries to help cut down on avoidable deaths from the operating room. Surgeons are some of our most educated citizens – who would think they needed a checklist to be better? But after these checklists were implemented, they saw a 40% drop in avoidable deaths and a 1/3 drop in complications. 

Process is not necessary because someone is not a quality person or team member. Process is necessary because we are humans. Humans are prone to error. Whether it be distraction, exhaustion, or disinterest, checklists can be course correcting. We will be pivoting more toward these to help improve our processes in order to deliver the best possible outcomes for our team and clients. 

When you have a standardized process, you can also work to improve that process. It is difficult to improve something that changes every single time. We have some processes but they are not detailed and completely repeatable.  Also, they are not fully communicated to the team. As we continue to grow as an agency, we need better defined processes that are fully communicated. Looking back, I have not always communicated processes well. This is a failure of my leadership but it is also one that is overcomable. The best time to start is now.

Free theme cell phone background here.

I have never believed in New Year’s Resolutions. I am not opposed to goals for oneself, in fact, due to my Best Self Journal, I do quarterly goals throughout the year. But a few years ago, listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Cortex, they talked about the concept of a yearly theme. Themes are not pass-fail activities like a resolution. They are ideas that help direct your choices throughout the year. One year that was particularly successful for me was a theme of “Infrastructure in the Business,” which timed up incredibly well to help me survive the introduction of multiple children into my life.

Here is a link to a podcast about the concept of yearly themes. 

My theme for 2020: Margin.

Margin is something that is needed in my life in a few different ways and I wanted to take a moment to break those out and encourage you to think about a theme for 2020.

Margin in:

Profit- For my business to go to the next level and to be the best place to work in West Tennessee, I will need more profit margin in my business. An increased profit margin will allow us to build more space between projects or allow us to spend more time on projects by adding team members or taking on less “small” projects. This should lead to a better team experience. Additionally, in seeking to do awesome things like the Ramsey Solutions Christmas activities (massive party and $1,000 shopping spree for employees at the shopping mall), a healthy profit is required. To be the company I want us to be, we need to not only be profitable (which we have been), but we need to be more profitable than we have been.

Time- I regularly pack a lot into days. I do not think this is going to change, but how I pack things into days will probably change. Besides being more present in whatever task I am involved in at the time, I need to create a margin. Margin in my time will allow me to spend more time with my family and it not be detrimental to my work. And when needed, spend more time with my work and it not be detrimental to my family. To accomplish this I will need to seek efficiencies and extra help in my business over the year, which will likely be attached to part one of this theme.

Mental Space– I am listening/reading/watching, things basically from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed. I want to seek more mental space in my daily life. This may mean less time on Twitter (how I love the Tweets) or choosing to not turn on the news in the car, or listening to music instead of a podcast, or not listening to anything at all. In addition to this, I need more mental space to work ON my business instead of just IN my business. The last year has been so crazy personally and professionally that not much time was spent working on things but rather instead working in them. Finding time to be still or just less distracted will be good for this year.

Waistline- And to round out all the areas of my life touched by this theme is my health. I need more margin in my waistline. Are there goals I would like to meet? Yes. But in general, I would like to lose some weight and get healthier. I also want to be better at moderation. I am an “all on” or “all off” kind of healthy eater and want to get some margin in my weight so that I can find balance.

So margin is the theme. Over the course of 2020, I will be working on building more margin. One of the nice things about themes is that it can change over the course of the year. Kevin today might not value the same exact things as Kevin in July. Even with that being the case, I think margin will still be important.

Here is to a great 2020.