Rufus Lidman - How To Become A Digital Marketing Hero

You have just flipped open the first page of the book that is about to turn you into a digital hero. If youre already doing pretty well, you will become an expert. If youre already an expert, you will hone yourself to perfection and turn yourself into a structured digital guru with an even higher rate of success than before. And if you have never even heard of digital marketing and sales before, this book will offer good insight into the absolutely hottest topic of the modern day, and one of few topics that is all but guaranteed to be just as important tomorrow as it is today.

What cant be guaranteed however, is that the data in the book is up to date. The pace at which digital marketing and sales (DMS) is moving is breathtaking. Anyone trying to maintain some sort of outpost at the forefront of this subject is pretty much repairing an airplane in flight. Even when you are holding this in your hand, some of the data provided probably already past its expiry date, much in the same way that some of the tactical details may have changed from the point they were written down, to the point when you read them. That having been said, the methods and tools we will soon delve into, are together nothing short of a highway to the very cutting edge of DMSand hopefully beyond.

But the dynamic nature of this field is also what makes it so very exciting for those who thrive on thrills. For that reason, this book does not seek to give you the latest of digital data. Insteadit will give you a strategic platform and the tools you need to perform digital miracles.

But who am I to promise you these shiny things? What reason do you have to believe all these bold words of mine? Well, above all else, I guess the decade of digital adventures and success storiesboth my own and othersmight be a start. So, in the spirit of credibility, here is a rundown of my digital past:

I started my first company as a 19-year-old teenager, and ever since the rise of the digital I have performed innumerable audits and due diligences, founded and actively engineered some ten digital entrepreneur companies, raised capital in half a dozen more, experienced attractive exits, and been part of boards of directors both at startups and on the stock exchange. I have developed hundreds of digital strategies and digital sanity checks for several billion-dollar companies in Stockholm, London, Barcelona, New York, Seoul and Singaporejust to name a few. I aided in the founding of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), and was honored to be elected digital advisor for the worlds biggest marketing organization (The Swedish part of WFA, The world Federation of Advertisors, representing as much as 90% of the media investments in the world). During this time, I have worked with some of the worlds biggest companies in the fields of home electronics, household appliances, computer software, electricity, interior design, auditing, automobiles, financing, dating and gaming. Again, just to name a few.

But I suppose Im most known (so far) for having published one of the very first books on digital strategy, held hundreds of lectures for tens of thousands of people, and hosted one of most visited blogs in the field. But, most recent and most important of all, 2017 I launched DMP, the worlds 2ndmost downloaded application within DMS, built on a similar base as this book but with microlearning format. Three months since launch the app had more than 100.000 installs, with most impressing speed in Asia from markets like India, Vietnam, Indonesia and South Korea, but also huge explosion in Latin America and intense downloads form USA, UK and english speaking Africa. Today it has more than 150.000 users and intensively moving up, it is the highest ranked in reviews for DMS in the world ahead of Philip Kotler and now only Google ahead of us. In search it is ranked nr 1 in Appstore and Google Play at all giant markets such like India, USA and Brazil, before giants such as Udemy, Linkedin and even before Google itself.

Still my message here is not look at all the cool things Ive done. My point is that I have been doing this on an intense level for the better part of my life, and I know what this field requires of the ambitious marketer. I know where the pitfalls are. I know the ins and outs, the risks, the secrets. With that kind of background, it would be a strange thing indeed if I had not accumulated at least some experience. I have seen major companies take their old analog processes and technology and transform them into something digital, hoping it will magically make them more appealing. I have also seen small, insignificant South-East Asian companies completely nail their digital transformations, using minimal budgets to launch extremely successful SMM campaigns with flyers and billboards outside important high schools.

I have seen people struggle so much with their digital programs that they have effectively tied themselves into knots with internal marketing in their pursuit of more ROI:al external marketing. I have seen antiquated IT consultants launch digital $10 and $100-million projects; and I have seen them crash and burn, thanks to drawn-out procedures that have seen the technology grow obsolete even before launch. I have seen the coolest intrapreneurs wage futile wars on internal silos and earmarked budgets. I have seen how advertisers who have finally opened their eyes and wallets have to actually educate external agencies still stuck in the ancient, prenetal world. When that has worked, I have beheld inspiring triumphs and when it hasnt, I have witnessed great failures. And I have also seen how companies that have had the wisdom to learn from their mistakes have proceeded to remodel their enterprises into digital masterpieces for the ages.

All in all, I have experienced a whole lot, and amid all these experiences there has always been a common denominator: the value of a digital strategy that helps guide the way to our goals using the least amount of resources in the shortest possible time. As a matter of fact, it is from the collected arsenal of all these impressions that this book has finally come to life. In the chapters to follow we will structure, analyze and systematically treat them, and then, seasoned in a goodly helping of big data and meta-studies, reflect on their meaning.

Bon apptit.