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Evaluating Organizational Change by Diversity Accountability with Azeem Ahmad
Agency Ahead by Traject
English - November 09, 2020 12:00 - 32 minutes - 45.3 MB - ★★★★★ - 5 ratingsMarketing Business Entrepreneurship marketing digital marketing agency software seo social media reputation customer experience local seo local search Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
What happens when a pair of podcasters passionate about the delights of digital get together in one call?
If those two are Garrett and Azeem, well, you get an adorkable digital bromance and a lively discussion about the state of the industry.
Azeem Ahmad is the host of the Azeem Digital Asks podcast. He's also a regular speaker on the SEO conference circuit, is the owner of Azeem Digital, and is the Digital Marketing Manager at Staffordshire University in the UK. It's safe to say he's got a pretty broad view of the industry as a whole.
If you want the delightful geekery, you'll have to listen to the podcast. There is no capturing it in show notes.
If you just want yourself some insights, then read these!
The highlights:
[1:40] If Azeem were a marketing superhero...
[2:57] Google in the UK.
[5:11] Industry networking during a pandemic.
[12:01] Agency life vs. in-house life.
[15:59] Fixing diversity in the workplace.
[28:46] Azeem's cause.
If Azeem were a marketing superhero...
At the beginning of Azeem’s podcast, he always asks his guests an icebreaker question. Garrett reversed things in this episode. Garrett asked if Azeem were a marketing superhero, what his marketing superhero name and power would be.
Oh, the things you could do.
Google in the UK
Azeem took a look at Google's market share. While he says that most marketers should continue to focus heavily on Google and that Microsoft is something you basically just check up on every now and then. He expressed some skepticism over the idea that Apple will be introducing its own search engine any time soon but said he would welcome a strong competitor for Google.
Industry networking during a pandemic
Azeem bucked a trend in that he said he did not like LinkedIn for networking.
He says that what he wants to do when he's on social media is to learn a lot more about marketing.
He describes a previous account where he'd built up 3000 followers, including Barack Obama and Brittny Spears. He said he took a month-long social media break and all his followers were gone.
Twitter is fantastic for having these conversations. Follow the right hashtags, use platforms like TweetDeck, which is fantastic. I'm absolutely not suggesting people should sit on Twitter for hours and hours on end just replying to conversations."
He describes a strategy that has worked well for him to foster those conversations.
He says you'll get out of Twitter what you put in, and that he uses Twitter to have valuable conversations with thought leaders in the industry, improving knowledge.
If you come out open and honest you'll have far more meaningful and far more valuable conversations. You do have to be a little bit vulnerable and open, but the rewards outweigh the risks, definitely."
Agency life vs. in-house life
Azeem talks about how much he learned by starting in an agency.
He says if everything was working normally right now, you'd have X amount of clients that you'd immediately be working on.
He says that he began trying to think of new ways to do things and ultimately this made him want to leave agency life.
If you ever come to me and say: I think we should do this, my question to you is why. It's not a trick question. It's just literally I'm keen for people certainly, people who work with me as part of the team to explore their own critical thinking."
He encourages his people to tell them what the return on their actions will be.
Fixing diversity in the workplace
Azeem is passionate about bringing more diversity to the marketing industry.
He says at Brighton SEO he did a presentation on the business benefits of having a diverse leadership team.
He says having someone on board in a diversity or equality specific role is great.
He says nothing gets done while this person is being forced to spend six months or longer immersing themselves in the culture of a business.
He talks about being aware of the gender pay gap and the diversity pay gap.
"We know women get paid less than men. Certainly over here. But what if you're a Black woman? What if you're an Asian woman? Immediately you're going to be paid less than a white woman who is paid less than a man."He mentioned Snapchat who came out with their diversity policies.
They have done a deep dive and a comparison, a critical look at their diversity policies.
Meanwhile, he says he's been in businesses where he's had to have a conversation about diversity.
He says they were visibly shocked, and he thought maybe some visible change would come. Instead, they fell all over themselves telling him that their black female board member had just left, "so we did have somebody!"
Azeem stresses that having just a single person who as a Black female will not represent every Black female in that audience.
He speaks of a conference that had one Black speaker, every year, the same Black speaker.
He also addresses how one can make a difference with a good job description.
He says avoid things like:
It said something like: Company X. We are committed to creating a diverse environment. We will recruit, train, and promote regardless of your race, sex, disability, color, origin, veteran status, or any other status as required or protected by the laws.
As a Person of Color who would potentially want to apply to that company I'm like: oh my god, these guys really care."
He even gives some job interview tips who those who both want to land the job...and keep the industry thinking about diversity.
I hear people ask: what's a typical day like? Good.
On top of that: what does your senior management team look like? What does your diversity road map look like over the next five years? How diverse will you be in the next ten or fifteen years?"
He says this might even help you get the job, in addition to putting your fingers on the pulse of the company's commitment.
You're seeing this as a long-term project. That's the hiring company. They'll be like, well we're going to invest thousands of dollars into this person. We're going to want a return, so if we hear someone saying five, ten, fifteen years, this person is serious."
What’s your right now cause?
Azeem wants listeners to pay attention to mental health, specifically, a mental health organization in the UK called Mind. He says many mental health agencies have struggled with funding cuts.
Connect with Azeem Ahmad
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