Kemal Brown is a passionate entrepreneur, motivational speaker and a consultant who help firms build brand equity & create wealth through his firm Digita Global Marketing Ltd.
Show Notes:
What is your favourite thing to do in your downtime?
My favourite thing to do is read. Reading is such a vital part of success. When I can sit alone and relax my mind I love to read and go to the beach though I don’t do the two things at the same time.
What is one of the books you have read that stood out for you?
Definitely two – Ed Catmull’s Creativity Inc, that book blew my mind; I love Pixar movies – I’m a big animated movie fan…Ratatouille is my stuff. The book is really about corporate culture and how do you really build a great company. The next book deals with personal finances, the Richest Man in Babylon. The ideas really revolutionalizes how I saw finances, how I saw work. It has translated into a level of success for me.
What accounts for your success?
I think all things flow from the mind. Our value proposition is trying to understand people and to understand that there is only one boss and that’s the client. I try to stay on the cusp on anything new in digital media. Our sole value proposition is our commitment to excellence, which is our core philosophy. Kaizen – caring about the team which is so very important. As a young company, resources are limited but we do simple things like birthdays, game nights to try to spur feelings of affinity and culture; esteem within the team so that they can deliver the best results. Our work ethic, attitude towards maintaining a growth mindset so that we keep learning and keep honing our craft, attitude towards how we treat our team members and our clients as they are important and our attitude towards communication and our core value of excellence.
How important is it to focus on customer needs?
As a young CEO, being able to temper your ego is important. Some companies treat the clients as though they have to do business with you. That’s not true. Customers have many choices and they choose to do business with you. The real delineator is how you treat the customer. At all times, we must maintain professionalism when relating to your customer. Show them that you care. Don’t see them as money. Seeing my clients’ business grow warms my heart. I started Digita with the mindset to elevate the design space using the power of digital media to augment your brand. The first cheque that I got started the company…
You don’t scale off getting big deals but by getting recurring customers. I started doing thank you cards for birthdays, etc, to show that we care beyond just getting their money. Small tokens showing appreciation made a difference. It’s about helping people.
Is digital marketing replacing traditional media?
There is a dynamic interplay happening and you have to assess digital media looking at the adoption curve and generation groupings because generations take in info differently. Digital media really represents change. The internet came along having this set of network…all these websites are kind of disconnected, you have to find your way to them. The distinction between digital media and primarily social media is you’re on one platform. You have these networks, people already live there. We have 7-second attention spans. How do you penetrate the minds of people multitasking and operating in a multi-screen environment?
Facebook, if you’re watching a video, you can see the minute or the second that that video peaked in terms of viewership. Facebook is giving you actionable data that you can draw inferences and then make informed decisions to optimize your marketing. Facebook has the most sophisticated advertising technology in terms of interest based targeting. They have a plethora of tools. For example, you can upload an email list to Facebook and target people there. Because of their connection with WhatsApp, as soon as you add somebody’s number you can use that as a node of info to target people. Digital media is really the evolution of the internet. The internet was just a space for information. Digital allows it to be contextualized and now you can focus attention where you want it. The attention is on Facebook already and that’s what marketers fight over anyways.
With all the plethora of social media, how do you know if you are using it correctly or even which platform to choose?
Every platform has its audiences and benefits. It depends on your brand and what you’re trying to sell. If your brand is heavily based on visuals, Instagram may be the place for you. If you’re looking at Millennials, Instagram is the main place for that population. The networks age up. As soon as parents get on Facebook, children get off. Snapchat currently has a lot of youth demographic. You have to be self-aware, know what the respective networks offer and you have to jump in. You can’t sit on the sideline; you have to become proficient and create engaging content. You have to be aware of your brand voice, who you are trying to reach. You have to be real and you have to pay.
How can you keep current with all the social media platform and their changes?
You have to have a growth mindset to be in this industry. Facebook just recently reduced its organic reach. If you have over 100,000 fans you’re getting a 2% reach. You have to do paid advertising. When you are trying to create content, you want consistency, you want to have your voice and the intent of your content. Look at the data to know if you are winning. Do you have Facebook Pixel on your website to track responses? Many people are using social to drive traffic to your website.
Share about your speaking business
Acume arose out of a need both internally for me and externally for what I saw in society, not just for general motivation but for an understanding of self as that’s where all things flow from. You have to be progressively focused on improving yourself daily. The world is a negative place and you have to insulate yourself from that through activities. And the people that develop daily habits of motivation are the ones that win and stay in a positive mental space at all times. I would talk to my class and they would always leave motivated. I would get testimonials from my students. I was always trying to pick people up. After a while, the resounding sentiments was, “this guy is motivational”. I said if I could do this for individuals I could take it to another level. At the time, I was listening to a lot of Les Brown, Jim Rohn, Tony Robins, a lot of different people. I like to say that I speak from one mouth but many minds. I would just be reflecting life and things come to me. To become who you are destined to be you have to divorce who you are. I listen to a lot of motivational material and from that sprung the desire to really help companies. I love speaking, love to see people’s lives changed.
Pieces of advice?
Have a mind that equips you for success. The limitless mind is one committed to daily growth; it is a mind that is positive and eradicates all perceptions of weakness and loss. You don’t see failure as failure but as lessons. It’s really a mind that understands that you have to surround yourself with motivational people, people that inspire you; motivational content; content that drives you and everything regarding preserving the veracity towards life. Next work ethic – desire and obsession have to be part of your daily pro quo. I read at least 2 hours per day; do affirmations and meditate. I’ve made work my best friend. It really is about hustle. Have a vision of yourself that is beyond where you are right now. See your highest self and work daily to become that person. It’s possible.
Main Take-Aways:
- Understand that there is only one boss and that’s the client.
- Know your voice and the intent of your content.
- Have a vision of yourself that is beyond where you are right now.
