Featuring Alex Offei Lartey, Naomi Yeke
Bing-watch August's episodes featuring Alex Lartey and Naomi Yeke.
[0:00] For me, I see a leader as whoever has been in charge of some activity. You don't have to be the CEO or the managing director, you have to be the leader.
[0:10] If today you are in charge of cleaning the studio, you are a leader of that particular activity. You need to make sure you are spearheading an activity that shapes a particular narrative.
[0:29] And whatever thing that activity is, it's supposed to make you efficient. You don't have to be the leader. From Bildx Studios, this is Colours of Social Media, the podcast for marketers who believe in digital.
[0:47] I'm your host, Enoch Robert Boyer, Appiah Jr. Now before we jump in, a quick announcement. If you are watching on YouTube, hit that subscribe button.
[0:56] We've just crossed 100 subscribers and we are only getting stuff in. And if you are listening on Spotify, go ahead and tap follow. Currently on Spotify, we are now at 79 followers and every single one helps us grow this amazing community of digital marketers.
[1:19] Now on today's episode, I'm joined by Alex Lartey, an award-winning digital innovations and marketing communications professional with over 14 years of experience, leading strategy across tech, banking, and now telecom.
[1:40] Alex currently has the Digital Marketing Division at AT Ghana, where he's been for the past seven years. He's also leading the new product development team at the same organization, which is a recombination that blends marketing innovation and strategic execution.
[2:03] Now from building media channels to launching bold, resource-driven campaigns, Alex has joined Simeon, and that's exactly why I invited him on this all-important conversation.
[2:17] Today, we are talking about digital leadership in Africa, driving innovation across telecom, banking, and tech. Welcome to Color Social Media podcast, Alex.
[2:29] Thank you very much. Thanks for having me. Great. So, Alex, before we even dive into this all-important conversation, I want you to tell us your story, how you got into digital marketing.
[2:46] I think it's a very straightforward story. I did science in secondary school, senior secondary school, and I did computer science in the university.
[2:58] I combined computer science with mathematics. And, you know, digital is all about, or mostly about, technology and the internet. So, because of the things we learned in school, I picked so much interest in that space.
[3:19] Luckily, right after National Service, I got a job at a company that developed websites, and they also did marketing campaigns and events. So, I actually, I felt it connected very well with what I have picked interest in, and that's where the story began.
[3:38] So then I had to stay on, and then I moved from there to UT, where I joined the UT Holdings. UT Holdings had about eight different companies, including the bank, the flagship, the properties, collections.
[3:56] They had, like I said, eight different organizations under them. So, I joined them as the website manager. At that time, social media wasn't that strong, but I was actually invited in because of social media.
[4:14] So, when I joined them, I had to just put all those channels in place. And further on, I moved to Melekong, that's TiVo, which was in 2014. And there is a fascinating story around my journey to TiVo.
[4:31] You know, right from secondary school, I've always wanted to work in the telecom industry. For some reason, I remember my first CV I wrote as part of where I want to be.
[4:47] I said, I want to be data communications manager. So, I didn't even know what that was. We had just learned something in school. We had read a lot, and I said, I want to be data communications manager.
[5:00] So, we were all looking up to the telcos. And when that opportunity came, I said, why not? Then I joined. So, I actually didn't join through the IT department or through the marketing department.
[5:16] I actually joined through the communications department. So, corporate communications, where I was handling internal communications. And then I moved to marketing, where I'm currently handling, that is the marketing development.
[5:30] So, that has been the story from IT, technology, from school to where I am now. Yeah, that's an impressive story. Now, listen to your story. What I got from this short story of yours is that you've been in the banking sector, you've been in the tech sector, and now AT Ghana.
[5:55] Yeah, that's the telecom. Exactly, that is telecom. They are all different sectors. Now, what I want to access is that we are talking about leadership, digital leadership.
[6:05] So, what I want to access is that what leadership, key leadership, key leadership traits you got from this industry that is helping you run the digital department of telecom.
[6:22] I mean, AT Ghana. Okay, so for me, I see a leader as whoever has been put in charge of some activity or anything. You don't have to be the boss.
[6:38] You don't have to be the CEO or the managing director to be the leader. That's how I started seeing leadership. So, if today you are put in charge of cleaning the studio, you are a leader of that particular activity.
[6:55] And what you need to do is to make sure that objective is met. Whether you are doing it yourself or somebody else is doing it, or however it has to be met, you have to do that.
[7:07] So, that's how I started seeing leadership. And one thing that for me has helped me is I look at where the problem is and I try to solve the problem.
[7:21] That's all. And if that has not been my routine, I'm not sure I would have been where I am today, it has really helped me. It cuts across. So, in my places of work, it is not only about my job description.
[7:40] Anything that I feel that, oh, this is something I can help address, I would just go ahead and assist for it to be addressed. So, that's one thing that has helped me.
[7:50] And I think it's a leadership treat because leaders solve problems. If you are the CEO, if you are whatever, or even you are the cleaner, like I said, you are there to make sure a problem is solved.
[8:06] That's all. That is it. And you did computer science in legal? Yes. Great. So, how has it influenced your approach to problem solving when it comes to innovation and especially digital marketing?
[8:25] Yeah. Okay. So, recently I was having a conversation with a friend and I said, back in the day when we were... So, I did computer science with mathematics, right?
[8:37] When we were studying mathematics and every question is talking about solve A, solve B, solve C, solve A, solve A. It felt as if you wouldn't ever need this in your mind.
[8:50] But that is what we are facing today. And that is one thing that has helped me when it comes to the computer science, because I mentioned earlier that when it comes to digital, it's about technology and the internet.
[9:09] Yeah. So, studying all the courses that we studied in school has really equipped me from the basis to today. Now, the mathematics inclusive is where the problem solving comes in.
[9:24] So, you have right from secondary school or right from the university that you are consistently solving problems. So, that particular solve this, solve that, solve that is at the back of my mind where you step in a space, even when you are given objectives to achieve or you are given some KPIs to achieve.
[9:48] It is the problems you solve that to achieve that objective or that KPIs. So, for me, these are the things, the knowledge I've gained in the IT space together with the mathematics background.
[10:03] That's what has helped. When you see FindX, you just mirror it to things happening in real life. Exactly. That is the problem. All the steps you use in FindingX back in school, you apply the same steps.
[10:20] Like, let's get a lot of people to see this new product we are developing. Okay, first and foremost, let's do this. Then you check it out. Exactly.
[10:30] Interesting. It follows that step. Yes, yes, yes. And through that, I've also gotten to understand that you are not going to use just one move to achieve the solution.
[10:44] Exactly. And it happens again. There are multiple ways to solve a particular problem. Yes. Interesting. Interesting. I've never seen it that way.
[10:55] Yeah. I mean, a lot of people, me included, complain that if you've been giving this, what you call this problem, FindX, how is it going to apply in real life?
[11:09] Exactly. Now, everything is open now. Interesting. Interesting. So that's it. That's what has really been happening in my space. Yeah. Let's define leadership, the main topic for this conversation, leadership in African context.
[11:30] How do you understand digital leadership in the context of Africa? Okay. I think it's got to do with taking a direction that will make you efficient.
[11:49] Taking a direction that will make you efficient. Yes. Interesting. Because let's take a typical company that is running. You are, like I initially mentioned again, a leader doesn't have to be the CEO, but in this case, let's just say the CEO, we are deciding an example.
[12:08] You need to make sure you are spearheading an activity that shapes a particular narrative. Right. And whatever thing that activity is supposed to make you efficient, making you efficient.
[12:24] Primarily means that you are dedicating fewer or smaller efforts, but you are getting bigger results. At the end of the day, that is, in fact, in my analysis, that is what everybody looks at.
[12:39] If you achieve one million citizens at the end of the month, and you use two million citizens, you have lost. Yeah. But if you achieve one million citizens and you use 200,000, you have gained a lot.
[12:51] If you feed around, use 100,000 and you achieve one million, you have gained even more. So using smaller efforts to achieve bigger results, for me, is that direction that leaders are supposed to be looking at.
[13:09] Yeah. So you look at that direction every step of the way. What am I putting in? What am I getting? Yeah. Am I putting in so much? Am I getting much more?
[13:19] Am I putting in something little? Am I getting more? That is what you are supposed to be looking at. So this is for me what I see as leadership, and it applies to every single activity.
[13:35] Like I said, if you are supposed to be cleaning the studio and you spend two hours, that is two hours of effort, and you clean it to a setting level, somebody else comes to use 30 minutes, and cleans it to that same level.
[13:53] It means that person is more efficient than you. So that is where efficiency comes from. So for me, that is it. You are seeking a direction that makes you efficient.
[14:05] That is it. I know there's the conversation about leadership being confident, being able to speak in parallel. I was expecting that. I've read about all that.
[14:19] I've read about all that. I agree with all those people who share those opinions. As a leader, you have to be bold. You have to be able to inspire people.
[14:31] But after all that, what results are you looking at? So when you undertake all those things, you are bold, you are confident, you can think on your feet, you will be able to speak, you will be able to command the audience, you will inspire people to follow your direction and all that.
[14:49] But you need that direction. Because if you inspire two million people to follow a bad direction, you are actually helping those two million people.
[14:57] So it's the direction that we should be very particular about. Is it going to be efficient? Is it going to make us efficient? So that's what we should look at.
[15:09] So Alex, you've worked in banking. Yeah. Now you are in telecom industry and a bit of tech industry. In your own experience, how are African companies open to digital transformation?
[15:25] Okay. I don't even put it. So I will pick this from when I was, let me say, a service provider. I was working in an agency trying to, that was when I started with developing websites for companies and events and marketing campaigns and trying to engage some companies to transform their business.
[16:00] And it was quite tough. It was quite tough. It was then, is it the same currently? Today, the narrative is slightly different. But it's still tough.
[16:12] Back in the day, and I'm citing this example because we used to beg companies to want to put their businesses on social media. But they thought social media was for case.
[16:27] So in fact, it was, we wanted to do this for free. So because you were developing website, when I'm drafting up proposal for website development, I will add that, oh, as part of the freebies we want to give you, you will launch your company on Facebook.
[16:46] I think it was then only fake faces. It was in 2011. Yeah, 2011. It was just Facebook that was popular around here and then YouTube slightly.
[16:56] So we said, oh, we'll put you on Facebook. We'll give you a channel, a tweet and a account for you and YouTube and all that. And they would go, I don't know.
[17:04] We just wanted the website. There's the website. So this gives me that perspective, that no, it is not easy to let people transform their business.
[17:18] Right. The other thing is we also deployed corporate emails. Corporate emails, meaning that that of your private Gmail or Gmail, you would have your corporate email at your company's domain.
[17:33] And that also was a big issue for some people were not aligned. Some people would feel that you are, you are just changing the way they are working.
[17:46] And just for that fact, they won't agree or sort of, or they won't align. There are some people who also felt that this is what we have been working with.
[17:58] We are comfortable with the Yahoo interface or we are comfortable with the Gmail interface. So if you are bringing another email client and the interface is different, you know.
[18:09] And all these things were some of the reasons that made companies not able to transform as they are supposed to. Today, when you ask me, because I have not been engaging companies a lot to transform, every transformation activity has been within where I have worked.
[18:28] I have worked there for 10 years or over. What I notice from the distance is that, that small rejection or attitude of not adopting technology is still there.
[18:47] It's still there. You may see that a lot of people have not adopted the basic IT skills and maybe a bit of digital marketing, which they were not adopting back in the day.
[18:59] But today there is AI. People are adopting it. In fact, there is something that's talking about. AI will take a job. If you don't want to go there, exactly.
[19:13] So all those conversations makes me think that that level of rejection or not the willingness that is not there for people to adopt technology still exists.
[19:28] So let's go back in the day. I'm sure you were able to overcome these businesses who initially they didn't want to innovate. How were you able to convince them to get on Facebook?
[19:42] How were you able to convince them to create a YouTube account? So it's to do with results. So for every transformation, if you are able to do, it could even be a pilot and the people see the results.
[20:00] It actually is one step for them to adopt. So when they see, oh, this thing actually works, then they will be inclined to come on board. For some of the people too, if there is knowledge gap and you have skilled them, they will adopt and then they will move.
[20:21] So for example, the Facebooks and all that, at the time Facebook only had the profile. It didn't have the business pages. So these profiles will not give you detailed analytics.
[20:37] And further on, when they started the business pages, now you could place sponsored ads and all that. And you could compare that if you did a flyer and stood at Akramo and shared the flyer and you did the same flyer, instead of printing and sharing, you posted it on social media.
[20:57] You could see the views, you could see people engaging with it and all that. Meanwhile, the flyer you've printed and shared, you would know that.
[21:07] In fact, the next step is, in fact, the next available place you see the bin. People have it in their car. So when you go to the car wash, the washing base, you see a lot of flyers that people are packing from the people's cars.
[21:22] So those are some of the things. If you're able to show results, it makes people want to adopt. In your position at AT Ghana, as head of digital marketing and new product development, you sit at the top.
[21:40] You see whatever is happening, what the business wants and the objective or the results of the campaigns. So my question to you now is, how are you able to balance creativity and at the same time achieving business goals when it comes to setting up your campaign?
[22:02] Okay, so I had a unit within the marketing department. So the marketing department has a senior executive, who is the CMO, that he reports to the CEO.
[22:18] Now, where I find myself is what the senior people want and how the people now work with you, how they can help to achieve what the top wants.
[22:36] Yes, the top sets that direction and strategy and then we come in to execute so we can meet that strategy. Now, let me come down to the campaigns and all that.
[22:50] When it comes to combining objectives and technology and creativity, I would put the objectives at the top about technology and creativity helping to meet objectives.
[23:08] Before technology, people were still creative. In fact, there were amazing campaigns, but you could only see those campaigns on TV and you would see it probably just once in a day.
[23:22] Today, technology combining with that creativity can make you see that amazing campaign, which is a TV scene or a video or even an artwork. It can make you see any number of times you want to see it.
[23:38] Because you just can go on the channel, you click, you replay, you replay, you replay, you replay. So that's how technology is combining with creativity to achieve business goals.
[23:50] So that's what I would say about that. Interesting. So always focus on the business goal. Then you bring these peripherals in there to achieve the top-most business goal.
[24:03] That's interesting. Let's talk about your time in the banking. I know I'm sending you way back, UT era. Yeah, please, let's go there. Your time in the banking industry, what innovations stood out at that time?
[24:21] Okay. So even before I joined UT, UT had one. In fact, I was amazed when I joined that. I found out that they had mobile banking. Wow. Because all I had heard of was internet banking.
[24:37] Before I joined, I was managing website for, there was then Mechan's bank. There was Prudential bank. There was UT, which I was also managing.
[24:50] Even before I joined them, there were a few other banks. But when I joined and I realized that UT had mobile bank and it was called phone bank.
[25:01] And it was spelled F-O-N-B-A-M-K. Phone bank. Phone bank, yes. I think even if you Google, you would find... It's still there, of course. Some videos on YouTube, phone bank.
[25:13] And you can go there, check your balance, transfer money, and I'm like, oh, okay. And this was way back, 2012. So this was one amazing innovation that UT led with.
[25:28] And then they also had an intranet for employee communication and engagement. It was one of the innovations that got me so excited about the place.
[25:44] And then we introduced the social media as well. So back then, even before 2012, there was no social media for the bank and all the other subsidiaries back.
[25:55] From 2012 onwards, I think we started creating these from 2013, I think, yes. So these were the key digital innovations that... Now it's two dollars.
[26:08] Two dollars for me. So the phone bank for customers, the intranet for employees and then the social media channels for corporate communication and then brand building.
[26:19] And I think that's when it carried you through. And now you are the head of Digital for Haiti. On challenges, what challenges did you face? I mean, it can be any sector that you want to talk about, be it banking, tech, or telecom.
[26:39] The challenges you faced when you were trying to push... Some innovation. Yes, push, yeah. And how important, most importantly, you were able to overcome these challenges.
[26:51] Okay. So when I joined T-WO, last month, back in Haiti, the company decided to launch a new sort of internal channels that will help to engage and communicate with employees.
[27:07] And I was hired into internal communication and engagement. So that was my role. And this was an era where I wanted to introduce these channels and these were new technologies.
[27:19] So we introduced an intranet. We also introduced newsletters. And typically, you had to... The challenge there was people were not familiar with these channels.
[27:31] No, it's a new thing. Yes, it was. Then we found creative ways of actually launching these channels and making them know that this is your channel.
[27:43] This is your space. Now we also got the people to be involved in the things that we were doing. So for example, on the intranet, we actually set up like an editorial team from all departments who were part of the management of the int.
[28:04] So they felt involved. We used a lot of employee pictures on there. And for the first time, people hardly saw their pictures on any kind of communication apart from flyers and things like that.
[28:19] So when they see themselves, then they engage them. Somebody who really wants to go and read a newsletter because a friend or his friend is in there.
[28:30] Interesting. Yes. Then we created a lot more engagement activities offline where we uploaded pictures and photos. And then videos on the channel.
[28:43] So those were some of the things. And we did a lot of engagement and communication. So engaging with them face to face to let them know the benefits and then the results we are getting.
[28:55] Those were some of the things that really helped. When it comes to innovations, that's got to do with seven customers. At that point, I wasn't the customer facing person.
[29:12] So I wouldn't want people to address that matter. But today, what it is is we have a managing a mobile app, managing a website. We're always trying to get people to download the mobile app and all that.
[29:23] And it's all come down to the results. The person may not know how beneficial it is until they try it. Yes. So we are consistently getting people to try for a lot of our posts on social media.
[29:36] We just want you to download and see how exciting it is. So we are pushing for trial. And that is where you see the results. A lot of people just went just about the interface, how intuitive the interface the app is.
[29:56] Or make them use it. It just fascinates them. Oh, okay. So you actually had this and I didn't know. Yes. So it's all well done to result when it comes to innovation.
[30:07] And this is my opinion that it's the result that will get people to want to patronize it. Yeah. If it doesn't give them any good results. No amount of money you pump inside will get them using.
[30:22] Yeah. How much you are saying I'm picking a couple of things here. Correct me if I'm wrong, by the way. So I mean, digital is sort of a tool, not like the ultimate solution, especially when you are bringing new people, you are introducing it to people.
[30:42] Because from the way you executed the newsletter, they didn't know about it, but you had to tell them, you have to bring them in there. And I'm guessing that you have to verbally tell them that there is a new thing that the business is doing.
[30:59] Exactly. Yeah. And the resource is, I mean, it should be resource-based, like the app. Yes. This is what it's doing. Yes. Download it. You will love the interface.
[31:12] And most importantly, it will help you achieve what you open the app to do. Exactly. So it's doing results. Yes. And you have to blend offline marketing and digital marketing also.
[31:26] Let's talk about leadership, the next generation leadership like myself. Believe me, I want to be like you. I want to be like you when I grow up, Alex.
[31:37] Right? So for someone like me who wants to be a leader like you, what quality and what lessons or maybe skills should I learn in order for me to become a digital leader like you.
[31:54] Okay. All right. So I see a lot of young people who are technology inclined already because they were born into the era. Yeah. So technology is so when you compare them to the oldies, they are much more familiar with it.
[32:18] And it's a good thing. Yeah. First of all, you don't need to go away from tech. You need to stick to tech. That is one because of where the world is moving to, everything.
[32:30] And the world is becoming like a small village where you can interact with anybody. You can send messages to anybody. You can see what anybody is doing.
[32:40] It feels as if we are in a single room because back in the day, you won't know what Beyonce is doing. Today, you go to Beyonce's Instagram and everything.
[32:51] You know what she ate in the morning, you know, because she probably posted it. Exactly. So don't move away from that space. Now there is a huge opportunity in that space.
[33:04] So for you to really take advantage of it, you need to learn. And that's my number one recommendation, that if you want to lead in the disaster, you need to learn.
[33:16] Because the things you know today will be what will work tomorrow. Is that changes in a matter of seconds? Yeah. So whatever you know today, back in school, we were learning C++, C sharp.
[33:33] Fortran. Fortran. Google. Google. You know, today is about Python. Yeah. Ruby on Rails. Rails and all that. So those are the things. If you don't learn, you will be left out.
[33:50] Yeah. That's if you want to lead in that space. So you have to really learn. And you should be able to solve problems. That is, you should solve problems.
[34:01] You don't. So for the early stage workers, or let me say students or national service people, you don't have to be looking at it a lot. You should be looking at learning.
[34:16] Learn. Ooh. Boss, boss. You don't have to be looking at anything a lot. But you should be looking at learning. Boss, boss, boss, boss. Why? Because learning is what will bring the end.
[34:32] Whatever you end tomorrow, depending on what you have learned today. Yeah. So if you think, oh, today you have this job that's paying you, maybe some big money.
[34:44] And so you want to relax. Tomorrow somebody else who really learns your job well, will just come for that. So you look at solving problems, you learn.
[34:59] And in an era where there are a lot of courses online, there are people you can't even reach out to direct you. What do I do? What should I do recently?
[35:12] I think last year I had this seminar on one of the campuses, virtual education. And one of the students reached out until today. We still chat.
[35:23] We still talk. Yes. So he said, oh, after school, what do I think he will need for him to be above his peers? Yeah. That was a tough question.
[35:37] Yes. Okay. Then ABC the areas and then look for courses. When once you look for courses that can give you certificates and have them as part of your degree.
[35:49] Yeah. Yeah. So, so that is it. If, if you're able to, that's what actually sets you apart. All right. Alex, thank you so much. Truly, truly appreciate you.
[36:00] I mean, I know you're setters and, but then you came. But before I let you go, I want you to, you know, just in passing any trends that is shipping, digital marketing before I let you go.
[36:16] So today, digital marketing that used to be a tech backed activity is changing. It's, it's, it involves a lot of things, a lot of things. So there are people who are excelling.
[36:35] Because of content. Yeah. So apart from all that is our skills that you have to learn and then practice them. You should be able to consider content creation.
[36:46] Content Bill Gates said content is skin. And this was a letter he wrote slides on 26, only seven years ago. And he titled it content and he explained why content is skin.
[36:59] Back then, I'm sure people didn't really get, but today we know. Yeah. Yeah. Every business has a media in the content. Then he fed around said that content is not just about the texts, the videos, the artworks, the audio recordings.
[37:19] It even involves apps and apps. When I think of apps, I think of lifestyle was apps are supposed to help us with what we are doing. What do you do as people?
[37:35] You probably would want to take notes when you're having a meeting. There's an app that would take notes for you. Yeah. You probably would want to learn how to cook.
[37:44] There's an app that you can use. There's go there. It gives you all the recipes and what to do at what minute that was again. So these are the areas we need to think about.
[37:57] If you work in a bank, if you have a financial institution, think of apps that can help your customers to plan their financials. There are apps that are doing that already, but you also have to step into that space.
[38:09] So these are the trends that I'm looking at. Digital is now looking at lifestyle and bringing solutions to lifestyle. So that's about it. Alice, thank you so much for coming.
[38:22] My pleasure. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. I appreciate your presence. If you are speaking to the customers, always lead with their vulnerabilities.
[38:31] You can talk about the feature, but don't concentrate your energy on that too much. Elaborate on what the person is getting from the product.
[38:41] That is what will get them to buy. From BuildX Studios, this is the Colours of Social Media Podcast, the podcast for people who believe in digital marketing.
[38:51] Here's your host, Enoch RobotBoy, Apia Jr. Now, before we dive in, a quick ask. If you are watching on YouTube, hit the subscribe button. And if you are listening on Spotify, make sure to follow, so you never miss an episode.
[39:08] Now, let's talk about product descriptions. Are they helping you sell or quietly holding you back? In this episode, I'm joined by Naomi Yekke, product marketer and PR and com specialist for her podcast debut.
[39:25] We explore small strategic tweaks in language and layouts that can lead to big shifts in performance, and most marketers aren't even thinking about it.
[39:37] Tune in. You might never write a product description the same way again. Naomi, since today is your debut, it's your first time being on a podcast.
[39:49] And I think it is just right that you introduce yourself and where you are in the digital marketing space. Interestingly, I wouldn't call myself a digital marketer, but I have had experience doing copies.
[40:09] I'm a copywriter, so I've had the opportunity to write copies for digital ads, brand messaging and all of those things. But to start from the top, my name is Naomi Yekke.
[40:21] I work as a product marketer. I'm also a PR and com specialist. My favorite thing about my career choice is that I get to propel brands by translating what they do or what they offer into messages that resonate with their target audience.
[40:45] As a writer, whether a copywriter or a technical writer, I am really big on clarity and a messaging strategy that inspires or drives action. So in a nutshell, I think that's all I know.
[41:00] We are talking product description. So I want to know what drew you into the power of product description? Well, I have had the opportunity some great brands not to do so well because the messaging didn't land.
[41:20] For example, I don't know if you saw the recent Jaguar rebrand. Yeah. Although it was colorful, it was more dang and all of that. It didn't really resonate with their audience.
[41:35] And now they are facing the backlash as a result of that. I remember Elon Musk tweeting that, is this, no, do you guys still sell cars? Exactly.
[41:46] So seeing something like that, I think the same thing extends to writing copies for products. If the messaging doesn't resonate with the audience or your customers, you won't be able to make the conversion that you really want.
[42:04] And as marketers, customers are literally at the core of everything that we do. They are the ones who are important. So if we are not writing for them, then who are we writing for?
[42:15] So that's why I'm so interested in product descriptions, copies, all of those things that make customers tick. Yeah. All the products, we are going deep into product description right now.
[42:29] All the products description that I've read on the internet, most especially e-commerce website, they either talk about the features of the products or the benefits.
[42:43] Some product descriptions actually talk about the two of these things, features and benefits. So I don't know, is there a difference between the features and benefits, or is it just that copywriters for this e-commerce store are just getting it wrong?
[43:00] Well, there is a difference between what a feature is and what a benefit is. So a feature is basically what the product itself does. And then the benefits is what the customer or the end user gets from their product.
[43:15] So for example, let's say we are selling a cloud-based product. We can say 10 gigabytes of space available. That's the feature, the setup. But if you say something like, enough space to save every memory or enough space to store every memory, that's you speaking about the benefits of having that particular product.
[43:44] There are two different things. When you lean towards the benefits, the person who's reading the copy sort of has this connection. I mean, you're talking to the person who's paying for it.
[43:56] Exactly, exactly. But if you say 10 gig storage, so what? Exactly. So that's the difference. So a feature just shows the value, but the benefits personalizes it or makes it personal to the user or the customer.
[44:13] So you would advise that as copywriters, they should rather tell the consumers about the benefits in product description. Yes, that is what I would advise.
[44:26] The feature leads you to the benefits or the feature gives you context to write the benefits. But if you are speaking to the customers, always lead with the benefits.
[44:37] You can talk about the feature, but don't concentrate your energy on that too much. Elaborate on what the person is getting from the product.
[44:47] That is what will get them to buy or subscribe and the like. I mean, I think it cuts across, because recently, I don't know if you are into paid advertisement.
[44:59] What I've realized is that if you lead with addressing the pinpoints of the customer, you actually get a good number of conversions. Exactly.
[45:10] Yeah, and it makes sense now, because from what I'm getting from my dashboard currently, I'm getting good numbers. And if I trace my steps back at the setup stage, I realize that I was actually talking to the customers via their pinpoints.
[45:26] Yes. That's quite interesting. Yeah. So let's settle on conversions. Okay. What mistakes do business owners make? Well, these mistakes that I'm going to mention, they are things that I've also done.
[45:43] I mean, I have been to the best of that. I can only speak on what I have done. I think early on coming up as a copywriter, or when you don't have a good brief, you realize that you tend to use too many jargons.
[46:01] Yeah. Or your... I mean, we are market testing. Exactly. Or their messaging is vague, but it does the job. But you know that you're not really speaking to the issue, or you use too many words.
[46:15] You are very verbose because you want to sound so intelligent. These are the things that are not good for copies. So if I'm not sure I'm saying, you should just go straight to the point.
[46:26] Yes. You sort of common English. Yes. Don't be technical. Don't be too technical. If you find that the product is super technical, think about the audience you are writing for.
[46:39] If it is a technical audience, they would understand. They would understand. For example, maybe you are doing... Let me lean on technical writing.
[46:47] Maybe you are writing an API documentation for developers. They understand the language, so you don't really need to dumb down anything. But if you are speaking to the everyday person about how to navigate an app, you can't be using...
[47:02] You press the hamburger. The hamburger app. Exactly. You can't use those terms because they don't... It doesn't translate to the way you think it would.
[47:13] So just speak simply. Always know who you are speaking to. That should direct the language use. But if you are not sure, just use simple language.
[47:22] Are there some A, B tests that market tests can run to measure the impact of product description? Oh, yes. Of course. For example, you can do a test on headlines.
[47:36] For example, maybe benefits fest versus feature fest. Or you can even do something on formatting. You can do maybe paragraph versus bullet points.
[47:47] Or you can even use actual words. Maybe like free versus complimentary. All these things you can test. And when the data comes, you'd realize that certain language use can impact people's buying decisions, can impact how they interact with your brand, your product, whatever.
[48:03] So that data would be very, very instrumental in helping you craft your message. Thank you. Now, let's go back to the form. I'm so glad that I put out this form out there.
[48:16] And I'm getting good guests this time around. So glad. Yeah. Going back to the form, you uploaded some research. Yes. I've stayed all night on this research.
[48:31] But what I want to ask from you now is what's to that. And in fact, I will share the research in the description so that you will also read about this research.
[48:43] I think the title was, is it automatic? Yeah, automated. And copy, products copy something with AI. With AI. Yes. So the reason why that research was interesting to me is because of this current phenomenon around AI.
[49:02] Oh yeah. AI is going to take... Even in this studio, we have AI here. AI is going to take our jobs. You hear things like vibe marketing, people using AI tools to do marketing, even though they are no market.
[49:14] All of that. So I decided that I was going to read around what people are saying about this. Yes. Just so that my opinion should be grounded on data, in fact, because I'm very data driven.
[49:29] My friends don't know that's why. I guess I'm very data driven. So I came across that. And it was quite interesting because they explored using AI to craft copies.
[49:41] And then the research results revealed that even though AI copies are decent, human edited AI copies, or just human edited copies perform better because they resonate better with people.
[49:58] Human edited copies. Yes. So they generate with the AI, then the human being edits the copy. Hmm. Yes. So those ones do better because there's a context, like a human context to it.
[50:12] And people relate better with what other people have written than what a machine has written. And I think one of the stats that really stood out to me was they said the human edited copies performed better.
[50:27] They converted people at a rate that was, I think, 23% more than the raw AI output. So that was quite interesting. You go out, you hear people say, oh, I can use AI for this, I can use AI for this.
[50:40] But the reality, AI can't do everything. And you don't have to see it as your replacement. It is actually a tool. I believe that AI in the tool of, let's say, a marketer for copywriting, their quality would be different from a regular, non-marketing person using AI for copywriting.
[51:02] So for us as marketers, I believe that we can use AI to refine our messaging. We can use AI to get variety in the copies that we write. Maybe I write something, give me another version with this tone for this format, for this platform, et cetera, et cetera.
[51:24] But I don't think that... You should leave everything for charge of painting. No. But that's easy. Yes, that's easy. But then again, you're not trying to do easy things.
[51:37] You want to build relationships with your customers. You want to retain them. You want to attract new customers. So there has to be some intentionality behind what you do.
[51:46] You can't just get everything. So yes, use AI bots. I mean, you've actually answered the question I was about to ask. I was about to ask if AI would take the job of products, the people who write product description, copyrighted, I should say that one, would take the job of copywriters all the work alongside.
[52:11] Oh, yes. And from what you are saying, it is advisable that copywriters work alongside AI tools. So Naomi, what I want to ask now is certain tweaks.
[52:23] Let's say I'm a copywriter. I've uploaded my products onto my e-commerce store, written my product description, whatever. But then I'm not converting visitors.
[52:37] What two or three low hanging tweaks should I implement on this product description that will help me convert my website visitors? Hmm, interesting.
[52:52] Okay, so as always, I have to tell you things that I do. Things that I do. I think the first thing would be, since I like clarity and simplicity, use simple language.
[53:06] Don't overcomplicate things for yourself. Use language that people can easily understand because if I read, maybe you want to tell me, this thing is water resistant.
[53:18] If you say it in a better way, or you can't swim with this, or you can't... Exactly, do you get it? It's the same message, but different meanings.
[53:29] How you would respond to you can't swim with it is very different from if I tell you it's water resistant. Oh, I can't say it is IP 60. That is way technical.
[53:41] Exactly. So just use simple, simple languages. Don't overcomplicate things for yourself. The first thing too is, sometimes when you're writing a copy, you want to say everything.
[53:52] So make use of breaking up your sentences or your paragraphs. You can make use of one like this. You can do some bolding. Just things to sort of make the whole copy dynamic so that it's not just one big paragraph.
[54:08] Exactly, yes. So that's about it. And the last thing, I think I've already mentioned this, benefits first copy. You can't talk about the features, but most of the emphasis should always be on the benefits because that's what the customer is really interested in.
[54:26] Yeah, and I think that is how Google is presenting AI mode. That is how, according to their last Google marketing life, that is how the AI is crawling on website.
[54:42] They pick up benefits. So yeah, I think that is, we are in the right direction from what you are seeing. Let's look at your framework. Do you have a framework that you can share with us when it comes to product description?
[54:57] Yes, so I use the classic FAB framework. FAB. Yes, feature advantage benefits. Feature advantage benefits. So you end up with a very rounded copy, a very rounded message.
[55:13] So the end user or the customer gets to know the feature, they get to know the advantage of having that feature and then how that translates into a benefit for them.
[55:23] So it's very hard. Yes, you're not going to leave the copy confused or hesitant about what to do. So that's the framework I use. I also do the old school brainstorming.
[55:35] If you are old school marketer before charging PC, you will gather your people and discuss their campaign. Yes, big ideas and all of those things.
[55:47] And I also use charging PC, Gemini, your brothers, sisters and cousins. For my work as well, but mainly to speed up things and like I said, to just get variations.
[56:00] Sometimes you want to see how something is said in another world and maybe that's even the direction you should be thinking. I mean, modern marketers shouldn't shy away from AI.
[56:11] Yeah, but then you have to also include the human aspect. Exactly. I had an episode with Emmanuel Avotry Selassie Jr. I think the last episode before this.
[56:24] And yeah, he was stressing that AI is there. But then as a human being, you shouldn't leave everything for AI to do, add your emotion. And that is the only thing that AI can't do.
[56:39] Yes, I agree with that. AI doesn't have context. It doesn't have nuance. And also it doesn't have cultural sensitivity. There could be maybe something it will say so raw.
[56:53] But if you're a human being, then you're communicating the same message. You want to say it raw like that. I love it. Sorry to cut you. But I remember there was a campaign that we're running and we were trying to, you know, in Ghana, BOGA.
[57:09] The word BOGA means someone who is in abroad and all that. So we were trying to find someone from abroad in, I think Rwanda or some other country.
[57:22] But it's definitely in Africa. And we asked good old Chachipiti. So Chachipiti carved out some names for us. And we were like, okay, yeah, we've gotten some.
[57:36] But we asked a local there. Apparently those names, it's sort of derogatory. Oh, my. Yeah, but Chachipiti doesn't know. You see, cultural sensitivity.
[57:48] That is it. You would have gone there, set the word, and then when you get a retaliatory response, you wouldn't understand. Interesting. You've mentioned of some AI tools, Chachipiti, Gemini, and their cousins.
[58:04] Do you have any other tools that helps you in product description? Oh, it's because these ones are mostly text based. They are the ones I usually rely on.
[58:16] I wouldn't say that I do a lot of maybe designing. So I can't really speak to maybe designing tools. I know some of us in this space, we wear so many hats, we write, we design.
[58:32] We will do everything at the end. Unfortunately, I cannot speak to the other aspects of the things that we do. But when it comes to writing is the OGs, Chachipiti, Gemini, Claude, and the rest.
[58:48] I'm here to use Claude. Oh, you should use Claude. Gemini is my favorite. Yeah, I'm always on Gemini. You should use Claude. I think this is not to say you should use AI by the way.
[59:01] But I think Claude has a bit of depth. The word is depth. And you will say depth. So yeah, it has a bit of depth. Yes. So just the same idea.
[59:14] You can run it across all the three and then see the similarities and disparities and then it will inform your messaging direction. Okay. So tell me, I have your contact.
[59:27] We are connected on LinkedIn. Yes, we are. So if I want to ask anything about product description, I know where to get you. Sure. What about our listeners and our viewers out there?
[59:39] How can they connect with you on the internet? Well, LinkedIn is the best place to find me. All you have to do is search for my name. Now me?
[59:49] Now me Yeke actually. N-A-O-M-I. My surname is Y-E-K-E. Yeke. Okay. You can find me on LinkedIn. I also started a quarterly on Medium. The link is in my bio.
[1:00:03] So once you look me up and you're interested in extending the conversation or reading my thoughts on PR, marketing, messaging, copywriting, all of that, you can click on the link in my bio and then you can leave a comment.
[1:00:19] You can comment on my, I was going to say Instagram, my LinkedIn. You can't have a fruitful discussion. Definitely. Before I let you go, if a listener or viewer should get something out, just one thing out of this conversation, what should it be?
[1:00:37] Prioritize clarity in your copies, in your messaging. Prioritize that. I know that we are in this age where because of AI tools, everybody and their mother thinks they are a marketer, that they can write, post anything online.
[1:00:57] You can, but in all your doings, prioritize clarity. Whether you're a marketer or a business owner doing things on your own, prioritize clarity because it seems like something small, but it's that small win that can change everything for you.
[1:01:15] Look at in Jumia, for example. When they started, for some of the African markets like Kenya, they are early product listings. They didn't do a good job with the product description.
[1:01:29] You go to the page, they spent a lot on digital ads. So there was a lot of traffic to the page. But then when you go, it's like, you don't really see anything of value.
[1:01:39] Some of the descriptions are even copied. Maybe it's a description for maybe the plans, but they've copied it for another product. So look, we're not really happy.
[1:01:48] But over time, they have cleaned things up. Now, when you go to their page, you see that things are more well-written, more well-presented, and it has become one of their optimization like Leves.
[1:02:00] So yes, prioritize clarity in your descriptions, in your copies, and see things change. Thank you so much for coming along. Thank you, too, for having me.
[1:02:10] And we'll baptize you. Amen. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you, too. This was actually fun.