At the latest Ethical Digital Marketing group, run by the team at Mission Drive, they explored what ethical digital marketing professionals do in their work, from working responsibly with data, to achieving Ikigai in the workplace, to reframing marketing to be more ethical and effective.
We chatted to two of the speakers Coeli Uy and Simon Batchelar following the event to learn more…
Can you tell us a bit about you and the work that you do?
Coeli
My name is Coeli Uy and I’m a Digital Marketing Executive at Mission Drive, a Brighton-based ethical digital marketing agency. Like other marketers, I wear many different hats – I work on the planning, strategy and delivery of various campaigns for us and our clients. You’ll often see me working on email campaigns, social media posts, and creating content for various channels. At the moment, my main focus is driving ethical approaches to our work at Mission Drive and marketing as a whole.
Simon
I am a marketing mentor and I run a digital marketing agency.
What was the inspiration for your recent talk?
Coeli
I’d become familiar with the concept of Ikigai from reading about it online and reading the book ‘Ikigai: Simple Secrets to a Long and Happy Life’ by Hector García and Francesc Miralles. I wrote a piece for our monthly newsletter on Ikigai and had various conversations with colleagues and friends about finding purpose in life and at work. Through these conversations and my own self discovery, I realised that finding your purpose is really important in living a fulfilling life. However, many struggle with knowing where to start or feel overwhelmed. So I decided to bring light to the topic and hopefully inspire others to go through the same journey as me.
Simon
My recent book, “Reframing Marketing: A 3-step plan for effective and ethical marketing”, and the research I did in writing it.
Any key highlights / takeaways for anyone who missed it?
Coeli
Some of the key highlights and takeaways from my talk and conversations with members of the audience afterwards:
- Ikigai doesn’t have to be viewed as an overwhelming, all-or-nothing life purpose. It’s okay if you don’t have definite answers to all of the questions right now, what matters is that you’re going through the process, trying new things and taking risks.
You can have more than one ikigai in your life. It’s okay for your ikigai to change. You might find that the thing you thought were destined for isn’t actually for you. - A lot more people are going through the process of finding their purpose than you’d think! And even they might not even realise it… It often starts with: “What am I doing here?” “Is this job even for me anymore?” “There has to be more to life than this…”. That’s why having these meet-ups and engaging in these conversations is so important… here’s to many more!
Simon
One way to start marketing more ethically is to flip the focus of your marketing to what the client gets out of working with you rather than what you want to sell them.
Did you come up through a “traditional” techie route or has your career taken twists and turns along the way?
Coeli
I’m fairly early into my career in marketing and since graduating with my Master’s in 2020, I’ve been working in sales and marketing at small agencies. So you could say I followed a pretty traditional route. However, I’ve not always dreamed of working in marketing. Growing up, I thought that being a teacher was my calling in life. But after a semester of teaching at University, I decided that it wasn’t for me. Thankfully I love what I do now!
Simon
I’ve run the digital marketing agency Pallant Digital for 20 years this year. Back before the internet was cool and when it was still a fad that most people thought wouldn’t catch on!
Is there a moment that helped define your career?
Coeli
Honestly, I think that the past few months have been pretty important in my career in marketing, as I’ve discovered the type of marketer I want to be. After I completed the Data Ethics Professional course at the ODI and we decided to create the Ethical Digital Marketing community, I realised that advocating for data ethics in digital marketing is important to me. I want to change the public’s view of the marketing industry. It doesn’t have to be a ‘dark art’ – we can still get the same results with inclusive, transparent and authentic approaches. And I’m very lucky to have found a company whose values align with mine and cares about ethical approaches.
Simon
When we stopped selling and started listening. We worked with a business coach who showed us how to reframe what we were doing to be focused on the client, and their experience of working with us. It transformed our business and were still working with some of these clients 18 years later.
What piece of advice would you give your younger self?
Coeli
A piece of advice for my younger self: It’s completely okay to not have everything figured out. Take your time. There’s no rush – you have your whole life ahead of you to find out what it is that you want to do. You’ll figure out what your purpose in life is eventually. And it’s okay if that changes a few times. A lot of people don’t really know what they’re doing either, they’re just good at pretending they do! You’ve got this.
Simon
Slow things down and enjoy the ride.
What’s your big tech prediction for 2023?
Coeli
I think we’ll see more brands and companies focus on building active communities. Taking a more authentic approach and building niche communities will help increase brand loyalty, engagement, and trust.
Simon
AI tools will make most peoples marketing really boring and derivative, allowing the authentic voices to shine though.
Silicon Brighton wouldn’t be here without people like you giving back to the community so… what does the word community mean to you?
Coeli
For me, community is all about people with similar interests coming together to connect, grow and create. It’s about being part of and creating something that is much bigger than the individual.
Simon
Like minded people sharing, learning and supporting each other.
Anything else you would like to share?
Coeli
If you’re interested in ethics and ethical marketing, come and be part of our Ethical Digital Marketing community.
Simon
People can learn more about my book at https://reframingmarketing.com and connect with me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-batchelar
Missed their talks or want to watch it again? Check them out here…