I’ve just returned from keynoting at the Global Marketing Summit.

I posted this on my Instagram and immediately had a whole bunch of people reply “I didn’t know you worked in marketing”

I don’t. But marketing doesn’t exist in a bubble; it can only thrive when it’s aligned with or supported by other comms, product and operational functions. So it was a real credit to the organisers that the event’s agenda covered an impressive range of topics from sustainability to personal brand to internal comms.

What happens on the inside is reflected outside – in any interaction customers have with your people. Employees can be a company’s most powerful ambassadors, because they live and breathe the brand.

And that was the theme of my talk: employee advocacy. That is, when employees actively promote and support their company by sharing positive messages, brand content, or personal experiences on their own social networks. It helps enhance the company’s reputation, attract talent, and boost brand awareness through authentic voices.

In my keynote I shared examples of where we at Lithos have helped organisations find the right mix of tools, processes and governance to support and scale an advocacy programme.

But I caveated all of this by saying that while this stuff is hugely powerful, it’s not easy. Employees have to be highly engaged to advocate for the brand, and that means having effective internal comms where people understand and feel connected to the mission.

Your people can’t champion your products and services if they don’t understand or use them. They can’t share your values if they don’t experience them in their work and their interactions with others. They can’t speak positively about the digital experience you offer customers if their own experience is bad.

I’ve blogged before on how internal channels, projects and comms are all-too-frequently overlooked in favour of customer-facing ones. Talking to comms and marketing pros at this event reminded me how short-sighted that is, and what value the work we do on digital workplace and internal comms adds to organisations.

Some stuff I did this week

Much of my week was taken up at the Summit. It wan an honour to be invited and the organisers did a brilliant job curating an impressive agenda of local and international speakers.

I enjoyed meeting inspiring people from all over the world, and dive into so many marketing and marketing-adjacent topics. Once again it felt like the conversation around AI is maturing, from simple-but-unhelpful narratives on small productivity savings to tangible examples of hyper-personalisation at scale and driving efficiencies across different industries.

Lots to process and (hopefully) apply in the day job.

Speaking of which, our two big projects are cracking on at pace.

On one, the team have spent the last couple of weeks apply our early thinking around site structure and templates to some real-world content. As the old army adage goes, no plan survives contact with the enemy.

Or, in our world, no scope survives contact with real stakeholders and content. But so far it’s shaping up pretty well, and we’re tantalisingly close to a tested scope and roadmap for delivery.

Over on our other project – where we’re using an intranet-in-a-box approach – things are taking shape and fast. From a digital wasteland a month ago we have a functioning site with a growing body of high-quality content. There are always compromises involved in using OOTB solutions for intranets, but they’re rarely consequential and almost always compensated for by speed of delivery and quality of user experience.

(I could talk about this for hours – so will save that for another week).

Some non-work things I did this week

It was, somehow, my very first time in Istanbul, so I was glad to get a day off to explore a little. A crazy and brilliant city which I plan to return to asap.

To be honest I mostly ate my way around Istanbul. There’s no better way to experience a culture than via its food.

Connections

The Summit put me in touch with some brilliant folk – including a whole new bunch of Amsterdam locals. Particular shout-outs to Kerrie Finch, Luan Wise, Melanie Moeller, Stephen Corlett, Ben Keene, Fady Ramzy, Maria Ingold, Aifric Lennon, Elizabeth Solaru, Ekwy Chukwuji, Aanya Wig, Aycan Ferik, Seda Mizrakli Ferik and Fiona Harrold.

What I’m reading

I didn’t get much further with A History of Rome in 21 Women, but I’m home all week so hope to get my reading mojo back

Travel

None planned at all until December. I can’t tell you how excited I am about not visiting an airport for several weeks in a row.