From AI humanoid robots to sharp thinking from marketing greats Rory Sutherland, Mark Ritson and Steven Bartlett, Olha Havrina absorbed up-to-the minute insights from the Intuit Mailchimp conference From: Here, To: There in Greenwich.

Unveiling Mailchimp’s newest updates and sharing their expertise, the brightest minds of marketing Steven Bartlett, Rory Sutherland, Mo Gawdat, Chloë Thomas, Jon Evans, Nina Schick, Rania Succar and Mark Ritson discussed a variety of topics from AI advancements to workplace burnouts.

The Mailchimp Conference felt absolutely magical. I was hastily taking notes as the future of marketing with the revolutionary technology, strategies, and products unfolded in front of 800 attendees.

Here are my top 7 takeaways:

1. Things that are easy to do are also easy not to do

Is there a little marketing fix on your to-do list that is so easy you keep putting it off?

Though you may not always see an immediate result of removing an extra step in the approvals process, cancelling an unnecessary weekly meeting or deleting one useless file from your desktop, they are game-changing in the long run. The consequences of what you don’t do are invisible at the time. In a matter of years, their impact will become evident.

For example, if you haven’t brushed your teeth once, it won’t kill you. If you don’t brush your teeth tomorrow, in a week and for the whole year, you’ll end up paying a fortune at the dentist’s.

That’s why, if there’s a small step you can take towards improving your business today - do it today. It’s a piece of cake!

2. Experimentation is everything

Be innovative and enthusiastic to stay ahead of the game. Using the same path and marketing structure over the years isn’t going to skyrocket sales and make a brand revolution. Things change, and so do the consumers and their behaviour.

Think TikTok: the generation using it has grown up, so assuming that this platform is solely Gen Z would be a mistake.

That’s why experimenting is so important. If someone comes to you with an idea to try new tools, approaches or strategies - let them experiment and see if it flops or succeeds. After all, if none of the experiments are failing - someone isn’t doing a job right.

3. You waste time while making a decision - Steven Bartlett

If you own a big business or agency, you must have noticed how hard it is to finalise a decision. Send it to Mr X first, then get an approvals form from Mrs Y, and then send a copy to team Z… A case of saying yes or no can involve a multitude of pointless and painful steps.

Imagine if senior leadership spends half a year calculating the outcomes and weighing up all the pros and cons. In the meantime, someone else on the market decides to give it a try, fails, tries it again differently and outplays you.

Thus, the time that you put into decision-making costs you more than a failure would. No need to agonise about the decisions that don’t work out, it’s worse not even trying.

4. We all love ourselves

When trying to understand your target audience, the RICE model might come in handy. Looking at four core motivations that drive people’s decisions, it gives a pathway for improving your marketing.

Reward - giving something in response to completing a desirable action.

Ideology - supporting the beliefs and purpose behind someone’s actions.

Coercion - fearing negative consequences.

Ego - looking for self-validation.

By recognising these motivations, businesses can better pinpoint the factors that influence consumer actions, and Ego is one of the strongest of them. While trying not to talk about it openly, we all love ourselves. Remember the time when you bought a cappuccino and a smiling lady behind the counter said “I’ll add extra chocolate sprinkle because you’re so nice”. Didn’t it feel good?

You don’t need a million-pound budget to apply these principles to your services or products. Start small with:

Exclusive early access for a group of subscribers
Personalised emails and messages
Gifts for the most engaged users

Simply, make your consumer feel special.

5. Human connection can’t be replaced with AI’s efficiency

On the stage of Magazine London, Jon Evans, Mo Gawdat, and Nina Schick were joined by Ameca - the world’s most advanced AI humanoid - to delve into the remarkable potential of AI. They pointed out that AI is developing faster than any other industry in history.

Let’s face it, AI is everywhere: Google, Outlook, Mailchimp, Meta, LinkedIn, and now even IOS. Since AI integration is already underway, the best you can do is learn as much as you can about the tools relevant to your industry.

Despite the fear of AI taking jobs, with the full integration of AI in our lives, creativity and humanness will matter like no other. Ameca proved it. When you look at this machine’s human-like face, you don’t feel as connected as when you look at one of the speakers.

Remember to strike a balance between automating your processes and enhancing your ability to create human connections. As we rely more on technology, we communicate less with others, making this kind of interaction more important than ever.

6. Customers pay you twice

The first time your clients pay you is via a bank transaction, and the second time is when they leave you a review.

When owning a business, you see every facet of it so often, that you fail to notice all its flaws and pros. You know it too well to be able to look at it from the perspective of someone who sees it for the first time in their life. The only expert who can help your business here is your consumer.

Reviews are the golden nuggets that shape the bullion of your success. If you’re not convinced yet, listen to Untangling Reviews with Nigel Apperley in our new marketing podcast.

7. The truth is - no one cares

As Mark Ritson - the author of Mini MBA - specified, your target audience doesn’t know you are there.

You know about your product or service inside-out. You’ve been nurturing it for years, working hard on finding the best solutions to appear unique and desirable to your prospects. You know how good it is, how clever you positioned it and how much time you’ve put into its naming. Well, others don’t. The only person who cares about your business is you.

That’s why one should never undermine the power of organic marketing. Let people discover you and your voice by making your brand visible. Otherwise, if they don’t see you, you don’t exist.

Need more strategic communications in your life?

Visit our Consultancy page for options (Steven Bartlett will be happy to know there are just three, to speed up the decision-making process!)

7 takeaways from Mailchimp’s From: here, To: there event