How are you spending New Years Eve?
My entire family has been down with colds and flu this Christmas and I still don't feel amazing. Today is so grotty and awful weather wise that it seemed a good time to finish up my last book of 2022: Future Skills: The 20 Skills and Competencies Everyone Needs To Succeed In A Digital World by Bernard Marr
I review business books for Parents in Business Magazine a magazine aimed at those managing a career and a family, but to be honest I always think the articles suitable for anyone with a small business. The Book Publicist kindly send us the books to include, which means a never ending stream of new titles hitting my doormat. They always brighten up my day when its book day!
I'll be honest and say that business books can often be overly long, and full of filler. I'm sure I am not the only one who has ever thought, this book was a great idea but it could have been a TED talk not a 250 page book....
Thankfully Future Skills was one I enjoyed. Full of on topic er, topics such as Data Literacy, and ethics, I found a lot to contemplate.
Why do we panic over data?
When you talk about data it can often send people into a bit of a flap. But it's always been here however you choose to define it. If you sign up to a supermarket loyalty card, you've given away your data. If you use a social media platform they will also have your data. It's pretty hard to do anything at all these days without leaving an online footprint.
There have been some epic cases on this topic over the last few years. I wrote about The Great Hack
a Netflix documentary on the Cambridge Analytica and Facebook election manipulation. Since then the topic seems to appear in the media most weeks.
Working in marketing there are always improvements being made to how we hold and deal with personal information, and indeed what is considered ethical in targeting a customer changes on a regular basis now.
There is always a choice to opt out if you are concerned at how your data is being used, although I have found some pretty bad offenders when it comes to letting you leave. I won't name names exactly but a certain site that tells you what is going on in your own neighbourhood is really bad for continuing to mail out after you've unsubscribed. I've now marked them all as junk.
Thanks for reading, happy new year and see you on the other side!
Shona
Would you like more help with your marketing? My new book is out now
If you would like a book of 100 Marketing Tips written just for small business owners then do have a look here. I wrote this book to be easy to read cover to cover or to be kept as a reference to dip in and out of!
What to read next
I really enjoyed another Netflix documentary recently, it's called The Creative Brain, and you can find out more about it here About Me Shona Chambers Marketing is a Marketing Agency based in South East London. Specialising in helping Small Business Owners and Freelancers with their Marketing.