What 2020 influencer marketing can learn from 1999 Digital with Guild and Econsultancy founder, Ashley Friedlein

Episode 3 of the Influencer Marketing Lab - a weekly podcast tracking the growth spurts and growing pains of influencer marketing.

This podcast is sponsored by Tagger the data-driven influencer marketing platform and social listening tool.

This week Scott Guthrie is in conversation with Ashley Friedlein CEO & Founder of Guild and Founder of Econsultancy. 

Guild is a messaging app for professionals and we'll hear why Ashley believes it's an antidote to WhatsApp, LinkedIn or Facebook. Ashley Friedlein also founded Econsultancy back in 1999 as the digital marketing best practice outlet.  

Through our discussion, we learn of the marked similarities between the digital landscape of the late nineties and of influencer marketing today. An industry scrambling to define itself. No agreed best practice or emerging best practice and no forum for practitioners to learn from each other. Econsultancy was founded as a place where practitioners could share what was working and why in an open, honest and transparent way in a bid for participants to become better at their jobs.

Our discussion covers:

• The power of word-of-mouth marketing in growing Econsultancy organically
• The benefits of SEO in building the Econsultancy brand
• The challenges of building a community of like-minded people prepared to share their mistakes as well as their successes
• Parallels between the dot com crash of 2001 and today's uncertainty of a Covid-19 economy
• Why, when building a community, the most interesting things to share are the things that haven't worked
• Why exit strategies usually are after 7-10 years rather than the optimistic 3-5 years
• The challenges of international expansion
• The brand extensions which were too early for the marketplace 
• Whilst learnings and insight may be universal examples need to be relevant to the local offering
• Parallels and lessons to be learned from digital in 2000 and influencer marketing in 2020
• Entrepreneurism - the difference between having 'a great idea' and turning that idea into a reality
• What Guild is and who it is designed for
• Why the world needs yet another messaging app
• The opportunities and threats which artificial intelligence brings with it 

For more information visit influencermarketinglab.com