Parkin, expert in the spotlight //

This new series will take a deeper look at the lives of our experts. This interview has been edited to make it more concise and clear.

Tim Parkin is an advisor and marketing consultant. Tim Parkin brings to marketing a new perspective from his time in game development and technology. He has used this experience to coach marketing executives in global organizations. He also contributed pieces on video, game advertising, customer journeys and attribution, among other topics.

He told us about his travels.

How did you become interested in marketing? Was it a childhood interest?

A: I’m so surprised because I don’t have any experience in traditional marketing. I never intended to be here. When I was a child, I wanted to be a magician. I was introduced to magic by my father, so I decided to pursue it. After a while, I realized that you have to work nights and weekends. Then people go to parties and have dinners. I decided that was not my thing. I went into technology, software development and programming. From there, I was able to help a number of businesses. Then I realized that we would build these cool things, but no one would see or use them. Then it dawned on me that they did not have a problem with their product, but a problem with marketing. This got me interested marketing. In my journey, I discovered that marketing and magic are very similar. Magic is all about telling stories, grabbing people’s attention and controlling their attention. You want them to focus on what you want.

Q: What type of magic did I do? Cards? Levitation? Cut your assistant in half with a saw

A: Cards! I always have a deck with me. In college and high school, it was difficult for me to make friends and be outgoing. With magic, however, you can create a new character or persona, your alter-ego. I can entertain and amaze a large crowd for a short time. As an introvert in college, it helped me to survive. Now, I use it as a networking tool for conferences and client meetings.

Do you have any favorite tricks?

A: Yes! A: I do!

Q. What technology and software do you use?

A: I am educated in game development and design. I worked in the videogame industry briefly, building videogames. Then I went into government work and built military simulations, which are basically videogames from 20 years ago. It was interesting, but a bit boring. Web 2.0 took off, and web apps were a big thing. I then built a lot web apps and mobile applications.

Q. Without revealing any classified information, what made the military projects that you worked on so outdated?

When I was working on military simulations, we were doing things such as exercise planning for the different branches of military. This stuff was so primitive. You would be surprised. It’s been 15 years since I was involved with it. I hope that it has improved. It was like walking around a Navy ship years and years back. It was built on old systems and they would have to re-do it all to update it. It was very precise but that doesn’t mean it can’t be modern.

Q. What is it like to work as a consultant without formal marketing experience?

A: I learned everything on the job, with my clients. It’s good because, as I have often said, I am hired for my ignorance and not my experience. And I believe that clients need a new perspective. It’s important that they have someone to ask questions that no one else has asked and who can look at things from both the perspective of the client and the team. Not having a formal background in marketing has not been detrimental. A formal marketing background, in my opinion, is antiquated and outdated, especially given how quickly things change.

Q. From your experience in game design, what changes have you seen in mobile marketing?

As you may know, the world has changed. Even today, it is shocking to see that many companies still aren’t on the cutting edge of mobile marketing and technology. We often design marketing experiences on huge monitors, thinking that this is what people will see. We don’t know that they are on their phones, looking at a tiny, fast-moving screen. We don’t consider the context in which they experience it. Mobile has changed the world, and it continues to do so. My clients tell me that mobile usage is increasing. It’s strange to imagine that in the future, desktop will be taboo.

Q. What are the most common problems that you encounter when you meet marketers?

A: The first is operations. This is a huge problem. I work with many marketing teams, and they are running around like chickens with their heads cut off. They don’t understand their roles, responsibilities, goals, or how to align. How do we manage and communicate a project? It’s important to know the basics. I am a believer in “marketing inside-out”. We tend to focus on the customer, the message and forget about how marketing is actually done. The main problem is that I think we are all too disorganized and have way too many priorities. This affects our marketing and the communication with the customers. Before we can move outside, we have to address the problem internally.

Q. Which marketing channels are most interesting to you?

YouTube is where I get most of my content and spend the majority of my time. I won’t say how much time I spent on YouTube, because it is embarrassing. I launched my own YouTube channel this year, and I tell all of my clients to do the same. YouTube will become more popular as Google’s SEO position is weakened by generative AI. I believe that YouTube is where you should be. Businesses should be there with their people, their brand and as much content as possible.

Video is a powerful marketing tool that you cannot afford to ignore

The original post Tim Parkin – Spotlight on an expert was published on MarTech.