We were lucky to catch up with Godson Michel recently and have shared our conversation below.

Godson, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry

Digital marketing is such a fast-paced industry where new trends are constantly emerging. As a marketing professional and thought leader, I’m forecasting several significant trends that will significantly affect how brands advertise in the near future. The one trend I’m most excited about is AI.

Generative artificial intelligence, or GenAI, will play an increasing role in personalization, segmenting, and content creation. GenAI will allow marketing departments to create content faster. Teams will be able to explore different, new ideas and approaches. Studies show advanced AI models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini are changing things. They’re allowing advertisers to create market opportunities and increase efficiency.

Software companies that provide marketing solutions are integrating AI models into their products faster. For example, Braze is a cross-channel customer engagement platform for mobile apps like HBOMax and Grubhub. Braze is using AI to take customer personalization to the next level. Their AI can now recommend products and content you, as the customer, would more likely engage with. When you think about it, marketing is all about reaching the right customer at the right place at the right time. This would drive revenue for brands using this since your customers are now seeing more relevant marketing.

My firm is exploring possible use cases for GenAI to improve our internal operations. Those improvements already look promising. When we can eliminate bottlenecks and redundancies, we win. This will allow us to pass those savings on to our clients.

There are many concerns about AI in the marketing space. Still, I’m looking forward to seeing how I can better leverage its capabilities to be an even more data-driven marketer.

Godson, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

For those who don’t know me, I’m Godson Michel, your next marketing superhero. I’m a Digital Marketing Professional and founder of Blue Surge Marketing Agency. I’ve worked in advertising in-house and from an agency level for over a decade.

I started marketing when I was building my first e-commerce business. I was an undergraduate student from a poor financial background. Through ingenuity and good timing, I found an opportunity to capitalize on the growing secondary footwear marketplace (now a $2B+ market). I found tremendous success with that first business. It led to me getting offers to manage marketing campaigns for other companies in New York. That in turn, inspired me to start my agency. Since then, I’ve expanded from being a glorified freelancer to building my own team. My team handles the day-to-day operations of the agency. This allows me to focus on working leadership roles as a Marketing Director. It’s been quite a ride since I wet my feet in this space. I’m excited to keep taking on new challenges and more responsibilities in this field.

When I’m asked about my services, I can say I offer peace of mind. I offer companies their time back. Why? So they can focus on growing their business and doing more of what they love and less on the daily minutia of trying to keep up with all the latest trends. As an individual and the head of marketing for my agency, I offer end-to-end digital solutions. These solutions meet the needs of mid to enterprise-level companies looking to scale.

But it’s really my extensive background that gives me an edge here. When I started my agency, we weren’t very picky. We accepted most of the work that came in the door and was delivered. Over time, we began to specialize in working with particular verticals to become experts in those areas. It’s helped us grow more efficiently over time.

That said, I have built a Swiss army knife mentality when considering how to serve brands best. Some marketers are good at lead generation strategy. Others are better at the lifecycle marketing side of things. I’ve built my career off bridging the gap between the two. As such, I check a broad spectrum of the boxes you need when hiring a talented, all-in-one marketing unicorn. And my agency is a reflection of that. Need someone to manage paid advertising on Meta? Sign me up. Are you having trouble being found on Google? I’m a search engine optimization strategist. Do you want to build a one-to-one relationship with segments of your audience? I’ve got the chops as an email and lifecycle marketer. Is your mobile app not getting traction? Let’s discuss go-to-marketing strategies to solve why your app isn’t gaining market share. When it’s all said and done, you’re hiring a marketing savant to oversee your company’s growth. That’s something you can feel confident in when you work with me, whether as a direct hire in-house or at an agency level.

When you think of my background, you can see how that makes me different from other talent. I believe marketing is just one part of the customer journey. Many executives and business owners mistakenly think of marketing as just what you do to bring in a new customer. There’s not a lot of thought about how to retain that customer and make them advocates of your brand. This is where a lot of companies are losing money on the table. I build step-by-step processes for attracting, converting, and keeping your best customers. It’s an area I’ve been able to help solve for companies and help them save on customer acquisition costs. It’s a satisfying feeling.

And I’m proud of the work I’ve done in my career. It’s hard to pick one, but my work during the COVID-19 pandemic stands out because of what it represented. As I’m sure you remember, it was a crazy time. Businesses around the globe were reeling from the effects of the shutdowns. They’re waiting for PPP money. They’re having to lay off staff. Their supply chain is in shambles. Within a few weeks, you suddenly have this influx of mom-and-pop businesses that need to go digital. This one needs a website. This one needs to claim their Google My Business listing. This one needs a shopping cart on Shopify. They all need guidance on catching up on all the changes that have transpired in the marketing world over the past decade. And they need to do it fast. And I’m proud to say Blue Surge Marketing Agency was there on the (virtual) scene. I helped struggling companies that needed a reliable digital solutions provider. They were afraid of going out of business. I remember spending hours daily on the phone providing lengthy consultations to help these business owners get out of these tough spots. I didn’t charge for the calls because I wanted to do my part to chip in when the world was going through it. We did some of our most impactful work then.

Ultimately, companies should know that I take my craft seriously. I’m a lifelong learner who is always looking for a competitive edge. I’m here to provide value and bring growth to your business. If you are aligned with those principles, we can build a great relationship working together.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

There are many resources I’d recommend that have positively shaped my thinking from a managerial and entrepreneurial standpoint.

“The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries introduced the concept of lean thinking in startups. It helped emphasize to me the importance of validated learning and iterative adjustments.

“Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman is another good one. It’s not directly about entrepreneurship. But, it provides insights into human decision-making, which is crucial for understanding customer behavior and business strategy.

Harvard Business Review is an invaluable resource for me. By regularly reading articles from HBR, I’ve gained a wealth of knowledge on management, leadership, and business building. I’ve cited several of the essays in my first published book.

Simon Sinek’s TED Talk, “How Great Leaders Inspire Action,” was a brilliant video I watched many years ago. Sinek discussed the importance of starting with “why” in leadership. This can be applied to entrepreneurial thinking.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

My firm uses several methods to generate new leads, but referrals and networking have been among the most effective.

Our generous referral program incentivizes current and past clients to recommend our services to other companies needing marketing support.

In-person networking has always been valuable. When I first started Blue Surge Marketing Agency, I made it a point to attend physical events. I understood the importance of being visible to prospective clients. One day, I participated in a networking mixer of a nonprofit organization. The event was free and a packed room in a relatively small space. When the mixer was over, all the attendees left in a hurry, leaving a mess of food and garbage for the organizer to clean up. I noticed this and offered to lend a hand to clean up as she was all alone. I sent an email after the event thanking her for having me there. A day later, she emailed me an RFP for a website development project for their organization. Long story short, I was able to secure my largest client at the time simply by being a considerate human being.

Contact Info:

• Website: thebluesurge.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/godson.digital
• Facebook: facebook.com/thebluesurge
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/godsonmichel
• Twitter: twitter.com/godson.digital

Image Credits
Photos by xbykyle