A warning on marketing automation
On paper, marketing automation sounds like a great idea and the key principles are straightforward. However, achieving this in reality is not always easy. First, most of the systems involved are quite costly and the set-up process is something you will most likely need help with. This means there will be an initial set-up cost and project in most cases. If the systems that we use for e-mail, website content management and CRM are not directly compatible with your automation system, you are likely to have some initial integration challenges. Once these are overcome and you shouldn’t underestimate how difficult this can be to achieve you need to define your rules. This can be time consuming and complicated, may involve lots of people and will need ongoing refinement. Also, this is something that should be considered a long-term plan. I say that from the experience of never having seen an automation project take less than 18 months from beginning to satisfactory outcome, as a lot of issues and challenges tend to be highlighted when you try to implement it. CRM and automation Integrating CRM and marketing systems to achieve a single customer view should be considered essential. It will give you the flexibility and ability to do smart marketing, which is essential to achieve great digital media strategy blog. Integration allows you to personalize the experience that your audience will receive and gives you much easier insights into that audience.
Marketing automation, on the other hand, is fantastic when implemented but is only suited to particular scenarios involving complicated products and services. It is a complicated process that needs the proper planning and resourcing to make it work effectively. It is unusual to explore things like systems, data and infrastructure when discussing branding, but when we define digital branding as the sum of the touchpoints that someone experiences, it soon becomes clear why it has an integral part to play. We only need to take an everyday example to see how integral systems are to the user experience, what we think of a brand and how it can impact our likelihood to purchase. If I browse your website and look at certain products but don’t buy them, and you then send me an e-mail listing similar products to those that I have been browsing, this can be an effective form of behavioural targeting. However, if I then buy a product but you continue to market that product to me, it will potentially have a negative impact. Both the positive and negative sides of this are possible because of the systems we use and the way in which we implement them. Integration It all starts with the idea of integration. We have identified our value proposition, aligned it with the target audience’s needs, and focused on value throughout. Each of our channels have been carefully selected and we understand the potential journeys between each of these channels and how this may be a complex and non-linear process. We have identified our content requirements to deliver the optimal journey and delivered this in a frictionless way, regardless of what device or platform our audience is using. So we have integrated digital branding, right? Very nearly. What is missing is the glue that makes it stick together, which in this case is data. We need to test, learn to refine things and to adjust. The environment we operate in is fast moving and fluid. Therefore our digital branding needs to be fluid and fast to adjust as well. That is why Part Three will be essential in order to create successful digital branding that will adapt and stand the test of time. Multichannel marketing is dead Multichannel marketing is the idea of delivering your marketing via multiple channels, which traditionally meant print, TV, catalogues and a website that said the same thing (or some other online/offline mix). It meant, for example, that a special offer on one channel was offered in the same way on another channel. The reality is that if you are still trying to achieve this you’ve got it all wrong. Different channels are used differently and we don’t want exactly the same from each. Digital means that we have dozens of different channels and we certainly don’t want them all to communicate the same things. Yet that is not to say we don’t want consistency. Omni-channel marketing Omni-channel marketing recognizes the fact that my target audience will want to engage and communicate with me across multiple channels in a way that suits them. It recognizes that each channel plays a different role in the user journey, and this role may change and adapt according to what the person engaging with it wants. Bear in mind, though, that each user may start the user journey at a different point and jump many of the steps you expected. They may also revisit certain steps multiple times and leave long durations of time between each step. For example, I know that on average a lead generated on my website is done so by a visitor who has visited around five times. This means they have visited my site again and again, obviously finding something useful each time, before they finally decide to enquire about the service we offer. Without knowing this, I may have dismissed the traffic being sent to my site by various channels, as it never seemed to be converting into business. In reality, I just didn’t understand the number of steps and complexity involved. Understanding this omni-channel approach is at the heart of truly understanding how different elements of your marketing efforts are contributing to your digital branding. The approach to digital branding outlined in this section embraces omni-channel marketing with its focus on user journey and final outcomes. Transmedia storytelling I love saying the phrase ‘transmedia storytelling’ to people. They generally give me a bit of a smirk and then give me an ‘I’m not buying any of this nonsense’ kind of look, as if I’ve just expressed the silliest marketing jargon ever invented. However, it is real and is a fantastic opportunity to achieve incredibly powerful digital branding. In reality, transmedia storytelling goes back to the very beginning of marketing. In fact, it goes back to the very beginning of language and communication. If I tell you a fact, you will probably forget it fairly quickly. However, if I tell you a story that communicates a fact, you’ll most likely remember it. It brings it to life, gives it context and makes it engaging. It’s human nature and it’s how we’ve communicated since before we could speak. It’s all about narrative. Transmedia storytelling aims to tie together each of the channels and platforms we use – using narrative. This can lead to extremely memorable and engaging experiences. It also relies on great creative concepts and absolute attention to detail when exploring how the user journey can be understood and managed. The key to delivering great digital branding is to see how all of the different experiences that we are delivering fit together, whether that is via search, social media, mobile or any other digital channel. In order for these to fit together, though, we need to test our assumptions, to adjust as things change and to have a constant commitment to improvement. To do this, we need feedback. This feedback takes the form of analytics, measurement and surveying our results.
