Let’s start by addressing the obvious. By nature, pop-up marketing efforts tend to lean towards the invasiveness side of the spectrum. They’re ultimately designed to disrupt the user’s experience onsite, but in a way that grabs their attention toward a call to action. 

Based on the early ‘first gen’ pop-ups that used to plague the internet over ten years ago, pop-ups have historically had a bad rap. And to be clear, those are still annoying. But on-site pop ups on brand websites have evolved to be one of the most effective ways to capture customer data – for example marketing email address opt-ins – so you can grow your owned audiences. 

Growing your owned, addressable database is hugely important because it unlocks a cost-efficient way to re-engage your buyers, continue to nurture them over time, and convert them into loyalists. Pop-ups are therefore very necessary – and not as evil as many may think! 

Pop-up marketing and the value add

When used appropriately, they have a lot to offer brands and consumers alike. There are various ways of capturing data once a visitor comes to your site, so let’s run through five of the main approaches, from most to least intrusive:

1. On entrance
   Quite simply, when a consumer visits a brand’s website (generally speaking) with an introductory offer – 10 percent off an initial purchase, for example – in exchange for their email address or mobile phone number. This is the most commonly recognised pop-up and can be a great data capture strategy. 
2. On exit
   Shown to a website visitor once it appears a user’s intent is to veer away from the website, for example, going to click address bar on a laptop or rapidly scrolling on a phone. The user will see an offer or discount, similar to those presented on entrance. Because a user is already engaged with the website, but shows signs of wavering, this can be a powerful way of reengaging with your audience in the same session.
3. Timed
   Timed pop-ups are the “chaotic good” of pop-up intrusiveness as they’re typically deployed when a user has been on your site for a particular length of time, to offer discounts or promotions and incentivise the user switching from consideration to immediate purchase. This consumer is more likely to have genuine interest in your product, and therefore, it’s highly likely they’ll be similarly engaged on a discount on an imminent purchase. 
4. Native deployments
   Leaving aside conventional pop-ups for a moment, native deployment is about capturing user data in a slightly less intrusive manner, within standard on-page elements or modules. For example, this could include an email newsletter subscribe form that sits in a global footer. 
5. Persistent deployments
   It may seem counterintuitive, but persistent deployments are one of the most subtle options. They sit in the corner of a website — usually in the form of a non-intrusive button — and follow the user through their website journey, ready and waiting to be clicked on when the customer is ready. 

Although they operate at different stages of the user journey, all are designed first and foremost as value exchanges. After all, if they didn’t work, brands would simply stop using them. Consumers provide valuable contact information, such as an email address or mobile number, and brands offer discounts or special offers in return. But where is the line between invasive and effective?

Regardless of the point in the consumer journey, or intent you’re trying to capture, when deploying pop-ups on your site, there are a few key things to remember:

• Offer value. If you’re not offering a tempting reason for a consumer to exchange their details, your pop-up simply won’t perform well.
• Be clear and concise. Make your message accurate and tempting.
• Inject your brand personality. Don’t be afraid to showcase your brand’s personality.
• Don’t overwhelm. Use them sparingly with clear intention. 

At the end of the day, consumers love to hate pop-ups. 

It’s important to realise even the most carefully crafted pop-up won’t work every time. While it’s certainly valuable to let a campaign run so performance can be observed over time, it’s also worth trialling new concepts, copy and images, as well as different offers, to figure out the ideal formula.

Once you’ve done enough to get someone to offer you their data, the next — and much bigger  — job is understanding what they like, what they don’t, when they tend to buy, what messaging resonates, and how they like to be interacted with. Having the right technology partners is crucial to getting this bit right.  

Jamie Hoey is the Australian general manager at Wunderkind.

With Australian business and government becoming more data-driven, some important conversations are finally being had, including how data is sourced, utilised, secured and stored for a better experience.

While these are challenging and at times vexed topics, the emergence and popularisation of decentralised or self-sovereign identity promises to alleviate some key concerns around data control and customer consent collection and management.

Under privacy laws in Australia, explicit consent is currently required for only “a limited range of collections, uses and disclosures of personal information”. An expansion is now being canvassed to cover “any collection, use or disclosure of personal information”, though that’s “generally opposed” by industry on grounds that it could be burdensome for all sides. Marketers, in particular, worry an expansion could result in people being asked to consent so often that they take the “nuclear option” and opt-out of all forms of branded communication entirely.

What’s needed is balance: meeting the privacy needs of people whose data it is, and the operational needs of organisations that collect, store and use it.

Data is often a critical input to customer experience and service delivery. Customers today expect a certain amount of personalisation in their interactions, and organisations want to retain an ability to use customer data for those purposes. It would not make sense to introduce friction into this process.

At the same time, changing consumer attitudes to privacy and data sharing need to be taken into account. A recent survey found 43 percent of Australians are unwilling to have their data shared with any third-party. Such attitudes are often shaped by experience, such as perceived or actual data misuse by a brand, or having their PII accessed or stolen in a data breach incident. That is a key reason why consumers now tie their willingness to share data in future to the presence of increased protections and safeguards.

As consumers become more savvy, and privacy laws and regulations catch up, it is incumbent on organisations and brands to navigate to a customer-centric and privacy-preserving path for data use.

Applying Identity and Access Management (IAM) protections and controls to both sides of the data equation – the person, whose data it is, and the business collecting and storing it – and embracing decentralised identity are likely to be critical steps to ensuring the right balance is struck.

Verifying identity to help with a better experience

Currently, every organisation collects personal data and individually controls customer preferences and consent for how that data gets used. 

These consents may need to be revisited over time, such as if a person’s relationship with a brand or business changes – and organisations should have the mechanisms in place to keep up and honour that. An IAM system can be utilised by the organisation to track and manage that consent flow lifecycle and to keep a record of authorised uses of data for a particular period of time.

However, not all organisations meet this standard today. As we’ve seen in some high-profile Australian data breaches, data is often stored for far longer than the use case it was collected for. There are often mismatches between how consumers think their data should be treated, and how it actually gets used.

Decentralised identity – also called self-sovereign identity – flips this paradigm around and puts consumers in charge of their data and more directly in control of how consent is managed. Rather than having to separately establish individual identities with each organisation they transact with, the customer has just one verified identity, held in a digital wallet on their smartphone or other device, that they can use for every interaction.

Under this model, when an organisation asks the customer to verify their identity, only a small amount of information, only what is necessary at that given time, is exchanged. For example, if all the organisation needs is an age verification, decentralised identity would confirm the person is over 18 and that that’s been verified. There would be no need to overshare anything else – such as a full scan of a passport or driver’s licence with address, birth date, etc. – for the intended purpose. The customer can also manage and revoke consents centrally from within their digital wallet, instead of having to manage them in self-serve portals attached to every organisation they interact with (assuming that granularity of control is even offered – it may not be).

This will shift identity and data handling practices from organisations having all the power, to a world where consumers and organisations both have a key role.

To operate in this world, organisations will need to ensure they have the right IAM controls, covering both the customer as well as employees looking to use and leverage customer data. Having IAM on both sides of the data is the bare minimum organisations can do to make sure that as they unlock the value of that data and personalise interactions, that customers and their data stay protected, and privacy and consent are respected.

With a tightening of Australian privacy laws inevitable – a question of when, not if – it makes sense for organisations to prepare for this new reality now. By adopting best-practice data handling, privacy protections and IAM controls today, organisations will be best placed to meet current customer expectations and evolving laws in the future.

Ashley Diffey, Vice President Sales APAC and Japan at Ping Identity

The marketing game is evolving faster than most could have imagined, thanks in part to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) – in particular conversational AI. Ambit’s Tim Warren explains how to find that sweet spot between innovation and safety, to protect brand image and keep the trust of customers.  

Conversational AI, AI chatbots, have become the smart marketers’ secret weapon, transforming how we engage with customers and building brand loyalty, thanks to real-time, personalised interactions. AI chatbots can answer multiple customer queries immediately, around the clock, with no breaks. In a research study by HubSpot, 90 percent of customers rate an ‘immediate’ response as essential or very important when they have a question. 

AI capability means we can do incredible things for our prospects and customers. This goes beyond providing an immediate response. How about educating them about that new eco-friendly polar-fleece that’s hitting your shelves? Help them find their nearest favourite brand retailer? Maybe offer special personalised incentives to your top brand enthusiasts? There’s no limit to the scope of the engaging conversations you can have, and no limit to the creativity of the engagement.

But how do we keep our customers and brands safe and secure in the AI era? We have all seen the examples of chatbots gone rogue – from hallucinating incorrect answers to expressing inappropriate views misaligned with a company’s values – and marketers are well aware of the damage this can cause to a brand.  

We also have a responsibility to handle customers’ personal information with the utmost care, and many people don’t realise that once something has been entered into a public generative AI system such as ChatGPT, that input could be used to train and explain answers for others.  

Some corporates and government departments are rushing to introduce staff bans on use of ChatGPT. This is due to the risk that data from prompts entered into an open generative AI platform might appear in responses to questions from other users. 

A smarter way to use conversational AI

 There is a smarter way though. Ambit does not believe in blanket bans. Instead we recommend proactive establishment of policies and procedures to protect data, including communicating clearly to staff what tasks can and can’t be carried out using external tools such as public generative AI. 

AI and GPT are very new technologies and there will be some trial and error while marketers and customers work out how to safely use these tools.

Ambit’s advice is to

1. Identify the risks and opportunities for your business – create a risks register and review it monthly.
2. Determine who in the organisation is responsible for creating policies to guide AI adoption.
3. Determine who owns those policies.
4. Agree what tasks can and cannot be carried out using external tools. For example, writing a LinkedIn post announcing event sponsorship is fine, but writing anything at all that includes any personal data or information about a customer is not.
5. Communicate the policies and guidelines to your team, customers and partners.

By using a trusted provider of conversational AI, and following ethical AI frameworks and guidelines, you will ensure your AI systems play by the rules, minimising any potential biases or unethical outcomes.

It is also important to assign a real person to train and oversee AI chatbots. Digital employees are fantastic, yet they can’t do everything on their own. We still need that human touch and personal connection so a team made up of humans and AI is ideal. The AI chatbot provides lightning-fast responses and automated processes, freeing up time for real people to handle tricky situations, show empathy, and tackle more sensitive and complex customer inquiries. 

AI isn’t just a fancy buzzword; it’s a game-changer that unlocks a world of possibilities for marketers, allowing us to improve customer service, elevate customer engagement, and drive brand success. Conversational marketing extends beyond mere sales transactions; it serves as a powerful tool for cultivating customer relationships and fostering unwavering brand loyalty. 

So don’t let the potential risks put you off adding an AI chatbot to your team. Recent findings from Twilio’s research reveal that a whopping 90 percent of consumers express a strong desire to engage with businesses through messaging channels. This data underscores the immense potential of conversational marketing in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape. Companies that fail to capitalise on this trend are overlooking opportunities for driving customer engagement, amplifying brand visibility, and fuelling revenue growth.

By embracing AI responsibly, being transparent with customer data blending the best of human and AI interactions, and using a trusted provider, brands can safely unleash the true potential of AI.

For more tips on how to stay safe in the AI and GPT era, have a look at Ambit’s organisational readiness guide for AI and GPT.

In a world that is constantly changing and evolving, businesses must keep up with the times to remain relevant, competitive and to showcase growth. Undergoing a brand refresh can signal to stakeholders that the company is looking to the future and is committed to growth and innovation. It can also help businesses differentiate themselves from the competitors and build stronger brand recognition and loyalty.

In the travel industry, where technology and consumer preferences are constantly changing, businesses must adapt quickly to remain relevant. At Rome2Rio, we recently went through a brand refresh, with an update to our logo. This new logo pays tribute to our heritage while celebrating our community of global travellers, signalling the next phase of growth for us. But what went into the brand refresh process, and what does this transformation mean for our future? 

The state of the travel industry

Let’s take a look at the travel industry as a whole first, delving into how the current state of it shaped our decision. It’s fair to say that in the past few years, the industry has undergone significant changes, with the pandemic causing major disruptions, including lockdowns and travel restrictions. However, as these were lifted, there was a rebound in travel intent with people itching to scratch their wanderlust. Last year, McKinsey & Company predicted that the travel industry will recover to pre-pandemic levels by 2024. Our recently released Mobility Report shows we’re on track to achieving this, with searches on the website having increased by 133 percent between Q1 2019 and Q1 2023. 

With the current global economic downturn affecting many industries, the transportation sector included, we’re bound to see changes to the way people travel. Whilst we don’t see a slowdown in travel, we will see consumers begin to prioritise saving costs, transport providers having to adapt to rising fuel costs, and pilot/driver shortages. At the same time, technology is altering travel habits and sustainability as a travel consideration is gaining more weight. It’s up to businesses to now shift their perspectives to stay ahead of the curve and cater to the evolving needs of the industry and its customers. 

Why did we choose now to go through a brand refresh? 

In 2010, our founders landed on the name Rome2Rio because it accurately described our original core purpose – helping travellers to get from one place to another. After over a decade of providing travellers with easy and hassle-free planning, we believed now was the right time to make a change and celebrate our milestones at the same time. In 2022 alone, we achieved over 50 million monthly visitors, 200 million monthly page views, and over 475 million yearly visitors. 

However, while our footprint was larger than ever, our research told us that brand recognition wasn’t where it should be. It found that users were unable to read and understand the logo easily, particularly due to the previous cursive font that was used. The brand refresh is the catalyst to announce Rome2Rio’s next phase of growth, as we look to launch a range of new features and further enhance the user experience. 

Thinking behind the new logo 

Honouring the company’s roots while also celebrating our global community of travellers, the new logo was created to be an instantly recognisable look, associated with the easy travel planning experiences of Rome2Rio. 

It is designed to be simple and effective, using two interlocking pins on a map to reflect the start and endpoint of a traveller’s journey and how Rome2Rio connects them. The tick in the middle provides positive reinforcement and reminds users of the satisfaction of checking off an item on a travel planning to-do list. The logo’s geometric shapes mirror the company’s ethos of providing a simple, hassle-free travel experience to users.

The move away from the previous cursive script was a deliberate move to maximise the logo’s readability for our diverse global user base. As more than 50 percent of Rome2Rio’s users are not native English speakers, the new logo’s simplicity and readability are paramount.

Yesh Munnangi is the CEO of Rome2Rio.

In today’s digital age of TikTok and 10-second-long attention spans, finding ways to get the younger generation to engage with books and literature is no easy feat. In 2020, however, at the height of the lockdowns and business shutdowns put in place by the pandemic, we saw a reading renaissance take bloom, with an influx of the population – young people in particular – turning to books in droves as their chosen form of entertainment. One key driver for this reading resurgence was the explosion of BookTok. 

With people spending more time at home and seeking engaging online content, BookTok emerged as a cultural zeitgeist for books and book-ish content. The platform, primarily based on short book recommendation videos, quickly gained traction among Gen Z and millennials, transforming the way they discover, discuss, and consume literature.

At Booktopia, we saw a 35 percent increase in revenue from 2020 to 2021 and an 80 percent increase in web traffic. This momentum has continued beyond the world of lockdowns with consumers having a higher propensity to buy and read books than they did pre-pandemic, bringing a new generation of readers on the journey with it.

@emlou_reads On your birthday, you visit the infinity book tower in Prague checked off the bucket list #booktok #books #foryoupage #booklover #bookworm #bookish #bookrecs #prague #municipallibrary #infinitybooktower #praguebook ♬ original sound – kim | booktok ༉

BookTok gets people reading again

BookTok (and Bookstagram) has ignited a passion for reading by offering a new group of readers the chance to engage with fresh content and influence which books get to become a part of the conversation. Early on, we’ve recognized the power of BookTok to reimagine traditional book marketing and highlight what younger audiences are looking for. 

As with all retail categories, Gen Z are seeking authenticity and relatable content to influence their purchasing decisions. Books have license to deliver on this on many levels, through the power of storytelling in its product and via the authors themselves. Authors like Colleen Hoover and Taylor Jenkins Reid have immensely benefited from the shareability of BookTok content and are consistently among the best-sellers on our site. 

We are constantly monitoring what prominent BookTok influencers are talking about and who is dominating the share of conversation so we can ensure we are well stocked with the ‘hot properties’ of the moment. We also strategically partner with popular BookTokers, collaborating on content leveraging their influence and credibility among their own audience bases, to promote our brand and showcase the breadth and depth of great books available, especially from local Australian talent. These partnerships have enabled us to reach millions of young readers who are actively seeking new books to devour, while generating buzz around new titles and authors. 

Borrowing from celebrity book clubs

Taking a page out of the celebrity book clubs from the likes of Reese Witherspoon and Oprah Winfrey, we’ve modeled our own TikTok and Instagram accounts as an open-form book club for our customers to share their favourite books of the month and ignite conversations about reading.  We’ve organised virtual events with authors, where readers can come together to hear more about the stories behind the stories as well as connect with other fans to leverage their book and author fandom. We also produce our own weekly podcast – Tell Me What To Read – which further extends the book club phenomenon, serving up recommendations of top books to buy and read for those who are time-poor and seeking inspiration. 

Recognising the power of social validation and recommendations within the BookTok community, we encourage our customers to share their Booktopia book hauls on social media platforms using specific hashtags. This user-generated content not only helps amplify our brand reach but also serves as authentic testimonials from satisfied customers. Beyond this, the shareability and aesthetic appeal of physical books on BookTok and Bookstagram has brought physical books back to the forefront for younger audiences, marrying analogue and digital forms. 

Accessibility is also crucial in engaging younger audiences, and we optimised our website to ensure a seamless user experience, making it easier for Gen Z and millennial readers to explore and purchase books. We’ve even included a ‘Best of BookTok’ section on our website to make it easy for our customers looking for those trendy titles to find what they need. 

The BookTok revolution has undeniably transformed the reading landscape and ushered in an exciting new era of readers. By embracing this trend and tailoring our approach to meet the needs and desires of young readers, Booktopia has been able to remain relevant as a brand and  enabled us to build a position as a cultural barometer for those seeking product inspiration.

At this year’s Online Retailer Conference and Expo, held at the ICC Sydney from 19 – 20 July, I will be sharing more on how to keep your brand relevant, engaged and front-of-mind for flick customers. This year’s conference theme is exploring the tech-led future for retailers, which, while daunting, can also offer incredible opportunities for your brand to flourish and reach new audiences. 

Adam Freedman is the head of brand and communications at Booktopia.

Despite clear communication being essential for any marketing specialist, complicated marketing jargon is still widely used in many marketing strategies and proposals in 2023. Google Ads and digital marketing specialist Kaity Griffin looks at why it is unnecessary, confusing and can potentially be damaging to a marketer.

I was recently speaking to an ex-Google Ads student of mine who asked for my advice on an agency proposal promising great results by utilising “DSP technology”.

To be honest, I had no idea what this “DSP technology” was – I don’t speak corporate fluently, and most of my conversations around Google Ads and digital marketing are with people that aren’t knee-deep in ad accounts every day.

So even though ads jargon is featured heavily in my comms (ROAS, CPA etc) – I try to avoid marketing lingo when speaking to students and clients for two main reasons. Firstly, I don’t want to confuse people. And secondly, I think a lot of the time using big words is just a bit of competition in order to make yourself look smart (which I’m not opposed to from time to time! I do like to look smart!).

How is complicated marketing jargon being used? 

After doing a little digging on Google and uncovering that “DSP technology” either refers to “Demand Side Platform” or “Digital Signal Processing”, the conversation quickly turned to the broader scope of the marketing proposal (specifically for Google Ads), and I was frustrated by the language being used. 

The proposal stated that the goal of the “DSP technology” was to “maximise conversions.” This goal was to be achieved through “various tactical digital capabilities across programmatic remarketing” with the secondary goal focusing on “driving high quality website traffic, among the targeting audiences, focusing on high clicks likelihood, therefore the key KPI is generating conversion”. And these examples were just a small selection from a nine page, jargon filled proposal. 

Quite frankly, this word salad is difficult to process for myself as a seasoned marketer, let alone for a new client unfamiliar with this specialist area. This type of complicated jargon is just riddled with ambiguity, and some of this language really just sensationalises some core functions of a Google Ads specialist. For example, to “maximise conversions” is a given and is the goal of every Google Ads account. It should not be painted in a way that takes a core function out of context.

Complicated and unnecessary language is a red flag 

Using complicated and unnecessary language when propping a client is really a red flag. 

By way of comparison, the above could be easily summarised to read: “Our goal is to increase sales (conversions) by remarketing across Google to a variety of audiences.” This is clear, uncomplicated language that avoids confusion around the job and its main purpose. 

There really is no need to use bogus terminology – that doesn’t even make sense – in order to woo a client. It’s unethical as it can mislead a client about the actual benefits, features, or limitations of a product or service. Such practices can also undermine trust and can lead to dissatisfaction or disappointment when clients realise they were not provided with clear and accurate information.

Confusion and bamboozling may work initially to win a client, but it’ll damage your long term relationship as it’ll never breed trust and safety which can also have a knock-on effect when it comes to referrals and the overarching brand credibility of a business. 

Clarity over confusion

The good news is that you can easily demonstrate your knowledge through language that doesn’t confuse clients, while still positioning yourself as an expert. For example, If you’re a marketing specialist – meet your client where they’re at in your comms. If they’re totally brand new to ads, talk in terms that make sense to them. Use “sales” instead of “conversions” or “revenue” instead of “conversion value”.

Connection plays a huge role in our ability to work with and retain clients. The more you can shapeshift your communication according to the client experience, the safer your client will feel. Choosing clarity over confusion everyday of the week will build honesty, accessibility, transparency and connection into your everyday work processes and wider business practices. 

Kaity Griffin is Australia’s leading Google Ads expert and trainer.

Marketers love a happy customer. If you’re contending with a dissatisfied throng, in addition to every other challenge, then marketing can be like pushing shit uphill.

Getting customers is the first hurdle. If only keeping them was as easy as the tactics employed by massive gym franchises, where you basically need your own death certificate to get out of the contract. 

Instead, you’ve got one shot to prove yourself. And then if you do a good job, you can start building up the goodwill in the relationship. 

I’ve worked in the marketing and tech industry for a long time, and while there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, here’s a few strategies I’ve found helpful.

Set expectations and stick to them

Following through with what you say you’re going to do is a low bar that you should step over comfortably, yet it trips up many businesses. Overpromising to close the sale is only going to cause pain later. Once you’ve found your winning product/service, keep it consistent! Systemise as much of your business as possible to take the guesswork out of meeting customer expectations.

Deliver great customer service

It’s well known that good service drives loyalty. Recent research indicates that 83 percent of customers identify customer service as a strong driver of loyalty. But good service can vary significantly from business to business. So, to build on point one—set expectations and follow through. Commit to how quickly you’ll respond to enquiries, the quality of your product, or the amount of your time you’re offering, then hold yourself accountable. 

Demonstrate social responsibility

Inject some feel-good into purchasing decisions by demonstrating values alignment with your customers. You could donate to charity, but it doesn’t have to be purely financial. Think ethical procurement, mentoring, volunteering, or even values-aligned employee benefits. 

Measure satisfaction, but not too much

A short survey is a good survey. Shorter surveys have higher completion rates and SurveyMonkey identified 10 questions as the sweet spot… But can you go lower? Start with the baseline data necessary to measure trends, then think about what you’re actually able to change in the next 12 months. By focusing on the questions that will inform your strategy, you’re more likely to receive better, more actionable responses. There’s no point in asking 20 questions if you don’t have the capacity to act on the data.

Incentivise existing customers

Great deals are commonly used to entice new customers, and it can be frustrating for existing customers when they aren’t extended the same consideration. So, decide whether a fixed or variable reward system is most relevant to your business, and show your customers some love. After all, Australia has the highest number of consumers who participate in loyalty programs, so give the people what they want!

Reward email opens

Email marketing is a huge driver of sales for many businesses, with most people’s inboxes being the collateral damage. Incentivising email list sign ups is a common tactic, but have you tried incentivising opens? Try delivering member rewards or discounts with unique reward codes for each subscriber. Then take your customer psychology to the next level by varying your rewards—research shows that uncertain rewards can increase repetitive actions.

Champion your customers

It’s a fantastic milestone when you successfully convert customers into fans, and companies will expend tremendous effort to do just that. Ultimately, people want to feel valued. So, flip the script and show your customers you’re their biggest fan. Share their success, acknowledge their milestones, and maybe they’ll reciprocate with some of that golden user generated content. But even if they don’t, you’ve still gone a long way to build up goodwill in the relationship.

That’s a lot to try. But the good news is that you should only introduce one or two tactics at a time. Note down your hypothesis, establish some reporting mechanisms, and give it a good 6-12 months to assess. This isn’t a conversion strategy, where results can be faster. Now you’re trying to meaningfully move the needle on customer happiness, and that takes consistency over time. 

Gillian Laging is co-founder and director of Scopey.co.

Investing in customer data technology will make it easier for you to deliver coordinated multi-channel campaigns that resonate with your target market. How should you be getting the most out of your digital marketing stack in FY24?

Is your enterprise awash with martech solutions, some of them not generating the customer engagement and sales pipeline you hoped that they would?

If you answered in the affirmative, you’re far from alone. The marketing technology industry has burgeoned over the past 12 years; recording growth of 7258 percent in that time, according to the 2023 Marketing Technology Landscape Supergraphic.

Today, marketers have an extraordinary 11,000 solutions to choose from, up from just 150 in 2011. 

Businesses of all stripes and sizes have embraced the promises and possibilities offered. So much so that the average enterprise now has 120 tools and platforms in its digital marketing stack. 

Struggling in siloes

But owning or subscribing to martech solutions and using them effectively are two very different things. For many organisations, having access to a plethora of standalone platforms and programs has led, not to higher click through rates or greater customer lifetime value but, rather, to the emergence of a series of channel based siloes within the marketing department. 

Hence, the individual in charge of email communications may have very little to do with the person managing affiliate marketing, for instance, while the folk overseeing socials don’t collaborate with either of them. 

The net result is almost always a disjointed brand and customer experience. Because the teams don’t talk and the various platforms and programs they use don’t connect and share data, there’s no opportunity – or capacity – to create a single customer view.

Consequently, it’s impossible for the business to segment customers and target them with customised, relevant campaigns.

Instead, old school ‘batch and blast’ tactics remain the order of the day, with each channel team using its own incomplete – and very often dirty, or incomplete – dataset to fire off generalised messages and offers. 

The power of a personal approach

In today’s times, that’s hardly a recipe for marketing or commercial success. 

Personalised marketing, on the other hand, is. Research has consistently shown that it’s one of the surest ways for a brand to forge deeper connections with its customers, foster long term loyalty, grow sales and deliver a consistently excellent customer experience.

Businesses that do personalised marketing well generate 40 percent more revenue from their activities than average performers, according to McKinsey. 

But doing it well is impossible in the absence of a rich seam of up-to-date, accurate data – transactional, personal and behavioural. This is used to create a detailed picture of every customer on your books.

That’s where a Customer Data Platform (CDP) can change the game. 

A CDP is powerful software that brings multiple streams of data together in one repository where it’s easily accessible by marketers, and makes it possible to build those in-depth, holistic 360 degree customer views. 

It’s foundation technology that can enable your organisation to use the martech tools it already owns to deliver integrated, highly personalised customer journeys.

Smarter, faster campaigns

Once a CDP is deployed, your marketing team will be able to investigate, segment and target customers with relevant, personalised content that can be shared over multiple channels concurrently.

And they’ll be able to do so secure in the knowledge that the customer data they’re drawing on isn’t just comprehensive and up to date; it’s securely stored and its usage is compliant with privacy and consent regulations too.

Putting cohesive, omnichannel campaigns together becomes faster and more straightforward and the results will be more effective too, courtesy of the fact that the segmentation you build into your CDP can be leveraged to conduct tests on small samples of your target markets, prior to launch.

Managing executive expectations also becomes easier, provided you select a CDP that has sophisticated data analytics capabilities. Regular reporting from multiple touchpoints can be used to generate insights to inform business decisions – decisions that may have a positive impact on the company’s product or service offering, and ultimately, its profitability.

Keeping your digital marketing stack up with the competition

Data driven personalised marketing has been proven to drive sales and customer retention. In today’s times, businesses that don’t make it a priority risk losing mind and market share to competitors with the commitment and capacity to show customers that they’re understood, heard and valued.

A CDP platform can simplify the complex process of consolidating data and enable your organisation to harness the capabilities of its existing martech stack, to orchestrate personalised omni-channel campaigns at scale, and with ease.

If maintaining your competitive edge matters to your organisation in FY2024, then equipping your marketing team with the technology it needs to succeed is likely to prove a very smart move.

Amy Parker is a senior marketing consultant at n3 Hub.

Are you looking at this when you should be doing your job? Perhaps you’re burnt out, a little bored, taking a break from wistfully gazing out the window? Niche Media has an opportunity to break that career dry spell with a newly created marketing and sales executive role.

There’s nothing like the dull drone of scrolling endlessly through SEEK or LinkedIn, applying for any job, as your standards start to lower you think to yourself, ‘Perhaps I would like to work in an industry I’m not passionate about’ – a job’s a job, right? No! At Niche Media, we firmly believe that a job should give credence to your life. 

With a young gun team full of creatives, unique individuals and autonomous independent thinkers, Niche is the ideal place to nurture your career as well as let your imagination and creative account management skills soar. 

What are we looking for?

Besides looking for someone who has ambition in spades, we’re looking for someone who can master:

• Business development: acquiring new clients through researching, prospecting and cold calling.
• Client relationship management: nurturing our existing clients, providing solutions for them.
• Revenue forecasting and reporting.
• CRM management.
• Market knowledge.
• Communication: we’re a lively bunch who value open communication.

Who are we looking for?

Our ideal candidate can be any age, gender, background. We’re an open book. The main things we are looking for are:

• Experience: not the most experience in the world, but someone with a sales or account management background would be best fit to hit the ground running.
• Communication skills: verbal and written, we’re after someone with the gift of the gab.
• Solution focused: we don’t see problems, we see solutions – problem solving is a major part of this role, but with creative solutions. The sky’s the limit!
• Self-motivated: we’re a small team, and being self motivated is key. You won’t be micromanaged, so it’s about managing your time and priorities – as well as loving what you do.

Why Niche Media?

Now, let’s answer your questions! Why should you join us? 

We have some of the most recognisable mastheads in the industry, from Australian Design Review to Marketing Mag, our reputation of creating lasting and incredible content has meant that we’ve been in the market for 25 years. This position will see the person forging career-long relationships with some of the most important designers in Australia. 

Get those frequent flyer points up! Travel is also on the cards for this role. Niche Media isn’t great at sitting still, so there’s the opportunity to travel overseas.

We also know how to throw a stellar party! IDEA, Australia’s longest running independent design awards, is the party of the year. And, for our 30UNDER30 program, a four day retreat in Bali has been referred to as the ‘event of a lifetime’ – sounds pretty good, right?

So, are you still bored? Still scrolling endlessly, watching the clock? We didn’t think so. Apply for this opportunity to Liz Distefano: elizabeth.distefano@niche.com.au and tell us why you think this is the role for you.

‘The customer is always right’, says the old adage. And while this has been refashioned as ‘customer-centricity’ in recent years, the sentiment still rings true: building brands around people pays. Lippincott’s partner and creative director Dan Vasconcelos explores customer-centric brands.

However, while every brand claims to put the customer front and centre, consumers think differently. According to recent research, 71 percent of Aussies believe brands are too aggressive in sales tactics. Almost half (48 percent) consider brands to be dishonest in communications. 

Businesses should be laser-focused on customers. So, why is it that so many people feel dissatisfied by brand interaction?

And in a world where everyone claims to be customer-centric, how do you prove that you really understand what your customer needs?

Let’s explore. 

It really does start with the customer

In today’s digital-first age, reaching your target audience is not the challenge it once was. Instead, the deciding factor is standing out enough to be actively sought-out.

Here in Australia, only a few businesses are making the cut to be considered truly top-of-mind. These are the brands we search for, care about, consult with, open up to and are happy to be seen with. These are the brands on the home screen of your mobile phone. At Lippincott, this is referred to as a ‘Go-to Brand’. 

And one thing all Go-to Brands have in common is that it will start with a customer view, not a product view. 

This means analysing how people are engaging with the products and services available to them today, and identifying what is working, and—more importantly—what isn’t. In finding these gaps, businesses can then carve out new spaces and offer people the “hacks” to their needs that aren’t currently being met. 

Macquarie Bank serves as an excellent example in this context. Our Brand Aperture study reveals that it excels in establishing strong connections with the customer base. It is evident that Macquarie Bank possesses a deep understanding of the target audience, which guided the decision to venture into retail banking. From observation, the objective was to cater to an urban, affluent and forward-thinking clientele seeking a digital-only banking experience – a customer base that can eventually feed into clients of Macquarie’s wealth management business. The experience and overall expression of Macquarie Bank successfully incorporate these essential cues, making it a relevant and consumer-centric offering.

This is analogous to how Lippincott developed the Marcus by Goldman Sachs brand in the US: built on masterbrand equity, carefully calibrated to address a new audience. 

From customer-led, to customer-leading 

When the idea of being “customer-led” first came onto the scene, it was a breath of fresh air. Until then, organisations were driven by internal operations, production and distribution with customer engagement more of an afterthought. 

Today, a customer-led brand is simply a reactive one. Too many brands who consider themselves ‘customer centric’ are actually just responding to what is thought that the consumers need. This may provide immediate, transactional brand interactions, but does little to create the lasting relationships needed to secure brand loyalty.

By comparison, winning brands lead customers. In showing customers new ways to do things that reset expectations, these organisations are driven by a purpose and a vision of what can be. 

Another Go-to Brand, Afterpay, comes to mind. It realised that the last thing people needed was another credit card. Instead, what people wanted was to have the things they wished to buy now, without the emotional drag of a credit card’s high APR rates. This is why the ‘progress’ score for Afterpay is so high in Brand Aperture amongst both Australian users of the brand and prospective users. With the proposition sorted, they went on to express the brand with refreshing simplicity. 

Mastering connection & progress 

In offering people solutions to problems they didn’t even know they had, Go-to Brands signal just how far they understand what you need – and how they can help you get there. 

Mastering these two components – what we call connection and progress – is the recipe to becoming a Go-to Brand.

As the world becomes more algorithmic, the more people want to forge meaningful connections. Consumers are yearning for brands that champion their worldview and reflect their values. Instead of fulfilling a functional need that people use once and forget about, brands with staying power focus on building lasting relationships, giving customers a reason to return. 

And brands that secure a loyal customer base do so by giving them the tools to do something they couldn’t do before. Progress means pushing customers forward, opening doors and introducing consumers to ideas and services they can’t get from anywhere else. 

As a Go-to Brand, NAB is proactive and enables users to take control of finances. With digital banking, consumers can avoid those baseline transactions like having to go into a branch or call in to accomplish something. But more than this foundational interaction, is a need for people to trust the brands that are in their lives. NAB excels in Brand Aperture as a brand users are happy to let them into their lives and trust to make good decisions on their behalf. Plus, the bank shares the same values as their users – something that is key for a leading brand in Australia.

What’s the reward of being customer-centric?

When connection and progress are mastered together, a brand becomes more resilient, and is able to pull  loyal customers in with adjacent offerings. 

And the prize is big—Go-to Brands are likely to see five times more revenue growth than brands that fall short in delivering connection and progress in unison.

But competition is tougher than ever before, not just from typical competitors, but from digital newcomers and other disruptors. Winning customers’ appreciation has never mattered so much.

As Macquarie, Afterpay and NAB demonstrate, moving away from the buzzword and taking real action is the key to driving those meaningful connections needed today – and for the future.