Data-Driven Customer Experience Transformation with Mohamed Zaki
IN CLEAR FOCUS: Professor Mohamed Zaki of Cambridge University discusses his new book “Data-Driven Customer Experience Transformation.” Mohamed explores the shift from product-centric to customer-centric business models, distinguishing customer satisfaction from delight, and leveraging AI and data analytics to predict customer behavior. Mohamed also shares his insights on omnichannel experiences, personalization strategies, and real-world case studies, including Caterpillar’s CX transformation. < Episode Transcript Adrian Tennant: Coming up in this episode of IN CLEAR FOCUS … Professor Mohamed Zaki: One of the key things is the interpersonal relation with the customer, which is coming from where we see now a lot of the tech firms are going, it’s personalization. So we saw this with all these new tech firms, what made them successful on their platform, they understood every customer, what they really care about, what they need, what they prefer, and they offer that to them back. Adrian Tennant: You’re listening to IN CLEAR FOCUS, fresh perspectives on marketing and advertising produced weekly by BigEye, a strategy-led full-service creative agency growing brands for clients globally. Hello, I’m your host, Adrian Tennant, BigEye’s Chief Strategy Officer. Thank you for joining us. Recent research from Kantar reveals a striking insight. Customer experiences contribute more to brand perceptions than advertising. In fact, while paid media delivers 25% of brand building impact, direct customer experience and word of mouth account for around half of all brand perceptions. Our guest today is uniquely positioned to help us understand this data point. Professor Mohamed Zaki is based at the Institute for Manufacturing in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge, where he serves as Deputy Director of the Cambridge Service Alliance. This research centre brings together the world’s leading firms and academics to address digital transformation challenges. Mohamed has consulted and lectured for over 50 organizations, including Manchester United, Caterpillar, and IKEA. He’s also the course leader for the Data-Driven Design for Customer Experience online course at Cambridge University Press and Assessment, and co-founder of Customer Experience Insights Limited, which developed the 360CX AI platform for customer engagement decision-making. He serves in advisory roles for several companies, most recently as AI Innovation Advisor at Tactful AI. His new book, published by Kogan Page, is “Data-Driven Customer Experience Transformation: Optimize your omnichannel approach,” which is also our selection for the BigeyeBook Club this month. To discuss some of his book’s key ideas and frameworks, I’m delighted that Mohamed is joining us today from Northamptonshire in the UK. Mohamed, welcome to IN CLEAR FOCUS! Professor Mohamed Zaki: Thank you so much. It’s a pleasure to be here with you, Adrian. Adrian Tennant: What inspired you to write “Data-Driven Customer Experience Transformation”? Professor Mohamed Zaki: So I work most of my career helping organizations around this area in particular for a while. So most of my research helping firms to understand how they can leverage data and AI to design better experience, but also as well to manage it in particular. What makes me drive to drive the book is actually the fast pace of the era that we’re living at the moment, especially the digital transformation that’s happening with many firms. When I’ve been asking a lot of practitioners, they were struggling a little bit with the right tools and frameworks that enable them to design the future of services and experience for the firms. But more important is leveraging this new emerging technology like AI and data to enable them to understand their customers better. And this is particularly problematic in enterprise firms or established firms, not the digital-born organization. You can see digital-born organizations, they’re quite starting as a startup, nimble, their tools and softwares and solutions is quite up to date. So that’s allowed them to become more data-driven, if you like, organization. Think about ChadGPT, for example. This is an example of a data-driven business organization, which has managed to do a better experience for users when we are interacting with a machine, in this case, a conversational AI. There will be a lot of attempts before, but they were the most successful one, and that came from the statistics. Many users daily joining their platform now, and this is because of the experience they had with this conversational AI capability. So I guess to answer your question in particular, there is need for a lot of practitioners now with fresh thinking, fresh tools that go beyond the traditional ones that exist for a while, like design thinking, journey mappings, and emotion mapping. So I thought, let’s leverage some of my engagements and interactions with a lot of firms, and most of the tools I’ve been developing through my research in this book to communicate and disseminate, and hopefully this is helpful for people. Adrian Tennant: In your book’s introduction, you highlight how we’re living in an experience-driven economy, where even beloved brands risk losing market share due to a single negative customer experience. Mohamed, what’s driving this shift? Professor Mohamed Zaki: This just came a lot as well from a lot of facts and figures that a lot of big practitioner firms, we’ve been surveying customers to understand, you know, the new generation of customers, what they think about the brand they are engaging with. And you can see the new wave of customers, let’s say this way, needs not the standard ways of services or the transactional strategy that we used to have with established firms. They need personalized experience, they need the speed, they need care about some of their issues and problems. Hence, this is a discussion in the book, to deliver a quality product or a service is not at the moment making your biggest competitive advantage. You have to have a quality product, of course, and quality service here, offer it to your customers. But what differentiate you versus your competitors is the customers really feel that they have a great experience and seamless experience with your brand. So we saw a lot of statistics,
What’s Right with America With Honorable Paul Johnson and Larry Aldrich
IN CLEAR FOCUS: Honorable Paul Johnson and Larry Aldrich, authors of “What’s Right with America,” challenge fear-driven narratives dominating media. They discuss how optimism drives innovation, the power of individual agency over collective thinking, and the economic strengths of the United States. The conversation explores marketing lessons from their data-driven approach to countering pessimism, the importance of entrepreneurship, and how brands can tap into shared American values rather than divisions. < Episode Transcript Adrian Tennant: Coming up in this episode of IN CLEAR FOCUS … Larry Aldrich: You simply can’t solve problems from a position of fear and negativity. You have to be optimistic. You have to believe you can solve them. Paul Johnson: The single greatest thing that our country ever did was, from the very beginning, it empowered the individual over itself. Adrian Tennant: You’re listening to IN CLEAR FOCUS, fresh perspectives on marketing and advertising produced weekly by Bigeye, a strategy-led, full-service creative agency growing brands for clients globally. Hello, I’m your host, Adrian Tennant, Bigeye’s Chief Strategy Officer. Thank you for joining us. In today’s polarized media landscape, marketers and brands face unprecedented challenges when communicating with consumers. As society appears more divided, many brands struggle to position themselves authentically without alienating segments of their audience. This challenge raises important questions about how brands can navigate these complex waters while staying true to their values and connecting with consumers in meaningful ways. Our guests today offer a unique perspective on America’s foundation, its values, and how understanding what’s right with America might provide insights for brands and marketers. Honorable Paul Johnson is a former State Department official, CEO and co-founder of Redirect Health, former mayor of Phoenix, and host of The Optimistic American podcast. Joining him is Larry Aldrich, a former federal antitrust prosecutor, former CEO of University Physicians Healthcare and two Gannett newspapers, and founder of Tucson Ventures. Together, they’ve authored a new book titled “What’s Right with America … And How We Can Keep It That Way!” Published by Post Hill Press, the book examines America’s core strengths and values, challenging the prevailing pessimism that dominates so much of today’s discourse. To discuss how their insights might inform marketing strategies in a polarized world, I’m delighted that Paul and Larry are joining us today from Arizona. Paul and Larry, welcome to IN CLEAR FOCUS. Larry Aldrich: Thank you. Paul Johnson: Thanks for having us, Adrian. Adrian Tennant: Larry, your book, “What’s Right with America,” comes at a time when many perceive the country as deeply divided. What inspired you to write this book? Larry Aldrich: So I would say Paul, specifically. I don’t really kind of suck up when talking to Paul, but Paul is the inspiration for the book. He and I are running buddies, and I knew about his podcast, The Optimistic American. And one day I said, “You know, you might want to market this a little differently. You might want to write a book.” And he goes, “Well, I’ve written books.” And he said, “If you want to write a book with me …” meaning “you want to take the first crack at it.” And I said, “Sure. I’ve always been thinking about writing a book. So here we go.” So that really was the inspiration, specifically. Generally, I think I tire very much from the negativity. And I get caught up in it like everybody else, and you just kind of find yourself just spiraling down. And again, the inspiration of Paul just spending much of his time on a podcast talking about optimism and what makes America great, those two things intersected for me to be quite interested to write the book with Paul. Adrian Tennant: Paul, when we were preparing for this podcast, you mentioned how fear-driven narratives dominate media channels on both sides of the political divide. Now, as someone who’s worked in both politics and business, how do you see this affecting the broader cultural conversation? Paul Johnson: Well, I don’t think there’s any doubt that it’s had a big effect. I do want to say one thing about Larry. I appreciate Larry giving me so much credit. But Larry was a publisher. He worked for the Justice Department. He has an incredible understanding of the Constitution. And I have known him for a long time. And his fundamentals and his belief in the foundations of America are almost unshakable. It’s one of the things that I’ve loved about him. And he contributed and wrote a ton on that inside this book, that I enjoyed myself. You know, what we see that’s happening, and that is counter to my instincts, is a huge amount of pessimism that exists in America today. The pessimism is being driven really by both sides, and there are a wide variety of reasons for it. But there’s political advantage, and it’s profitable to be negative. But consequently, the American brand is being hit on a regular basis. If you were trying to figure out how to market into that, my guess is the first instinct would be you have to be negative as well. But as we know about branding, anytime you’re talking about branding, sometimes being counter to the existing culture is what actually gets you noticed. We’re hoping that is what happens. Although I can’t tell you how many times Larry and I have been up on podcasts and seen comments from people saying, “What’s right with America? Are you guys morons?” That there’s not much right with it. And here’s what I would say to that. “You’re wrong. You know, take a look at the data. Start with that.” You know, today, again, on the right and the left, we, you know, we can listen to the Bernie Sanders talk about inequality that exists because of income levels. We can also hear both sides talk about things like the need for tariffs because the United States has been hollowed out and our industry has been destroyed.
Bigeye’s 2023 US Pet Owners Study
Results from Bigeye’s new 2023 US Pet Owners Study reveal 97 percent consider their pets to be family members. What are the implications for pet care marketing?
Everything You Need to Know About Living in Austin, Texas
Learn everything you wanted to know about what makes Austin, Texas weird from the people that call it home. Download our Austin, TX research report to review all of the details. Introduction The capital city of Texas, Austin is the 11th-most populous city in the United States and the seat of Travis County. Located nearly in the center of the state, Austin is about three hours south of Dallas; three hours west of Houston; and about 90 minutes north of San Antonio. Experiencing a population growth of 34.1% between 2007 and 2017, the Austin region is one of the fastest-growing in the country Austin has been the fastest-growing major metro in the country for nine straight years, from 2010 to 2019. The metro population jumped to an estimated 2.2 million people as of July 1, 2019, according to the United States Census Bureau. That is an increase of 2.8% from the prior year, bigger than any other metro with at least 1 million residents. That’s 169 people added every day, on average. With a vibrant, well-educated, and youthful population of 2.2 million in the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), the median age in Austin is 34.7 years. Of Austin’s population aged over 25, 44.8% have a Bachelor’s Degree. Leading the US in tech salary growth, it’s the number four city tech workers would consider moving to. Austin’s laid-back, take-it-or-leave-it kind of attitude matches well with its fun and “weird” culture, celebrated on bumper stickers and T-shirts with the slogan, “Keep Austin Weird.” “Everyone is welcome and has a place somewhere here. And it just makes it such a unique place because you just never know who you’re gonna meet or what experience you’re going to have just ‘cause there’s so many different things.” Jamie E, 38 Austin Neighborhoods Downtown Austin is popular with younger residents with middle to upper household incomes. These Austinites love the convenience of being just blocks from shopping on Congress Avenue, live music venues on 6th Street, and even some great parks, hiking, and biking along the Colorado River. Across the Colorado River from Downtown Austin sits South Austin, where young, artsy types congregate. Barton Heights offers great family areas, while Travis Heights and Bouldin Creek attract mainly hip, liberal Austinites. North and Northwest Austin include Round Rock, Cedar Park, and Leander, which attract a lot of families. The Leander is an award-winning school district, and Apple and Dell have large operations in the area. North Austin also has some great luxury apartments. These fast-growing Austin neighborhoods are popular with families. West Austin has some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the city, such as Westlake Hills and Steiner Ranch. The commute into town is a bit longer than in other areas of Austin, but residents are closer to Lake Travis and the great outdoors. Neighborhoods Oak Hill and Circle C Ranch are further south. Although East Austin used to be considered the poorest part of the city, the area is now mostly a hipster neighborhood with many sleek, modern developments. Southeast Austin is home to a lot of University of Texas students, likely because of the large numbers of apartments and other rental properties in the area. “I am in a tiny house in East Austin. With three dogs – I have two Huskies and a mix. You’d be surprised the people who to live in the tiny houses where I’m at.” Shelly S, 42 Doing Business in Austin The Austin region offers businesses deep talent, education, quality healthcare, telecommunications, and a modern, international airport. The major employers include: Amazon, AMD, Apple, Charles Schwab, Dell, General Motors, IBM, Intel, National Instruments, Samsung, Tesla, VISA, and Whole Foods. Key Industries include: Advanced Manufacturing Clean Technology Creative & Digital Media Technology Data Management Financial Services and Insurance Life Sciences Space Technology The growth isn’t slowing down any time soon. The new Tesla Gigafactory, set to be located in eastern Travis County, will be one of the world’s largest and most advanced automotive plants and will bring an estimated $1 billion in capital investment to the region. In addition to being home to tech giants, Austin has a thriving startup scene. Austin area startups attracted $2.2 billion across 263 venture deals in 2019. Startups account for a larger share of businesses in Austin than in nearly all major US metros and Austin ranks 6th for new businesses per 1,000 population. “A couple of my friends work at Google and Facebook and they’re always saying so many people are moving in. I would say those apartment complexes are definitely to cater to people like that. Cause it’s like the new hub.” Madison P, 28 The Cost of Living in Austin Texas consistently ranks as one of the nation’s most favorable business climates based on its low tax burden and competitive regulatory environment. Texas features no personal or corporate income tax, and overall the state has one of the lowest state and local tax burdens in the US. According to Austin’s Chamber of Commerce, the cost of living is 2% lower than the national average. Austin Apartment Costs Renters will generally find more expensive prices in Austin than most similar cities. The median two-bedroom rent of $1,450 is above the national average of $1,193. The city’s median one-bedroom rent is $1,175. While rents in Austin fell moderately over the past year (-0.6%), many cities nationwide saw slight increases (+0.2%). According to RENTCafé, these 5 Austin neighborhoods offer a good selection of rental apartments, unique dining, shopping, atmosphere, walkability, and a sense of community: Downtown Austin (average rent $2,200/mo) Central Austin ($2,100/mo) Clarksville, between downtown and the MoPac Expressway ($2,100/mo) Zilker, South Austin ($1,400/mo) Travis Heights, South Austin ($1,400/mo) What Austin Renters Want No two renters are the same but many Austin renters are consistently seeking features and amenities. Here are the top things tenants report looking for in a property: Convenient Location – People want to live, work, and play in a geographically convenient circle. If your multifamily property is located
Demystifying the DINK Demographic for Creating Brand Personas
The DINK demographic usually has more time and money to spend on themselves, so it’s worthwhile to explore the dual-income, no-kids market. Everybody has heard of the Gen Z, Gen X, Millennial, Baby Boomer, and Greatest Generation. However, the DINK demographic, short for Dual Income and No Kids, has now entered marketing lingo. Since any audience development agency may presume that many couples without kids have more time and disposable income than those with larger families, they’ve become a prime target for consumer marketing. How an audience development agency develops brand personas for the DINK demographic DINK refers to two-income couples who have chosen not to have children. It doesn’t necessarily mean these couples belong a specific age or income group; however, marketers may tend to mostly picture them as Millennials with decent salaries. As for why they’re often associated with Millennials, just last year, even before the COVID crisis, Business Insider mentioned that the U.S. birthrate had declined to its lowest in three decades. A survey attributed the decline mostly to Millennials’ uncertainty about the future. Since the Millennial generation has grown to become the majority of the workforce, they get a lot of attention from marketers anyway. Still, sometimes DINK can refer to members of other generations, even Baby Boomers who are empty nesters. Digging deeper into the DINK generation If some DINK couples decide they’re not ready for parenting, they appear fairly eager for other kinds of experiences. While nobody should try to put all dual-income-no-children couples in one basket, marketers can enjoy great success with this group as a target market with the right approach and product. From the perspective of an audience insights agency, marketers should consider these general observations to succeed with the market: 1. Research target audience demographics Some DINK couples may choose to skip parenthood because they feel uncertain or are simply unwilling to give up their freedom. However, in other cases, the idea of parenthood might not appeal to them or even be possible. Many even choose to delay parenthood but consider it a possibility in the future. That’s why an audience targeting agency should conduct research on specific target market demographics and behavior to better understand their likely audience in order to develop useful buyer personas. 2. Consider marketing innovative products, services, or businesses Even though a DINK couple might not feel ready to make a lifelong commitment of parenthood, they generally tend to be early adapters and interested in innovation. They may also have more time and money to learn about and experience new things. Even if one product doesn’t appear terribly innovative, it’s good to focus upon any fresh or transformative aspects of the business. As an example, several vitamin companies have developed successful apps that help customers figure out which of their brand of supplements will benefit their customer’s health the most. 3. Promote company values In contrast to the image of a DINK couple as very focused upon themselves, many use some of their extra time to volunteer and stay current with social issues. As a generation, most Millennials appear to care about patronizing businesses that share their values. An audience development agency should consider this trait as they develop a picture of their market and the marketing message they intend to send to them. 4. How certain markets may appeal to potential traits of a DINK audience This list explains some of the types of markets that might appeal to a DINK audience: Luxury goods: This market tends to like to share their experiences and not mind paying for value. Nice cars, high-quality, gourmet food, and similar luxury goods can reflect well on them in their own eyes and that of their social circle. Things to do with spare time: Without the demands of getting kids to bed or scheduling babysitters, leisure activities may attract couples without kids. They might take the chance to buy a boat or learn to cook their own gourmet meals. Travel: Couples without children might have an easier time scheduling vacations because they won’t need to book things around school and kid’s activities. They’re also likely to travel further and not need to skimp on a budget vacation because it’s just the two of them. Experiences: Again, innovative experiences will tend to attract DINK couples, and that might include anything from new entertainment and museum special events to a home automation system or solar panels. If the business must market something more ordinary, like soup mix, perhaps they could incorporate a message about eco-friendly packaging or service projects the business supports to demonstrate their corporate values. Why market to the DINK demographic? Forgoing parenthood and having both partners in a marriage work does not necessarily mean a couple enjoys a high income. Still, people without children may also be able to save money over their parenting peers. They may buy or rent smaller houses and apartments and don’t need to share disposable income with kids. Also, dual-income, no-children families may have more free time to enjoy some of the finer things and more energy to invest in learning about them. Having time and money can make them an excellent target market for the right businesses.
CPG Brands: Who Makes Household Decisions in Families?
When it comes to CPG brands, determining the likely marketing audience should be listed at the top of any marketing plan. Find out who decides what to buy. As one of the first steps to develop a marketing plan, a CPG marketing agency will conduct audience research. Obviously, they need to learn as much as they can about the behavior and demographics of consumers who they might attract to their products. If these products appeal to couples of families, the business should determine which member of the household typically makes buying decisions about CPG products. That way, they will know how to effectively target the other steps in their marketing campaign. What CPG marketing agency research reveals about household decision makers for CPG brands Of course, consumer packaged goods come from multiple industries. They can range from pet food to coffee to stockings. Few household members make 100 percent of the decisions about which products or brands to buy. Still, it’s no surprise to see a study on Chain Store Age that found women, typically mothers, make most of the buying choices in average, two-parent families. Some interesting results from this study found: In a typical, traditional family, Mom usually chooses what to buy. Though fathers have recently grown more involved in household purchase decisions, mothers still make most of these choices in 80 percent of families. Still, men have grown more involved in the CPG-shopping process lately. Lately, moms make about two-thirds of the household decisions, compared to about 80 percent in the past. Of course, men tend to make certain kinds of decisions for some CPG products more than women do. For instance, in most traditional families, expect more men than women to buy goods for lawn maintenance and home repair. They’re also slightly more likely to choose items related to autos and tech than they are for more general products. Women made almost always made choices about children’s clothes or toys. In some areas, men and women tend to share buying decisions equally. These include products related to entertainment, furnishings, and appliances. Who buys the groceries? While consumer packaged goods can cover a lot of different areas, people often associate them with items found at the grocery store. Some obvious examples include peanut butter, soap, and coffee. At least in traditional families, Pew Research found that women do at least 80 percent of both the cooking and the shopping. That’s true if a couple has children or not. Couples have started sharing more household chores than they did in the past. At the same time, women usually buy and prepare food most of the time. Pew Research also mentioned that women tend to spend less time doing paid jobs than men do, so that may account for some of the imbalance when it comes to grocery trips and food preparation. Who should a consumer package goods agency target? Of course, it’s impossible to offer a one-size-fit-all answer for all kinds of CPG products. Also, even in cases where one gender or another tended to make some kinds of choices more often, they did not always make them and also probably made some purchases because of influence of the other partner. After all, if a husband expresses a preference for a certain brand of salad dressing or pickles, his wife will probably remember that on her next trip to the supermarket. Similarly, if children ask for a certain kind of socks or a new video game, that request may eventually lead to an adult purchase decision. Even 10 years ago, AdAge promoted the idea that CPG companies should target men more. Even if surveys show that women tend to make two-thirds of household decisions, that still leaves one-third of purchase choices to men. AdAge also pointed out that even though women still do most of the shopping, men do more of it than they used to do. Even a smaller share of a market could add up to a growth opportunity for some CPG companies. Why do marketers need to know who tends to choose their types of product? Marketers need to define their audience before they can make good choices about a number of other factors in their marketing plan. These can range from the platforms used for marketing to the color of the product packaging. Consider these examples: Crazy Egg revealed that women like blue, purple, and green the most, but they tend not to prefer gray, orange, and brown as much. In contrast, men also like blue and green, but they also tend to gravitate to black. Men also tend to dislike orange and brown, but they shy away from purple. Men and women both use social sites, still they may tend to favor different kinds of platforms. For instance, expect to find more women on sites like Pinterest and Facebook and more men on more discussion-oriented sites like Reddit. No consumer package goods agency can generalize about exactly which gender or member of the family makes all the household decisions about CPG brands. This can also vary quite a bit for different types of products, and not all families have the traditional mom, dad, and kids. Still, determining their most likely customers will make plenty of other marketing decisions easier for CPG brands.
Four Audience Targeting Strategies for Your Product
Audience targeting can help you identify who your ideal customers are and help you create relevant and resonant marketing messages. Few things are sadder than wasted potential — and that applies to both people and products. If you build a great product or service and can’t get it in front of the right audiences, your odds of realizing its potential are slim. This is one reason why audience targeting is so critically important. Audience targeting 101 The practice of audience targeting is straightforward: You take a large customer segment and break it down into smaller groups in order to target likely buyers within these groups. The animating principle of audience segmentation is this: General messages sent to large undifferentiated audiences don’t resonate the same way that specific messages sent to highly targeted audiences do. In other words, why waste your time selling your product or service to people who aren’t interested? Instead, find the people who are interested and send them messages custom-designed to appeal to their wants, needs and interests. Audience segmentation comes in four general types: Geographic: The state, city, neighborhood etc. where your audience lives. Behavioral: This evaluates spending habits, brand interactions etc. Demographics: Includes age, gender, marital status, income level, education level etc. Psychographic: Personality, beliefs, values, interests etc. By considering these four factors, brands can begin to develop highly tailored audience segments and deliver customized marketing messages. This allows brands to speak directly to consumers, creating specific messages for specific audiences. This creates higher-quality leads, more loyal customers, and differentiates your brand from others. Smart strategies for audience targeting In order to get maximum value from your audience targeting efforts, it’s important to lay the groundwork by following some tried and true segmentation strategies. Some of the most impactful strategies include the following: Begin with buyer personas. The buyer persona is the foundational document for targeting purposes. These personas are descriptions of your ideal customers (some businesses may have two or three, others up to a dozen). These personas are constructed from market research, internal data, demographic data, and other sources. Once a brand has well-defined buyer personas in place, the process of targeting specific audiences becomes viable. Use an identity graph. Such graphs are powerful algorithmic tools for identifying who your highest-spending customers are and where you can reach them. By analyzing mobile advertising IDs and email address data, brands can gain deep insight into what potential customers are searching for along with their purchasing behavior. Use Facebook and other social platforms for custom targeting. It’s not the most complex approach, but Facebook has more information on our interests than any other organization. It’s no stretch to say Facebook knows most of its users better than they know themselves. Brands can use Facebook’s backend to set up demographic, behavioral and psychographic profiles that target the right audiences. AI-assisted chatbots. With the right design and programming, a chatbot can significantly improve UX and glean critical targeting data from site or app visitors. This data can be used to determine whether visitors fall within target markets. Marketing messages can then be tailored according to this segmentation. Locating the ideal audience insights agency Audience targeting has long been a critical part of advertising and marketing, but today’s digital tools are making the job easier than ever before. At Bigeye we have the domain expertise and technological resources to help you find the right audience and serve them with the perfect messages.
Know Your Audience with Persona Development
You may think that you already know your target marketing audience, but without persona development, you may be shooting in the dark. It’s marketing 101: The first step to effective branding and advertising is knowing your audience. And there is no better way to fully understand your audience than a well-crafted buyer persona. Forbes Magazine Councils Member and contributing writer Jon Simpson defines buyer personas as “semi-fictional characters that personify your ideal customer” and called them “imperative to having accurate audience insights.” Many business leaders deem the development of buyer personas superfluous, overconfident in their natural ability to connect with existing and prospective customers. But without comprehensive and effective persona development, critical misjudgments can easily occur. And these misjudgments can make the ultimate difference between success and failure. The benefits of persona development It is essential for brand strategy experts and content marketers to draft and refine effective buyer personas. No matter how busy they happen to be and how anxious they are to get on to the content creation stages of marketing campaign development process, they absolutely must make time for this key preparatory measure. Persona development gives direction and focus to all of your marketing efforts by providing a single audience template that everyone in your organization can use when developing overall marketing strategy and spearheading specific advertising efforts. As the independent content marketing resource Content Marketing Institute puts it, “Documenting your personas, even if done quickly, is key to keeping everybody focused on the same audience.” Persona development is particularly useful for companies with multiple stakeholders and/or team members who hold decidedly different opinions when it comes to marketing and branding strategies. By determining buyer personas that epitomize target audiences as a whole, companies can not only structure a unified marketing vision, but make all narratives involving company brand and products/services far more compelling, memorable, and ultimately effective. From your official website and social media pages to your traditional and digital advertising efforts, all elements of your marketing outreach can (and probably will be) refined and optimized to meet the specific wants and needs of your audience as you identify them. However, by creating clearly defined buyer personas ahead of time, you can avoid the tremendous amount of time and monetary expense that go hand in hand with major redesign and redevelopment. How to develop an effective buyer persona Although even a rudimentary buyer persona is better than no buyer persona at all, it goes without saying that putting more forethought and care into the persona development process will inevitably yield better results. For this reason, organizations that are serious about marketing and branding success typically employ the help of a specialized persona development agency when engaging in this process. The Content Marketing Institute breaks the development of an effective buyer persona into five practical steps. Keep in mind that each of these steps is an involved process in and of itself, requiring significant data gathering and analysis using modalities that range from general market research to customer/prospective customer interviews and surveys. Step 1: Visualize the ideal customer. Through extensive research, analysis, and projection, develop a single fictional customer who represents your target audience as a whole. For optimum results, go far beyond basic demographics such as gender and income level to examine the details of this customer’s professional and personal life. Step 2: Consider the customer’s applicable wants and needs. What are the common objectives and responsibilities of your ideal customer? What obstacles might stand in his or her way? Step 3: Characterize that customer’s role in relation to the purchase of products and/or services. What form does your ideal customer’s buying process take? What questions is that customer likely to ask before making a purchase? Step 4: Consider the customer’s communication preferences. What media channels does your ideal customer use on a regular basis? Where does he or she go to get information? Step 5: Marry your buyer persona insights to your strategic company goals. A great way to do this is to craft one or more engagement scenarios that take buyer personas through various prospective consumer interactions with your company. For more information If you want to learn more about the benefits of persona development and/or get professional assistance with the persona development process, contact a skilled and knowledgeable representative of Bigeye today. If you are looking for a persona development agency with a vision, we’d love to show you what we have to offer.
What Drones Can Teach Marketers About Knowing Their Audience
Horse races are in the past and drone races are taking over the tech and the advertising world – you’re gonna need an audience segmentation consultant. Any great audience segmentation consultant will tell you it’s essential to know your market. Yet the real challenge often comes next: How do you make your brand stand out to your audience in a cluttered advertising landscape? Given how fractured the industry has become with the emergence of social media and other digital mediums, combining those two objectives is a core challenge — one that often marks the difference between success and failure. If you want to see a current example of brands negotiating this challenge in a lightning-fast, obstacle-filled environment, look no further than professional drone racing. Connecting to audiences via unmanned aerial exhibitions The Drone Racing League (DRL) is a professional league for people who race their drones on real tracks at speeds in excess of 80 miles-per-hour. The league also offers one intriguing example of brands using highly-targeted marketing in a new and unusual setting to reach their desired audience. Why is a relatively niche organization such as the DRL notable in this context? For brands, it’s all about positioning and connection. Telecom giant Cox Communications recently partnered with the DRL to create a Cox marketing campaign that was entirely conceived and executed by the league’s internal media and marketing teams. The goal was simple: Position Cox not as a stodgy legacy cable company, but rather an innovation-focused firm dedicated to building the infrastructure of the future for its audience. Partnering with a cutting-edge sport rooted in innovative technology positioned Cox in a way that a similar partnership with a Madison Avenue ad agency could not. As part of the campaign, Cox sponsored one of the DRL’s top pilots — Nick “Wild Willy” Willard — and created a clever ad focusing on the drone racing star. In the ad, Willard pilots his Cox WiFi-powered drone through his mother’s house, without breaking anything valuable. This ad was used in a multi-channel campaign designed to boost awareness for Cox and the DRL. Advertising at high speed for a skeptical audience As you might imagine, advertising on a drone track comes with some specific challenges. Fans of drone racing tend to skew younger and are highly tech savvy. Unlike NASCAR fans (who don’t mind being barraged with ads), drone racing fans largely recoil at overt marketing. Which is why an audience segmentation consultant is necessary. DRL CEO Nicholas Horbaczewski told Adweek that if he installs a conventional billboard at a drone race, fans would “throw up all over it.” He added that drone racing fans find such advertising displays “offensive” and don’t wish to communicate with brands in this format. To address this preference, the DRL integrates advertising within the course in the form of physical obstacles named for advertisers. Drone pilots must navigate course obstacles such as the “Swatch Gate.” in order to successfully complete the race. An even more ambitious brand integration will occur later in 2019, when the DRL will partner with Lockheed Martin to stage races pitting human drone pilots against drones flown by AI. More than 250 research universities have applied to enter the contest, which will offer more than $2 million in prizes. Looking for a marketing and advertising co-pilot? Once you understand who your audience is — likes, dislikes, interests, habits etc. — then you can devise new and creative ways to reach them. Our team is dedicated to the proposition that it’s not just where you are, it’s who you’re reaching. If you’d like to hear more about what a high-level audience segmentation consultant can do for your brand, don’t wait to contact us today.
3 Tools Every Brand Strategy Agency Uses to Increase Conversion
A strong brand strategy agency knows there are a few tried and tested tools that will boost conversions across every industry. At BIGEYE, we pride ourselves on championing multi-channel marketing so our clients can meet their customers’ needs on any device, across any platform, and raise the collective benchmark for digital marketing best practices. These are the three tools we use to help our clients transform their brand within months – guaranteed. 1. Segmentation is more important than ever While content is still king, a one-size fits all model will quickly overthrow the throne. Partner with a brand strategy agency like BIGEYE to fully understand your audience and the different segments shopping for your products. Create custom content for each segment and use tokenization, analytics tagging, social sign on, or self-identification to recognize and adapt to your site visitors by serving them content relevant to their needs. This will increase customer loyalty and boost the likelihood for conversion. Segmentation will also help you understand what types of customers are most valuable so you can budget your marketing dollars around their potential. 2.Invest in omni-channel marketing It is rare for a customer to enter the marketing funnel and complete a conversion in the same visit, or on the same device. Investing in an omni-channel marketing strategy allows you to anticipate the natural jump your visitors will make between devices and across channels throughout their customer journey. In addition to anticipating your customers’ needs and increasing the likelihood of being able to serve compelling content, retarget, and ultimately convert your site traffic, omni-channel customer engagement also boosts retention, which can increase your lifetime value and returning site traffic. According to Invesp, brands with omni-channel engagement retrain 89% of their customers compared to 33% for companies who do not invest in this strategy. 3.Don’t make assumptions about your competition or your customers When clients ask us why a brand strategy agency will help them succeed, we often highlight assumptions they may be making about their competitions or their customers. It’s natural for product and brand leaders to make assumptions based on their own experience using their products day by day. Having a fresh pair of eyes set up the a/b testing, seek answers, and translate data into actionable insights is one of the most valuable outputs of working with an agency. Amp up your conversions by working with a brand strategy agency today. Contact our team of experts to learn more about how we have helped brands like yours grow and scale for success.