Over the past couple weeks we held our first Speaker Series of year! In both our Denver and San Diego locations, professionals from all over came together to "get connected." The topic was Marketing Trends for 2013 and Red Door’s subject matter experts shared the latest insights on topics ranging from cross-channel content marketing to social influence, mobile devices, and big data analytics. The panel included: Andy Batten, Red Door’s Digital Analytics Manager; Charles Wiedenhoft, Red Door’s Director of Strategic Planning; and John Faris, Red Door’s Director of Cross Channel Marketing.
Some of the Q & A’s :
1) What are the recommended steps for orchestrating a cross-channel customer acquisition strategy? Tailor your message to your customers and where they consume their media. When making content, think about why you are making it and what you want people to do with it. I might say “Work to ensure a consistent message for each unique consumer segment across touch points on the path to purchase. Make content visual so people are more likely to share it.”
2) How can we approach attribution models & why is it so complex? Analytics tools like Google are becoming more sophisticated allowing marketers to understand how consumers interact with campaigns across platforms and channels. Getting this kind of tracking in place is a necessary first step. Next, a range of factors come into play such as first-click/last-click, view through, simultaneous exposure to media (such as TV and tablet) and online/offline considerations. Regardless, maximizing efficiencies between channels is certainly attainable as things like trends in social chatter should be informing PPC keyword strategies.
3) How can marketers optimize campaigns across channel siloes? People run campaigns – don’t allow them to operate in silos. “Structure teams to encourage collaboration and sharing of data. There needs to be feedback loops and constant communication – not silos.”
4) How do you measure the content you put out there? Understand why you made the content and make sure that's what you're measuring. It's not always about conversion.
5) How are search engines adapting? “It’s all about trying to predict what I want to see, before I even know what I want to see.” Search engines are becoming immune to manipulation. Now, content is more important.
6) What does Facebook Graph Search mean for brands? Facebook Places check-in will become important. It’s coming from people you know and trust. Facebook follower/fan counts still matter, and engagement with branded content should push content higher on Graph Search pages.
7) Big data- why should marketers care? Big data allows you to correlate on and offline efforts. It makes targeting consumers possible at extremely granular levels with ultra-relevant offers and messaging.
8) What would you tell the super small guys to do about analytics? If you’re small, start small. Rely on Facebook Insights and free tools like Google Analytics.
9) Keys to developing sharable content: Ensure that it’s timely and visual. Focus on what’s trending