Marketing Trends

Every marketer is looking for that magic channel. The one space where it feels like everything resonates perfectly with your audience and your message cuts through the noise. More often than not, though, finding a hybrid, thought-out, multichannel approach is the true secret formula for success.“I won't say that there's an individual channel that works really well. What I will tell you is that we have found multi-channel communications [to be] incredibly effective if you're sequencing them in a thoughtful way. I think the answer is we're not finding a single channel on its own is going to be, make or break.”That’s the opinion of Rahul Kak, the Executive Director of Behavior Change Marketing at CVS Health. On this episode of Marketing Trends, Rahul discusses exactly why a cohesive multi-channel approach is better than being dependent on one avenue and gives marketers reasons to explore that option. Plus, he touches on how marketers can make the biggest impact when it comes to personalization.Main Takeaways:It’s Not Magic: There is no magic channel. Every marketer wants to say email or SMS channels are great, but the reality is that non one channel should be your main driver. Instead, marketers need to focus on a cohesive multi-channel approach. If marketers sequence their messages across all channels in a thoughtful way, you won’t be too reliant on one area.I’m Not Here to Get Personal: Marketers want the ability to reach every customer on a personal level, but the reality is that you simply cannot have a one-to-one relationship with all your customers. Instead, what markets should be doing is clustering similar archetypes, and then channeling your efforts into those pods to create a more personalized experience for those distinct groupsBuilt To Fail: Do not go into a project with the mindset that it is going to succeed right out of the gate. Instead, go into each campaign with the mentality that most projects will fail, or most projects are going to require testing and tweaking.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.   Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

When it comes to marketing in 2020, Marty Kihn, the Senior Vice President of Strategy for Salesforce Marketing Cloud said it best:“This was both a cultural shift and a consumer behavior shift, then also an economic shift. Advertisers had to react to all those changes in consumer behavior, the channels that people were consuming ads on, and then the economic pain behind the scenes, which affects advertising. Advertising is very much driven and tied to GDP in general. So I think that you saw tons of stuff that Ph.D. thesis will be about written for years to come happened in 2020 and how advertisers reacted.”While 2020 threw society a major curveball, and we’re all still working our way through certain things, the business world carried on, and it adapted at a pace unseen before. We welcomed Marty back to Marketing Trends to dissect some of what happened in 2020, including the ways marketers were forced to pivot. Plus, Marty also explains why digital channels have altered the marketing landscape for good and how influencers rose in importance.The March to May: From March to May, not only were consumers trying to grapple with their new reality, but brands were trying to figure out the best ways to reach consumers. Overnight, digital advertising and social engagement saw major upticks. Brands needed to figure out how to react to their new normal and it really took between March and May for brands to settle in.The Rise of Digital Transformations: Companies realized they needed to digitize fast, regardless of if things went back to how they were prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. This means companies that had gone digital needed to scale their technologies. But companies that didn’t have a robust digital strategy were forced to accelerate their digital agendas at an accelerated pace.Influence This: Influencer marketing saw a dramatic rise in 2020. As more and more consumers engaged with digital channels over the course of the year, influencers became more important. With brands trying to send less messaging to their consumers, the ability for influencers to mix products and services into their daily lives became a valuable strategy for marketers.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com. Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

When you’re selling something to someone online, the name of the game is ease of sale. You never want to make the transaction hard, just like you never want to make it tough for a customer or potential customer to find you. So how do you create a frictionless experience from search to final sale? The answer is to use data as your guiding light. “We like to see what is being searched and then we prioritize and change things [on our website] so that we can make it easier for our members to find those things. Because we all know from personal experience that when you have to click, click, click to try to get to some information, by that time you're probably saying, ‘I'll just find it somewhere else.’”That’s Deidre Davis, CMO of MSUFCU and on this episode of Marketing Trends, Deidre discusses how MSUFCU uses its data to continually optimize the customer experience. Plus, Deidre talks about why personalized customer experiences are a driving force for her company and the perceived challenges credit unions face as an industry, especially from a marketing perspective.Main Takeaways:Click, Click, Boom!: When you’re analyzing and digesting your data, make sure you are looking at what the customers are telling you they want to see. When MSUFCU noticed that one of their most-searched items was about routing and account numbers, they made that more easily accessible for what their customers wanted.MythBusters: Credit Unions are often not perceived to have the same advantages that major banks possess when it comes to personalization, data collection, and customer privacy. However, this is one of the biggest myths credit unions face when educating their customers on their products and overall benefits.Five-Star Experience: Whether you’re selling products or services, the one thing that remains a must is the customer’s experience must remain at the top of the priority list. Make sure you are constantly evaluating your customer and member’s perspective and remain in constant communication with them.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com. Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

There are certain holiday traditions that just hit differently. From the old-schoolMacy’s Thanksgiving Day parade to the new-school release of the Starbucks holiday cups, these time-honored rituals have become synonymous with the holiday season. But what happens when one of those customary activities is forced to undergo a swift change? That’s what happened when UNICEF’s annual Halloween boxes went from the hands of kids to the laptops of corporations.  “One of the byproducts of being forced into a virtual trick-or-treat experience, we were able to actually personalize it for some of our corporate partners. They could brand it, they could put their names on it, they could raise money for the thing that they were most passionate about. [Virtual events] really give us a chance to extend beyond just the youth audience and get into a bit of an older audience. So it did also give us an opportunity to get a glimpse into what this could be if it was expanded beyond just schools.”Those are the words of Shelley Diamond, the CMO of UNICEF USA, and for decades, trick-or-treating was one of the main ways that the non-profit connected with individuals. Shelley joined Marketing Trends to discuss how UNICEF spun its popular trick-or-treating event into something new and memorable for both adults and children. Plus, she explains the lens through which her team views digital advertising, and why UNICEF’s mission is rooted in the brand.Main Takeaways:Rooted in Brand: Your brand should always reflect your mission. Every touchpoint — from advertising to social content to storytelling — has to lead back to the overall mission of your company or non-profit, and reflect the goals it is striving to achieve.Take it Virtual, but Make it Count: If an event has to shift to virtual, look at it as an opportunity to reach a broader audience. When UNICEF moved its trick-or-treating campaign online, it saw a greater opportunity to reach a broader audience.It’s a Digital World, We’re Just Living in it: Digital media should be viewed as an avenue to gain valuable insights about your customers. From email marketing to search, to online video content, marketers need to constantly be looking at what the data is telling them. If the results are positive in one place, lean into that medium. If something isn’t working, analyze where the issue is and address it.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com. Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

For years, your favorite cup of coffee and your daily newspaper have been synonymous with each other. But it turns out that that morning routine is just another thing being disrupted by the digital age. Kerel Cooper, the Senior Vice President of LiveIntent, explains it like this:“More people are waking up in the morning, grabbing a cup of coffee and opening up their inbox. So gone are the days of opening up your door and there's the newspaper on the front step. It's, it's now your inbox. And I think publishers and brands recognize that.”So how can brands take control of a consumer’s inbox? And where should they be focusing those efforts to win open rates? Kerel joined Marketing Trends to discuss why email marketing continues to thrive, why content is more important than ever, and the need for marketers to understand why the death of third-party cookies might be a good thing.Main Takeaways:Time to Level-Up: Content marketing has never been more important. With more and more people at home, every chance you get to reach a customer must be more creative, and it should center around how you are retaining customers, how you are selling products, and how you are educating the marketplace on your products.Inbox is the Hot New Thing: Email inboxes have steadily replaced newspapers as consumers’ go-to source for early morning information. Marketers who think email marketing is a thing of the past need to shift their focus to how they are connecting with consumers via newsletters.Gimme that Cookie: As third-party cookies begin to fade away, marketers must start understanding where they are getting their data and how they are utilizing that data. If you have been heavily reliant on third-party data, you need to shift your focus to gathering your own data. The larger your dataset is from a first-party data perspective, the more in control marketers will be of their own destiny.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com. Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

There are many lessons we’ve learned in 2020, including many in the world of marketing. When traditional means of advertising are flipped on their head, finding another method that works is paramount. Many different strategies were attempted, but one has risen above the rest: influencer marketing.“In 2020 people are online so much, we're seeing the performance of our influencer campaigns continuing to accelerate and increase in value. The concept of an influencer has really transitioned into the mainstream where you open the front page of the New York Times and you're like, there's going to be two or three articles that mentioned influencers or TikTok or Instagram. it's so pervasive in a way that I think was sneaky for most people, but it's now so huge.”That’s Mae Karwowski, the founder and CEO of Obviously, which provides quality influencer marketing for the world’s iconic brands. On this episode of Marketing Trends, Mae discusses some of the latest trends in influencer marketing. She talks about why it’s key to understand the value a potential influencer can have on your brand, and she stresses that the number of followers a so-called influencer has does not correlate to purchases.Main Takeaways:Know Your Voice: When deciding to enter the realm of influencer marketing, it’s important to work with people who not only understand your brand, but make sense for your brand as well. If a particular influencer's followers are used to them reviewing cameras and you’re a beauty brand, it doesn’t make sense to work with that person. Instead, work with influencers who are authentic matches for your brand.Follow the Leader: CMO and marketing departments need to start thinking about influencers as a distinct channel and not just someone you write a check to. In order to have success when utilizing influencers, you need to strategize a campaign around them just like you would any other channel.Bigger Isn’t Always Better: As the price of influencers rises, think about the cost of who you’re working with. Is it more important for your brand to go after one large influencer? Or are you better off working with smaller influencers in order to reach the same audience? If you work with a larger number of micro-influencers, you can reach your audience at the same scale and may find a more loyal audience. ---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com. Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

With so many media channels and platforms in use today, it can be tough to decide which channel is right for you and your brand’s message. But why choose? There are more opportunities than ever before, and as we’re learning every day, diversifying your portfolio has never been more important.“We are very big into sponsored content and moving. Although we look at all the traditional channels and we still invest there, we're also looking at nontraditional channels — areas where PWC may have not showed up historically. There's been an onslaught of a number of new high-rated business newsletters that are not owned by the traditional publications, but a lot of our business executives are reading those daily. So that is a new place where we increasingly put our media dollars.”That’s the voice of Matthew Lieberman, the CMO of  PwC U.S. and Mexico. On this episode of  Marketing Trends, Matthew breaks down the reasoning for why PwC has started to explore all of its options across platforms and channels, and he details where the company is spending its media dollars. He also dives into the evolution of sponsorships and why shifting to a remote workforce is no longer a luxury, but a need.Main Takeaways:Not Quite Ready: Empowering your employees with the ability to work remotely is no longer a luxury but a must-have. One of the surprising things for PwC was the vast amount of clients it dealt with that didn’t possess the ability for their employees to work remotely, which meant a lot of changes that needed to be made quickly.Switch it Up: Just because you’ve had success with a certain channel, doesn’t mean you can only advertise within that channel. Instead, diversify which channels you spend in so you show up in areas where consumers won’t expect you to and you’re constantly growing your potential audience.The Future of Sponsorships: As more and more events shift to digital experiences the fundamental way partnership and sponsorships is changing. Marketers will need to look for new sources of revenue as the amount of sponsorship dollars decreases in the future.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com. Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

One of the biggest misconceptions of influencer marketing that using an influencer is just like buying an ad. Pierre-Loic Assayag, is the founder and CEO of Traackr, and he knows there is much more to it than that. “When social commerce is front and center for so many, where a lot of decisions around purchase are taking place online, the notion of being able to not just create that initial spike of awareness, but being able to get people to influence their audience It gives you an ability to move down the funnel towards nano influencers.”As influencers continue to rise in popularity and the authenticity of the products they're promoting becomes more and more important, aligning brand and promoter is at the forefront of best practices when it comes to influencer marketing. On this episode of Marketing Trends, Pierre-Loic discusses why aligning your brand with the proper influencer can pay huge dividends. Plus he explains why there is a good chance you’re not using influencer marketing to the most of its potential. Main Takeaways:Flavor of the Week: Don’t limit yourself to large-scale influencers. Instead, when you’re identifying influencers that work for you, make sure their values and brand align with what the company stands for. Just because an influencer has hundreds of thousands of followers doesn’t mean those followers align with your brand. An influencer with less followers could have a greater impact on pushing your product because their followers resonate more with your brand.Building Loyalty: When aligning with influencers, don’t think about the immediate purchases that could occur. Instead, think of influencers as a way to build lifelong advocates for the brand. Data suggests that when influencers and brands align on values and products, consumers are less sensitive to overall pricing.Not Like Your Other Channels: In order for influencer marketing to work, you can’t treat it like every other channel. When you stop thinking of influencer marketing as a new channel, you stop thinking about the complexity and richness of the practice. Take the time to learn about the influencers you are investing with and don’t overthink the content.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com. Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

Like, follow, comment and subscribe. Those are four popular words among social media users today, brands included. And when you are a company looking to engage with your customers on a personal level or speak to them broadly, social media has become the No. 1 place to achieve those goals. “Social media is really, you know, today's broadcast channel. So brands are sharing information. They're ultimately doing an aspect of advertising they're promoting, and these sorts of things are valuable. And, you know, traditionally have been the place that marketers have focused and social media is just today's channel for doing that."That’s Terry Sydoryk, the CEO of Chaordix, and on this episode of Marketing Trends, Terry discusses why something as simple as a double tap on a product’s Instagram page says more about how your brand is relating to customers than many other metrics. Plus, Terry discusses the difference between social and community and how an online branded community can actually fill some of the voids that social leaves open. And he dives into online communities and how they are helping brands better understand how to build meaningful relationships with their consumers.Main TakeawaysIt’s all about Community: The challenge for marketers from day one has been the ability to build one-to-one relationships with their consumers. Online communities, or social networks, allow marketers to build relationships with their loyal customers, while also experimenting with new strategies.Social Media is the New Cable TV: As brands continue to advertise and promote themselves across social networks, what has slowly happened is social media has become more powerful to brands than televisions. Now, brands are able to actively engage with their consumers while getting a better understanding of what media leaves a lasting impression in real-time.Why Do You Assume You’re the Smartest in the Room?: Consumer intelligence continues to grow. Today’s consumers are extremely knowledgeable and they can see through the typical smoke and mirrors of marketing that has worked in the past. When communicating with buyers, be direct in what the intent is and don’t try to fool them.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com. Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

When Hyland was founded, its initial purpose was to help optimize workflows and processes by eliminating filing cabinets. More than 25 years later, as businesses have gone through digital transformations, the filing cabinet mission no longer applies. So Hyland did what any good business does, it adapted by following the data.”The trick is you have to go where the data's telling you to go. And if you've run certain types of tactics and certain verticals and they haven't worked very well, you have to be able to then take those learnings and help set expectations.”Those are the words of Hyland CMO, Drew Chapin, and on this episode of Marketing Trends, he dives deep into the power of data and why marketers need to let it fuel their decision making. Plus, Drew discusses the advantages of virtual conferences and why one particular partnership is leveling up Hyland’s game.Main Takeaways:Data-Driven: It’s not enough to say that you are data-driven. You need to have an understanding of what the data is telling you and then be able to act on it. Don’t continue to pursue verticals that are not successful. Be confident in what your insights are telling you.Team Building: When you are building out your team, don’t focus as much on the competence and technical skillset of the candidate. Instead, focus on areas like empathy, curiosity, and if that person is a deep thinker. Those soft skills are growing in importance and provide Hyland with insights on whether potential employees will stick around.Virtual Experience: Shifting events online provides you with the opportunity to not only engage your customers in a new environment, but it’s allowing those same customers to continually engage with the conference multiple ways. By hosting conferences online as opposed to in-person, event hosts have the opportunity to let the data tell them what sessions are driving engagement, how long participants are watching, and if they are coming back multiple times, which will lead to better, more engaging events and conferences in the future.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world’s number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com. Mission.org is a media studio producing content alongside world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.