CMOs: 3 Things to Know About Collecting Consumer Data in a Disruptive Marketplace

As a CMO, you are increasingly involved with matters of data security and privacy, with a growing number of consumers questioning how companies are using their personal information. As a graduate student of Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University’s Medill School who is interested in the role data plays in identifying and meeting customer needs, I have found two articles that address the subject of what you should know when it comes to collecting customers’ data in today's disruptive marketplace.

Avoiding the Pitfalls of Personalized Marketing and Sales, is written by Bain & Company consultants Melanie Bockemuehl, Genia Kudryasheva and Huy Nguyen-Tuong. It shares examples of how companies in many industries are tapping on customer data and technology to improve both the end-user experience as well as the company’s bottom line. Touching on common blunders made in personalized marketing, the article elaborates on the steps marketers can take for effective “segment-of-one marketing”, to identify elements of your products or services valued most by customers and successfully create a sustainable competitive advantage.

Photographer: Jack Moreh. Taken from Freerange Stock Photos

Does Your Social Media App Know Too Much About You?, is written by Forbes contributor Jayson DeMers. Examining the value of personal data for marketers, particularly for those turning to social media sites to gather customer data, it identifies some key trends in user data collection over the years. It makes the case for why user privacy concerns matter and provides suggestions on what marketers can do to alleviate these concerns in a way that benefits both parties. 

 

Based on my analysis of these two articles as well as my observations as a marketing student, I have developed three action items you should consider implementing – there is no better time than right now! These are:

• Transparency Establishes Trust. Be transparent and explain what data you’re collecting and why, to build relationships with your customers that are based on trust.

• Personalization Creates Value. Get to know your customers on a deeper level to capture the bigger picture of what matters to them – their needs, frustrations, points of enchantment – so you can interact with them in a personalized manner instead of bombarding them with what they perceive as intrusive spam.

• Reliability Drives Reciprocity. Finally, focus on building your brand reputation in a way that convinces consumers that your solution best meets their needs, so they voluntarily come to you and share their data instead of the other way around.

So, the next time you encounter a surplus of customer data and need to decide what to do with it, recall these three action items – they can make a world of difference.

Aneesha Subramaniam

I am currently pursuing a master’s degree in Integrated Marketing Communications at Medill School, Northwestern University (graduating in December 2017). I have three years of work experience in public relations and am keen to build expertise in marketing analytics and brand strategy. Connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Filmmakers and Television Producers: 3 Action Items to Enhance Storytelling Through Diversity

Diversity in Hollywood, or the lack thereof, continues to rock conversations around awards season and ignite questions about opportunities for minority groups in the industry. As a graduate student in Northwestern’s Integrated Marketing Communications program, I have come across a couple of interesting articles that critique this current situation.

Michael Epstein at Flavorwire wrote an article on Ryan Murphy's new foundation, Half. In response to many of the diversity conversations swirling around the Oscars, the producer who is creator of FX’s hit series American Horror Story and American Crime Story, has launched a new foundation aimed at creating opportunities for female, gay, and non-white filmmakers in the industry. The foundation, Half, was born out of Murphy’s belief that those members of the Film/TV industry in power have the opportunity, and responsibility, to create avenues for underrepresented voices to be heard. The foundation will offer a mentorship program for female and other minority students as well as a filmmaker database of underrepresented filmmakers to be shared with other producers in the industry.

The lack of representation from minority groups and the LGBT community in all Best Acting categories sparked conversations about inclusivity in Hollywood.

Source: Los Angeles Times, 2016

Over at TV Guide, Liz Raftery wrote about President Obama's opinion on the lack of representation of minority and LGBT groups in this year’s Oscar nominations. In his comments, the President echoed a sentiment that many supporters of diversity hold, “When everybody’s story is told, then that makes for better art.” President Obama also went on to add, “The Oscar debate is really just an expression of this broader issue of, ‘Are we making sure that everybody is getting a fair shot”.

Based on the insights offered in these two articles and my experiences as a graduate student in the Northwestern Medill IMC program, here are three actions you can take to avoid the same pitfalls as The Academy:

1)    Outsource Your Content -  Since you cannot write, direct, or produce a story from all people’s point of view, it is important to hire creators from different backgrounds in order to bring a wealth of new stories, perspectives, and experiences to both the silver screen and the small screen.

2)    Question Yourself - When creating content, be sure to step back and examine whether or not you are telling a new story with new characters, or the same story with the same characters.

3)    Invest In Talent - Mentor programs, grants, and internships are a great way to give opportunities to underrepresented voices that may not have access to jobs in the Film and TV industry otherwise.

Through these three actions, we can all look forward to new and exciting films and TV shows that better reflect the world we live in today.

About the Author:

Chelsea Ferguson has a B.A. in Communication Studies from Northwestern University where she is also currently pursuing a M.S. in Integrated Marketing Communications. Her interests are in Film and Television marketing.

You can follower her on Twitter @yoitscferg

Talent Leaders: 3 Ways to Enhance Your Team’s Internal Brand

Talent and learning teams add tremendous value to organizations. Yet, being internal, many Talent Teams do not focus on building and promoting their internal brand. As a Talent Development Leader currently in graduate school at Northwestern's Medill Integrated Marketing Communications [IMC] program, I have found two articles on brand development you will find interesting and actionable.  As the pace and scope of business continues to rapidly accelerate, Talent Leaders need to focus on enhancing their teams internal brand to better meet their clients needs and protect their value.



In a Bersin by Deloitte article, The Real Challenge with Learner Engagement: L&D Has a Marketing Problem,  published in January 2015, by  Todd Tauber and Dani Johnson outline the importance of Talent Teams to “intentionally define and reinforce” their brand. Why? Because it's increasingly difficult to capture practitioners' attention. Thus, Talent Teams should use branding tactics to ensure practitioners know the value of development and see it as quick, easy and valuable to engage in. In addition, Tauber and Johnson recommend Talent should look to beyond traditional courseware and focus on the Talent brand touch points (website, communications, etc.) throughout the entire learner journey - from awareness through post session.

 



Photo courtesy of twobeatles.com

 

Additionally, in his 2013 Forbes article, How Starbucks, Walmart And IBM Launch Brands Internally And What You Can Learn From Them, John F. Marshall, discusses leading practice tactics marketers use to launch brands internally – which Talent Leaders can take advantage of. Marshall recommends talent leaders should leverage “counter-intuitive approaches” to drive brand and talent messages.  Marshall recommends three approaches. First, start inside by creating actionable mantras and playbooks so practitioners can easily and meaningfully act. Next, employ a top down strategy ensuring brand and vision messaging is voiced and advocated by top leadership. Lastly, get creative. Marshall feels companies benefit from investing in more creative tactics to attract and retain practitioner engagement.

Based on my review of these two articles and my work as a graduate student in the Northwestern Medill IMC program, there are three action items Talent Leaders should consider to improve their team’s brand:

• Think Commercially: Define who you are, brand and reinforce yourself accordingly – just like an external; commercial business.
• Go Outside the Classroom: Your client is typically not in the classroom and does not have time to be there – get your message to them a different way.
• Up Your Game: In an increasingly cynical and savvy technical consumer world, internal stakeholders have been there, seen it and bought the t-shirt - up the ante in creative tactics to engage audiences.

Branding is not just for external clients. Leveraging tactics mentioned above, Talent Leaders can engage their internal stakeholders and best communicate the value of their organization.

Francesca Ranieri is a Talent Development Leader with 13+ years of experience in changing behaviors within professional service and retail firms. She is thrilled to be adding “changing perceptions” to her tool box through her work at the Medill IMC graduate program at Northwestern University. Say "howdy!". Twitter at @frannyranieri or LinkedIn

Automotive Brand Managers: 3 Ways to Prevent Your Dealerships from Ruining Your Brand

As brand managers, you know how critical it is to interact with your consumer throughout the buying process. It is for this reason that bad dealers yield bad sales. As a Northwestern University student in the Medill IMC certificate program, I am studying how automotive manufacturers must interact with their dealers to create more effective communication with their consumers to increase sales. My research has lead me to the following two articles that highlight several ideas that brand managers should consider when developing their newest strategies.

Chris Fleisher highlights the growing influence women have on the auto industry in his article on Trib Live entitled “Car Dealerships Turn Advertising, Sales Focus to Women”. For years the focus has been almost primarily on men. However, more women than ever before are a home’s primary breadwinner and are playing a more vital role in the car buying process. Last year women accounted for 40% of all new vehicle registrations compared to just 37% five years ago. Realizing this trend, some dealerships have begun to feature more women in their ads. They are not used as sex symbols but are strategically placed to send the softer message that the dealership provides a comfortable, safe and trustworthy environment. It is important to note that women tend to do more online research before walking into a dealership than men. They are less concerned with negotiating sales than getting the right car. For this reason, it is critical that dealerships provide a customer experience that allows women to know they are getting the best deal for the car they want and not the car the dealer wants to sell. 

Source: https://timebusinessblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/cardealership1.jpg?w=480&h=320&crop=1 

Brian Molidor discusses a new trend on TECHi in his article “The Future of automotive marketing: car deals that stalk you on social media”: the automotive industry needs to embrace social media. It is important to note that he does not suggest that manufacturers and dealers should create amazing social media pages, but rather, use social media to hyper-target consumers. Other industries, like retail and consumer packaged goods, have successfully embraced technologies that gather data from all over the web on an individual, identify which products they would be most interested in buying, and place special deals on their social media pages. BLiNQ Media has begun to incorporate this technology in the auto industry with their newest product AutoLiFT, which focuses on amassing data for the manufacturer. On the other hand companies like Dealer Authority have decided to focus on the dealerships. These companies gather information from Polk, a dealer’s email database, and website retargeting pixels to identify whose Facebook feed and what model and lease incentives to place. Hyper-targeting like this has yielded positive results so far, for every consumer that blocks the dealership’s page or hides the post, a thousand clicked through to the website.

After analyzing these two articles, and based on my studies in the Northwestern Medill IMC program, here are three actions that all automotive brand managers should consider before developing their next strategic plan: 

• Be Respectful:
• It is imperative that you to teach your dealers to provide the best consumer experience possible that is congruent with your brand.
• Women Matter:
• Do not be afraid to create advertisements and a consumer experience specific to women. They possess much more buying power in the industry than in years past.
• Hyper-Target:
• Social Media is a valuable tool to not just identify potential new customers, but also begin a conversation with your consumer and your dealership.

As you know, in the United States it is illegal for auto manufacturers to sell directly to the consumer. Therefore, cars do not get sold if dealers are ill equipped to identify potential consumers and alienate at least 40% of their market. Also, since many times the only face-to-face interaction consumers have with your brand is through dealerships, the worse they are treated, the less loyalty they will feel towards your brand. One bad dealership experience is enough to permanently turn off a consumer to your brand, while a great one can lead to lifetime loyalty.

My name is Craig Maynard and I am a student in the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Certificate Program at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Previously I studied Cognitive Science at Northwestern to learn why people do the things they do. I am interested in developing marketing strategies that see the target market for what they are, humans. Please feel free to reach out to me on Twitter and LinkedIn.

CMO: Are you ready to embrace social media apps into your retail space?

Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest are no longer mere buzzwords; the customers make their purchase decisions through them. The retail landscape has dramatically changed with the advent of recent technologies and rampant usage of social media. After joining the Integrated Marketing Communications as a graduate student at Medill, Northwestern University, my interest turned towards the amazing impact of the influence of social media on the behavior of the retail consumer. This turned me into a marketing maniac. Here are 2 articles that caught my attention in this area.

A recent article published in Advertising Age by Justin Emig, Search Marketing Manager at Web Talent Marketing, talks about how Snapchat can help retailers kill showrooming. The app is unique because of its feature of instant disappearance after opening the message. When a customer is checking out at the store, they can receive a snap with 10% or 20% discount instead of a scratch and win coupon, or while they are nearing a particular aisle, they could be sent a snap that has a deal or coupon of the products displayed in the aisle. Likewise, to give the feel of a scavenger hunt, customers who are in the store can be sent a snap with a photo of the aisle or location of the limited edition products or new-in-store products. These are ways to increase customer-shopping experience in store by engaging with customers through mobile app.

Additionally, an article on Bloomberg by Kyle Stock titled talks about the importance of Instagram for Retail. Instagram is a way forward in the e-commerce space. Engagement on Instagram is 15-20 times more than that on other social media sites. The article gives an example of Michael Kors (MK) brand wherein they have created #InstaKors and will have customers sign up for this program. By doing so, when a customer likes a photo on MK’s Instagram page, they will be sent an email with a link to the product page on the website. This way the customer is redirected to the website and measurement of the social media presence can be tracked. This is advantageous for retail marketers because the likes on social media don’t mean anything to a brand but it is about whether the customer intends to buy it. Through using this feature on Instagram in the future, brands can better track whether customers that do follow them on social media are valuable customers who purchase or intend to purchase.

Based on these 2 articles and my graduate school learnings in Integrated Marketing Communications, here are 3 action items that I recommend you consider as a CMO in the retail industry.

• Deliver promotions through social media - Using social media apps that current generation of tech savvy customers’ regularly depend on, can help retailers catch their attention.

•  Use contests to increase engagement in stores - To give customers a better retail experience, it is necessary to engage them in store through contests as such treasure hunt or special coupons for the hour, which can be distributed electronically via social media apps.

• Use more visuals to capture attention - Visuals in the form of a video, photo or info graphic help in catching the attention of people.

When the world is reachable through your palm (using mobile), retailers need to make sure that they effectively reach the same world at a better speed over their competitors. Using the above suggestions, they can get into the palms of the customers and engage with them in store and online by combining the mobile technology and the social media apps for ultimate customer shopping experience.

Jyothsna Durgadoss is currently pursing her Master’s in Integrated Marketing Communications at Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University. She is presently part of the content marketing team at Spiegel Research Center, Northwestern University. Prior to this, she worked as an associate consultant in a multi-disciplinary management-consulting firm in Dubai, specializing in marketing based assignments. In addition to her work experience, out of her personal interest and passion towards marketing, she has spearheaded the multi media promotional campaign for the launch of few books. She was born in India and brought up in Dubai and went on to completing her Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Warwick Business School, United Kingdom.

Contact Jyothsna through Twitter @JDurgadoss
Email  jyothsnadurgadoss2014@u.northwestern.edu