Keeping on top of the digital evolution

Firstly, the growth of content, particularly using online video to create editorial offerings that reflect the brand values of the product. This is a clear space where advertising and programmes are blurring boundaries. Second, a fast growing area of marketing on mobile is games. Brands wanting to convey their values and storytelling abilities as a means of cementing relationships with consumers are finding that content and games for smartphones and tablets can be a powerful means of doing so. Examples include Perrier’s interactive video and Chivas Regal’s mobile and tablet game. 

‘Straight’ advertising on mobile will continue to be a crucial part of the marketing mix but let’s not use old media ways of describing marketing opportunities to blind us to the fast changing evolution that digital offers.

Steve Ackerman, managing director, Somethin’ Else

Location, location, location

In many ways mobile offers the same digital experience and opportunity as other connected devices but with the added benefit of bringing in a location element to communication and advertising.

The context of understanding location has a big role to play in the advertising process, determining how you might respond to a targeted message using location to filter the right types of advertising to serve. Add in the growing m-commerce channels and you have a medium that is personal and highly responsive, as the high mobile clickthrough rates testify.

Knowing that someone is in an airport business class lounge versus someone in a department store predetermines the type of message that will be most relevant.

With the increasing adoption of smartphones as the default means of accessing the internet, there is no reason not to believe that mobile spend is only going to continue to grow at a phenomenal rate.

However, as any good marketer knows, the value in a campaign is being able to combine all the available and relevant channels together to make a holistic marketing plan. Mobile is best for digital spend in many ways but needs to be considered within the context of all the other channels.

Paul Thompson, managing director, BlisMedia

Candidates screaming with talent want best employers

Securing the right talent is integral to a company’s success, as your article shows, and using alternative creative methods to understand whether a person is the right fit for a company should be applauded. This also bodes well for the process as a whole, since it is not just the potential employee that is on inspection. Talented people are in demand and they are as keen to see if a company is the right fit for them.

Traditional recruitment methods need rethinking. The industry needs to facilitate making connections between potential employers and employees transparent, simpler and more cost effective. Otherwise the only group that really wins are the guys in the middle, rather than the people who matter most.

Shib Mathew, chief executive, yunojuno.com

Dodging a minefield

I agree with Matthew Valentine’s article that engaging with audiences effectively has evolved to rely on successful profiling and targeting. Today’s savvy consumer has high expectations and brands need to fully engage with this.

There are many ways to communicate with consumers and it can be a minefield. The key question to ask is how can a business tick all the boxes required for an effective, targeted mobile marketing campaign, which includes the relevant elements of the communications mix? The answer is mobile CRM coupled with an intelligent communications platform.

By combining these tools with a well thought out plan that considers all elements of the communications mix, businesses can push more personalised messages, offer tailored experiences on their websites or across their social media platforms and on mobile. By doing this, all businesses have the capacity to build a powerful engagement strategy.

James Marscheider, marketing manager, Oxygen8 Group

Missing tricks of the trade

The notion that there is residual frustration that marketers are missing tricks in email marketing underplays the consequences of untargeted email marketing campaigns.

Adapting the timing of messages is a good step but the main frustration for consumers is receiving irrelevant communications. Sending email marketing that does not interest subscribers reveals a company that does not know its customers or their relationship to the brand.

With intelligent technology now available, the days of ‘one size fits all’ digital marketing campaigns should be a thing of the past. Sending untargeted emails will get a brand nowhere with its customers. The answer to what a consumer wants lies in the data that companies have about them. Using what you know about your customer to better engage them through email campaigns will maximise response rates and increase revenue.  

Anthony Wilkey, strategic client director, Emailvision

Overcoming fear that lurks behind data

Michael Barnett’s article on whether big data is a con addresses a well-known fear of publishers and brands.

Data, when looked at from a single buyer’s perspective, is a daunting concept.

Potential buyers are likely to be caught up with where to start, who to speak to and whether the cost is worth it. The idea that something more sinister may lie beneath the big data phenomenon may just be the straw that breaks the donkey’s back and leads marketers to avoid the very thing that will enable them to enhance the efficiency of their marketing spend.

Big data is an organic source of information from which marketers can gain genuine consumer insight. Typically known as the amalgamation of all data created within ‘normal life’ consumption, big data is simply the collaboration of everything from the content on a site, to the books you read, and the cars you drive. If it is consumed, researched, managed or used through an online interface, data has been created and the consumer story is built.

But, these stories should only be paid for when they can be directly linked to further monetisation. I believe that the answer lies in the adoption of programmatic tools when utilising data hordes.

The sheer volume of data that is available requires algorithms to crunch the numbers and generate insights. Yet, in turn, the depth and scale of these insights are vast and require automation to process and implement efficiently when it comes to the actual sale of advertising inventory.

As a supply side platform, we can address the fears our clients have regarding monetising data and that is where the benefits of automated trading and the efficient implementation of data comes in.

Gareth Holmes, commercial director, EMEA, PubMatic