FIGARODIGITAL.CO.UK
ESSAYS
MARKETING IN THE MOMENT
Big data is so 2012. Now that we’ve realised it’s quality not quantity that counts, the opportunity is there for
marketers to start implementing data in interesting ways.
One of these is pre-targeting: using data to anticipate users’ activity and then hitting them with ads while they’re at the buying stage rather than, as so often happens, presenting them with an ad for something they’ve only just bought.
Examples include a US dog food manufacturer who targeted dog-
owners with ads for pet food based on websites they’d visited and Twitter
accounts they followed. Unilever have partnered with Google to look at search data related to hair care products. On the basis of that information, Unilever
can create video content to run on their All Things Hair page on YouTube which anticipates trends before they’ve even broken.
The shift in focus from past to present is also apparent in the arrival of personal assistant apps like Google
Now and Microsoft Cortana, which are designed to predict what we want to know before we know ourselves. The future may be unwritten. But
indications of consumer behaviour are being tapped out on a phone right now.
COME TOGETHER
Collaboration has been one of marketing’s most persistent
buzzwords for years, and it’s evident in businesses as diverse as Airbnb, Zipcar and Kickstarter. In 2014 Uber generated headlines positive and negative indicating that, whatever else, the concept had fully entered the mainstream.
HEROIC CONTENT Content marketing dominated
industry chatter in 2014 and that’s not going to change in 2015. Brands will concentrate on refining (and personalising) their approach and demonstrating a return.
That may involve stepping away
from platforms like Facebook and investing in owned media. Video will continue to provide valuable user data and ROI. (For 52 per cent of global marketers video is top of the ROI list, according to
Syndacast.) Asset management will be a priority. There’ll be a new
focus on localisation. And clunky keywords will be jettisoned in
favour of trusted, authoritative, useful content that people actually want to read.
All of which means that brands will need to recognise the value of writing and people who write. Ann Handley, the author of Content
Rules and self-proclaimed warrior against “mediocrity in content” has long been an advocate of elegant, empathetic editorial.
For words to work in 2015 you won’t need shiny new tech or automated programming. You’ll need
confident, crafted, creative copy. As Handley says, “Make the customer the hero of your story.”
48 issue 23 january 2015
A report by Nielsen in mid-2014 found that two-thirds of its global
respondents were willing to share personal assets for financial gain and that 66 per cent say they’re likely to use or rent products or services from others in a share community. And it’s not just about
stuff. Twenty-six per cent are willing to share knowledge or experience.
How can we expect to see this area evolve in 2015? According to Jeremiah Owyang, author of the
report Sharing is the New Buying, 2015 will be the year of the crowd. This year, he notes, yet more
start-ups will emerge. Mature platforms will launch their own APIs. The debate over user data,
safety and privacy will intensify. The crowd will demand that start-ups share their value with people. And the model will spread to government.
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