In an industry where it seems like acting like acclaimed Mad Men will reel in loyal customers for our brands, the reality, as Venture Beat’s Travis Wright explains, is that the real winners are the “Math Men”. Data-driven marketing solutions that understand the needs and goals of brand marketers are just part of what the future of local holds for marketing technology providers.
As the keynote speaker of day 1 at the 2017 Brandify Summit, Travis Wright energized the audience of over 200 enterprise brand marketers with a breakdown of how social businesses, especially ones that keep local at their core, win the minds and hearts of increasingly disloyal customers.
Social Business
Wright defined social business, in simple terms, as “the way of connecting and providing value to your customers, by integrating social media throughout your organization.” In reference to Brian Solis and Charlene Li’s altimeter group methodology, social business relies on a range of components, from goals, vision and support, to strategy, guidelines, staff and investment. And to a marketer with customers that are overwhelmingly mobile, this means translating the value and relevance of your brand from initial discovery to local sale.
Overall a social business is one that keeps strategy and goals, policy, workforce, compliance, foundations, security, and analytics central to what it does. By seeing each local and social interaction as a relationship-building opportunity, brands can in turn optimize their connection on a more personal level with customers. Wright calls business relationship marketing (BRO) “BRO--the new SEO”.
Targeted Content Marketing
If BRO is the new SEO, that means that the movement for marketers, even ones that are focused heavily on location data and social interaction, then content marketing is the yellow brick road, with diverse bricks of content types within it.
Content isn't just an article or blog or even video. When you think about your content marketing challenges, you must recognize the audience that you intend to deliver it to. You have to create defined personas with your solutions and customers just want their problems solved.
"You have to ask yourself, what is resonating with the audience you're trying to connect with?" Wright posed to the audience. Your content changes depending on where you are in the customer journey. Every touchpoint is a different opportunity to be relevant to customers with epic content.
Organic Content Amplification
Wright mentioned that gone are teh days when pushing out content oncde would achieve the level of reach a marketer would qualify as success. The new movement is heavily geared towards Facebook, email CRM groups and social community proliferation on Google/Linkedin/Facebook.
Amplification is the best time to begin engaging employees as well. Whether this engagement is coming from MarTech providers or brands looking to peak the interest of their employees, this leveled communication is a sound organic approach to building a "network effect".
Paid Social Advertising
Wright notes that now, it takes 17 people to influence enterprise purchases. A single marketing manager or IT manager will not be the sole stakeholder for new technologies and digital services. Because a range of individuals all find value and have a stake in products and services, part of being a truly resonating brand in Local means that technology providers must micro-target to cater niche segments.
Whether it be Facebook, Instagram, Youtube or Twitter, ads all have their own relevance and value. The Pixel has gained in strength, and remarketing to meet these individuals at a point of need is what will keep local marketing technology providers competitive in this growing ecosystem.
Over 6,000 marketing technology providers exist and the number is growing. For brands that are heavily invested in local and social, this means that choosing a location-based MarTech provider is more difficult and important than ever before. In this space, brands are finding that the brands that intentionally provide the most catered value to brands and their needs are the ones that are staying on top.
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Topics: Local Marketing, Claiming Locations, Local Advertising, Brandify Summit 2017
Social Media Specialist at Brandify. Home is where the Wifi is.
