creating a cohesive marketing message - wwa show 2015
TRANSCRIPT
Creating a Cohesive Marketing Message
Tom JohnstonJason Anthony Montilla
10/22/2015
Presenters
Vice President of TechnologyCompany: Innovative Attraction Management, [email protected]
President of AscediaCompany: [email protected]
Jason Anthony Montilla Tom Johnston
In This Session
• Learn from your customer• Develop a strategy• Create consistency across tactics
Learning About (And From)
Your Customer
Seeking Inspiration
• 65% of leisure travelers start online• Top sources: search engines and YouTube• 57% start their shopping process with search• Majority of leisure travelers go in undecided• Internet is #1 source used by families for family vacation
research
Source: *Google Travel Study, June 2014
Planning Phase = Brand Opportunity
• Comparison begins during planning• Majority consider multiple brands• No destination in mind, yet
Information-Gathering Pitfalls
• Collect all of the data… …piles of data……but then act on none of it• Marketers unable to empathize with target audience• Singular approach to multi-faceted audience and marketplace
When (How) Are You Gathering Information?
• Before you launch• User testing• A/B testing
• During launch• A/B testing• Surveying• Site analytics
• Post-launch (better luck next time)• Site and campaign analytics
User Testing
• Tap into third-party panelist networks• Qualitative and diverse
• Test feelings• Test prototype messaging or site features• Test new web/ad designs• Test competition
• Difficult not to lead your testers• “Explain how this ___ makes you feel” vs “Do you like this ___”• “Would you go to this waterpark?” vs “Which waterpark would you
spend your own money at?”
A/B Testing
• Throw it at the wall and see what sticks• Takes away personal bias• Multiple applications
• Subject lines• Ad creative• Headlines• Imagery• The kitchen sink
• Doesn’t necessarily mean twice the expense
Surveying
• Instead of third-party panels, use your actual audience• Low-cost alternative to paid research• Approach can be two-fold
• Uncover aspects of your target audience• Collect opinions on messaging / content perception
• More than just a pop-up• Can be leveraged in marketing campaigns• Wrap a survey into a promotion you already were going to offer
Site and Campaign Analytics
• Analytics is the measurement and analysis of website traffic broken down by geography, language, and, in some cases, age group.
• Knowing when customers access your website and when they are doing it is an effective tool for measuring campaign effectiveness and helps expose your optimal website layout and flow.
• Browser statistics can also be measured which helps you see what devices and browsers customers are using to access your site. You always want to make sure the customer has a positive experience regardless of device or browser.
Developing an Agile Content Strategy
Agile…Development???
• Customer satisfaction by early and continuous delivery of useful software• Welcome changing requirements, even late in development• Working software is delivered frequently (weeks rather than months)• Close, daily cooperation between business people and developers• Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted• Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication (co-location)• Working software is the principal measure of progress• Sustainable development, able to maintain a constant pace• Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design• Simplicity – the art of maximizing the amount of work not done – is essential• Self-organizing teams• Regular adaptation to changing circumstance
Agile Marketing!
• Customer satisfaction by early and continuous delivery of useful messaging• Welcome changing marketplaces• Working copy/creative/etc. is delivered frequently (weeks rather than months)• Close, daily cooperation between marketers, operations and vendors• Campaigns are built around motivated individuals or partners, who should be trusted• Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication (co-location)• Working campaigns are the principal measure of progress• Sustainable promotion, able to maintain a constant pace• Continuous attention to campaign performance and good design• Simplicity is essential• Self-organizing teams• Regular adaptation to changing circumstance
The Opportunity
Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferrooney/2014/04/15/applying-agile-methodology-to-marketing-can-pay-dividends-survey/
Developing an Agile Content Strategy
• Worst: Wing it at the last minute• Worse: Do what you did last year• Bad: Create an entire year’s worth of messaging. Set it and
forget it.• Stop: Just let an agency come up with it all and walk away and
hope for the best…• Better: Develop a rolling two-to-three month rolling calendar with
multiple versions of message. Automate what you can, A/B test when you can, monitor while it’s happening and adjust based on the data where possible.
Targeting
• Know thy target audience• Don’t jump straight to promotion/book now• Watch your competition• But know that other waterparks aren’t your only competition
Planning
• Most marketers don’t plan well enough in advance• Planning allows for baseline through the “knowns”• Two- to three-month rolling calendar is optimal• Content strategy shouldn’t be too rigid
Pivot Your Message
• Iterate through your messaging• Failure is a good thign
Pivot Your Message
• Iterate through your messaging• Failure is a good thign thing• Chance to re-examine your
• Target• Copy• Behavior you want to elicit• How you are speaking to your customer
• You can’t set it and forget it
Considerations Across Digital Channels
Typical Customer Touch Points
• Touch points are the places where a customer has any interaction with your product or company.
• A billboard or advertisement might be the first touch point a potential customer will see to get them interested in your business.
• Your website or app is a touch point that a customer might frequent to keep up to date with updated pricing, news and reactions from campaigns.
Typical Customer Touch Points
• Social media is a very important touch point for customers that, in some instances, is overtaking traditional website traffic.
• Word of mouth is a very important touch point that helps drive customers to your locations, websites, and social media. Often, this is fueled by promotions.
• It is a good practice for every business to figure out all of the potential touch points their particular location has available to customers and potential customers to help predict behavior and make the points equate to sales.
Desktop – Tablet – Mobile
• According to KPCB mobile technology trends as of July 2015, users in the USA are looking at mobile devices (including tablets) 51% of the time compared to 42% of the time via traditional desktop web browsers.
Desktop – Tablet – Mobile
• The common methodologies for creating modern websites are “mobile-first” and “responsive.”
Desktop – Tablet – Mobile
Search (Organic and Paid)
• Test with paid, then leverage findings in organic• Ideally combined to complement each other
• Organic – higher perception of credibility• Paid – more specific brand/promotion/content control
• Treat them like building blocks
Search (Organic and Paid)
Source: Data from Google’s “Impact Of Ranking Of Organic Search Results On The Incrementality Of Search Ads” Report
Search (Organic and Paid)
• Paid search and organic – both highlight key features of park
• Can choose what NOT to include as sub-links of paid result
• Room & Suite Options tie in nicely with list of specific rooms under organic result
• Email marketing is effective because it is tends to reach the widest audience; almost everybody has an email address.
• Email format, look and feel, and language is important.
• It is very important to put easy unsubscribe links in your email campaigns.
• How do I stay out of the junk mail folder?
Display Ads
Display Ads
• Don’t think outside of the box, yet…• Same rules apply – know thy audience• Correct your expectations about display• Simple ads with complex targeting
Display Ads
Social Media
• Social media is a major player in marketing
• Social media is a moving target• Blogging can be an effective
way to drive customers to your social media and/or website
Video
• Video is an important, effective way to get people involved in your parks.
• Customers pay more attention to video than they do plain text. Video appeals to customers with images, sound, and text. They are less likely to be distracted by something else while watching a video.
• People tend to “share” videos on social media more often than plain text or HTML website pages.
• Video is important to any marketing campaign, regardless of business.
Video
• Video is easy• There are free options for hosting,
streaming, and even editing video online.
• Quality is important, but low-budget video is completely acceptable because of the rise of home-made video programs on the internet.
• Keeping up with video “shows” provides customers with an ongoing relationship and helps maintain brand loyalty, especially if you have a local competitor.
Key Takeaways
• Learn from your customer • Develop an agile content strategy that allows for pivoting• Create consistency across all digital channels
