The Figaro Digital Marketing Summit took place on 19 March at the Emirates Stadium. Joining us for a day of digital discovery were delegates from some of the UK’s smartest brands and experts from affilinet, Push, Branded3, Brightcove, atom42, Building Blocks, SDL and Liberty Marketing. Here’s a quick round-up of the day.
Driving Effective Change at Pace
Alec Boere — Managing Partner Digital, Rufus Leonard
James Turnbull — Director, AA Digital (The AA)
“Being the most trusted brand in the UK is no longer a divine right to success. If we don’t disrupt the market, someone will come in and disrupt it for us.”
Despite being the UK’s most trusted commercial brand, The AA’s interactions with their customers tend to be infrequent and negative, generally occurring when members are having problems with their vehicles. In an attempt to create more frequent, positive communications, the organisation wanted to revolutionise the digital user experience. James and Alec explain how The AA instilled a belief in their employees that things could change, and talk through the creation of a new app.
What Does the Future Hold for the Affiliate Marketing Channel?
Helen Southgate — UK Managing Director, affilinet
“We’ve renamed 2015 the affiliate marketing awakening.”
Confused by the affiliate channel? Think of it as a microcosm of online marketing, says Helen at affilinet, except that you’re paying for it on a cost-per-sale basis. Despite predating Facebook and Google, and the fact that 12 per cent of affiliate content sites drive sales, the channel is largely overlooked. In 2015, organisations need to think about reaching publishers in a targeted and automated way. Make it easy for publishers to work for you.
Understand the Impact of the Mobile Explosion on PPC Campaigns for all Devices
Ricky Solanki — Marketing Director, Push
Steven Hyde — Sales Director, Push
“To grow, you must exceed the pace of change.”
Browsing behaviour might switch between desktop and tablet throughout the day but mobile is ever-present so, stress Ricky and Steven at Push, there’s no excuse for a poor mobile site. Their advice: build a mobile experience that encourages action, control your users’ mobile journey and help them find information quickly.
It’s Who You Know, Not What You Know
Stephen Kenwright — Head of Search, Branded3
Steven Taylor — Marketing Director, Transform Cosmetic Surgery Group
“It doesn’t matter if you’ve got hundreds of links if none of them have a positive impact.”
SEO and cosmetic surgery have both suffered from being labelled ‘cowboys’, notes Stephen at Branded3. Transform Cosmetic Surgery Group wanted to be known as an authentic, trusted authority on cosmetic surgery, so needed to conduct a full SEO audit. In cases like this, Stephen stresses the need to conduct your link check manually. Don’t hang on to links if they are harming your reputation (74 per cent of Transform’s links were moved to the disavow file). Build links effectively by tapping into conversations happening across different platforms.
Bringing Your Content to Life with Video Marketing
Sophie Rayers — Director of Marketing, EMEA & LATAM, Brightcove
“Digital marketing in 2015 is hard, but video content is the most powerful way to see results.”
Thirty-six per cent of consumers say video is their preferred source of content. On average, sites that have video content see 65 per cent more conversions than those that don’t. Sophie at Brightcove offers a few tips for brands considering video. Use calls-to-action. Make sure your content plays back across platforms. Keep it simple when you’re telling a story. And, when designing your video campaign, think carefully about what it is you’re trying to get the viewer to do.
How to Turn Bad Times into Good with your Digital Marketing
Andy Atalla — Founder, atom42
“Pretend that you’re your own customer.”
If you’ve got a problem with your website, look to products like Google’s SEO Starter Kit and Microsoft’s SEO Tool Kit, says Andy at atom42. If you’ve got a 404 error, make your solution creative and helpful so that users do not abandon your site. (Check out the absurdly cute example above.) Try to get feedback from users where possible, and use positive engagement as an opportunity to prompt social sharing. Think about your messaging in organic search — using images and reviews to make your content stand out.
How to Create a Compelling Business Case for Digital Transformation
Jonathan Whiteside — Co-founder, Building Blocks
“Make it bulletproof.”
In order to be taken seriously on a strategic level, marketers must present a strong business case for investment in digital. For those who don’t know where to start, Jonathan at Building Blocks offers some check-points. Work out your cost savings over three years. Provide real figures, in context. Have a measurement framework prepared, outlining objectives, activities and KPIs. Collect feedback from people who actually work with customers, and identify responsible groups. And analyse your ‘digital disruptors’ — those beyond your traditional competitors. Basically, says Jonathan, make it bulletproof.
Case Study: The Wine Society
Liz Brown — CRM Manager, The Wine Society
Martyn Payne — CMA Sales Executive, SDL
“Everybody’s connected nowadays. Information needs to be relevant to my needs in the moment. It needs to give me what I want now.”
The Wine Society’s members are becoming increasingly digital and they expect the brand to recognise that. With most sales happening via mail order and the internet, the brand wanted to create a single member view, using browsing behaviour rather than purely transactional behaviour. Working with SDL, they were able to trigger and automate communications, enhancing personalisation to create dynamic and localised tasting emails.
Search Engine Marketing Health Check
Gareth Morgan — Managing Director, Liberty Marketing
“On the subject of search, one of the problems is that it changes so frequently.”
Gareth at Liberty Marketing takes delegates through some of the changes coming our way in 2015. He warns of the upcoming ‘Google Mobilegeddon’ update: as of 21 April, if you don’t have a mobile optimised site, visibility may suffer significantly. Other changes, such as Google’s partnership with Twitter, provide the opportunity for real-time results. Gareth also discusses local SEO, Google Shopping, Remarketing Lists for Search Ads, and Bing Ads.