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Digital Marketing Coach, Consultant, Consigliere

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Why Omni Channel Marketing is So Hard to Implement and Lift Off

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The digital marketing world is working hard to shift from channel specific communications and optimizations to a more consumer centric, customer journey model of communications. Every digital marketing technology company is building an omni channel story of some sort into their webinars, sales pitches and tech stack so it sounds super easy – but it’s not!

I work with a lot of clients, some pre-internet (older insurance companies like Progressive) and some post-internet (startups, Amazon.com). Post internet companies have an advantage with a customer centric view of the world because they are starting from scratch with regards to how they collect data, which channels they use to communicate and their sales channels.

However, everyone has issues getting to a true customer centric communication platform across all channels. Here are the top challenges I see:

  1. Organizational challenges. In order to have a central focus on the customer you have to have an organization that is built around customers and not products or divisions. This is super difficult in larger organizations where distinct marketing teams work with discreet customer groups whether that is by industry or by stage of the customer journey – Branding, Acquisition, Conversion, Retention, Win-Back. In smaller organizations that tend to work with a smaller audience type (B2B or B2C) it is easier to organization around the customer. But, you run into the next challenge type.
  2. Technology challenges. The internet was built on technology that optimized individual channels. Ad servers like DoubleClick connects display media with an on-site conversion. Search platforms like Google AdWords and Bing Ads do the same thing but are built specifically for paid search. Facebook is the same for their social platform. Each one of these technology platforms are tuned to deliver the media based on the levers in that channel but they don’t have a consistent identification at an individual level ACROSS the tools. So, we are stuck with the best optimization platform for each channel or selecting a platform that “works” with multiple platforms, but doesn’t give you the consistency of communication across the different marketing communications platforms.
  3. Data challenges.  Data challenges are more prevalent in pre-internet companies that have built up databases around different functions: Acquisition, lead nurture, churn, product usage, customer service and retention. I see this a lot in big organizations that may have a great acquisition data system, but aren’t using any of the same data or tactics to minimize churn and build lifetime value through retention.
  4. Leadership & Vision. It is easy to talk about customer centricity and being customer first. However it takes executive leadership and a commitment to the vision to build an organization that has financial incentives aligned with customer centricity across channels and has the patience to get through through painful technology and data transitions.
  5. Employee Talent. New technology has given us great capabilities in connecting different channels and devices to a single person – commonly called ‘people centric marketing’. The technology is still relatively young compared to channel specific platforms which means that not as many people have had the opportunity to train on and use the different tools. In addition, the general marketing population doesn’t have the understanding of what these platforms can do or have a marketing communication strategy that can take advantage of the new tools. It is much easier, for example, to find someone who can do a great job optimizing paid search campaigns or drive a comprehensive organic search program than to find someone that can create a true omni-channel communication strategy driving powerful technology.

Omni-channel is hard. Personalized communications to an individual throughout their relationship with the brand over time is harder. The technology to make this more of a reality is available now, whether it is customer orchestration platform like KiteWheel that connects different channels and leverages their best of breed capabilities or the big platform like Google that is building capabilities to deliver messages across their entire media ecosystem with a unified identifier. There is no doubt that customer centricity is the major focus of innovative marketing organizations and will be the driving force in the digital marketing industry over the next 5 – 10 years.

Robots Are Going To Take Your (Analyst) Jobs!

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I recently gave a presentation to the Digital Analytics Association Symposium on the evolution of Machine Learning and how it will transform the work that digital analysts due in the near future. I’m extremely interested in how machine learning and predictive analytics can improve digital marketing performance through personalization while moving us closer to the original digital marketing vision of right message to the right person at the right time.

the-robots-are-taking-your-analyst-jobs-daa-nov-2016

Leadership & Operational Lessons from Philmont Boy Scout Ranch

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Philmont Boy Scout Ranch is located in Northwest New Mexico and is the largest of the four major high adventure camps run by the Boy Scouts at over 144,000 acres. Philmont is a working ranch that hosts 23,000 scouts, advisors and staff every summer – that is almost 400 people in and out of Philmont every day through the summer hiking season. In order for Philmont to host and process this many people across 90 different camps on the property, it must run like a machine in order to both give the scouts and advisors the best back country experience possible as well as teach the crews how to Leave No Trace behind in order to preserve the land for future generations.

I traveled with Troop 186 from Seattle to Philmont at the end of July for a 12 day stay at the ranch with my son and 42 other scouts and dads. I left with a deep respect for the operational proficiency and the systematic training of leadership skills for the scouts. The lessons to be shared in this post can be divided into four major categories: Preparation, Process, Training and Communication.

Troop 186 + Rangers at Philmont Ranch - 2016
Troop 186 + Rangers at Philmont Ranch – 2016

Preparation

The preparation for a 12 day backpacking trip to Philmont starts a full year in advance with the selection of a pre-trip leader who is responsible for coordinating the troop and setting us up for success upon arrival. Who’s going, recruiting help to take on specific trip tasks, travel arrangements, costs and organizing crews (groups of scouts and adult advisors no larger than 12 people with a max of 4 adults).

Individual & team preparation included:

  • Gearing up by acquiring and packing just what was on the provided list of items down to a specific number of shirts, shorts, socks & underwear
  • Medical check ups to be within a certain boundary of physical fitness. A particular concern was weight to height ratio and blood pressure restrictions due to altitude and physical stress
  • Each crew selecting their crew leader, chaplains aid (morale) and wilderness gia (leave no trace policy enforcer)

Process

From the moment we step onto the grounds of the base camp of Philmont we’re guided through a orchestrated series of activities designed to create group cohesion, ensure we’re ready to spend 11 days in the back country and set up for success.

It all starts with meeting our Ranger at the welcome center who spent the next three days teaching us the Philmont way. He had a large checklist of items for us to start executing against and communicated primarily to scout crew leader to begin the leadership training with the adult advisor in tow. We visited the administration office to pay final amount, the clinic for everyone to turn in medical forms and get a quick check-up, provisioning to get our first ration of back country food, bear bags + line, the commissary, logistics for the hike (where and when to pick up food, sleep, do cool stuff, etc.) and our accommodations (cowboy tents and cots) for the first evening before heading out the following morning.

I am amazed at the number of people the base camp supports, the amount of paperwork we handled quickly, the number of tasks we accomplished on a tight timeline. The process was amazing. Again, very clear steps, well documented time tables, a few key pieces of paper with several supporting documents. Checklists and timetables ruled the day.

Training

Philmont dedicates a Ranger to each crew to teach the Philmont way.  The Ranger spends three full days going through a checklist that covers everything from how to tie up your food on bear wires to how to cook your meals + clean out your pots (fun fact: involves drinking the food residue in the pots vs dumping into the bushes) to how to poop/pee in the backcountry (hint: only poop and paper in the backcountry toilets – no pee).

The compelling elements of training that I found included:

  • He was very methodical with the instructions. Clearly he had been given a lot of training himself.
  • He made it relevant and engaging. Even the bit about how to poop/pee in the woods was funny.
  • He taught us once on the first day on the trail and then watched us set up camp without guidance to ensure we had it on the second day.

Communication

Communication was a key factor in the success of our trip.  The expectation setting from Philmont prior to arriving and the clear guidance once we arrived and got set-up has been covered. The other major dynamic of the trip was having a 14 year old scout lead the entire 12 person crew (including 4 adults). One of the challenges of Philmont is blending together hikers with different physical ability on a 70 mile 11 day hike and different spans of attention – 14 year old boys that need to get tasks done while have fun.

Several key approaches helped with both situations:

  • Roles and Responsibilities – the successful crews had a clear guide on who was doing what when such as setting up the fly-tarp, pulling up the bear bags, cooking, cleaning and retrieving water.
  • Communicating from the back of the hike line to the front of the line. Invariably, the navigational leader for the day would hike too fast for some of the slower hikers (adults included) which meant the middle and back of the hike line would need to let the front know to slow it up. The leader of our crew made the decision to have one person set the pace who had the right speed once we found him.
  • In the evenings, to difuse frustrations and improve team work we would go around in the circle to share Start, Stop & Continue
    • Start – what should we start doing
    • Stop – what should we stop doing
    • Continue – what should we continue doing
  • We also shared daily roses, thorns and buds to connect and remind ourselves of the beauty and challenge of the day.
    • Roses – what you loved that day
    • Thorns – what you didn’t like
    • Buds – what you are looking forward to the next day

The other major lesson I learned is how teams evolve. I would say the flow below is pretty accurate and by the end of the trip we were definitely in the norm stage with hints towards perform.

  • Form – teams assemble out of organizational necessity
  • Storm – conflict as roles bounce against each other to figure out who does what and why
  • Norm – normalization of duties and roles within the team
  • Perform – when a team is firing on all cylinders

The Philmont Scout Ranch is an operational and logistic machine. The incredible number of young scouts and semi-out of shape men who successfully complete 65 – 90 mile adventures in the New Mexico high country is a testament to organizational effectiveness and planning. We all learned a ton and grew tremendously on the trail.

If you’re interested in photos from the trip – click here to go to the album in Google Photos.

Trends in Ad Tech from Silicon Valley

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I just posted this article on the Hacker Agency website here, but wanted to share on my site as well.

HackerAgency and FCB executives from all over the world recently returned from four days of meetings with the biggest digital media technology companies in Silicon Valley: Google/YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat and Facebook/Instagram. We were treated to a first-class education which included a deep dive into consumer trends, technology shifts and a preview of the next wave of advertising opportunities across these communication platforms.

I’m going to race through the major things we learned and discussed. I hope to go deeper soon.

First, major consumer trends:

  • Every one of the organizations we met with has a major focus on video as THE communication format of the near future. And it’s all about mobile.
  • Two-thirds of the world is still not on the Internet. Google and Facebook have programs dedicated to putting the Internet into the hands of those without access.
  • In the developing world, technology has skipped computers and has moved straight to mobile. However, most traffic is on a 2G-level network on a feature phone, so text is still king in these markets.

Second, technology shifts:

  • Personal assistant plus voice input (in addition to keyboard) is getting better all the time. Siri, Alexa, OK Google and Cortana are listening and responding. We’re at the beginning of interacting with artificial intelligence on a daily basis.
  • We’re seeing more focus on better user experiences. All the companies we visited are thinking about how to create more engaging, richer, digital ad experiences for better performance and higher monetization.
  • People are talking about the integration of analytics across customer touch points. Everyone realizes that one touch does not drive a behavior change, so a massive amount of work is going into understanding multi-touch marketing attribution across channels.
  • We all know mobile pages load too slowly on cellular networks, so tech giants are supporting the open source Accelerated Mobile Pages

Third, new creative opportunities:

  • Changes to something as familiar as Google search results are always big news. No ads on the right rail for Google will have a big impact on CPCs, impression share and quality score.
  • Deep linking into mobile apps is critical for mobile app promotion and a better user experience.
  • Conversational video ads on Twitter rolled out earlier in the year. They include a call to action with customizable hashtags to encourage customer engagement.
  • Cinematic pins on Pinterest allow brands to target specific user types (foodies, travelers, etc.) and use motion while the user scrolls but stop when the user stops.
  • SnapChat’s ads are an overlay over images. They have released an on-demand platform so you can create your own overlays and target individuals within a specific geography (down to 5,000 square feet) for a specific number of days.
  • Facebook Live streams to your network and competes with Periscope.
  • Facebook Canvas provides a deeper rich media experience on Facebook. You can use a combination of videos and still images to tell a story—and call-to-action buttons are available, too.
  • 360 Degree Video on Facebook lets you showcase your story in an immersive way when the user controls what they look at within the video.

We were very fortunate to get learning sessions with the largest tech advertising players in Silicon Valley, and we look forward to executing many of these new creative ideas with our clients.