10 Lessons from 10 Intense Weeks
What I’ve learnt from attending General Assembly’s Digital Marketing Immersive, a full-time 10 week course that transformed 6 newbies into aspiring pros.
[1] The importance of Data in digital marketing
On the internet, everything is data collected, from interactions to behaviour. And we use this to refine our marketing tactics and targeting. We had a guest speaker, Fern Yit Lim from Pixel People, who showed us his understanding of digital marketing, and data is at its core. Indeed, Data is The Key Differentiator from traditional marketing.
[2] The role of digital marketing as a bridge, between the Business, Customer, UX, Web Development, Creatives
We need to understand the business and its customer, and to be familiar with the language that the people in UX (e.g. user flows), Web Development (e.g. some HTML) and Creative agencies use to align our objectives. Otherwise, our strategies would not be effective.
[3] (Digital) Marketing is part art, part science
Definition of art: The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, … producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power
Definition of science: The intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour … through observation and experiment
Creative + Analytical, Design + Data.
[4] Don’t build (too much) on rented land
We started off with the framework of owned, paid and earned media. Further along we discussed first, second, and third party data. The caution of “Don’t Build on Rented Land” pops up now and then to remind us that while all these snazzy platforms are great tools, you ultimately do not own them, and any change in their policies or business can dissolve your sandcastle into a pile of sand.
[5] The love of frameworks
You caught me there, I’ve already mentioned a few frameworks. Frameworks are great in understanding the problem and guiding our thought process in developing strategies and campaigns. But they are, and should be, flexible too. A quick Google (image) search can show you mulitiple variations of the same customer journey or marketing funnel concept. Sometimes, we even have to choose between frameworks for a certain aspect in terms of what works better in our context.
[6] Be a Technologist, Behaviourist, and Business Owner
This advice came from a guest speaker, Gerald Ang, who came to share with us his rich industry experience. It clearly resonated with us, as we quoted him a few times during our conversations. To (digitally) market like you own the business, with an understanding of customer behaviour, and leverage on technology to achieve your goal.
[7] Start with understanding the business, industry, and customer
Which is why we started with the Business Model Canvas and Customer Persona/Segmentation. Almost every industry, every business is different, and correspondingly, what appeals to their customer, where and when to connect to them would also be different. Only by first understanding can we come up with a plan that is aligned to the business and the customer.
[8] Objective (Business, then marketing)-First
Similar to the above, if we need to be clear about the business, we need to be clear about its objective. It would then affect the focus of the strategy, in which stage of the customer journey, and corresponding Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). We ladder these objectives to see how macro-level objectives water down into more achievable and specific goals, and how micro-level targets can contribute to the larger picture.
[9] Customer-centricity
Being customer or person-centric is one recurring concept in my professional life. In healthcare, the idea of integrated care is such that your body, you and your family is viewed holistically, and care is arranged around you, as opposed to episodic, body-part-speciality, care. In marketing, you want to be as targeted as you can, speaking to the customer as personal as you can (without being creepy), and arrange your activities and messages around the customer.
I think that we are now adapting to the individual more than ever, in contrast to individuals adapting to the larger environment. This is in tandem with ever increasing expectations and technology advancements. I wonder though, if this contributes to a certain level of self-centredness and unhappiness?
[10] Always test, measure to optimise
I have lost count of the number of times ‘A/B test(ing)’ was uttered in class and presentations. While there have been studies to guide certain placements and usage of elements, the conclusion was always to ‘A/B test your variations to see what works best’ (for you).
And to bring us back to point 1, always collect your data (measurements, or metrics), and use them for optimisation — the better performing copy, at which time of the day, at which day of the week; the better responding audience, at what targeting criteria, at which channel etc.
My instructor, Sotirios, mentioned that 20% of the work is the strategies that we’ve developed, but 80% of the work is during execution and constant optimisation, which includes revisions to the initial strategy that was our starting point.
I’m at my 20%. Now, let’s go for the 80%!
