Courtney Wylie is vice president of marketing for Mention Me and has 20 years experience in both B2B and B2C. Here she answers questions about the future of marketing in our latest Marketing Maestro interview.
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How important to your brand is the news media (both B2B and B2C)?
As a B2B business in the marketing technology space we view keeping up to date with news announcements and developments, as well as insights and trends in our space as vital to our growth and reputation. Maintaining a presence in industry trade titles across tech, retail and business, as well as the broadsheets, helps us engage with our peers, clients and prospects, and so is an essential part of our marketing mix. We recognised the importance of earned media several years ago and made the move to in-house our PR approach when many other businesses of our age/maturity would have gone with an agency.
What media channels do you see as most important and best value when it comes to marketing spend and activity?
Mention Me’s core client base are e-commerce retailers looking to ambitiously grow their new customer acquisition. They tend to be digital natives and so the main digital channels (paid search, paid social media, content marketing and content sponsorship based on thought leadership) are vitally important to us and also tend to be very efficient. We also achieve high levels of engagement with our regular events, which enable us to connect directly with our customers and prospects, as well as share our latest product developments. Now these events have become virtual, we still continue to see great results and the team are continually exploring new approaches to make the most of this channel in the coming months.
Related
What for you is the key to any successful marketing campaign – what actually makes a ‘good lead’?
The key to a successful marketing campaign is not just driving results (in our case this would mean driving new prospects to Mention Me) it’s also important to land a message so that prospects come to us understanding our key benefits, value proposition or positioning. This way they’re qualified leads, who know what they’re looking for before they pick up the phone. As such we invest time and energy crafting our message to get it just right.
How important is technology in modern marketing?
Vital! Technology infuses all aspects of modern marketing, without it there is no marketing.
What are the biggest pain points in a marketing campaign? And how do you overcome them?
Attributing marketing channels correctly to understand which ones are driving lead generation; following leads throughout the pipeline to ensure they get a good follow-up, nurture or reactivation; prioritising many varied channels with a small team; having to react and change strategies in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic; working hard for a PR opportunity or award nomination but ultimately not getting the media coverage or win. I’m sure everyone will recognise these as some of the universal challenges facing marketers of all stripes.
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