Having the time to catch up with what's happening on the marketing front is a real privilege. While I'm giving a presentation later this afternoon on the need for real-time engagement, what I really love about the Marketing Association's Smarter Data conference is listening to some real visionaries.
Getting better doesn't need to be hard. It just means doing things ... better. Campbell Brown should know, too - he's the Marketing Director from GrabOne, a company that's grown from 6 staff to 120 since July 2010 and achieved an over 70% market share. Not a bad trajectory!
Daily deals aren't new - back in Australia, we have Catch of the Day. What is new is how effectively GrabOne has managed to not only corner their market but to start expanding into a variety of verticals. Critically though, they didn't get there overnight - they got there by focusing on the foundations. Return on investment. Customer engagement. And, testing and learning what works.
A key message of Campbell's presentation was that everything should be driven by return. Regardless of whether you're trying to engage via social media, electronic direct mail, or online, if you don't know your return from each of these channels, you're lost at sea. This is even more important given how quickly the social media landscape continues to change; paraphrasing Campbell, "adapt or die".
So what does Campbell credit for his success? Some simple lessons:
- Have a robust ability to do A / B testing
- Don't overcomplicate your segmentation
- Don't underestimate the importance of change management
- Make ROI transparent - don't rely on "branding campaigns"
Everything GrabOne does is based on exhaustive A / B testing. They know what works and more importantly, they drive to know why. That's a critical element in driving outcomes and yet, it's so rare.
Given GrabOne's success, there's an interesting question to ask: How well do you understand the return on investment you get from your marketing spend?
