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A metric commonly used to measure the performance of high-growth businesses is Customer Lifetime Value over Customer Acquisition Cost, or more simply CLTV/CAC. It is a much better metric to provide an objective to marketing teams than many others we have seen in the past, but it has also some tremendous flaws associated with it, and if not used correctly and in the right context, it can jeopardize the business using it.
Developing a marketing campaign requires a unique combination of creative, big-picture thinking and focused, detail-oriented implementation. It can be challenging to figure out how to piece all the different elements together, but breaking down the process into tangible steps can help ensure that your vision will translate into effective tactics to reach your business objective through powerful creativity and seamless execution.
I have worked with numerous startups, medium businesses, and in large multinational companies, and when it comes to campaign planning and execution, there are common mistakes that can be avoided through careful planning and methodical execution. Whether if you are the person in charge of marketing in a 2-person startup or a brand director supported by 5 different agencies, you should find this two-part series useful.
Generally speaking, smaller companies have limited time and resources, and they tend to skip important steps in the process given their natural bias to action or simple lack of bandwidth. Larger companies often lack the synergic coordination between teams required to make the most of the resources available or fail to properly execute their plan due to the lack of attention towards smaller, technical, yet critical details.
For this reason, I’ve decided to learn from my mistakes and the mistakes made around me and document the process required to plan and launch a successful marketing campaign. In this first part of a two-part series, we’ll be exploring how to put your business objective and target audience to work, creating actionable steps that take you from data analysis to an idea that serves as a solid foundation for your campaign. Continue reading
You already know that you need to break down organizational silos to change the way teams work together. Knowing this, you may be thinking about investing in the hot new technology of a Customer Data Platform (CDP).
These marketer-managed data repositories allow you to create a single customer profile that can then be used by other systems. This gives you the power to enhance your (re)engagement activities across media. CDPs can be a smart way to collect data once and make it work for you, again and again, breaking through silos to create a more cohesive process for your team. Instead of having different team members each independently working on a piece of the puzzle, you can use this technology to bring them together.
You’ve probably already started hearing vendor pitches for a CDP (and if not, just wait. They’re going to be all the rage for 2019). Before you make a decision about a purchase, though, my advice is to take a step back and make sure that you have the talent in place to take full advantage of what a CDP has to offer. Continue reading
Let’s say you’ve got a loose stair that’s been driving you crazy because it springs up every time you step on it. You’ve decided to take care of it but don’t have a hammer. When you get to the store to pick one up, you see that your options are a standard hammer or one that promises to be industrial grade that’s made of the finest materials known to man. Everything about the second hammer screams superiority. It’s in a shinier package. It’s, in short, a better hammer. It also costs ten times more than the first hammer.
At that point, you may try to justify the “investment” by thinking you could use it to take on all those home improvement projects you’ve been putting off for a very long time. But once you take out the weekends you are going to be away, and the ones you have already blocked off for previous engagements, do you really have the time they would require to tackle them?
If all you’re going to use the hammer for is to repair your loose stair, is it really worth the investment?
Companies large and small make the mistake of being lured in by the promises of advanced technology platforms. To be sure, these platforms are truly innovative, and many can deliver on the promises they’ve made. However, when it comes to marketing technology, the value is determined by the features you actually use rather than the features that are available. You have to remember that your technology is a tool. Like any other tool, the way you use it is going to determine its worth. Continue reading
