Digital Marketing (DigiMarketing) & Market Research

Editor's Notes

• #2: Great honor to be here. I’ve been asked to speak about the implications of DigiMarketing for market research…I’m flattered, and somewhat horrified, that you think I am capable of this! So many experts on market research…latter husbands of elizabethtaylor (who went thru 6 hubbies as I recall): I know what to do, but given your experience I just hope I can make it interesting.I also feel a little like I’m entering the lion’s den to preach the values of vegetarianism…
• #4: I’ll look at 3 topics: the growth of digital media, which is driving all this; the growth of digital marketing that results from that; and what this might mean for marketing research in a digimarketing world.Always hard to know where to start with the growth of digital media: 4 years ago when I started speaking on this topic, to convince audiences that digital media were for real took at least 30 mins. I notice that more recently this is less true…the situation now is more “not yet” than “never”I hope this audience realizes that we are witnessing the demise of conventional media (print, broadcast TV, broadcast radio, and conventional billboards); we sit at the cusp…the point at which digital will surge exponentially and traditional media will drown in its own regrets.Notice this is not to say that people will not listen to the content previously known as radio, or watch the content previously known as TV, or see what (already quaintly I refer to as billboards, outdoor). What I am saying is that people will do what they have always done…the top selling DVDs at Amazon are almost all TV shows…people see the same thing. BUT IN A DIFFERENT WAY. And the difference of that way is crucial for marketing, and I believe market research.
• #5: So I hope we all accept the rise in digital media…and even if you believe that it will not dominate for several years to come…we need to prepare now.
• #6: Maybefewer realize the dominance of Asia on the web…42% already and with average penetration of only about 20%...lots of room to grow vs N America 76%; Europe 53%; penetration; Globally we are at about 27%; The Asian century, the internet century, the Asian internet century
• #7: So digital media are global…indeed there is an entire presentation in that: digital media know no geography. As a result, geographic segmentation will make less and less sense for our marketing…but that’s another story for another day.Digital media will dominate…and in fact are already starting to:
• #10: In the US this time, Arbitron and Edison run a survey asking which medium is most essential for your life. This year, for the first time internet is most essential medium…again not because TV became less essential…but because far more people moved to saying the internet was most essential. They shifted from the lesser media. When the elephants fight the mice get trampled.Poor old newspapers dropped from 10% saying most essential in 2007 to 5% now.While television still leads among those over the age of 45, Internet dominates among younger persons age 12 to 44.Interesting side-point here, although this talks about TV and Radio…it’s not clear if the respondents will interpret these as names of media: if I find the content on an internet radio station as essential…would this count for radio or internet?I if I watch the content previously known as TV on my laptop, or mobile, or from a pre-recorded DVD (most of the top 10 Amazon DVDs are TV shows) am I watching TV?Many of these surveys have a problem with confusing content and device. Life was once easy: content was device.
• #11: Now I said that part of the reason digital grew so fast was that people do what they always did: they still consume audio and video content previously known as TV and radio…they consume it in a different way. But this is the start. As we better understand the unique capabilities of the digital media, so we can shape what we do in it to make better use of the new medium.Again I am told this is typical of new media: when radio emerged, I am told, announcers read advertisements from the newspapers; when TV emerged, newsreaders read the news. It is only a new medium is explored that its unique strengths come the fore. News is now more seen than read; reporters are embedded not in print!When I show the next slide I usually hear groans of disbelieve from older clients, and affirmations (“yes that’s what I do”) from the younger ones.
• #12: The study (US again) was called: “Is Social Media a New Addiction?” While I don’t subscribe to the current addiction to addictions. And another nail in the coffin of dead tree news. Notice NOT in the coffin of news: only in the deadtree version.
• #13: Easiest way to view this is just to look at people who can go without FB for a long time: notice in this survey “long time” is less than daily. Only 40-50% of respondents can bear to be away from FB for a day.(which is about what FB itself says: over 400 m active users, 50% log in on any given day, http://www.facebook.com/#!/press/info.php?statistics)
• #15: So what? Digital media is growing…what does that mean for marketing?
• #16: Well I call it digimarketing…and Kent Wertime (then President of Ogilvy One Asia) and I had some success with an overview digimarketing book…We said that digimarketing would occur when the majority of a company’s marketing uses digital channels…well it’s already happening in 2010
• #18: There’s a story that of a frog is placed in a pan of cool water, and the water gently warmed, the frog will remain contentedly in the water until the water boils and the frog dies. Now I am told that the story is untrue: frogs are skittish, agile, creatures and they quickly jump out of the pan. The question is: will marketers, and market researchers be so agile?For there is no doubt that digital is a huge opportunity for the agile.
• #19: There’s a story that of a frog is placed in a pan of cool water, and the water gently warmed, the frog will remain contentedly in the water until the water boils and the frog dies. Now I am told that the story is untrue: frogs are skittish, agile, creatures and they quickly jump out of the pan. The question is: will marketers, and market researchers be so agile?For there is no doubt that digital is a huge opportunity for the agile.
• #20: One of the reasons that it is an opportunity for the agile is that it requires a new way of thinking…I already mentioned that new media have new capabilities, and it is the ability to exploit those capabilities that will really make a difference.
• #21: So how are digital media different? Well I think you all know the conventional 4Ps. I would like to argue that digital marketing also has 4Ps, but they are rather different Ps. The conventional 4Ps haven’t gone away, but they are assumed…commonplace, not longer sufficient to stand out.
• #22: The 4Ps of digimarketing?
• #23: Start with permission. Marketers (unlike market researchers) are not accustomed to asking permission. The normal marketing approach is blast away: if you want the content of TV, radio etc, you have to bear the marketing. Well digital media aren’t like that. They are extremely user controlled.If I don’t like your web ads, I can download a free blocker and never see them again. If I don’t like your emails, I can label them as spam, and never see them again. And if enough people label them as spam, you will be labeled as a spammer and no reputable organization will handle your email. If you sms ads go on being so intrusive and irrelevant to me, I’ll block them and you will never be able to send me an sms again.So digimarketing needs: clear opt-in, easy opt-out, customer chosen content & frequency, AND intense relevance. It only makes sense for both parties: a recipient who has given permission to be marketed to, is a much better prospect: much more likely to convert to an eventual sale.Second P is participation.
• #24: Second P is participation.
• #27: But today ‘s consumer is active, engaged (or wants to be), lean forward, not lean back.We move from reach and impressions, to sustained engagement. What we once called “sticky”. I want participants interacting with my digital marketing…so they learn more about my brand (and shape it as they wish), and have less time to be with my competitors’ brands.
• #28: Participation can be as simple as this email…where the recipient has to work to find the message.(I call this non-informative participation, as I don’t learn anything about the participant from the interaction…more of this in a moment)
• #29: Or as complex as this game (developed by AsiaSoft for MK restaurants, a chain based in Thailand). Diners who spend 300 baht get a login to the game that entitles them to the special (vegetable) hat…don’t ask why but possession of this became a big deal. Then you compete against your friends to get your avatar (your representation in the game) to follow the dance steps correctly…and you earn points.The whole thing is conducted against an MK restaurant backdrop, with MK restaurant music (they have their own song), and reinforced in the restaurants with dancing singing waiters and waitresses (without veggie headgear)As far as I know the circle has not yet been closed, it should be possible to spend the points earned in the game on discounts in the restaurants (or at least codes for avatar stuff from the restaurant). This would unite the on-line information that we generate about the player, with their real world identity (and make a start on informative participation)
• #30: Then of course there is viral marketing. I don’t supposed any of you have ever emailed on a quirky video clip to your friends? And so voluntarily helped the marketer both distribute the message AND choose who to distribute it to This is the epitome of participation: consumers actually do all the heavy work, choosing friends they think would appreciate that quirky vdo clip and passing it on to them
• #31: And the third P is profile: what I have been calling informative participation uses the participation to build information about the market. A key characteristic of digital media is that they are UNIQUE. Every mobile has a unique number, every device connected to the internet as a unique IP (internet protocol) address…even every digital camera has a unique identifier which it embeds in every photo you take, unless you disable it.This means that I can build a profile bit by bit. I don’t need to ask all the questions today. I can get a little today and a little tomorrow. Oh and by the way I can make it part of my regular marketing…I don’t need a special market research survey, data collection is built right into my digital marketing.Then of course there’s privacy…and this will be THE issue of the decade: the tension between profile and privacy. I will return to this in a moment.
• #32: Why do we want that profile? So we can personalize…and I mean personalize in a meaningful way. Not simply sending me emails addressed to Mr Ian, but sending content in which I am interested…content that is automatically fitted to my profile.I often wonder why my mobile phone service provider who I have dealt with for 10 years, made countless calls, sms’s, internet connections…who tells me I am a Platinum member (which gives me preferential parking)…continues to send me information in a language I can’t read.
• #33: Whereas look at Amazon. I have only twice bought from Amazon, but I often visit to search for information. If I enter the site not logged in, I receive the generic home page. A ho-hum selection of stuff.
• #34: But if I log-in, I get this. Which is FAR more interesting to me. This is personalized based on everything I have ever done (while logged in) at Amazon.Now remember I mentioned privacy? If marketers are so crass and uncaring (can you believe in the concept of crass, uncaring marketers?) as to raise consumers privacy concerns, what will consumers do? Cut them off from the info needed to profile…so no personalization…and the big payoff of digital for both consumers and marketers will go unrealized.We can see this being played out right now: in the last week Facebook changed the rules on how long your data can be stored by third parties, and in where that data can be collected, and in what is private by default. Privacy concerns are spreading like wildfire and instructions on how to “secure” your Facebook data are being circulated virally. Yet what’s the harm in letting a music site know who your favourite musicians are? Then they can show you the latest offers on those songs first.Once consumers are spooked, it’s hard to un-spook them. Understanding the boundaries of privacy, and for what it will be sacrificed, will become a crucial goal of market research.
• #35: Here’s simple personalization from Burger King Brazil…notice how well it fits the brand: Have It Your Way…now you really know it’s your way cos it’s got your photo on it!
• #36: If we get the Personalization right, we greatly enhance the chance of Permission next time
• #37: Final point I want to make about digimarketing: it’s social. One of the new elements brought by the new digital media is the importance of social networks. We’ve already mentioned Facebook, with its 400 million plus users; we all know Twitter with its 100 million plus users.And time spent on social networking sites has increased by 82% in the last year (from 3 to 5.5 hours per month in 2009)
• #38: The only thing I want to say about social networks is THEY ARE NOT NEW. This is an ad for CompuServe…anyone remember Compuserve…a dial-up service that was a sort of pre-cursor to the internet. This ad is from
• #39: The only thing I want to say about social networks is THEY ARE NOT NEW. This is an ad for CompuServe…anyone remember Compuserve…a dial-up service that was a sort of pre-cursor to the internet. This ad is from
• #40: So for digimarketing: 4Ps and social context
• #41: All this is not to say that there isn’t a vital role for market research…but I suspect that most research companies are not yet playing that role. I suspect your lunch is being eaten for you by IT people, by sales, by marketing…I see a lot of suspect pseudo-research in the digital field.Let me immediately say that the examples I’ve shown are intended good ones…not suspect ones.
• #42: So what does all his mean for market research? Well first remember the frog: I am only going to talk about a few implications…the winners will be the market researchers who are sufficient agile to spot the opportunities…there will be many.But first: how many of you have their own websites? And facebook pages? And linked-in (or Xing) presence? Or both Linked-In and Xing? How many use Google AdWords? Facebook ads? Linked-In ads?Digimarketing is already sufficiently big that NOT to do it doesn’t only miss an opportunity, it says something about you.
• #43: Not to be doing digital means something…
• #44: Not to be doing digital means something…
• #45: Not to be doing digital means something…
• #46: So you need to be doing, or perparing to do, digital marketing.I also remember from my days in market research that a lot of emphasis was on data collection…like data was rare and hard to find. Well with digimarketing data is not hard to find, in marketers are drowing in it
• #47: The Economist of course said it better…but my point is that data abounds…and most digimarketers have no idea what to do with it.The traditional role of market researchers as converters of data into information: as analysts and unbiased interpreters of data has NEVER been more needed…but the traditional role of data collection, is likely to diminish fast.Now I don’t know how many of you are already participating in the analysis feast that digimarketing brings…but I do know that if you don’t get to the table quickly…someone else will eat your lunch.For example, how many of you are involved in web analytics for your clients?
• #48: Google Analytics records just about everything that people do at your clients’ websites…for free, and automatically!Fortunately (for you, and for me) there is so much data that most clients have no idea what to do.Given that the website is increasingly the focus of marketing, and sales, and analytics is the study of exactly what happens on the website: web analytics will become a crucial part of future market research…make sure you get this business…or someone else will!If you let another provider in to do the analytics, what else will the finish up doing? (oh yes, and see the “intelligence” that Google is working on…can create goals and measure goal attainment)
• #49: Google Analytics records just about everything that people do at your clients’ websites…for free, and automatically!Fortunately (for you, and for me) there is so much data that most clients have no idea what to do.Given that the website is increasingly the focus of marketing, and sales, and analytics is the study of exactly what happens on the website: web analytics will become a crucial part of future market research…make sure you get this business…or someone else will!If you let another provider in to do the analytics, what else will the finish up doing? (oh yes, and see the “intelligence” that Google is working on…can create goals and measure goal attainment)
• #50: Google Analytics records just about everything that people do at your clients’ websites…for free, and automatically!Fortunately (for you, and for me) there is so much data that most clients have no idea what to do.Given that the website is increasingly the focus of marketing, and sales, and analytics is the study of exactly what happens on the website: web analytics will become a crucial part of future market research…make sure you get this business…or someone else will!If you let another provider in to do the analytics, what else will the finish up doing? (oh yes, and see the “intelligence” that Google is working on…can create goals and measure goal attainment)
• #51: Already new entrants are creating add-ons to make Google Analytics more user friendly. Most of the add-ons are intensely visual. Aimed at making everyone their own analyst…
• #52: Google Analytics although the most comprehensive is not the only game in town . This is from Crazy Egg: and lets you “Visualize Your Visitors”. Overlaying your webpage with an automatically generated click heatmap; shows you just where your visitors mostly click, and where they don’t. Optionally color-coded with the source of the visitor. Cost? I can track 25,000 visitors across 20 pages for $20 a month…and I can change the pages tracked each month
• #53: And usability testing. I expect some of you do this…this one records each visitor’s tracks through your clients’ sites and produces it as a video showing where they clicked and which pages they visited. Cost? About $25 a month will be enough for most clients.Now these tools may not be perfect…yet; and they probably leave lots of room for further analysis and interpretation…but those are skills which the agile will be building now.And what about Google AdWords: how many of you manage or track your clients’ adwords campaigns?
• #54: Then there’s this: Next Big Sound…they are actually using web generated data to provide “intelligence for the music industry”
• #55: I glanced through the personnel, I didn’t see market researchers…but they are actually bundling data collection, analysis and interpretation…is this market research2.0?
• #56: All this is not to say that there isn’t a vital role for market research…but I suspect that most research companies are not yet playing that role. I suspect your lunch is being eaten for you by IT people, by sales, by marketing…I see a lot of suspect pseudo-research in the digital field.Let me immediately say that the examples I’ve shown are intended good ones…not suspect ones.But what I hear from digimarketers everywhere, is “what should I do?” “how do I interpret this?”There is an urgent need for that unbiased analysis and interpretation that market researchers have traditionally brought to the table.
• #57: I mentioned Google Analytics, and I mentioned that it wasn’t the only one…SebastienWenzels who devotes so much time and energy to documenting and reviewing all the competing solutions and metrics for webanalytics found over 150 to date: Free 29; Medium Cost 71; Medium +41; Hi end 8; 3rd party 8Which is a marketer to choose? Who will advise them?I see so many services telling me they will monitor mentions of my brand in social media, and rate those mentions as positive or negative…they never actually say HOW they will do this.There is a urgent need for for transparency and tested metrics. If someone blogs 'Dell is a damn good company', how is that rated (positive, negative?). Companies tell you they have 'sophisticated linguistic software' that can tease these things out -- but I have doubts.
• #58: Remember I mentioned that targeted (I used the word personalized) ads were twice as effective, but look at this:
• #59: Remember I mentioned that targeted (I used the word personalized) ads were twice as effective, but look at this:
• #60: David Hughes a blogger, visited the travel company Kuoni’s website, to search for holidays in Thailand (yes it was last month). Then he as an automobile site and up pops the banner…thanks for visiting. Now that he found a little spooky. Then the banner changed to Thanks for your interest in Thailand.Now this is personalization…but it’s scarcely meaningful.
• #61: Another recipient of behavioral advertising found its so offensive that he simply blocked all sites associated with the advertisement server.Marketers are famously crass, insensitive, almost subhuman…they NEED market researchers not to do more U&A but to do P&P: what personalization is needed, what where is privacy is important…what will cause me to want to reveal information.
• #62: Another recipient of behavioral advertising found its so offensive that he simply blocked all sites associated with the advertisement server.Marketers are famously crass, insensitive, almost subhuman…they NEED market researchers not to do more U&A but to do P&P: what personalization is needed, what where is privacy is important…what will cause me to want to reveal information.
• #63: So that’s my overview. Thanks for you attention