Trendology

Building an Advantage through Data-Driven Real-Time Marketing

C. Kerns

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781137479556
• eBook ISBN: 9781137479563
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

In this, the first data-driven guide to real time marketing, Chris Kerns outlines the value of RTM via a comprehensive social data performance analysis. He lays out best practices for measuring RTM, injects a data-driven mindset into every step of its methodology, and shows how marketers can grow RTM into a daily win for brands across the globe.

Chapter 1

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RELEVANCE IS TRENDING UP

TODAY ALL MARKETERS ARE LIVING IN A real-time world, but few are actually taking advantage of it.

Information travels fast, but new information travels faster—the topic of the day, the talking points, the newest biggest thing. It seems that information overload increases as fast as the technology designed to carry it—every year, every month, every day. As the latest headlines come and go, the attention of your audience goes with them. Wait . . . there’s a breaking news alert on CNN. Hold on, I just got a text. Did you see that Beyonce is trending this morning? I wonder why, let me check. Let me just log into Facebook to see if there’s something new since I last checked two minutes ago. I just got a Snap—let me just, ok, sorry, what were you saying?

Marketing has always revolved around attention. Where eyeballs, time, and awareness have traveled, brands and their messages have quickly followed. A message without an audience is a message that isn’t heard, and brands have made it their business to know where potential consumers are listening, and where those trends are shifting. In the 1920s as the US interstate highway system was built out, Americans started hitting the open road and spending more time than ever in their vehicles, searching for their next adventure. As brands realized that the attention of their audience was suddenly hitting the pavement, they came along for the ride, and suddenly billboards appeared to keep Burma-Shave and Wall Drug in front of potential consumers. In the 1930s as listeners tuned in to popular radio shows like Little Orphan Annie, Ovaltine was there with radio spots to capitalize on the ears and minds that were hanging on every story line in every house, every week. As attention turned to television, and decades later with the Internet, ads have followed suit. And now that people in the United States spend an average of 37 minutes a day on social networks, advertisers are happy to jump on board with properties like Twitter and Facebook as well.

But marketers know that just getting in front of their audience isn’t enough—they also need something to say that resonates with listeners. Advertisers need campaigns and messages that not only keep up with the times but also take advantage of relevant topics to grab attention. Seeing Psy (that’s the Gangnam Style guy) in a Super Bowl ad a few years ago wasn’t a mistake; rather, it was a marketer trying to capitalize on a current and widely recognized trend via brand association. Connecting to that existing reference has value for the brand, and marketers will pay handsomely for the rights to appear modern and pertinent. But trends do not last forever, and as fashion, music, and other pop culture staples shift, brands adjust their imagery and creative to stay relevant.

In the past, fads lasted for months and years, even if they shouldn’t have—like Hypercolor shirts or Pauly Shore. Trends and topics would stay top of mind for long periods of time and provide a more predictable road map of topics for the company to leverage. But in the digital age, 24-hour news cycles and social media have generated a new culture of micro-trends—fads and topics with a shelf life that can sometimes be measured in minutes. These topics are top of mind for a very short period of time, but thanks to today’s quick dissemination of information, they still attract big attention from a brand’s audience. What brands are discovering is that this new micro-trend culture offers a new marketing opportunity for those who are willing to innovate.

While the life cycle of new trends continues to shorten, the pressure placed on brands continues to mount. To add to the stress, these trends bring new channels for brands and media companies that require a new set of skills and tactics. You can’t plan an outdoor campaign around a micro-trend that lasts 24 hours, or at least you probably shouldn’t. Social isn’t a billboard. It’s a conversation. It’s a completely different species of media—with its own set of opportunities and challenges. Knowing how divided, or even fleeting, the attention of our audience is today, smart marketers have found a new technique to maintain relevance in the minds of current and potential customers. It’s an attempt to travel alongside customers as they shift with trends, and stay relevant with the audience as they spot the next thing that will grab their attention. This practice is called real-time marketing.

REAL-TIME MARKETING IS THE PRACTICE OF CREATING CONTENT INSPIRED BY A CURRENT TOPIC, TREND OR EVENT

As the world jumps from one topic to another, many brands and media companies are working to keep themselves in the spotlight. The realities of RTM contain many new pitfalls for companies, and the road gets a little bumpy as real-time topics are often unpredictable and highly diverse. This means RTM brands must be nimble. It means RTM brands need to understand their brand promise, values, and voice inside and out. And it means that RTM brands have to be prepared to jump on new opportunities every day.

Why on earth would anyone want to sign up for this?

Why? Simply put—because brands are seeing value in the practice.

TRENDS DRIVE RELEVANCE

Real-time marketing capitalizes on a trending topic with a timely message that strikes while the iron is hot. The result of this is relevance, which is the key driver to RTM’s success and adoption. Whenever a brand’s message can adapt to the mind-set of the audience and also have something interesting to say, the message will be heard with increased clarity and volume. Regardless of the tactics brands use to achieve this end result, relevance is still the core concept driving success.

Figure 1.1 Denny’s Tweet after the 2014 BCS Championship Game

RTM is designed to take advantage of the attention surrounding a trending topic and redirect a portion of that attention back to a brand. Much like a NASCAR driver drifts behind his competitor, brands can use RTM to gain speed without exerting as much effort (or budget) to get a consumer’s attention. If done right, they can easily grab impressions and reach that would otherwise have to be bought. Companies can still convey their brand identity and voice to many, many more consumers for a low cost of entry, and even use tailored offers to see real revenue from RTM.

Imagine the following scenario:

1. You’re watching the Super Bowl and your favorite football team intercepts a pass from the other team. Did you see that? Did that really just happen? Shouts of joy fly from your mouth. Your dog runs out of the room, frightened. Suddenly, everything is awesome.

2. You must share this excitement with the rest of the world, especially your friends rooting for the other team. Sure they are your friends, but during this game and only during this game, they are terrible people.

3. You take out your phone and open the Twitter app.

4. You post “OMG damn straight #goPackers #interception,” hit the “Send Tweet” button, and take a victory sip of your favorite beverage. Victory, as it’s been told, tastes sweet.

5. As your see your post go live in the Twitter feed, you notice a few other people talking about the same topic. You start to wonder what the Twitterverse is thinking about the play. You do a quick search for “interception,” and at the top a Tweet pops up from your local pizza place. “What are they doing on here?” you wonder in your slightly buzzed head. Reminder: at this point, it’s only been about 30 seconds since that last play.

6. TonysPizzaPlace tweets “Nice pick! Packers fans, pick your favorite pizza now for only $10. bit.ly/tonyspizza #interception”

7. That’s kind of clever, you think, and you hit the RT button. Maybe you’ll order pizza at halftime, and if you do, you know you’ll get a deal from Tony’s. Back to the game.

That is real-time marketing at work—capitalizing on an event where a brand knows there will be attention and conversation, and grabbing a slice for themselves. How much did it cost Tony’s Pizza Place to send that Tweet? Pretty much nothing, other than having a social media person monitoring the game, and an offer/link ready to go. What’s the upside? As I’ll show you via some data analysis later in this book, it can be pretty big.

But the impact of the above scenario isn’t just getting in front of more eyeballs. It’s about being relevant in the moment. Not only does Tony’s Pizza realize that people will be watching the big game, they realize that the micro-event, in this case the interception, is what everyone is talking about for the next two minutes. By connecting their message to that event with the “pick your favorite pizza” line, which plays off the “pick” slang for an interception, it integrates with something that is already top of mind for the audience. Suddenly, Tony’s Pizza is relevant to the conversation at hand, and not trying to distract their audience away from what they were already doing. The above scenario wouldn’t have clicked with the audience at the same level if Tony’s Pizza had tweeted, “What’s your favorite pasta?” during the game. It’s not just about timing, but a combination of the timing and the message.

The value of RTM goes far beyond just pizza places and consumer-packaged goods brands—plenty of media companies are reaping the rewards of real-time as well. News organizations are responding to trending topics to make sure their programming is relevant and in line with their audience’s attention. Television shows use real-time polling and commentary from the audience to capture the voice of everyone watching and assure the audience that they have a say in the conversation. By using these tactics, media companies are leveraging real-time to connect with their audiences in new and innovative ways.

We’re now seeing an explosion of RTM, mostly because social media is such a great medium for real-time messaging to reach the masses. But real-time marketing didn’t just appear out of the blue—it’s been happening in one form or another for years. Brands have recognized the value, but only recently acquired the tools and connectivity to execute RTM effectively.

TRENDING: THEN AND NOW

This new movement of brands engaging with the audience via social media channels isn’t the first time we’ve seen real-time marketing in action. Companies have always known that if you can get yourself in the mind-set of the consumer, good things will follow. One example of this is a well-known saying that has lasted for a generation.

For years, Disney has paid the Super Bowl MVP to endorse their theme parks directly after the win, while the confetti is still flying.

“You just won the Super Bowl! What are you going to do now?”

“I’m going to Disneyland!”

Over the years, the punch line to this annual campaign has become an iconic saying throughout America. But it’s not just smart marketing—it’s also a great example of RTM. The commercials would air the next day in the early years, but by the time the ’90s came around, the commercials were turned around so fast that they were televised that same night. Disney made their brand relevant by association—packaging the Super Bowl celebration and their brand together and sending it out to an already captive audience. And by jumping on a topical event in a timely fashion and tying their brand to that winning experience, Disney became a pioneer in RTM.

ONLINE: A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT’S TOP OF MIND

Forms of real-time marketing have been happening for years on more traditional Internet properties, like Google. Google’s huge market for AdWords, which brought in over $30B in revenue for them in 2013, capitalizes on knowing that searches show intent, such as intent to purchase an item (“Converse shoes”) or understand more about a topic (“Spinal Tap quotes”). Google uses this search intent to optimize the advertisements put in front of the user while they are top of mind. For example, if I performed the “Converse shoes” search above, Google would know that I have some level of interest in knowing more about shoes and even possibly buying shoes. Not only does Google know that, but it knows that I am particularly interested in the Converse brand. So Google not only serves up the best natural search listings (Converse.com, the Wikipedia page on Converse), it also displays paid search results for Zappos’s or Converse’s e-commerce site right at the top of the page. Because the search topic is top of mind for me, I’m much more likely to click on those ads to learn more about or buy the shoes right now versus look at a banner ad that doesn’t resonate with what’s on my mind right now (like a Hawaiian vacation). It’s no surprise that returns for both Google and the brands buying these ads perform much better than more traditional, noncontextual advertising. It’s an adaptive form of advertising that wraps itself around the user’s current state of mind versus the other way around. It’s the right message in the right place at the right time.

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Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Introduction   No Time Like the Present
• 1  Relevance Is Trending Up
• 2  Understanding Brands on Twitter
• 3  RTM Performance for Big, Known Events
• 4  RTM Performance for Unknown Events and Daily Trends
• 5  Laying a Data-Driven Foundation for Real-Time
• 6  Aiming for Real-Time Success
• 7  The Data-Driven RTM Process
• 8  The Future of RTM
• 9  Conclusion
• Notes
• Index