Month: May 2021

It’s clear influencer marketing is here to stay, but as the field gets more crowded and even diluted, newer forms are taking shape, particularly in the word-of-mouth subset. One effort is even trying to drill down to an hyper-local level in the belief that hearing from your friends and neighbors carries more weight and trust than either famous or known influencers or brand advertising.

People First Marketing, based in New York, which describes itself as a peer-to-peer persuasion company, launched in January and since partnered with independent media agency Crossmedia, and Main Street One, a sister agency to People First. All three are members of the Dawn network of agencies.

People First’s CEO and founder, Curtis Hougland, is working with clients to create content that gets disseminated by ordinary people through their own social reach. “When you use real people, the average share rate is about six times higher than what a brand will do — it’s 300 percent more likely to be remembered,” said Hougland.

The technology that powers People First is essentially an online listening engine that uses conversation modeling to identify things People First’s clients want talked about and recommended by social word of mouth. The tool was initially developed when Hougland worked with DARPA (the government’s Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency) to battle Russian misinformation campaigns leading into the 2016 presidential election, as well as combatting social recruitment methods being used by ISIL and other terrorist organizations.

In essence, People First pays people (on average $300) identified through the technology to endorse its clients through videos or posts that have been pre-approved by the clients. People First works with clients to source and distribute to each micro- or nano-influencer/creator (between 2,000 and 20,000 followers) about 100 individual digital narratives per month.

The fact that they’re sponsored content is made clear, said Hougland. “Any post or video funded by a brand is disclosed prominently as an #ad, #sponsoredby according to the terms and conditions of each platform,” he said. “Most brands have strict compliance departments, and our reputation relies on maintaining this transparency. For this to be real and trusted it has to be clear.”

Anne Bologna, chief strategy officer at Crossmedia, said the concept is attractive not only for tapping into real people, but also because of what comes out of the efforts. “There’s the optimization analytics in the backend, which is this beautiful loop that can be inserted into a media and marketing program,” she said.

The approach seems to lend itself well to health-related clients, notably ones that touch on sensitive topics.

“People First recruited more than 400 real people to share real stories about their desire for clean medicine,” said Kelli Lane, CMO at Genexa, which removes unnecessary ingredients out of traditional medicine brands. “The agency has been a critical part of Genexa’s growth by building a foundation of word-of-mouth advocacy and education,” Lane said. “This authenticity is invaluable in modern marketing.”

“These peer-to-peer influencers spoke openly about how [irritable bowl syndrome] has affected their lives, tips and tricks for managing IBS, and how their lives would be different with more IBS symptom-free days,” added Jen Ilacqua, senior director, North American marketing at i-Health, which markets Culturelle probiotics products.

Based on the eMarketer research cited above, influencers are big drivers of newer social platforms and brand activations on them and that could trickle down to the more local and intimate level where People First wants to play. The report cites research from influencer marketing platform Linqia, which noted the rising and falling trajectories of influencer use on the major social platforms from February 2020 to March 2021. As expected, TikTok surged the most, to 68 percent in 2021 from 16 percent in 2020, Snapchat rose to 26 percent from 16 percent, and Twitch lifted to 13 percent from 5 percent. Meanwhile, Facebook, the top platform for influencers per the report, saw its dominance slip just a bit, to 93 percent from 97 percent, while Instagram Stories held steady at 83 percent, and Instagram Reels, which launched in the U.S. last August, snagged 36 percent in March.

Even with the rise in these new channels for influencers, Hougland insists he wants to prevent People First from becoming spam from friends and family. “Everything that we do is 100 percent transparent as to who the brand is, who funded it,” he said. “There’s no fraud, there are no bots, there’s no sock puppets. There’s nothing that’s dark about any of it.”

Having most recently served as executive editor and svp of The Associated Press, Buzbee’s tenure managing numerous news bureaus around the world aligns with what The Post’s leadership has said will be a new chapter of growth for the D.C.-based brand.

Buzbee “has experience running a very complex organization,” AP president and CEO Gary Pruitt said. The AP’s global news operation produces content for over 15,000 news outlets, from around 250 locations in nearly 100 countries, including places like North Korea. 

Buzbee had been at the AP since 1988 when she joined as a reporter in Kansas. Her time at the news organization has spanned both international and local experience: she served as the Washington bureau chief from 2010 through 2016 and for five years served as the AP’s Middle East regional editor based in Cairo. The AP will conduct an internal and external search for Buzbee’s successor. Pruitt hopes to name a new editor by late summer.

The Post has been investing in its own international expansion. Breaking news hubs in London and Seoul are getting staffed up, and the company’s international footprint will soon grow from 22 to 26 locations with new hubs in cities like Seoul, Sydney and Bogotá.

In an emailed statement, Buzbee, who starts in her new role on June 1 in Washington D.C., said expanding The Post’s global footprint “will certainly be a focus for me and how we can captivate a wider global readership.” 

When Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos bought the Post in 2013, the newsroom had around 600 people. By the end of this year, the Post expects to have grown that figure to over 1,000 employees, the most in its history. About 88 million people visited the Post’s website in March, according to Comscore. That pales in comparison to the digital audience The Washington Post drew last March, when the pandemic hit. The site had 138.9 million visitors in March 2020, up 56% month-over-month and 60% year-over-year, according to Comscore, and consistently drew between 90-114 million visitors in the months following.

Still, that’s a smaller-staffed newsroom than one of the media companies The Post is most often pitted against, The New York Times, which touts 1,600 journalists in over 150 countries. “The most significant challenge facing [Buzbee] is trying to compete head to head with The New York Times with a substantially smaller newsroom,” said Dan Kennedy, a journalism professor at Northeastern University.

Buzbee will need to lead the charge in the historic battle between The Post and The Times for scoops, talent and subscribers. The Times’ global news coverage may give it a competitive advantage. International news is “an area where the Post isn’t remotely as comprehensive as the Times, and I suspect it’s where [Buzbee] will be devoting much of her attention,” Kennedy added.

Buzbee is also tasked with continuing to shape the digital future of a legacy news publication, one that is balancing a business model that urges people to open their wallets for content with a newsroom at the center of covering difficult topics like the pandemic and social justice movements, all while grappling with how much leeway it gives journalists who are empowered on social media to be outspoken on these issues.

Baron’s leadership style saw the Post straddle “a line” between traditional, fact-based reporting and “a newer style” that incorporates “voice, attitude and what Jeff Bezos himself has called ‘swagger,’” Kennedy said.

Can Buzbee adjust to the more modern style at the Post? “Maybe she can succeed in an area where Baron fell short: figuring out how to allow Post reporters to express themselves on social media without compromising standards,” Kennedy said. In his opinion, Baron was “too restrictive” with some reporters, such as Wesley Lowery (who went to CBS News last year) and Felicia Sonmez, who both clashed with Baron over his outlook on social media.

However, Baron’s “voice held weight and it mattered” in the media industry, said Katie Mettler, a reporter at the Post and co-chair for news of the Post Guild. Buzbee will face a similar era of mistrust in news and misinformation as Baron, and will likely be looked to as a beacon guiding how the industry faces these issues.

Buzbee “brings great humanity and empathy with her leadership style,” said Pruitt, who has worked with Buzbee for about a decade. “That’s just who she is, that’s part of her leadership approach and encompasses everything.”

Case in point: The AP’s bureau in Gaza was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike on May 15. The journalists inside received a one-hour warning before they had to evacuate the building. The AP’s concern off the bat was their safety — and not just their physical safety, but any support they needed or may need to handle the stress, Pruitt said. Buzbee brought that level of empathy to AP’s news operation. “It’s always been a part of the AP but I think Sally brings it to a greater extent. It’s very much a part of her make up as a person, and her management style,” he said.

The Post’s newsroom has been “really warm” and “very eager” to Buzzbee’s appointment, Mettler said. Before it was announced that Buzbee would succeed Baron, Mettler was hoping for “someone that was open, that was welcoming, that was rooted in the belief that collaboration and feedback will make us all stronger.”

Mettler also hoped for an editor that would acknowledge that the Post’s staff wants “to participate in the decisions about where we’re headed. Someone who is committed to creating channels to make that happen, and it seems like in Sally Buzbee we have found that kind of leader,” she said. 

Buzbee took questions from staff on her first day, a move that “encouraged” employees, Mettler said, adding that staffers expressed wanting a “partnership” with Buzbee to address issues like communication with management, DE&I efforts and pay equity. News & editorial staff had a larger share of white people than at the company overall, with nearly 80% white people in leadership roles and just 21% BIPOC, according to the Post’s diversity report released in July 2020.

When asked how she will tackle these issues, Buzbee said she will “try to be as accessible, transparent and engaged as possible.” She said she likes to walk the newsroom as often as she can.

Her top priority as executive editor at the Post is “listening and learning,” as well as “immersing myself in the reporting and digital operations.” Buzbee is razor-focused on the digital future of the Post. In response to questions about her goals as top editor at The Post, Buzbee did not mention the print newspaper.

When asked what challenges she will have to address in what is arguably one of the biggest roles in the journalism industry, Buzbee pointed to the need to “connect with a younger generation of news consumers who may not make daily visits to a homepage.”

“We need to meet audiences where they are and make our journalism as accessible, sharp and transparent as possible,” she added. “We want to connect the dots between interests and events and tell people stories that have direct relevance to their lives.”

Drop was one of several brands that offered freebies to folks who prove they’ve gotten their Covid-19 vaccines and gained valuable zero-party data in the process — a tactic that will boost their targeted marketing efforts, along with those of other, like-minded brands.

Anheuser-Busch brands Budweiser and Sam Adams each sent the first 10,000 qualifying participants money to buy themselves a beer if those who qualified shared their vaccinated selfie on social media and provided key information — such as their name, email, birthday and zip code. So Good So You, a probiotic juice company, mailed coupons for free juice shots in exchange for a consumer’s name, email address, and mailing address. The response was so overwhelming that they had to stop taking sign-ups after launching it on April 5th.

“We had intended for this to run through June 30th, but we hit our goal of 10,000 sign-ups in the first few weeks,” said Rita Katona, co-founder of So Good So You.

The giveaways increase brand-building and offer a nice booster shot’s worth of new customer data, and a chance to build a direct commercial relationship with them.

“If you don’t believe in vaccinations, then you don’t participate, but if you do, that’s an amazing touchpoint on aligning values and loyalty,” said Tim Glomb, vp of content and data at Cheetah Digital. “People often think of loyalty as post-purchase, but this is loyalty at the beginning.” 

Underlying all this is the growing importance of zero and first party data in a cookieless world. 

“First-party data is absolutely critical, now more than ever,” said Fatemeh Khatibloo, vp and principal analyst at research firm Forrester, in an email. “Brands and CMOs need to be more focused on data strategy than they have been, and really understand not just the data they have, but the data they need in order to deliver first-rate customer experience.” 

Katona said the giveaway helped build out their customer database. So Good So You actually halted its own DTC shipping to focus on fulfilling wholesale orders, but plans to re-establish their site’s e-commerce capability in the coming months.

Drop is excited about their new data as well. “We now have this valuable dataset that allows us and our partners to connect to that [vaccinated] group and possibly give them high-value offers,” said Crowe. “Companies want to speak to people who have that mindset.”

Both Crowe and Katona said this kind of “data for giveaway” plan is something they would try again in the future, calling it a new tool in their marketing tool belts. Some consumers may not mind that trade either. A recent survey of 1,000 U.S. adults by Inmar Intelligence, a data company, found that 90% of consumers believe a brand’s ability to personalize their shopping experience impacts the amount consumers spend with that brand.

The highly charged events of the past year also put lots of brands in an uncomfortable position of having to take sides in very heated conversations about topics including racial justice. But for some brands, the vaccine is “something undeniably good for the world,” as Crowe put it.

“We can’t blanket their intentions, but brands know that at least half of the country agrees with vaccines,” said Glomb. “There is a larger feeling that people getting vaccinated is ubiquitously good.”

So Good So You and Drop were surprised that more brands didn’t take advantage of the opportunity. But it could be that many just may not have been nimble enough to get creative, legal, and supply chains set up in time, said Khatibloo. Drop had the idea for their campaign in late February and intended to launch in March. They switched it to start in April, when the vaccines were more widely available. So Good So You set up their giveaway in just two weeks.

But now that they’ve put that infrastructure in place — which ranged from mar-tech services used in-house as So Good So You did to the data Drop anonymized by using Snowflake — it’ll be easier to deploy in the future.

“Our vision is to be the most personalized rewards program in the world,” said Crowe. “We now have a new tool belt that we are able to quickly use that will let us run even more personalized campaigns.”

About 80% of Peace Out Skincare’s customers are shopping via mobile phone and online, said Erin Murray, vice president of brand and consumer marketing, who did not give exact figures. The brand’s SMS strategy is part of the plan to meet those shoppers there. Instead of hard sales, Peace Out Skincare is using the channel to offer early access to product launches, refill orders and cart recovery as well as reminding consumers of items in their online shopping cart, and nudging them to purchase. Peace Out also uses SMS marketing to roll out digital content that will direct traffic back to the brand website.

It makes for an opportunity for the brand to learn about shoppers and what they’re buying to inform overall marketing strategy, and create targeted marketing messages, Murray said, noting that the brand is pushing to diversify its ad spend away from traditional channels.

“We’ve been putting more paid efforts behind [diversification] versus putting all of our eggs in the paid social route because we know, as a consumer, you’re being fed a paid social ad on Instagram every two seconds. So how do we get more creative with our dollars?” Murray said.

SMS marketing is gaining popularity as brands look to move away from total reliance on Facebook and Instagram ads, and gain access to more first-party user data, said Duane Brown, founder of Take Some Risk, noting that SMS can be a complementary channel to email.

There’s also the fact that text message-based communication is an integral part of peoples’ everyday lives, according to Jamie Sutton, general manager at the e-commerce marketing automation platform Onmisend. 

“Because they are opt-in channels, consumers actively look for and respond to messages,” Sutton said via email. “While social media is still a great marketing channel, promotions on these channels are not requested by users. This makes email and SMS appealing for both e-commerce brands and consumers.”

As shoppers slowly come out of the Covid-19 pandemic, they’ll be taking their mobile devices with them. Per Sutton, SMS marketing could prove to be “a major marketing tool to reach consumers where they are, rather than waiting on them to check their [email] inboxes.”

However, brands will need to be careful not to spam shoppers on their personal devices, warns Jason Marks, chief creative officer at Laundry Service agency.

“SMS is alive and thriving within the behavior set of our audiences, and generates an astronomical response rate,” Marks said in an email. “The problem is that brands are reluctant to give up their email CRM, and they sometimes feel like SMS cannibalizes it — when really it should eat it all up and just replace it.”

According to Murray, the brick-and-mortar store closures that came with the pandemic led to an uptick in email marketing, making it a crowded space as Peace Out Skincare was “starting to lose a little bit of market share there.” Meaning: a pivot to SMS marketing was the right move. 

“We’ve only increased our efforts on SMS further, while email is still highly growing we understand our consumer is more and more on their phone and SMS has become a bigger lever for us in terms of conversion,” Murray said in an email, noting that the brand has significantly increased its budget tied to SMS.

Still, the skincare brand has no plans to let up on digital marketing efforts like paid social or influencer partnerships anytime soon, Murray said. The brand is also still experimenting in-store, where it recently launched a new product with an attached QR code to drive shoppers back to the site. 

While the brand declined to provide specifics on its digital media spend, Murray said the more money the brand earns, the more it will experiment with new and upcoming marketing channels. 

“We want the consumer no matter if they’re in a store, or they’re online or they’re on social, that they can access our brand and learn more about our brand and about their skin concerns at any point in time,” Murray said.

The simple fact is, many of the changes U.S. marketers are facing are already a reality elsewhere around the globe, where deterministic data strategies are well-balanced with scalable probabilistic approaches. The best practices for a privacy-first marketing world have been written. 

For U.S. marketers, the real hurdle will be pivoting their mindsets in an environment where deterministic data has been inappropriately placed on a pedestal for years. 

The skewed US marketing reality of today

Now that Apple has throttled its IDFA and Google’s deprecation of the third-party cookie is near at hand, U.S. marketers have upped the urgency on their quests to find alternative ways to tap into personally identifiable information (PII) for their marketing activities. 

What they might not realize is that the practices they have been relying on, and the alternatives they are seeking to those practices, are not viable in most parts of the world. More importantly, they don’t represent a holistic approach to sustainable marketing. 

In the U.S., in pursuit of the ultimate one-to-one marketing paradigm, deterministic data and PII have become the cornerstones of data-driven marketing. But how viable and comprehensive is this obsession with deterministic data over the long term? 

No doubt, deterministic data plays an important role within a holistic marketing approach. First-party customer files are absolutely invaluable when it comes to campaign personalization, retention efforts and marketing to known users on a one-to-one basis. But that is only a part of a successful marketing strategy. What about growing a business through new customer acquisition? Why do marketers not talk about that approach more often?

Even if the privacy landscape were not about to invalidate a number of current tactics, deterministic strategies pose significant limitations on their own. For example, when marketers onboard data within a deterministic paradigm, that data set is reduced dramatically in the online matching process. 

Ultimately, marketers consider a deterministic onboarding to be a success if 30%–40% of their offline files are matched. As a result, a brand’s resulting view of its target audiences — based on those matched files — can become quite skewed. 

Even if marketing teams represent a brand with a strong established identity strategy based on deterministic matching — and the means of retaining a strong first-party database going forward — they still need to figure out how to leverage the full power of their data. This is not just important for improved personalization, but also for prospecting and customer acquisition. That includes that 60%-70% of a file that is hitting the cutting-room floor when it is matched with online keys. 

One-to-one personalization is important. But brands also need to be able to tap into the fuller power of their data for one-to-many marketing, and that is where the power of probabilistic data onboarding and cohort methodologies come into play. 

Taking a page from the global playbook

Outside the U.S., international privacy expectations — which have only been exacerbated in light of GDPR — have prompted marketers to put probabilistic data onboarding, cohort methodologies and contextual targeting at the heart of their global marketing strategies. And it is working. 

By approaching data onboarding from a probabilistic standpoint, all of a brand’s data can be onboarded, whether it is offline or online, and the sources can all be aggregated to cohorts. In this manner, marketers retain a true view of their actual customer bases, which can then be leveraged to build cohorts for scalable consumer-friendly targeting. 

For U.S. marketers, this intelligent approach to probabilistic onboarding and cohorts represents a significant under-utilized opportunity, with or without new privacy challenges. 

By aligning with a partner that has experience lighting up datasets in a global context, marketers will find that not only can they retain their campaign effectiveness in a cookieless world; they can also reinvent and up-level their customer acquisition strategies in a way that taps into the full power of their first-party data assets.