Member Article

Top 10 Tips For Digital Marketers

Joby Russell is CMO at disruptive online estate agency Purplebricks, the number one online-based estate agency in the UK. Purplebricks is a hybrid estate agency which combines the expertise of a Local Property Expert with a 24/7 online platform. Joby has recently moved to the online estate agency from his previous role as Marketing Director at Confused.com. Here he shares his top ten tips for digital marketers.

For most digital businesses, particularly those in low-interest categories, digital marketing and driving performance remains very operational and it is here where you get results. Silver bullets are few and far between: I should know, as the former Marketing Director at Confused.com who had to go up against Compare The Market’s Meerkats and I’ve wasted my fair share of time talking about the next big thing that came to nothing.

I know the trend for listicles when creating content remains very fashionable, so rather than a long article, here’s my top ten tips for digital marketers:

1. In competitive PPC markets, try and establish the long term value of that initial click. Did that initial purchase lead to many more once in the CRM programme and do you attribute value back to your bid strategy to allow more scope to drive further sales? Most brands work off the initial sale and it limits volume when smart brands know that break even could be much higher when you attribute those future sales. The same goes for attributing fractional revenue for assisting channels.

2. Find high value customers and use their behaviour to find those with the potential to be future high value customers. When you’ve monitored their behaviour on site, alter the customer journey to reflect capturing more of them.

3. Don’t just build responsive sites, but alter customer journeys to reflect the way your site is consumed on different devices. Nothing like trying to find the emergency number for your bank on a smart phone only to find you’ve been pickpocketed in a foreign country and you’re on an expensive service plan.

4. Over communicate. I know text messaging seems retro, but at least when you have an urgent message it gets read.

5. Deliver great service not only when it means a sale, but also when you’re clearing up those customer service challenges that arise from time to time. Easy to forget these customer journeys but results and feedback on review sites can be seen instantly and that hurts acquisition. Tesco Direct left me fuming recently when they failed to collect some faulty goods on two separate occasions, despite them asking for me to stay in between 7am and 7pm (this is 2015, not 1997!).

6. For major spenders considering programmatic, take the time and build the capability in-house. When creating audiences internally, use a DMP, serve your own creative, feed performance into your CRM. The industry is very immature and often like the wild west. You won’t see the opportunity or pitfalls whilst this exists with an agency and you need the data stored and being accessed in your own systems.

7. Build a single customer view and use it in tandem with a data management platform to drive your website, programmatic and ECRM programme.

8. Delete most new business emails and avoid wasting too much time with the millions of ad tech firms who now exist. They confuse you and can consume an inordinate amount of time if you allow them to.

9. Don’t forget that marketing is about creating products and services that fulfil consumer needs. Too often we spend way too long trying to squeeze the last drops of life out of dying products in overly competitive markets and not enough time trying to create new products or services.

10. Build advocacy and encourage your advocates to talk about you. It’s been said a million times, but it bears repeating that review sites and social media can really extend your message and in markets where media inflation is rampant, this should be harnessed.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Joby Russell, CMO at Purplebricks.com .