Personal But Not Too Personal

Sending meatball sandwich offers to known vegetarians is wasted marketing effort at best and offensive to the receiver at worst.

Still, boundaries remain undefined with little hope for clarity.

Expedia’s Aaron Price told me in an interview that there unmistakably is a line not to be crossed.

“Personalization is an overloaded term,” the Senior Vice President of Global Marketing shared in my The Art of Digital Persuasion book. “I think that algorithmically-driven or machine-managed sort of curation is a path that allows businesses to present their best information to any customer as the first thing that they see and you can optimize for both parties at same time. We want to be in the business of putting things in front of people that are more likely to be sold. From that perspective, it is highly critical that that happens.

“The Internet’s creepy view of personalization is something that I would say we all aspire to avoid. That’s trying to get to exceedingly narrow responses to any customer base on highly, highly personal or seemingly personal information. That kind of stuff is not what we would intend to do or want to do.”

Where do you as a marketer see that line drawn? How do you stay on the right side of it?

Five Words To Describe Ineffective Digital Marketers

ESPN, all over your television guide and digital channels, notably uses a yardstick that measures how well as opposed to how many.

“Quality always wins,” Ryan Spoon, ESPN’s Senior Vice President of Digital and Social,  told me in an exclusive interview for my new book, The Art of Digital Persuasion.

“And that pertains to any job. Whether you're creating the content, creating a product, you're distributing the content, marketing it, whatever that might be.”

In the United States, ESPN has eight cable networks and ESPN on ABC. The digital lineup includes ESPN.com; ESPN3; ESPN Fantasy Sports; espnW, ESPNDeportes.com; TheUndefeated.com; plus a group of niche sites. ESPN+ offers thousands of live events, original programs and on-demand content. The company also has a radio network and magazine.

In short, the brand is seemingly everywhere.

ESPN has certainly made mistakes. Who can forget the ill-advised ESPN MVP phone? Then there have been the company’s missteps around digital and too many apps. It has taken until recently for ESPN to hone in on what fans really want – personalized experiences tailored to the digital channel.

Is the strategy working?

ESPN Digital ranked as the No. 1 U.S. digital sports property in February across every key metric. The network reached 88.4 million unique visitors (up +21% YOY) for its best February on record.

The ESPN mobile app was once again ranked as the No. 1 sports app in the U.S., attracting 18.5 million unique visitors and 1.3 billion minutes, up +24% and +33%, respectively YOY. ESPN Digital also was No. 1 in total minutes with 4.3 billion, which was 1.7 billion more than No. 2 Yahoo-NBC Sports (2.6 billion), and with an average minute audience of 106,000, out-delivering No. 2 Yahoo-NBC Sports (64,000).

Still, it’s less about more and more about excellence.

“I don't know the best way to say it other than just a general mantra, and that’s fewer things done better,” Spoon told me.

In other words, failure often comes when you overextend.

There are four additional words gleaned from my interviews to slap on ineffective marketers: 

Unrealistic

Identify a proven innovator and I’ll guarantee that the road to success had more than a few bumps. The smart ones know that is to be expected. We can only make our best judgments, do what we can, and hope for the best.   

“Everyone has to be relatively sober-minded when evaluating the possibility of a what might come in the future and realize that for all of us who are trying to predict what can happen, we're all partially right and partially wrong,” Aaron Price, Senior Vice President of Global Marketing, told me. 

Misguided

To those seeking clarity on the question of when they will master digital marketing, Google’s Jason Spero believes that it is all tied to delivering for consumers.

“It's likely the question of when we get to the finish line might be the wrong metaphor,” Spero, Vice President, Performance Media, explained to me. “But rather how do we recognize consumers’ expectations and how might we be able to serve her needs in a way where she may not see the technology, but she's delighted by the experience?”

Lackadaisical

Maybe next year is a mindset that frankly will get you fired. Think instead of what you can get done today in the area of digital persuasion.

“We don't have 10 years to figure it out, we've got 10 minutes,” global tech marketing strategist Tamara McCleary told me. “We are all wondering where to place our next step. We are all walking on top of quicksand, and we have to be hyper-vigilant about the steps we take. But at the same time, we also can't hold back because we could be completely disrupted if we aren't moving forward.”

Confused

Do not think for a second that gaining an understanding of today’s emerging technologies is the end game. There surely are more changes to come behind it.

So how does one cope with that prospect?

“There's going to be a lot more innovation and disruptors,” Stacy Minero, Head of Content Creation at Twitter, said to me. “I’m not sure how it will play out.  I do think that great stories that are rooted in human insight and strike a cultural chord will be sustainable forever.”

In summary, the 12 leaders interviewed shared beliefs that the task is neither easy nor for the faint of heart. Still, there was a persistent theme that there has been no better time to be a marketer, a notion embraced only by those who choose to ride the winds of change rather than get blown over by them.

Three Ways To Keep On Keeping On Despite Emerging Technology

Many of us have spent years, nearing decades, understanding the digital customer journey and motivations. We’ve done it well. Take a bow.

Then the world was upended. We now know that there are funny-looking objects on people’s nightstands and even on their heads.

Voice. Virtual reality. Artificial intelligence. Machine learning. Wearables.

Who asked for all of that?

If you believe that everything has changed for marketers, think again.

During interviews for my The Art of Digital Persuasion book, I learned that in many ways it is imperative to continue doing what you were doing despite the adoption of new technology. 

Be Human

Machines are propelling us to up our marketing games. But they aren’t replacing us. And they never well.

Consider this. In 2017, Nike created “Breaking2”, an attempt for elite athletes to break the two-hour barrier for running a marathon. The number of people tuning in to the live stream on Twitter was nearly eight times higher than the broadcast audience of the New York, Boston and Chicago marathons. In total, 13.1 million watched the attempt live via Twitter, making it the company’s largest brand-powered, live-streaming event.

Of course, most of us won’t attempt to run a two-hour marathon - or any marathon at all. But we can all relate to the effort to maximize human achievement. That’s what Nike bet on and won. 

Be Realistic

Understand that you can’t run a marathon, even in four hours, in flipflops.

“Everyone has to be relatively sober-minded when evaluating the possibility of a what might come in the future and realize that for all of us who are trying to predict what can happen in the future, we're all partially right and partially wrong,” Aaron Price, SVP of Global Marketing, Expedia told me.

In other words, give yourself a chance to succeed. But know that you will never be perfect. No one can be.

Drive Action

Involvement is everything. Regardless of the technology, seek to turn what might be a passive activity into one that your customers and prospects will see is interactive.

How? Interestingly, some brands have built upon the concept of user-generated content to entice customers to take part in user-generated product.

“If you think about Mayochup, which is a combination of mayonnaise and ketchup, Heinz put a Twitter poll out there and said if you get to 500,000 (participants), we're going to put these products on shelves in your local stores,” Stacy Minero, Head of Content Creation for Twitter, told me. “And that created a whole gamification of that campaign. And they got a billion (media) impressions within 48 hours.”

The lesson in all of this? Of course, see emerging technology for what it is – more screens, more interfaces, more complexity for marketers following or leading customers. But don’t think for a second that you should abandon what you know works.

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - The Smartphone/Rubber Ducky Combo For That Special Someone

A soap-proof, washable phone from Kyocera has a rubber ducky stand to prop it up on. My search for the perfect holiday gift is over. Rub-a-dub-dub.

According to IBM, 27.6 % of online Cyber Monday sales were reportedly accomplished from a mobile device.

United Airlines will equip 6,000+ customer service reps with iPhones.

Expedia ran Black Friday deals in its app that sold out in 7 minutes, according to the company.

Global smartphone shipments should see their first full year of single-digit growth worldwide in 2015 after years of double-digit growth: IDC.

82% of consumers aware of IoT devices don't trust them, per Google Consumer Surveys for Auth0, an identify platform company.

Black Friday shoppers spent on average 5 hours at the mall: Foursquare.

WiFi reportedly could slow down because of your Christmas lights. My reaction? "Have yourself a @gogo like Christmas"

79% of smartphone users feel their phones make them feel productive; 57% say distracted: Pew.

I saw a promoted tweet for lab coats and scrubs. I haven't even played a doctor on TV.

Disney announced that ESPN has lost 7 million subscribers due to cord cutting.

All these years later and many businesses still don't get that you need to opt someone in to send them a marketing SMS message. There are big financial penalties for such violations. Watch for some lawsuits.

I’m not ready to rely on voice recognition in 2016. I asked for directions home via my iPhone and Siri said, "I can't go back in time". WTF?

As dumb as they may seem, I still believe selfie sticks put smiles on faces and have a place in holiday memory-making.

My 86-year-old mother-in-law came to visit armed with two flash drives. The times, they are a'changin.

Mobile drove nearly half of all paid search clicks and over half on the key Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping days, Kenshoo reported.