Pete Markey, Chief Marketing Officer at Boots UK, ISBA Vice President, and an esteemed member of Marketing Week Top 100 and Campaign Magazine UK Power 100

Pete reminds us that marketers need to collaborate with brilliant people and brilliant agencies to stay one step ahead of the game; invest in the learning and development of themselves and their teams; and crucially have a clear data strategy so their brand becomes more personalised and relevant:

1. Embrace the new

Marketing is changing at such a fast pace with new technologies and capabilities. Greater opportunities for personalisation and getting the right message to the right customer at the right time so don’t let yourself or your business get left behind! Work with brilliant people and brilliant agencies who can help you stay one step ahead and up to speed on the latest innovations that can help your brand win. There’s never been a more important and exciting time to be a marketer!

2. Unleash potential

For yourself and your teams. Take time to invest in your own learning and development and that of your team and create the space to unleash your team’s potential. Marketing should be the growth engine of your business so ensure you are making time to develop yourself and your team to be the very best and remove any barriers that get in the way of this.

3. Put data at the heart of your strategy

Whether it’s zero, first or third party, data remains a hot topic for marketers. To win in the core of your business and at the edges, it is critical now more than ever to have a clear data strategy to drive your growth and one that connects your brand in a more personalised and relevant way with your customer. Those brands that win will be those that work smartly to connect their proposition with their target audience in the best, fastest, smartest, and most personalised way. 

Have you leveraged your zero, first and third party data yet? What are your plans to achieve your brand personalisation and relevancy goals? 

For a smart chat about supercharging your data with iota-ML, reach out to our friendly neighbourhood Data Hero John Conway (john@iota-ml.com)!

Zoe Davies, Global Head of CRM at The Body Shop

Zoe emphasises the need to react to the decline of tracking cookies by growing first party data; use more effective segmentation to acquire customers and grow value; and finally, embrace failure (and success!) by fostering a culture of experimentation where the fun and freedom to test and learn new things is encouraged:

1.Greater focus on first-party data collection

 To counteract the decline of the tracking cookie. Maximising opt-ins / linkage to get an on and offline view of customer behaviour through loyalty and engagement.

2. Super segmentation 

Moving away from headline ‘promotions’ to targeted investment to drive customer acquisition and growth while improving brand perception and growing value.

3. Bring back fun

...and play with campaigns. After a long period of austerity on marketing budgets activity has become more conservative with less freedom. 2023 is the time to find the fun again through test and learn, trying new things and not being afraid to fail!

What is your segmentation strategy? How do you conduct your marketing experiments? Are your tools fit for purpose or holding you back? 

Get in touch for a pow-wow with our friendly neighbourhood Data Hero John Conway (john@iota-ml.com) to learn how iota-ML can relevate your marketing and revolutionise your use of data in 2023!

Jonathan Pearce, Founder and Director at Beachside Marketing and former CMO at Gobsmack and HUGHUB

Jonathan bangs the drum for making customers the centre of your marketing strategy so they become brand recommenders; leaving your ego at the door to drive collaboration through the heart of your business; and ‘embracing the robots’ of ML and AI to ride the rocket booster for faster, better, more impactful decisions:

1.Customer-centricity

Much talked about but rarely executed, this is a challenge for all. Modern customers have high expectations – the adage ‘A brand is what a brand does’ has never been truer.

• Be obsessive about providing positive experiences and value.
• Motivate your customers to recommend your brand.
• Unlock data and insights to fuel customer-centric discussions and optimise performance across the mix.

2.Play nicely!

Leave your ego at the door.

• Adopt the language and mindset of the business, and foster robust but collaborative partnerships with other teams – it is about getting things done!
• The crossover of marketing and technology is becoming a backbone function of any marketing team. Embracing this will help you to move with speed and flexibility.
• Ask yourself: “What can I personally do to make collaboration in our business better?”

3.Artificial intelligence:

Great marketing has always been fuelled by data and insight, AI is the rocket booster for faster, better, more impactful decisions

• Use it to build a more effective marketing strategy, improve the customer journey or change how you attract, nurture, and convert prospects.
• Make sure you take the time to get familiar with the latest service on the block ChatGPT3. The power of this for simple content writing (email, social, blog) is simply amazing.
• Create time to look at what is new, AI is coming of age, are you ready to seize the improvement opportunity it provides you?
• The opportunity for marketing and marketers is greater than ever, grab it and enjoy the ride!

What would your customers say about you? How well are you using data to understand them better? Do you have a culture of experimentation where you can play with AI and Machine Learning tools to build a more effective marketing strategy?

For a thoughtful and provocative chat about these questions and more, get in touch with our friendly neighbourhood Data Hero John Conway (john@iota-ml.com) and explore how to iota-ML could take your data strategy to the next level.

Sara MacGregor, culture-championing award-winning MD of LEAP Create

Sara tells us that in the world of recruitment marketing, especially in the midst of a financial crisis, candidates (just like consumers) care about the relevancy and authenticity of the employer brand; that data needs to be the engine of your recruitment strategy; and that a pipeline of talent needs to be cultivated from the get-go using smart growth strategies:

1. Build an authentic employer brand:

It’s not enough to just list your company’s values and mission on your website. Candidates are looking for more than that. They want to see how your company lives and breathes those values in its day-to-day operations. Showcase employee testimonials, company culture videos, and other content that gives a behind-the-scenes look at your organisation. This will help build trust and credibility with potential candidates.

2. Data-driven recruitment::

Use data to inform your recruitment strategy. Review all your data sources, including website analytics, marketing campaigns, and your Application Tracking System (ATS). Understand where your talent is coming from and where candidates are dropping off. This will help you identify areas to focus your efforts on and make data-driven decisions.

3. Cultivate a talent pool:

It’s not just about filling open positions; it’s about building a talent pipeline for the future. By consistently engaging with potential candidates and providing valuable content, you’ll create a pool of qualified candidates that you can tap into when opportunities arise. This will help you fill positions more quickly and effectively, saving time and money in the long run.

Are you using data to ensure the relevancy of your recruiting strategy? How could you bring innovation to your processes with new, fast and reliable machine learning tools? When was the last time you did an audit of your data processes and strategy?