Effective marketing and engagement: 2017 Global Economic Outlook

Forget about marketing in traditional ways, as competition heats up. New technologies can help you better know your customers, segment them and engage them to help boost company profits.

Those were among tips from a marketing panel at WorldCity’s 2017 Global Economic Event held Jan. 27, 2017 in Coral Gables and featuring top professionals from a TV network and trade information company.

“Content is king, but your brand is your queen,” said Cesar Sabroso, senior vice president of marketing for A&E Networks Latin America. “At the end of the day, we are consuming more TV content than ever, but we are consuming it in a different way through different devices.”

To keep up with segmentation and other changes, what skills does the marketer of tomorrow need?

Lisa Wallerstein, VP Datamyne

“If you would have asked me that question ten years ago, I would have said the ability to communicate well,” said Lisa Wallerstein, vice president of marketing and product development at Datamyne.  “Now, I look for people with creative and communications skills but also need somebody who understands tech, understands the digital environment, and understands Google search.”

Making an emotional connection with customers

For Sabroso, the most important connection marketers can make with customers is emotional.

“The more we know [users], the more they need us. The more we understand them, the more we can grow our business,” said Sabroso.

A&E tapped into that emotional connection through its campaign called “One Idea Can Change the World”. The project received 320,000 votes and more than 6,000 submitted ideas, he said.

Yet finding marketers who are both creative and analytical can be tough. “If you find that person, and it’s probably going to be a millennial, you hold onto them and show them the love every day,” said Wallerstein.

Datamyne found someone with those skills who singlehandedly raised the company’s online visitors from 1,000 to 5,000 per day. It also has been tapping its emotional link with users by offering such content as a post on government regulations against countries with slave labor. That post received strong positive feedback, said Wallerstein.

Know your customers to give them what they want

Knowing your customer helps companies boost engagement, so that they can better give people what they want and monetize that, Sabroso told the crowd.

World of Americas

“Does it make sense?” he asked, referring to A&E’s efforts to choose commercials to fit the content of specific programs. “You understand [user] behaviors, needs, and desires. What is marketing? Marketing is about understanding and satisfying the needs and desires of your user.”

Today’s customers are highly segmented: Everyone goes to Starbucks, but not everybody gets the same coffee, he said.

One audience member asked the panelists how best to connect emotionally and to engage with 18-24 year olds.

Sabroso suggested a focus group, a tool used often in the world of television programming.

“When you engage with any market, whether it’s by age or industry, you have to speak to them about things that are important to them,” said Sabroso.

Datamyne recently surveyed its users to find out if they they were more interested in the company engaging with them about their job or their industry. The results showed users wanted to hear more about the industry, she said.

“Ask your audience: ‘How do you want us to talk to you?’ The most important thing is for anybody to pay attention to you, because everybody is getting messages from everywhere, so most people just blank it all out,” said Wallerstein. “The only thing people are really going to pay attention to is something that’s meaningful to them.”

Global Connections is one of four event series organized by WorldCity to bring together multinational executives in the greater Miami area. The next Global event is set for March 31, 2017, on “Celebrating Women’s Leadership.”

WorldCity will launch its 2017 “Who’s Here’s” directory of multinational offices in South Florida on Feb. 24, 2017. Its next Trade Connections event on Feb. 10, 2017 will discuss the annual trade data for 2016 just being released.