Redefining Marketing Effectiveness

The Challenge: Getting more bang for the buck

Many CMOs face increasingly challenging business targets while being given decreasing marketing budgets. In addition, the ever-changing marketing landscape poses new challenges, and the equation of delivering more value with less money is becoming more difficult to resolve. Curamando wants to share a few insights and strategies on how to achieve marketing effectiveness.  

Working with all aspects of marketing, Curamando has observed several factors that significantly affect the complex arena in which we operate. We have chosen four to elaborate on below. 

 

By: Magdalena Lindquist & Malin Göranson, Advisory  Consultants, on September 5, 2024 | Reading time: 10-15 minutes

 

1. Customer Centricity: The Heart of Success

Delivering customer value has always been a top priority for organizations and marketers. However, the relentless pursuit of driving sales, increasing market share, achieving a positive return on investment (ROI) and profitability in a challenging digital landscape often leads to short-term success.

To achieve long-term effects, adopting a customer-centric approach when defining strategies to reach business goals is essential. By providing value to customers, organizations can foster loyalty and ultimately generate additional value to the business.

Instead of focusing solely on sales, profit, or products, businesses need to place the customer at the center of their focus, guiding their mindset in everything they do. This shift in perspective is not just beneficial but imperative for sustainable growth.

Research shows that companies excelling in customer service strategy see a 15-20% increase in ROI¹⁾. Additionally, those leading in customer-centricity experience a 4-8% average revenue growth compared to their competitors ²⁾. Organizations prioritizing customer-centricity significantly outperform their competitors, underscoring the critical importance of this approach in today’s market.

 

2. Navigating the Privacy Challenge

We have all dreaded the death of the cookie for some time now, even if many have not acted yet. But the effects of the privacy focused era are already upon us and by 2025 Chrome – with 65% browser market share – will have deprecated all 3^rd party cookies.

With slim to no data on an individual level in the upper funnel, it becomes increasingly important to utilize the first-party data gathered in the lower funnel to be very precise in targeting and personalization.

Hence, for customer acquisition in the upper funnel, companies must focus on developing a robust data strategy that maximizes the use of the limited data they can realistically gather. Structure it, master data modeling and ensure compliance. The strategy here should be to go broad, casting a wide net to reach potential customers.

In the lower funnel, on the other hand, collecting and leveraging first-party data is crucial for engaging known customers and prospects. A highly data-driven approach allows for precise personalization and specific messaging, ensuring that existing customers and prospects feel valued and understood.

In summary, by effectively navigating the data paradox of plenty versus limited amounts of individual-level data, businesses can achieve sustainable growth. We encourage you to be precise where you can and dare to go broad where it´s necessary.

 

3. The Power of Content Marketing

Content marketing is an essential cornerstone for modern strategies, and focusing on providing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain audiences is crucial. Businesses need to put emphasis on creating engaging information that places the customer at the heart of a brand’s messaging.

It´s estimated that the content marketing industry is projected to reach $600 billion this year ³⁾, driven by increased digital consumption, a need for personalized content, and the continued emergence and evolution of advanced technologies like AI and machine learning.

Businesses are currently investing between 10–29% of their marketing budgets on content and 52% goes to social media and community building, allowing brands to engage and interact with consumers in real time and cultivate a sense of community around their products or services.

And the investments in content are undoubtedly justified. Costing less to launch (62%) and with better results in terms of performance – personalized content can improve performance up to 120 times with an uplift in conversion rates x 6⁴⁾ and sales x 20⁴⁾ – content should remain at the top of every marketer’s agenda.

Investing in high-quality, personalized content with the aid of AI tools will help organizations streamline marketing operations and reap the benefits of more engaged, loyal customers, increased sales, improved time-to-market lead times, and lower operational costs.

 

4. Boost the Synergies

Achieving ambitious targets with reduced budgets requires a shift in how marketing strategies are conceived and executed. Marketers can create collaborative marketing strategies that drive better results, which not only address immediate challenges but also set the foundation for long-term success in a highly competitive market. This requires an agnostic and holistic approach that is at the center of the business and its culture. Key principles include:

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Break down silos for innovative strategies and streamline processes and ways of working to ensure operational effectiveness. 

• Channel-Agnostic Approach: Focus on channel effectiveness rather than rigid budget splits.

• Fluid Budgeting: Merge brand and performance marketing funds for flexible allocation.

• Media and Content Synergies: Optimize the interplay between channels and content for enhanced campaign effectiveness.

• Harmonized Content: Coordinate paid and organic content for cohesive messaging.
• High-Quality Creative Content: Invest in superior content for maximum ROI.

As mentioned in our previous section, content is power. The fact that creative quality content is one of the largest multipliers for media effectiveness is a great example of synergies to be gained. This proves that media management and creative content management are areas that should not be separated. The two need to be intertwined and defined in one strategy with the customer in focus.

Adopting these principles, together with a data-driven approach for informed decision-making is key. Continuously looking at the data to identify the most effective channels, content, and tactics and fostering a culture where experimentation, analysis and optimization is part of the DNA will lead to substantial gains in marketing effectiveness. Marketers should integrate AI and machine learning tools and regularly evaluate and adjust their strategies. Coupled with a collaborative organizational culture, this will ensure optimal impact across media, content, and operations.

 

The Wrap-Up: Our Approach

All in all, in order to tackle the challenges in the current landscape, Curamando has established a simple approach. Marketing effectiveness will come from synergies between effect and efficiency, and as such we´ve selected 3 fundamental steppingstones which we believe have the biggest impact on marketing effectiveness.

By focusing on the following areas, business can improve results more efficiently, thus getting more “bang for the buck” they invest.

1. Strive for synergies across all areas of activation;
use fluid budgeting to allow brand and performance activities to work together across channels, markets and categories. Gain improved media effect and efficiencies by harmonizing organic and paid content.

2. Know your customers and invest in high quality customer centric content;
which is relevant and personalized. Use AI and content tools to generate better quality, individual messaging at scale to improve engagement, conversion rates and to drive sales.

3. Foster cross-functional collaborations;
look for operational efficiencies to be gained through marketing operations, processes and AI tools. Improve collaborations between teams and agencies to gain synergetic effects and break down siloes to instill a culture of coordinated efforts and alignment, where working towards common goals is at the center.

 

Curamando has several client cases where we have helped businesses to achieve both efficiency and effect by focusing on these three areas.  

 

Pågen

Pågen wanted to set up their own in-house media activation team to ensure more control of their media activations with the aim of making media buying more effective. Curamando joined the marketing team and helped Pågen establish their own in-house media team, and by doing so they managed to decrease media management operations costs by more than 50% and improving media efficiency and effect as a result of altering the media mix and through smarter digital media buying. This resulted in 40% lower CPM whilst seeing an increase in observation and attention.

 

Polestar

Curamando was asked to support Polestar’s CRM team in helping them become more efficient in their production of newsletter content. Polestar faced a need to increase the number of segments whilst struggling with long lead times in content production, leading to challenges in prioritizing the workload. Curamando designed a POC with the aim to explore whether AI could empower CRM managers to decrease their overall production lead times. Curamando reviewed the current process and integrated an AI trained model which allowed Polestar’s CRM team to reduce their production lead time for newsletters x 3.