2019 saw the introduction of our award-winning new blog series “In Conversation with Infinity”, and as another Christmas treat to our readers, we’ve hand-picked the top of the blogs.
Each guest’s interviews were jam-packed with thoughtful insights, but we’ve collected what we think were the most crucial points, and rounded them up in quick fire succession.
Here you’ll find out the role of offline channels in a digital world, the biggest challenge a CMO will face in 2020, how the phone call will evolve in the future, what makes an SEO agency stand out, and how personal you should get with your customers.
Carrie Rose
As the co-founder and creative director of Sheffield based agency, Rise at Seven, Carrie once auditioned for ‘The Apprentice’, having no idea that her preliminary business plan would transpire into a fully-fledged company. With no backing from Sir Alan, Rise At Seven now has 8+ clients and an affinity for Love Island influencers.
You’ve had some success with your recent PR activity around Love Island influencers, tell us a little bit about that.
We jumped on one of the biggest topics of the summer – Love Island and conducted a comprehensive analysis, using latest marketing data, to reveal just how much the contestants were expected to earn through Instagram brand partnerships once they leave the villa.
After crunching some numbers we learnt that each follower on Instagram is now worth 0.0033p and therefore, based on each contestant’s social following, how much they should expect to earn for brand partnerships and sponsored posts.
Over the space of a week landed over 30 links and media placements from the likes of Sky News, Cosmopolitan and more. I was invited on BBC news and the rest is history!
Mary Jane Copps
Award-winning business owner and author of “The Phone Book” joined us for our third ICW interview.
This blog won 1st place in the Customer Contact Centre awards, and given Mary Jane’s incredible experience, you can see why.
How do you see phone calls evolving in the future?
A few years ago I pondered whether my company would still have value today. But, one of the visions I get is perhaps the way we use actual phone calls. The phone could be built into us, someone calls, we tap it, and then we speak.
In terms of business, the phone is going to be more important than ever. Look at political leaders, they’re making phone calls. The voice is never going away.
Monica Patel
The most intriguing thing about Monica was not only her ferocious commitment to excellence but how she effortlessly blends mathematics with marketing.
Monica divulged how she thinks CMOs can overcome their biggest challenge yet.
According to Adobe, the digital customer journey is one of the most important challenges that CMOs face, how can brands start to get a handle on it?
That’s a tricky one because your customer is everywhere. If you’re not keeping up and being competitive, then what’s the point?
Whilst at RingCentral we’ve always focused on getting people to ring. We’ve done that now but now that same customer can be in different places, both online and offline, at the same time. If you aren’t there to respond, you can lose their custom.
You have to be consistent. It’s going to be tough for CMOs to grasp and to get on board with.
Daniel Gilbert
As CEO of Brainlabs Agency, Daniel Gilbert was determined to change to face of advertising.
Here’s what he thought about how personal people get with their customers.
At DMX Dublin you mentioned that brands will decide on how personal their marketing can get, but how personal do you think brands should be with their marketing?
It depends on the brand and what they deliver, as this largely dictates what level of personalisation is appropriate. I’m definitely pro-personalisation and relevance as it ultimately creates a better user experience – it’s how marketers can grab the attention of people who are actually interested in a brand.
That being said, personalisation needs to make sense. Don't creep people out – user trust is easy to lose.
Steve Tarbard
Steve has worked in insurance broker marketing since 1997. He let us in on what the main challenges are in this industry, and what you can do about it
In terms of insurance, what’s the main challenge the industry is having right now?
The main thing we’re seeing on a daily basis is an over-reliance on aggregators and third-party lead generation providers. Insurance brokers buy a lot of their leads/sales from third parties and the majority don’t generate their own.
This reliance on others diminishes their control, and limits their ability to say “We want x amount of sales in this area”, and then having the ability to target it.
But, the industry has to remember that if you buy from a lead-generation company then you’re not the only one receiving that lead. You’re already in competition from the word go. That’s a tough place to be in.
Miya Knights
As a leading retail expert, and co-author of the highly successful book "Amazon: How The World's Most Relentless Retailer will Continue to Revolutionize Commerce", we were keen to get Miya's invaluable insights.
Miya divulged the real secrets behind Amazon’s success, and how the future of offline retail will co-exist in a digital-centric world.
As retailers are moving into technological advancements, most people may be thinking that everything needs to be digital. With this in mind, what role do you think offline touchpoints will play?
I think offline touchpoints absolutely have a key role to play. At the end of the day, we will always want to touch and feel products. Humans need human interaction. I once spoke to a loss prevention company about a brand who put cameras in their stores to track footfall and to identify theft.
From the analysis of the findings they found that theft massively decreased when there was someone at the door welcoming you.
It’s because someone says “Hi, I see you.”
And that’s a wrap
A huge thank you to everyone who participated in the interviews.
If you’d like to be a part of Infinity’s In Conversation With blog series, please do get in touch by clicking the link below.
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