We had a quick sit down with Tiago Oliveira, the Country Manager of UK & ROW at E-goi, who provide a multichannel marketing platform that integrates e-mail, mobile, web, voice and social media campaigns for lead generation and customer lifecycle automation.
Tiago is passionate about new technologies, travelling and building long lasting relationships: "I'm a young man who tries to inspire someone every day to try something new… whether it's to communicate in “new ways” which they could well find more efficient and profitable".
Veronica: So, how would you say marketers have changed their use of online tools in the past few years?
Tiago: They haven't mostly - and that's a problem. Marketers are usually standoffish to change, which makes sense, as they invest a lot of time and effort in their online tools. Well, hey, look at my empty hand – that’s the amount of flying monkeys consumers give about it.
This is key because consumers are much, much quicker to switch and adapt to anything that suits them better, with marketers forever playing catch-up. Attempts to anticipate consumer trends usually crash and burn because of a fixed mindset grown out of jerry-built tools. The only way you can break out of this deadlock is pretty simple: talk to your user base!
Taking a page out of Valentine's playbook, don't just stand and watch your target audience, look closer and lovingly! Don't just hear, listen. Really listen! And then act accordingly - and swiftly - to choose the tools that will put you on the right path.
Veronica: What can you see as the trend going forward?
Tiago: I've seen it already (and I suppose you have too). It's called Minority Report's in-store scene. That 5-minute sequence gives you more “doable” forward-looking trends than a thousand conference papers. It's all there - predictive buying, 360º marketing, targeted remarketing automation.
The funny thing is we’re just a couple holograms away from realising it. We have the data, but spread too thin to put it together in a really actionable way. Mobile (or whatever wearable gadget people end up using) will clearly be the centerpiece of any future trend (more than 50% of all emails are now being read on mobile) and this is why push-based messaging is so important. Nevertheless, marketers will still need tools allowing them to look at the big picture instead of just focusing on single, cordoned-off channels.
Veronica: What's the biggest challenge for marketers in today's environment?
Tiago: Reading people's minds. Since this is impossible (except for cats :), marketers need to settle for the next best thing: sherlocking their way to customer’s needs and wants.
You can guess. You can deduce. But quite often consumers are willing to give out this info themselves if you just ask nicely. Again, the key thing here is looking not at what people are buying, but what they are saying. Marketing automation can go a long way to help you with this, although bear in mind it doesn’t plan everything out for you!
Keeping a sharp eye out for flexible automation tools that will stand the test of time is a must. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Life welcomes change and so will you.
Veronica: What about different industries, can you see the challenges varying there?
Tiago: Not really. It all boils down to engaging with someone at the exact time they are most driven to engage with you. And this must happen regardless of any industry.
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