Top of mind !
The light at the end of the COVID tunnel puts companies back on the path to new growth opportunities. Optimism is the order of the day!
According to INSEE, the French economy is forecast to grow by 6.25% this year, compared to 8% last year. The recovery in business has continued despite a fourth wave of the epidemic and the introduction of the vaccination policy. Therefore, marketing needs are being addressed to support their development.
The growing careers
In this period of economic recovery, these highly sought-after professions include “Head of Marketing”, “Traffic Manager” or ” Head of Traffic Manager”. They are in charge of commercial development, “top of mind” (spontaneous awareness), customer attraction, and retention.
The experts in this area excel in the implementation of a conversion strategy and traffic generation (leads generation), all in relation to specific objectives.
As the key to a website’s success and an increase in turnover, ‘Smarketing’ is a hybrid function between marketing and commerce, which must master the various optimisation levers by covering 3 main areas :
→ Optimisation strategy
→ Project management
→ Team management
The playing field is not limited to digital – it must adjust its strategies to the size of the company as well as to the business sector. This requires it to constantly adapt to support organic growth.
It operates via channels :
→ « Online » such as SEA, SEO (search engine optimisation), SEM, emailing, audience monetisation, the workings of which it knows perfectly well, and ABM (Account Based Marketing), a powerful strategy used by ETIs and large corporations. This B2B strategy works in the opposite way to inbound: targeting the most strategic accounts to turn them into prospects and then into customers, through personalized and sequenced campaigns.
→ « Offline » print (printed materials), prospecting, professional events, or the media.
The marketing manager also stands out in the implementation of B-to-B “Cold Calling” campaigns, a discipline claimed by Jordan Belfort (The Straight Line) capable of selling Häagen-Dazs to an Eskimo. This marketing tool consists of making calls in a casual manner about the benefits of an offer to “target” prospects who do not expect to be solicited.
As an advertising specialist, they deploy the lead generation marketing plan using web marketing techniques and adjusting budgets according to the channels used: SEO, SEA, display, social networks, and re-targeting.
ASOS (the online fashion retailer), as part of a social media campaign, asked its customers to share their photos on Instagram with the hashtag #AsSeenOnMe. These Insta pics were published on the ASOS website and its social networks. This call to action generated massive customer engagement and participation (lead generation).
Measuring is already improving, that is their motto !
Traffic Managers are responsible for their campaigns, which they monitor with the help of KPI‘s (Key Performance Indicators), metrics that ae essential for steering the profitability of their actions (ROI): user behaviour, customers generated, audience data, etc. At the heart of Data Marketing, this role requires very important “reporting” and analytical skills, which often requires a Google Analytics certification.
Ultimately, this strategist must master the winning trio: volume, commitment, and profitability. Innovation and curiosity (competitive intelligence) are the ingredients to be in keeping with the developments of the market in which they operate.
Some companies have had success stories with a disruptive marketing model. This is the case of Shopify (an e-commerce platform in SAAS mode) which, by doing away with the function of Marketing Manager as such, has made all its marketing teams responsible for the marketing process according to clear and measurable objectives. The creation of this “Growth Team” avoids friction between departments while encouraging a collaborative approach to customer marketing. A strategy that has paid off, enabling Shopify to increase its sales from $119bn in 2020 to $1,6bn in 2013.
Mobile first
With 5,2 billion mobile users and 4,2 billion social network users, marketing experts must increase their skills to avoid becoming obsolete quickly. The “Mobile First” strategy, based on engaging content and the customer experience, particularly in e-commerce, and the omni-channel approach, is a powerful growth driver. On this subject, the marketing expert will rely on the skills of a mobile developer who will be in charge of creating a mobile application from scratch, which will be a useful tool for traffic and conversion.
This is an opportunity clearly identified by Shopify, which has entered into a collaboration with TikTok, (a social video sharing network), to drive its marketing campaigns on their app. Retailers on the Shopify platform can create TikTok ad campaigns via the Shopify dashboard, and in this way attract customers. For users, the retailer’s listing on TikTok links directly to their site, which is a great way to optimise the customer journey.
Because of its « Growth Hacker » DNA, the “Marketing Manager” role is evolving, naturally towards an objective that exploits a more AGILE technological base. Other career opportunities are available to them as “Chief Marketing Officer” or “Leader of large-scale projects” linked to the digital transformation strategy.
