Building a business in the digital world

Krystle Anne Enriquez —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Krystle Anne Enriquez is a partner in digital marketing agency CBR and a recent recipient of the Mansmith Young Market Masters Awards (YMMA) for Digital Business Building.

In this interview, she shares how businesses can grow revenues by using digital tools.

Q: What are missteps and misconceptions within the practice of digital marketing nowadays, and how is your agency correcting them?A: For me, there are two.

First is looking at digital as a platform instead of an integral part of the consumer’s lifestyle.

Second, that digital is still being implemented using traditional or linear models—where the mind-set is you have to follow things in a chronological manner and do it step by step.

We need to accept that speed is now the currency and consumers will constantly expect brands to communicate and engage with them in real time. This is why I had set up the LEAP process to drive agility within the company and embody the mind-set of progress over perfection.

Q: What is the LEAP process?

A: LEAP is the process I established in the company that stands for: Learn, Execute, and Adjust quickly in order to Progress. LEAP breaks away from linear thinking, and embodies a sprint process. It was inspired by how fintech or Silicon Valley companies operate to drive agility. It also tries to put into action the meaning of progress over perfection.

Q: I heard more and more marketers and entrepreneurs complain about negative ROI (return of investment) due to the increasing costs of crowded social media campaigns. What should clients and agencies examine before agreeing to mount a test campaign?

A: We should keep in mind that digital is not just social media. It includes search, mobile, e-commerce, and a lot of other platforms. By looking at digital this way, you broaden your potential reach and have better control of costs.

Digital can also be used across the entire marketing funnel. So before mounting test campaigns, be clear on which part in the marketing funnel you want to focus on. This should align with your marketing objective and will dictate the measure of success.

Lastly, in any testing, you should be clear on the variables you want to test and make sure you phase the testing so you’re only adjusting one variable at a time. Testing too many things at the same time will prevent you from having definitive or actionable learnings.

Q: What are key trends in digital marketing nowadays? What trends do you predict to be forthcoming?

A: The pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of consumers as they continue to migrate and adjust to a highly, if not completely, digital life. Behaviors have changed, and with it expectations on digital experiences. As a result, shifting from mass communication to mass personalization has become a necessity rather than a possibility. The ability to build a data ecosystem and maximize it to acquire anticipatory intelligence will be the differentiator. And as everyone gets more and more accustomed to a digital lifestyle, everything will boil down to how marketers will be able to elevate human and customer experiences.

Q: What key metrics should be monitored in digital campaigns? Can you share some data used as industry standards?

A: Digital cuts across the entire marketing funnel. Therefore, key metrics should move beyond being seen as purely share of mind or space, which is commonly referred to as awareness metrics. We need to include share of business and commerce or cart metrics.

In addition, key metrics must also be monitored both from an effectiveness and efficiency standpoint.

Effectiveness focuses on ability to meet your objective. This includes metrics with the structure “x-rate”—like engagement rate, click-through rate and conversion rate.

Efficiency focuses on spend ROI and normally follows structure “cost per x”—like cost per visit, cost per acquisition and return on ad spend.

—CONTRIBUTED

Josiah Go is the chair and chief innovation strategist of Mansmith and Fielders Inc. The 16th Mansmith YMMA awarding and Summit will be held on Sept. 14 and Sept. 15, 2021. Free registration through continuum-edu.com/courses/16th-young-market-masters-summit/