ME 52-6: In an Era of Real-time Feedback and a Deluge of Data

While immersed daily in the youthful field of video games and consoles, Sara Borthwick has relied on her marketing skills that have developed over the years in order to bring new insights and help translate a deluge of data and information into a more palatable menu for publishers and advertisers.

Sara Borthwick
Sr. Product Manager, Industry Products, TRAX
GameSpot
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Sara/Borthwick/

What site(s) do you have to visit every day for marketing news?

I subscribe to about 14 work related newsletters, so the only sites that I actively visit are Business Insider and MediaPost. I also avidly read the news and the NYTimes, Economist and WSJ have good articles about marketing and sociology/psychology/linguistics that I find useful.

What site(s) do you go to at least once a day for fun and inspiration?

Girl Genius, XKCD, TED, LiveJournal, Apartment Therapy, TMZ, and FiveThirtyEight. News sites: CNN, MSNBC, NYTimes, Economist

Greatest skill a good marketing professional requires?

Marketing is an art and a science. As such, I think that the best marketers are highly empathetic and able to easily put themselves in their consumers’ shoes, however, they are also highly logical, and able to distance themselves from emotions when necessary to make hard but logical choices. Now the combination of empathy and rationality is the necessary skill set to do marketing well, but I believe, as Plato did, that if a marketer is skilled at rhetoric and persuasion they will have tremendous success even if they aren’t as strong in the empathy/logic skill combination.

What’s the recent “it” marketing phrase/trend of the moment that you hear almost every day and what does it mean for the industry and marketplace?

For the past 6 months or so, I’ve heard a lot about “cause marketing.” Basically consumer packaged goods associate themselves with a humanitarian cause, creating a halo effect for the brand. When a customer is at a shelf and selecting between two or more options, the brand that has a connection to a humanitarian cause will seem to be more desirable, even it is priced higher.

Interestingly, cause marketing has been around for a very, very long time. This is not a new innovation, just a new emphasis. I actually believe that if a significant number of brand marketers jump onto the cause marketing bandwagon at the same time, the ensuing flood of cause marketed products will diminish the value of the practice. Not only will savvy consumers catch on and become skeptical/jaded, but also the general halo effect will diminish.

There have been fads in the marketing world. In your opinion, what are recent developments that are here to stay?

Green marketing was a fad that started about 3 years ago. Companies touted carbon neutral or partially recycled products. To me, the fad got out of hand when I saw recycled toilet paper... Certain products didn’t do much to help the planet, just alleviate guilt. Fortunately some of the egregious examples have disappeared, leaving truly useful, recycled products behind. Additionally, I think that the green marketing fad has caused all companies to think about the environmental impact of their practices and their products. I’ve noticed a significant decrease in packaging of all goods, and I was quite excited to see my local grocery store sell whole coconuts without the plastic wrapper.

What is essential NOT to do when it comes to your specialty?

Do not mislead. To be wrong is not OK, but it is forgivable, but to intentionally mislead is unforgivable.

What’s an imminent hurdle in the marketing world that you think will cause significant changes to the way we market to consumers or businesses?

With all mediums becoming digital and thus trackable, marketing is getting a near real-time feedback loop. The wealth of information is overloading current systems and processes that were designed in another era. The world of marketing must either figure out a way to incorporate and respond appropriately to the deluge of consumer feedback, or it must change the game. Amazon.com does a good job of incorporating and responding appropriately to the wealth of information, while Apple does a great job of changing the game.

Can marketing ideas travel across continents, countries and languages? Does globalization work or is localization more effective?

Great ideas are universal ideas. They speak to the human condition. Great marketing ideas can be the same. The challenge is that across the globe, we speak thousands upon thousands of different languages and the great ideas must be communicated in a way that each individual person to can hear it and be motivated to change their behavior. The communication of the marketing idea, whether through marketing communication or product design needs to be adapted for each audience; translated into each audience’s languages and cultures.

Best piece of advice you’ve received professionally or personally?

Before I started college, an older cousin pulled me aside and told me that it doesn’t matter what you major in; a company will have to train you anyway. Study what interests you and makes you want to go to class. That really resonated with me. When selecting a college, I looked for good engineering programs. I thought I was going to get a degree in material engineering until I took my first engineering course. Uggh! I hated it. But because of my cousin’s advice, I didn’t feel like a failure or feel any pressure to keep going. Instead I took a variety of courses that interested me and came out with a liberal arts degree that trained me for no profession but gave me the skills to think critical, communicate well and learn any subject quickly. My cousin’s advice still sticks with me because it was a version of “do what you love.”

Growing up what was the first thing you can remember wanting to be?

I remember being about 10 years old and complaining to my parents at dinner one night that it was completely unfair that kids couldn’t vote. I had thoughts and opinions. The laws would impact me just as much as someone twice or four times my age. I should have a say. At that time I believe I also stated that I wanted to be a politician. That may have been my earliest career ambition. That, or being a pastry chef. I can’t really remember.

What do you think are some of the most promising models for monetization of digital content?

While advertising will always continue to be a revenue source for digital content, I’m really impressed by companies that are making money off of the information they collect from consumers of their digital content. Twitter has announced it is profitable based upon selling access to its data stream. Facebook makes money by selling access to users’ information to other sites if that user opts to share the information with the other site via Facebook Connect. The Business Insider is starting to sell its analysis work as a research product. CNET.com sells their catalog of consumer electronics product details to retailers and manufacturers.

What are growth opportunities within the Marketing industry, as people are looking at their careers?

Analytical marketing is a growing subfield within the marketing industry. With all the deluge of data coming in from all angles, there is a tremendous need for marketers to make sense of the information and respond appropriately. That requires marketers who not only understanding traditional marketing (4 Ps) and marketing strategy, but who can also quickly access and manipulate large data sets. Statistical skills are key.