Prasanna Raviraj

Its been a while since I attended a BCAMA event, the last one that I had attended was the VISION conference in 2009 and it was an amazing experience.

On Tuesday, 4th May, I decided to attend the Digital Marketing event, which was hosted at Earls, Yaletown. The speaker at the event was Mr.Kerry Munro. Kerry Munro is the former head of Yahoo! Canada and has recently joined Syncapse as COO. The event had a good representation from the business world. I found it surprising that there were no other students or recent graduates besides me.

What I am mentioning below are my interpretation/version of the session.

Kerry started off the session with the usual set of questions  ” who here has afacebook/linkedin/twitter and other social social media accounts? why do you use linkedin ? “. Then he gave a quick overview of how digital media and all the different platforms have evolved and impacted the way consumers shop. The example that was given at this point was about an I-phone app, which scans a barcode and gives you the price comparisons from the other retailers in the neighborhood.  Now it becomes a level playing field and consumers stand to benefit, which of course will impact the profit for retailers and the way they have to strategize and compete in the market place.

There is always a disconnect between the business strategy and the digital media strategy. How can that be ? Executives and managers generally tend to isolate the marketing department and make them responsible for coming out with innovative strategies. Only when they come together can a successful campaign be created.

Some of the interesting stats that was revealed during the session were  1) Canadians spend a lot more time on the internet in the world, reading the news , keeping up to date with the entertainment, reviews purchase etc. And the least emphasis is given to B2B              2) An average woman spends 4 hrs a day on facebook.

Another interesting point was that algorithm searches were far more effective than paid searches. The key is to design the websites properly with proper meta tags, and good content. Companies still spend quite a bit on paid searches to ensure they are listed right at the top.

The cost (rough estimation) to reach 1.2 million audience through

Digital Media  0      Newsprint $30,000        Television  $180,000

The positive and the negative comments spread quickly through digital media. Customers/People strongly believe comments or feedbacks posted by other people who they have never met nor will they ever meet. How did it get to this stage ?  DIGITAL MEDIA

An interesting question ” In the companies that you come from, do they post consumer feedback on the website or other platforms? “  There were only a few people who responded to this question and most of them replied in the negative.  It is important to be open and post all comments good and bad. If there is bad reviews 90% of the time, then there is a more serious problem i.e. something is totally wrong with the product / Service.  By posting comments, the companies are considered a bit more honest and if some top official from the company to respond to the criticism assuring the users of a solution , then it adds a lot more credibility.

My opinion : Digital media has strengthened its position and brands leverage this space to strengthen their brand presence. In the process, companies/brands silently develop a character as if they are some living thing.

A couple examples that were quoted during the session:

One was about feedback about a beach resort, where the comments were, it was quiet, not much partying/clubbing, but the place was clean and food was good. Someone who is looking for a quiet get away might find it the best feedback about the place while the youngsters might find it a boring place not fit for partying.

The other one was about an official openly apologizing on twitter to the customer . This boosted the image of the company as it took an initiative to correct their mistakes.

That is some info on the session. Please feel free to comment.