The Anchoring Power of Integrated Marketing: Analyzing the Meaning Behind “Pain Points”
Marketing consulting firms exist to solve the marketing pain points of businesses. Indeed, marketing consultants should focus on “pain points”; however, they should not be bound by the client’s pain points.
Ellie, the director of IBA (Inbound Customer Data Marketing ), often finds that corporate brand clients have a major pain point that urgently needs to be addressed when they contact them, such as “What should I do if my brand revenue is shrinking?” or “Will starting to use social media help if my performance this year is not as expected?” However, the more eager one is to focus on the current problem, the more likely one is to be limited in vision and resort to haphazard solutions.
Ellie’s marketing consulting expertise lies in her ability to break down problems beyond the immediate situation ; to transform problem-solving into “setting clear, achievable goals”; or, when we find that a client’s problem is unreasonable, the consultant will ” reguide” the business owner: “What is your real desire?” We use logic to dissect the underlying thoughts behind the problem and reorganize and summarize the goals. The process of collaboratively achieving these goals is where the pain points are resolved.
Integrated Marketing: Stepping outside the problem framework to understand the desires behind the pain points
If the owner of a 3C brand says, “I hope to increase revenue by 10 million next year!”
, then an integrated marketing consultant might ask the owner a thought-provoking question: “What makes you think the brand has the ability to increase revenue by 10 million?”
Before rushing to offer “methods to increase revenue,” IBA first thoroughly understood this 3C brand. We dissected its product line and marketing database . We identified the tools that could achieve our goals: the brand was improving its older gaming PCs this year and was expected to launch a second-generation model. That’s how we found the ” why ” they were doing it.
An integrated marketing perspective: Where is the key entry point to achieve our goals?
The key entry point is what I just mentioned, “Why can we increase revenue by 10 million?”, which is the “2nd generation gaming PC”. So what value can it play in this marketing strategy?
The value of the product itself
Let’s look at the “second-generation gaming PC” we just mentioned. In terms of its inherent product features , where does its value lie?
- What is the price of the second-generation model?
- What is the average market price of a gaming PC?
(The price varies depending on the low-end, mid-range, and high-end models, and brand positioning.) - What is the average replacement cycle for gaming PCs?
(Estimated time for consumers to repurchase)
The value of a product in the market
And in terms of marketing, what value can be analyzed and leveraged?
- What is the current sales volume of computers for this brand?
- Sales conversion rate of past marketing strategies
- What is the current market reach of the brand, and what is the estimated market size?
(How much potential revenue can I gain from competitors? Where is the probability highest?) - What are the key features that the second-generation model can highlight compared to the first-generation model and other computer series within the brand?
- Compared to other brands of computers at the same time, the second-generation model has both “advantages” and “disadvantages”
(the disadvantages also need to be analyzed in order to propose other marketing strategies to compensate for them). - Why do customers choose the second-generation model? What are the key benefits that influence their choice?
(This involves TA Persona analysis; for related information, please read → TA Strategy: How to Conduct Consumer Research? )
Once you understand the limits of the potential of these two categories of “value,” consultants and business owners can determine whether the target of 10 million is meaningful and how much to adjust. Furthermore, they can plan a clear marketing funnel, breaking it down into specific execution strategies and smaller goals.
Furthermore, IBA consultants provide risk assessments for each objective ; realistically, we cannot expect every objective to yield the corresponding positive results. By setting stop-loss points in advance, when the costs of a decision become unprofitable, we know when to stop, how to stop, and what alternative solutions are in place to minimize losses.
Brand health check: Understanding why a company’s pain points occur.
During discussions of business objectives, integrated marketing consultants also examine a brand’s past marketing, operational, and even product strategies to identify any hidden weaknesses that lead companies to seek professional marketing consultants for solutions.
What are the hidden drawbacks? For example, you might find that while the official e-commerce platform has a high entry rate, less than 10% of users stay on the page for more than 20 seconds, resulting in a bounce rate as high as 96%. And of the 4% of consumers who ultimately remain, almost all of them end up making a purchase. In this case, you need to investigate: why is this e-commerce channel behaving this way?
One possibility is that the pop-up ads on e-commerce platforms are too large, either exhausting people’s patience or distracting consumers… The remaining 4% of consumers are already die-hard fans of the brand, who “overcame numerous difficulties” to the end and placed orders for products they already had in mind.
Modern brands are inseparable from digital marketing. Adding fundamental skills like website backend data collection and event tracking to “data-driven marketing” makes it easier to identify and optimize marketing weaknesses within the online interaction patterns of consumers, compared to pinpointing weaknesses in physical retail channels. It’s recommended to do some research and understand the symbiotic relationship between “digital marketing” and “data-driven marketing .” IBA will also recommend appropriate data-driven marketing skills based on an analysis of the client’s current brand situation.
The fruits of cumulative marketing: digital assets
When companies first introduce data-driven marketing, in addition to breaking through marketing bottlenecks, another essential course is “digital asset accumulation.” Digital assets can be divided into:
(1) content created and disseminated online by the brand for marketing, publicity, public relations, and other purposes, and its effects.
(2) First-hand consumer data extracted from the back-end of consumer contact channels such as the official website using data.
Why accumulate digital assets? Analysis!
On the one hand, we analyze what consumers want to see and what they want to obtain; on the other hand, we analyze whether our brand strategies can truly achieve the expected goals. Accumulating data assets allows brands to use Martech tools, which are then collected by technical personnel. How to observe and analyze this data relies on the extensive market experience of marketing personnel and consultants, providing precise numerical interpretations and further helping business owners devise countermeasures, ensuring that the results of each strategy execution are traceable .
In point 1, the more well-known digital assets include advertisements, copywriting, and social media posts. There are also some less obvious ones, such as comments in social media posts and the ripple effect of shared advertising content. While these elements lurk silently online, they offer glimpses into consumer thought. Collecting these ideas can serve as a reference for future content planning: What text-image combinations generate high click-through rates? What advertising dialogue angles elicit a strong response? This way, when designing new content, we won’t have to rely on “experience or intuition” and waste time testing the waters.
The second point involves analyzing data and understanding consumers. As in the example we mentioned earlier, “On a brand’s e-commerce webpage, less than 10% of users spend more than 20 seconds on the page, and the bounce rate is as high as 96%.” Most business owners would simply think, ” My e-commerce platform’s conversion rate is so low! ” But what’s really going on? The 20-second, 10%, and 96% figures represent data assets. Further analysis by IBA consultants suggests the possibility that ” the overflowing ads on the e-commerce platform are too numerous ,” and proposes corresponding solutions to optimize e-commerce channels.
▲Want to know how to analyze data and find solutions? Feel free to consult IBA or follow Digit Spark’s monthly data marketing courses to learn together.
Further Reading: Data Assets That Should Not Be Underestimated
The essence of integrated marketing lies in its interconnectedness.
There are countless tools available for marketing and business success. However, tools are inanimate, while people are dynamic. Marketing is a profession that requires extensive analysis of the target audience and adapting strategies to changing human nature. Mastering the use of tools is one thing, but possessing insightful observations and a macro-level perspective is what makes a professional marketer truly powerful.
Moreover, a “marketing strategy” is not something that can be accomplished simply by setting a “goal” and “execution.” For a brand to have long-term and healthy marketing development, it must develop multiple strategies simultaneously, with each link supporting and complementing each other. This allows consumers to engage with the brand in different places, leaving digital footprints, and enabling the brand to capture consumers while simultaneously deploying further marketing opportunities.
In integrated marketing services, we don’t just look at “What to do now?!”, but thoroughly understand our clients and create a coherent, interconnected digital marketing strategy for their brands; we work with businesses to strategize and plan step by step.
Thanks to
Ellie Tsai / Marketing Brand Director of Jike Data
Serving over 200 companies across more than 12 industries. Specializing in building industry marketing strategies, brand management, cross-platform content marketing, and data integration and analysis, we help companies create their own marketing funnels and establish a stable operational foundation.
Further Reading:
<TA Strategy: How to Conduct Consumer Research?>
<The Importance of Data Assets>
Digit Spark, part of the Zhenhao Internet Media Group, integrates its six sub-brands offering data application services to provide enterprises with comprehensive and precise optimization services across five key areas: “Industry Customer Targeting,” “Performance Optimization Strategies,” “Digital Tool Integration,” “Online Voice Cultivation,” and “Brand Value Promotion.” It drives brand success through data technology.
