Now is an era of unicorns and exponential growth in business; an era of new strategies, tools and partners, argues Anthony Giordano
The entrepreneurial wave has fully immersed the Middle East. It has come at all levels of society. Some 64 per cent of people across the Middle East and North Africa prefer to have their own business. Investor funds have increased from $10 to $15 million a few years ago to $50 to $100 million today. Ecosystem supporters including platforms, accelerators and events are sprouting up to support entrepreneurs. Governments are fully supportive with investment levels per capita that match anywhere in the world. In the United Arab Emirates, the Khalifa Fund has $500,000 for Emirati start-ups, while the Kuwait government launched the National Fund for SME Development.
One group that hasn’t joined in as much is large multinational organisations – the companies that have the most to invest in marketing. At the recent Enterprise Agility Forum 2015, the focus of the first panel was on how your small enter-prise can operate like a multinational. However, the panellists from Microsoft, Pepsi, Cisco and du admitted they ‘spend a lot of time thinking about how we can act more like SMEs’.
Some of these actions are about agility in decision making, which can lead to flatter structures and more autonomous task-oriented teams. Organisational restructuring is not necessary to benefit from start-up practices.
How can we gain an edge over the competition? How can we do more with less? Common questions for major advertisers, which typically lead down a path of efficiency conversations, squeezing profits of smaller companies in the supply chain and marginal percentage gains. We now have new solutions at our disposal, if given the time, resources and trust.
Now is an era of unicorns and exponential growth in business; an era of new (proven) strategies, tools and partners. Where can we start?
SMALL DATA
Big data can revolutionise the understanding of a business and its consumers. Although, it’s the small data that allows agile decision making. Small data is individual key performance indicator from specific channels that signify effectiveness. These should be the fewest metrics with which an informed decision can be made.
If creating shareable content is the goal, the KPIs could be total shares and sharing rate by platform.
Develop a dashboard of these small data points where they can be visualised. A web-based version that automatically pulls data in realtime is optimal, but an option to reduce development time and cost is to pull data points into an Excel or PowerPoint version.
There are more tools than ever for metrics of website (Google Analytics, Kiss Metrics), channel (Google Adwords, Mediamind, Buddy Media), content (BuzzSumo, Sprinklr) and conversation (Synthesio). Start-ups have used this approach of ‘metrics driven marketing’ to develop a test and learn culture where intelligent risk taking is the norm.
SMALL HACKS
Over time, all marketing channels experience an eroding of audiences, attention and response. Online banner click through rates hovered around 2.1 per cent in 1996 but now sit at 0.06 per cent globally. In fact, people are avoiding them completely now, with 198 million ad-blockers around the world. Facebook’s organic reach only needed three years to go from 16 per cent in 2012 to its current position at less than 1 per cent. Diminishing returns across channels mandates the need to find new opportunities.
Airbnb famously jump started its business when it allowed people to list rooms on Craigslist with one click. They were able to get high reach on the platform where people were already looking for what they were selling. The solution was developing tech, which should be considered another tool of marketers.
LinkedIn made user profiles public, which allowed them to show up in Google Search organic results, revolutionising the results people get when searching for themselves and growing from two million to 200 million users.
For a non-digital example, the restaurant Al Boom in Kuwait gives diners a free branded postcard to send to anyone, anywhere in the world. It only costs printing and shipping for a word of mouth endorsement.
To hack your way to more customers, use technology, increase presence into high-traffic non-traditional channels and facilitate easy sharing.
SMALL PARTNERS
Massive innovation is occurring from the wealth of start-ups that are launching, building new solutions and disrupting existing industries. The scale and importance of these companies with consumers make it imperative for large companies to begin working with them.
To build on its culture of innovation, GE recently launched ME Makers, a collaboration with regional start-ups. The initiative has allowed GE to support some of the best start-ups in priority areas, infuse innovation through co-mentorship and produce a wealth of new content to communicate with consumers.
New technologies were standouts at this year’s Cannes festival with four companies being recognised with awards – Owlet, LISNR, Diagenetix and Hammerhead Navigation. LISNR, a data-over-audio solution, has been used by Visa, Mondelez, Microsoft and numerous sports arenas to open up a new interaction channel with consumers.
Start-ups are not even limited to this planet, with innovations like 3D printers that work in zero gravity. Think of new innovations as a way to really set a brand apart from the competition.
There are more opportunities for advertisers to connect with people than ever before. Take risks, be agile, use tech and don’t be afraid to create new solutions.
Small thinking can lead to big results. For article with links, visit www.mecglobal.com/mena or my LinkedIn page.
Anthony Giordano is group account director at MEC MENA
