Welcome Stephen D. Pickett, Managing Director of Envoku and Live Group, to share his insights on the evolving role of AI in marketing, the next steps in hyper-personalization, and how to overcome the challenges of adopting new technologies as part of the MarTech Thoughts series.

How do you describe your job to a 5-year-old?

I make sure that the people I work with feel like they can do their jobs well, know I support them, and are happy, so they have time at the end of the day for juice, cookies, and a nap.

What is the one marketing platform/app/solution you can’t live without? Why?

HubSpot. The integration from our website, allowing us to track leads, campaign success, and proactively support clients throughout the sales process, is critical to our growth and success.

What will be the next evolution in marketing technology that we can expect in the coming years?

The ability to understand how people prefer to be communicated with, maximising the impact of communication. Hyper-personalisation is great, but it’s currently driven by product and not always by the tone of the message or the individual’s preferred content consumption method. We need to use these differences as an advantage rather than a point of contention.

What are the key challenges when implementing new technologies or platforms for the first time in your company, and do you have any suggestions for making the process smoother?

Awareness, education, and purpose. Along with consistency in messaging—both frequency and guidance—it’s crucial to gain buy-in. To get the proper data out, we need the proper data going in.

What is the most effective use of technology you’ve seen in navigating today’s rapidly changing and diverse world?

One of the most effective uses of technology is how AI processes vast data and provides real-time feedback to personalise experiences. From TV shows to social media and shopping suggestions, everything feels interconnected, saving time and boosting engagement. However, we must be cautious—algorithms can become biased, so technology should always serve human needs. As a marketer, communication and engagement are the core of everything we do. Technology must enhance these connections, not just efficiency. The future lies in balancing personalisation with ethical data use, keeping people’s needs central to innovation.

What is the scope of using AI and machine learning in Marketing Mix Modelling?

I break AI usage into six key areas: Enhanced Prediction Accuracy, Handling Large and Complex Data, Real-Time Analytics, Automation of Modeling, Better Scenario Planning, and Improved Attribution. These help optimise marketing strategies and increase ROI, especially in today’s varied marketing channels, which add complexity to the role.

With the advancement of AR & VR, how do you see these being utilised in Digital Storytelling?

AR & VR can create deeper emotional connections by making audiences active participants in the narrative, enhancing engagement in education, marketing, and entertainment. However, with the adoption rate slowing down, the limiting cost of entry into the market for the average consumer and the challenge with the peripheral vision, as well as sign, needs to advance in the next ten years for it to become more than a gimmick.

How do you connect, engage and build a persistent relationship with your customers? Is the omnichannel experience consistent?

The pillar we use is personalised communication (ensure we use AudienceDNA.com to understand how best to do this). Consistent experience, deliver what we promise, when we promise, in clear partnership. Engaging and informative content, if it doesn’t educate, it better be fun to have someone take their time to consume. Real-Time Customer Support, we are not perfect, and neither is our client, so support that is immediate, genuine and informative is critical. Feedback and Adaptation, ask for it and use it to improce every area of the business, for our clients and our team.

How do you tackle department silos when it comes to looking into CX proactively?

Ensuring the client experience is consistent requires regular monitoring and updating of systems, technology, and staff training to maintain seamless transitions across channels, offering customers a unified journey regardless of how they interact with Live Group.  This all needs to be done proactively and ahead of the challenges we see coming down the pipe.

What do you need to have in place to create experiences that flow? What are the challenges your organisation has faced to get there? and what good practices you have adopted?

Communication—both internal and external—is key to creating a unified vision that everyone can support. On the flip side, a lack of clarity, vision, or misalignment in success metrics has been a challenge. We hold weekly leadership meetings, conduct “Stay Interviews” with team members, and have regular discussions with clients to ensure alignment.

To build experiences that convert, personalisation is key. Then how important is segmentation to your personalisation strategy? And what other key components do you believe contributes towards con…

With AudienceDNA, we can personalise experiences and messages like never before. Segmentation is based on individual content consumption styles and other personalisation tools. When combined with insightful, educational content, this increases ‘brand love’ and engagement across channels.

How much does your ABM strategy contribute to optimising the client experience and revenue growth?

Very Much. It helps create a moat around our brand, increases team member loyalty and supports our goal of always enhancing the client experience, which leads to revenue growth.

What MarTech tools are implemented in your ABM strategies, data management or also others? 

We use HubSpot (for the entire marketing journey through to sales and order processing), Monday.com, LinkedIn Ads, and Google to ensure brand awareness, strong relationships, and personalised content and interactions.

Can you describe a successful ABM campaign you’ve executed and the key factors that contributed to its success?

We are working in a specific sector across both our offices, in Singapore and London and what we found was that there were four key areas we needed to lock down to ensure it is and continues to be successful.

Data-Driven Targeting: We identified the most promising accounts and industries and tailored our messaging accordingly.

Personalisation: Custom content, like industry-specific white papers and personalised emails, helped engage our contacts.

Cross-Channel Engagement: Consistent messaging across email, LinkedIn, and our own whitepapers increased the cross channel awareness with exisiting and new contacts within our focused clients and new industry targets.

Sales-Marketing Alignment: Close collaboration between marketing and sales teams ensured that leads were nurtured and followed up at the right time in a very personalised manner.

Any fun facts about yourself that you want to share?

I moved to the UK in late 2021 to be with my wife. She’s British, I’m Canadian, and after being apart for nearly five years (visa issues, pandemic, work), we were finally able to start our life together. Oh, and I’ve seen Springsteen in concert 67 times (and counting)!

Are there any questions you’d like to ask to other MarTech enthusiasts?

What’s the one question you never get asked but feel you should—because the answer is the secret sauce everyone needs to boost their success?

A big thank you to Stephen D. Pickett, Managing Director of Envoku and Live Group, to shares his expert insights on evolving role of AI in marketing, the next steps in hyper-personalization, and how to overcome the challenges of adopting new technologies. If you want to connect with Stephen, feel free to reach out via LinkedIn!

See more MarTech Thoughts interview pieces here!

Last updated: October 2024