Welcome Laricea Roman, Head of Marketing from Boohoo, sharing her insights and experiences on Marketing Strategy and MarTech Trends, as part of the MarTech Thoughts series.

What are some of the significant changes to your customer retention strategies, that have impacted your growth plan?

Definitely a focus on app and in-app strategies that foster long-term brand advocacy. I would also add AI and chat GPT for that personal touch through personalisation at scale. With paid media becoming more and more expensive and fragmented, growth hacks through organic means have become the most popular strategies for us and retention along with traditional channels such as SEO, email and SMS is key for enduring through these tough times.

What are the top priorities for a MarTech Stack Optimisation Strategy to achieve?

Improve marketing efficiency; Drive pipeline growth or acceleration; Increase marketing ROI; Improve personalised customer experience; Improve attribution to revenue.

What challenges do you see in processing data coming from different sources?

Walled gardens make it super difficult. We haven’t found a solution yet, and if brands start advertising in the Metaverse, this will add to the complexity.

How do you monitor the effectiveness of your audience segmentation?

Continuous A/B testing with singular variables to establish strong learnings and then finding patterns for growth.  For some segments, some channels might work, and for other certain creatives on certain channels, but the A/B testing needs to be kept simple and concise. 

Currently, what are you primarily looking for in your digital marketing efforts?

Both awareness and engagement to hit business KPIs but also grow the brand.

How do you see the skillsets needed for the marketing profession changing?

Getting more technical than ever especially when it comes to performance.

How do you keep your team motivated to get the best out of them?

Keep smiling and always highlight the positives and the lessons learned.

What are the key challenges when it comes to implementing Chatbots?

I guess the biggest challenge is called empathy or lack thereof when it comes to Chatbots. Understanding sentiments, tone of voice and advanced words’ meaning is a huge challenge which makes them rather unpopular when asking customers. But hopefully, with the advances in AI and Chat GPT we can make progress there and add that human touch to the machine.

What would your company use AI the most for?

Develop data-led marketing campaigns.

What will be the next evolution in marketing technology in the coming years?

Monetising the metaverse.

What is the best use of technology you have seen during this time of uncertainty and changes?

Food delivery companies advertise at airports in a personalised fashion, based on the proximity of mobile devices.

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

To enable marketers to process vast amounts of data more quickly and efficiently, and make better decisions.

How could a marketer start utilising the Metaverse?

Create a brand strategy with clear objectives in mind and map out customers’ needs vs. the brand values.

Also by firstly understanding the role of Metaverse for the brand, and how success will be measured.

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

I’m very sceptical about these as they’ve been around for a long time and no one really has leveraged them correctly.

How do you connect, engage and build a persistent relationship with your customers?

By listening to them, connecting all the time and asking for feedback through various channels.

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

By pulling all departments in brainstorming days and getting everyone under the same roof to work towards the same goals.

What do you need to have in place to create experiences that flow?

With different departments to work together, e.g. IT, marketing, CX, analytics, etc. it has been super hard to bring everyone together. We are still working on it.

How do you track customer behaviour change in this mobile age?

Customer surveys and focus groups, as well as campaign data.

With more consumers being conscious of their data being shared, how do you tackle with this?

Provide a fair value exchange. Nothing is free in this world.

How do we use the data dynamically while creating a seamless physical and digital customer experience?

Create unique experiences that bring digital brands to life, and for brick-and-mortar brands to create a flawless experience.

What data enrichment strategies can you suggest that work effectively?

Overlapping Social Media data with CRM and PPC.

What are your views on having a single stack? (e.g. Google or Adobe)

It still doesn’t solve all the issues. I’m not a big believer in the one version of truth, due to walled gardens.

How do you balance experimenting with new technologies vs. investing in current ones?

Set a proportion of the budget aside for testing new technologies and being very strict in terms of expectations.

Which MarTech solution / platform will you invest in if you’re an angel investor?

The one that truly gives you a single version of the truth.

How do you keep abreast of all the latest MarTech out there?

Subscribing to emails & joining conferences.

Do you think people take influencer posts with a pinch of salt?

Yes, confidence is down, probably at the lowest levels.

How do you attribute sales to influencer marketing?

Mobile deep linking

What are the top 3 things on your checklist when choosing the right influencer to work with?

Reach, ROI, Creativity

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

Calm and Les Mills – they help me chill and keep fit.

How do you foresee the role of gamification across industries?

Gamification is a trend that will be here for a while. However, not all brands and verticals should deploy it.

How would you use a million pounds?

I would build the perfect measurement tool.

What’s the best advice someone has ever given you?

“Believe in yourself, but learn from everyone else”

A big thank you to Laricea Roman for sharing her experience and insights!

If you want to connect with Laricea after reading her MarTech Thoughts, please reach out to her via her LinkedIn Profile!

See more MarTech Thoughts interview posts here: https://themartechsummit.com/category/martech-thoughts/

Last updated: Aug 2023