Marketing Experts Reveal Top Strategies To

Arlen
[00:00:57]
Welcome to the e-commerce marketing podcast, everyone. My name is Arlen Robinson, and I am your host. And today we have a very special guest Angeley Mullins who is the CMO & CGO at Latana, an AI-Powered brand tracking solution, designed to help businesses. Angeley has worked with companies from all over the world. Her experience spans between High Growth Start-Ups, Large Scale Corporations, and NGOs. She has been successful in partnering with CEOs, Founders, & Investors to grow their companies as well as established corporate leaders to expand their organizations into international markets. Welcome to the podcast. Angelique.

Angeley
[00:01:43]
Thank you. Very nice to be here,

Arlen
[00:01:45]
Yes. And I’m excited to talk to you today. We’re gonna be talking about brand tracking and how does an e-commerce company can keep track of, you know, really their online reputation and all things related to their brand because you know, these days it’s a little tricky because there is so many avenues to get your brand exposed to the public, so to speak. So yeah, if you’re not on your peas and queues, then yeah. You know, you can, things can kind of get outta control. So it’s a lot different before we started recording, I was telling you, I kind of got started in this tech industry about 22 years ago when this was like before, like 99, really when we got started and this is really when the internet was just taken shape and this was pre-social media and this was really pre kind of almost everything. So yeah, it was a lot different back then, as far as keeping track of your brand, it was a little kind of a different game, but so we’re gonna be diving deep into that. But before we do get into all of that, why don’t you tell us a little bit more about your background and specifically, you know, how you got into what you’re doing today?

Angeley
[00:02:51]
Wow. Well, long stories. I’ll try to make it as short as possible, but I started in the sales field for finance and then really moved into marketing growth, international expansion, a lot of experience in both e-commerce and SA and you know, currently at Laton, like you said, I’m the CMO and CGO. So I manage marketing growth and commercial initiatives and brand tracking. This is a really new and exciting space. So in the marketing land, you have two opposite ends of the spectrum. You have social media and social listening. So think of all the hashtags what’s going around, all the platforms, that’s an idea of share a voice. On the other hand, in the marketing spectrum, you have performance marketing and there’s so many data sets and tools out there, but what’s happened over especially the past five years is we’ve gotten into a space called data paralysis.

Angeley
[00:03:42]
And there are so many data points. People don’t know what to make of which ones, how to utilize and what that really means. What’s the context behind that data. So this is where the whole metamorphosis of brand tracking has risen from. So brand tracking is all about brand awareness, associations, preference, consideration, what’s that context behind your data? What does your target audience really think? So a lot of e-commerce businesses use this kind of information to set their strategies, to launch their, go to market, a lot of city based, you know, e-commerce for example. So it’s really, really a fun and exciting and a new area of marketing that’s taking off.

Arlen
[00:04:21]
Yeah, yeah, it definitely is. And, and I like that term that you mentioned, the, the data paralysis is it’s basically having so much data it’s, you’re like paralyzed because you don’t know, you know, how to digest it. And yeah, I think that kind of in our day and age, I think we can kind of relate having too many, too much data, too many options to so many things. I always think about that when I go to the grocery store these days here in the us, I mean, it’s like if you’re trying to buy anything, there’s like hundreds of different brands and options, and it’s like so much information, so many different things that you can do, or since you can buy it’s, you know, it’s sometimes you get paralyzed, you don’t know what to do. And so with data and understanding decisions that you have to make on a company with regards to marketing, it’s kind of the same thing. When you have all of this information, a lot of times too much information could be a bad thing, you know, unless you know how to properly, you know, manage it and, and, you know, and analyze it these days. One of the things that, you know, we kind of talked about is, you know, an online reputation. And so why do you think a brand’s knowledge these days of what their audience thinks of them is why is it really so important these days?

Angeley
[00:05:39]
You know, it’s really surprising how often a C-suite and executive team gets together in a room and they make a decision about what their customers want, think and believe without actually asking them. Right. And then they go to market and then they figure out, oh, it was all wrong. And then they try to figure out where exactly did we go wrong. Right. So it always goes back to the beginning. Yeah. With ask your customers what the perception is. It’s quite interesting that we get a lot of companies coming to us. Let’s say they wanna offer a new product and take it to market a new service. They’re launching a new city, a new country, et cetera. And they come to us and they say, oh, our customers think that we are progressive, that we’re trustworthy, that we’re credible. And so we always say, okay, well, let’s ask ’em and find out.

Angeley
[00:06:24]
Right. And then we have a mobile based survey platform. And we use that to basically say, okay, what are your target audiences? We ask them specific questions. And we actually get really rich and deep, insightful information. And sometimes we have to go back to our clients and say, look, what your perception is of your brand. And the brand awareness is not the same. Yeah. As what your customers, and this is the most critical information. And over the past five to 10 years in the marketing sphere, this is really what companies have gotten wrong. They’ve just made assumptions from wherever. They’re getting that from. And they’re pushing it into the market and it’s not helping. And usually what the result is of that is decrease in revenue. Yeah. You know, wrong markets that they’re entering in and you actually see a lot of businesses. Now, they enter a market, they pull out of the market. Yeah. That’s a very expensive, you know, strategic initiative.

Arlen
[00:07:18]
Yeah. It, it sure is. And as a business owner myself, I was telling you a little bit about my story. And we started as a web development agency, we pivoted to create our own web suite of solutions. I could definitely confess that we fell victim to making a lot of assumptions about the market and what we thought our customers wanted when we were developing some of our solutions. And so, yeah, we, we burned a lot of money, unfortunately, because, you know, we didn’t do the number one thing and ask our customers. We didn’t go through and, and do our due diligence to figure out, you know, what, we’re gonna be some solutions that were really needed in certain spaces for certain industries. And so I think a lot of times, you know, we kind of jump the gun and I know a lot of businesses fall victim to doing that.

Arlen
[00:08:04]
And you know, a lot of times as a business owner, you, you think, you know, your customer, you think, you know, what’s best, but you really don’t. You have to get in there, you’ve gotta do the surveys. You have to go through all of those places where, you know, your ideal customer congregates and figure out, you know, what’s gonna, you know, gonna work for them. Yeah. That’s definitely a lesson learned that I, we learned on our end here as well, for sure. Now, with speaking of data, you know, we’re in this whole world of so much data, as we mentioned, we’re going through, you know, if you have too much data, as I mentioned, you can have this paralysis, but, you know, I guess the starting point, really when we’re looking at getting data to make marketing decisions is really finding some truly reliable ways that, you know, your brand can gather data with regards to your online reputation. What are some of those reliable ways that you can, can gather some insightful data?

Angeley
[00:09:01]
So at LA we focus in on targeting niche audiences and really identifying the target audience for companies. We do this by having a mobile optimized survey platform. So most people nowadays have a mobile phone and on the mobile phone, most people are either watching video shopping, watching YouTube, playing games, et cetera. And we have basically publisher partners across the world that put these surveys onto these different platforms. So if you’ve ever been on YouTube and you’ve been asked to make a survey, or if you’ve been on a particular game, you’ve been asked to do a survey or a shopping experience, this is probably us. And so we’re asking you to do that. The really nice thing is we have an opt in platform. So you, as the end user, that’s doing the survey, you have to opt in, we take your information. You, you know, you’re taking the survey, you know, the purpose of it.

Angeley
[00:09:50]
So that way we can guarantee the data and the information, and then also helps us with our personalization efforts as well. So we’re able to capture data across the world. So we have the breadth across different markets, and we can also dive really deep. So this is great for particular businesses that they have city based approaches. So in Europe, for example, over here, it’s big and mobility in the United States. It might be big for, you know, delivery or quick commerce delivery, et cetera. We can go really, really deep and have a very specific and niche audience target. So let’s say you have a particular campaign or a strategy you’re launching in New York city, but you want that to be different from the one you’re launching in San Francisco. We’re able to give you the differences of your target audience in those particular regions.

Arlen
[01:10:36]
Okay. Gotcha. Yeah. That, that’s very important when you’re thinking of eCommerce, when you’re talking about understanding, you know, your customer base from a regional perspective, it, it makes sense because there are certain nuances there’s certain likes and things that people like in certain areas that don’t necessarily apply, you know, nationally or globally. And so, yeah, you, you do have to really kind of drill down to figure out, you know, what’s your customers ideal avatar in a particular region because it’s, you know, a lot of times it’s just not gonna be the same across the board. You know, a lot of times it’s a, the business owner and I talk to business or eCommerce business owners all day. A lot of times we would like to think, you know, that customer avatar will translate globally because, you know, it would make our job a lot easier when we roll out marketing campaigns, we just know, all right, this is gonna be the type of customer that’s gonna buy our product anywhere in the world.

Arlen
[01:11:34]
But, you know, that’s unfortunately not the case. So, you know, you have to revise your marketing campaigns accordingly based on regionality and things like that. So for sure, that makes sense. Now, you know, you talked about one of the things that you guys, some of the things that you guys do with your, you know, kind of AI powered solution to kind of gather data, to help businesses make decisions in that process. Once data is actually gathered with regards to the, you know, online reputation, what can be done once a business comes, you know, they get that information back, you know, let’s say they find out that let’s just say in the Southeast of us, their online reputation is just terrible. You know, they got, you know, horrible reviews there for whatever reason in that particular regionality, you know, it’s just, it’s just terrible. What are some things that a brand can do to, to try to, once they have that information, I have that data to try to make up for that and try to improve their online reputation in certain areas.

Angeley
[01:12:40]
So the value of brand tracking comes into play over time. So unlike performance marketing, where you’re putting money towards a campaign or initiative, and you’re getting something back immediately, brand tracking is over time. So a lot of companies come to us and they do monthly tracking or quarterly tracking. One of the first KPIs that we measure with clients is brand awareness. Okay. So what is the awareness of your target market in your particular area? Some companies have great brand awareness. Some companies do not, and then we go down the brand funnel, preference consideration, et cetera. We also do associations. This is really nice because we can ask clients, what do you associate with this brand? So cool, exciting, interesting, progressive, credible, whatever it is that, you know, each business owner is looking for, we can try to match that to their actual target audience or their, you know, their client base.

Angeley
[01:13:31]
So that’s really nice. We can also ask very specific purchasing questions. So we had a mattress company that’s very well known. They came to us and they said, okay, we want to know everyone who’s either bought or sold a house in the last 12 months, or has moved into an apartment or a flat in the next 12 months, you know, would you consider buying a mattress? We’ve done similar things, you know, shoes, for example, clothing, cosmetics, all kinds of different things. And we’re able to really target down and ask these very specific questions. How do we synthesize all of that information? So we have an algorithm going in the background it’s called MRP. What it does is it smooths out the outliers. So in any data set, you’re gonna have, you know, peaks and troughs. And we’re really trying to make sure that it matches the real world data.

Angeley
[01:14:19]
Okay. That’s the most important piece. If a company had a particular, let’s say they are a huge company, they advertised in the super bowl, you’re gonna see a spike. Yeah. Let’s say, you know, they had a, a mini campaign or they rolled out, you know, a new brand campaign usually gonna see an uplift. So we wanna make sure that it’s matching the real world results. It also cleans out all of the bots cleans out the bots, it cleans out the fake data. So this is where our platforms where you opt in to take the survey when this is where that becomes extremely crucial and why we have such great accuracy with the data that we’re getting. Okay. But the major KPI, at least at the beginning. So if a company wanted to start with us, we would say, okay, let’s start with brand awareness within your particular market or region. And let’s really get a gauge there and let’s track it over time. So that tracking over time is really where the value comes in, cuz you, then you can see the changes and this is where business owners take that data and really relate it to the strategic decisions that they’re gonna make about their business or the increases in their revenue, et cetera.

Arlen
[01:15:22]
Yeah. So yeah, it sounds like the key thing there is tracking over a, a period of time and this, I guess it has to be really ongoing. You can’t it’s, you know, a lot of times you, you hear about marketing. Everybody wants the, the one and done type thing where you do this and that’s it, you know, the, you, the rest is history, but it sounds like where you’re talking about this is something you just, you really always have to do.

Angeley
[01:15:46]
And this is where, when we talked about data paralysis, this is how the industry and marketing is changing. So in the past five years, and I would actually say 10, it was all performance driven, you know, marketing, you put something out, you get something back in a media ROI. But what we’re finding now is without that context, that ROI is really meaningless. Yeah. You can have great ROI in a campaign, but the campaign is not giving you incremental revenue results. Right. Doesn’t matter. So then there’s that Delta question, right? What happened? What are we missing? This is where Laton and where brand tracking comes in and why brand tracking and brand awareness and perception in the marketplace is now starting to become much more important than I would say, performance marketing results. There’s always gonna be data points out there, but without the context, those data points, you know, don’t help a business owner to make the right decisions.

Arlen
[01:16:39]
Yeah. Yeah. Very true. Now, with regards to, you know, what you guys do in your AI power technology, one of the things I was thinking of is I think, you know, we’re, we’re kind of at a, a point here where 2022, I would say the majority of the major brands have really embraced advertising online, social media, what you have you, but there’s still some companies that really don’t necessarily rely on technology. And they, you know, I believe it or not, they, you know, maybe not even have a web presence, social media, but maybe they are like a family-owned business, for instance, that has just thrived off of having that incredible, you know, direct word of mouth reputation with when you’re dealing with, let’s say a company like that, that doesn’t really have too much, you know, online activity. How do you really get a hold of, you know, their, their business reputation? Is there certain things that you look for there, certain things that you can do?

Angeley
[01:17:44]
Yes. And again, we’re really looking for brand awareness within their target market. So that particular business owner, maybe they’re not digitally savvy, but their customers are sure. And all of those customers, like I said, most of them have a mobile phone and if you have a mobile phone, then we can reach you.

Arlen
[01:18:01]
Gotcha. Gotcha.

Angeley
[01:18:02]
And, and so that’s really it. And I would actually encourage, you know, local business customers get digital, you know, get with the digital wave because this is really going to be the future. Yeah. And a lot of very homegrown local companies, we have the saying local can be global. Yeah. If, if you are a local producer, we even had a local producer of agricultural goods and they’re selling that globally because they have the digital presence and different countries want that specific. Good. It’s really great. I would say for businesses.

Arlen
[01:18:37]
Yeah. That, that is very true. You know, it’s just because everything, these days are so connected. So even if you’re doing something locally, you think it may not matter on the other side of the world. It, it, it, it can, you know, these days, a lot of times I see here in, in Florida, you know, a lot of times people are, are, are focused locally or as far as like locally sourced things, things like that. I think that can resonate all over the world for sure. Even for a small, small brand was we get ready to, to wrap things up. I wanted to see if you could highlight maybe some examples of some different businesses that you guys have worked with, or that you’re just familiar with in general, that have really successfully tracked and measured their online reputation and either made some changes based on what they found out and what were those things that they did to improve that reputation.

Angeley
[01:19:27]
Sure, absolutely. So for brand tracking, I mean, one, everybody, for example, knows of Headspace. So the meditation app, you know, that’s one of our clients and, you know, they started with us United States and started growing in different markets with us. Okay. So a really great story. They were competed against calm, which is another very well known, you know, meditation app. And I would almost say that there’s a, a friendly, you know, competition going on between the two companies, but they really used us to help grow their audience awareness okay. And really help to grow what the specifics are of their target market. So when you look at a meditation app, for example, it’s all about, well, what’s the demographic split who’s using us and for what? And so we can really help them nicely there. Another great example of a client is dual lingo. So the language learning app, another great client.

Angeley
[02:20:16]
So again, they started in one market and then continued to grow with us. When you have language, language learning, there’s all kinds of different audience breakdowns. And this is where they really needed, you know, to dive in, we have other examples of physical products, you know, people who are producing organic and vegan food, you know, for example. So if you look at, you knows or beyond meat or any of these types of companies, you know, they use this as well. And again, they’re looking at more regionally and what types of customers are really responding to them.

Arlen
[02:20:49]
Gotcha. Gotcha. Well, that’s great. Thank you for sharing those real world case studies. And, you know, we see that when you do make the right decisions after getting this data, you know, it, it, it definitely makes a difference. And I think the key takeaway here from everything that you said is that it’s something keeping a hold of your online reputation and, and tracking your brand is something that you have to do for your whole business life. You know, the, the life of your business, because it’s always, it’s gonna be ever changing. And if you’re not tracking things consistently, you know, things could get outta control. If you know, there’s something spreading about your business that maybe it’s not necessarily correct, or you have a, a reputation in a certain area that’s not correct, you know, unless you’re tracking it and finding out what people think and what they’re saying, then, you know, you could be losing, you know, a lot of revenue and you don’t really even know it. So that’s, I think really the, kind of the key thing, a key takeaway that I got today, when it’s been awesome talking to you, I’ve definitely learned a lot. And I know our listeners have as well, but lastly, before we do let you go, I always like to switch gears here, just so our audience get to know you a little bit better. So if you don’t mind sharing one closing fun fact about yourself that you think we’d be interested to know.

Angeley
[02:22:04]
So I lived all over the world everywhere from Europe to Australia, to the Caribbean, all over the world, of course, the United States as well. So my fun fact is travel, travel, travel, live in as many countries as you possibly can. It’s one of the best learning experiences that you can ever yourself.

Arlen
[02:22:22]
Yeah, that is so true. Sure. I always try to tell young people, you know, you gotta get out there. That’s really the only way to kind of broaden your mind, your horizons. And so, yeah, that, that’s awesome to be able to have lived in so many cities and experience so many things. So thank you for sharing that. Definitely appreciate that. And lastly, before we do let you go, if any of our listeners or viewers wanna reach out to you and pick your brain anymore about brand tracking or online reputation, what is the best way for them to reach you?

Angeley
[02:22:49]
So I’m always available on LinkedIn. So if they want to talk to me specifically on LinkedIn, but if they wanna look at LA and brand tracking and consumer insights, la.com,

Arlen
[02:22:59]
All right, that sounds good. I’ll definitely encourage people to check you out on LinkedIn and check out la.com to see how you guys can help them out. Thank you again, Angelique for joining us today on the e-commerce marketing podcast.

speaker 1
[02:23:13]
Thank you for listening to the e-commerce marketing podcast. 

Podcast Guest Info

Angeley Mullins
CMO & CGO at Latana