Sheila Donovan, a career marketer and a fast-tracking lead generation expert for businesses that want to expand globally, has headed a global marketing agency for over 20 years.
Specializing in helping firms grow their businesses around the globe and make the most of their social marketing efforts, Sheila engaged with Aaron in a podcast that aimed to shed some light on the contemporary marketing landscape.
Going over her experience as a marketer who worked with a variety of businesses from associations to wine subscription lists to generate leads and had to shift to Facebook and other forms of digital marketing, Sheila tells us how the future of marketing is actually very similar to the days of old.
Marketing Before and Now
As a reputable authority on the subject, it felt justified to ask Sheila about the latest trends in digital marketing, most notably the latest iOS updates and other privacy-driven initiatives that have restricted outreach efforts.
Putting it into perspective, Sheila states, “[Before,] I could find a Southern Baptist woman who liked cats and had two children, you can’t do that anymore.”
Targeting on social platforms has always been based on peoples’ interest based on the actions they take online. If someone watches a video about cat products, clicks on an ad about eCommerce logistics or signs up for a newsletter about eating healthy, all these actions are stored in their profile and used for targeting them online.
Prior to the Apple iOS update 14.5 in April of 2021, social platforms could track a person’s online activity both on and off the social platform. Social platforms were able to collect massive amounts of data on people wherever they traveled online.
Increased awareness by consumers about online tracking has led to demands for privacy on social platforms. The Apple iOS update resulted in seismic changes in online tracking by allowing consumers to opt out of tracking once they leave a social platform.
Social platforms can no longer follow your activities once you leave their platform. This has dramatically changed the way marketers and advertisers need to think about targeting and in many cases has led to increased ad costs
Sheila, an advocate of learning from history, claims that “the old is new”, meaning the tactics that were utilized a decade ago without hyper detailed targeting capabilities are needed once again today. It is best to start with broad audiences and determine which works best and focus on those audiences.
“In the days of old, when I really started in marketing, how did we find people? We took large piles of data, maybe some magazine lists and a wine subscription list and some other lists merged them together and figured out who was a multi-buyer.”
Marketing Tips for SMBs and Marketers
We asked Sheila questions about marketing in today’s ecosystem and we got answers!
Here are important tips for SMBs and digital marketers trying to scale their customer acquisition measures.
1- Using the 3 Ad Campaign Types
Advising our audience on how to go about marketing efforts in the current situation, Sheila states brands should start with a broader audience.
Reminding us of the three main types of campaigns (Awareness, Consideration and Conversion) that are offered on almost all platforms under different names, Sheila recommends starting without narrowing down your audience and letting the Awareness campaign run to tell you who’s interested.
“You really aren’t going to get as many sales or signups, but it tells you who is interested. That’s how you build an audience.”
With regards to the specific metrics, Sheila advises gauging interest from audience engagement. “You can track video watch time on every single platform and build an audience based on that.”
The shift from text to graphical content and from images to video content has been noted several times on different platforms. Conveniently, all platforms support different types of formats for advertisements.
One of her personal favorite types of ads is carousel ads because they require a conscious action to scroll through the carousels. Sheila recommends brands try out different forms of visual and graphical ads that can engage with different types of audiences and let the engagement metrics tell you who’s interested and how much.
Similarly, knowing when and for how long you should use Consideration and Conversion ad campaign types is important because according to Sheila, this is where you end up paying social platforms a lot.
Running ads to a cold audience using the Conversion goal is much more expensive than running ads to a warm audience that you have built using the much cheaper Awareness mode.
You want to make sure you’re not over spending on more expensive ad types when building an audience. Use the lower costs options to figure out your best audience, it will save you a ton of money.
2- Using Facebook for B2B:
Sheila says that a big mistake the market is making today is discounting Facebook for business-to-business. Discounting a platform in general is a bad decision for any business considering that all platforms have almost all types of audiences.
While some people might prefer platforms like LinkedIn to get specific designation holders, it’s not recommended to leave out other platforms like Facebook and Instagram because they provide targeting based on interests and behaviors.
It is definitely worth investigating Facebook and Instagram to see if you can find an audience on the platforms.
“If you were interested in financial advisors, you could target people that are in those groups. Or based on their interests, not necessarily their job titles.”
Sheila insists that even now, people are looking to make connections and while everyone values privacy, they’re not entirely dismissive of the idea of connecting with someone relevant.
How you prove to your audience that you can be trusted and worth their attention demands that you develop a clear understanding of your audience first and by consistently providing them valuable information.
3- Understand Your Audience:
Not all audiences have similar interests and will not respond to the same ads in the same way. Talking about how different platforms have different priorities, Sheila says that looking at how Instagram is reprioritizing its focus on images after having optimized the platform for videos says a lot about the platform’s audience interest.
Even initially, the app gained a reputation for being a great place to show off images and pictures. In theory, that’s the only thing that separated it from platforms like Facebook and YouTube which already had tons of video content.
So, the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri announcing that the brand would reoptimize the platform for images again didn’t come as much of a surprise. And for marketers, this is a clear-cut answer to the question, what should I show my audiences on Instagram?
4- A Day in the Life Of Your Brand
Sheila says that audiences are reacting differently to brands in today’s day and age, a change that doesn’t seem to slow down. For example, not too long ago, sustainability and eco-friendly were the name of the game for brands, as audiences started favoring companies who aligned themselves with these goals.
However, this trend has slowly been overtaken by yet another trend, ‘A day in the life of..” as Sheila puts it. Citing the example of DHL, Sheila says the company does a wonderful job of showing a day in the life of DHL that captures the moments and highlights of some of the events unfolding at their warehouses and centers.
Social media posts that show drivers and cute dogs hanging out with employees of the company generates trust in the eyes of the viewer and give a personal touch to the otherwise objective and impersonal advertisement strategies from before.
For those who think opting for such content is a big step that requires significant investment in terms of time and money, it’s important to note that it doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, Sheila says, “It’s not even about quality. They [DHL] have a photographer but some of these videos have been shot through an iPhone.”
5- Pivot or Perish
One important lesson we learned from Sheila is pivoting to avoid perishing. In a career that spans decades, she has witnessed the innovation and the rise of world-changing technological advancements that rendered people without jobs. As part of the process of her growth, Sheila chose to pivot over perish.
Several times in life, she faced moments where it was clear she couldn’t continue doing what she was doing and had to give in to the changing trends.
And of course, in light of all the trends that she witnessed, it was also important to be able to identify which trends would stick. Obviously, not all social platforms, advertising strategies, or even technology from the days of old have stuck around.
Her career rested on her decision to start over from scratch and learn something new every time it was required. Whether it was new marketing tactics like SEO, influencer marketing, etc., or an entirely different platform to advertise on like TikTok or LinkedIn, Sheila explains that it was either going with the flow or giving up the gun.
Coming from a marketer who’s spent a significant time in the field, it’s not just advice for individuals but for companies as well. The key lesson here is not to become so rigid that you find yourself unable to adjust to or evolve with innovation.
About Sheila Donovan
Sheila Donovan has had a career in marketing spanning 20+ years, a time that has seen her working with the industry’s largest mailers, encountering career-defining pivot or perish moments with new technology and social media, and finally as a consultant and as an SMB instructor who teaches businesses the art of digital marketing.
An expert in lead generation, Sheila now focuses on showing businesses how to use digital advertising to grow their businesses around the globe.
Whether you’re familiar with social media marketing and need someone to strategize with you or you want to completely hand off your marketing efforts to someone entirely, Sheila Donovan and her team can help you generate leads and sales for your business.
Find out more about Sheila on LinkedIn.
Need Help?
If you’re a business looking for solutions to supply chain problems like inventory management, logistics, fulfillment, sourcing or production, Izba can help. We can help you set up a robust infrastructure and even take over your operations to give you the freedom you need to focus on scaling and expanding.
But don’t take our word for it. Check out our services and track record for yourself!
