Nikki Bonner – Matterkind

Every year during Pride, I like to take a moment to reflect on myself, my life, and more importantly, the moments in the past year when I hid the fact that I am gay or otherwise shrunk myself for the sake of others. Once I’ve reflected, I then commit to ensuring those moments become more and more infrequent over the next year.

It isn’t easy, but it’s necessary. Pride isn’t a one-day thing. We’re not queer for just one day or month; instead, we live our truth 365 days a year. This means that every day we decide how authentic and open we’re going to be in any given situation. It can be difficult, but the more authentic we are, the more our community can flourish.

By showing up as our true selves, we become teachers in life. We teach others that it’s okay for them to be themselves, and we educate them about our community.

Now, the idea that as queer people, we also must educate our peers can be exhausting. It can be, but “being the teacher” can be as simple as living authentically and leading by example. (A quick example of one thing I do is add my pronouns to my email signature or Zoom name, regardless of the situation I’m in. For me, it’s an easy and quick way to normalize the use of pronouns in my workplace.)

And by showing up as your authentic self, you not only encourage, but create a space for, others to let their light shine bright, even if just to you. In the workplace, especially a new workplace, where people aren’t sure how they can show up, it makes a world of difference.

It’s crucial, though, for everyone to define what it means to “be the teacher” for themselves. This allows us to set boundaries on what we can or cannot take on, while, as a community, recognizing that it’s our responsibility to come together and support each other in carrying the charge of education when possible.

However, teaching requires engagement with a willing audience, and the first step to learning is an openness to acquire new information.

In the beginning, you might feel like you’re failing, but that’s okay. It’s okay to fail because every person has experienced failure at some point. (And as a queer community, we must give those learning the grace to fail, because they won’t grow without it.)

And as Brené Brown once said, we must “lean into the discomfort of the work” when addressing difficult situations. And it holds true here because opening yourself up to learning can be hard and uncomfortable. But it’s necessary.

We all have the opportunity to learn something new every day, and it could be challenging to confront preconceived notions you may not even know you have. But, in the end, it can go a long way toward creating a world where everyone feels welcomed, safe, and able to be their most authentic selves.

Building lasting customer relationships is essential for businesses and brands looking to thrive in today’s competitive market. However, building these relationships isn’t an easy task and requires a well-defined, thoughtful strategy. And one of the most effective strategies for building lasting customer relationships–and ultimately, customer lifetime value, is through partnerships. But how do we accomplish this? Read on to learn what we mean by customer lifetime value and discover six simple yet effective strategies to build on it.

How do you define Customer Lifetime Value?

The short answer: Customer lifetime value (CLTV) is the total amount of revenue a customer is expected to generate for a business over the course of their relationship. In partnership marketing, CLTV represents the revenue generated by a customer that comes through a partner’s link over the lifetime of their engagement with the brand or business. This metric is important because it allows you to calculate the true return on investment (ROI) for your partner marketing efforts.

“While affiliate, and the broader partnership channel are often prized for the ability to produce higher ROAS, that’s a decidedly short-term view to consider and this short-term view needs to be complemented by a long-term view like CLTV to drive the intended or desired outcomes. And this long-term view mandates use of a sophisticated partnership automation software provider that can offer cross-channel insights necessary for maximum transparency and program optimization.” – Maura Smith, CMO, Partnerize

Creating CLTV is a critical goal for any business looking to maximize the return on investment (ROI) of its marketing efforts. One of the most effective ways to achieve this is by taking a thoughtful approach to the types of partnerships you establish and manage over time.

To aid your efforts to achieve CLTV, let’s take a look at six solid strategies for building CLTV in the partnership channel. Investing in these strategies sooner rather than later can build lasting customer relationships that lead to increased revenue and profitability over the long term and that’s good news for everyone.

1. Identify the right affiliate partners: To build CLTV, it’s important to work with partners that align directly with your brand values and goals. Look for partners that have a similar audience and complementary products or services. This can help ensure that the customers acquired through the partnership are more likely to be interested in your products or services and more likely to become long-term customers.

Examine your existing partnerships that are effective in generating CLTV. They likely have attributes that play a role in generating the outcome you desire, and therefore, those attributes should be thoughtfully considered as part of your partner recruitment strategy. The partnerships you establish today, will either be successful in generating long term value, like CLTV, or not. By selecting the right partners, brands can increase the likelihood of attracting customers with high CLTV, who are likely to return for repeat purchases.

Remember, equally important to aligning to your brand’s values is working with a diverse partner composition to ensure your partners are driving value for your brand at varying stages of the funnel.

2. Provide high-quality products or services: Building CLTV through partnerships starts with providing high-quality products or services that meet the needs and expectations of your customers (and your partner’s audience). By delivering a great customer experience, you can build trust and credibility with customers and increase the likelihood of repeat purchases, giving your partners a better foundation as they promote and recommend your brand.

Furthermore, CLTV can help businesses identify which products or services are most profitable in their partnerships. By analyzing the CLTV of customers who purchase different products or services through partner links, brands can determine which offerings are generating the most long-term value. This information can then be used to optimize the program by focusing on promoting the most profitable products or services, or even developing new offerings that are likely to generate even greater CLTV.

3. Offer incentives for repeat purchases: One way to encourage your customers to make repeat purchases is to offer incentives such as discounts, loyalty programs, or rewards for referrals. These incentives can help your partnerships drive increased customer loyalty and encourage customers to continue doing business with you over the long term (hello, lifetime value!).

4. Communicate regularly with your customers: Regular communication with customers and your partners is key to building CLTV. This can include sending newsletters, promotional emails, or other relevant content that keeps customers and partners engaged and informed about your products or services. Partnerships can help keep your brand front and center with your target audience and customers, increasing the likelihood of repeat purchases and referrals.

5. Provide exceptional customer service: Just like your product offering, exceptional customer service is essential for building CLTV through your partnerships. By providing prompt and helpful responses to customer inquiries or concerns, you can build trust and loyalty with customers and increase the likelihood of repeat business.

6. Measure and optimize: To build CLTV through your partnerships, it’s important to continually measure and optimize your marketing efforts. This can involve tracking metrics such as customer acquisition costs, customer retention rates, and revenue generated from the partnership channel. By analyzing this data, you can identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions to optimize your partnerships and your marketing efforts. Remember: Your provider should have sophisticated technology that enables granular tracking across any data point.

Additionally, brands can increase their CLTV by de-siloing the partnership marketing channel and looking at the bigger picture of how consumers interact with their brand across channels. Instead of seeing partnerships (or affiliate marketing) as a standalone channel, businesses should consider how it fits into the broader, complex customer journey. This can involve analyzing data from multiple touchpoints, such as social media, email marketing, and website traffic, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of customer behavior. Generally, the idea is to review the partnership channel side- by -side with other channels to understand the impact when the touchpoint is present versus when it’s not. AOVs may be higher, and purchase consideration time may be shorter, however, this analysis cannot be completed without a holistic view of your entire digital marketing channels. And like having a provider that can offer cross-channel insights is critical to success, having a software provider with integrations into BI and analytics tools to help break down the barriers is also imperative.

By breaking down silos and taking a more holistic view of their marketing efforts, brands can identify the most effective partnerships and marketing strategies for driving customer loyalty and increasing CLTV. This can lead to a more sustainable and profitable partnership marketing program that generates long-term value for both the brand and its partners. Overall, by embracing a proactive and collaborative approach to partnerships, brands can create greater CTLV and establish stronger relationships with their partners.

“With cross-channel insights and conscious media spend you can discover the most effective strategies for building sustainable and profitable partnership programs that create lasting value for you, your consumers, and your partners.” – Kim Riedell, SVP, Partnerships & Affiliate Outcomes

Bottomline: CLTV is a crucial metric in partnership marketing and understanding the long-term value of the customers brought in by your partners, can help inform smarter decisions about how much to invest in the channel, who to partner with, and which products or services to promote. All this will ultimately lead to greater profitability and more sustainable partnerships.

For more on partnership marketing strategies, read Picking the Perfect Affiliate Opportunity

The evolution of retail media networks is accelerating, fast. As these networks grow in number, scale, and diversity of offering, the opportunities for brands are growing right alongside. But so are the challenges to creating ROI-maximizing retail media network (RMN) strategies. In the latest article in The Drum, Zach Weinberg, VP of e-commerce at Matterkind, sets out the key considerations for successfully navigating the RMN ecosystem. Read the full article here.

To read more about how commerce, affiliate and other performance solutions are providing clients with +30% growth, visit our Outcome Navigator page.

Performance marketing has quickly become the darling of the digital marketing world. Of all the available channels, lead generation campaigns are among the most important, effective implements in the marketer’s toolbox, but they’re also the most potentially complex – and misunderstood. In the latest article in The Drum, Matterkind’s VP of lead generation strategy, Wendy Herzberg, lays out a four-point customer-centric blueprint for ensuring lead gen success.

Read more about lead generation in our blog article, 3 Ways You Could Be Growing Your Business Through Marketing.

Matterkind’s IMPACT group hosted an event last week to hear the testimony of a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor, Ms. Toby Levy. I had the honor and privilege to introduce Ms. Levy before she spoke.

Ms. Levy described her childhood during the Holocaust. After the Nazis invaded Poland, she went into hiding with her family from 1942 to 1944. She knew that if they were discovered, they would most likely be sent to death camps and murdered, simply for being born Jewish. Ms. Levy also told her story a few years ago at a virtual forum, and one thing she said really struck me: After they emerged from hiding at the end of the war, her father hoped there were other survivors, but there was the possibility they were the only Jews left alive in Poland. “Someone has to survive because the world needs to know what happened,” he said, “Maybe it’s us.”

The world still needs to know what happened. Because the hatred and ignorance that fueled this genocide against the Jews still exists. And, so, we—all of us–have work to do. We must not be indifferent–indifferent to Ms. Levy’s story, indifferent to the history of the Holocaust, or indifferent to the antisemitism that currently occurs in society. Auschwitz survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel said, “[T]he opposite of love is not hate but indifference.”

The sheer scale of the Holocaust is so great, it is easy to be indifferent. 6 million Jews were murdered by the time it ended in 1945: an unfathomable number. Complete villages and communities were systematically wiped out across Eastern Europe. Nearly 2 out of every 3 European Jews were killed, including 1 million children. Think about this: if you held a moment of silence for every victim of the Holocaust, you would be silent for 11.5 years. Elie Wiesel also once tried to explain how indescribable it was to witness a horrific scene where children were burned alive. “Words,” he said, “they die on my lips.”

We read about the Holocaust as history, but, as Ms. Levy’s presence at the event reminds us, it wasn’t so long ago. It occurred within my own parents’ lifetime. Antisemitism has been called the world’s oldest hatred, and it is remarkably persistent. The Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, where 11 Jews were gunned down and 6 were wounded as they attended weekly Sabbath services on a Saturday morning, was the deadliest attack on Jews in US history. And it occurred in October 2018, less than five years ago. And just over the past year, the number of antisemitic incidents in the US increased by more than 35%, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Even the gunman of the Allen, Texas shooting on May 6^th of this year was an avowed Neo-Nazi.

The refrain I heard regarding the Holocaust, while growing up within my Jewish community, was to “Never Forget.” It sometimes felt so passive, so inadequate to me. How can simply remembering the stories of what happened possibly be enough? There must be a way to be more active, to help keep the memory of those who were lost, alive. And yet: there is.

One simply cannot just “remember”, one must “bear witness.” To quote Barack Obama after he visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Israel: “May we remember those who perished, not only as victims, but also as individuals who hoped and loved and dreamed like us, and who have become symbols of the human spirit.” Absolutely, we should. Yet we must also hear the stories of the ones who, through sheer will and determination, not only survived the unimaginable, but thrived. Their lives counteract the hatred that tried to destroy them, and their strength manifests the power of the human spirit – that essential thing we all share, regardless of who we are, what we believe, and how we were born.

I have tried to bear witness in my own life. Growing up, our neighbor across the street was a man who survived Auschwitz with a tattooed number on his arm, and who was able to go on to live a beautiful life with a successful business, surrounded by loving friends and family. I remember sitting with him outside on a beautiful sunny spring day, where he turned to my family and said, matter-of-factly, that that day marked the anniversary of his liberation from the camp. He survived, he thrived. He did all the things that make life worth living. He’s still with us at 95 years old, he still bears witness. So must I. So must you. The world still needs to know what happened. We still have work to do.

So I ask you: Listen to Toby’s story, read the books, watch the films, and educate yourselves about what occurred. Remember: we are the last generation to hear these first-hand accounts from the people who lived through the Holocaust, survived, and transcended it. We are the ones who can ensure a future where this truly cannot, and will not, happen again.

As Ms. Levy once said: “I need all of you to remember me and be my witness.”

What can be more powerful and meaningful than bearing witness to her testimony and sharing her story? The world still needs to know what happened, so that the world may, in reality, never ever forget.

Watch Ms. Levy share her story here:

https://vimeo.com/user136584893/review/828418741/79fe6cdc90

Retail media networks have quickly become a hot topic. In an ever-changing, privacy-centric advertising landscape, the RMN marketplace is due for major evolutionary advances in the coming months and years. RMNs allow brands to reach the retailers’ customers with relevant, personalized advertising across a variety of digital channels, all powered by first-party data from the retailer. This high-quality data presents untapped opportunities, and RMN networks are flourishing in light of the new advertising environment.

Check out article by Matterkind US CEO, Nancy Hall, on The Drum for more details around the potential upcoming changes in exciting media space.

Conscious marketers know that aligning a brand’s mission with the values and principles of its customers helps to embrace a more respectful, relevant, and kind way of reaching people. Achieving a people-first approach to marketing and advertising across a business, results in increased trust, thriving engagement, and lifelong loyalty. Conscious marketing is the key to more relevant, respectful, and consequently successful, campaigns.

Getting conscious marketing right is vital to the success and growth of brands, and future identity solutions will undoubtedly involve conscious marketing. But how can marketers and advertisers hone their skillsets to better harness the principles of conscious marketing? Here are 10 mindset traits all conscious marketers should embody if you haven’t already.

Devoted to Truthfulness
Did you know that 86 percent of consumers say that authenticity is an essential factor in deciding what brands they like and support? Truthfulness goes beyond any one individual ad campaign, and deeper into the character of your brand, employees, and partners. Doing due diligence to ensure any campaigns ran are thoroughly researched, accurate, and up-to-date will help to uphold your personal brand and the integrity of your organization. Conscious marketers know the value of honesty and adhere to it.
Known as Trailblazers
Pioneering new ideas can be a challenge. From organizational buy-in, to resistance when it comes to change, to the ability to be a strong leader, innovation is never easy. But conscious marketers are trailblazers; they want to set an example of strong leadership, and know that it’s done through taking ownership and paving the way. New concepts, campaigns, and ideas are no stranger to the conscious marketer—they know how to get it done.
Does What is Right
Conscious marketers know that doing what’s right isn’t always what’s easiest. As a marketer or advertiser, you are given the access to private information, and it’s vital that data is held with the utmost care. For example…
- Only use the data that’s necessary to create a customized experience, and do not collect information simply because you are able to.
- De-bias data sets to avoid sending outdated, insulting, or alienating messages.
- Be precise in your communications. Don’t exhaust or annoy people with repetitive messaging.
- Be privacy-conscious, and always address people with kindness and sensitivity.
Stays Curious
Curiosity is a strong desire used for spotting new trends, managing messaging ambiguity, identifying opportunities, and mitigating risks. Especially in the world of marketing and advertising, curiosity is a powerful skill. Research has shown that curiosity in the workplace fuels engagement among employees, allows for better collaboration, and fortifies organizational resilience. Curiosity is a core element conscious marketers embody in and outside of their workplace.
Purpose, People, and Data Driven
What makes a conscious marketer, above all, is their passion for communicating with people through respectful and deliberate means, while also being responsible to their own brand. Because some means of data collection, such as cookies, can be inaccurate, many messages reached the wrong people, resulting in intrusive or even alienating messaging. Measuring performance is also vital to making necessary changes going forward. Conscious marketers know the value in connecting the human element to the proven result.
Values Unity
Creating an ecosystem of trust and unity is vital to creating brand confidence and value. That means uniting brands, partners, marketers, and advertisers on their shared value system, and creating an environment of harmony. Your network should be aligned, and if not quite there yet, conscious marketers are doing everything in their power to get there.
Makes an Impact
Conscious marketers strive to make an impact wherever they go. Whether it’s standing up for what is right, actively working to fight unconscious bias, promising only things that can actually be delivered, or helping people make informed purchasing decisions, conscious marketers want to make a long-lasting impact, not just on their organization, but on the entire marketing industry. They are driven by the desire to make an impact at every step of the journey, that is noticed by others.
Perseveres With a Positive Attitude
When the going gets tough… well, you know the phrase. No matter what challenges lie ahead, conscious marketers are able to ride out stormy weather and rough seas because they have confidence in themselves.
Empowers Others
Conscious marketers aren’t just empowered individuals, but they also make sure to empower others. Research frequently shows that when employees feel empowered at work, they often have stronger job performance levels, higher job satisfaction, and a greater commitment to the organization. Conscious marketers want to uplift those around them and help them shine.
Filled With Passion
Conscious marketers are passionate people. They are often leaders, spokespeople, and cheerleaders within their teams and the greater organization. They are well known for their passion in taking a holistic approach to ensure diversity, inclusion, and ethical practice is taking place across all parts of the brand ecosystem. They believe that conscious marketing isn’t just an option, but a responsibility, and those who prioritize it, build a more ethical business and enable greater loyalty, more relevant customer relationships, and form a ‘virtuous loop’ across all activities. Conscious marketers should live, breathe, and embody ethical business practices and processes, everywhere.

We believe that conscious marketing is the only kind of marketing, so we take our time to focus on what’s right to drive the industry forward. Looking to learn more about conscious marketing? Check out some real life examples here.

While many marketers are trying to spruce up their current technologies and bring new concepts to the table in 2023, one of the vital areas of opportunity that should not be forgotten is affiliate marketing. While affiliate marketing has been around the block a time or two, a lot has changed over the years, and it’s worth exploring for your brand. Affiliate marketing is a tried and true strategy with new features as an integral part of highly measurable, full-funnel marketing plan.

Sean Popen, EVP of Matterkind, understands the true power of affiliate marketing and wants you to harness its abilities. In a recent article on The Drum, he outlines five reasons why affiliate needs to be part of your 2023 marketing plan.

Check it out here now.

Performance-based marketing is on the rise, and it’s no wonder—the past few years have been tough on brands, and with tight budgets, marketers know they need to prove the impact of their campaigns.

These disruptions brought on rapid digital transformation, and reshaped both customer behavior and expectations. We know that outcome-based approaches have given rise to a new era of performance marketing that can deliver not only more predictable, sustainable, solid figures and results. Even in the light of economic uncertaintity.

Marketers know that during unpredictable times, their work is all too often placed on the wrong side of budget constraints, so it’s no surprise we’re seeing a surge in outcome-based marketing practices that deliver proven returns on ad spend.

Here at Matterkind, we want to show you how marketers can take advantage of these new outcome-based trends and techniques.

Download Six Outcomes of A New Generation of Performance Marketing here to learn more.

A new year means new emerging trends and technologies in the adtech community, and this year is no exception. Adtech is projected to grow to almost $30 billion in 2023 and is showing no signs of slowing down, which means that marketers and businesses need to stay on the ball.

In 2022, we witnessed the rise of CTV advertising, the sustained growth of video advertising, and major moves towards a more privacy-first industry. With the depreciation of third-party cookies approaching in 2024, marketers, agencies, advertisers, and brands need to maximize the value of their data. As data privacy norms shift and an uncertain economic forecast lies ahead, brands must be acutely aware of all new trends. Here are five adtech trends we expect to see in 2023.

The Opportunity of Connected TV
We know from 2022 that more people prefer streaming channels to traditional television, a trend that was expedited by the pandemic. CTV can drive acquisition and help deliver on sales goals in a way that has remained largely untapped to date. Research shows that CTV is also easily scalable and effective: more than 80% of households have a CTV device, 82% of DTC shoppers take action after seeing an ad for a DTC brand on Connected TV, and those figures only continue to grow over time. CTV also outperforms display ads and online video ads in regard to audience quality, with 12% and 10% higher audience quality, respectively. And since CTV offers many lower-cost ad-supported options, they have become the default for many households. We expect to see Connected TV grow exponentially as streaming services become the default preference for the TV audience.
The Rise of Digital Out-of-Home Advertising
As marketers plan to increase DOOH advertising budgets by 76%, much of that growth will come from rapid expansion, with real-time bidding opportunities now available via mainstream DSPs. With a projected DOOH ad spend of $367 million by the end of the year, this makes for a 15% increase when compared to 2021. Marketers and advertisers know that while DOOH expansion may come with some obstacles, largely around data processing, ad viewability measurement, and low-latency ad creative processing, resolution of these issues can set brands for an ideal growth scenario in 2023.
Conscious Marketing is Here to Stay
Strong future identity solutions must incorporate conscious marketing, meaning that brands must take a deliberate and respectful approach in their communications, while also being responsible and accountable to their own business. Conscious marketing focuses on aligning a company’s mission with the values and principles of its customers by bringing a people-first approach to marketing, advertising, process, and ethos across a business. Conscious marketing enables brands to embrace a more respectful, transparent, and kind way of reaching people. Advertisers and marketers need to make the shift by choosing to follow a conscious approach, such as:
– Only using data that’s necessary to create a customized experience.
– De-bias data sets to avoid sending outdated, insulting, or alienating messages.
– Refrain from exhausting or annoying people with repetitive messages.
– Being privacy conscious.
Growth of First-Party Data
With third-party cookies making their way to the graveyard, along with increased privacy restrictions, the entire digital advertising industry is being forced to rethink their strategies. Marketers are focusing heavily on collecting personal data, and first-party data is among the most valuable, as it gives better insight into an audience’s interests, and allows publishers and advertisers to offer a more robust personalized experience. That value exchange will continue to rise in prominence in 2023.
Performance Marketing Will Become Your Secret Weapon
Performance marketing used to be about one thing: brute-force results at the lowest cost. Over the last few years, however, performance marketing has evolved, through rapid digital innovation and reshaped customer behavior and expectations. Outcome-based approaches— enabled by new technology and insights—have given rise to a new era of performance marketing that can deliver not only more predictable, sustainable results but also better, more conscious customer experiences. That’s why Outcome Navigator, Matterkind’s proprietary suite of connected solutions, was developed: to help advertisers and marketers maximize the return on their digital media investments.

We know that 2023 will bring significant changes to the adtech landscape, and publishers and advertisers need to be ready to do more with less personal data. Transparency, authenticity, and respectful messaging will always be the most honest and memorable. Learn more about how Outcome Navigator offers commerce solutions to drive sales and achieve addressable outcomes.