Kelly Hopping is HYCU's Chief Marketing Officer. Kelly explains the impact of AI on changing marketing roles and strategies, the function of attribution in tracking marketing effectiveness, and much more.
Continue reading this blog to gain Kelly's insightful thoughts on showcasing the effectiveness of marketing through momentum and conversion, as well as the significance of marketing knowledge and product-market fit for data-driven decision-making. She will debunk the myth and answer questions related to RevOps.
Myth: With tools like single-touch, first-touch, multi-touch, and last-touch attribution models, attribution data provides an accurate way to evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing channels and touchpoints.
Absolute attribution is one of the widespread myths regarding marketing that Kelly brought up. Given the availability of multi-touch and first-touch attribution techniques, people tend to overestimate the accuracy of attribution models. Since brands have a lasting effect on consumer behavior, sometimes years before a transaction is made, these models are not absolute. She suggests using attribution to establish a baseline and monitor relative movement or trends instead of being a definitive answer.
How did the marketer respond about the ROI and the source of profits after funds were allocated for a particular project?
Kelly Hopping acknowledges the importance of data and points out that her former employers had influential analytics departments. They could monitor touchpoints and assess the immediate effects of programs as a result. However, she highlights the difficulty in determining absolute effectiveness because of the cold dark funnel before someone engages with them. This covers conducting research in secret, using cookies, browsing in private, and being exposed to passive events.
She claims that by exposing user behavior in the visible funnel, attribution sets a baseline for marketing contribution. Although it does not cover every touchpoint, it offers a helpful relative comparison. Identifying trends and evaluating project performance using measurable data are essential.
How does she handle assigning specific strategy attribution in her RevOps role?
Understanding that absolute attribution has limitations; she uses intent data and ABM technologies to put light on the dark funnel before users interact with it directly.
Her two goals as a RevOps leader are to demonstrate the worth of marketing and pinpoint high-performing activities.
She monitors KPIs like lead volume and pipeline growth, concentrating on patterns to demonstrate effect even when the figures are imperfect.
Finding the channels generating the most activity is easier by analyzing lower-funnel conversions, such as webinar registrations and booth scans. She makes selections based on comparable facts and trends, understanding restrictions such as untracked LinkedIn ads. She navigates the imperfect worlds of attribution to optimize campaigns based on conversion rates and measurable impact to maximize marketing effectiveness.
How does she manage the challenge when she is new to attributing actions and unaware of where to begin, especially when elements seem unattributable?
Kelly explores using quantitative and immeasurable criteria in event sponsorship decisions. For instance, by examining data from previous VMworld events, she can evaluate ROI through booth scans, conversions to opportunities, and finalized deals. Though it would be challenging to quantify the effect directly, she accepts the intangible benefits of establishing a connection with VMware to promote one's brand.
This demonstrates the complex world of marketing attribution, where much work is put into actions that cannot be measured.
She describes how marketing affects channel partners, upsells, and cross-sells in addition to direct revenue generation, although these contributions are sometimes mistaken for those of other departments.
Without solid data, early-stage marketers face an even more significant problem, which forces them to depend more on personal experiences and leading signs like webinar engagement surveys. Ultimately, she uses various techniques to navigate the complex world of attribution to obtain guidance and evaluate the effectiveness of campaigns.
Does she think that the industry will be able to tie things better together and add additional elements in the future?
Kelly believes that Demandbase and Sixsense are just the first stages of AI revolutionizing marketing. She recognizes AI's contribution in supplying objective data and predicts automated program execution dependent on financial restrictions.
She emphasizes the critical necessity for human involvement in assessing performance, resolving product difficulties, and adjusting plans to changing conditions, even while AI manages campaign execution. She predicts that data-driven targeting in marketing will be replaced by AI-driven targeting overseen by humans in the future.
What skills will marketers need to evolve into more strategic roles when advertising and targeting are handled by robots in the future?
Kelly recognizes that even with advanced technologies, strategic involvement is essential. To prevent AI from optimizing for unimportant metrics like gross margin, it must be fed with clear goals, budgets, and growth areas. Even greater interdepartmental alignment and defined strategies are also required.
She also stresses the need to have extremely sharp focus. She thinks marketers need to know exactly who their ideal consumer is, where they should target, and what their value offer is, rather than just blindly allowing the AI to make decisions. This limited focus keeps The tools from pursuing quantities inconsistent with strategic objectives.
Do companies need CMOs with industry-specific skills to create strategies that consider social media and robots?
Kelly Hopping emphasizes the importance of CMOs' marketing knowledge by concentrating on channels, messaging, research, and KPIs.
While industry experience is essential, she believes that founders and product leaders must focus more on a solid product-market fit in the future. Understanding audiences, addressing their problems, and having relevant interactions are essential to effective marketing.
She highlights the critical connection between effective marketing and a robust product-market fit, calling for a change in focus from chasing attribution to developing goods that align. This emphasizes the CMO's part in allocating resources strategically for optimal effect.
What keeps her up at night, technically?
Haiku's CMO prioritizes effective execution with little financing and a slower market. She sharpens teams for a long-lasting go-to-market engine by highlighting a balanced approach to sales and marketing. Her approach prioritizes effect with every dollar spent and strives for a 1:1 ratio of revenue to sales and marketing expenditures to navigate the challenging economic environment going forward successfully.
How did she start her journey?
Kelly began her engineering career, changed fields during an internship, and sharpened her focus with an MBA. Serving as Lisa Su's Chief of Staff during a critical period gave her invaluable insight into the priorities and decision-making process of leadership. She views this as a turning point in her career and advises high-potential persons to pursue such roles. She highlights the role's influence on making strategic decisions and bringing about significant change.
Kelly Hopping puts the product-market fit first while maximizing performance under pressure. She suggests marketers focus attentively rather than depending entirely on AI decisions. She calls for focused learning to improve marketing effectiveness in an ever-changing environment.
Listen to the full episode here.
