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Social Listening Platforms, Q4 2020

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The Marketer of 2021

What skills will marketers need to hone to thrive in 2021?
Learn how 100 industry professionals from organizations
like Monster, Publicis, and Amnesty are adapting as we
head into the new year

Last year when we looked ahead to 2020, we talked naively about preparing for things that
couldn’t be predicted. Little did we know just how unpredictable a time we would have.

In this guide, we’ll take you through how marketers can adjust their mindsets and invest in
the right skills and tech to prepare them to do their best work in 2021.

We’ll draw on input from over 100 industry professionals who were kind enough to share
their thoughts on the upcoming year.

Obstacles
We’ll start by looking at the challenges that must be faced in getting to know customers and
target consumers in 2021.

Not having the right data is a major issue for 58% of our respondents.
 What are the obstacles to getting to know your customers and target consumers as we
head into 2021? (Select all that apply)

Based on survey of 118 insights and marketing professionals | Brandwatch | November 2020

The second most popular option was not having the right technology to help, while the third
was not having an understanding of what kinds of research could be helpful.

Meanwhile, not having the right skills was the least popular of the options we offered as an
obstacle. This is promising, especially as marketers become more data-savvy. Thinking
about skills needed to thrive in 2021, Charlotte Knowles, Head of Marketing at Berryworld
wrote: “Strong analytics skills coupled with ability to ask the right questions rst and
understand our business objectives to ensure our insights help us achieve our goals.”

Our survey showed that more data is needed. But blending data can create new challenges.

A theme that cropped up in custom replies to this question about obstacles was the ability to
bring together different data sources to stitch together a narrative. For example, in answer to
the question, Eva Taylor, Director of Social, Operations & CSR at Hootsuite, wrote: “Uniting
disparate sources of data to help convey the bigger picture.”

The blending of different data sources presents both an exciting opportunity and a challenge
for marketers as we head into 2021.
Time is also an issue for stretched teams who would like to leverage the tech and data that’s
available.

Mae Johnson, Marketing Manager at Big Frog Franchise Group describes the struggles of
working in a small marketing team in a busy period: “As in any small team, the current
challenge is in juggling the time, manpower, and resources to dive deep into data analysis to
understand consumer behaviors as well as fully leverage existing technology to automate
processes and build upon effective marketing strategies.”

In 2021, leveraging that technology to automate time-consuming processes and working on

speed to insight will be vital for small teams looking to make a big impact.

Tools
We asked our respondents what tools and resources would be most valuable in supporting
the generation and sharing of consumer insights in 2021.

What kind of resources or tools will best support consumer insights generation and sharing
in 2021? (Select all that apply)

Based on survey of 118 insights and marketing professionals | Brandwatch | November 2020

Social data analysis tools came out on top with 81% of respondents choosing this option.
Data visualization tools and search data analysis tools were also very popular, with 75% and
73% of respondents selecting them respectively.

We were surprised to see that traditional consumer research methods were only selected by
31% of our respondents.

One possible explanation for this is that 2020 has made some forms of traditional research
(eg in-person ethnographic research or in-person focus groups) much harder, and sometimes
impossible, to carry out. Now’s a great time to try out digital consumer intelligence solutions
for gathering insights of this kind.

Next, we’ll dive into themes that came from our open-ended questions to nd out what
respondents had to say about digital consumer intelligence and their thoughts on 2021.

Human understanding
The word ‘human’ popped up a lot in our survey responses, but in several different contexts.

Firstly, there is the need for brands to humanize themselves.

“Hypersegmentation will definitely be a must in order to develop

engaging content and be relevant in an oversaturated world. This
will force brands to humanize themselves and become a friend or a
partner, rather than a salesman.”
— Ivan Rio, Chief Marketing Of cer at Urilingo

Secondly, our respondents talked about human needs. Understanding human behaviour,
what they want, what they love, what they hate, or what they rely on, became even more vital
in 2020 when nothing could really be taken as granted. Who could have predicted ahead of
2020 that demand for pasta and toilet paper would rise so rapidly?

“I believe that human behavior will be at the center of 2021,” says David Ionut, Social
Intelligence Analyst at Harte Hanks, re ecting on the changes seen in 2020.

Thirdly, it was about human connection, whether through adding value or creating really
engaging experiences.
 “For us, 2021 will be all about how do we add value to humanity
through what we do - at every touchpoint”
— Rachael Zahn, VP, Marketing & Sales Optimization, Investis Digital

Asked about the trends we’re likely to see in 2021, Daisy Morris, Founder of The Selfhood
wrote: “A stronger focus on personalization and humanization of digital tools and channels.
More content that focuses on the unique consumer with a sentimental feel. Convenience will
continue to thrive.” Meanwhile, Laura Jones, Founder at Uniquity wrote “Digitizing and
humanizing the whole brand experience.”

Of course, all three of these things are connected. They all speak to the importance of
recognizing the vulnerability of the human condition and the need for brands to connect at a
human level. That might sound obvious, but it’s something that can be forgotten when
communicating with hundreds, thousands, or even millions of customers at once.

None of this is new . Personalization has been around for a long time and brands have long
sought to create closer relationships with their consumers. That said, there is plenty left to
do in this eld, and it looks like the challenges of 2021 (just like those in 2020) will be
catalysts for more change.

What they need, when they need it

Timing
Another theme we found our respondents talking about was timing. For marketers, it’s about
meeting consumers where they are at just the right time when a brand’s input is needed or
appreciated.

When thinking about 2021, Jose Sanchez, Listening Lead at Publicis Media, wrote about
being “as close as possible to the consumer, respecting their physical space and privacy, but
to be present at the moment they require it in order to help them meet their needs.”

This is echoed in our DCI in Practice guide on Trend Spotting which discusses the
importance of timing insights to make them as actionable as possible. An example of doing
this well is delivering insights at a cadence that ts with regular meetings of key
stakeholders so that decisions can be made quickly based on the data.

Timing is also key when things are moving quickly. That relates to reacting in real time to
opportunities, bringing agility into the heart of all operations, and, where possible, using
predictive trend spotting to proactively prepare for what’s ahead.

Consumer-centric content
Many of our respondents talked about the need for consumer-centric content. This doesn’t
necessarily mean bespoke content for each consumer. Instead, it’s about recognizing
segments of your audience that might have different needs or preferences to others.

Looking ahead to 2021, Jennifer Chan, Digital Content Manager at Amnesty, wrote: “Ideally,
knowledge of audience should direct our content creation and distribution.”

Ivan Rio, Chief Marketing Of cer at Urilingo, acknowledges the challenges which come with
segmenting by generation or age: “Developing intergenerational content that connects with
each consumer in a personal way is de nitely the challenge of the century as the border
between generations is getting blurrier and blurrier.”

Meanwhile, Immediate Future CEO Katy Howell noted that a challenge is to get brands to
think about consumers in a multi-dimensional way: “Convincing brands that they need to
move beyond tracking their own brand and actually listen to all their consumers – beyond
just demographics and two dimensional personas.”

All this is to say that knowing what your consumers want and delivering the right experience
at the right time in a way that works for the individual is what marketers must be working
towards.

Working cross-functionally
Insights of this kind aren’t just useful to marketing teams. In 2021, if businesses are to truly
innovate, writes Eva Taylor, silos must be broken down.

“In order to better react, predict and innovate in 2021, mastering

and operationalizing digital consumer intelligence will require a
cross-functional effort across marketing, sales, customer success,
and data teams.”
— Eva Taylor, Director of Social, Operations & CSR at Hootsuite

Sharing consumer insights across the business is a no brainer.

 • Customer experiences can become smoother and more consistent when customer
success managers and marketers work together.

• Product teams can work on high-priority xes and iterations by working with
marketers to nd out what’s driving negative reviews.

• Design teams can create more engaging assets when marketers share data on what’s
worked well.

2021, here we come

To summarize, there is (surprise, surprise) a lot to think about as we head into the new year.

• Data, skills, and tools: Without each of these, the insights that will drive success
simply won’t be found. Invest in data-savvy marketers and check for blind spots when
it comes to tools and data sources that could help your team thrive.

• Being human: Human connection and humanizing brands was a big theme in our data.
As brand experiences become digital- rst, make sure they’re warm and welcoming as
well as convenient and direct.

• Right place, right time, right message: Where insights are generated, make sure
they’re actioned quickly. With communications, ensure that you’re thinking about
individuals. Sending the right message at the wrong time or to the wrong person is a
waste of time and resource.

• Connecting across the business: Enable insights to ow across teams and encourage
collaboration where it may never have existed before. Connected companies will
create stronger experiences for customers and prospects.

Many marketers are relying on digital consumer intelligence solutions to supercharge their
efforts.

“Digital consumer intelligence means understanding the complete

customer, beyond their behavior on your site or social channels. It's
ensuring your inputs are as diverse and varied as each potential
customer is and finding the threads of insights that tie
commonalities together to form a truly informed strategy.”
— Stacey Furtado, Director of Internal & Digital Communications at Monster

We’d like to thank everyone who’ve contributed to these insights, including the folks we’ve
included throughout this piece:
• Stacey Furtado, Director of Internal & Digital Communications at Monster

• Eva Taylor, Director of Social, Operations & CSR at Hootsuite

• Katy Howell, CEO at Immediate Future

• Ivan Rio, Chief Marketing Of cer at Urilingo

• Jennifer Chan, Digital Content Manager at Amnesty

• Jose Sanchez, Listening Lead at Publicis Media

• David Ionut, Social Intelligence Analyst at Harte Hanks

• Rachael Zahn, VP, Marketing & Sales Optimization, Investis Digital

• Laura Jones, Founder of Uniquity

• Daisy Morris, Founder of The Selfhood

• Mae Johnson, Marketing Manager at Big Frog Franchise Group

• Charlotte Knowles, Head of Marketing at Berryworld

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