Content marketing performance measurement system in the context of customer acquisition

This thesis examines how content marketing is used in B2B customer acquisition and how content marketing performance measurement system is built and utilized in this context. Literature related to performance measurement, branding and buyer behavior is examined in the theoretical part in order to identify the elements influence on content marketing performance measurement design and usage. Qualitative case study is chosen in order to gain deep understanding of the phenomenon studied. The case company is a Finnish software vendor, which operates in B2B markets and has practiced content marketing for approximately two years. The in-depth interviews were conducted with three employees from marketing department. According to findings content marketing performance measurement system’s infrastructure is based on target market’s decision making processes, company’s own customer acquisition process, marketing automation tool and analytics solutions. The main roles of content marketing performance measurement system are measuring performance, strategy management and learning and improvement. Content marketing objectives in the context of customer acquisition are enhancing brand awareness, influencing brand attitude and lead generation. Both non-financial and financial outcomes are assessed by single phase specific metrics, phase specific overall KPIs and ratings related to lead’s involvement.

Utilizing analytic modelling process in industrial retail context

Nykypäivän monimutkaisessa ja epävakaassa liiketoimintaympäristössä yritykset, jotka kykenevät muuttamaan tuottamansa operatiivisen datan tietovarastoiksi, voivat saavuttaa merkittävää kilpailuetua. Ennustavan analytiikan hyödyntäminen tulevien trendien ennakointiin mahdollistaa yritysten tunnistavan avaintekijöitä, joiden avulla he pystyvät erottumaan kilpailijoistaan. Ennustavan analytiikan hyödyntäminen osana päätöksentekoprosessia mahdollistaa ketterämmän, reaaliaikaisen päätöksenteon. Tämän diplomityön tarkoituksena on koota teoreettinen viitekehys analytiikan mallintamisesta liike-elämän loppukäyttäjän näkökulmasta ja hyödyntää tätä mallinnusprosessia diplomityön tapaustutkimuksen yritykseen. Teoreettista mallia hyödynnettiin asiakkuuksien mallintamisessa sekä tunnistamalla ennakoivia tekijöitä myynnin ennustamiseen. Työ suoritettiin suomalaiseen teollisten suodattimien tukkukauppaan, jolla on liiketoimintaa Suomessa, Venäjällä ja Balteissa. Tämä tutkimus on määrällinen tapaustutkimus, jossa tärkeimpänä tiedonkeruumenetelmänä käytettiin tapausyrityksen transaktiodataa. Data työhön saatiin yrityksen toiminnanohjausjärjestelmästä.

Consumer neuroscience: usability of brain imaging methods in marketing research

Consumer neuroscience (neuromarketing) is an emerging field of marketing research which uses brain imaging techniques to study neural conditions and processes that underlie consumption. The purpose of this study was to map this fairly new and growing field in Finland by studying the opinions of both Finnish consumers and marketing professionals towards it and comparing the opinions to the current consumer neuroscience literature, and based on that evaluate the usability of brain imaging techniques as a marketing research method. Mixed methods research design was chosen for this study. Quantitative data was collected from 232 consumers and 28 marketing professionals by means of online surveys. Both respondent groups had either neutral opinions or lacked knowledge about the four themes chosen for this study: benefits, limitations and challenges, ethical issues and future prospects of consumer neuroscience. Qualitative interview data was collected from 2 individuals from Finnish neuromarketing companies to deepen insights gained from quantitative research. The four interview themes were the same as in the surveys and the interviewees’ answers were mostly in line with the current literature, although more optimistic about the future of the field. The interviews also exposed a gap between academic consumer neuroscience research and practical level applications. The results of this study suggest that there are still many unresolved challenges and relevant populations either have neutral opinions or lack information about consumer neuroscience. The practical level applications are, however, already being successfully used and this new field of marketing research is growing both globally and in Finland.

The Role of Content Marketing in Company Branding

The purpose of this study is to provide a deep understanding of the concept of content marketing in relation to company branding.

The Impact of Event Marketing on Brand Awareness in eSport Industry

The purpose of this qualitative research is to study what is the impact of event marketing on brand awareness in the context of electronic sport industry. Based on the research questions, the theoretical framework will be developed. This research will analyze earlier theories, and also searching more fresh literature to explain the current phenomenon in the eSport industry. In the empirical part, there were total of five case companies interviewed. The context of this research is eSport, which has its own chapter. The theoretical part of the thesis focuses on event marketing and brand awareness. In this research, event marketing is analyzed from the event organizers perspective. In some occasions, event exhibitors’ perspective is also analyzed. In brand awareness, the focus is how to create a brand recognizable, recalled and from there top of mind in consumers’ minds. The results of this research revealed that many companies’ struggles on getting their brand recognizable. Some of the case companies lacks a strategy and don’t exactly know the core values of their customers. However some of the case companies were opposite. One reason behind this is that some of them has experience on the field and the companies have resources that covers them. Also the current strong brand has clearly a positive affect on their business.

Corporate social responsibility in online retail – Perceptions from online discussions on Amazon

Online retail has experienced substantial growth due to the increased utilization of digital technologies. The growth in the industry has created numerous multinational corporations, which serve customers all around the world. As a result, the online retailers’ efforts in sustainability have been more often in publicity. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the efforts going beyond the company’s interest in order to bring social good, have been discussed in the academic community for decades. While the various effects of CSR in retail and business generally have been realized, the research aims to make a contribution by examining the concept from the viewpoint of online retail by focusing on interaction at online discussion forums. The main research question asks: What is the role of online retailer CSR in the online discussion forum context? In order to answer this question, additional three sub-research questions are suggested: 1) What elements of CSR are relevant in the online retailer context? 2) How are discussion forums used in communication regarding CSR and online retail by different discusser types? 3) What kind of company perceptions and consumer behavior appear in online discussions of Amazon’s CSR? The study is qualitative of nature, using the content analysis research method to examine posts found from four different public online discussion forums. A qualitative, interpretative analysis was used, although quantitative measures regarding discussion posts were also presented. The analysis contains a coding process, where attributes are attached to discussion posts. As a result of the process, specific patterns can be indicated in order to categorize the posts. As the research uses Amazon as the case company, the case study method is also adopted. In the online retail context, ethics regarding the online retailer’s tax and labor policies are found as most relevant elements. Customers, using discussion forums to share their experiences and opinions regarding online retailer CSR efforts, are realized as the most prominent stakeholder. The research also highlights the role of online retailer employees providing details on internal business practices. However, the not realize the possibility to participate in discussions. Most discussion posts refer either to a positive, negative or mixed reaction towards CSR efforts, it is suggested that the concept is relevant also in online retail. Although online retailer CSR efforts are somewhat linked to company perceptions, the concept has a minimal role in consumer behavior. In online retail, CSR efforts can reduce the risk of being involved in discussions related to controversies. In addition, online retailer CSR efforts should communicate how the retailer contributes locally.

Marketing a Mobile Application in a Highly Competitive Global Marketplace

The purpose of this research was to study the marketing of mobile applications. The main objective was to find out what are the most efficient ways of marketing to increase the sales for a mobile application within a highly competitive marketplace. The marketplaces, app stores, are studied from the perspective of size, ease of entry, competition and customers and their purchasing process. The study also includes research on what are some of the main marketing methods used in mobile app marketing in general. The study consists of two parts, theoretical and empirical research. Theoretical research was done by studying past scientific research on the chosen subjects. As the subject is very new, the research was also extended to other publications from the field of mobile technology. The empirical part was done through interviews and empirical experiments with a case-company, which were used to answer the main objective of this study. These experiments showed that the chosen methods of mobile app marketing, app store optimization, localization and selected social media marketing activities, created the most sales when used together. Positive results were seen also when the activities were conducted by themselves, but together they were able to push the case company to their all time best results. However the key to succeeding and hitting high positions in the app store rankings would most likely require creating a solid marketing strategy, trying out other marketing activities alongside the ones used here, without forgetting to stay on top of mobile technology trends.

Marketing performance measurement in the marketing-finance interface

Marketing and finance are both facing challenges in the constantly changing business environment. Finance is challenged to change its role from cost control to value-adding business partner while marketing needs to be able to demonstrate its accountability so how it contributes to firm performance. Finance is the key partner for marketing to prove its impact by helping marketing to measure its actions. By doing so, finance can also emphasize its business partner role. There is not a lot of research conducted of the relationship between marketing and finance departments. The aim of this study is to investigate how the professional differences of marketing and finance and their forms of cooperation affect marketing performance measurement. Literature of marketing and finance disciplines, their cooperation, performance implications of their interface as well as the roles of marketing performance measurement, performance measurement system and measures were reviewed. This research was conducted as a qualitative case study among senior management of marketing and finance in the sporting goods company. The data collected through semi-structured interviews, participant observation and secondary data was described and classified and connections were made. The results of the study show that the nature of marketing and finance disciplines has many effects on their cooperation and performance measurement. Due to the ambiguous nature of marketing, measuring its performance is still seen as a challenge but digitalization is helping the measurement. It was indicated that marketing and finance professionals need to have different skillsets in order to perform their roles effectively and thus cooperation is needed. Marketing performance needs to be measured with both financial and nonfinancial measures. Both marketing and finance interviewees highlighted the importance of marketing measures over financial measures. Measuring marketing performance comprehensively is seen as a challenge since marketing and finance cooperation is still shaped by the cost control and budget management roles, rather than performance measurement. We recognized three constraints affecting this cooperation and performance measurement: people, time and software. If marketing and finance would develop deeper cooperation, they could create comprehensive performance measurement system that improves organizational performance.

Corporate social responsibility in online retail – Perceptions from online discussions on Amazon

Online retail has experienced substantial growth due to the increased utilization of digital technologies. The growth in the industry has created numerous multinational corporations, which serve customers all around the world. As a result, the online retailers’ efforts in sustainability have been more often in publicity. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the efforts going beyond the company’s interest in order to bring social good, have been discussed in the academic community for decades. While the various effects of CSR in retail and business generally have been realized, the research aims to make a contribution by examining the concept from the viewpoint of online retail by focusing on interaction at online discussion forums. The main research question asks: What is the role of online retailer CSR in the online discussion forum context? In order to answer this question, additional three sub-research questions are suggested: 1) What elements of CSR are relevant in the online retailer context? 2) How are discussion forums used in communication regarding CSR and online retail by different discusser types? 3) What kind of company perceptions and consumer behavior appear in online discussions of Amazon’s CSR? The study is qualitative of nature, using the content analysis research method to examine posts found from four different public online discussion forums. A qualitative, interpretative analysis was used, although quantitative measures regarding discussion posts were also presented. The analysis contains a coding process, where attributes are attached to discussion posts. As a result of the process, specific patterns can be indicated in order to categorize the posts. As the research uses Amazon as the case company, the case study method is also adopted. In the online retail context, ethics regarding the online retailer’s tax and labor policies are found as most relevant elements. Customers, using discussion forums to share their experiences and opinions regarding online retailer CSR efforts, are realized as the most prominent stakeholder. The research also highlights the role of online retailer employees providing details on internal business practices. However, the not realize the possibility to participate in discussions. Most discussion posts refer either to a positive, negative or mixed reaction towards CSR efforts, it is suggested that the concept is relevant also in online retail. Although online retailer CSR efforts are somewhat linked to company perceptions, the concept has a minimal role in consumer behavior. In online retail, CSR efforts can reduce the risk of being involved in discussions related to controversies. In addition, online retailer CSR efforts should communicate how the retailer contributes locally.

Framework for Marketing Automation: Case Vaisala

Työ käsittelee Markkinoinnin Automaatiota, viitekehyksen rakentamista Markkinoinnin Automaation käyttöönottoon ja sen hyödyntämiselle markkinoinnin ja myynnin putken hallinnassa. Työ on suoritettu tapaustutkimuksena, jonka primääri datana on käytetty puoli-strukturoituja haastatteluja ja sekundääri datana on käytetty dataa myynnin tietojärjestelmistä. Kirjallisuuskatsaus markkinoinnin automaatioon paljastaa, että aihetta ei ole juurikaan tutkittu akateemisesti. Etenkin selkeitä aukkoja teorioissa on miten markkinoinnin automaatiota kannattaisi aloittaa ja miten siihen tarvittavia kamppanjoita kannattaisi rakentaa. Tapaustutkimuksen tuloksena selvisi selkeät ongelma kohdat nykysessä markkinoinnin ja myynnin putkessa, ja myös kohdat joissa markkinoinnin automaatio voi olla avuksi. Suurin osa ongelma kohdista on markkinoinnin ja myynnin välissä. Toimiakseen markkinoinnin automaatio vaatii selkeät määritykset yrityksessä Liidille ja miten sitä käsitellään. Toimivuuden takaamiseksi se tarvitsee myös jatkuvaa palautetta liideistä ja myynneistä. Alue mikä myös tarvitsee muutosta paremman toimivuuden takaamiseksi on markkinoinnin kamppanjoiden suunnittelu, yhdessä myynnin kanssa ja asiakkaan polku edellä. Tulevaisuuden tavoitteena tulisi olla viestien personointi ja asiakkaiden profilointi. Tulevaisuuden tutkimuskohteet olisivat erittäin avuliaita yrityksille, varsinki jos ne käsittelisivät käyttöönottoa tai personointia.

Digital Content Marketing in the Business-to-Business Context. A Case Study on Marketing Communications Agencies.

Marketing has changed because of digitalization. Marketing is moving towards digital channels and more companies are transitioning from “pushing” advertising messages to “pull” marketing, that attracts audience with the content that interests and benefits the audience. This kind of marketing is called content marketing or “inbound” marketing. This study focuses on how marketing communications agencies utilize digital content marketing and what are the best practices with the selected digital content marketing channels. In this study, those channels include blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The qualitative research method was utilized in order to examine the phenomenon of digital content marketing in-depth. The chosen data collecting method was semi-structured interviewing. A total of seven marketing communications agencies, who currently utilize digital content marketing, were selected as case companies and interviewed. All the case companies are from the marketing communications industry because that industry can be assumed to be well adapted to digital content marketing techniques. There is a research gap about digital content marketing in the B2B context, which increases the novelty value of this research. The study examines what is digital content marketing, why B2B companies use digital content marketing, and how should digital content marketing be conducted through blogs and social media. The informants perceived digital marketing to be a fundamental part of their all marketing. They conduct digital content marketing for the following reasons: to increase sales, to improve their brand image and to demonstrate their own skills. Concrete results of digital content marketing for the case companies include sales leads, new clients, better brand image, and that recruiting is easier. The most important success factors with blogs and social media are the following: 1) Audience-centric thinking. All content planning should start from figuring out which themes interests the target audience. Social media channel choices should be based on where the target audience can be reached. 2) Companies should not talk only about themselves. Instead, content is made about themes that interests the target audience. On social media channels, only a fragment of all shared content is about the company. Rather, most of the shared content is industry-specific content that helps the potential client.

Consumer neuroscience: usability of brain imaging methods in marketing research

Consumer neuroscience (neuromarketing) is an emerging field of marketing research which uses brain imaging techniques to study neural conditions and processes that underlie consumption. The purpose of this study was to map this fairly new and growing field in Finland by studying the opinions of both Finnish consumers and marketing professionals towards it and comparing the opinions to the current consumer neuroscience literature, and based on that evaluate the usability of brain imaging techniques as a marketing research method. Mixed methods research design was chosen for this study. Quantitative data was collected from 232 consumers and 28 marketing professionals by means of online surveys. Both respondent groups had either neutral opinions or lacked knowledge about the four themes chosen for this study: benefits, limitations and challenges, ethical issues and future prospects of consumer neuroscience. Qualitative interview data was collected from 2 individuals from Finnish neuromarketing companies to deepen insights gained from quantitative research. The four interview themes were the same as in the surveys and the interviewees’ answers were mostly in line with the current literature, although more optimistic about the future of the field. The interviews also exposed a gap between academic consumer neuroscience research and practical level applications. The results of this study suggest that there are still many unresolved challenges and relevant populations either have neutral opinions or lack information about consumer neuroscience. The practical level applications are, however, already being successfully used and this new field of marketing research is growing both globally and in Finland.

ATTITUDES TOWARD RUSSIAN CUSTOMERS IN THE FINNISH RETAIL TRADE SECTOR – A salesperson’s point of view

The amount of Russian tourists in Finland has increased significantly in the past years. The impact of Russian tourism to the Finnish retail trade sector is enormous, since Russian tourists often spend a lot of money particularly on shopping. Shopping tourism is mainly focused in the near border cities, such as Imatra and Lappeenranta, and in addition in Helsinki metropolitan area. The purpose of this study is to map the attitudes and perceptions of the sales personnel who are working in the Finnish retail trade sector towards Russian customers and to discover which elements affect these attitudes. The theories in this study are based on cultural elements and elements related to sales behavior and performance. Cultural differences between Finland and Russia, cultural distance and cultural intelligence form the cultural aspect of this study. Customer orientation vs. sales orientation (SOCO), adaptive selling, selling skills and job competency, salesperson’s affect and empathy toward customers, and job autonomy form the elements concerning sales behavior and performance. Furthermore, the attitude – behavior link, based on social psychology is addressed. A survey was conducted in two retail trade chains operating in Finland. These retail companies have stores and department stores in different geographical areas in Finland and the survey was conducted in altogether 19 cities. In addition to the theories that were discussed, two expert interviews were conducted in order to get a deeper understanding of the phenomenon at hand. Moreover the interviews helped in the formulation of the hypotheses and the questionnaire design. The questionnaires were sent directly to the stores, where they were placed so that they were available for the sales personnel. Altogether 487 usable responses were collected. The returned questionnaires were analyzed with IBM SPSS 21 statistics program. The results of this study indicated that the attitudes toward Russian customers are more negative compared to other foreign customers. However, the respondents’ attitudes toward and perceptions of Russian customers varied a lot. From the background variables age, education level, length of employment in current workplace, and length of experience in customer service had an effect on the attitudes of the respondents. In addition, the perceptions of Russian customers were more positive in the Eastern Finland compared to Helsinki metropolitan area. The cultural elements; cultural knowledge, cultural distance and cultural intelligence all affected the attitudes of the respondents. From the elements related to sales behavior and performance customer orientation, salesperson’s affect and empathy toward customers, and perceived job autonomy had an effect on the attitudes