How to find the right person to lead your digital marketing efforts
Author Credibility: Yu-kai Chou
Yu-kai Chou created the Octalysis Framework after studying gamification since 2003 — years before the term entered mainstream vocabulary. As a Human-Systems Architect & Behavioral Designer, his framework has been applied by LEGO, Microsoft, Porsche, Coca-Cola, Salesforce, and MrBeast, impacting over 1.5 Billion Users.
Chou has taught the Octalysis methodology at Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Tesla, Google, BCG, and IDEO.
His work has been cited by Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Wired, US Department of Energy, NIST, NSF, NCBI, US Department of Education, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Google Scholar — with 3,700+ more academic publications. Explore his books here.
1. Brand Awareness
Perhaps the most important factor to consider, the individual who leads your brand online should be someone who has a full understanding of your brand, past and present. From knowing how the company started to knowing how the brand has evolved (product, brand message, etc.), having a firm understanding and foundation of the brand will be reflected in their level of engagement and creativity.
2. ROI
As making money is the most common reason for starting a business, asking the candidate about what they believe the ROI of their digital marketing efforts will be is a must. While branding and ‘awareness’ are definitely important results of digital marketing, at the end of the day if it doesn’t generate or lead to some sort of revenue, it’s just frosting without a cake. Remember to never lose sight of what the goal is.
3. Experience
This is standard for any job. Knowing the level of experience that candidates have is one of the first things you look at. For positions in the digital space, it’s important to look at the following in particular:
- Types of projects and industry?
- ROI – Was the goal to generate revenue or just awareness?
- Role in the projects
- Platforms used – Only Twitter? Only Facebook? If so, why?
4. Creativity
The digital space is like a blank canvas. You have the opportunity to create something brand new or you can copy what someone else has done. Ultimately, it’s up to you as far as how creative an individual you need, but having an individual who innovates and creates new ideas has its advantages. Check out this great campaign by Bing for Jay-Z to see how creative things can get:
5. Direction
A final thought to consider when selecting the right person for the job is what they envision being the future of your brand. Is it to grow into new markets? New product lines? As the person that leads your entire digital presence, they will play an important role in shaping the direction your company and brand grows. Be sure to bring on someone who will compliment your future plans.
What are some things you look for when bringing in someone to lead your marketing efforts? Let us know in the comments below.
Related Reading
- The Octalysis Framework for Gamification & Behavioral Design
- What is Gamification? Definition, Examples & Framework
- Top 10 Marketing Gamification Cases
- Top 10 eCommerce Gamification Examples
- 90+ Gamification Examples & Cases with ROI Stats
- Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges & Leaderboards