Interview: Director of EMEA Marketing at Act-On Software, Katie Jameson

Director of EMEA marketing at marketing automation company Act-On Software Katie Jameson describes herself as a marketing generalist in paid, earned and owned channels. Having served as senior marketing manager at Symantec, ResponseTap and Paywizard, Jameson now heads up a team from the Act-On Reading office.

Jameson says it’s a very interesting time for the marketing industry, which is on the cusp of a new age of personalised communications.

She says a long-standing client (agency) says 35 per cent more content is being created each year but the engagement rates are down by 17 per cent.

This interesting stat suggests consumers are experiencing ad fatigue because they’re being pushed the same messages that are not relevant or personalised to their needs.

Jameson says the right kind of personalisation will aid the situation. “When I say personal, I dont mean, lets be personal for the sake of being personal. Its not just about putting a hi Katie on something,” she says.

One channel that she says could work for companies is WhatsApp.

“If youre a tech company, and youre pushing out thought leadership information and some quick snapshots on a regular basis then WhatsApp works really well. I love getting that short message each day from a company as it gives me a quick headline and a link which I can click through.

“And then if I want to I can dig into it a bit deeper… I think we just need to be a bit more thoughtful about the information we choose to push out there.”

Watch the below video on WhatsApp for business

Jameson, who works in B2B marketing, says one company that does B2B email marketing well is Vitality, which sends customers relevant emails once a month like how to live your life to the full which will help you extend your life. Once these messages are delivered and engaged with, the life insurance product is pushed a little further down the line.

According to Salesforce, which surveyed over 7,000 consumers, 53 per cent of consumers would share their data for personalised shopping experiences.

Of course, outbound marketing has changed due to GDPR. Is GDPR a good thing for marketers? “I genuinely think it’s a great thing for marketers and for the world of sales as well which ultimately, it does affect because it means that you cant do the old school, ‘lets buy a list and send those emails to everyone attitude’, which Ive never really agreed with,” says Jameson.

“I dont think its the right way of speaking to somebody because I dont believe that you would do that in person. I would rather have a one to one conversation with someone.”

So, in a crowded martech market how does Act On Software differentiate itself from the staggering level of competition thats out there?

“I’d say our main differentiator is our dynamic email and personalised landing pages. The dynamic email tech means we can send an email around the time when somebody opens their email. If you’re anything like me, you’ll read your emails on the way to work between 7-8.30am but won’t do so later in the day. By implementing this technology weve seen companies improve their email click-through rates and open rates by 30-40 per cent.”

She adds, “The personalised landing pages works by looking at users IP address and pushing them relevant content. So if you’re searching for finance related content on the web and are browsing from a finance firm, when you next come to our website you’ll start seeing, for example, more finance content on the homepage so it looks more relevant to a finance company. You’ll see relevant case studies and data sheets.

“I just think thats its really exciting because its a different level of personalisation. And its not just being personal for the sake of being perceived as being relevant.”