Author: Chris Kerns
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Reviewer: Dale Lovell, CMO at Adyoulike
In today’s ongoing battle for consumer attention and the proliferation of ‘always on’ social media channels, real-time marketing (RTM) has emerged as a winning strategy for many brands. At a core level it means that brands are joining the conversation, rather than bombarding consumers with advertising messages.
In Trendology, Chris Kerns promises to show marketers how they can implement and win by ‘building an advantage through data-driven real-time marketing.’
The author has obviously done his homework, researching and analysing the successful implementation of RTM strategies of more than 100 leading brands such as Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Sony and IKEA. The book contains good examples and strategies on what works well across social media platforms such as Twitter, with numerous positive examples of how brands have gained market share as a result of their activity.
There are key sections that all marketers can gain information from in this book: how to build a real-time marketing process; how to create executive buy-in; how to use and analyse data properly; measuring success; and ways that a brand can leverage trends on an everyday basis for success.
Most of the RTM examples mentioned in the book relate to US marketing efforts, however – there are quite a few examples based around the Super Bowl, for example. A UK readership may find some of these examples unrelated to our market.
In addition, there are very few examples of RTM for B2B marketing activity. Most feature big brands, promoting to mass market consumers around large ‘pop culture’ events. B2B marketers will need to use their imaginations to see how many of the strategies listed could fit in with their overall marketing plans; but there are winning ideas buried in the book for adventurous B2B marketers.
Many B2B marketers may come to the conclusion after reading that, while RTM would be a ‘nice-to-have’, for genuine B2B success they may be better off concentrating on marketing activities around content marketing, social media advertising and native advertising instead.
That said, as a book that captures where RTM is at this moment in time – and for anyone looking to understand how brands are using it – Trendology is certainly recommended.
Dale Lovell is CMO at Adyoulike, Europe’s leading native advertising technology platform and network.
Star Rating: 3/5
