The Art of Digital Marketing: Strategies from GBG’s Chief Marketing Officer, Chris Boaz

In the ever-evolving world of digital marketing, staying ahead of the curve is essential. We had the privilege of speaking with Chris Boaz, the Chief Marketing Officer of GBG, who shares his expertise on navigating challenges, creating compelling ads, leveraging AI, and much more. Join us as Chris unveils his top strategies for driving growth and maximising impact in today’s digital landscape.

1. Can you start by introducing yourself and telling us a bit about what you do in the digital world?

My name is Chris Boaz and I am the Chief Marketing Officer for GBG. My specialisms are in SaaS, digital commerce, and identity - with a focus on growth, pipeline creation, product marketing, brand development and corporate communications.

I currently lead a team of international marketers focussed on driving our business growth. Everything we do is digital-first and from planning and team meetings to activities, reporting and providing solutions for our customers, we ensure we are using tools and technologies so we can deliver the best results.

2. What would you say is the biggest challenge currently faced by digital marketers?

I’d say the biggest challenge is understanding the market landscape - which is constantly changing - and keeping up with the demands and nuances of multiple international audiences. This requires a bespoke approach for each market - with marketers requiring a deep understanding of local culture, values, humour, and trends - in order to draft meaningful copy and capture interest from consumers.

This also includes having a strategy for content going out across search engines in multiple languages, involving keyword research and SEO strategies tailored to each language and region - as well as ensuring your being compliant with varying advertising and data privacy laws. All of this is crucial to avoid wastage and maintain high impact and ROI.

3. What makes a good digital ad? How do you craft compelling ad content that drives engagement and conversions?

I really appreciate short and clean copy. For me, copywriting is the hardest part of what we do, because you have to be really creative and engaging if you want to attract and retain customers. With consumers seeing anywhere between 50 to 400 advertisements per day, you’ve got to stand out, get to the point, and be able to engage with your target audience. To do this, you really have to put yourself in your audience's shoes and think about what they want to see - rather than what you want them to see.

The best way to inform this approach is to get feedback from your target audience directly and constantly monitor the levels of engagement you’re having, so you can tweak and refine your approach as you go along.

4. In your time working in the digital marketing space, what top tips have you picked up along the way, to help you do your job more efficiently?

It’s all about the brief and making sure you are constantly checking to see if you are working towards the goals and objectives you set in place from the very beginning of your campaign.You can’t overlook the preparation involved in setting out core objectives from the beginning of a campaign - as these are your anchors when it comes to measuring success and ROI.

5. What are some common mistakes you've observed in Pay Per Click and digital paid advertising, and how do you avoid them?

It really bothers me when the CTAs in an ad don’t take you where you’re expecting to go. I think this is just laziness and it also erodes trust in your brand. Users may perceive the ad as deceptive or the business as disorganised, and this can really harm your brand's reputation. If you’ve gone to the effort and managed to convince someone to click, the least you can do is give them what they are expecting. We avoid this through peer-to-peer testing, if it doesn’t pass that internal quality check, it doesn’t leave the building.

6. What is your approach to ad spend wastage? What do you look for in terms of campaigns?

Wastage can kill campaigns and teams reputation. It’s important that teams really understand what wastage is and what can be done about it. Our approach to ad spend wastage involves a thorough analysis of performance metrics beyond just CTR, including conversion rates and CPA. We review keywords and search terms to identify and eliminate underperformers, use advanced tools and intent data for informed decision-making, and continuously optimise campaigns through A/B testing, audience segmentation, and strategic bid adjustments. By regularly monitoring and refining our campaigns, we ensure efficient use of ad spend and maximise ROI.

7. AI - What are the risks, challenges and opportunities for marketers, particularly in the digital space?

In my honest opinion, AI presents both huge risks and narrow opportunities for marketers. The main risks include over-reliance on technology, which can erode the human touch essential to marketing, as well as data privacy issues, ethical concerns, and misalignment with brand values. Challenges involve integrating AI into workflows, maintaining personalised human engagement, accurately measuring AI's impact, and keeping up with rapid advancements. By thoughtfully adopting AI and balancing it with human creativity and empathy, marketers can leverage its benefits while mitigating its risks.

Marketing goes through cycles and it’s taken years of evolving for us to be at this point. We shouldn’t lose the human edge from everyone that has worked hard before us, as it counts for a lot.

8. How do you address challenges such as ad fatigue and audience saturation in long-running PPC campaigns?

In our approach, we structure our major PPC campaigns into three-month cycles, incorporating rotation strategies within each cycle. It’s crucial for our team to continuously monitor and detect early signs of ad fatigue and audience saturation. By staying proactive, we can implement necessary adjustments before these issues significantly impact campaign performance. Utilising available data analytics plays a pivotal role; it enables us to identify trends, gauge audience responses, and make informed decisions promptly.

Regular testing is integral to our strategy. We encourage ongoing experimentation with ad creatives, messaging variations, and targeting parameters to keep campaigns fresh and engaging. This iterative process not only prevents ad fatigue but also allows us to optimise performance based on real-time insights. Overall, our commitment to agility and data-driven decision-making ensures that our PPC campaigns remain effective and responsive to evolving market dynamics.

9. How do you integrate Pay Per Click and paid digital campaigns with other digital marketing channels, such as social media, email marketing, and SEO, to create a cohesive marketing strategy?

It all starts at the planning stage. And for us, it goes way beyond the click. My team has built and maintained a strong partnership with our commercial teams, and we make sure that all channels are discussed right at the beginning. Integrating Pay Per Click (PPC) and paid digital campaigns with other digital marketing channels involves meticulous planning, strong partnerships with commercial teams, and strategic integration of paid elements across platforms like social media, email marketing, and SEO. By aligning goals early on, leveraging synergies between channels, and continuously optimising strategies through data-driven insights, we create a cohesive marketing strategy that maximises reach, enhances engagement, and drives impactful results across the customer journey.

10. What metrics do you prioritise when measuring the success of your paid digital marketing campaigns, and how do you analyse the data to optimise performance?

For my team, the ultimate metric that drives our strategy is the qualified pipeline. We prioritise metrics that directly contribute to generating qualified leads and moving prospects through the sales funnel. Key metrics include bounce rates and conversions, which are critical indicators of campaign effectiveness and user engagement. A low bounce rate indicates that we're making a strong initial impression, while achieving conversions demonstrates that our messaging and call-to-actions resonate with our audience.

To optimise performance, we analyse these metrics in depth. We segment data to understand which audience segments or demographics are responding best to our campaigns. We look at conversion rates across different channels and ad formats to identify what's working best and where adjustments are needed. Additionally, we monitor bounce rates closely to pinpoint pages or elements of our campaigns that may need improvement.

Data analysis guides our decision-making process, informing adjustments to targeting, ad creatives, and landing pages. We employ A/B testing to experiment with different approaches and refine our strategies based on empirical results. By continuously monitoring and analysing these metrics, we ensure that our paid digital marketing campaigns are not only driving immediate results but also contributing to long-term business growth through a strong and steady qualified pipeline.

That's a wrap for our third interview, thank you Chris! Stay tuned for more insights from marketing experts in upcoming interviews. To learn how you can optimise your digital marketing strategies and reduce ad spend wastage, explore our platform here.