The middle of a global pandemic is an interesting time to start a new job. Meeting new coworkers and clients over Zoom instead of an office setting is, well, different...but not all in bad ways. We see and hear each other’s kids and pets, and my coworkers and clients watched my background change as I moved from a NYC apartment to a house in Connecticut. We’re getting to know each other a bit more as whole people, not just our professional selves.
Looking back, it’s hard to believe I’m approaching three months into my journey with YouGov.
When I simplify what I’ve learned so far, it is this: sharing your story is so much easier when you have the knowledge to back it up.
I’m excited to share with you how we empower our clients with knowledge at YouGov. Since I tend to think in threes, here are the three main themes that excite me most about how we enable agencies, publishers, and brands alike with the knowledge to tell their stories and grow their business.
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. After decades of pitching new business and planning campaigns for some of the world’s biggest brands, I know the power of data-backed insights to inspire strategies, ideas and plans that win business, grow brands, and win awards.
But that power goes untapped when we don’t understand the depth of knowledge available in our tools. I was familiar with YouGov -- in my MediaCom days, it was an insight source we used in annual planning and pitching new business. And yet it’s been eye-opening to learn just how much insight about audiences, media, and brands can be found in the YouGov products that we didn’t leverage. Great opportunity for our partners to be doing more with the subscriptions they already subscribe to.
What excites me, perhaps even more, is the recency of the YouGov data. If you understand the most important trend to your business and it's being accelerated or reversed by current events, year old data is not relevant (and that’s what you get from the likes of MRI/Simmons). Our data is current -- as in last week, not last year. We provide weekly roll-ups of daily data, not the far-distant rearview mirror of many of the traditional knowledge tools.
Even more, YouGov doesn’t just help agencies, publishers and brands strategize, create and prepare the most effective plans, we also have the tools to track brand progress and lift immediately. All connected. All available at your fingertips to make smarter, more informed, in the moment decisions that drive the growth brands are expected to deliver, even in a ‘pandemic’ economy.
EMPOWERING ACTION. We're in a different type of climate where relationships are important and we must support each other for mutual success. No matter your place in the advertising & marketing ecosystem our goals are aligned -- we need to win business, grow business, and measure impact. There are so many ways the knowledge gained from YouGov data can empower your decisions and actions...and I want to empower you!
Based on the conversations I've had over the past three months, I believe there’s a misconception that we just deliver on planning and tracking at YouGov. Don’t get me wrong, our Plan & Track products are amazing -- from helping identify where to focus in the funnel to increasing the accuracy of predictive models to putting brand impact at the fingertips of senior leaders who want to know “how are we doing” at any moment.
Since joining, I’ve seen our clients also using knowledge from our data to empower an impressive diversity of decisions. We helped major sports leagues strategize the best way to restart during covid. We helped publishers identify the talent and content that will best grow their viewing audience. We helped brands fuel their product pipeline and expand distribution. We allow our clients to ask consumer opinions today and we provide insight tomorrow. It doesn’t get much better than that.
EASY IS ESSENTIAL. If it seemed like we were already doing more with less resources, now we’re having to plan for multiple short, mid, and long term scenarios. And we are all aware, if it takes too much time to learn or use a tool, you’re not going to use it. We need simple tools with current data that help us quickly gain knowledge, empower us to take action, and make it easy to learn & adapt.
I learned that even an experienced executive like me can get into YouGov’s products and quickly understand what is going on with a brand’s health, competitive trending and/or understand an audience in a new way. I learn quickly, I act swiftly, and we deliver on the collective goal of growth for our clients because YouGov’s products make it easy to do so. I can’t wait to show you how easy our products are to use.
I look forward to telling you more. Excited to fuel your curiosity. Eager to hear about your goals and challenges, and empower you with the knowledge to take action with confidence.
More to come…
Photo courtesy of Tamara Alesi.
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The opinions expressed here are the author's views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.com/MyersBizNet.