ignition uk & international in numbers Whats your marketing specialisation? To cope with the pressures of change from outside the business and the demands from within, marketers are taking on many new skills. This has led to increasing specialisation for those whose top priorities vary from content creation and digital, to increasing brand awareness and delivering return on investment. What do todays marketers say they do at work? do a bit of everything do content creation Source: Insights for Professionals (IFP) The State of Marketing Report do digital Smaller influencers are more engaging When it comes to influencer marketing, new research indicates that smaller is probably better. Influencer management service Zine has found that, for a given influencer, average engagement tends to fall as the number of followers increases. Those with 1,000 to 10,000 followers have an average engagement rate of 4.42 per cent, but by the time an influencer has at least one million followers, engagement falls to just 1.9 per cent. The explanation is that smaller influencers tend to be more engaged with their followers, with whom they have a more personal relationship. Larger influencers tend to have a greater proportion of followers who are simply there to avoid missing out. In a survey of marketers, Zine also found that 80 per cent of respondents felt they spent too much time searching for the right influencer a job they conducted manually. Zine advises brands that, to make a success of an influencer campaign, its important to establish clear objectives. Also, the measures of success should be agreed by all parties. Authenticity is key, because without this your brand and the influencer risk losing the trust of the consumer. do brand awareness work in lead generation deliver ROI Beyond price comparison Comparison site MoneySuperMarket is attempting to grow by making itself more useful to customers. Visitors usually engage with the site at specific times, such as when they are considering switching a utility supplier. The objective is to drive engagement outside of these core contact times. Marketing has an important role to play in this strategy rethink, particularly when it comes to its app. MoneySuperMarket is the only price-comparison site with an app that offers the same functionality as its website. The company intends to boost functionality by offering more services on the app, such as free car tax and MOT reminders. In other tests, the brand is considering how to reach out to customers, rather than being a destination. One such offer could show price comparisons in users bank accounts, based on their direct debit payments. C4 brings AI to TV advertising Channel 4 has raised the bar in terms of what technology can offer marketers, with the introduction of TV advertising driven by artificial intelligence (AI). The broadcaster is able to place a brands advertising spots close to appropriate scenes in linear TV shows. Its new Contextual Moments technology identifies scenarios in TV shows that match up with advertisers commercials. For example, if a character in a show is seen to drink a cup of tea, the technology will automatically place an advert with a relevant product in the next commercial break. Research indicates that consumers are twice as likely to remember an advert that they see contextually, compared with a regular TV spot. cim.co.uk/exchange