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C-4 Analytics |
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December 23, 2013 Issue |
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The Most Powerful Name In Corporate News and Information |
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Digital Marketing with Enterprise-Class Analytics |
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 About
C-4 Analytics:
We did not reinvent the
wheel, just
online marketing.
C-4 Analytics bases its business model on a very simple concept: measured
success. While typical online marketing and social media agencies promise
results, we use enterprise-class analytics to prove our success.
Accountability is the factor that distinguishes us from our competition.
Managing
Partner
Michael brings over fifteen
years of experience in interactive online marketing, public relations and
advertising to the company. This experience allows him to implement
strategies across all market sectors and be accountable for the return on
investment (ROI) that C-4 Analytics’ clients are looking for. Michael holds
a bachelor's degree in computer science from Lehigh University, and his
technology-neutral vision has enabled him to lead successful
enterprise-level innovation at numerous companies. |
Digital Marketing
C-4 Analytics 617-250-8888
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Interview conducted by: Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor, CEOCFO Magazine,
Published - December 23, 2013 CEOCFO: Mr. Weiss, what is C-4 Analytics? Mr. Weiss: C-4 Analytics is a digital marketing agency. We specialize in finding and targeting very specific customers, which allows our clients to get the highest return from their online marketing campaigns.
CEOCFO: Would you give us an example? Mr. Weiss: We have a hospital system as a client that is looking to increase patients for its core services, which include cardiac care, orthopedics, cancer care, rehabilitation and childbirth. We have found that people are not actually searching for hospitals when they are looking for care; they are looking for their diseases and conditions,then they are looking for doctors that can treat those diseases and conditions. We found that we could target people looking for diseases and conditions using what we call very commercial intent terms. We can then turn them into people that click onto the website, where people can start visiting the specific departments and doctorsin those hospitals. Instead of the doctors saying, “I am a doctor and I practice this,” we publish content around some very specific diseases and conditions. Patients find that content and associate the doctor with it, which generates significantly higher numbers of patients.
CEOCFO: What went into the process of understanding that it was doctors and not hospitals? What do you do on your end to get it right in the respect of whom you are targeting? Mr. Weiss: One of the differences between a typical marketing company and C-4 Analytics is the analytics piece. It is a lot of the behind the scenes work that we do. Before we actually embark on any project we do a lot of research; everything from researching keywords, to seeing the sites that people are going to, to understanding the behavior of people that wind up becoming patients or customers. Therefore, we are able to figure out the path to conversion. Before someone will visit a hospital they look at these twelve different sites and they search for these types of terms. We figure out the path, and that will drive our entire strategy. It is not like it was years ago where marketing was really blind, where agencies would just put up an advertisement and hope that people would respond. We are actually able to see the demographics and behaviors of customers before we schedule a marketing program.
CEOCFO: You have a proprietary web 3.0 platform. What is different? Mr. Weiss: It is really in the predictive modeling that we do. We are not just saying, “Okay, we will create some Google ads for you and we will set them and forget it.” Instead, we are saying, “We are going to find the people most likely to do business with you, and then we’re going to target them.”
CEOCFO: When you are speaking with a prospective client is there an “A-ha!” moment when they understand the difference at C-4 Analytics? Mr. Weiss: I think so. It takes a little bit to get there. That is because the technologies that we are implementing for clients are really cutting edge and not many people are using them right now. One of the things that sets us apart is that we are a Google partner. Therefore, we get access to early Betas and we test them out for our clients. Some of them are awesome and really give our clients an edge on their competition. I do not think that companies really understand the sophistication of the technology that is out there. When we are able to drill in and actually show them the audience size and the demographics of the people that we are able to target, they all of a sudden say, “Wow, I did not know we could get that specific, and I did not know we could target to the level of sophistication that you guys can!” That is typically the ‘A-ha!’ moment.
CEOCFO: How do you reach prospective customers? Mr. Weiss: Our focus is entirely online. We do not do any traditional marketing. We do not do any TV or radio or newspaper or any of that. Sometimes we will help track a campaign that another agency is running, but our focus is really online. Once someone signs on with us, we do a lot of research on them. We do a lot of keyword research, demographic profiling and targeting, heat map analysis and A/B testing. We use every technology available to identify customers, understand competition and isolate things that might prevent a customer from converting. We fix any issues we find, then we start bringing in highly targeted customers.
CEOCFO: Do they tend to be a little more sophisticated and more likely to understand the concept? Mr. Weiss: There are some online marketing companies that say, “We just increased your traffic and we hope to get more customers.” We do not make that promise. Instead, C-4 Analytics finds the most relevant traffic. Traffic might go down, but what is there is more likely to convert,because we are able to figure out exactly how to get the people that are interested in a client’s products and services. That really gives people a nice significant way to say, “These people that are coming to our website are more targeted and more interested than the people that used to come.”
CEOCFO: Your website indicates that your team includes social psychologists and attorneys. What part do these professionals play in your whole offering? Mr. Weiss: This is a key piece of the strategy that defines and guides us. It is really about social psychology and the psychology of the user. In other words; is a blue background going to convert someone or is a green background going to convert someone? Do we have a background with dollar signs on it or do we have a background that is white and clean? It is about not only targeting the specific user, butunderstanding what users are telling us through their actions. The raw data may tell us that a page doesn’t convert well, but it won’t tell us why. When a psychologist looks at that page, they may see a fundamental reason for its poor performance. We can then take that information and A/B test solutions to improve the page by making sure it meets customer needs.
CEOCFO: You mentioned a blue background and a green background. For someone looking at a hospital is it always going to be the blue background, if that would be what they chose or is it really company by company or organization by organization? Mr. Weiss: It is really company by company, because it is not just the background. It is also the color of the button the context and the competition. We have auto dealers and sometimes we find that a blue button works. Sometimes it is a green button. Sometimes it is just a text link. We have tools that are able to A/B test these things and create multivariate tests, which means that we are able to present a ton of different options to a ton of different user groups. The one that gets the most conversions is the one that we use. Sometimes it is minor. Sometimes it is a .5% difference in conversion. However, if you make thirty different changes on a website and some of them have a .1% difference and some of them have a .5% difference, they add up to a significant change in conversion.
CEOCFO: One of the elements of your corporate culture is “Work hard, Play hard.” Why is that important for the company? Mr. Weiss: We are an agency. No two days are the same. We have multiple priorities. We are the marketing arm for our clients. Therefore, if we are not working hard our clients are not doing well. We really focus on what our number one priority here is: the clients. The client does not have to love the things that we do. We do not have to love the things that we do. However, as long as we are achieving results for that client, our program is very successful. That is really what our focus is.
CEOCFO: What about the “Play hard” part? Mr. Weiss: That goes to one of the things in our culture which is that we are a team culture. One person cannot run our program by themselves, because you need specialized expertise. We have different teams. We have a paid search team, editorial team, social team, creative team and strategy team. If one person from one of those teams on a project is missing or is not getting along with the rest of the team, the synergy just does not work. We have a weekly innovation hour where our teams get together and innovate and talk about new technologies. Sometimes we have a vendor present to us to show us some new things that are going on. Occasionally Google is in our office training us. Sometimes we go out for happy hour or we go bowling or we sponsor a fun run for our employees. The teamwork and the ability for everyone to get along very well are really critical for us.
CEOCFO: Do many of your clients take advantage of the full range of your services or are there areas that you would like to have more impact? Mr. Weiss: Every solution that we develop for our clients is unique. We do not do the same thing for any two clients. We do offer many of the same services, and there is a lot of overlap between clients, but each business has its own unique needs. Some have a reputation issue. Some have a conversion issue. Some just cannot be found anywhere and are completely in the dark. With some, you can get them tons of leads and they do not call them back. It really runs the gamut. We make sure that all of our clients take advantage of everything that we have to offer, but it’s ultimately up to them to choose the services that they want.
CEOCFO: C-4 Analytics is on the Inc. List, so we know that business is good. Is there a strategy to maintain the momentum or is it just more of the same, since it is going quite well? Mr. Weiss: We can only grow as fast as our team. One thing that we will never do is compromise the quality of service that we provide. To get on the Inc. List of the fastest-growing companies we achieved some great growth and in a very short amount of time. However, one thing I am really proud of is that we have a great ability to keep the quality of our work and to make sure that we are still delivering for all of our clients. Ninety percent of our business is referral. We do not have a sales team. We are only as good as the campaigns our agency runs,so we make sure all of the campaigns get results.
CEOCFO: Why should the business arena be taking notice of C-4 Analytics?
Mr. Weiss:
We offer cutting edge
technology that we are able to customize for anything from a small business
to a large enterprise. It is technology that allows us to target very
specific demographics so that we are able to not only save on advertising
costs occasionally, but also improve how money is spent. We are able to get
more customers from an existing budget. We can help businesses transition
from traditional marketing to the online model, where expenses can be
tracked and optimized for a higher return on investment. We have done this
for most of our clients very successfully, and this is the future of
advertising. If you are not going on line and you are in “traditional,” you
are going to fall behind. |
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Michael
Weiss