Interview Podcast: Karen Plumb. Chief Marketing Officer | Chief Customer Officer. United Kingdom

Ep71 Karen Plumb. Interview: Karen Plumb. Chief Marketing Officer | Chief Customer Officer. United Kingdom

Karen has a great experience in Marketing, as she knew from the beginning of her career that this field was her passion.

From her start at IHG, to her latest role at Premier Inn, Karen has seen great changes in the industry, and shares her view on this conversation:

-Every day is different, as Google could change an algorithm, or laws and regulations (GDPR, cookies) change, so you have to adapt. Therefore you must like challenges, stretch your brain, as there is an ever evolving transformation of the customer relationships. Ability to look at numbers and customer-centricity are priorities too.

-Loves the problem solving, the mixture of science and art. Utilizing data, personalization, segmentation, target and retarget.

-Investment in Digital Marketing is key: Customer-centricity needs to be a key factor, both operationally and from the marketing point of view. Digital marketing can show what you acquire, so the ROI is clear. Above the line (TV) is more challenging, but with digital marketing is easier to track.

-On the investment on tech, Karen is clear: Marketing needs data available, so updated ways to gather them are needed. However, you can have expensive kit, but you still need the professional knowledge.

-Training is Sales is key. Tripadvisor and Premier Inn put a lot in training. Marketing is different, as there are many verticals of expertise. Depends if you focus on analytics, or products. There is a lot to do with company culture.

-Now more than ever, one needs to know where are your customers coming from? do you have a brand? do they know you? Every $ invested in marketing will count. Think long term, as now everyone will be fighting for customers.

-Focus on your differentiator: With the start of the pandemic, everyone focused on cleanliness. What after that? how do you differentiate?

And a positive message to end: Hospitality is cyclical. Normally regions balance, now is different and unusual. But people want to travel, and it will recover. It’s all about experiences, and marketing plays a great role on making them happen.

I hope you find it as insightful as I did.