In the bustling realm of marketing, the simplest ideas can often make the biggest impact.
Picture this: A campaign featuring shaving an kiwi to promote a men's razor.
This idea worked wonders for Why Digital.
In this interview, Why Digital founder and CEO Roy Caccamo shows us that focusing on a clever, straightforward concept can cut through the noise, capturing attention and driving engagement.
Who Is Roy Caccamo?
Roy Caccamo, founder and CEO of Why Digital, began his digital journey in 1999 by launching an online global portal that attracted over 25 million visitors annually through innovative digital marketing strategies. He has since led multiple digital agencies, consulting for startups and large businesses across various sectors. Roy also guest lectures in digital marketing at UTS Sydney and specializes in auditing and planning business growth.
Every company has its unique essence, a special something that sets it apart. What intrigued me about Why Digital was their compelling motto: "It all starts with WHY,” prompting me to delve deeper into its significance.
“Starting with WHY forces you to focus on the deeper reasons you offer services or products to others, e.g., the value you provide them, to then be able to figure out and position any alignment,” Roy explains.
He notes that honing in on your WHY also clarifies your objectives and resonates with people, as they connect with the values that drive your actions and behaviors.
“When this is thought out and articulated, sales occur from the buy-in to your WHY, the transactional aspect diminishes significantly because everybody is on the same path, on the same page, and for similar reasons,” he concludes.
I asked Roy how Why Digital approaches each new project with its motto in mind, as I believed other agencies and brands would find his answer beneficial.
“We start by finding out as much as possible about all the parties involved to receive any value, for example, we use the same ideology to help our clients discover their WHY.
We then find out more about what they offer and how they do this and finally look deeply at their target audiences to understand what it is they are seeking out.
Sometimes we do this with profiling and other times we simply look at existing customers to learn from them, and we always look at competitors to fast-track our learning wherever possible,” he noted.
Copying Competition Won't Keep You Ahead
Analyzing the competition is key to unlocking what might work best for a business. And it’s no secret that many brands copy their most successful competitors today.
But is this right or wrong?
“No it's not wrong to copy the most successful competitors — this is the fastest way to get rolling by learning from others. However, it is always short-lived if no innovation follows, because the leader is adapting, evolving, tweaking, or sometimes disrupting the marketplace.
So, in my opinion, it's fair game to copy successful competitors to learn and earn, but the goal must be to do it better; otherwise, you will only ever be the follower picking up the scraps and eventually BURN”, Roy notes.
I agree with him. While emulating successful strategies can provide a strong starting point, true success lies in pushing boundaries and continuously innovating to stay ahead.
To properly use the findings of their competitor research and ensure growth in the market, Roy suggests that brands should identify gaps and opportunities for improvement.
They should focus on doing things better, faster, and more efficiently, possibly through automation. Then, decide whether to scale to a larger audience or target a select group at higher prices for better margins.
Why Digital often discovers that someone else is already successfully offering a similar product or service, filling the same gap or need.
“Success or indeed failure leaves clues and online it's not hard to find the evidence through lots of data and analytics portals that help make sense of it such as Semrush, Google Analytics, trends, keyword traffic and many more,” he adds.
Besides leveraging analytical tools, the company also visually cites content strategies, social media pages, reviews, and more.
“All of the above is considered and then integrated in some places to help make our strategies even stronger and more successful,” he notes.
Watch our video on competitive analysis to learn how to create a powerful competitor matrix, and strategically assess your business's strengths and weaknesses.
Great Marketing Campaigns Are Personalized
Discussing how important it is to be current with industry trends to stay competitive, I asked Roy if he could share some untapped ways to leverage marketing trends for success.
“As marketers, our goals are to get our clients in front of as many of their relevant target customer segments as possible for the least amount of money and effort, all while using engaging content that resonates with them emotionally,” he explains to me.
He says that when budgets allow, Why Digital uses innovative ideas to engage target audiences, aiming for viral impact through humor or challenges.
Roy shared a case study, from when they once promoted a men's razor by filming the shaving of an kiwi to demonstrate its precision, revealing a smiling face drawn on it. This simple, creative idea garnered extensive free exposure through shares, likes, and comments, enhancing the client's cool factor.
When it comes to which business and marketing trends to follow, he suggests that brands should opt for trends that are successful within the same or similar verticals.
However, he points out that a great marketing campaign is personalized and created specifically for the customers' businesses and their target audiences.
So, businesses should customize their models, marketing trends, and activities based on what works best for their specific needs and customers.
To bring your marketing campaigns to life, consider partnering with a top digital marketing agency.
Roy and I also touched upon whether B2B companies should or should not concentrate on consumer trends prevalent on platforms like TikTok.
I was curious to hear his thoughts on this perspective so I asked him if he believes there are any circumstances under which B2B companies could benefit from engaging with these trends.
This is his answer:
“I have found over the years that B2B companies are owned by guess what? Real people. Yep, who would have thought that B2B company owners, managers, and even employees use platforms like TikTok?
Now if a campaign's main objectives are to simply have brand awareness and position itself as a leader, then using these consumer channels will meet this objective by getting in front of their target audiences at a fraction of the cost.
If the marketing objectives warrant it, then yes B2C channels can be used strategically to connect with and engage a wider audience that includes business owners and leaders.”
Given that every digital platform has its own culture and expectations, and messages need to be tailored accordingly while keeping the brand's core identity, maintaining a consistent brand voice and messaging across various platforms can be challenging.
In light of this, I asked Roy what steps he would recommend brands follow to successfully solve this challenge.
He shares the following tips:
- Understand the audience types on each platform
- Customize content and messaging to attract, engage, and influence that audience
- Avoid platforms with unsuitable audiences
If you're looking for a professional agency to help you drive customer loyalty and trust, be sure to check DesignRush's listing of top branding agencies.
Trustworthy Brands Focus on Honesty
Commenting on what matters most in branding today beyond the visual appearance that brands should have or do to win customers’ trust and loyalty, Roy suggests that trust comes from honesty, authenticity, and consistency, while loyalty comes from the positive experience from past dealings with a brand.
“If you want to win trust, your branding and messaging must be honest, treating people respectfully and not trying to catch them out, trick them, or confuse them with gobbledygook as David Meerman Scott describes.
Branding like business and marketing is not a game of how many people you can convert or sell to, but rather how many people can find, engage, and then add value to,” he adds.
Roy shares the following strategies for brands aiming to build and enhance trust with potential customers in an oversaturated market:
- Be authentic in everything from branding to all of your digital collateral
- Truly meet your customers' needs, think of yourself as their magic mirror
- Show them the proof of how you have done this before or how you honestly intend to do it now, and one more for good measure
I agree with Roy that to effectively build and enhance trust with potential customers, it's vital to implement strategies that resonate with authenticity, integrity, and proven success.
But how can a brand effectively measure the impact of its branding across various digital platforms?
Roy says that all digital platforms have some way to track, monitor, and measure both negative and positive sentiment.
To measure the impact of branding one should look at mentions and any feedback on social media and review sites.
He notes that Why Digital also uses surveying, cold calls, and even user groups to measure the impact a brand has in the marketplace to great effect.
Watch our video to discover the benefits of generative AI in marketing.
Will Generative AI Replace Search Engines?
Roy and I touched upon the biggest branding trends that businesses will have to follow in the generative AI era to stay relevant on Google.
Roy suggests that he’s glad to see that Google's recent updates and reputation abuse policies don't reward AI-generated content for SEO.
Additionally, he believes brands should provide as much accurate information online as possible for AI filters. Since AI is here to stay, having correct information is important.
But how can brands leverage their market insights to foresee these trends?
Roy says that brands must keep their information and media current and relevant across all digital channels to become thought leaders and authorities.
“Google still rewards genuine, helpful content that has lots of third-party endorsement (even user-generated) that indicates to them that a brand is worth trusting and recommending to others.
People are already going to AI to get answers to many questions rather than Google, and once they believe they can get solutions to their problems using AI, trusting the output, brands will need to rethink their content strategies, and third-party endorsements, and monitor and measure like never before.
So get in early and create an abundance of real authentic content now that when mashed together will still ring true,” he concludes.
Roy makes great points here. I also often find myself using ChatGPT more frequently than Google for specific questions, and I believe many other content writers do the same.
This raises an intriguing question: could generative AI eventually replace search engines? Perhaps, but the most likely outcome is that Google itself will become a generative AI of sorts.
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