Minute with a Marketer: Julie Booth, Nine West Group

Welcome to the first edition of our new monthly series, Minute with a Marketer. In these posts, industry gurus will share insights on the future of digital marketing, their greatest challenges and opportunities, and more. We’re kicking things off with this month’s featured marketer, Julie Booth, digital director of Nine West Group.

Q. How has retail marketing evolved?

A. Retail marketing has—and continues to—evolve tremendously. Mobile allows the customer to not only pre-shop via email and social promotion, but to search for competitive pricing during in-store visits. As mobile traffic rises, retailers are pressured to think mobile first in terms of design and navigation. They must ensure the mobile customer has an easy, secure checkout experience—whether it’s through an app or mobile wallet payment options. Although mobile traffic is up, purchase confidence continues to be an issue industry-wide and often shoppers prefer to complete transactions on desktops or tablets. This is troubling for marketers, because as shoppers use multiple devices during their commerce journey, attribution becomes more difficult to pinpoint.

Q. If you had unlimited budget to test a new initiative, where would you invest those dollars?

A. This is a marketer's version of "If you hit the Lotto, what would you buy first?" Instagram has introduced links within promoted posts—it would certainly be nice to roll a series of those out each month. But before considering this for a test campaign, I would prefer to wait for more case studies in order to understand average ROI. I truly believe prospecting and customer acquisition needs to be constantly fueled and tested.

And of course, content. The true way a brand can connect with its customers, humanize itself, and deliver fun, engaging and authoritative content is with quality and clever storytelling, photography and video.

Q. What did you want to be when you grew up?

A. When I was growing up, I dreamed of having my own radio show. I was told my whole life that I had a pretty distinct, authoritative voice—so I wanted to use that to my advantage. That dream took many forms throughout my life: voiceover work, storytelling, open mic poetry, comedy, and dare I say karaoke? But I found that my creativity is best used in marketing and social media. And my voice? It gets a workout from time to time when I am fortunate enough to speak at events.