Welcome back to our blog series “Industry Insights”, where we interview members of the production world that we have had the opportunity to collaborate with! This week, we are featuring a digital producer with a background in marketing. Meet Chris Pagoria!

Chris studied Marketing and Real Estate at the University of Colorado. While attending college, Chris worked as a marketing consultant for a online ordering website that specialized in giving local restaurants the power of online order sales. After graduation, Chris returned home to Chicago to begin working here at Motion Source as a Project Manager, eventually becoming an Account Executive. After two years at Motion Source, Chris headed back west and returned to Boulder, CO: the startup capital of the Rockies. Following a short stint with an iPhone app startup, Chris joined forces with a few colleagues to become a Partner and Digital Producer at DigiZen Marketing Group. DigiZen specializes in all things digital marketing from Website Development to Social Media Management to Digital Media Production…basically all things digital marketing!

Currently at DigiZen, Chris and his team are helping a wide range of clients improve their digital marketing. Their current client set includes a power player in cycling apparel, a company providing a product solution to the maker movement, a startup in the coffee space that has huge aspirations to revolutionize your morning beverage, a corporate yoga instruction company, and a small handful of food brands in the natural/organic product space that need a digital presence. It's a very diverse set of clients that have commissioned DigiZen, but they all believe in the DigiZen model of digital marketing.

MS: What are some current techniques that have come into play in digital marketing?

CP: Digital marketers today use data points and analytics-based tracking to make almost every decision. Gone are the days of "gut feelings" and intuition. Data is king, and data rules all when it comes to charting a course. The next major component of digital marketing after you make your funnel is "follow tracking." If you don't know what a digital cookie is, your far behind the eight ball on digital marketing. Cookies are just one tool at a digital marketer's disposal to follow and track consumers all around the web, collecting data on their behavior and influencing their buying decisions. The most common example I use for people is "Have you ever looked online at toasters? And then for the next week you see toaster ads all over the web as you surf." As you probably guessed, that's not a coincidence. That is just one example of the 1000's of techniques we can use to increase sales through digital marketing.

MS: What is on the horizon? What is the next big trend?

CP: For the past 10+ years, social media has been a platform for companies to promote, advertise, and engage with consumers for the most part. We are seeing just the beginning of the transition for social media to now become a platform for e-commerce directly. No longer do brands have to direct you to purchase on their website or on Amazon; we are seeing the start of selling products directly on social media. Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are just now launching their e-commerce integrations that will allow users to buy directly off the platforms. "See a great pair of shoes on Pinterest….no problem; buy directly off that pin with a BUY button on Pinterest." This is the next big trend in digital marketing.

MS: How important is video usage in online marketing campaigns?

CP: Video in online marketing can be very powerful! And right now the marketing costs on video are cheaper and more targetable than ever! Not only has the cost of producing a video decreased over the past two decades, but the cost of acquiring new customers using video advertising has decreased via cost per acquisition, and increased immensely in the number of opportunities and mediums to share that video. The marketing cost has decreased significantly because of the ability to target viewers. For example, 15 years ago if your product was appealing to women between the ages of 35-50 with household income levels between 40K-70K, you might buy some ad time on HGTV and hope for the best; not knowing who really is watching the ads and who bought the product. Today, that same brand can specifically push their video advertisement out on Facebook to women only in those demographic ranges. Brands don't spend one penny on viewers who don't fit their exact demographic targeted profile. Brands can then track each individual video viewer via analytics to see who is buying and who is not, to refine their targets even more.

MS: What are your suggestions for ideas clients should consider when producing a video?

CP: Think about where the video will fit in your marketing funnel. Is the video being produced for brand awareness or is it closer to the middle of the funnel, to help the user convert at the point of purchase? Or maybe the video is being used post-purchase to build satisfaction levels on the purchase or brand loyalty. Knowing where the video will fit in the funnel is key to the messaging, style and production timeline for producing your video. Know how you want to use it before you produce it; this will save time and money, and will increase the return on your investment in video.

MS: What are your thoughts on social media and its place in marketing?

CP: From a marketer's perspective, social media platforms are a goldmine of data points and information. We use your social profiles to collect data just as much as we use the platforms to push advertising towards you. I always tell people as a digital marketer I know more about you and your buying behaviors than your own family knows about you. Now, as a consumer, that could scare some people, but I truly believe that the benefits outweigh the risks. We are quickly approaching a digital experience where a 60-year-old man will never have to watch a tampon commercial while browsing the web again.

MS: What is your favorite part about the digital marketing industry?

CP: As a digital marketer, as much as we strive to collect data and group audiences together, we still on a daily basis make truly human connections with the consumers of our clients' products. Every week, I talk to individual people directly on social media from all over the world that are using my clients' products in new and exciting ways; we are able to communicate with each person on an individual level that would not be possible without social media platforms.

MS: What types of projects do you enjoy working on the most?

CP: I love projects for clients that integrate over multiple platforms and multiple digital mediums. My favorite clients are the ones that come to us for multiple types of services because it all fits together. When we design their website, manage their social campaigns, and produce digital media assets for them that all sync together and are all ramped up in a short amount of time, it's very exciting for our client and their consumers.

MS: What is your personal mantra?

CP: Life is short and you only live once; don't waste one day of it.

MS: What are some of your favorite movies?

CP: Ocean's 11, Up in the Air, Too Big to Fail

MS: Can you give us a fun fact about yourself?

CP: Personal fun facts aren't that fun….here's a picture of my dog instead! To all you amateur marketers out there, here's your fun fact: "Dogs Sell!"