An Interview With Kieran Powell
Audience interest means more than your personal preferences
Marketing to yourself instead of your target audience is a recipe for wasted resources. Let’s imagine you love dogs, but your target audience is cat owners. Creating dog-centric content will likely fall flat. Analyze your audience’s interests and make sure to tailor your message to resonate with them.
In an age where marketing landscapes are rapidly evolving and consumer behaviors are constantly shifting, Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) play a pivotal role in steering their organizations’ marketing strategies towards success. With a plethora of channels, platforms, and techniques at their disposal, the decision on where to allocate the marketing budget is more critical than ever. We’re seeking to explore questions like: What factors influence their decisions? How do they balance between digital and traditional marketing channels? What role does data play in their decision-making process? And importantly, why they choose to invest in certain areas over others? As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Alexander Kuznetsov.
Alexander is a digital reputation management expert with 25+ years of experience. His client portfolio includes both global and national large- and middle-scale businesses in such verticals as FMCG, Tech, Auto and Finance. Today Alexander is developing a new global digital agency — RCheckUP, focused on developing cost-effective digital communications technologies.
Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
My journey in digital reputation management started over 25 years ago. Back then, I was fascinated by the emerging power of the digital world and how it could impact a brand’s reputation. From there, I spent a good chunk of my career working in communication agencies, including big names like SPN Ogilvy where I had the opportunity to serve as the Chief Digital Officer. During this time, I focused on helping clients across various industries, like FMCG, Tech, Auto, and Finance (Nestlé, Unilever, General Electric, Toyota, Citibank, etc.) build and protect their online reputations.
Seven years ago, I turned my focus to entrepreneurship and started building a new global digital agency called RCheckUP (short for Reputation Checkup). RCheckUP is all about helping companies boost their digital reputation with the help of technology. We use a unique approach called ‘Digital Front’ to analyze a client’s reputation across all digital channels. It’s a comprehensive strategy, and to top it off, we’re developing innovative technologies to make it all as cost-effective as possible for our clients.
Sharing my knowledge is another big part of what I do. Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of teaching a Digital Reputation Management course to over 800 students — both current and aspiring specialists in the field. It’s incredibly rewarding to see the next generation take what I’ve learned and build on it.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
That’s definitely true for me. I have a funny story from when I was first starting out with influencer collaborations for livestreams. I was all set to start a stream with a fantastic influencer for one of our clients. I was sure my team had planned everything — date, time, format, the whole works! So I got everything set up, and was about to hit the “go live” button, but… there was no one in the stream. Turns out, in all my planning excitement, I completely forgot that I was actually in a different time zone that day for a business trip! Thankfully, I’d joined the stream two hours early instead of two hours late. (Lesson definitely learned there!) I used that extra time to gather some additional questions for our guest, so everything ended up going smoothly in the end.
But let me tell you, now, before any important online event, my team and I double-check not just the timing, but also the time zones of all participants involved. I’ve learned firsthand that correct time-planning can save a lot of last-minute stress!
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
I’m very excited about a new service for CMOs and business owners we’ve recently launched at RCheckUP called Digital CheckUP. It’s a highly automated, AI-driven reputation management platform that allows creating a brand’s full reputation audit report in just two days.
Regular online presence audits are crucial for brands, however most companies struggle to constantly monitor their reputation across so many platforms at once — social media, search engines, review sites, and more. Digital CheckUP tackles this challenge as it uses AI and Big Data to analyze all online platforms where your brand is present and assesses your brand’s reputation score on a scale of 1 to 10 across each channel. After that, our analysts step in to provide recommendations for reputation enhancement. Thus a comprehensive report is made, providing the client with a complete picture of how their brand is perceived online. I expect this tool to become a time-saver for planning and evaluating marketing campaigns.
Thank you for that. Let’s now shift to the central focus of our discussion. Can you share an experience where a unique or unconventional budget allocation led to unexpected success in your marketing campaign?
Pushing the boundaries of traditional marketing can lead to truly great results. At RCheckUP, we were recently tasked with promoting a corporate video. The goal was to generate views and increase engagement from a quite narrow target audience.
Instead of using targeted advertising, which would have been the traditional approach and guaranteed a specific number of views, we decided to try something different. We placed the video on an entertainment portal, where it went viral and was discussed on social media for weeks. The results far exceeded our expectations, and our target audience definitely took notice!
How do you balance investing in emerging marketing trends versus traditional, proven strategies in your budget decisions? Can you give us an example?
To my mind the best approach to keep this balance is to allocate a portion of your budget to testing new ideas, while still investing in the tried-and-true methods that you know will deliver results. One way to do this is to use a “venture capital” approach: set aside a small percentage of your budget for testing new marketing trends. This allows you to experiment with new ideas without putting all of your eggs in one basket.
For example, for one of our clients who has never worked with this format before, we recently tested the effectiveness of using short videos: Shorts and Reels. We allocated a small portion of the project budget to create a new form of content that allowed the customers to interact with our client company in a new way. The results were very positive, and we decided to expand using this formats for this customer in the future.
In what ways has data-driven decision-making influenced your approach to allocating marketing budgets, and can you provide an example of this in action?
Data-driven decision-making has basically led me to creation of a tool that democratizes brand reputation audits, as I mentioned above. Traditionally, these audits involved a lot of manual work — counting mentions, analyzing social media engagement, etc. It was time-consuming and expensive. As a marketer myself, I understood this pain point all too well. This is how the concept of Digital CheckUP was born. It uses AI and big data to analyze all online platforms where a brand is present, eliminating the need for manual counting of mentions, interactions, and other data points. This translates to significant cost savings for marketing people and business owners.
How do you evaluate the ROI of different marketing channels and decide where to invest more or cut back?
Unlike other marketing goals like lead generation or sales, where ROI can be measured directly, reputation management is more complex and requires a nuanced approach. At RCheckUP, we understand that ROI for reputation management depends on the specific channel and the client’s objectives. There is no one-size-fits-all answer.
For example, if the goal is to increase brand awareness, ROI might be measured in terms of reduced cost per contact with the target audience. On the other hand, if the goal is to improve customer satisfaction, ROI might be measured in terms of increased customer retention or positive reviews. In this case, we would focus on channels that allow for direct engagement with customers, such as email marketing or customer surveys.
Ultimately, the best way to evaluate the ROI of reputation management is to track key metrics over time and compare the results across different channels. By doing this, we can identify which channels are most effective at achieving our goals and adjust our budget accordingly.
Based on your experience and success, what are the “5 Things To Keep in Mind When Deciding Where to Assign Your Marketing Budget, and Why?”
Based on my experience, here are 5 crucial things to consider:
1. Audience interest means more than your personal preferences
Marketing to yourself instead of your target audience is a recipe for wasted resources. Let’s imagine you love dogs, but your target audience is cat owners. Creating dog-centric content will likely fall flat. Analyze your audience’s interests and make sure to tailor your message to resonate with them.
2. Risk management budget is key
Even in the most well-planned campaign crises can erupt. Spending all your budget on promotion, neglecting a rainy-day fund may result in unwanted loans, layoffs, or even business closure. I strongly insist that every business should build a financial buffer by setting aside a percentage of your profits or cutting unnecessary expenses. This reserve, typically covering 3–4 months of fixed costs, protects you during unforeseen circumstances.
3. Targeted reach: stretch your marketing budget further
A broad, untargeted approach wastes money by reaching irrelevant audiences. Small businesses and early-stage startups often attempt to reach everyone, leading to low conversion rates and frustration with online promotion tools. A much better approach is to start small, running targeted campaigns for different segments of your audience. Test different creatives and settings to identify your ideal customers and refine your strategy. Gradually expand your reach as you learn.
4. Budget for testing and maximize ROI
Creating one ad and throwing the entire budget at it is a gamble. A/B testing different copy, visuals, and combinations allows you to see what works and what doesn’t. Even small changes can significantly improve performance and cost-effectiveness. Additionally, testing allows you to understand your audience better. Based on test results, formulate data-driven hypotheses to enhance the return on your advertising investments. AI tools can assist with content creation for testing.
5. Don’t panic cut!
In times of crisis, some organizations make the mistake of cutting marketing budgets to zero. However, strategic communication is even more vital during challenging times. Modern marketers should advocate for the strategic importance of their role, since strategic marketing efforts can help navigate challenges and maintain brand resilience.
Could you discuss a challenging budget decision you faced, how you navigated it, and the impact it had on your overall marketing strategy?
One of the most challenging budget decisions I faced involved a client whose initial marketing strategy focused heavily on traditional channels like television commercials and print advertising. While these channels have broad reach, they can be expensive and less effective when targeting specific demographics. To convince the client to allocate a significant portion of their marketing budget to social media and influencer marketing, I presented them with reports on media consumption and online behavior patterns of their target audience, highlighting their heavy social media and mobile app usage.
The revised strategy resonated with the target audience and increased brand credibility. This resulted in a significant increase in website traffic, and ultimately, new sign-ups.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
My movement would definitely be focused on promoting digital literacy and media awareness. Also, it would promote ethical practices and combat the spread of harmful content online. It’s my deep conviction that in today’s information age, it’s crucial to help people critically evaluate the information they encounter online.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
The best way to follow my work is on LinkedIn, where I share updates on RCheckUP’s new projects and insights on the latest digital world news: https://www.linkedin.com/in/virusog/
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
About The Interviewer: Kieran Powell is the EVP of Channel V Media a New York City Public Relations agency with a global network of agency partners in over 30 countries. Kieran has advised more than 150 companies in the Technology, B2B, Retail and Financial sectors. Prior to taking over business operations at Channel V Media, Kieran held roles at Merrill Lynch, PwC and Ernst & Young. Get in touch with Kieran to discuss how marketing and public relations can be leveraged to achieve concrete business goals.
CMO Perspectives: Alexander Kuznetsov Of RCheckUP On Where to Assign Your Marketing Budget and Why was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.