Shout Brands
A digital platform for marketing entrepreneurs
THE CHALLENGE
We live in a time where there is ever-increasing demand for our attention. Digitization has created new ways of engaging customers, triggering an exciting opportunity for the modern-day marketer. ShoutBrands has developed a platform for independent entrepreneurs and marketing agencies to deliver digital marketing to their clients. They were looking to enhance usability, increase adoption and reduce abondonment of their offering.
THE SOLUTION
The newly envisioned platform provides a guided first-time experience, highlighting core features, including a powerful “control center” where licensees can view prospective clients, get dynamic updates, and analyze current and future customer engagement patterns. It seamlessly consolidates all of ShoutBrand’s digital marketing tools, offering an experience that grows with the licensee.
A fusion of data and story-telling
Today there is a fusion of the “science” of marketing, that leverages big data and analytics, with a more human, story-telling approach delivered simply and at speed. Research and analytics are shedding light on who buys what and why, and on who influences buyers and when. There is a culture of urgency that necessitates a responsiveness - even from a small business owner - that is unprecedented.
This is the landscape in which ShoutBrands operates. During interviews with existing ShoutBrands licensees, a number of challenges were identified, including initial acquisition of their clients, supporting them to continuously engage their customers in inventive ways, and tracking their performance.
Long gone is spending guided mostly by intuition and focus groups. Instead, organizations are seeking greater precision by measuring and managing the consumer decision points where well-timed outlays can make the biggest difference.
Identifying the archetypes and evaluating the competition
Research revealed that within ShoutBrands’ target audience there were two distinct archetypes: the “eager entrepreneur,” and the “cautious explorer.” These two archetypes, or personas, had very different needs and challenges to be solved by the same platform. This understanding directly influenced many decisions made in the design process. While one archetype was looking for actionable analytics and specific features to distinguish their brand, the other was looking for more hand-holding and support as they establish themselves in this new marketing endeavor. In parallel to this qualitative research, competitive and comparative experiences were analyzed. A key insight was that competitors don’t offer a comprehensive platform for digital marketing entrepreneurs. Although some were large and established players, their offerings were primarily focused on one channel of digital marketing (for example, social media). Combining all four areas of digital marketing into one inclusive solution would differentiate ShoutBrands from their competition. With their existing tools, start-up mindset and broad industry knowledge, ShoutBrands was uniquely positioned to pioneer in this space.
This approach to software design has shown me a whole new way of thinking…I’m excited to use this with my other ventures.
Collaborative design for a future vision
A day-long ideation workshop was conducted with the ShoutBrands team to uncover new insights and ideas for the future. The current customer journey was mapped and rapid prototypes were developed from hand-drawn sketches to redefine the customer experience, seamlessly combining the previously siloed products into one comprehensive platform. Features and functionality were created with the two customer archetypes in mind: advanced analytics tools to help the “eager entrepreneur” track and focus efforts for maximum impact, and simple, clear interfaces to assist the users who needed extra support.
The clickable prototype was tested with existing users, and received excellent validation of the design. The hi-fidelity prototype gave ShoutBrands a tangible realization of future possibilities in a relatively short time frame, and the human-centered design approach provided them with a deeper understanding of the long-term needs of their user base.
Services
- Product Strategy
- UX/UI Design
- User Research
- Prototyping & User Testing
Industry
- Digital Marketing
