What is your role in the company and who do you interact with the most?
I joined Cramaro Group in 2020. The company had developed a greater awareness of the value of communication in B2B and had therefore decided to invest in an important brand repositioning project. In Cramaro the rebranding represented not a simple renewal of the company image, but a change in communication strategy. What was previously product-oriented communication has given way to a more emotional and experiential storytelling: we talk about an ecosystem of services that orbits around our products. We do this through various channels, from interactive tools such as social media, the app and the reserved area to affiliate and brand ambassador programs, which put our partners and customers at the centre. Communication and interaction with the customer are fundamental for us. The ambassador program, launched last year, intends, for example, to bring together customers in an online community who share their routine and experience with the product on social media; the feedback from the community is giving us important satisfaction. Always with the aim of offering a complete experience to our customers, we have introduced virtual and augmented reality to bring the products to life in an innovative way. Personally, I coordinate communication at Group level: I am responsible for defining the strategy, managing the budget and implementing online and offline marketing and communication activities, including events. With the exception of very vertical skills, such as video or graphics, operations are almost internalized within the company.
What led you to take on a position in marketing?
I studied at the School for Translators and Interpreters of Trieste and graduated in Specialized Translation. I started as a freelance translator, specializing more and more in transcreation (the translation of creative texts) and subsequently moved to Vienna where I started working as a copywriter for a gaming company. Here I took care of all the creative copy for the Italian market, from ATL, with commercials for TV, radio and print, as well as editorial texts for sports columns, to BTL, with website, newsletter, banners and other online creativity. I subsequently returned to Italy, to Padua, where I worked in a digital agency as a Project Manager and Digital Strategist. Here I had the opportunity to delve deeper into digital marketing and the social sphere, from the development of editorial plans to ADV strategies. I then moved to Verona, where I worked for the dm drugstore chain, taking part in the launch of the brand in Italy. Finally, in 2020, I joined Cramaro Group, contributing to the rebranding and development of corporate communication.
What do you think about social media in the B2B market segment?
Communication must be thought of in terms of omnichannel, but online presence is essential for a company today. Even in B2B, companies are realizing the importance of being there. Social media, specifically, has numerous advantages compared to more traditional physical marketing. The vast exposure, the strong targeting of the public (more important than ever in a B2B market that must respond to specific or, as in the case of Cramaro Group, niche needs), the greater measurability of the actions, but above all the social influence they exercise on the user are just some examples. Social media are in fact a shared environment, in which the user is not alone with the brand, as happens instead when faced with an advert in print media. The user sees how their network interacts with that brand and wants to feel part of that community too.
Social media is therefore a tool with great potential, which however must be managed: the risk of being there at all costs as a brand is in fact that of transforming social media into a blender of fast and low-value content.
Which social network do you use with the most involvement and which one the least?
Cramaro Group is a hybrid reality between B2B and a sort of B2C. Some social networks are therefore better suited to one target rather than another. Furthermore, being a multinational reality, there are different dynamics from market to market in terms of users' online behavior. In general, LinkedIn is more suitable for communicating to our B2B target, while Facebook and Instagram are aimed at a broader target. And while Facebook records higher volumes, on Instagram we find stronger interaction, a factor that allowed us to launch the ambassador project, creating a community and a shared exchange.
The data shows that having a low number of followers damages the brand image, what do you think?
A good fan base undoubtedly contributes, in the user's perception, to giving value to the page in reputational terms. The number of followers is in fact the first visible indicator when opening a social profile and is also the most easily measurable. It is, however, simplistic to measure the quality of a page and communication based on the number of fans. For example, the level and quality of interaction with the page must be considered. Furthermore, there are several variables that come into play in the evaluation: the social platform, the type of content and the product and market category. The Cramaro Group product is technical and is aimed at a niche market, it cannot be expected to generate the same volumes as a consumer product. In any case, the organic and constant growth of the fan base is for us a confirmation of the path we are taking together with our community.
How important are online reviews, are they important?
Reviews are important because they can have a strong impact, positive or negative, on the perception and reputation of a brand. You should also keep in mind that people are more likely to leave a review when they have had a negative experience with the product. The strength of online reviews is that they come directly from the consumer or user who provides a first-person testimony. This is also its weak point because every statement must be verified and contextualized. In any case, in Cramaro Group we pay maximum attention to user feedback, first of all because we want to provide solutions to the needs that are reported to us and then because it allows us to collect useful input and improve based on the customer's direct experience.
Have you thought about enlisting the help of professionals from the social world given the importance achieved by digital platforms and their management complexity?
As mentioned before, at the moment in Cramaro Group operations are managed almost entirely internally. Social media is in fact the only activity that is partly outsourced. Here we work hand in hand with the agency, combining internal knowledge with external vertical skills, to create a precise strategy capable of adapting to the continuous evolution of social platforms, also on the ADV side, with specific campaigns for each country. I believe that working in synergy between internal and external can bring strong added value.
What are the future corporate communication projects?
There are several projects that are taking shape within Cramaro Group but I don't want to give spoilers. Our key values are always attention and proximity to the customer, so I can say that, both at a communication level and at a company level, we will work to further strengthen all the tools and services that put him at the centre, from the ambassador program to the reserved area, up to the service network in the area.