Digital Media Explosion

The digital marketplace has  fostered the growth of a “sharing economy”. 

• Ebay launched an online barter and auction site where people could buy and sell just about anything. 
• Amazon exploded into the online space creating a site where customers could buy just about anything without going to a physical store. 
• VRBO and AirBnB provide opportunities for consumers to rent and “share” vacation space that challenge the traditional vacation model and making it easier to less expensive to travel. 
• Uber and Lyft have created a shared driving opportunity that challenges the traditional taxi system. 

Peer to Peer marketing has seen tremendous growth with the social media marketplace.  Most recently Lyft announced an enhancement to their App tailored specifically to businesses.  The functionality introduced will be very helpful to business customers and the differention and diversification strenghthens Lyft position competing with Uber in this space.  It may be that Uber is the “consumer” choice while Lyft carves out a niche for business customers.

Moonlightingapp.com  is a new “peer to peer” model for small businesses.  Created by entrepreneurs in Charlottesville, VA this site provides a marketplace for consumers looking for business services from painting, plumbing to professional services such as legal, or marketing and connects with small businesses looking for business.   This is certainly an opportunity for all the freelance workers out there.

Digital Marketing is the future and has changed the way companies do business.  Marketers are more challenged to leverage and use digital marketing and to balance the traditional  marketing strategies of mass media advertising with SEO and online ads and direct mail with email and SMS texting.  Traditional sales channels are being challenged with online channels requiring companies to expand sales to new channels while maintaining traditional call centers.   The peer to peer marketing models that have launched are challenging traditional industries but making it more important to maintain and market a digital presence.  This is just getting started and there is so much new content coming our way to make our lives easier and challenge traditional marketing!

Influencer Marketing [VIDEO]

Influencer Marketing is a hot trend in 2016 and being used increasingly by companies to promote and manage their brands.  Content Marketing is still important but it is going to a new level – going viral.  Exactly what is Influencer Marketing?  This is getting customers to tout your product or company online – on social media, blogs and videos.  This is the next level of brand management.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R9-s6AO-n8&nohtml5=False

 An article in Ad Age quoted Nick Bianchi, AT&T’s director of social media saying, “We really increased our influencer program in 2015, and going into 2016, we are likely to increase it even more Managing your brand on social media.  http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/brands-work-creator-influencers/302919/

A recent article in Forbes, profiled a company, Sprinklr, that has made a business automating or developing software that aids large companies in monitoring their brands and reputations on social media. One application cited is that a company uses Sprinklr to monitor social media comments to identify loyal fans of its products and critics to address and limit the spread of negative comments.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2016/01/20/meet-sprinklr-the-startup-that-cracked-social/#2715e4857a0b2ff561f54f4a

Sources:

4. (2015). Influencer Marketing [VIDEO]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R9-s6AO-n8

Williamson, D. A. (2016, March 03). How Brands Can Work with Creator-Influencers. http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/brands-work-creator-influencers/302919/

Konrad, A. (2016, February 08). Meet Sprinklr, The Billion-Dollar Startup That Cracked Social Advertising. http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2016/01/20/meet-sprinklr-the-startup-that-cracked-social/#2715e4857a0b2ff561f54f4a

Mobile Apps and Social Media

Mobile devices are being used more frequently by consumers for online engagement – web browsing, e-commerce, social media engagement

A recent study, “ Mobile-based campaigns and coupons boost consumer brand sentiment” (Nadia Cameron, CMO, 1/22/16) www.cmc.com.au/article/print/592631/report-mobile-based-campaigns-coupons-boost 

                60% of consumers want to receive text alerts and updates from retailers

                1/3 smartphone users use wallet services such as Apple Pay or Google wallet

   82% reported that digital coupons were more convenient

The other day, while travelling, I stopped in a McDonalds and much to my surprise, even McDonalds has an App! 

Now one has to wonder – what value is an App to McDonalds.  There’s no need to make a reservation, call ahead or even find a McDonalds since they are ubiquitous.   But wisely McDonalds has jumped in to the game of social media marketing!  McDonalds is using the App for engagement and to draw customers to McDonalds and back to them as a lot of customers have strayed for healthier options.  I tend to be biased there, and still this McDonalds has great fries and I actually like the cheeseburgers – a good size for me J

Upon further inspection of the App, McDonalds is doing a good job with engagement and encouraging customers to visit.  They have a complete menu with nutritional facts about every item on the menu from calories to ingredients. 

Sources:

Cameron, N. (2016, January 22). Report: Mobile-based campaigns and coupons boost consumer brand sentiment. Retrieved April 25, 2016, from http://www.cmo.com.au/article/592631/report-mobile-based-campaigns-coupons-boost-consumer-brand-sentiment/

Social Media and Email

Increasingly companies are adding social media to their marketing strategies.  This is an effective strategy as increasingly more consumers are engaging with social media sites. 
In fact  "In their State of Marketing 2015 report, Salesforce polled 5,000 marketers about their budgetary changes for this year and found that 70 percent of respondents planned to boost social media ad spend.  70 percent said that they will increase expenditure on organic (non-paid) social media marketing, too"
 

It is important to incorporate a social media in your overall strategy to promote engagement with your web site and hence your product and brand.  As discussed in an earlier blog, email marketing is a very low cost alternative to direct mail marketing; however it can be less effective overall.  Integrating social media in the email marketing efforts can be a strategy to enhance rather than replace marketing efforts.  Social Media is a way to promote your content – messages and promotions to prospective customers and stakeholders.

http://www.business2community.com/social-media/4-ways-increase-revenue-social-media-01236612#MFtFfwE640O3MFPG.97

A common practice among email marketers is to include links to your social media sites.

Nearly every major corporation and small businesses have or are planning to increase revenues with social media.  According to a study by Cone Communications, 93% of customers expect companies to have a presence on social media (Bedgood 2015).  Social media is an important marketing platform for both B2Cand B2B marketing with Facebook being the most dominate player.  The chart below is from the Social Media Examiner ((Bedgood, 2015) shows how marketers plan to use social media.  *(See article in business2 community.com by Lisa Bedgood, May 27, 2015, “4 Ways to Increase Revenue with Social Media”

Email can be used as product promotion or could be used to encouragement engagement on social media.  More often, companies are offering incentives such as product discounts, free shipping or sweepstakes contests for consumers to “Like” them on Facebook.  Another effective engagement is to get customers to follow your company and brand on Twitter or Pintrest.  All of these marketing initiatives together serve to bring more customers to your web site and gives you another opportunity to increase engagement.  You own the brand and the content on your web site, blog, Podcast or YouTube and social media can be an effective means to promote your business.

Sources:

Bennett, S. (2015, January 12). 70% of Marketers Will Increase Social Media Spend in 2015. Re

Bedgood, L. (2015, May 27). 4 Ways to Increase Revenue with Social Media.  http://www.business2community.com/social-media/4-ways-increase-revenue-social-media-01236612#MFtFfwE640O3MFPG.97

Bernie v Ted

A couple of weeks ago I posted an analysis comparing the online marketing of two presidential campaigns – Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the front runners in their respective political parties.

This week I thought I would explore the current second place contenders – Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz.

As a recap, a  compelling site includes relevant content that will engage the customer.  Secondly, the web site should appear in the top online searches.  This is not an endorsement or promotion of one candidate over the other.  It is simply an illustration and comparison of online marketing.    

Let’s recap what a components of a strong web site. 

1. Visually Appealing – It is the first impression of you or your company. 
2. Clean lines and text that is easy to read and uncluttered pages
3. Easy navigation.  Users should be able to see the website and know what the company is about and how to easily find products and
   Relevant content that is substantive and descriptive.

These web sites are both very similar in a lot of aspects and are more similar to the Donald Trump site where the home page is a clear declaration of the candidates positions.  For Bernie it is “Nobody who works 40 hours a week should be in poverty”. 

For Ted Cruz it is: Join the movement of Courageos Conservatives”

Ted Cruz also makes research and navigation a bit easier by including clear navigation buttons on his home page.

Both meet the guidelines for being clear, decriptive and relevant to what they stand for and impactful.

For Bernie, he has a click through link to go to his site.  This is where you are directed. This is a very powerful visual.  Pictures of a diverse selection of people and an another bold statement “This is your movement”.  The navigation to further elements of his campaign are on the left side and easily navigable.  The contribution button follows.

Both these campaign web sites meet the core requirements for a relevant web site.  They are both powerful presentations of the candidates and their positions.  Ted Cruz takes advantage of additional promotion of news and video clips son the bottom half of his web site which provides the opportunity for his campaign to present positive information.  Now I’ll test the remarketing efforts of the campaigns 

Social Media to drive sales

How are company’s using social media to get customer engagement and more sales?  How successful are those campaigns that provide you an incentive to “Like” them on Facebook?

Are you motivated to “Like” a company or product because you truly do or because of an incentive.  As a consumer on the other end, I think it dilutes the endorsements for all of the other businesses that receive “organic” or unsolicited endorsements.

I asked several 20 somethings how they chose companies’ and from which to make purchases.   Overwhelmingly, their first response was Facebook.  I probed a bit more to understand how valuable they thought advertising on Facebook was to their engagement with a company.  They noted they would definitely pay attention and search a company that a friend liked.  They are unlikely to engage with a random advertisement not linked to a friend’s “like”

With over more than 400 million users on Facebook, the platform provides a very useful tool for  advertisers at a reasonable cost.   At a minimum companies should try to devise strategies to encourage their customers and fans to “like” their page because the content is good or the product they sell excellent.  Advertising would be more impactful l for companies that have positive, enthusiastic users that want to promote their product.

So it’s not surprising that company’s plan to increase the amount of their emarketing, online and social media investments in 2016.  A recent article published on, “Advertising Age” quoted the HP director of strategy and planning-global media and digital marketing as saying, "I would expect our spending in this area to increase considerably over the next 18 months, specifically in the area of video," said Ed McLoughlin,

The VP-engagement at Cancer Treatment Centers of America said, "We just dipped our toe into the water this year, but I would say we'll see a five- to 10-times increase over what we spent this year," Native advertising is "definitely becoming a line item in the budget that we'll have dedicated dollars to put against because I believe it's working," he added.

http://adage.com/article/digital/native-ad-spending-jumps-marketers-reservations/295956/

The Social Media Examiner found that 93% of advertisers now use Social Media as a component of their marketing budget.

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-marketers-use-paid-social-media/ 

There is a lot of opportunity out there for marketers to encourage customer engagement and get customers to engage online without investing a fortune on advertising.

 https://youtu.be/tIrS2zkWXY4?t=2    

Sources:

Redsicker, P. (2013, April 30). How Marketers Are Using Paid Social Media, New Research. Retrieved April 25, 2016, from http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-marketers-use-paid-social-media/

Sebastian, M. (2014, November 21). Native Ad Spending To Jump Despite Marketer Reservations. Retrieved April, 2016, from http://adage.com/article/digital/native-ad-spending-jumps-marketers-reservations/295956/

E. (2014, March 04). 10 Questions to Ask When Creating a Social-Media Marketing Plan. Retrieved April 25, 2016, from https://youtu.be/tIrS2zkWXY4?t=2

Campaign Web sites

 In 2016, an election year, there is certainly no shortage of political ads.  The ultimate marketing is a political campaign.  It is the marketing ideas, positions and ones self. 

In 2008, President Barack Obama’s campaign staff broke the traditional campaign format and leveraged the internet and digital marketing to have a significant impact.  The use of social media for engagement was unprecedented.  It was the first campaign that successfully used digital media to reach the masses. 

In 2016, it seems second nature.  However, while there is a lot on TV and news feeds online, I decided to look at the candidates' web sites to see what they are promoting.  Since Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are the current front runners I decided to compare their web sites.  This is not an endorsement or promotion of one candidate over the other.  I just picked these two to look at since they are the current leaders in their respective parties. 

First, let’s look at what makes a strong web site. 

1. Visually Appealing – It is the first impression of you or your company. 
2. Clean lines and text that is easy to read and uncluttered pages
3. Easy navigation.  Users should be able to see the website and know what the company is about and how to easily find products
4. Relevant content that is substantive and descriptive.

Both meet the guidelines for visually appealing.  They are also very clear as to what the web site is promoting. 

Donald Trump’s website was branded with his slogan, “Make America Great”  Also the top had clear navigation buttons – Positions, Get Involved, States, Media, Shop and Donate.  Further, scrolling down, there were news clips and video of articles and news the campaign wants to promote.  They are taking control of the messaging.

There is a multi prong approach to engagement.  First, the visitor can read about all of his positions.  There are also opportunities to get involved at the national level and state level.  If none of that appeals to you, you can shop for campaign paraphenalia.  You also have an opportunity to donate, which surprises me as isn’t this a self funded campaign?

The Hillary Clinton website looks good, but there is not much substance – if any.  While she is a known quantity and has been a public figure in the political scene much longer, I would expect to see more substance.  You cannot navigate anywhere on the site without first giving you email information.  From my first blog, you know this is my pet peeve with websites.  I like to browse and learn before I commit my personal information.  As a voter, I would like to be able to see all of her positions included on the site.  Without giving any personal information, there is nothing I can do.  This set up makes it hard to sway voters that may be on the fence and want to learn more.  Secondly, the campaign is not making it easy to donate and to support the campaign, whether it be with time or money.   It appears that she is letting a marketing opportunity get away and should use this digital space to better sell her brand - to promote campaign items or to promote her positions.

One strategy, the campaign has deployed is Remarketing.  Since I visited her website, I am now getting her website advertised to me while I am browsing.  That is sound marketing as it is reinforcing the campaign and the brand.  

Social Media

Social Media is so mainstream it is making its way into sitcoms.  The other day I was watching The Middle, an ABC sitcom and was humored to watch the dad, a middle aged man struggle with social media.  He is a middle aged man who is trying to promote his new business.  The exchange was around a Twitter feed.  He received an insult about his product.  Naturally, getting defensive he immediately replied to the Twitter which started a Twitter argument.  He was surprised at all the Tweets and realized he had no idea how to deal with it.  His college aged son stepped in, shaking his head in disbelief about

Twitter is an effective tool to promote the company and brand.  It can be used effectively to share a promotion or a link to your company website of blog.  Once a Tweet is sent, it can be easily forwarded and distributed.  So posting the link to your web site, You Tube video, blog, etc with a strong message or value proposition will help the message to be shared and promoted to a wider audience.

Yelp was mentioned in another sitcom, Last Man Standing (another ABC sitcom).  The premise is that the main character owns an Outdoor Adventure store and has recently opened a restaurant/café.  Someone gives a bad Yelp review and the immediate, and correct action, is that the manager immediately tries to rectify the problem by reaching out to the customer and inviting him back to give him a free meal and to fix the post with customer service.

Both these examples show how pervasive social media has become in our culture.  It also exemplifies how important it has become to marketing and the importance of preserving the brand.  As important as engaging and leveraging social media is the ability to listen and learn from the chatter.  It helps a company better understand the customer. 

Below is a link to a very interesting article on Social Media as a marketing tool.

http://www.toprankblog.com/2010/06/7-social-media-marketing-solutions/

Email Marketing

The focus for this week is:  E-Mail Marketing.  How can it be used effectively?   With the growth in the web, e-mail is a burgeoning method of marketing and accounts for much of the marketing activity companies deploy. 

One of the benefits of email is that the costs are much lower than for DM.  An April 2015 study by the Direct Market Association, “Response Rate Report” found that email had the highest ROI compared to other marketing communications. Below is a chart from MarketingCharts.com that shows the ROI of different marketing media from the DMA study.

http://www.marketingcharts.com/traditional/direct-media-response-rate-cpa-and-roi-benchmarks-53645/#.Vsng8rrOAGo.mailto

However, while the costs are much lower than for direct mail (DM), I caution marketers to be careful using email and to understand how to create the most impactful communications.   Too much messaging leads to “ email fatigue”  The consumer tiers of all of the inbox messages just hits “delete, delete, delete” while in their inbox.  How does the marketer get consumers to open the email and read the message? 

So how can email be successful?  First, the pure economics of how low cost it is should be part of a marketing campaign.  Collecting email addresses of existing customers is a wise move and should be a key objective of all communications and transactions with customers.  Follow up and relevant and targeted messages to existing customers will likely drive higher response. 

For new customers and prospects, companies can also buy email lists of customers.  Once a database of addresses is established, email can be used effectively for promotion and customer communication.  The challenge is how to get the email open. 

The key metrics for marketers is Open Rate which is the percent of email messages that were successfully delivered were actually opened by the recipient.  The subject line is the key driver to grab attention and interest to get enough interest and curiousity to open the email.  Creating a relevant and strong subject line is important to encourage customers to open the email. 

Once opened, you want the recipient to take action and click on a link to order or to get more information.  This is the Click Through Rate (CTR).  This is the percent of customers that opened the email that found enough interest and relevancy to click on a link. 

Once the customer clicks on you want to drive the customer to a web site where they can get more information of the product or service you are promoting and to a site that is simple to navigate and order.  This will help to maximize your web visits and sales.

You may wonder with the rise of email technology why marketers even continue to use direct mail.  The reason is that it is still effective.  E-mail is not a perfect substitute for direct mail which is the traditional ink and paper communications that has been used extensively.  Direct mail still generates a higher response rate than email.  This was another finding in the DMA study, “Response Rate Report”.   However amidst all of the promotional messaging, we do find promotions and offers that are worth realizing.  For companies and marketers DM is typically very expensive.  There is the print and production costs and postage.  To minimize costs and to get the most benefit from DM marketers have sophisticated models to target the mail, whether it is based on geography or customer profile.  Since DM is expensive, it is important that marketers target the direct mail so you are reaching the most likely customers to take action to improve your response rate and return for the company.

            DMA Response Rate Report 2015

For more information and statistics on this topic or to review the DMA 2015 “Response Rate Report” study the following links are available

thedma.org/news/data-driven-marketers-diversify-across-channels/

Direct Media Response Rate, CPA and ROI Benchmarks, April 14, 2015 - by MarketingCharts staff, http://www.marketingcharts.com/traditional/direct-media-response-rate-cpa-and-roi-benchmarks-53645/#.Vsng8rrOAGo.mailto

2015 DMA study: Direct mail response rates leave digital in the dust, http://sequelresponse.com/blog/2015-dma-study-direct-mail-response-rates-leave-digital-in-the-dust/

Shopping Issues

It's a cold snowy day today in the Northeast and MidAtlantic regions of the US.  I thought it was a good idea to look for Carribean Cruises.  I searched for Carribean Cruises and immediately saw an Ad promoting "Royal Carribean 70% Off".  Perfect.  I click on the link and it takes me to CruiseLines.com.  It has a very easy and navigatable search where I can select on several different attributes of a cruise.  However, the search results require me to put in my contact information.  I understand why the website requires the information as it is the best way to collect information on potential customers and build a prospective customer database.  However, I am not at the point of really considering a cruise.  I am still in the "wouldn't it be nice" and dreaming phase.  I was reluctant to put in my information so I exited out.  From an e-marketing perspective is the best way to collect information?  Do you think this discourages more prospective customers from perusing or is it effective for the company to build a targeted database of prospectives customers?   I don't like to provide the information when I am "window shopping".  From an emarketing perspective, I think the company would be better to allow searches but to collect cookies to send targeted ads over the next several days and weeks.