Two organisations that stand out in my mind

Posted on April 21, 2015 by David Herbert

My previous blogs have discussed a variety of digital marketing strategies that are available to organisations to construct. From creating an email marketing campaign to designing a game changing app leaving competitors behind, each digital marketing strategy has its undoubted benefits. But what I want to know is, who has been successful? Having gained an understanding of theory and practice whilst conducting my blogs I want to put it to the test and see which organisations digital marketing strategies I have been positively affected by.

Groupon

With well-designed emails and an increasingly popular app, Groupon have excelled in their digital marketing strategies. I am a regular user of Groupon and believe the business idea is unique and benefits from being personal to consumers. In case you didn’t know, Groupon is an easy way to get huge discounts while discovering fun activities in your city, with daily local deals consisting of restaurants, spas, hotels, massages, shopping vouchers, things to do, and a whole lot more, in hundreds of cities across the world (Groupon, 2015).

E-mail campaign

Once an individual is registered with Groupon users have the option to receive promotions and exclusive deals via email. Personally I am generally one to ‘opt out’ of such facilities however the Groupon email campaigns have been a useful information point for me. The emails are personalised to me, offering exclusive deals in my area based on my previous purchases. The subject line is generally straight to the point and the content of the email is short and sweet. From this I am able to gain quality information, regarding offers that I would not have been aware of otherwise. Of course not every time Groupon send me an email do I purchase I what they have to offer, but generally I open the email to see what the latest offers are. From this I am encouraged to visit their webpage, where a variety of deals are available to purchase, which is essentially the main purpose of an email campaign from an organisations point view.

Mobile app

Further to a successful email marketing strategy Groupon have designed an articulate app that consumers are delighted with. The app is user friendly and regularly updated making experiences of the organisation simple and effective. The app has a variety of categories for consumers to browse, which enables a user to navigate the app easily, tailoring their search to individual needs. I regularly use the app and have (touch wood) never had issues with purchasing products or the availability of items, which encourages me to reuse the facility as often as I can. With the availability of exclusive deals the app provides consumers with unique experiences that the webpage of the business might not be able to offer. I feel this is an effective design feature of the app to encourage user engagement. With 89% of consumer media time in mobile apps (Colwyn, 2014) it is important that an organisation promotes the use of its app on top of their website page and I feel Groupon have definitely addressed this opportunity and the customer review section supports this.

Size? – Social media

Size? are a global supplier of outstanding footwear and garments by a collection of the world’s best brands (Size, 2015). Size? positively engage with customers on all social media platforms with over 100k followers on Twitter, 120k likes on Facebook but more impressively 459k followers on Instagram and are an account I follow on all three platforms.

Instagram Campaign

The success of the size? Instagram page is not surprising, with the ability to showcase their latest products with exclusive deals on an ever-increasing popular social media platform, Size? truly exploit this opportunity. Over the Christmas period size? ran a digital marketing campaign solely for the Instagram account. The campaign offered followers the chance to enter competitions daily in order to win secret prizes from the store. Each day a new product was placed on Instagram and followers simply had to ‘repost’ the image with a relevant hashtag to be in with a chance of winning.

This campaign really stands out in my mind as one that exploited an opportunity from social media advertising and benefited greatly from doing so. By creating a competition around the Christmas period followers were inclined to share content to their peers and encourage users to visit the shared pages. With consumers looking to buy presents in the festive season anyway, size? ensured their webpage had the maximum exposure possible. The competition was also a way of building the brand image by creating content that was regularly shared by users. Although I didn’t win any of the prizes myself, I shared the competitions posts and regularly visited the company’s webpages on all platforms. I would also state that I have an active relationship with size? as a brand, that has certainly been built and encouraged through positive relations on social media .

Now there are of course a plethora of digital marketing campaigns that have positively affected me but these two organisations were the ones to stand out in my mind in terms of design and user engagement. Groupon utilise the email facility to provide customers with relevant information which encourages traffic to their website and app. Whilst, taking a different approach to digital strategy, size? ensure their social media accounts are relevant, appropriate and engage their followers to ensure a positive relationship is built alongside a strong brand image.

References

Colwyn, S. (2014) ‘New consumer media consumption research – Smart Insights Digital Marketing Advice’,

Groupon INC (2015) Groupon: Deals and Coupons for Restaurants, Fitness, Travel, Shopping, Beauty & more. Available at: http://www.groupon.co.uk (Accessed: 20 April 2015)

size? (@sizeofficial) (no date) Available at: https://twitter.com/sizeofficial (Accessed: 20 April 2015)

Social media and its marketing benefits

Posted on April 20, 2015 by David Herbert

With one in four of us using social media networks worldwide the opportunity for businesses to advertise on such platforms has become increasingly popular in recent years. As of 2013 there are 665 million daily active users on Facebook and over 500 million registered accounts on Twitter, suggesting that the use of social media to advertise a businesses services is almost expected. With this in mind I wanted to better understand the benefits of social media advertising and the value that this digital marketing strategy can hold. Here are 4 benefits for an organisation from engaging with social media marketing:

Brand building

Social media is an excellent way to showcase a business and build a positive brand image online. Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are an excellent opportunity to make an organisation accessible for new customers as well as increasing familiarity for existing ones. By creating articulate and informative social media pages for consumers to engage with, the online image of a brand is enhanced. This is because customer engagement becomes regular which leads to sharing content to an ever-growing online audience. Social media can give brand managers a powerful means to communicate their brands’ values while also letting consumers help define brand narratives in an impactful way (Botts, 2014).

Meaningful content

By using social media to advertise a business, marketers can be specific and direct with the content they share for intended consumers. An opportunity is created to deliver content that is aligned with brand values and a target audience. This will encourage users to share and comment on relevant posts, which further increases your brand awareness as mentioned previously. For professionals and firms, adding a content element exponentially increases the value of social media efforts because expertise is knowledge based (Golden, M 2010). From this an organisation can analyse information such as most viewed, most liked and most commented on posts in order to manage future content to ensure user engagement is maximal.

Feedback for improvement

Whilst social media provides and organisation with the opportunity to promote services, products and increase brand awareness, there is also the facility to receive feedback from customers whether positive or negative. This should also be seen as an opportunity for an organisation as a way to improve their services. For example, when a new product is launched then marketers can analyse social media responses to understand if a campaign has been successful or not. Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, talks about the importance of social media and its interaction with customers:

‘We soon found that these channels were an amazing tool for reaching our customers and the public. One of the first things we learnt was that our new social media accounts gave us a real-time view of how we could improve. Through customers comments, we started learning about issues with our products and services more quickly than ever before. In response, we set up systems so that a customer who has a question or a problem can get a quick answer from our team’.

(The full article can be found here:

http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/columnists/2012/09/03/how-to-connect-with-your-customers-via-social-media)

Further to this, the feedback and conversation facility that social media provides means organisations can improve customer service. People want to be assured that if they have a problem, they can easily find help. By being receptive to customer needs on social media, business owners can increase customer loyalty to a brand (Roesler, 2014).

Boosting traffic

Social media channels are major generators, constantly bringing high volume of traffic to a webpage (Angelova, 2013). When quality content is created on social media then users are inclined to share information to their peers and encourage users to visit the shared pages. If an organisation creates well-designed social media platforms and adds content to compliment the social media engagement, then it is more likely to generate leads that a sales team can turn into sales. The idea is a viral spread, which is heightened by online communities and cross-pollination of content on several social media platforms (Weinberg, 2009). Below is a diagram that demonstrates the accessibility and connections that a variety of social media platforms and search engines possess.

By using social media as a key part of a marketing strategy an organisation can benefit in a number of ways. These four features discussed above are just the tip of an ice berg that digital marketers must address in order to maximise potential from their digital strategy.

References

Angelova, V. (2013) ‘7 Reasons Why Social Media is an Absolute Must for Business Branding’, 7 Reasons Why Social Media is an Absolute Must for Business Branding.

DeMers, J. (2014) The Top 10 Benefits Of Social Media Marketing. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/08/11/the-top-10-benefits-of-social-media-marketing/ (Accessed: 16 April 2015)

Preston, J. (no date) Richard Branson – the importance of social media. Available at: http://www.virgin.com/entrepreneur/richard-branson-importance-social-media (Accessed: 16 April 2015)

Reed, A. and Botts, S. (2014) Building Identity Loyalty Through Social Media – Think with Google. Available at: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/columns/building-identity-through-social-media.html (Accessed: 16 April 2015)

Roesler, P. (2014) Inc. Available at: http://www.inc.com/peter-roesler/5-benefits-of-social-media-business-owners-need-to-understand.html (Accessed: 16 April 2015)

Weinberg, T. (2009) The new community rules: marketing on the social web. United States: O’Reilly Media, Inc, USA

Supermarket sweep: Sainsbury’s ahead of the game

Posted on April 17, 2015 by David Herbert

In the current fast developing digital environment there is an ever-growing need for shopping on our mobiles. With 72% of the UK population-owning smartphones the demand for change in the way we shop is rising. According to mobile analytics firm Flurry, shopping app usage grew faster than any other category of apps. Sessions on shopping apps on iOS and Android devices increased by 174% year-over-year, including 220% on Android alone. That’s up from 77% last year (Soloman, 2015).

So why aren’t UK grocers making the most of this opportunity?

Well, In the news this week it has been reported that Sainsbury’s will be launching a shop-and-go smartphone app that will allow customers to complete their entire in-store shopping trip using their mobile. The mobile app will allow customers to create their shopping lists at home by either scanning products or simply searching for product types and brands. Once the customer enters a Sainsbury’s store (and has connected to Sainsbury’s Wi-Fi) a visual map will be created on the mobile app with products that are on the shoppers list appearing as dots, to guide individuals round the store (Hegarty, 2015). Payment can be made instantly and customer’s details can be entered into the app simply by taking a photo of their card. Shoppers can then choose to save those details within the Sainsbury’s app (Tugby, 2015).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1WMCJiUNBA

Game changer

I believe Sainsbury’s have taken a serious step forward with the development of this app and are making a positive impact for the usage of this digital marketing strategy for the grocer market in the UK. In support of my opinion, Sainsbury’s CEO Mike Coupe has been documented saying “The mobile scan and go technology will end up being adopted across the industry. I think Brand Match took about a year to be copied across the industry, so I think that’s about the length of time we’ve got on this as a competitive advantage” (Tugby, 2015).

Not only will this app attract new customers for Sainsbury’s but the development of this digital marketing strategy has created a number of jobs within the organisation. It is projected that Sainsbury’s will bolster its online retailing capabilities by creating 480 ‘specialist’ jobs in response to rising consumer demand for more convenient and intuitive ways to shop (Robinson, 2015). In addition to this Jon Rudoe, director of digital and technology at Sainsbury, is quoted on the company website stating ‘we’re now firmly on the map as a career destination for digital and technology specialists. We’re structuring and equipping entrepreneurial teams to improve the digital experience and develop products that will help make our customers’ lives easier” suggesting that the development of this app is just the beginning of a new digital strategy by Sainsbury’s.

What can we expect now?

Taking Mike Coupes statement into consideration, Sainsbury’s predict that they are around a year ahead of their competitors. From this we can expect an explosion in the development of grocer apps in the UK with each organisation trying to out perform the competition. Currently the smaller discounters Aldi and Lidl do not provide an ecommerce platform for their consumers, but I would expect this to change in the not so distant future. The closer rivals to Sainsbury’s such as Tesco and Asda will have to move quickly to ensure they reach maximum potential from this new demand in shopping.

References

Hegarty, R. (2015) TheGrocer. Available at: http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/stores/sainsburys-developing-new-in-store-shopping-app/517116.article (Accessed: 17 April 2015)

J Sainsbury plc / Sainsbury’s creates specialist digital and technology jobs (2015) Available at: http://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/media/latest-stories/2015/0331-sainsburys-creates-specialist-digital-and-technology-jobs/ (Accessed: 17 April 2015)

Robinson, N. (2015) FoodManufacture. Available at: http://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Business-News/Sainsbury-s-boosts-digital-jobs?utm_source=copyright&utm_medium=OnSite&utm_campaign=copyright (Accessed: 16 April 2015)

Solomon, B. (2015) Shopping Apps Are Now The Fastest Growing Thing In Mobile. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2015/01/06/shopping-apps-are-now-the-fastest-growing-thing-in-mobile/ (Accessed: 17 April 2015)

Tugby, L. (2015) RetailWeek. Available at: http://www.retail-week.com/sectors/food/sainsburys-to-launch-scan-and-go-smartphone-shopping-app/5073990.article (Accessed: 16 April 2015)

Mobile advertising: A supermarkets opportunity?

Posted on April 17, 2015 by David Herbert

The number of smartphone owners has reached 72 per cent in the UK, growing by 14 per cent in the last 10 months alone, according to research from Deloitte. This increasing figure, and talking point, encouraged me to find out how supermarkets can use this to their advantage. With instant access to the Internet and the ability to download applications, the UK consumer has the opportunity to buy any product, of any value, anywhere at any time. This raises the question ‘whose opportunity is it… the consumer or the seller?

Whose opportunity is it?

Internet orders placed at grocers and online food specialists for home delivery and customer collection, as of 2014, accrue to £7.7bn of the UK grocery market sales.

This staggering figure is only due to increase through technology development, technological trends as well as the process being efficient and reliable. Therefore it is increasingly important for supermarkets to address this opportunity with regular updates and management of advertising on mobile sites.

Online consumers are looking for easy and inventive ways of shopping to increase efficiency of time consumption as well as the money they spend. InMobi (2014) states that a recent survey of modern UK grocery shoppers revealed they use their mobile to compare prices (46 per cent), collect promotions and discounts (35 per cent) and find nearby stores (28 per cent). The study also revealed that showrooming (where consumers compare prices from rival retailers on an item whilst in-store) is not just for bigger purchasing decisions, with 29 per cent of respondents admitting they look for better priced grocery items on their phone while in the store.

But what does this mean?

Its all very well being able to show facts and figures but it is necessary to understand what opportunities these statistics can provide for a supermarket. Advertising through the mobile platform provides a number of windows to gain a competitive advantage that would not be obtainable elsewhere. Mobile ads target an audience at their point of need making mobile advertising a popular and effective marketing strategy. Here are what I believe are the main advantages to mobile advertising:

Round the clock access to consumers
Increased consumer audience
Increase brand awareness
Cost efficient advertising
Intimate and personal relationship is built

Further to this a mobile ad provides the opportunity for a consumer to access an organisations website instantly, encouraging on the spot purchasing and building further brand awareness.

The Future – Don’t get left behind!

Gartner analysts projected that mobile advertising spending globally would reach $18 billion in 2014, and by 2017 the market will be worth around $41.9 billion (Levanon, 2015). This suggests, if we didn’t already know it, that the future of mobile advertising is going to be extremely influential for marketers. With the average UK household owning 7.4 mobile devices that connect to the internet (E-commerceWeek, 2015) and the industry of mobile advertising in the UK worth £7.2bn it is up to individual supermarkets to address this opportunity to ensure they don’t get left behind.

References

Hoelzel, M. (2015) ‘Mobile advertising is exploding and will grow much faster than all other digital ad categories’, Business Insider. Business Insider. Available at: http://uk.businessinsider.com/mobile-is-growing-faster-than-all-other-ad-formats-2014-10 (Accessed: 15 April 2015).

InMobi (2014) ‘Mobile Has Disrupted How We Shop for Groceries – and That’s a Good Thing.’ Available at: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/mobile-digital-marketing/mobile-has-disrupted-how-we-shop-for-groceries-and-that-s-a-good-thing/1192 (Accessed: 15 April 2015).

Levanon, C. (2015) ‘Top 5 Trend Predictions for Mobile Advertising in 2015.’ Target Marketing. Available at: http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/top-5-trend-predictions-mobile-advertising-2015/1 (Accessed: 6 March 2015).

Sarah Coleman Senior Retail Analyst – Multichannel and 2015, I. 10 M. (2014) UK Grocery Retailing. Available at: http://www.igd.com/our-expertise/Retail/retail-outlook/3371/UK-Grocery-Retailing/#3 (Accessed: 6 March 2015).

Styles, K. (2013) 7 in 10 People in the UK Now Own a Smartphone. Available at: http://mobilemarketingmagazine.com/7-10-people-uk-now-own-smartphone/ (Accessed: 6 March 2015).

Week, ecommerce (2015) Mobile now accounts for 23% of UK digital ad spend | News, ecommerceweek. Available at: http://www.ecommerceweek.co.uk/news/515/mobile-now-accounts-for-23-of-uk-digital-ad-spend/ (Accessed: 15 April 2015).

Why it’s important to be ‘appy’

Posted on April 17, 2015 by David Herbert

We are living in a generation of people that need to know things instantly. How much is that? Where can I get it? Is it cheaper somewhere else? All of these questions are asked frequently throughout our everyday lives and we can access the answers immediately via a smartphone, which 72% of us in the UK now own by the way (Styles, 2013). With 89% of consumer media time in mobile apps (Colwyn, 2014) it is almost expected that an organisation have an up to date, articulate app for their consumers to access and navigate.

Melanie Haselmayr (2014), contributor at Forbes, suggests there are 7 reasons why a business needs a mobile app:

Visible to customers at all times – Once an app is downloaded it is available to consumers every time they open their phone. Your app logo is visible to consumers and promotes the brand.
Creates a direct marketing channel – Through push notifications you’re getting even closer to a direct interaction, and can easily remind. customers about your products and services whenever it makes sense.
Provides value to customers – Opportunity to offer promotions and unique discounts through app purchases only.
Builds brand recognition – The more often you can get customers involved with your app, the sooner they will be inclined to buy your product and/or service.
Improves customer engagement – Easy and convenient access through a mobile device can provide instant information and an opportunity to engage in buying products wherever the consumer may be.
Chance to stand out from competitors – By offering unique experiences and providing exclusive information an organisation can gain competitive edge.
Cultivates customer loyalty – Whilst brand recognition is improved a relationship between consumer and organisation is built being just ‘a fingertip away’.

But just having an ‘articulate app’, as mentioned previously, isn’t the final stage of success for this digital strategy. It is important to stay relevant and provide up to date information for the intended consumer, to engage with regularly, in order to improve customer retention. This will also encourage positive feedback in the customer review section of an app store. Joe Marcynski (2013) states that 61% of online shoppers read a review before making a purchase and potential customers who engage with reviews and questions are 105% more likely to make a purchase.

To put it to the test, which one of these apps would you download? All three serve the same purpose of tuning a guitar and all are free to purchase from the App Store.

With mobile apps becoming a part of our every day lives it is clear to see the advantages available when having an app for your business. Keeping the app relevant and useful for consumers is just as important as designing it in the first place.

References

Colwyn, S. (2014) ‘New consumer media consumption research – Smart Insights Digital Marketing Advice.’ Smart Insights. Available at: http://www.smartinsights.com/marketplace-analysis/customer-analysis/consumer-media-device-use/ (Accessed: 10 April 2015).

Haselmayr, M. (2014) ‘Here’s Why Your Business Needs Its Own Mobile App’, Forbes, 17 November. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/allbusiness/2014/11/17/heres-why-your-business-needs-its-own-mobile-app/ (Accessed: 9 April 2015).

Marczynski, J. (2013) The Importance of Customer Reviews. Available at: http://www.labelmedia.co.uk/blog/the-importance-of-customer-reviews.html (Accessed: 10 April 2015).

Styles, K. (2013) 7 in 10 People in the UK Now Own a Smartphone. Available at: http://mobilemarketingmagazine.com/7-10-people-uk-now-own-smartphone/ (Accessed: 9 April 2015).

Email marketing: Can organisations still benefit from this marketing tool?

Posted on April 17, 2015 by David Herbert

It is fair to say that the majority of us when opening our emails are confronted with an array of messages that we didn’t necessarily ask for. Instantly we are asked by a number of organisations if we would like to purchase their new products or try out their new services. But how can an organisation stand out from the rest and engage the targeted consumer?

With digital marketing becoming increasingly apparent in recent years it is vital that businesses utilise their marketing tools to the best of their ability. From an organisations point of view the benefits from an email campaign are vast. Bill Nussey (2004) states that beyond cost, email has several unique characteristics that set it apart from traditional marketing mediums:

Allows for greater personalisation
Provides greater insight into the readers actions through measurable events such as message opens, hyperlinks clicked, and messages forwarded
Easy to test the success of promotions
Enable mass customisation so that the timing and content of each message is unique to each recipient

So we understand the benefits from an email campaign, but what can an organisation do to stand out from the rest?

Recognise your target audience – this will allow you to design an appropriate email to encourage engagement and response
Subject line – personalising the subject line to the recipient and including your company name works well to encourage high open rates
Short and sweet – ensure the email is full of purposeful content so the receiver understands the purpose of the campaign. Too much information will be overwhelming and undesirable
Provide a purpose – for example discount codes that a customer can use in store or hyperlinks that lead the receiver to exclusive deals. This will provide a sense of achievement to the receiver and encourage engagement during future email campaigns.

What is interesting for me, when assessing an email marketing campaign is the ability for an organisation to analyse its success. This means that if a campaign has its faults then the organisation can quickly address the problem and look to manage its design features. On the other hand, if a particular design feature is seen as a success then the organisation can look to utilise this, for example a discount code.

Dave Chaffey (2014) has provided a detailed report of email marketing statistics in 2015 and can be found by following this link http://www.smartinsights.com/email-marketing/email-communications-strategy/statistics-sources-for-email-marketing/. This report supports the thought that the ability to run a successful email marketing campaign is very much available to organisations. By simply recognising the amount of people that have access to emails as well as open and explore them, a digital marketer can be confident that with an articulate email campaign there is an opportunity to be efficient and effective.

References

Chaffey, D. (2015) ‘Email marketing statistics 2015 compilation.’ Smart Insights. Available at: http://www.smartinsights.com/email-marketing/email-communications-strategy/statistics-sources-for-email-marketing/ (Accessed: 15 April 2015).

Marketing, D. (2014) How to Create an Effective Email Campaign. Available at: http://directmarketing.thomsonlocal.com/News-Advice/Email-Marketing/Create-an-Effective-Email-Campaign/ (Accessed: 15 April 2015).

Nussey, B. (2004) The Quiet Revolution in Email Marketing. United States: iUniverse.

Todd, J. (no date) A Complete Guideline on Strategic Online Selling: ‘Email Marketing Dynamo’. eBook. Edited by Jason. Jason Todd.

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Monthly Archives: April 2015

Supermarket sweep: Sainsbury’s ahead of the game

Mobile advertising: A supermarkets opportunity?

Why it’s important to be ‘appy’

Email marketing: Can organisations still benefit from this marketing tool?