marketing | Exploring Digital Marketing

Social media has become a huge part of everyone’s day to day life. But the use of social media can now be used to massively benefit organisations, especially new fashion brands. In recent years organisations have realised that there is no other medium that can reach so many people in such little time as social media can, whilst ‘keeping marketing costs at their lowest’ (Funk, 2011). Interestingly though, Funk (2011) explains that the channels of social media marketing are ‘not as important for selling’ but crucial for ‘listening to customers’ and ‘communicating your brand directly and personally’. The importance of listening to customers in the modern business environment is paramount, as a positive social media presence reaches out to existing and potential future customers. Often large fashion brands can seem unreachable in terms of a personal social media presence, and this is an area to exploit for smaller brands who cannot compete with the costs of global marketing campaigns. In the modern business environment customers, more than ever, can be vocal about their opinions and experiences with a brand. For a fashion brand it is important therefore, to be transparent and create a relationship and sustainable connection with the public.

When promoting a new fashion brand on social media, the most difficult challenge is to build awareness and a positive reputation with consumers. If this reputation is negative e.g. poor quality or poor customer service, this will have a detrimental effect on potential growth and success in industry. However, Morin (2014) suggests the notion that negative reviews can be good for small businesses, and that they should be embraced not feared. Especially considering that the clothing industry involves purchases which involve different fittings and sizes, therefore customer complaints and returns are likely to occur.

Contrastingly, if the social media perception of the brand is positive then the trust and interest of the brand is enhanced perhaps even before a consumer has purchased an item of clothing themselves. Word of mouth marketing is a key tool for successfully marketing on social media, as ‘84% of consumers trust family and friends about the quality of products’ (Grinnell, 2014). Twitter and Facebook provide a platform to leave positive reviews and comments which will reach to their followers and potential new customers. The reviews and comments also provide more credibility for brands as social media followers can see they are real people, with real views representative of similar customers. With so many large fashion retailers, this aspect of marketing can help a smaller niche brand to gain a competitive advantage by being reliable and connected with their customers.

Fashion brands must consider which social media marketing strategy best suits them. It is reported that Instagram is the most popular platform for fashion brands, but this will ultimately depend on ‘usability’ and ‘how it keeps in line with the long term strategic plans (Roderick, 2016).

Examples of Best Practice- Facebook and Twitter

Burton’s Facebook Page- Call To Action Offers

Fresh Ego Kid Twitter- Personalisation

Risk Couture Twitter- Associated hashtags to increase visibility

Social media has the ability to reach millions of customers immediately, and research has shown that if you ‘follow a brand on Instagram you are, finances permitting, 53% more likely to shop with them’ (Rasmussen, 2016). In the current market place this is an incredibly simple but effective way to grow sales and grow the brand into a much larger business. Especially when first establishing the brand within the crowded market, reputation and market growth will be affected by how successfully the social media channels are managed.

Potential Risks

Of course, there are many risks that a new fashion brand would have to be careful of when utilising social media marketing (Robinson, 2013);

PR Crisis- this would damage the brand image
Security Breach- potential costs to ensure security
Offending your audience- when posting non-business material it must not offend customer base
Competition- clothing industry means you have to be careful not to have original designs copied
Legal Implications- be aware of legal boundaries and that content is publishable e.g. not copyright

The short video below shows the future marketing trends that organisations can expect in 2017. It provides an interesting insight into customer engagement and the huge audiences available to new fashion brands on Facebook and Snapchat.

Give it a watch!

(Source: WeeklyMarketingTips, 2017).

Meyers (2017) suggests that fashion brands should utilise best practice to ensure that their social media marketing strategy is a success. The key points presented are that brands must ‘tailor’ their message, ‘be yourself’ and to ‘tell a story about the customers lifestyle (or the one they wish they had)’. This simple theory helps to create a strategy that will help to establish a fashion brand to its customers. By tailoring the message, this allows for the brand to be easily communicated with potential customers but also creates a risk-averse approach which does not attempt to do anything other than positively advertise the brand. By representing the brand in a positive and innovative way on social media, it is possible to create a trust with the consumer and therefore would be more likely to create a long lasting relationship.

Thanks for reading! You can follow me on Twitter- @JR_DIGMARK

References

Funk, T (2011). Social Media Playbook For Businesses. London: Praeger. p15-22.

Grinnell, B. (2014). 4 Benefits of Word-of-Mouth Marketing. Available: http://www.twolegit.com/4-benefits-word-mouth-marketing/. Last accessed 22nd Feb 2017.

Meyers, S. (2017). 6 Social Media Tricks of Fashion Brands. Available: http://www.inc.com/stephanie-meyers/6-social-media-tricks-fashion-brands.html. Last accessed 22nd Feb 2017.

Morin, A. (2014). Why Negative Reviews Can Be Good For Business. Available: http://www.forbes.com/sites/amymorin/2014/05/06/why-negative-reviews-can-be-good-for-business/#52ed09d63b27. Last accessed 22nd Feb 2017.

Rasmussen, T. (2016). how important is social media in building a fashion brand and business?. Available: https://i-d.vice.com/en_gb/article/how-important-is-social-media-in-building-a-fashion-brand-and-business. Last accessed 22nd Feb 2017.

Robinson, C. (2013). The Risks Associated with Social Media Marketing. Available: http://www.business2community.com/social-media/risks-associated-social-media-marketing-0617722#wGz0rXXUYbstvypq.97. Last accessed 22nd Feb 2017.

Roderick, L. (2016). How fashion brands are taking Instagram from gimmick to strategic. Available: https://www.marketingweek.com/2016/02/17/how-fashion-brands-are-taking-instagram-from-gimmick-to-strategic/. Last accessed 22nd Feb 2017.

We can all relate to receiving 100’s of marketing emails a week, which often will be disregarded and marked as spam if we do not hold a keen interest in the content and offers available. Sometimes this can even be down to an uninteresting title of an email, which makes our mind up instantly!

However, Ellis-Chadwick & Doherty (2012) concluded from their research that in fact email marketing is a very important medium of communication for modern businesses in the new digital age. Successful email marketing allows them to build and maintain closer relationships with customers. In light of my aforementioned comment on email titles, this issue can be eradicated and the relationships can actually be built with appropriate subject lines. This is because it serves as the first point of contact and acts as a trigger for the recipient to actually open the message.

In this post, I am going to examine an event triggered email from Myprotein as I have used their products consistently for the past three and a half years. I receive promotional emails from them almost daily and feel appreciated as being a poor student these savings help me to purchase the protein products without breaking the bank.

Example of an event triggered email from Myprotein

(Click each image to enlarge view)

I am always happy to open the promotional emails from Myprotein, as they value their customers by providing offers each week to ensure you buy the products you love. Despite the emails not beginning with a ‘Dear Josh’, the personalisation is delivered within the email heading; ‘We’ve halved the price of your favourites for 48 hours’. The use of ‘your’ shows that the direct marketing will show different products to each subscriber, depending on your tastes and preferences from the Myprotein site. The length of the email is also very succinct and to the point which is crucial when marketing their products to me.

Perhaps a bit more personalisation within the promotional emails though would be appreciated in the future though, as this would explicitly show they valued my custom and I was not just an email address on their system. Here is an article to how businesses can personalise their emails in a more effective way.

The use of the pictured products within the email enticed my interest as I could physically see the products I wanted to purchase, even before proceeding to the landing page. This form of permission marketing (whereby I have signed up for the email updates) is a great way for Myprotein to connect with me, and ensure that I continue to purchase their goods for years to come (Godin, 1999).

Although one negative of the products being listed, was that there was not a price listed for each item so you do not initially know the price after the discount is applied.

The design of the email is very impressive though as it cuts a very professional visual image for me as the consumer, and I like the way the blue text stands out with the plain white background. All branding and information is kept within the centre of the page, which is different to many emails I normally receive. The use of the small blue boxes under each product improves the ease of utilising the offers being states, and if I am in a rush then this helps to persuade me to still buy the product. The delivery costs are clearly explained which provides clarity for the rest of the transaction.

The use of quick links to Myprotein’s social media at the bottom of the email is also very useful, as you can further connect with the company and receive updates through different communication channels to the emails.

Landing Page- ‘The Call to Action’

(Click each image to enlarge view)

Critique of Landing Page

Pros;

The email prompted me to take action and visit the landing page.
The landing page replicates the offers presented in the email which helped me to easily navigate to the flavour of protein I usually purchase.
There was slightly more personalisation on the landing page as it automatically logged into my account, which reduces the time of placing the order from the basket.
The design of the landing page was eye-catching and this increased my interest in exploring the rest of the site after I had added my product to the basket.

Recommendations to improve;

Having clicked the call to action buttons on the marketing email, it would have been useful to maybe add the product to the basket instantly. Especially as I was already logged into my account and expressed my interest by clicking the products blue button (Buy Now).
Also, in terms of improving Myprotein’s approach to personalisation I would recommend they followed Moonpig’s example of using my name in the email subject and landing page. This helps to grab my attention and show it is a more personal experience, each time I purchase goods from them.

(Click images to enlarge view)

For more examples of good email marketing; http://blog.stamplia.com/buyers/best-email-marketing-examples/

Sources Used:

Ellis-Chadwick, F., & Doherty, N. F. (2012). Web advertising: The role of e-mail marketing. Journal of Business Research, 65(6), 843-848.

Godin, S. (1999). Permission marketing: Turning strangers into friends and friends into customers. Simon & Schuster

Zantal-Weiner, A. (2016). 12 Personalized Email Examples You Can’t Help but Click. Available: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/34146/7-Excellent-Examples-of-Email-Personalization-in-Action.aspx#sm.01dt06tl10lcf13109i1en5ar1grf. Last accessed 3rd Nov 2016.

Exploring Digital Marketing

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Tag Archives: marketing

E-mail Marketing: My Thoughts on Promotional E-mails from Myprotein