Author: Jared Verna

As the growth and globalisation of the current day continues to excel into a technological ‘able to get anything or anywhere at the click of a button’ age, of course business have adapted and channeled marketing into any outlet possible from social networks to search engine optimisation, behind us are the days when campaigns could be measured by website traffic “Measuring the impact of online advertising used to be relatively easy. It was all about analytics: Unique Visitors, Page Views, Cost per Clicks – safe, measurable, defined metrics” (Fisher, 2009) , so the question has to be asked:

How are companies really measuring ROI from digital marketing campaigns?

To be able to answer the question appropriately, we first need to acknowledge what is meant by ‘ROI’. To do so the goals of the company need to be understood, as in what do they wish to achieve from this campaign? as a company can measure the cost of launching a blog and then calculate return of sales from that investment, but it dives deeper than that “But a company could also start by thinking about what marketing objectives such a blog might satisfy (e.g., brand engagement), why its customers would visit the blog (e.g., to learn about new products) and what behaviours they might engage in once they got there (e.g., post a comment about a recent consumption experience) that could be linked to the company’s marketing objectives” (Hoffman, 2010). KeyPoint Indicators (KPI) can be used for this, below Marler (2015) outlines a few:

1. General Performance – Traffic, leads, Reach
2. Channel Based – Website, blog, social networks, search engines
3. Source based performance – Direct traffic, Organic search, referrals, email, PPC
4. Campaign based performance – Lead generation, click throughs, conversions, conversion rates
5. Setting realistic and measurable goals

Measuring ROI with these KPI’s throws numbers and figures out the window, the measurement rather for these cases is more story telling,”What happened, where are we now, and where are we going? Did more folks come into the forum? How? And why? What are they doing now? […] What really matters are the opinions, voices, and experiences that people are sharing.” (Fisher, 2009). constant KPI’s are forever being changed or added but Connie benson (2008) identified some more important attributes that were exposed to a necessity for measurement:

• Attention=Time on website (sometimes it’s not yours)
• Interaction=Click, Comment, or Embed
• Conversation Index: Ratio between blog posts and comments+trackbacks
• Velocity=Distance/Time (Rate of how fast your message is travelling in a given time)
• Sentiment=Tone, opinion
• Qualitative=What did they say?
• Impacts=What did they do? (influencers)

As ‘the internet never sleeps’ campaigns require constant measurement, and Connie (2008) identifies more factors that will require a monthly or weekly basis measurement:

• ongoing definition of objectives;
• web analytics;
• interaction – Trends in members, topics, discovery of new communities;
• qualitative quotes – Helpful for feedback and marketing;
• recommendations – Based on interactions with the customers;
• benchmark based on previous report

If looking for numerical value as a means for measuring ROI from digital media campaigns is the only answer you are looking for then look else where, digital media is ruled by deeper connections and understanding of consumer experience and loyalty, creating brand awareness and reaching new target markets, all these inherent characteristics measurable, and valuable.

References:

• Fisher, T., 2009. ROI in social media: A look at the arguments. Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management, 16(3), pp.189-195.
• HOFFMAN, D.L. and FODOR, M., Can You Measure the ROI of Your Social Media Marketing?.
• Taylor, C. (2009) Will the IAB’s social media metrics definitions help crack the engagement code? Media Post, 6 May, http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=105556, accessed May 2009.

 

#bbsdigmarket

In recent years, reports on email marketing strategies have been greatly dismissed as a dying tool, but, not so quickly, and why is that you ask yourself? Email marketing is now employed by 70% of all retailers and growing 10% annually (Mccloskey, 2006) and is the number one means of direct communication to the one another, not only this but also the most highly endorsed use for both personal and marketing communications.

“67% of marketers say that delivering highly relevant content is a strategic goal their organization wants to achieve through email marketing.”- MarketingSherpa 2013

With the evolution of smartphones, androids, tablets and laptops, emails are accessible anywhere, any time, they are native and versatile . This 24/7 vulnerability to receiving emails creates a universal acknowledgement that the trend is certainly not dying, like reports may suggest, but in fact evolving.

“Email marketing is a legitimate, lucrative, and widely used business tool, but it is in danger of being overrun by unwanted commercial email (also known as spam).”(Pavlov, 2008) In order for companies to avoid this unwanted and useless outfit, some tips below are discussed to empower a good email marketing strategy:

• Data should always be applicable 

Analysing research data to ensure that useless junk is not reaching the wrong audiences. ‘Spam’ or big ‘Batch’ messages will be of no use and reach wrong targets, using the analysed data points to divulge into targeting gender, age and location will boost consumer experience and relevance. If using more than one platform to spread information then repetition is useless, using Facebook geo-targeting can increase likelihood of effective transmission.

• Customer experience 

With the growing evolution of smartphones and the increasing number of consumers using them, not enhancing the mobile email experience can play a key role in the down fall of the strategy. ‘ReturnPath’ research points out that 63% of public in the U.S immediately delete emails if they are not mobile friendly. Optimising the initial interest into your email comes from displaying an easy to use and sophisticated mobile email experience.

• Personalisation

Its all about enhancing customer experience, pin pointing individuals through unique personal emails can drive customer growth rates by up to 30%. Creating an strengthened practise through personalised suggestions derived from customer browsing websites will be consumed with greater appreciation.

• Accessibility 

More often than not, consumers archive or save messages for a later date, it maybe to store and view on a tablet or PC due to enhanced viewing, wider viewing, faster internet access or a quicker typing keyboard. But one thing that email marketing allows is a rather than a one channel access, it bridges the three devices and allows access from all three.

• Deals and Savings

At present, consumers prefer receiving deals from emails rather than Facebook or another social media platform. Amongst the abundance of uploads on Facebook it may prove difficult to sift out the necessary information or links, there for, spread the word on social media, and show the deals and links to your sight in emails.

“Email marketing infrastructure is a complex system requiring analysis that takes account of the whole system”(Pavlov, 2008), this in order to avoid time wasting on both parts and enhance productivity and efficiency of each email sent and received to consumers.

 

With such a stress and emphasis put on marketing with the right strategies and reaching the right audiences, over complication can be at the forefront of business digital marketing techniques these days, and what do people enjoy the most? well, having fun of course. this is where Gamification comes into play, put simply, it is where you acquire something pre existing and implement game mechanics into it, increasing participating customers experience, driving engagement  and furthermore inflating customer loyalty through boosted competition, point scoring or an opportunity to win (Conaway, 2014).

Disregarded by some, the idea of gamification and its benefits to a digital marketing campaign have been explored by Lucassen et al (2014) . the idea is that essentially gamification acts as a benefactor to the marketing mix, driving basic elements of awareness, engagement and loyalty. Its an exciting era to ditching the traditional campaign model and introducing innovative movement.

Awareness:

This idea can be argued to be the most important, the use of converting your marketing strategy into a gamified process, increases word of mouth about the product therefore creating more brand awareness. This can be exemplified by the way in which Dominoes incorporated gamification into their mobile pizza ordering process, mirroring the idea of roulette, where users can shake their smart phone or android and the app will pick the toppings at random.

Engagement:

Competition is embedded in our very own human nature, and what better way to engage a consumer than to touch on their competitive side? Point scoring, leader boards, prize draws and lucky dips all engage a consumer on a deeper emotional level than a traditional marketing campaign, highlighted by Lucassen (2014) who found that with an increased competitive edge, consumers are engaged by up to 68% more. A good example of this consumer engagement is McDonalds monopoly prize draw, where customers rip tickets off meals and collect them to win prizes.

Loyalty:

Interlinked with engagement, Lucassen (2014) found that with a higher commitment on an emotional level that customer loyalty will increase. The company POPchips executed this well by temaing up with a mobile game company that when certain levels of points were scored on the game, prize draws were given out, a basic premise that is very effective in keeping the same customers returning.

Just to emphasise the importance of this Gartner Inc (2011) argues that by 2015 50% or more companies that managed innovative marketing processes gamified those procedures, and that by the year 2014 these very movements became as important as the likes of Facebook, eBay or amazon.

Gartner identified four main principles for gamification:

1. Accelerated feedback cycles. In the real world, feedback loops are slow (e.g., annual performance appraisals) with long periods between milestones. Gamification increases the velocity of feedback loops to maintain engagement.

2. Clear goals and rules of play. In the real world, where goals are fuzzy and rules selectively applied, gamification provides clear goals and well-defined rules of play to ensure players feel empowered to achieve goals.

3. A compelling narrative. While real-world activities are rarely compelling, gamification builds a narrative that engages players to participate and achieve the goals of the activity.

4. Tasks that are challenging but achievable. While there is no shortage of challenges in the real world, they tend to be large and long-term. Gamification provides many short-term, achievable goals to maintain engagement.

(source: Gartner)

The innovative capacity of gamification process in the marketing mix stands companies at a competitive edge, but many cases show that it needs to be used correctly or else a fail could be on the cards!

References:

Conaway, R. (2014). Gamification and service marketing. Springerplus. 3 (1), p358-387.

Lucassen, G. (2014). Gamification in Consumer Marketing – Future or Fallacy? .Procedia – Social and Behvioral Sciences. 148 (1), p194-202.

 

Standing as a public figure to represent a company, brand ambassadors enlighten the wider image of the given brand in the upmost positive light possible. They are understood to be the pure embodiment of the image that the company wants to portray, creating a cohesive and easily understood bond online between followers and admirers. There are a few different ways in which an online ambassador is able to drive forwards new target markets and connect on a deeper emotional level with existing clients, below a few of these are discussed:

• The power of word of mouth

As a study completed by the ‘Keller Group’ found that only 8% of word of mouth brand conversations are essentially pessimistic, and an overwhelming 66% being inherently positive, the question is raised, as to where the negatives of word of mouth are? Understandably, its hard to find some. Andersson & Ekman (2009) narrate how “not only is it cost effective” but further more relative against other promotional tools, it excels in building a more confident and elusive brand image but also influencing target groups, known as ‘place buyers’. This idea of word of mouth also allows an infective knowledge among target groups that otherwise may have been unreachable from the coordinator, ever expanding the brand image.  Audiences are able to also build a deeper trust with the brand through word of mouth, as they are able to hold greater confidence in the products through peer reviews, rather than wide spread monotonous advertising, that Huffington post suggest we are exposed to over 250 per day. Another benefit that arises is that the network is seen as a channel of development rather than a one way communication platform, acting as a subsidiary to the overall cutthroat manner of the place. As argued by Kotler (1999), the capability of word of mouth is highly uncontested in the world of marketing research.

• Humanizing your product

In the world of online shopping and digital marketing it is important not to loose touch of face to face brand interaction, with world wide recognition or international purchasing this may become more difficult to for a firm to achieve, but this is where recognised brand ambassadors play a beneficial role in enhancing the lost world of a ‘local’ feel. With personality traits and brand passion being at the forefront of their agenda in whatever they do, customers are able to recognise that the brand is being humanised, personalised and real, creating an emotional connection on both a wide scale national or international setting or tailored to individual purchases. In turn making the followers feel connected with the brand, and cared for.

• The customer drive

The emotional engagement created through efficient brand ambassadors creates the idea that customer satisfaction process is further driven forward by their own contribution in the purchasing method or brand experience. It solidifies the idea that loyal cliental will positively make an effort to increase the satisfaction of the brand engagement experience along with the brand its self, such as; a more increased social media awareness, with increased brand participation with ‘shares’, ‘likes’, ‘retweets’, ‘regrams’ and ‘tagging’ peers and associates that result in new target markets, again driving reach further and further. This inherent drive in the customer to positively participate with the brand is known as ‘The Ripple Effect’ , coinciding with the word of mouth theory, the analogy of throwing a pebble into a still pond is used, a small cause creating a big effect. Again another powerful tool in the marketing mix to ensure a successful expansion of business into new targets and markets.

Three very simple yet devastatingly effective strategies that if used correctly can cause a wild fire of growth. Although we may be moving forward into a cyber reality, the real strength of advertising success lays in the very foundations of businesses, that is, the customer and their voice.

 

Leveraging the power of social media in the present day can excel a company into a competitive stance within its field, if the base is utilised in the correct manner. Integrated marketing communications rise above to encapsulate the various levels of the marketing mix.

Instagram, holding 300 million users each month, with 70% from outside of the U.S provides a foundation for companies, that if a tech savy and versatile approach is held, exposure to adorning followers could serve your brand, customers and yourself. The platform provides a base where a unified message can be directly envisaged by consumers from one second to the next, with an unpresidented  consumer interaction rate at 400% according to ‘Forrester research’ , with up to 58 time more commitment per follower than ‘Facebook’ and double that for ‘Twitter’, the site makes for a  marketing mix dream!

Getting integrated into Instagram as a consumer engaged comapny there are some simple rules

The rise of the HASHTAG:

Hashtags develop a trending word or phrase to engage a wider audience, with a simple click of a button consumers are able to engage into a movement that targets a specific interest audience. Making the hashtag bold and punchy or even controversial can make a statement about the brand, introduce a new product, refresh a product or spark consumer conversation and following. It facilitates an accessible platform within the site for consumers to develop an interest. Companies can use the hash tag to tell a story of the brand creating an emotional involvement with consumers.

1. Brand hashtags: they should be simple and sweet, reinforcing the idea and idiom of the brand, constant monitoring, feedback, analysis and consumer correspondence.
2. Campaign Hashtags: if your company is starting out on a new campaign, they also reinforce the campaign, simplify the idea, help consumers understand the idea and create involvement.
3. Trending Hashtags: riding off the back of an already widespread discussion is not a sin, connecting the trend through an emotional connection can create an increased drive in the brand.
4. Niche trending Hashtags: ideal for a niche company looking to pick out specific target markets.
5. Content Hashtags: these can help the brand tell a specific story about their product, help the consumer understand the idea extensively, and provide a descriptive post.

Successful brand hashtags have been seen by global energy drink company ‘Redbull’ with #Putacanonit

Connect with your INFLUENCERS:

Pinpointing key characters on social media sites that already are subjective to a huge following can stand as a perfect platform upon which a company can ride off of their ‘Instafamous’ following.

To create the most successful campaign or boost interest, the company must find the best fit influencer for their desired product. A successful post can also create an emotional involvement, the influencer may have an avid following of people who desire whatever they have.

As seen below, popular celebrity endorsements are a huge part of influencers:

Instagram enables companies to utilise the platform to reach out to otherwise unreachable consumers, it is an excellent and can be low cost way for a successful marketing strategy in an ever evolving cyber tech paradigm of society. Use it the right way and the brand promotion possibilities are endless.

 

Jared verna