Facebook as a Marketing Tool

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As the digital landscape continues to progress and develop many areas and channels grow with it. Facebook, founded by Mark Zuckerberg has been one of the fastest growing forms of social networking. This network has 700 million users and over 700 billion minutes a month are used connecting on Facebook (Chang, A. 2011). Social networking has become a way of communication and expression that has become embedded in our society. If marketers want to succeed they will have to learn to co-exist with the digital channel, as consumers have grown very attached to it (Chang, A. 2011).

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Marketers favour Facebook because it is virtually free and can reach a vast amount of consumers. The marketing world is always changing and in recent years we have come to understand that consumers want to have a relationship with the company, they want to feel appreciated. In this age its not how big and how much advertising your company is doing its how fast its reaching its target audience (Hansson, L et al 2013). Waterstones needs to focus on creating a campaign that gets its consumers talking and feeling involved. Starbucks launched a Facebook campaign called “MyStarbucksIdeas” it allowed consumers to create input on products, express opinions, discuss and share ideas (Hansson, L et al 2013).

Consumers have a direct line of communication to voice their wants and needs, share information, provide input and feedback to the company. The ability to write reviews about products and share information between Facebook friends has taken the traditional WOM to a whole new level (Hansson, L et al 2013). If consumers have positive perception of products and services they will share it with their friends. Facebook has created so many opportunities for companies looking to broaden their target audience and increase sales. Companies can now seek out consumers that they believe are the most appropriate of their services or products (Hansson, L et al 2013).

 

However like any other form of marketing there are DOS and DONTS, the following article out line the 6 biggest mistakes people make with marketing on Facebook:

 

  • Using a personal Facebook page instead of a brand page for your organization
  • Using Facebook’s default “Boost post” advertising product
  • Failing to track your conversations
  • Buying fans
  • Posting poor quality content
  • Leaving the about section incomplete

 

-(Maffin, T 2014)

 

Have a look at the following website for more helpful tips on using Facebook as a marketing/advertising tool.

There can be some disadvantages to using Facebook campaigns, its not easy to engage consumers attention as they can be distracted talking to friends, looking at other posts, sharing videos and photos. Following on from that if consumers can share and discuss positivity surrounding the companies product or service they can also share negative comments; this can be damaging and disheartening to the company’s image. Operating on Facebook is essential for a company to gain digital presence but it is also a highly competitive environment.

I remember reading about one scenario at Dominos where two employees were joking around making sandwiches, whilst putting cheese up their noses. They posted the video on YouTube and it went viral creative a negative perspective and image in the eyes of consumers. Using social networking sites for marketing can be risky if it is not managed closely. Going viral is also a positive if the company does something good and had the opportunity to go viral it reaps a lot of rewards.

 

Check out the following website for more advantages and disadvantages about using Facebook campaigns.

 

References

 

Hansson, L., Wrangmo, A., Solberg Søilen, K., Centrum för innovations-, entreprenörskaps- och lärandeforskning (CIEL), Centre for Technology, Innovation and Marketing Management (CTIM2), Sektionen för ekonomi och teknik (SET) & Högskolan i Halmstad 2013, “Optimal ways for companies to use Facebook as a marketing channel”, Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 112-126.

 

Chang, A. 2011, “WEB 2.0 Social Network Sites and Facebook Marketing”, Binus Business Review, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 708-717.

 

Maffin, T 2014, ‘The 6 biggest mistakes people make with marketing on Facebook’, Communication World, 31, 2, pp. 26-28, Communication & Mass Media Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 11 April 2016.

Email Marketing not Spam as an Essential Marketing tool

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There is a fine line between what can be considered promotional email marketing and what is considered Spam. Spam is defined as an email sent to a consumer without consent and a direct purpose to fulfil the consumers wants and needs (Reimers, V., et al 2016). Therefore the email is considered useless to the consumer. Retailers have learned to love email marketing, it grew in popularity after the recession as marketers began to understand the benefits and cost effective approach to marketing. Given that I have recommended Waterstones should implement an email marketing campaign to strengthen their customers relationships and online sales this post aims to identify what is email marketing and what is spam.

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The digital shift has been growing for years making the Internet the largest channel for effective shopping. For many brick and mortar companies who have long been dependent on physical shoppers this caused huge losses for them. Waterstones saw first hand how online retailing took the industry by storm. Consumers like shopping online because it’s less effort, time, cost effective and have a variety of products and information at their fingertips (Reimers, V., et al 2016). Consumers have really developed a strong relationship with online retailing over the past few years and marketers have realised that email marketing and online shopping has formed a close relationship (Reimers, V., et al 2016). To say that the two are synonymous is an understatement.

However despite the two concepts having a close relationship one must recognise the consumer’s perspective when it comes to their personal domains. Email inbox and text messages are a direct link into the consumer’s life, and in order for email marketing to be effective it cant be annoying. Experts have found that the average consumer receives 177 emails a year from one company and given that a single consumer tends to subscribe to more that one company that’s a lot of emails (Morrison, M. 2012)! That is why the opt-in and opt-out tool was created by the anti spam legislation Reimers, V., et al 2016). The theory behind the opt-in and opt-out tool is that if the consumer signs up to receive emails from the given company then they are more likely to actually buy something, generating online sales and customer retention (Reimers, V., et al 2016).

Finding the balance is key when deciding the volume of emails to send to a consumer. The email must provide and cater information to the consumer wants and needs to not be considered spam. Emails are an effective way of telling consumers about new of existing products and must be done so in a form that is appealing graphical emails are more likely to boost response rates then text based (Storey, P.L. 2009). E-mail marketing is an essential tool for companies like Waterstones to use the following national survey exemplifies why:

 

  • 52% of respondents said that professional emails give them a more favourable opinion of the store
  • 48% feel “more loyal” toward the retailer as a result of the messages
  • 88% said a retailer’s email prompted them to download/print out a coupon
  • 75% said it led them to buy a product online
  • 67% said email prompted an offline purchase
  • 60% were moved to try a new product
  • -(Storey, P.L. 2009)

 

The following post by Benchmark outlines opt in email marketing vs. spam and the advantages and disadvantages of using opt-in email marketing.

 

If you’re looking for examples of e-mail marketing campaigns I recommend the following link.

 

References

Reimers, V., Chao, C. & Gorman, S. 2016, “Permission email marketing and its influence on online shopping”, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 308-322.

Morrison, M. 2012, “Consumers balance on verge of ‘offer anarchy’; Email marketing is a cost-effective tool, but as marketers overdo it they risk long-term brand damage”, Advertising Age, vol. 83, no. 7, pp. 24.

Storey, P.L. 2009, “OPTIMIZING YOUR WEBSITE: SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, PAY PER CLICK, EMAIL MARKETING”, International Journal of Pharmaceutical Compounding, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 312.

Waterstones; The Future of Bookstores

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I’m currently sat here in Café W Brighton drinking my flat white and debating the inevitable future bookstores may soon face. It’s hard to believe that thess brick and mortars may one day be extinct. The data all points towards the digital upheaval taking away from physical bookstores ability to remain financially sustainable. I however am not convinced of such a future; I am currently sat next to a French couple enjoying a cup of coffee and browsing the cookery section. On the floor below colouring, sparkles and the sound of little kids ravaging through books. I am surrounded by linguists, fashion entrepreneurs, mothers to be, teenagers who want to be anywhere but here and content elderlies indulging a great book and eating cake.

So why must it all come to end lets have a look at what the academics and bloggers have to say.

5 Reasons to Contemplate the use of Electronic Books:

1.) The ever-increasing problems associated with publication rates of both paper and electronic documents.

2.) Limitations imposed by rates at which humans can read text-based material.

3.) Implications of media competition.

4.) Speed and accuracy with which electronic material can be accessed.

5.) The ways electronic material can be re-organised in dynamic ways to achieve more flexible presentation and access.

 

– (Barker, P. (1998)

The Future of Books in 7 Easy Steps:

 

1.) Amazon will continue to grow forcing booksellers to downsize.

2.) Companies with weak financial capabilities will face difficulties.

3.) The decline of retail space in bookstores will make it harder for publishers books to be noticed.

4.) The shift from print to digital (e-books and other electronic sales) will become publishers significant source of revenue.

5.) More sales shift to digital sales and physical books will start to decline.

6.) Infrastructure supporting the traditional book supply chain – warehouses will come under increasing pressure.

7.)Small publishing operations and innovative start-ups will proliferate.

  • (Thompson, J. (2012)

 

This blog post in Huffington was written in 2012 from what we can deduce after the closing of Borders Bookstore the future of other book retailers seemed doomed. Waterstones followed suit with almost every prediction that was made, facing financial devastation and almost bankruptcy. However Book sales actually picked up and the sales of e-readers such as kindles began to decline pushing them out from Waterstones shelves.

 

The matter of the fact is, that although everyone has predicted the digital shift would have a significant effect on physical books stores (and it has) the effects weren’t as detrimental predicted. There is a large population of people who will always love the idea of going into physical bookstores. If anything what we have learnt from operating in this volatile period is that book retailers have an extremely loyal consumer basis.

A blog post written by Sarah Convissar expresses my exact same feelings towards digital technologies replacing books.

 

The most likely outcome is this situation is that yes we will continue to see a decrease in physical bookstores as online giants such as Amazon continue to gain market share. However I don’t believe this means all is lost there will still be a strong consumer portfolio supporting the want and need for book retailers as proven by Waterstones come back despite the financial recession and digital shift. There is one thing that Amazon will never be able to create through there online books sales and that is customer experience.

 

References

 

Barker, P. 1998, “The future of books in an electronic era”, The Electronic Library, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 191.

 

Thompson, J. (2012). Where Is Publishing Headed?: The Future Of Books In 7 Easy Steps. Available: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-b-thompson/future-of-books_b_1501182.html. Last accessed 26th March 2016.

Waterstones What Went Wrong: Operating in a volatile period

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Waterstones is a British book retailer founded in London with 275 stores and 3,500 employees in United Kingdom and Europe. Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut brought in the current CEO James Daunt after he purchased the organization for £53 million (Eyre, H. (2014).recession0

Despite huge losses in the past Daunt has managed to reduce operating loss by £13.2 million, substantially decreasing the rate of financial decline within the company (Eyre, H. (2014). The company sells books, kindles, stationary, and board games and has its own Waterstones café within most of the bookstores. The company see’s a lot of its revenue from non-book items. Waterstones has struggled greatly with discount wars especially with consumers increasing use of 24-hour online bookstores.

 

So after 4 years at the brink of financial turbulence the questions remains what went wrong?

 

1.) The recession did one of many things to retailers; planted doubt within consumers minds, reduce disposable income, shifted consumer preferences. Not only did consumers loose the relationship they once shared with retailers they were forced to re-evaluate there spending habits.

Coyle, C. (2010) describes perfectly the transformation of consumer behaviour after the recession in a simple but precise acronym, MRSALDI.

Masstige

Recession’s Secret Shopper

See-Saw Consumer

Austerity Chic

Lipstick Effect

Domestic God(ess)

Individually

 

Masstige: despite being in financial hardship the consumer craves elegance and luxury

Recession’s Secret Shopper: the shift to digital put 1.6 billions consumers online making them more savvy about reviewing brands, products and services. The new channel of communication enhanced one-to-one interaction between retailers and consumers

See-Saw Consumer: consumers are not only aware but seeking value more than ever (bargains and investments)

Austerity Chic: Cheap is the new expensive, consumers actively seek bargains, shop in charity shops and aren’t afraid to boast about what their saving

Lipstick Effect: Consumers are seeking immediate rewards for what they buy, buying luxury products scarcely

Domestic God(ess): Instead of relocating consumers are redecorating and their doing it themselves (DIY)

Individually: although consumers are on a budget they are willing to pay premium prices for a personalised experience

– Coyle, C. (2010)

 

2.) Emerging technology, our global economy went from 0 to 6 in a matter of a year and for those retail companies who didn’t predict or stress the importance of digital within their company strategy got left behind. Waterstones was slow to adapt to the technological progression and in turn was overtaken by digital behemoths like amazon.

Once consumers were confined to their catchment areas and had no other way than entering the physical store if they wanted to purchase a book, clothing, toiletries etc.

Information and technology forcibly changed the way retailers once operated hindering their value proposition to consumers and creating “catchment areas that knows no bounds”. Consumers have more access to an array of products and services at a variation of prices than ever before.

Grewal, D. et al. (2012) provides a basic 3 step recommendation to how retailers can stay on top of the ever-changing environment they operate within:

  • Remain more in touch with consumer preferences
  • Take advantage of opportunities created by new consumer preference
  • Enhance the value they offer to consumers

For more tips on retailers operating after the recession read this discussion with John Quelch

and for more tips here is an article from the Harvard Business Review.

References

Burnett, J. & Hutton, R.B. 2007, “New consumers need new brands”, Journal of Product & Brand Management, vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 342-347.

Coyle, C. (2010), ‘Reacting to Consumer Trends, Reaching New Markets, and Mitigating Risks in a Tough Economic Environment’, Licensing Journal, 30, 1, pp. 1-7, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 17 March 2016.

Eyre, H. (2014). James Daunt: the man who saved Waterstones. Available: http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/esmagazine/james-daunt-the-man-who-saved-waterstones-9913047.html. Last accessed 20th November 2015.

Grewal, D., Roggeveen, A. L., Compeau, L. D., & Levy, M. (2012). Retail value-based pricing strategies: New times, new technologies, new consumers. Journal of Retailing, 88(1), 1-6. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.brighton.ac.uk/10.1016/j.jretai.2011.12.001

 

Digital Channels for Book Retailers

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Book Retailers using Digital Channels; a Closer Look at Barnes & Noble

Continuing our investigation into social media campaigns as a successful digital marketing strategy its worth to look at how other book retailers/competitors have used digital channels. New emerging technology, innovation and creativity have pushed book retailers into a digital frenzy. Borders & Books is a prime example of how volatile the book retailing industry can be if one does not keep up with digital channels and technologies.

One of the most effective ways of marketing for these brick and mortar companies is creating an Omni channel experience. Cross-promotional selling to enhance, support and amplify the consumer experience (Goldberg, E. (2014). In order to find a successful digital strategy for Waterstones, looking at similar retailers success stories is very insightful.

 

Barnes and Noble

Barnes and Noble is a leading US book retailer very similar to Waterstones in its ideals, products and service. This company understood the need for the implementation of digital strategies as companies such as Amazon, Google and Apple Inc. began to enter the market. The company has used a variation of digital channels to promote its physical stores.

Advertisement Campaigns

“You never know who you’ll meet at Barnes and Noble” the 2015 advertisement campaign that featuring popular artists Tony Benett and Lady Gaga singing Baby Its Cold outside whilst looking for gifts for each other in Barnes & Noble (Lewis, H. (2015). The You Tube video has 511,051 views.

Social Networking

Over the holidays Barnes and Noble used twitter as a source of consumer engagement to give them the experience you get in store on social media. #BNGiftTip allowed customers to tweet questions or advice on what present to get someone. For instance you could tweet ‘What’s a good gift for a Southern food blogger who loves to read?” experts would reply “Southern food cookbooks make a great gift, check out this one by Martina McBride” this is a prime example of how a book retailer uses digital channels to engage and create personalized content (Goldberg, E. (2014).

Search Marketing

B&N use an extensive content marketing approach in order to keep up with its competitors. Its digital presence does not go unseen as it almost always come up as one of the first website when searching for books online in America.

Email Marketing

Barnes & Noble has undoubtedly mastered email marketing, its tailored, personal and easy to unsubscribe from. The company allows you to choose what type of emails you want to receive and how often (Klein, J. (2012). More often than not email marketing can be a tricky form of direct communication because it can become spam to a consumer. B&N made it easy even to unsubscribe.

Mobile Applications

One of the coolest things I have found on my investigation into B&N digital channels is their Google Express app. You can order a product from one of the local stores and it will arrive in a few hours (Goldberg, E. (2014). I can imagine this ways B&N way of keep up with Amazons same day delivery.

Barnes & Noble has been significantly successful when keep up with its competitors and keeping the book retailer buzz alive, for more reasons why their marketing strategy is so efficient checkout this blog post!

 

The Importance of Digital Channels for Book retailers

Consumers have never been more technology savvy and with the increasing use of applications and websites online researching a product or service before purchasing is a common notion (Ryan, D. & Jones, C. (2009). This is why companies need a digital presence to be recognized by consumers. Digital channels allow companies to reach consumers far more effectively and efficiently. One-way communication channels can be used to guide, promote, build relationships and inform consumers (Taiminen, H.M. & Karjaluoto, H. (2015).

The expectation is that brand awareness will be created through authentic conversations and stories, which create value to the consumer (Taiminen, H.M. & Karjaluoto, H. (2015). Digital presence is not only about being visible to the consumer via search engine but also generating a two-way relationship that does not force sales on the consumer (Taiminen, H.M. & Karjaluoto, H. (2015). One of the most important concepts that a company should remember when incorporating digital channels is that by listening, being transparent, empathic and open with its consumers is that you reap the rewards (Karjaluoto, H., et al. (2015). By doing this you are gaining insight into one of the most valuable resources; customer data.

 

References

Trachtenberg, J. A. (2011, Feb 23). Barnes & noble’s profit tumbles 25% — book retailer cancels dividend to free up funds for its digital strategies. Wall Street Journal Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.brighton.ac.uk/docview/853199844?accountid=9727

Karjaluoto, H., Mustonen, N. & Ulkuniemi, P. (2015), “The role of digital channels in industrial marketing communications”, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 30, no. 6, pp. 703-710.

Taiminen, H.M. & Karjaluoto, H. (2015), “The usage of digital marketing channels in SMEs”, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 633-651.

Meloni, J. (2011). Barnes & Noble uses deals, content marketing to attract Cyber Monday sales. Available: http://www.brafton.com/news/barnes-noble-uses-deals-content-marketing-to-attract-cyber-monday-sales/. Last accessed 27th Jan 2016.

Klein, J. (2012). Email Marketing Excellence: The Barnes & Noble Unsubscribe. Available: http://www.strongview.com/resources/blog/email-marketing-excellence-the-barnes-noble-unsubscribe. Last accessed 27th Jan 2016.

Lewis, H. (2015). Barnes & Noble Founder Created Lady Gaga, Tony Bennett-Starring Holiday Campaign. Available: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/barnes-noble-founder-created-lady-840073. Last accessed 27th Jan 2016.

Ryan, D. & Jones, C. (2009), Understanding digital marketing: marketing strategies for engaging the digital generation, Kogan Page, London.

Goldberg, E. (2014). Barnes & Noble’s Social Media Campaign Drives One-to-One Customer Service – See more at: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Barnes-Nobles-Social-Media-Campaign-Drives-One-to-One-Customer-Service/1011686. Available: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Barnes-Nobles-Social-Media-Campaign-Drives-One-to-One-Customer-Service/1011686. Last accessed 27th Jan 2016.

Social Networking Campaigns

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Waterstones & Social Media

When it comes to implementing a successful digital strategy into a company the channels are immense. Without the use digital channels in digital marketing strategies in order to engage and retain consumers a business will fall behind its competitors and the digital divide (Ryan, D., Jones, C. & Dawsonera (2009). Waterstones knows all too well about the consequences of not keep up with the changing environment and being underpinned by its competitors (Amazon). Chaffey, D. & Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2012), provide a complex diagram of the extensive channels digital marketing can take.

What’s really taking marketers by storm and pressuring companies to up their digital game? Take a look at what’s happening online in 60 seconds. This post will focus on social media marketing and its elusive web of ever changing and growing attributes.

When you think social media you think networking and along with it Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest and Instagram, the variety is endless. These are but one tiny element of social media however incredibly important there is much more to it. Chaffey, D. & Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2012) outline 10 components within social media:

 

  • Social Networks
  • Social Publishing and News
  • Social Commenting in Blogs
  • Social Niche Communities
  • Social Customer Service
  • Social Knowledge
  • Social Bookmarking
  • Social Streaming
  • Social Search
  • Social Commerce

 

Lets not make things too confusing and take a page out of The Social Media Bible.

 

Step 1.) For social media success; Analyze your existing media (Safko, L. & Dawsonera (2010)

  • Online Website
  • Blog
  • Events Page
  • Click and Collect
  • Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest, Instagram and Google +
  • Android and IOS Mobile application
  • Alta Vista Search Engine (Siemens Primergy 870 Internet Connectivity – BT)
  • Epiphany agency runs: SEO, pay-per-click and advertising
  • EPUB: digital service that allows book to be read via Hardware platforms
  • ‘Read for Free’ Service

 

Step 2.) The Social Media Trinity (Safko, L. & Dawsonera (2010)

Waterstones is missing out on a huge proportion of the market, millennial’s that are avid users of social media. Not only does it promote customer communication, relationships, products and services but also it gives the company insight into data about the consumer. This is extremely important for leveraging consumer-generated content and engaging with the target audience.

Its most recent digital marketing campaign ‘planners’ or ‘wingers’ was designed to promoted their click and collect system as well as the importance of real books this Christmas. Waterstones needs to use its social media more effectively and who better to learn from then the champions themselves.

Successful Social Media Marketing Campaigns

 

Facebook: Heinz 5 Beans – (Hawes, A. (2015)

 

heinz

This company used Facebook as a medium to reach out to their consumers through the use of an online personality quiz “Which Bean Are You?” This is a great example of a company with little social networking presence creating a personalized relationship with its consumers, increasing its fan base by 30,000 and creating buzz.

YouTube: Three Mobile #danceponydance – (Hawes, A. (2015)

The famous moon-walking pony to Fleetwood Mac led to 7 million views you would think that alone was enough to create hysteria. The company took the opportunity to further involve consumers through ‘the pony mixer’ allowing the to customize, create and pick the music for their own dancing pony video.

LinkedIn: Fruit of the Loom – (Wasserman, T. (2013)

 

fruit

This tactical social networking campaign used LinkedIn to discover people who had started a new job or changed in the last 30 days. The message disclosed that they were eligible to claim a pair of underwear, because “great-fitting underwear can help you start your workday in a great mood”

For more great social networking campaigns check out this blog posts!

 

Why Social Networking?

All highly effective digital marketing strategies that use social networking channels to engage with consumers that companies were never able to reach before. Waterstones should endeavor to create more personalized consumer relationships. The average person checks their phone 150 times a day, this is one of the easiest targeting mechanisms for Waterstones to use to bring their product and service into the home of the consumer.

Waterstones does amazing advertisements for their books on their You Tube page but they only have 6, 565 subscribers. The latest was ‘The City of Mirrors’ by Justin Cronin and it has 175 views.

The expectation from the company is that the consumer will take the initiative to purchase the book. Social networking allows companies to understand who are influencers and advocates (who do people listen to these days) how can we acquire these people to promote our products and services via social networking (Browne, E. & British Computer Society (2012). Waterstones needs to broaden its spectrum of advocates and influencers and understand that millennials want to be recommended a book by Zoella (via You Tube) or Demi Lovato (via tweeting).

Implementing digital initiatives would unmask elusive opportunities that don’t have to drift from its core value of wanting consumers to experience the physical book retailer. Using social networks to promote campaigns; events and book signings would broaden its marketing scope but segment its focus into a wider audience (Ryan, D., Jones, C. & Dawsonera (2009).

 

References

Chaffey, D. & Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2012), Digital marketing: strategy, implementation and practice, 5th edn, Pearson Education, Harlow.

Browne, E. & British Computer Society (2012), Working the crowd: social media marketing for business, 2nd edn, BCS, London.
Safko, L. & Dawsonera (2010), The social media bible: tactics, tools, and strategies for business success, 2nd edn, Wiley, Hoboken, N.J.

Ryan, D., Jones, C. & Dawsonera (2009), Understanding digital marketing: marketing strategies for engaging the digital generation, Kogan Page, London.

Taken Smith, K. (2012), “Longitudinal study of digital marketing strategies targeting Millennials”, Journal of Consumer Marketing, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 86-92.

Wasserman, T. (2013). 8 Innovative LinkedIn Marketing Campaigns. Available: http://mashable.com/2013/10/14/creative-marketing-linkedin/#X4Mp.Z3fGPqT. Last accessed 24th Jan 2016.

Hawes, A. (2015). 5 of the Most Imaginative You Tube Campaigns. Available: http://oursocialtimes.com/5-of-the-most-imaginative-youtube-campaigns/. Last accessed 25th Jan 2016.

Hawes, A. (2015). 5 Fantastic Facebook Marketing Campaigns. Available: http://oursocialtimes.com/5-fantastic-facebook-campaigns/. Last accessed 25th Jan 2016.

Chaffey, D. (2016). What Happens in One Minute Online. Available: http://blog.davechaffey.com/. Last accessed 27th Jan 2016.

SalesForce. (2014). The 30 Most Brilliant Social Media Campaigns of the Last Half of 2014. Available: https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2014/12/the-30-most-brilliant-social-media-campaigns-of-the-last-half-of-2014-152015.html. Last accessed 27th Jan 2016.

easyJets use of Email Marketing

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What you need to know about me

The reason I like easyJet is because it’s a service that does what I want when I want it. What more can you ask for! When I moved in 2013 from Basel, Switzerland to Brighton, United Kingdom for university easyJet was my way home. Its easy, quick and most of all its cheap. Affordability is the greatest part of this service whether I wanted to be back for a weekend, a week or months it was always at my fingertips, getting home has never been an issue for me. Email marketing is one of the greatest tools of communication between a service and a consumer. EasyJet has come a long way since they first invested 50m into their new marketing strategy, so lets see if its paid off.

“Marketing sits at the centre of all consumer businesses. I don’t really know how to run a business without listening to consumers, particularly understanding how they perceive your brand and deciding how you want that brand to be positioned and then attracting and retaining customers,” – Carolyn McCall chief exective of easyJet.

1.) Focused Content

“Can you believe we used to send out the same email to every customer in Europe once a week on a Friday?” – Peter Duffy marketing director of easyJet.

easyJet used to use a one size fits all type methodology when it came to email marketing. Now as you can see the company has developed a much more personalized form of marketing, one that tailors to the consumer. easyJet has even gone the extra mile to use big data to calculate when I last traveled and exactly how many miles I have travelled with them. This gives the consumer a sense of involvement within the company, as if they are being taken into account.

Screen Shot 2015-11-13 at 17.23.19 Screen Shot 2015-11-13 at 17.23.31

2.) Call to Action

Immediately when you open the email the title and picture “ how 20 years have flown” it links you to the easyjet website. This is not the only link within the email, the word “Berlin” when clicked takes you to an easyJet page with tickets from London to Berlin. This is a good way of getting direct activity from the consumer. The social media links at the bottom also all link to their own pages, which is a good way of promoting their other social media platforms.

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2.) Permission

EasyJet uses an opt-out box, which you can access on your easyJet account. If you later decide you do not want to receive emails the consumer is free to update this at any time.

 Screen Shot 2015-11-13 at 17.32.46

 

3.) Spam or marketing 

If you’re wondering why easyJet isn’t in my junk mail box well its because they aren’t overloading me with lots of useless information. I counted that in the year of 2015 I have received 20 emails from easyJet, all which share valuable information that I am very much interested in. However within a year the retail company Selfridges & Co have sent me 105 emails. Perhaps it is down to personal preference but that is far too much unnecessary information, you don’t want to annoy your customer.

 

4.) Less is More

Email marketing is one of the most important channels of communication for travel brands. It had been rated as the best channel of response within consumers. Lay out is essential when thinking about email marketing you have a very limited window of time before the consumer is going to move on to the next email. EasyJet keep their colour format simple, using the well establish orange that is immediately associated with the company. The simple collage of pictures with 5 textbox’s with no more than one sentence makes it quick and easy to read. Hierarchy of effects is a good reflection of easyJets approach to email marketing.Screen Shot 2015-11-13 at 17.24.08Screen Shot 2015-11-13 at 17.24.26

 

Critique

The simplicity of this email complements the message they are trying to get across. The information isn’t over whelming or hard to understand. The colour scheme and direct link to the easy jet website make it easy to use. The fact that easyJet does not bombard you with emails works very well because when you do receive an email you know its going to be important or a good offer. In comparison to other emails from Selfridges and Twitter I rarely even think twice about looking at them because they email far too often. EasyJet also excels at being a very fast website, the delivery rate is always of high quality.

As much as I do love the scarcity of the emails, I think perhaps there could more to do with cheap flights and good offers for weekend get-aways. The subject line of the email does indicate some inclusion of the consumer and perhaps a travel deal but its not exactly clear. Perhaps something more direct like “Maria great deals on this 20th anniversary” I would have been keener to open it. For instance

Screen Shot 2015-11-13 at 16.45.04Rynair sent this email to my cousin the other day just in time for her to book tickets for her and her boyfriend’s anniversary. I know I wouldn’t hestitate to open or buy this great offer!

After doing some essential reading I do believe that easyJet does fit the guidelines for a successful email marketing campaign. However from a consumer point of view it does lack promotions as such. If you are planning on starting an email marketing campaign I suggest looking at The Small Business Guide to Email Marketing.

 

References

Tink Taylor. (2013). EasyJet email marketing flying high as Ryanair crash lands. Available: https://econsultancy.com/blog/63044-easyjet-email-marketing-flying-high-as-ryanair-crash-lands/. Last accessed November 13th 2015.

(2014). easyJet’s Marketing Makeover Inspires High-Flying Engagement. Available: http://www.marketingtango.com/easyjets-marketing-makeover-inspires-high-flying-engagement/. Last accessed November 13th 2015.

Sarah Vizard. (2014). EasyJet CEO: ‘Marketers should be at the centre of all consumer businesses’. Available: https://www.marketingweek.com/2014/11/26/easyjet-ceo-marketers-should-be-at-the-centre-of-all-consumer-businesses/. Last accessed November 13th 2015.

 

 

Ikea’s road to ‘Inteligent Business’

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Ikea is a multinational company that most of us are familiar with. Its huge success in the homeware department is no secret to many.

It’s hard to believe that such a successful company was having challenges with its digital presence within and outside the company. Communication within the company seemed to be a common struggle with over 160,000 employees, 365 stores in 45 countries.

It wasn’t until Nathaniel Hansen introduced the Listening Hub that Ikea was really able to distibute data and provide a network of communication. With the help of Brandwatch Vizia this technological platform allows employees and customers in the USA and UK to share and distibute insights about Ikea. This digital platform has helped the company efficently share information, improve on customer service and improve the Ikea brand. This is Ikea’s first step to an ever growing journey to becoming an ‘Inteligent Business’.

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