Working with your HiPPO

Data / analytics can be both liberating and restrictive but the one thing it will always do and do well is ensure we remain commercially focused. I was at a clients HQ for the first time 2 weeks ago and this quote summarises my belief about business and why being commercially minded is fundamental to success: “We need freedom to shape our future; we need profit to remain free”. This quote is the one thing that can unite teams if understood and even help with the subject of my blog post. I spent a lot of my junior marketing days in data analysis tools like Omniture & Google helping to craft my story of how me / my team were performing and to show our contribution to the business, it rarely went as I expected in the early days, but I learnt and learned fast, here are 5 ways I found to help me that I…

An interview with Bill Gerth plus a review of social media management tools

When we think of social media, we often imagine a Social Media Manager or Community Manager simply posting marketing content and engaging with their community. However, our guide based on 22 end-user reviews and ratings across 23 different social media management software products shows many more applications. The table below shows how we’ve identified 3 key ways enterprises are leveraging social media: Social Customer Care, Social Listening and Social Media Marketing.  Most companies fit more than one use case. For example, some companies that manage a social customer care program use a second tool that specializes in social listening along with a customer care tool that provides engagement capabilities. …

A review of essential features for newsletter software

Despite the flourishing technical capabilities of email marketing programs, a huge percentage of email marketers send emails and newsletters without making the most of the services on offer, thereby writing off a lot of potential. Whether it be a poor delivery rate, inconsistent newsletter display or insufficient tracking facilities, there is usually room for improvement. But how do we know which features are the most important? These 10 features are not 'rocket science', nor do they require any specialist knowledge. But they are fundamentally important if your email newsletter campaign is to be successful. They should help you to differentiate between newsletter marketing providers, whether you are setting out or reviewing your current provider. Software certifications A customisable sender address Content personalisation facilities Recipient grouping and segmentation Duplicate dispatch control Automated lifecycle emails Consistent display on mobile devices Consistent display in all web and email clients Comprehensive tracking options A/B tests: establish the best…

Barriers to adoption of Marketing Automation and how overcome them

In research TFM&A (2014) identified that there were 5 main benefits to marketing automation: personalisation, campaign management, triggered emails, control and insight.   But with such clear benefits why are more organisations not adopting the tools that can lead to greater business success? In this blog I’ll be explaining the key barriers to adoption of marketing automation and give an action plan for marketers who want to persuade their organisations to adopt an automated approach.

Who are the non-adopters?

The barriers to adoption of marketing automation vary greatly depending on the type of company, their needs and their previous investments. In  research carried out by CommsBox we identified 4 key types of non-adopter. Although by no means exclusive, they give an in-depth insight into the difficulties that companies face when making major investments in change. You might recognise elements of your own organisation here: Trailing…

LinkedIn launches Lead Accelerator for funnel nurturing

Importance: [rating=4] (For B2B Marketers looking to attract nurture leads through the sales funnel) Recommended link: LinkedIn Launches new Lead Accelerator LinkedIn are positioning this new programme as a way for marketers reaching business (B2B) audiences to attract quality visitors, to nurture them through the sales funnel, via targeted display and social ads across the web and LinkedIn. It appears targeting is based on your visitors profile and what they're doing on your website (like retargeting), so the advert is relevant within the buying cycle and to the online behaviour of your visitor.  

What Marketers need to know about Lead Accelerator?

1. It's available to subscribe to via a LinkedIn Sales person, on an annual or quarterly subscription. 2. Available only if you have a minimum of 20,000…

12 key issues you must consider for Mobile SEO

Mobile SEO refers to the search engine optimization of websites combined with flawless viewing on mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. Thanks to the increasing boom of portable devices, webmasters should be highly concerned with their mobile SEO plan. After all, more than 50% of Internet users now report surfing websites through their mobile devices daily. Google is already favouring mobile friendly sites. Based on my experience of different mobile SEO projects,  I have created this detailed guide on mobile SEO. I hope it will help newcomers to mobile SEO missing some of the key issues. Below I will spend time offering my recommendations to boost your understanding on how to properly optimize your website for optimal user experiences across all mobile devices. First and foremost, according to Google mobile websites typically run on one out of three different configurations: 1. Responsive Web Design 2.…

Are you using these quick wins for social media?

A lot of businesses are now aware of the importance of building a community when it comes to social media marketing. Because of this, marketers are using more sophisticated strategies to maximize the use of online tools to initiate engagement and interaction with their customers. But not all are reaching the results that they want in terms of exposure or traffic. If you’re still looking for more effective ways to use social media to your advantage, you need to use advanced techniques in reinforcing your marketing message. If you find your results underwhelming and you still don’t know what to do next in creating online presence, here are some of the advanced strategies you can use for your social media marketing efforts.

1. Find out the type of content that’s popular with your competitor’s audience.

It’s no secret that marketers monitor each other’s websites to…

Dynamic Product ads bring product retargeting to Facebook

Importance: [rating=4] For Retailers looking to retarget their audience on Facebook Recommended link: Facebook announcement of Dynamic Product ads Facebook announced Product Ads this week. Here's an example to show why they're dynamic:   In their post announcing product ads, they explain:

“Product ads, a solution designed to help businesses promote multiple products or their entire product catalog, across all the devices their customers use. With product ads, businesses can showcase more products and people on Facebook can discover more relevant products”.

So this ad option extends Custom Audiences which can already be used for targeting to reference individual products. While it’s of most interest to retailers and all of Facebooks ads show this, it does look as if manufacturers or brands could use the service too. Given the popularity of Google's PLAs this is likely…

5 ways to extend the use of popup technology on your site

Using the latest technology to engage visitors to your site is a must. In a recent post on using popups to grow email subscribers, Kath Pay discussed some best practices for capturing email addresses using popup technology. In this post I’m looking at some of the ways you can extend popup technology to do more for your site. You’d be surprised how much that popups can do. Popups can be used to: 1. Ask for feedback The latest popup technology allows you to fine tune who you show your message to. For instance, let’s say you only want your message to appear to people who leave your site without browsing for more than a minute. When these short-term visitors go to leave your site, you can ask them, 'Was there another product or topic you would find interesting?'. Using popup technology this…

How the Designer Rebecca Minkoff is using Touch Screens to recreate the Online Shopping Experience

Retailers have become creative in their use of digital technology to create an interactive shopping experience, as the trend continues as buyers are showrooming and stores are looking for ways to interact with their buyers in-store to boost sales. During Christmas, we showcased how retailers such as Ted Baker and Barneys created exciting digital displays and this has been embraced on a personal level, by the Designer Rebecca Minkoff in her American Stores. The Minkoff stores were looking for 'a problem-solution approach' to technology; to take away the frustrations and pains of shopping. Their solution was to provide touchscreens as part of the shopping experience. In-store shoppers can request items and ask for assistance in their dressing rooms via touchscreen wall technology. There are instant…