Technology is continuing to change the way we view digital marketing at breakneck speed, but the future is bright for digital marketing
It’s quite apparent that technology has brought the marketing field a long way. We wouldn’t be immersed in the digital marketing field without it. However, many marketers, particularly those in small businesses, don’t recognize just how much and how often technology is changing. For that reason, they have a very difficult time keeping up, which could be their biggest marketing mistake.
“In a nutshell, we’re living in a rapidly changing world where ‘on the fly’ collaboration sessions involving voice, video, and data sharing are becoming commonplace,” says Jeremy Cioara of CBT Nuggets, a company devoted to technological advancements. “Executives and employees have their expectations set high when it comes to supporting collaborative communication within an organization.”
With the ever-present…
20-35% of teens are snapchatters
Here we're sharing some of the latest research from GlobalWebIndex. They regularly have specific reports on social platforms that aren't covered elsewhere. Globally 14% of teens are using snapchat, according to GlobalWebIndex, and in the US it's even more popular as 16-19 year olds are snapchatting. This growth is being seen across Europe; the UK and Irish Teens rank at the top for usage. It's popularity is a result of teens being able to hang out with their friends and mainly its 'fun appeal'.
Companies are realising the benefit as recently Alibaba has announced that it's planning to invest over $200 million dollars in Snapchat. So Snapchat appears here to stay as a tool for building relationships with the teens. Companies including the Co-op and Taco Bell have used it to try and engage the young audience. Last year …
CONVERT: Achieving the final conversion on the landing page
This post is the final in a 3 part series (read Part 1 and Part 2 here) of articles addressing how to effectively increase your email marketing conversions – looking at the third and final step in this process.
When planning their email campaign, too many email marketers only plan for the first 2 conversions steps, however, the landing page/website/product page is the point where the final conversion happens.
No matter how successful we are at conversion steps #1 and #2 if we fail at the point of conversion then we have failed. I regularly quiz email marketers as to their KPI’s and the majority inform me that they’re rewarded on conversions (Step #3) – not on opens (Step #1) nor on clicks (Step #2). This article looks at the conversion part of the process and how to make sure you don’t throw…
Innovative techniques and examples of engaging web and mobile designs
Gone are the days of promoting your brand face-to-face or through those mailbox flyers and ads in the local newspaper that no one reads anymore. And unless you have a marketing budget equal to the "big boys" you won't be buying commercial time at the next Super Bowl. Today, you will have to be "lean and mean" with your marketing dollars and get very smart and creative about the design of your content, so that you achieve continued customer and potential customer engagement.
Engagement is an Emotional Phenomenon
People "Engage" when their emotions are triggered, either positive or negative. Thus, the goal of content design must be to stimulate emotions that will influence behaviours and motivate customers/potential customers to act. As important as it is to define your target market, then, it is just as important to stimulate emotional engagement, happiness, excitement, surprise, and satisfaction. When these…
Examples and best practices for converting your subscribers to click and take action
Continuing my 3-part series on increasing email marketing conversions - Open > Click > Convert, in this post we’re looking at the second step in this process.
This step is the most obvious one you'll want to acheive and often most resource and attention is given to it and if we fail at this step, then we will also fail at achieving our final conversion. The conversion we hope to gain at this step is to drive them to the landing page, where the final conversion takes place.
Leverage the strengths of email and minimise its weaknesses
The aim is not to keep the readers engaged with your email and reading it at length in the inbox, but to convert them to the next stage – the landing…
Five examples of how retailers and brands are using iBeacons for marketing campaigns
Apple iBeacon gives great opportunities to develop innovative marketing campaigns, particularly for retailers. Beacons are small wireless sensors to connect the online with offline worlds. Their main purpose for a retailer is to enhance the customer experience by offering a new form of proximity marketing which can link to boosting product sales. Apple explains the the approach this way:
"Your iOS device can alert mobile apps when you approach or leave a location with an iBeacon.iBeacon uses a Bluetooth low energy signal, which iOS devices detect. In addition to monitoring location, an app can estimate your proximity to an iBeacon (for example, a display or checkout counter in a retail store)".
Let's now look at five interesting examples of how brands are using Apple iBeacons to create an advantage and added value for their customers.
1. Famous Antwerp Museum uses beacons as…
Converting your subscribers to open and read the email
There are 3 key steps to increasing email marketing conversions and it’s necessary to get each of them right as they can all impact (either positively or negatively) the success of your email marketing campaign. All too often when we talk about email marketing we simply consider the email, however, email marketing is much more than that. There is a 3 step process to achieving conversions within email marketing and all 3 steps are as impactful as each other – so be sure not to neglect any of them! This article is part 1 in a series of 3 covering each step 1 - you can read part 2 and part 3 here.
Step 1: Email Opens
Yes, this first step is an obvious…
Five Rules for integrating a contact centre effectively
Once the preserve of the contact centre, customer experience has become the focus of the modern marketer.
In 2013 a Forrester Report called on brands to ‘Build Seamless Experiences Now’. It argued that, by failing to deliver a seamless dialogue across multiple access points, brands are degrading their value and eroding customer loyalty.
This need to deliver a seamless dialogue has ensured that marketers’ priorities have changed and increasingly they are looking to technology to help; Gartner predicts that by 2017, the CMO will spend more on technology than the CIO.
Yet marketing technology alone will not address the shift to multichannel customer communications.
By rights, the contact centre should be the axis of the customer centric business model. It is the most common two-way touch point customers have with most businesses. Yet, in most organisations it is disjointed with the rest of the business, sitting…
The latest research suggests many marketers are missing out on the benefits of automated Email marketing
The Email Marketing Industry Census 2015 from Econsultancy and Adestra shows a slight improvement in Email marketing automation and overall it seems that there are many enthusiastic adopters of Email Marketing Automation.
43% of email marketers agreed they have advanced marketing automated/email messaging functions and 2/3 of the respondents are using' subscription or sign-up to website' emails.
But when you look at the type of automated emails used we see a different story. Although there are steady year-on-year improvements across most types, the rates of adoption are still surprisingly low. For example, one third aren't using 'onboarding' emails when someone signs up. Two thirds aren't using follow-ups based on content viewed on site suggesting their email systems and web content tracking aren't joined up or no rules are in place to trigger these emails.
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How do your digital marketing skills compare?
Developing your Digital Marketing skills is now crucial to staying relevant in your career and, for employers too, 'digital talent development' is vital to stay competitive. Through our resources and blog articles we're keen to help members develop their skills and of those in their team. To help here, we will be grateful if you take our new Digital Skills research survey which will show which skills are most sought after and the best techniques to gain and develop your skills.
To develop this new research we have again teamed up with the organisers of the TFM&A and eCommerce Expo where the research will be presented - thanks for their input too - full details of the upcoming eCommerce Expo conference is available at the end of the survey.
We will let you know by email when the full report is published and available for…
