Weighing up the cost implications of the GDPR

The new EU data law, or General Protection Data Regulation (GDPR), will collectively cost marketing data users billions in becoming technically compliant. A recent survey by Vanson Bourne reveals that nearly 70 per cent of companies will invest in new IT or support services, and 51 per cent have allocated budget for staff training in preparation for the new law. Every brand and agency faces its own unique compliance challenge, but broadly the to do list is the same in terms of the tasks to be completed. What is certain is that most have not calculated the cost. A report for the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) reveals that 87 per cent of companies are unable to calculate the amount compliance preparation will cost, and 82 per cent of the…

Research showcasing best practice to improve your influencer marketing campaigns

Influencer marketing has become such a popular search term, that Google classifies the keyword as a "breakout", meaning it has experienced search growth of more than 5000%. While we know that influencer marketing has become a popular digital media channel, what can we learn from influencer marketing campaigns that have already been run? We thought we would find out by analysing over 100 influencer campaigns and then share the results. The campaigns spanned global geographies and were sampled out of different industries - from FMCG to travel to fashion and motoring. Read further to find out the highlights of the results, showcasing where and why influencer campaigns are popular, some best practice to get you started or improve current projects and how technology is improving the way we execute campaigns. This infographic will help anyone who's eager to implement an influencer marketing campaign of their own.   …

Personalise your reporting with new calculated metrics

There is not a lot that you can’t do with Google Analytics these days, but one feature that has been missing for a while that the community has been requesting is Calculated Metrics. This feature is only available for properties using Universal Analytics and is currently in Beta. In this post I have gone into some detail about what it is, why you should be exited, what you can do with it, and how to approach this new feature in your business by using examples.

Quick at a glance summary

Google Announced in their November 2015 product update email newsletter Currently in Beta Only available for properties using Universal Analytics You can only have 5 Calculated Metrics per view (50 if you have the paid Premium) You need to have the right level of access in your GA account to create them You can mix any metrics or custom metrics…

During Dharmesh Shah’s and Brian Halligan’s keynote at Inbound 2015 they announced Hubspot’s new Ads feature which, for the first time, aligned Hubspot’s inbound marketing methodology with more 'traditional' paid search. When I heard this it raised an important question for me; do paid ads really fit into the inbound model or are Hubspot are simply looking to cash-in?

The case against: Are Hubspot just cashing in?

During the announcement Hubspot said that 53% of their users already use paid ads, which means they have instantly created a captive audience of more than 7,500 subscribers, which is handy. Remember that this feature is also a paid ‘add-on’, if it were truly a part of the Inbound Methodology, would it not be made part of the standard software? I may be being picky as…

Importance: [rating=4] For Ecommerce businesses / retailers Recommended link: Adwords Shopping Campaigns available on YouTube Originally announced in May 2015, Google have finally moved 'TrueView for Shopping' out of Beta and have also introduced Shopping Ads on Youtube, which is available to all online advertisers through AdWords. This is a great opportunity for retailers to gain awareness and clickthroughs beyond the Google Shopping ads that have proved so popular in Google Search. This is supported by research about the new format showed that 57% of the 708 campaigns studied, saw an increase in consideration, with 24% seeing a lift in favorability, whilst 35% of the campaigns saw an increase in purchase intent.

What is TrueView for Shopping?

In short, it allows you to showcase your own products, which have been pulled from the Google Merchant Centre, onto your own videos. Simple as that. It uses a card system with users clicking…

Data shows uplift retailers in the UK and worldwide can expect from the key e-commerce dates this month

For retailers, the festive season effectively starts with Black Friday on 27th November 2015 and Cyber Monday three days later. This year some experts are predicting that UK sales could top the one billion pound mark. To understand what we should expect this year let’s take a look at how things panned out in 2014. The data in the charts below is compiled by Fresh Relevance and the predicted uplift is based on billions of page views across retail websites in previous years (approx. 50% in the UK and 50% worldwide). The impact of the two day shopping bonanza starts one week ahead of Black Friday as traffic falls back slightly, suggesting that consumers are delaying purchases in the anticipation of lower prices. Then the day before a 25% increase in traffic as shoppers’ scope…

Tis the season for Digital Marketing Exams. It's time to F.R.E.A.K.O.U.T!

So my cohort of IDM friends have recently been speaking about the upcoming IDM Digital Marketing Diploma exams. Speaking might be better rephrased as "freaking out". Why? well, we are all feeling pretty overwhelmed by the scale of the digital marketing landscape these days. Not one day has passed since (well, since I can remember) without some new update through my inbox on... Google, Facebook Advertising, Snapchat Stories, new entrant Periscope, the topic of Big Data!, permission and breaches, cookies, convergence, customer acquisition, integration, RTB, mobile, Panda, Penguin, penalties, optimisation, keywords , SEO, PPC, programmatic, Affiliates, retargeting, ad blocking,first party, third party data, eCRM, loyalty, advocacy, own media, earned media, bought media. Youtube, influencers, analytics, dashboards, automation, apps, opt in opt out, search, social, traffic, CTR's, OR's, CPM, CPC, CPA, LTV, OVP, AMC (agh). And then there is the world of Ad networks! .....The…

Having started my career as a web analyst and working with data on a day-to-day basis, I see massive opportunity in what we can learn and how we can improve online performance by using data effectively. However, “how” we use data to make decisions is a wide-ranging scale and it can be all too easy to go from traffic, to visitors, to clicks and transactions in your analytics platform and not pay the appropriate attention to what is actually happening in between. Not micro-conversions in this instance, but the psychological filters consumers employ as they interact with and process your website. Both consciously and (more interestingly perhaps) sub-consciously. Perception, emotion, anxiety and more. The common saying goes that analytics can tell you ‘what’ is happening, but cannot tell you ‘why’. User Research can give you fantastic insights into what motivates or influences decision-making,…

The key to effective transformation is being connected

If there is one word that seems to be in every conversation today, it’s transformation. It started as digital transformation and now many businesses are panicking about business transformation. This new strategic focus is driven by the disruptions brought through social, mobile, and digital…. which were all the buzz words du jour over the past few years. Remember when every conversation you had last year was about “big data”? And the year before it was all about social and the social enterprise? And a few years back it was all about mobile? And many years ago it was all about digital media and digital channels? All these are buzz words about a new technology or platform that was evolving from being an emerging trend to becoming mainstream. Digital channels, social enterprise, mobile networks and big…

3 Best practices for Email Marketing Security

Email is an intrinsic part of building and maintaining customer relationships in any field, but customer data needs to be safeguarded. Because email marketing is so prevalent, it can be easy to take this platform for granted. However, it’s also important to remember that client information is sensitive; your customers entrust your business with their names, Social Security information, and credit card or bank account numbers. Each field has its own security needs, and a privacy breach could reveal all of the above information and more. When it comes to email marketing for customer retention, it’s critical to ensure that all emails are secure from harm.

The Effects of Data Breaches

Data breaches can be catastrophic for large and small businesses alike. In one recent major hack, Anthem Inc., the country’s second largest health insurance provider,…