Referral marketing is a great way to harness the love that customers have for your brand and in turn drive new customer acquisition
Research consistently shows that consumers are most likely to listen to recommendations from friends and family than traditional advertising channels.
Of course, for someone to refer your product, it needs to be something they love and believe their friends will love too. Nobody wants to put their name behind something that might damage their reputation.
Whilst a quality product or service means that refer-a-friend can drive new sales, there are some elements which can take referral to another level.
So, what are the secrets of highly referable brands?
1. Unique
Disruptor brands typically identify a pain point for customers and seek to remedy it with a unique solution. These brands tend to extremely referable. Not only are they solving an issue with a great customer experience, people love to share something they feel…
How to integrate digital media and technology to increase the contribution of digital marketing
Please see our latest 2019 marketing trends posts for our most recent insights.
I feel fortunate to have followed some of the amazing major changes in digital marketing and technology over the last 15 or 20 years. I'm sure you will have enjoyed living through, following and acting on these changes too. Looking back, we've seen a phenomenal growth in the importance of organic, then paid search, then social media and more recently, incredible worldwide growth in mobile and particularly smartphone usage.
As well as this article, to help Smart Insights members, we also have a more detailed free download of the marketing megatrends, which are 9 digital marketing and martech megatrends that will help give you an edge in 2017.
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Chart of the day: Most marketers are running 1-2 Conversion Rate Optimization tests, such as AB testing, every month.
It's worth noting though that around 7% also run 20 or more tests, the majority run no more than 4 tests per month.
It's no doubt testing is hugely important to marketers, I don't see to sell anyone the benefit of AB testing or Multivariate testing, but for those who'd like to know the difference, I've summarised below.
I've taken the following definitions from Dr David Travis who is a UX consultant, has produced a very popular UX course on Udemy and has a Psychology PhD. The definitions are from his Udemy course.
AB testing - a comparison of two designs, tested with live users and a large number of users. You can run tests until you have a "winner" for example, one which outperforms the other one statistically
Multivariate testing - where there…
Chart of the day: Data management and marketing technology are the most difficult digital marketing tactics to execute, according to marketers
Data management and Martech require skills, resource and training. With GDPR heading with speed towards marketers, data management is increasingly important. Marketers also realize the potential of what it can bring to their marketing plans. Benefits of increased personalization and marketing automation are becoming clearer. We know a lack of digital skills is also a problem though.
Search and social ads were the least difficult digital marketing tactics, email and social media marketing are also much more mastered by marketers than Data management, marketing technology and content marketing. SEO is in the middle as expected, as it takes a lot of work, time and patience - but many are seeing the benefits of it and have SEO strategies which are…
4 behaviours that set top-performing marketers apart
Earlier this year the Harvard Business Review published a research paper that set out the top behaviors of the most successful CEOs. With many business leaders failing in their roles (from 2000 to 2013 25% of the Fortune 500 chief executives who left their firms were forced out) the authors conducted a study based on research conducted over 10 years with a database of 17,000 C-suite executives - including more than 2,000 CEOs - which covers all major industry sectors and a full range of company sizes.
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It’s a fascinating article based on some really interesting research, revealing that one of the major reasons for CEO failure is that there’s a disconnect between what boards of directors think makes for an ideal…
Your social media weekly update
Welcome to our weekly summary of what's happened in social media. We highlight the top stories to help you stay up to date with social media, here is what caught our attention this week.
Snapchat have released the Lens Studio, a free desktop app for students, creatives, and developers to help bring their Snapchat creations to life. When developers have created a Lens they are given a special Snapcode that they can share anywhere, which anyone can scan to unlock the Lens. Snapchat reported:
With the launch of Lens Studio, we’re excited to make Lenses more accessible to creators, and experiences within Snapchat more personal and diverse. We’ve seen how much more fun Geofilters have become since first inviting the community to create their own three years ago — and can’t wait to see what you build with Lens Studio!
…
30 key statistics from 2017 to inform your marketing strategy in 2018 when targeting millennials
Millennials have become a bit of a buzz word over the past few years, but do you truly know how to reach this generation?
Millennials were born in the early 1980’s to early 2000’s. Currently, this generation has a global population of over 2 billion. Their population is large enough that they carry a lot of influence, both in sociocultural and economic ways.
Millennials have grown up in a world where digital technology and the internet are a critical part of daily life. We have found 30 of the key statistics you will need to inform your marketing strategy in 2018 when targeting millennials.
Tech use and online habits
Millennials touch their smartphones 45 times a day
63% of Millennials stay updated on brands through social networks (Sproutsocial, 2016)
Smartphones are the most popular device with millennials as 7 in 8 millennials own one (Fluentco, 2017)
While still…
Take an exclusive look inside our library of actionable strategy guides, templates, and e-learning modules, covering campaign planning, integrated lifecycle marketing, and managing digital transformation
Our Guides, Templates, Quick Wins, E-learning modules and personalized learning plan are of high quality to help businesses plan, manage and optimize their contribution from digital to multichannel marketing. We cover 7 step strategy guides to actionable templates in Google Sheets, Excel, Word, and Powerpoint.
We deliver briefings on the latest trends and research reports to inform your digital transformation plans. Yet, our core focus isn't top-level research and theory, but actionable best practices for digital channels that directly impact leads and sales.
Our most popular resources, which our competitors don't offer, are actionable templates to audit, forecast and define improvements covering every digital marketing technique. These are field-proven to help our members audit their current performance and identify problems and opportunities to improve results.
For 12 days we…
Join thousands of industry leaders at this year's Marketing Expo 2018 and Smart Insights becomes its official partner
Marketing Expo is an interactive exhibition and conference designed specifically for the marketing sector. Expect to find high-quality exhibitors alongside a conference showcasing some of the world’s most influential figures in marketing.
We are partnering with the Marketing Expo at ExCeL on March 21 - 22. This year’s Marketing Expo will attract thousands of visitors from across the industry for two unmissable days. With an unmissable line-up of 95 expert-led educational seminars, 200 diverse supplier exhibitors, and 35 interactive masterclasses.
Join Dave Chaffey, CEO of Smart Insights and the Smart Insights team for a digital transformation masterclass. Learn the latest techniques to Plan, Manage and Optimize your digital marketing to compete online in this masterclass for marketing, e-commerce and technology managers.
Research by Smart Insights shows that over 30% of businesses…
Chart of the day: Looking to 2018, marketers were asked which tactics will be used in their digital marketing strategy for 2018
Social Media Marketing (18%) Content Marketing (17%) and use of Marketing Technology (16%) are expected to be included the most in digital marketing strategies in 2018.
Least used will be data management as well as paid search and social ads.
The research suggests there will be a shift from the previously popular use of paid search and social media advertising, to increased use of marketing technology, content marketing and organic social media. We already know content is king, as in a previous chart of the day we reported that research reports used for content marketing are the most successful for generating a return on investment.
SEO is still and I predict, always will be very important. It might never be top of…
