Expanding your affiliate program to the US the right way

The globalization of e-commerce, coupled with a growing American demand for British goods, has many U.K. retailers eyeing the U.S. market. And with global B2C e-commerce expected to reach $1.5 trillion this year, they’re not alone. Retailers across the world are tapping into this lucrative consumer base with sophisticated affiliate programs. With global retail affiliates like RetailMeNot, rewardStyle, and ShopStyle gaining in popularity, homing in on consumers who crave your products is becoming easier than ever. However, it’s important to note that not every retailer is ready for the competitive affiliate landscape across the pond as there are a number of differences you must consider when launching an affiliate program in the U.S. These include program management services, industry standards, compliance, and interactions with merchants and networks. Without a thorough understanding of how…

28 point pre-email send checklist

We are sure that you will already know many of these email marketing best practices, so let's collectively build it up to 40! We shouldn't give our emails that six or 12 month car service, or cut corners as we send out emails all of the time. Email Monks, email marketing designers, have saved us some time writing that important check list before we 'press the send button' , breaking it into four sections - client compatiblity, email delivery setup, inbox preview and html open preview. So let's avoid those simple email blunders that can be avoidable by reading their tips and it would be great to build this up!  …

How do you build long-term relationships with customers using digital media?

"Open conversations generate loyalty, sales and most of all, learning... for both sides". Seth Godin Achieving engagement with a customer or fan base is not so much about tactics such as Facebook or tools like Radian6, but how these are best leveraged to enable meaningful interaction with the consumer. As Seth describes in the quote above, open and maintain conversation, ask questions, listen, build better products and market in a more relevant way - add value to the relationship with the consumer. To create these conversations and build relationships is challenging - the biggest challenge in marketing perhaps. There are no quick tips we can give here, but we can offer this structure which will step you through the decisions you need to make to work towards long-term relationships. We also have a new guide by Andrew Campbell describing how to create a customer…

A visual summary of Smart Insights members' conference

Well that's a relief! I think it's fair to say our first conference went pretty well judging by the Twitter comments and other feedback. Many thanks if you attended the event and got involved in the sharing. I've compiled a quick "best of" starting with some general feedback and then looking at highlights of individual talks. If you're an Expert member of Smart Insights and weren't able to attend, we'll be making the slides available on the site next week, we'll let you know :) It was great we had a full-house and I was delighted to see attendees from many industries across Europe and beyond - I spoke to Smart Insights Expert members from Denmark, Ireland, Switzerland, Italy even Australia! and I think there were more countries besides. مؤتمر رائع جدا بحضور أحد أهم خبراء #التسويق_الإلكتروني في العالم @DaveChaffey #digitalimpact2014 …

Three ways to use marketing analytics to increase sales

As there are so many options available when using data analytics, why do some businesses typically rely on one single approach? The analytical tools available for the business leader's arsenal are now better and bigger than ever before, and are targeted to generate better decision-making. Despite this, and the ability of such tools to increase conversion rates, growth and MROI (marketing return on investment), some companies seem frozen by the choices on offer. This causes business heads to default to their usual performance-management and planning approach, and the typical result is the discovery that even advanced single methodologies have limits. The variety of audiences and activities that marketing budgets support and the diverse time limits for investment requires an approach that's a little more complex. The ideal way for companies…

How to combat marketing misbeliefs from colleagues that can kill profit

Marketers, by nature, are persuasive humans, yet sometimes they’re stifled by management’s delusions. In my career, I’ve observed several misconceptions that interfere with effective marketing and, ultimately, prevent the company from growing and becoming more profitable. The reasons behind this are many and varied, but it usually relates to misbeliefs depending on managers' previous experiences. It might be because managers don’t believe in a certain type of marketing investment, or they might simply consider the marketing department a mere backup to the sales team. Whatever the case, if you’ve ever approached your C-suite executives with a killer marketing plan backed by concrete principles only to be shot down because they can’t imagine doing things differently, you’re not alone. However, if you prepare for possible 'pushback', you can present sound rationales for the importance of marketing efforts.

5 Deadly Marketing Misbeliefs

Here are five common…

What can the best business apps on the market teach us?

A great mobile app adds that little something extra consumers just don’t get from a desktop or mobile site.  Offering instant information and efficient access to products, an app can increase loyalty by providing the consumer with an immediate handheld solution.  A well-designed app well allied to a wider integrated multi-channel retail policy can offer both consumers and brands with huge benefits. Here are 10 inspiring business apps that do just that.

Debenhams

The Debenhams mobile app offers customers a simpler alternative to the department store’s desktop and mobile sites, allowing them to swiftly shop the full Debenhams collection.  The app enables users to scan barcodes while shopping in-store to check for sizes and prices as well as read other…

SMS is not just for promotion. Have you fully considered the possibilities of text marketing to grow your business?

What is the Marketing Mix?

For those unfamiliar with the 7Ps of the marketing mix, imagine your business represented in the form of a cake – yummy. All businesses will have different ingredients that make up their cake Some cakes (businesses) will be different sizes. The marketing mix studies 7 ingredients to your business: product, price, promotion, place, process, people and physical evidence, assessing how each of them perform. Despite primarily being a communications tool, SMS can add value in all areas of the marketing mix. This post illustrates how SMS can be used to make your cake taste better and make customers want more of it!

7 ingredients for SMS

1. Product/Service

SMS is a great way of adding a personal touch to your product or service;…

Integrating online marketing into marketing communications is the key to success & longevity

The head of the world’s largest PR firm, Edelman, declared recently that the marketing industry has its business backward. That marketing has a “short-term and broken model”.  And, he’s saying, it doesn’t have to be this way. Where brands could originally only reach and stimulate consumers through advertising or promotional marketing, we’re seeing brands such as American Express, Coke, Red Bull and Dove all creating content rich stories, integrated into much wider campaigns, to enable connections in consumer news feeds. Annoyingly Edelman is pointing to “marketing” but referencing the advertising model specifically, but the point is still great if viewed in a wider context.

“I see the emergence of a new paradigm, which is ‘communications marketing’ instead of ‘marketing communications.’”

Richard Edelman, CEO, Edelman

Of course Edelman is encouraging a PR or journalistic mindset of ‘communications’ vs…

9 tips on how to boost readership for a small business blog

Are you struggling to attract a significant amount of traffic to your blog? If the answer to this question is yes, there are a number of tactics smaller businesses can use to gain a loyal readership and achieve the goals you desire for your business blog. Increased traffic provides the visibility you need to engage with a wider audience and sell the services or products you offer. Without traffic, your efforts for creating useful content are all made in vain. If your blog is struggling to attract the attention it deserves, read on. My helpful tips provide a set of beneficial strategies used by the top marketers across the globe. Tip 1. Regular content For starters, create an effective content calendar with a range of compelling topics to be published frequently and to a specific schedule. To boost your blog’s traffic you need to connect…