No time to Tweet is an excuse, but make sure you have a plan
Do you suffer from 'tweeters block'? Do you find yourself trawling through dozens of websites trying to find something relevant to say to your audience? If the answer to either question is 'yes', it’s time you put together a content plan!
Even if content is not a problem, the quality of your feed and consistency of your message will be so much better if you plan ahead.
Your Twitter feed may look like a series of updates, but to your audience it’s telling a story about you and your business. They can read your tips, view your articles and see what you’re up to. They can see who you’re talking to and eavesdrop on your discussions.
If a potential client sees your Twitter feed, they need to have a…
Examples of Email campaigns designed to maximise ROI
2012 has proven that email is very much still king; achieving the highest ROI compared to any other channel, as well as the following impressive stats from DC Financial Insights, 2012.
77% of customers prefer to receive permission-based promotions via email
Only 6% of customers preferring these messages via social media
ROI of 3000% achieved through email in 2012
With a great strategy you can expect this to grow into 2013!. In this blog we will look at six key strategies for successful email marketing, illustrated by brands such as Topshop, Tetley, Cosmopolitan and innocent drinks.
6 Key Tips for maximising your email campaigns
1. Realise the importance of good data
Implications of sending to old or non-opted-in data should always be in a marketers mind. Spamhaus monitor senders and have the ability to block IPs with ISPs so…
Reviewing the role of social media in CRM
Most brands understand the concept of promotion using social media but few understand how to attribute value in the same way as traditional broadcast media.
With the rise of the internet, customers have more choice and have access to more information. Not only are customers far more media savvy and less likely to buy into brand marketing, but they are making more and more purchase decisions based on their value set rather than need alone.
This works the same way for B2B as well as B2C brands, whether it be a product or service, we like to buy from a brand based on need fit but also our experience of the organisation. Factors such as personal recommendations, customer service experience and how well the brand values match our own are now key triggers for deciding on a brand's worth.
The traditional purchase process
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What should go into your editorial calendar for blogging + Twitter + Facebook + Google+ + LinkedIn?
In today's digital marketing environment, where demands on businesses to publish engaging content have never been higher, managing the process can be challenging, to say the least.
In our 7 Steps Guide to content marketing, we've advised on how to plan to create a content marketing strategy that drives reach and engagement. But there is still the practical issue of what to publish, when and where? We cover this in our new guide to guide to managing content marketing where James Carson explains approaches for workflow for editorial planning.
Thinking through how to organise multiple pieces of content, on your site, on partner sites and on social outposts is what many marketers have been grappling with for some time. The varying input…
Email marketers still see much room for improvement, but not all optimization needs may be critical
As Benjamin Franklin no doubt mentioned, "...nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes (and email ROI)."
Of the 1300+ marketers surveyed for the latest Econsultancy/Adestra Email Marketing Industry Census, 66% said email marketing delivered "excellent" or "good" ROI. Only organic SEO was reported as a better in terms of ROI.
This result continues a history of email ROI success that has outlasted every sparkly new online marketing toy.
The census results also echo the UK DMA’s recent National Email Client Report, where 89% said email marketing is "important" or "very important" to their organization. The same report found the average return on each pound spent on email was £21.48:
How much is the approximate return you get back for every pound spent on email marketing?
…
7 ideas to engage through storytelling
"Those who tell stories rule the world" - Plato
Storytelling - the buzz of 2012? I remember so many articles from last year, many great, claiming that 2012 was the year of brand storytelling. The power of those stories central to marketing dialogue.
Let's remember first that storytelling isn't new, using narrative to evoke emotion in people is central to clever advertising creative from decades ago.
It's 'digital' and 'direct' marketing that has only more recently moved marketing too more of a science - and often a very lazy one at that - bypassing all the important learning of what it means to market to, and motivate, real people with unmet needs. It seems though that we’re all catching back on to the effectiveness of building stories through content and connecting with people, our consumers.
When your information is communicated…
Where do you start when seeking to establish your social networks
While much of the social media marketing advice on Smart Insights gives advice on social media best practices for companies that are already set up on social networks, some businesses are still venturing onto social platforms for the first time. If this is relevant for you or your clients, this introductory post is for you.
Understand how and when your users use social networks
If you’re online a lot you will probably have an innate built in idea of the demographics on the different platforms. If you are new to social you will need to do a bit of research beforehand. See these top 10 sources of digital marketing statistics or this free 2013 digital media usage data from comScore for useful research into how different ages and genders use different social networks.
You also need to bear in mind how…
What are the marketing applications of Google Glass?
The German blog Brille Kaufen has created a really interesting infographic explaining how Google Glass works. Thanks to @wbw_Jeff of Who's blogging What for alerting us to it.
Jeff Ente notes that little has been written on the marketing implications of Glass just yet although Paid Content has written about the style of content and apps that could work for Google Glass. Exciting...and scary!
You probably saw the original demo of Google Glass, this is Google's latest from February.
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Examples show why advertising still has its place
I am a dinosaur because I believe in advertising!. When I wrote my book, ‘Brilliant Marketing’ I spent little time writing on digital but when, three years later it went to a second edition I’d come to realise that digital and social media occupied a rather more important role in marketing than before.
But does this mean advertising is dead?
Maurice Saatchi of M&C Saatchi had a slightly morbid view himself when he wrote:
‘Sometimes I feel as though I am standing at the graveside of a well-loved friend called advertising. The funeral rites have been observed. The gravediggers have done their work. The mourners are assembled. Most of them are embarrassed to say they ever knew the deceased. ‘Advertising?’ they say. ‘I’m not in that business.’ At the age of 50, advertising was cut down in its prime.’
But he was wrong.
The media spend on pure…
How Big Data and Predictive Analytics improve marketing
Predictive Analysis research and 'Big Data' is helping companies to improve their marketing, through accessing multiple sources of data and employing specialist staff to 'understand the data', providing actionable data which Marketers and Decision-makers can use to improve performance.
This IBM and the Aberdeen Group 'Big Data for Marketing' research set out to identify the ‘Best in Class’ practices for companies providing accurate information in an efficient way, to support key Decision-makers and their planning processes.
The Infographic below summarises the top strategies, results and capabilities:
It highlights that it has helped companies to become more efficient, improve their decision-making and overall performance, through actionable high quality data analysis. The detailed report draws out the technologies and business…
