It's NOT about you, it's about the customer!

I find myself talking about Content Marketing because as Bill Gates said in 1996 'Content Marketing is King.' However, is content everything it is said to be?

I sat in on a lecture by Amber Gupta where he spoke of Content Marketing being a new trend in the Digital Marketing world. Content Marketing can come in various different forms; it could be through blogs, webinars, videos and podcasts, to name a few. For content to work in your favour, it is best to devise a strategy. The lecture referred to Bill Gates' statements from 96, and seemed to sell the idea that creating good contact can help a business connect with their customers, as well as try to improve on their SERP position. Having said that, reading an article by Israel looking at content marketing from a different perspective, you can see there are two sides to content marketing.

Israel brings up the fact that content marketing does not really consider the fact of 'conversation' with your customers. Nowadays with the likes of Facebook, customers can engage with you much easier, and you can respond to their queries etc, much quicker and efficiently. However, content marketing is more about the one way conversation with everyone. It seems it is the business talking to their customers, but not listening to the replies or feedback. Israel considers that, with the likes of Facebook's 'likes', you could consider that as a form of listening, however it is not building and maintaining the personal relationship, which is one of the main aims of social media.

I'm personally not sold on the pros or cons of content marketing. I will probably need to read more into it, however I do see both sides of the argument in this case, but I will have to go with the side of pro content marketing as you can create content which engages with custoemrs, as well as improve upon your SEO.

Sources used:

Israel, S. (2012) 'Why I hate 'Content Marketing' and 'Blogger Outreach' Forbes [Online] <http://www.forbes.com/sites/shelisrael/2012/12/07/why-i-hate-content-marketing-and-blogger-outreach/> [Accessed 10/05/2014]
Gupta, A. (2014) 'Digital Marketing Strategy.' [Lecture Notes] Brighton: University of Brighton Business School, Unpublished.

Schema Markup.... Have you heard of it?!

We all know that SEO is an important part of any businesses digital presence. Ensuring your are optimised as best as possible is any digital marketers dream. There is now a way of improving your SEO as well as improving the appearance of your link on the SERPs.

I have never heard of Schema MArkup, and thought it was some made up phrase when I first heard of it. However, reading an article by Ratcliff (2014) I have been brough up to speed with one of the latest SEO techniques.

Schema Markup is basically making your link on a SERP look more aesthetically pleasing and interesting. This could be done by adding a picture related to the search term, a rating of this page or location based information. It is all about making your link more useful for the searchers and making your webpage look that much more helpful than the rest.

Schema is a preferred markup from the likes of Google and Bing, and a study by searchmetrics found that only 0.3% of domains were using the Schema markup integrations. This means that if you do start using it, you will stand out from the crowd.

Another benefit that Schema markup gives you, is that it can communicate with a search engine what it is EXACTLY what your page includes. For example, if someone searches for 'gravity' and your website includes information about the film not the natural phenomenon, then it will tell the search engine that your website should come up when the film is searched, not the phenomenon.

Looking at an article by Adam Thompson, he also looks into the schema markup situation. He explores and states that apparently using Rich snippets, like schema, can increase click through rates by around 30%, leading to 30% more traffic to your site. It seems that adding the schema in, could definitely improve your SEO activities. However, it isn't guaranteed that it will improve your SEO.

In summary, Schema Markup can benefit not only you, but your customers as well as they receive a better quality of information at their disposal, which leads to a better informed decision.

The changes to Email Marketing

I blogged previously about how email marketing is the 'king' however I have found some developments about email marketing, and some of the changes that have happened. 

Casel (2013) spoke of how email marketing is a cost effective form of marketing for any business, big or small, emails can be a lot more personalised than other marketing methods and email can be interactive, as long as the email is built correctly. 

There are many Email Service Providers (ESP) you can use to send out your emails, however Minsker (2014) speaks of how certain things have changed in the email marketing world that could affect your strategy. 

ESP are changing certain aspects of mailboxes in order to improve the experience their customers get by not receiving so much "junk" from businesses. Minsker also highlights the change to mobile marketing and how marketers are having to adjust to this change, because if they did not adapt to their new strategies, then Minsker says there will be a "classic case of sink or swin." 

Looking into the changes that some ESPs have implemented. Due to the introduction of new engagement policies, ESPs such as Google, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail and Microsoft have been regulating deliverability. We first of all look at Google. Google introduced new tabs to their Gmail inboxes which was to try and remove marketing emails from the users primary inbox, and move it into a promotions tab (Minsker, 2014). This change from Google received positive feedback from customers, however it is a big problem with email marketers due to the fact that customers will not be opening their emails at the time in which they want them too. With Hotmail and Yahoo, open rates were not effected as much as Gmail, so it would seem that marketers will see a decline in open rates from users with a Gmail account. 

The next issue that marketers will face is the advances in mobile. Now, when you first think of mobile, you think great! I can access my customers anywhere and at anytime. However the challenge is creating the content that grips the attention of the reader as people are spending much less time in their inbox, and only look through what interests them. An example given in Minsker (2014) is a countdown to the end of a sale or limited time offer. Creating a sense of urgency creates an action from the reader. Minsker also goes on to detail how using geographic location can also increase the open rate of an email, as users want more personalised content. However, the trick is to get the right amount of personalisation and to not cross into the red zone of invasive. 

 Another thing to consider when creating emails that are likely to be received and opened on a mobile device, is responsive design. I spoke of responsive web design in a previous blog about the Importance of a mobile friendly website. It is clear that Responsive design is good for more than just web design. Emails will be opened on a range of devices, from desktops to mobiles to tablets. All requiring different layouts due to screen sizes. 

Minsker also details that you also need to revitalise email marketing through good, quality re-engagements activities. Kristina Huffman (cited in Minsker, 2014) speaks of five re-engagement tactics that can be used to spark the interest back into your customers:

1. Educational message - to encourage subscribers to make the most of their subscription through specific activities etc. 
2. Subscription Reminder - re-enforcing the fact that the emails sent are of high value and the customer chose to opt-in.
3. The Guilt Trip - giving customers a last resort moment to not unsubscribe saying something a long the lines of "we'll miss you"
4. The Deadline Strategy - a tried and tested strategy giving customers a deadline and creating a sense of urgency.
5. The Incentive Message - works well with the deadline strategy, give something to the customer if your content just does not quite entice your customer to stay with you. 

From my perspective, looking at these new obstructions, yes it could be a bit of a pain that customers will not be opening the message when you want them too, but it could work in your favour. Especially when look at Google's tabs. Your customers are going to look at these emails when they are ready, not when you want them too. This means that slightly tailoring your approach to how you word your emails will need to change, and that is it. With mobile, take on the above messages that Minsker brought up, and email on mobile will be as large of a success to what it was on desktop, you've just got to embrace the new changes. 

References used:

Minsker, M 2014, 'The Future of EMAIL Marketing', CRM Magazine, 18, 2, pp. 24-28, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 6 May 2014.

Casel, B 2013, 'Build Repeat Customers Through Email Marketing', Restaurant Hospitality, 97, 9, p. 24, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 6 May 2014.

How 6 seconds of video has replaced a 30 second TV advert

Twitter's Vine app has been around since January 2013 (Marketing Land, 2014) and after 7 months had around 40 million users (Bushey, 2013). Vine has attracted many big brand, such as Asos, Gap, General Electirics and many more (Bradshaw 2013). 

Bradshaw (2013) looked into how big brands are now using Vine as the new form of marketing. A quote by Bradshaw was "For some brand advertisers, six seconds is the new thirty seconds.' The article by Bradshaw was released around the time of the superbowl and he stated that it would cost $4m for thirty seconds of advertising during the superbowl. This would mean there is a spark of interest, from big brand advertisers, to look for new avenues where they can still reach large audiences, but at a much more cost effective way. Michael Litman (cited in Bradshaw, 2013) said that  he had not seen such a big brand take-up, even from day one, showing how popular and useful Vine could be for a brand. 

Smith (2013) classed Vine as one of the new social media platforms that will take off and lead a new trend in the digital marketing world, as he states that video sharing will becoming much popular in 2014. Especially with Instagram doing video, Snapchat and obviously Vine and YouTube. 

An example of a big brand using Vine, is Ben and Jerrys. They used vine to launch their flavour phish food in Canada (Haynes, 2013). It was Canada's first branded vine campaign, which also integrated the hastag '#GoPhish' for Twitter and Facebook referral. It was initially a test for Ben and Jerry's to see how the brand could use Vine as a form of marketing (Haynes, 2013). Below is one of the Vines Ben & Jerrys used.

From my opinion, I believe Vine is a great new way of communicating and engaging with your followers/customers. It is good to keep up with the latest trends in the digital world as it is always changing and evolving. Users attention span is getting shorter and shorter, so Vine would be the perfect replacement for that. However, you do need to make sure you perfectly communicate the message you want too in those six seconds. 

References:

Marketing Land (2014) ‘Library: Twitter: Vine’ [Online] <http://marketingland.com/library/twitter/twitter-vine> [Accessed 01/05/2014]

Bushey, R. (2013) ‘Vine Reaches 40 Million Users: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know’ Heavy August 21 2013 [Online] http://www.heavy.com/social/2013/08/vine-video-app-40-million-users-news/ [Accessed 01/05/2014]

Smith, A. (2013) ‘Digital Marketing Techniques for 2014’ Social Media Today. November 14 2013 [Online] <http://socialmediatoday.com/alan-smith/1918461/digital-marketing-techniques-for-2014> [Accessed 01/05/2014]

Haynes, M. 2013, "Ben & Jerry's Vine Fishing", Strategy, , pp. 26. [accessible at http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.brighton.ac.uk/docview/1458458584/abstract?accountid=9727> [Accesed 0105/2014]

Bradshaw, T. 2013, "Twitter's video app lures big brands", FT.com, [accessible at http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.brighton.ac.uk/docview/1283752967] [Accessed 01/05/2014]

The benefits to an internal site search

Site Search is an integral part of a businesses website. It aids the navigation for consumers to search the products and services on your website. The whole reason why a business needs a site search is so customers can find accurately find what they are looking. Site search has become the norm for most customers, so every businesses website is expected to have one. 

I have read an article by Graham Charlton about site search for e-commerce, where he covers the following points. 

Graham detailed that there are certain reasons why any retailer needs to have site search on their website. Having site search present on a website can lead to an increase in sales. If you think you are looking on a website to buy a DVD, for example. You can find the DVD on this website and there is not a site search, then you are likely to go to a retailer that does have a site search where you can find the DVD you want. It could suggest other products that the customer had no thought of, which could lead to a higher transaction value, ending in increased sales. This would also lead to an increased conversion rate. It's all good having customer come to your website, however the aim of the game is for them to convert and purchase something. This could lead to an increased relationship with that customer, as they would remember how user-friendly that website was and they are more likely to return to your website to buy.

Graham also went into detail on the best ways to show your search box:

• Visibility of your search box - most commonly placed at the top of the page, part of the header so it is always available to customers to search whatever part of the website they are on.
• Make it easy to find
• Ensure the search box is labelled effectively - use of colours and text used in the search box
• Text in the box should make customers aware of things like what they can type in the search box, as well as what part of the website they are searching. This text should disappear when searchers start typing.
• The use of auto correct can help the customer find something they aren't sure the name of. 

Some additional benefits that I had thought of that would make a site search worthwhile is the amount of data you would be able to get hold off from the site search. You could use all of the search terms that people add into your site search and use them to improve your own sites SEO, but also SEO on search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo!. This is brought up in Ornaith Killen's article detailing four reasons why site search is vital for online retailers. However, one other benefit that was brought up was that zero result searches can be of great help to a business. It may uncover new search terms for specific products and you can add it into your algorithm/search keywords, but it could also uncover new trends for a business. If a lot of people are searching for a specific product, then maybe it is time to stock that product as it is so popular. 

Importance of a Mobile-Friendly Website

There are a variety of reasons why having a mobile-friendly website will benefit a business in today's climate. This blog will take you through the reasons why you should have a mobile friendly website and reasoning why I believe a responsive design website is best.

To begin, why should a business have a mobile website?  Well, we're moving away from the tradition of using desktop computers to look at websites, and moving towards a mobile way of life. A lot of people now look at a lot of things on their smartphones or tablets for convenience. This is known as the post-pc era. Scott (2011: pg 204) stated that organisations without a mobile-friendly website will miss out on opportunities to sell their products. From my own experiences, I would agree with this statement. I do not enjoy having to zoom in and scroll left and right to try and find a product. It it much easier for a website to fit to my mobile phone screen and just have to scroll up and down. Mobile contributed £18bn in retail sales in 2013 (Ratcliff, 2013), another reason why a business would benefit from a mobile-friendly website. If you do not have a mobile-friendly website then you are more likely to find your customers deciding to do business with your competition, who do have a mobile friendly website. 

Now you have found the reasons that you should have a mobile-friendly website, you now have to decide what type of website you will go for. Now, Ganji (2013) details four different ways to design your mobile website. A basic one which just details basic information about your business in a very basic format. Another form of mobile website is a customer mobile site. This is a specific mobile built website with e-commerce features. The next type of mobile site you could have is a responsive design. This type of website reacts to what device you are using. The last type of mobile website design is going for a full native app. Something that is permanent on a phone, that will need to be downloaded on to the phone (I know you all know what an App is really). 

From analysing the four types and looking further into certain types, I believe a responsive design website is the best option for a multi-channel business. As i briefly described earlier, a responsive design website scales the website to the device it is being used on. This give the business flexibility over all devices, e.g. mobile phones, tablet and desktop. Even though there is a decline in the use of desktop pc's in today world, there still are a large amount of people who use desktop. Below is a graph that shows the use of multi-platform in retail. (source: Bosomworth, 2014)

This diagram shows the use of PC is declining, but the use of multi-platforms is increasing. This trend seems to be something that will go on seeing as mobile is becoming an ever-more popular form of shopping for consumers due to ease. 

Francis (2014) stated that Google seems to favour responsive design websites, so this would benefit any business in the way of SEO and Mobile SEO. It would also combat the high bounce rate of a business as the consumer would prefer a website that scales to the device they are using, and not having to navigate themselves via zooming etc, increasing customer satisfaction. 

To conclude, mobile is of increasing importance to businesses as it is becoming the preferred platform for consumers, due to the convenience. To ensure customer experience is at its highest over all platform, Responsive design website would be the best mobile design, in my eyes. 

Sources used:

Bosomworth, D. (2014) Mobile Marketing Statistics 2014 [Online] <http://www.smartinsights.com/mobile-marketing/mobile-marketing-analytics/mobile-marketing-statistics/> [Accessed 23/04/2014]

—Francis, H. (2014) 4 SEO benefits of Responsive Web design [Online] <http://www.searchenginejournal.com/4-seo-benefits-responsive-web-design/92807/> [Accessed 07/04/2014] 

Ganji, A. (2013) 'comparing four types of mobile websites. Which is right for you?' [Online] <http://www.neonrain.com/blog/comparing-four-types-mobile-sites-which-right-you> [Accessed 23/04/2014]

Ratcliff, C. (2014). ‘Mobile influenced £18bn of UK retail sales in 2013’ [Online] <http://econsultancy.com/blog/64060-mobile-influenced-18bn-of-uk-retail-sales-in-2013> [accessed 23/04/2014]

SCOTT, D. M. (2011) THE NEW RULES OF MARKETING AND PR JOHN WILEY & SONS: NEW JERSEY

Personalised Content

As a consumer, I like to receive personalised content. I see it used a lot in the emails I receive. However, the marketing world is seeing an increase from consumers, for more personalisation.

I remember seeing the beginning of of an email which had my name at the top of it, and that was a great form of personalisation, but the world is moving on now. Consumers want more!

Reading through an article in CRM Magazine by Maria Minsker which spoke about how consumers find current personalisation in email marketing 'superficial.' One of the main figures that shocked me was from a  study by The economist intelligence unit, which detailed that 33% of the people that took part in the study, felt that the superficial personalisation of their emails, was their top annoyance. Now email, as I blogged about before, could be the 'king of marketing' so marketers need to be using the data available to them, much more efficiently in order to effectively personalised deals and offer to specific consumers.

In order to personalise your consumers more, marketers need to make sure consumers are group into specific groups that can be targeted easily. However, it isn't just the personalisation that consumers appreciate. Consumers do not like to be bombarded by emails. It is key that in this instance quality is focused more over quantity.

Even though consumers are increasingly wanting more personalisation in their emails, it is much easier to personalise advertising by the use of mobile location services. More and more people are using Facebook and Foursquare to 'check in.' This is a great opportunity for local business to be able to personalised specific advertising shown on mobile. You can not get more personalised than a shop that is 100 meters down the road offering you a specific deal on that day!

I think there is a great market for businesses using mobile location services to target their consumers. For example a restaurant like Zizzis or Pizza Express, that are constantly offering deals to consumers, could use mobile location services to specifically offer that customer a lunch time offer which is only valid for 2 hours. A great place where this could be used is on the coupon site Groupon.

Obviously this is only an example and me using my imaginative brain. I haven't seen this been used as yet, however I am sure it is being used somewhere in the world.

A post by Robert Durkin on the importance of data personalisation and localisation highlighted that personalisation is the king. Consumers are more likely to interact and take notice of content that is personalised to them. The key example is when you receive an email on your birthday that includes a specific deal for a discounted meal or free services of some kind.

Sources used: Durkin, R. (2014) Econsultancy [Online] 'The Importance of Data Personalisation and Localisation' [Accessed 05/03/2014]
Minsker, M. (2013) CRM Magazine [Online] 'Consumers call personalised email marketing 'superficial' Vol 17 Issue 9 Page 10 [Accessed 05/03/2014]

LinkedIn - How can LinkedIn be used as a Marketing Tool?!

Now I have a LinkedIn profile, the main use I have for it, is a professional Facebook. Like most people, I have only seen it as a professional platform used for recruitment. However, looking at Cooper Smith's piece on how LinkedIn isn't just a recruitment tool on Business Insider, I can see way in which LinkedIn can be used.

Being the fourth largest social media website, it can still offer great potential to any business. It is still growing with 63% more pages being viewed on mobile and desktop versions in 2013, compared to 2012. Having more people active on the site, means having more potential to target and generate extra income. Smith came up with three uses LinkedIn could have for your business:

• Using the InMail system 
• Use of Sponsored InMail
• Ad products

The first a second can merge together. So LinkedIn has its own email system where different users/companies can message other users/companies. To maximise the use of InMail, users need to have a paid subscription, however, LinkedIn's InMail are response-guaranteed. You get a certain amount of InMails' that you can send within a month which means you need to be much more specific with who you target with these emails. The idea behind this method is you only pay for the InMails where you receive a response. It is a way of decrease the amount of spamming on the site to people who really are not interested. 

In contrast to a general InMail campaign, you can chose to go for a Sponsored InMail campaign. It is still a direct marketing campaign because these mailshots can be targeted to specific groups on LinkedIn. For example, you can target users who are located in the south east where their job title is Marketing Director. This is a lot like the services that Facebook and Google offers, with regards to targeting users by certain information on their account. 

The final use that LinkedIn could have for a business is Ad Products. Like Facebook, LinkedIn does include an option where you can advertise on the pages of users, however LinkedIn has made it so it is much more personalised and natural to the user. As LinkedIn is a professionals Facebook (as I like to describe it), a lot of the adverts don't seem to be adverts seeing as the majority of products on offer are professional services that could be used by these users, and therefore do not foresee it as advertising. Again, these campaigns can be targeted to certain degrees, including Job Title, Industry, Geographical location, Company Size and many more. 

The only downside I have thought of, and was mentioned by DM Confidential, was that LinkedIn still isn't thought of as a Marketing Platform so people do not necessarily think about going to LinkedIn in order to find specific products to buy. This is something that can be changed by the use of the above campaign possibilities. 

I finally looked at a journal article published by Tara Hershberger, which talked about Using LinkedIn as a marketing tool within the banking sector (source detailed at the end). Tara also decribed three uses of marketing on LinkedIn:

• Enhanced SEO
• Brand Recognition and Perception
• Positioning yourself as a thought leader. 

As LinkedIn is such a large part of social media (fourth most popular as said above), it will show up when your brand/company name is searched within a search engine. This means that people will be able to search you more easily if you have been struggling to make your website show high up in the specific results search. You can then easily make a link directly to your company website ensuring consumers find their way to your website, and look at your products, which is the end result you are looking for. 

Tara went on to say that social media has become a great way of consumers to validate a company and to investigate them; I recently did it myself on a company that I was interviewing with. If you do not have a LinkedIn profile, sometimes LinkedIn will create one for you, however it will not detail any specific details about the company, meaning it could be off-putting for a potential customers looking into your products. 

The final use is positioning yourself as a thought leader. Basically making sure you optimise all of the possible channels in which you can upload content to your company page where users will link with you, your Facebook page, YouTube channel (if you have one) and a company blog. Ensuring the content is uploaded regularly means that people can see that the company is active and will take more of an interest with your company. There is also possibilities of creating banner ads and under the Products/Services section of your page you can sell certain products and link to your website. 

Feel free to visit my LinkedIn Account - http://www.linkedin.com/pub/doug-cox/5b/b74/a21 

(Source: Hershberger, T. (2012) 'Using LinkedIn as a marketing tool'. ABA Bank Marketing, [Online] Vol. 44. Issue 5. Page 37.)

Precision Targeted Marketing

Homebase recently ventured into the world of digital marketing with a fantastically popular campaign through eBay!  

In late 2013, Homebase used geo-targeting via eBay to try and increase the customer awareness of the refurbishment of their Chelmsford store. Nothing I have seen before. The only form of marketing a new/refurbished store was from B&Q when they were using paid advertising on Google to increase the awareness of one of their stores opening.

I'm personally a firm believer of the thought of targeted marketing. I have not seen much practice of this, but from what I've read, it does work.

I've also been reading up on the fact that Facebook's targeted marketing is getting more targeted, as such. Marie Page talks about Targeting ad of Facebook and how precise you can start to get through advertising on Facebook. Statistic Brain reports that there are currently close to 1.31 billion users on Facebook, so Facebook certainly is not short on people to target. however it would be ridiculous to target all of these people as the return on investment (ROI) will not be something to be raving about. However, using Facebook's targeted advertising tools, you can target down countries, age ranges, likes and possibly many more categories.

Geo-targeting marketing is certainly becoming ever so popular. With my earlier example of Homebase using it on eBay, however this sort of marketing would work wonders for a SME. Being a smaller company, budgets are stretched, meaning they need to get a much better return for the money. As these SME's could be on a small geographical scale, geographically targeting a certain area could see massive returns. One article reported that a regional medical branch saw revenues increase by a whopping 333%!!! This figure is evidence to me how targeted advertising is going to be something we will see a sharp rise in over the course of 2014.

Successful Interactive/Digital Marketing

I've just read an interesting article by Tara Hershberger talking about 'Successful Interactive/Digital Marketing' within the Banking Sector.

The journal article explains that there are five considerations that will need to be thought of when choosing what form of online media is best to use. With such a variety of online media that can be used today, it is important that using the most effective for what it is you need it for, is vital in the success of that campaign.

The considerations include:

• The cost of the particular option
• Ensure you target the correct geographic location and it reaches the specific areas you want it too
• Keeping flexibility with that online media option and getting tied into long-term contracts
• Whether you have to report yourself or whether it is reported for you and also ensure the right depth of reporting is used (e.g. not just CTR and clicks but tracking what the viewer did on the specific page).
• Analysing the report to evaluate the success and/or the failure, the positives, the negatives and seeing what could be done differently next time.

From an amateur digital marketers perspective, I would agree that all five of these things need to be considered. However, I feel the most important, for the pure basis of being able to improve from previous experiences, is the analysing part. The analysis of a marketing campaign is one of the most important stages of the campaign. Here it is a chance to see what has worked for the business, what didn't work and this will then set things up for the next campaign. The learning process, especially for a novice at this form of marketing, will give them so much information and knowledge about what option works in what ways.

Source: ABA Bank Marketing Journal by Tara Hershberger. Date: 01/10/2012 Volume 44, Issue 8, Page 34/35. 

Happy New Year!

I know its January 7th, but I've been enjoying my Christmas break, as it can be seen as my last blog post was November 21st, wow.. did'nt even realise it was that long ago!

Anyway, I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year!

Doug