In this age of shiny web applications and mobile computing, emails have sustained their supremacy over all the other channels. It is the communication tool that has worked seamlessly for all your prospects.
Email marketing is a dynamic, paradigm-shifting field with a rich scope of innovation. Through 2017 and 2018, it has fostered diverse trends like typography, gamification, dynamic content, CSS-based animations to name a few.
In 2019, something even more fascinating, where extraordinary stuff is likely to get mainstream, awaits email enthusiasts.
In the Infographic ‘Top Email Design Trends of 2019,’ exclusively provided to WebProNews by EmailMonks, you will get a sneak peek into what kind of email marketing designs lie ahead.
Click the Infographic below to enlarge and unleash the future of emails:
The advent of 5G is a big reason OpenX has decided to move to Google Cloud Platform, says OpenX CEO Timothy Cadogan. “When consumers start to move to 5G on their phones and have a very rapid experience, the advertising experience needs to be incredibly compelling,” says Cadogan. “We wanted to make sure that we could run on infrastructure there. That’s why we wanted to move to the public cloud.”
“Marketing has evolved significantly over recent years, and the old way of operating is no longer sustainable,” said Cadogan. “As we look at the programmatic market today, we see a sector that has experienced massive growth and adoption, but at the same time has stalled in its ability to deliver real innovation for marketers and publishers. We believe it is time to take a completely fresh look at the market and place a major bet on building the infrastructure necessary to drive the next wave of innovation.”
The company says that prior to 2019, almost one-quarter of the OpenX tech workforce was dedicated to maintaining legacy infrastructure. They say that the transition to Google Cloud Platform will free resources to focus on new growth areas for the company, such as people-based marketing, video, and CTV.
“Both OpenX and Google Cloud are dedicated to helping customers achieve their goals with cutting-edge technology,” says Chris Klayko, Managing Director, Americas, Google Cloud. “This collaboration will allow for continued innovation leveraging both OpenX’s Exchange Platform and Google Cloud’s commitment to performance, collaboration, and big data optimization at scale.”
Timothy Cadogan, CEO of OpenX, discussed why OpenX is moving its platform to Google Cloud Platform on Bloomberg Technology:
We Process Over a Trillion Transactions a Day
We run one of the largest advertising exchanges which means we process over a trillion transactions a day. The volume that we’re working with is huge. As we started to think about all of the new innovation we want to bring to the market over the next couple of years we realized that’s going to require even more computing power. We also need that computing power to be extremely efficient.
We started to map out a path to move to the public cloud, which is Google Cloud Platform (GCP) or Amazon (AWS). We really wanted to focus on a system that would give us an incredible amount of scale and enable us to innovate at a rate that would really make a difference in the industry. We didn’t want to have to continue to work on a lot of the maintenance of our own infrastructure that we had to do with our own servers.
An example of the importance of this is moving to 5G. When consumers start to move to 5G on their phones and have a very rapid experience, the advertising experience needs to be incredibly compelling. We wanted to make sure that we could run on infrastructure there. That’s why we wanted to move to the public cloud.
With Google, what you have is really the largest advertising infrastructure in the world and they do a lot of the foundational work that we can build on top of.
Self-made marketing expert Neil Patel released a video titled, How Digital Marketing Will Change in 2019. Patel outlines 7 Trends that all businesses and content producers should embrace for successful digital marketing in 2019:
“Digital marketing is going to change in 2019,” says NeilPatel. “What’s been working for the last few years is not anymore. Here’s how digital marketing is changing in 2019 and what you need to do to thrive and succeed.”
Tip 1: Embrace Omnichannel Approach to Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is moving to an omnichannel approach. You used to be able to build a business with just one channel. For example, Facebook grew by just telling everyone, hey invite your friends. They would take your address book and invite all your friends automatically even without your permission. That’s changed and those tactics don’t work as well as they used to. I’m not saying they don’t work at all, they just don’t work as well as they used to.
Marketing has moved to an omnichannel approach where you now have to use tactics like growth hacking, pay-per-click, SEO, content marketing, social media marketing, and banner ads. The list is never-ending and the more channels you use the better off you’re going to be. Most of these channels are crowded because there are so many online businesses. If you don’t use all of them you just won’t do as well in 2019.
Tip 2: Leverage Voice Search
Most of you will not like this but search is moving to voice search. By 2020 Comscore estimates that half the searches on Google will be through voice search. Right now, two out of every five adults are using voice search. Yes, that means kids aren’t using it as much but still by 2020 they’re saying half of all searches, not just from adults, but half of all searches are going to be via voice search. So if you want to do well in 2019 you need to be leveraging voice search.
The way you do this is one, make sure your site is HTTPS because most of the sites that are at the top are HTTPS these days. And two, your site needs to load fast. If it doesn’t load fast you’re not going to do as well with voice search. Three, when people are typing in questions, they’re typically typing in longer-term phrases. So your questions, and especially your answers need to be short and to the point. If your answers are a paragraph long you’re not going to do as well compared to if your answer was one sentence long.
Tip 3: The Only Way to Compete is Through Conversion Optimization
The third tip I have for you is conversion optimization. Advertising is getting more and more expensive over time and that’s not going to change. The only way you’re going to be able to compete and stay ahead is through conversion optimization. The more you optimize your landing page for conversions the better off you’re going to be. Make sure you’re using tools like Crazy Egg which allows you to do A/B testing so you can squeeze more conversions from the traffic you’re getting.
Also, make sure you’re using tools like Hellow Bar which encourages email collection. Again, this will help you get more revenue from the users and visitors that you do have. If you don’t do this as the years go on you’re going to get drowned out by the competitors because they’re going to spend more money than you and they’re going to crush you. So focus on conversion optimization even though it’s not sexy and most people don’t like talking about it in marketing.
Tip 4: Leverage Marketing Funnels
The fourth tactic I have for you is leverage funnels. Marketing funnels are going to be more popular than ever in 2019. Before, people used to just optimize their campaigns to, hey I’m buying ads, how many sales am I getting? Now you need a look at up-sells, down-sells, cross-sells, lifetime value of a customer, and churn.
Whether you have a physical product, digital product, or you’re doing lead generation, you need to track everything from a visitor all the way to a conversion point. That’s revenue for them to keep buying and that’s why funnels are really important. If you don’t know how to create a funnel go check out tools like ClickFunnels.
Tip 5: Content Marketing Only Works if You Create Amazing Unique Content
Content marketing just won’t work as well. Think about it, anytime you do a search most of the articles that are at the top are content marketing. Blogging is so popular and so played out that everyone is regurgitating the same information over and over again. Unless you’re creating amazing new information that people haven’t heard before, you’re not going to do well. Content marking just won’t work to get links or social shares unless you’re creating amazing content that’s new and that people haven’t seen before.
Tip 6: You Need to be Leveraging Video
My number six tip is creating video content. Video content is the future. You see me here in this video and you’re engaging with me. If you’re not, leave a comment and I’ll show you. I’ll respond back. Video content is the future. People want to engage through video. Facebook gives you more views if it’s video. YouTube gives you a ton of views and Linkedin does as well. You need to be leveraging video. You can’t take it for granted.
Tip 7: You Need to Create a Podcast
Podcasting is taking over. Did you know that 45 percent of the people who listen to podcasts have a household income above $75,000? That’s a ton, that’s a lot of money, and that means that the people that are listening to your podcast are going to be better buyers than most other marketing channels out there. You need to create a podcast.
Everyone is using their phones these days and everyone is driving to work. Podcasting makes it easy where people can listen to your content on-the-go. It’s such a hectic world out there and you need to have a podcast so people can listen to you while they’re dealing with their hectic life.
Enterprise marketing legend Seth Godin says that the value of a brand is measured by how much extra you will pay above the substitute. He says that if Nike opened a hotel everybody would know what it would be like because they have a distinct brand. On the other hand, he says, if Hyatt or some other big hotel chains came out with sneakers we would have no clue what they would be like because they don’t have brands.
Let’s talk about the difference between a logo and a brand. Companies spend way too much time on their logo, just like people on YouTube spend way too much time on their hair… I’m told. If Nike opened a hotel I think we would be able to guess pretty accurately what it would be like. If Hyatt came out with sneakers we’d have no clue because Hyatt doesn’t have a brand, they have a logo. If I swapped the signs on a hotel at that price point you couldn’t tell. If you were a Marriott, if you were a Hilton, Hyatt, the hallway, the room, I don’t know where I am. No brand.
What it means to have a brand is you’ve made a promise to people, they have expectations, it’s a shorthand, what should I expect the next time? If that is distinct you’ve earned something. If it’s not distinct, let’s admit you make a commodity and you’re trying to charge just a little bit extra for peace of mind. The problem that Hyatt and Hilton and Marriott and the rest have is sort by price. If I go online now to find a hotel it’s really simple, sort by price. Why would I pay $200 extra to go a block away? I don’t.
What’s the Value of a Brand
What’s the value of a brand? The value of a brand is how much extra am I paying above the substitute. If I’m not paying extra you don’t have a brand. When we think about what brands ought to do to move forward, the most important thing is to not worry about your slogan, your spokesperson, they’re wrapping. Its to worry about the substance, work that matters for people who care. Find the people who care, the smallest viable group you can live with, and figure out how to give them work that matters.
There are hotels, these new chains of mini-boutique hotels, that charge double what a Hyatt might charge, for less. But it’s only less by the Hyatt measure. It’s way more by the measure of someone who cares about with the people in the lobby look like or who cares about how hip it feels to walk into the bar. They’re investing not in… oh you get a room with three power outlets. They’re investing in throwing a party in a place where you also can sleep while you’re on the road. Those hotels have a brand and those hotels are some that some people pay extra for but almost no one in the scheme of things.
Facebook will once again try to channel some of Google’s search success with its new and improved Search Ad feature. However, the ads will only be seen by users in North America.
The new Search Ads will work the same way as conventional search engines. The user will type what they are looking for in the search bar and the platform will show the results. And similar to Google, the promoted results will be at the top of the list.
Facebook’s product manager, Zoheb Hajiyani revealed that this new feature is just a trial run, and only a select number of eCommerce, retail, and automotive companies in Canada and the US have access to it. He also explained that they are only conducting “a small test to place ads in Facebook search results.” The company will then assess the value of these ads before deciding whether it will be beneficial to expand it.
The new Search ads will be composed of a headline, an image, copy, and a link to external websites. While the format is more complicated than Google’s text ads, Hajiyani admitted that they’re still improving the feature’s design.
Facebook also hasn’t commented on whether the search triggers are based on phrases or branded or non-branded keywords. But the company will reportedly tag the ads with a “Sponsored” label. It will also provide users with the same controls and transparency settings that will determine what ads they will see.
Users won’t be able to opt out of these ads though. While they can “hide” ads they don’t want to see, much like how it’s done with News Feed advertisements, it won’t stop different ads from appearing on their wall later.
This is not Facebook’s first foray into monetizing the search feature. It previously launched a “sponsored results” feature in 2012 but shut down the project the following year when it was discovered that many advertisers were taking advantage of loopholes in the system.
If account holders take a shine to the new Search Ads, it could lead to a new and significant revenue stream for the company. It will also pit Facebook directly against Google’s paid-search ads.
At the moment, Facebook needs something to energize its growth. Most of the company’s profit comes from ads. Mark Zuckerberg’s brainchild saw its profits peak at 59 percent in the third quarter of 2016 and 49 percent in 2017. However, this year’s revenue only grew by 33 percent.
The average consumer is inundated with hundreds of ads every day. Advertisements have gotten so prevalent that they have become just white noise to most shoppers. This is why personalization is now more crucial than ever before. If your ad is not customized to show what a particular shopper wants, then your offer is as good as invisible.
LinkedIn intends to change all that with its Dynamic Ads.
How LinkedIn Dynamic Ads Work
Dynamic ads are essentially banners that change automatically. Also called dynamic banners or dynamic creatives, they adapt promotions and content to suit a specific user. This ensures that each user or customer sees ads that are targeted to their needs.
Numerous companies have used dynamic ads to great success. Facebook has also been pushing these ads on its platform. Now LinkedIn is also offering its clients the same.
Ayusman Sarangi, LinkedIn’s principal product manager, announced in September that Dynamic Ads will be made available through their Campaign Manager. He added that LinkedIn Marketing Solutions has also made it so that all the network’s vital advertising formats are available through self-service.
Companies can run four types of ads on LinkedIn’s Dynamic Ads campaign:
Content Ads: Helps you generate leads by prompting and encouraging users to download your content, which is only through the platform’s sales representative.
Follower Ads: Designed to encourage consumers to follow you, making it quicker to build a following on the platform.
Job Ads: These connect possible applicants to your site’s job application page.
Spotlight Ads: Used to promote events, newsletters, products, services, etc. These ads send traffic to your chosen landing page or site destination.
Once you have decided on the kind of ad you want, you can start your Dynamic Ad. First, you go to the Campaign Manager and click on the Create Campaign button. This is found on the page’s top-right corner. Next, Select the Dynamic Ads option. You can create the name of your new campaign on the following screen. Afterward, you’ll need to decide whether to place your new marketing campaign in a new group or place it in an existing one.
Select your preferred language after putting a name to your campaign and choose the format you want based on your campaign’s goal. There are preset texts available but you can opt to make a customized one. You can also choose whether to show the user’s profile image. It’s a good idea to enable this feature as the profile picture will help to grab the customer’s attention.
Ways Your Business Can Benefit from Dynamic Ads
Personalization is crucial in reaching customers, and dynamic ads are a very efficient and effective way of delivering personalized messages. Here are other ways your business can benefit from this type of ads:
Creates FOMO and Pushes for Immediate Action
Dynamic banners can give consumers real-time information. This creates a Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) among shoppers and emphasizes the importance of acting immediately. Plus, showing that you understand the user’s preference proves that you know what they want. In turn, this helps pave the way to a better customer experience even before the shopper makes a purchase.
People Prefer Dynamic Content
Shoppers these days, especially the younger generation, prefer Dynamic Ads to the traditional ones. For one, people are generally more receptive to personalized messages that are tailored especially for them. Customized messages also cut down on the unwanted or intrusive ads. Sarangi says that their Dynamic Ads have resulted in twice the Click-Through-Rate of traditional ads. These ads can also help cut down on cart abandonment. The creative ad that appears could remind you of an item that you wanted to purchase previously but had forgotten about. The ads also allow businesses to improve the customer’s familiarity with the brand. This can lead to higher engagement and conversion rates.
Saves Your Team Time and Resources
Dynamic ads are very efficient. Marketers would only need to design their creative and write their copy once. The platform automatically does the rest of the personalization for the campaign. Pre-built templates make the creative more streamline while data mapping tools provide more customization.
Easily Track Data and Results
Marketers are often concerned with the kind of data their latest campaign will acquire. But a lot of your target audience’s information is already online. Dynamic Ads, however, make it easier to monitor and track their key data. Platforms that have Dynamic Ads, like LinkedIn, also offer analytics and data mining services. The latter is essential in personalizing Dynamic ads. LinkedIn uses member’s profile photo, job title, name, company information and job title to capture the shopper’s attention.
You get more bang for your buck with Dynamic Ads. The highly personalized messages will instantly capture a consumer’s interest. It’s also more affordable and profitable than traditional ads. Brands only pay for ads that were seen.
About a year and a half ago Chick-fil-A decided to go back to their roots of being a people first business in their use of email marketing. They scrapped multiple email databases and multiple email templates and most importantly focused on answering real customer needs through personalization generated from many customer touch points.
This has led to a five times increase in membership to Chick-fil-A One and a 20 percent increase in conversions. “Email is certainly not the only driver of that but we have seen email being the biggest driver of keeping somebody engaged or re-engaging them,” says Emily Randall who runs interactive digital media at Chick-fil-A.
Emily Randall, Interactive Digital Media, Chick-fil-A, recently gave a talk at MediaPost’s Email Insider Summit on how they successfully transformed their use of email marketing to not only match their founders people first philosophy, but to also more effectively engage with their customers:
We’re Not in the Chicken Business, We’re in the People Business
The founder of Chick-fil-A, Truett Cathy, often said we’re not in the chicken business, we’re in the people business. So we think a lot about hospitality. We think about going the second mile for our customers and hopefully, you’ve experienced that if you’ve been to a Chick-fil-A.
Today we have about 2,300 locations across the country so it gets a little bit harder to know all of our customers by name like Truett did when he opened the first restaurant but what we have rallied around stems from what Truitt said.
Changed From Batch and Blast Emails to Personalization
When you know someone’s story you can care for them personally. The team really thinks about what are all of our marketing touch points and how are we caring for people personally through the each of those touch points? We think about each of those touch points and ask is is this a deposit on the customer relationship or is this a withdrawal?
We took a look at our email program about a year and a half ago and we said, hey, this is actually a little bit more of a withdrawal. We’re doing this batch and blast approach with our email program, it was pretty messy, and so we decided that we needed to fix it in order to start adding value to that relationship with our customers. This is really about becoming modern marketers.
We decided to partner with MessageGears which has allowed us to personalize some of our emails. So today, it’s about a year and a half later and we looked at how do we actually do this and what does this look like? One, we have about three times the email database that we had about a year and a half ago so we have definitely seen growth. A big part of that is because of Chick-fil-A One our membership program.
Balancing Scale and Personalization
Then we think a lot about balancing scale and personalization. One of our differentiators is the local ownership and so we want to be able to take stories that are happening personally and then highlight those in email at scale. We also want to be able to take stories that are at scale, like our national campaigns, and then personalize those. That’s a tough balance that we’re still trying to figure out.
We also are balancing local email where we let our operators email directly, they email their customers. These are people who transact with their restaurants, so they don’t have access to everybody in our membership program, but anybody who transacts with their restaurant they can email.
We on the brand side give them templates and we give them the tools to be able to send out those emails. We share best practices and then each template is just one single message. They can load in their picture, you can actually see their face, they can add their signature, and they can tweak the copy. Sometimes it’s about a limited time offer like our peppermint chocolate chip milkshake or it could be information about closing for a renovation. They can also send really personal emails to even just one person if they want to.
Pulling From Multiple Data Source to Personalize Emails
We also balance that from an air cover standpoint from the brand with two emails a month. We have all kinds of different messages flowing into into this one. What’s nice is that we can see the people that they have emailed. Where our biggest opportunity on the brand side is thinking about the entire audience that doesn’t fall into one of their local CRM systems. What does win-back look like? What does re-engagement look like? That’s where we can uniquely help on the brand side that the operators don’t have access to.
With our email wireframe we’re pulling in multiple different data sources including customer profile data, transaction data, and then location. We have a lot of other sources as well so we’ll tweak the message or the creative based on where somebody is in their journey with Chick-fil-A. For example, for a particular spot in our email we had different options that we could plug in based on if somebody had never mobile ordered, if they’ve scanned and not mobile ordered, or if they mobile order all the time. We would tweak that depending on where they were while taking a mobile order action.
Email is Our Biggest Driver of Keeping Somebody Engaged
We start out with at least 32 base segments per email. We also have at least 500 different versions. We have seen about a five times increase in overall memberships since we started this personalization. Email is certainly not the only driver of that but we have seen email being the biggest driver of keeping somebody engaged or re-engaging them. We’ve also seen about over 20 percent increase from a conversion standpoint for people who receive the email versus a control group.
From an attribution standpoint, we are able to measure that. It’s incredible how you can tie action in email to actual sales. I come from a background of social media marketing and we can’t tell those types of stories in social. It’s really incredible that we are able to start to share these stories of success and actually measure attribution in this email marketing channel.
Focus on What’s Important to the Customer
What’s next for us is going back to the basics and just seeing people as people. You can’t think of them as an email address which is way easier said than done. We want to continue thinking about what’s important to our customers and continue with research to understand what is it that they really want from us?
This means not jumping on technology just to jump on new technology. It’s really easy to get caught up in the new bright shiny thing and for us, it feels like we’re still learning. I think there’s a lot of opportunity for us out there but I think going back to the basics of just who are these people and how do we organize our program in the right way has been a huge step in the right direction for us.
The CEO of Walmart Doug McMillion says that the company has a lot of work going on to change the company. He says that the company is becoming more digital and is changing how they work from within to get faster, more nimble, and adapt to what’s happening in retail. McMillion is a real advocate of change within the company, pointing out that what has happened to companies like Sears can happen to us too.
Doug McMillion, CEO of Walmart, recently discussed how Walmart is becoming more digital and is adapting and changing in order to compete and improve the customer experience:
Changing How We Work to Get Faster, More Nimble and to Adapt
We’ve got a lot of work going on to change the company. The company is becoming more digital and we’re changing how we work from within to get faster, more nimble, adapting to what’s happening in retail. Those plans result in lower costs. We’ve been lowering prices for customers and we need to keep doing that. We’ve got to build this ecommerce business in a way where it delights customers all the time. We’re improving in many areas as it relates to that.
Then kind of the magic of Walmart is how we put it all together. Grocery pickup has been really great for us, we’re learning how to do deliveries. There’s a lot in front of us in terms of what we control and what we can do and that’s what we’re focused on. There’s a transition going on and change that is happening inside of all businesses and across industries. It’s certainly happening within Walmart.
We’re Learning How to Put Automation in Place
We’re learning how to put automation in-place like floor cleaners that are autonomous, and also an industrial robot with a camera on it that’s looking at the merchandise in the aisle so we know where things are. It’s learning how to communicate with a device that goes up and down the aisle that checks to make sure that things are in the right place, that they’re priced right, looking to see if we have inventory above if it needs to be pulled down, and helping us as associates do our jobs better.
I think over time automation will reduce jobs, there will be a period of disruption, but with our turnover in retail, we can manage through that. We want to train people, upskill them so that they can learn to do new things. As this change is happening now we’ve already seen new jobs like personal shoppers emerge, we’ve got about thirty thousand personal shoppers in the United States now that are picking grocery orders in the stores for pickup.
Grocery Pickup Business has Grown a Lot
One of the most popular things we’ve got right now is a grocery service where you can order on your mobile app, pick a time slot and on your way home from school with the kids swing through and we put it in your trunk and you take off. That business has grown a lot and there are people that now have new jobs creating that order for you. Folks come out to the car, put in the trunk for you, talk to you for a few minutes, and that’s gone really well.
What I really think will happen is we’re going to find new jobs, delivery jobs, and jobs related to customer service in the stores. We want to improve the environment the stores, we want our fresh food presentation to be better, we want our retail presentation to be better. We will redirect some of those positions towards that.
One Constant at Walmart is Change
The truth is after learning from so many people, a little bit from Sam Walton, David Glass, Lee Scott, Mike Duke, and the leaders at Walmart. We know that retailers come and go. Businesses grow and they don’t change enough and they decline over time. Retailers do that on a bit of a faster cycle so we got a healthy paranoia and always have.
If there were a group of Walmart associates around here right now and we asked them the only thing other than our purpose and values that are constant at Walmart they would fill in the blank with change. We adapt, we learn, we learn from competition, we focus on the customer, we’re always changing.
People Are Rethinking What Walmart is as a Business
I carry an app that’s got the top-ten retailers by decade back to 1950. There are company’s on here, TG&Y, E. J. Korvette, the rise and fall of Sears and others. It’s just a reminder that this can happen to us too. Part of what I do within the company is trying to make a case for change, point to a strategy and a vision for our associates.
We’ve got great people and they rally and move and change. It’s now happening at an accelerated rate inside the company causing people to rethink what Walmart is as a business and it’s really exciting.
Groupon announced a business model transformation that moves them away from email and daily deals. Groupon wants their website to be a place for consumers to find great deals and information and also be a utility for merchants to use every day to grow their businesses, says Groupon CEO Rich Williams.
Groupon is utilized by customers who receive email deals around four or five times a year and Williams sees a huge opportunity to transform Groupon by getting customers to view the site as a deal and lifestyle platform, potentially increasing usage to four or five times a week.
Rich Williams, Groupon CEO, discussed Groupon’s transformation plans with Jim Cramer on CNBC:
Groupon Announces a Business Model Transformation
The core of our plan is based on our marketplace model and concept. That’s moving us away from email and daily deals really to being a utility for consumers and merchants to use every single day to grow their businesses, in the case of merchants. In the case of consumers, a place where they trust when they’re hungry, when they’re bored, when they just want something to do on the weekend with their kids, we’re where they’re going to find the best prices, the best deals, and also the best selection and inventory of those transactable offers local markets.
I think people have a very narrow perspective of what a turnaround is. Most of that it’s like hey we need to cut some cost or we need to just tweak our product around the edges. When I say it’s a transformation, I think we have a good business today, we’re trying to build an amazing business. We have a good product today, we’re trying to build an amazing product. We’ve got to transform how we work the products we deliver to our customers, really fundamentally change how consumers think about us every day. That’s more than your typical turnaround has to attack and the good news is we’re well on our way.
Still a Huge Opportunity in Local
Local is a huge space and it’s a space that got a late start if you think about the online and mobile revolution that we’ve gone through over the last 15 or 20 years. Products started first with folks like Amazon in the late 90s. It wasn’t really until folks like Groupon and Yelp came into the mix late into the 2000s where you started to really get people to push. For sure locals late and it is a challenging space. I would say we’re producing billions of dollars of value coming out of the local space. We’ve grown our inventory and our relationships with small businesses by 60 percent over the last three years. We’re making headway and we see that as a massive prize that’s worth fighting for and we like our position in the market.
People use us four or five times a year currently. Our opportunity in local where you shop most of the time is four or five times a week. That’s what we’re building toward and those are the metrics to look at long-term where we have a lot of customers buying more frequently in a profitable way. I think we’re we’re wildly undervalued. We have strong free cash flow and we produce a lot of adjusted EBITDA that’s not reflected in our share price today and just shows that we have a lot of opportunity to grow that for folks over time.
These days, shoppers are less impressed with celebrities and gurus telling them what to buy and prefer content that’s generated by their fellow consumers. ANielsen report showed that 92 percent of consumers trust recommendations made by people they know while 70 percent believe the opinions consumers post online.
Some brands have been savvy enough totake advantage of this changing mindset and have successfully leveraged user-generated content (UGC) into their marketing campaigns.
User-generated content is essentially content that comes from customers. When customers have a positive experience with your brand, they are more inclined to tell others about it.
A ringing endorsement from a happy client is one of the fastest and cheapest ways to boost your customer base. And since the content comes from real people who have actually used the company’s products or services, consumers know that the information provided is authentic and reliable, thus improving a brand’s credibility.
There are several ways thatsmart brands can utilize UGC. Here’s a list of five companies highly-successful campaigns that show how to effectively leverage user-generated content in your marketing efforts.
1. Starbucks’ White Cup Contest
Starbucks hit a home run back in 2014 with its White Cup competition. The coffee giant asked their customers to doodle designs on their paper cups, take pictures, and post them on social media using the hashtag #WhiteCupContest. The best design would become the template for their limited-edition coffee cups. The contest generated around 4,000 entries in three weeks and created a lot of buzz even after it ended. When Starbucks finally unveiled the limited-edition cups, millions of customers took photos of the items and posting them on their social media accounts.
Takeaway: A contest with an interesting gift or a freebie is an effective way to interact with your target market. You can also generate revenue by turning the UGC into something you can repurpose or sell.
2. Apple #ShotOniPhone
User-generated content can solidify and expand a loyal fan base effortlessly. When Apple released the iPhone 8 and X, the company decided to take advantage of the fact that people were already using their product to take great pictures. The company’s #ShotOniPhone campaign saw Apple fans sharing the photos they took on their iPhones. Apple then showcased their favorite photos on its official Instagram account. While the campaign placed the focus on the photographers and their skill, it also emphasized their product’s features and capabilities.
Takeaway: Celebrate your loyal customers by showcasing their work in your website and social media accounts. The UGC will also drive more visitors to spend more time on your site.
3. Cast Me Marc by Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs reminded people why he’s such a trailblazer with the Cast Me Marc campaign. In 2014, the designer decided to cast models in a distinct way – by using Instagram and Twitter. People who were interested in modeling for the brand were asked to submit their photos with the #CastMeMarc hashtag. The company received 15,000 submissions within a day and 70,000 photos by the time the contest ended. The brand was also credited for starting a new movement as other fashion brands followed in its footsteps.
Takeaway: Pay attention to current trends. At the time, selfies were rapidly growing in popularity and Jacobs tapped into that phenomenon. You also shouldn’t be afraid to add your own twist to a new trend.
4. L’Oreal DermaBlend Transformations
The make-up brand placed their storyline in the hands of their loyal clients with its #DermaBlendPro campaign. L’Oreal encouraged users to share photos or videos of their makeup transformations. The company received thousands of submissions which were used in their brand story.
Takeaway: Trust your customers and include them in your campaigns. Happy customers make the best brand ambassadors.
5. Pura Vida Bracelets
UGC a good way to showcase products in real-world scenarios. Pura Vida’s colorful and unique bracelets already stand out on Facebook’s newsfeed, but when the company added photos of their customers wearing their products on their carousel ad, it provided better insight into the brand and led to a surge in conversions. It also helped that customers were taking photos of their bracelets while on the beach or traveling around the world, thereby encouraging everyone’s dream of a carefree lifestyle. The company was also started working with more artisans and small businesses around the world.
Takeaway: When your content is relatable, more shoppers will identify with your brand and hold it valuable. Transparency also attracts consumers who want to know where and how the product is made.
UGC is undoubtedly one of the best ways to show a brand’s authenticity and secure customer loyalty. So put the spotlight on your customer, and reward them to increase engagement. Shoppers are always happy to come back and talk about a brand when they feel like they’re part of the brand’s community. They’re also more willing to contribute to it and refer it to other people.
Brian Wieser, a well-known advertising expert at Pivotal Research, says that simply bringing digital-like concepts to traditional TV will not by itself cause digital-like growth. He says that growth would only come if TV could appeal to new kinds of advertisers.
Brian Wieser, Senior Analyst at Pivotal Research Group who covers all things advertising from an investor perspective, discussed on BeetTV how technology is changing TV advertising:
Advanced TV Technologies Are Really More About Optimizing
A lot of Advanced TV technologies are really more about optimizing. They’re really more about making the workflows more efficient. They’re also about load-balancing in terms of maximizing or optimizing reach and frequency. Maybe even one day they can help contribute to reduced commercial loads because they can identify better ways to reach different audiences with different units, which then just allows media owners to reduce their ad loads.
Bringing Digital-Like Concepts to TV Will Not Cause Digital-Like Growth
I don’t believe it causes growth in advertising. Bringing digital-like concepts to traditional TV will not cause digital-like growth. The only thing that would cause growth above and beyond the trajectory that TV is on is if TV can appeal to different kinds of advertisers. The direct-to-consumer marketers, for example, would be a segment of a marketer that isn’t really meaningfully in TV.
If there are technologies or if there are platforms or if media owners can find ways to sell to those advertisers, now it’s not a given but it’s an example, of where there could be incremental spending. That’s the only thing that will cause any different growth for the industry.
Any of the Ad Tech Players Could Play in TV
Any of the Ad Tech players could play in TV. I mean certainly, we see right now the bigger players would be Roku and The Trade Desk when we think of publicly traded companies that are trying to play in what we will broadly define as this space. There are other companies, WideOrbit, of course, Mediaocean, there are many other infrastructure players who don’t necessarily sell media, but ultimately they’re the ones who have to help provide the tools to help realize the improvements that the industry needs.
Digital marketing is now firmly embedded in our day-to-day lives; we start our day with newsletters and check our Facebook before bed. Its influence will continue to grow in 2019, and new advertising trends built on today’s digital innovations will grow along with it. It’s your job to learn to distinguish them and adapt your marketing strategy accordingly.
Here are four digital marketing trends to watch out for in 2019:
Snack Ads
Most people prefer watching videos over reading, which would explain why marketers are producing more video content. While video has madedigital avertising more dynamic, it’s also caused consumers’ already short attention to become even shorter. Luckily, snack ads are enough to keep your target audience engaged. As the name implies, these ads can be likened to snacks, something easy to digest but filling. These videos ads are less than 10 seconds long; they’re short enough to keep people interested while still getting a brand’s message across.
Consumers will be seeing more of these short ads in 2019. Youtube is already pioneering snack ads, and Fox Networks Group will reportedly follow in its footsteps by incorporating them in their linear programs and streaming services.
Voice Search
The coming years will see a deeper interaction between people, devices and applications.Researchers have forecasted that by 2020, 30 percent of web searches will be conducted without even touching the screen. Half of these searches will be done via voice commands.
It’s easy to see why voice search will play a vital role in our daily lives. Using voice to search and ask questions will elevate multi-tasking to new levels. For instance, you can do your shopping while cooking. A lot of people also find speaking to be quicker than typing. Domino’s Pizza is already using voice search technology, with customers being able to order their pizzas through Alexa.
With Google, Amazon, and Apple continuously working on improving their voice assistants, and more people expected to use smart speakers, your brand should make full use of this medium by producing relevant audio content.
Micro-moments
People are spending more than three hours a day on their smartphones, and it’s changing the way companies are trying to get the customers’ attention. The deluge of content and videos mean that brands should be able to deliver their message quickly and in an interesting way, and all in a matter of seconds. This new consumer behavior is what Google has termed “micro-moments.”
Image source: Google
Customers generally have four such moments – “I want to go,” “I want to know,” “I want to do,” and “I want to buy.” For instance, a customer is trying to decide where to eat and wants to know which restaurant is nearby.Brands can take advantage of this micro-moment by being able to provide the customers with the information they need. A Business Page on Google can help since you will appear on “Near Me” searches. Companies should also make sure they’re on platforms where customers search for information, like Amazon, Google Maps, or YouTube.
Augmented Reality
Virtual and augmented reality technology has given consumers something they want—the opportunity to be engaged in a brand’s message. A number of businesses have already embraced VR and AR’s ability to boost brand awareness and sell products. IKEA is a good example. The company’s shopping app gave prospective clients the chance to try out different design solutions before making a purchase.
Image source: YouTube
Social media platforms like Snapchat have also shown that augmented reality can expand a brand’s marketing reach and improve their interactions with customers. Snapchat’s facial and geo filter features quickly developed a following and helped the company, secure sponsors. 2019 will see AR and VR becoming a common marketing tool for companies, especially since the virtual and augmented reality markets are expected to hit $298 billion or more by 2023.
There are still several weeks left in 2018. That’s more than enough time to future-proof your brand. Take stock of these fast-rising digital marketing trends and develop a good strategy that incorporates them in your marketing plan.
Email is still a very powerful marketing tool. Contrary to proclamations that it’s a dying or dead channel, email is still more relevant and effective than Twitter or Facebook. Most of the bad propaganda about email is due to how marketers misuse it. These days, eblasts sent out simultaneously to hundreds or thousands of random people doesn’t convert very well and might even be viewed as spam. To get the most out of your email marketing campaign, you have to learn segmentation.
Email segmentation is an organizing system wherein email subscribers are placed in different categories and messages customized to speak to each group directly.
The main purpose of email segmentation is personalization. You divide your email list into groups based on the available customer data, like their professional backgrounds, purchase preferences, buying habits, and their familiarity with your brand. These groups can be as large or as small as you want, depending on the category you chose.
Why Businesses Need Email Segmentation
Segmentation can be the tipping point that determines the success or failure of a company’s email marketing strategy. Here’s a list of reasons why your business needs to divide its email list:
1. One Size Doesn’t Fit All
The odds are high that you’ll have numerous shopper personas on your email list, as well as buyers who are at different stages of the sales cycle. Delivering the same message to everyone on your list just won’t cut it. A surveyby Hubspot shows that consumers simply won’t respond to messages that aren’t relevant to them.
2. Enhances Your Brand’s Reputation
Your brand’s reputation will also receive a boost if you utilize email segmentation. Marketers who segment their subscribers received fewer complaints and have lower unsubscribe rates. And since segmentation means that people on your list receive messages right for them, they will trust your brand more.
3. Improved Open Rates
Your email might be full of important information but it will remain useless unless the recipients open their emails. With segmentation, you can tailor the subject lines to resonate with the specific group you’re targeting, thus enticing them to open your email.
4. More Conversions
Email segmentation can boost the odds that the right content is sent to the right customer at the right time. One company who nailed this was Isotoner. The company saw their email marketing profits rise by as much as 7,000% when they segmented their emails based on the products their customers checked during their visit.
5. Reduces Unsubscribe Rates
People unsubscribe for twomain reasons – there’s a deluge of emails or the messages they’re receiving aren’t relevant to them. You’re dealt a blow everytime a prospective client unsubscribes. Not only are you blocked from having a direct in to their inbox, they’re also leaving a key marketing channel. Email segmentation will ensure that you won’t be guilty of these practices since your messages are customized.
How to Increase Conversion Through Email Segmentation
Group People into the Right Segments
Placing your subscribers in the right segment can give your email marketing campaign several advantages, like ensuring that each group receives the message most relevant to them and enabling you to respond to subscriber behaviors appropriately.
There are several ways you can group people:
By Geography: Create a category based on specific cities or states, time zones, or regions.
By Purchase History: This is particularly helpful in segregating new shoppers from loyal customers.
By Abandoned Carts: There are many reasons why customers don’t complete their transactions. However, an email reminding them of their abandoned cart can guide them back to your site to finish their purchase.
Be Clear on What Your Email Marketing Service Provider Can Do
There are so many email marketing providers right now, and most of them offer tools and services that can make email segmentation a walk in the park. For instance, companies like Aweber, iContact, and MailChimp have integrated tools that can assist you in growing your email list and communicating with prospective clients and loyal consumers easily.
Some providers also offer software that help determine your demographic and test and measure your email marketing campaign’s effectivity. They can also provide you with the critical data needed to assess your progress. However, you have to understand clearly how theymanage email segmentation as well as their regulations. These will help you adjust your strategies and settings so it complies with their rules and ensures your marketing campaign goes smoothly.
Use Segmentation to Customize Messages and Improve Customer Experience
Email segmentation is a key component to improving customer experience. Personalizing a user’s experience entails tailoring your marketing strategy based on the wants and requirements of various segments.
The idea here is to supply visitors with the right content that will capture their attention and entice them to take action. For instance, emails to new customers could include a banner offering them a 10 percent discount on their first purchase. Meanwhile, you offer loyal customers a discount based on their purchases reaching a specific amount.
Conclusion
Most businesses that switch to segmenting their email campaigns will see a significant jump in their conversions. Chances are, if you sell a wide variety of products and you have a relatively large subscriber list, you’ll need to segment. Take a close look at your current list of subscribers and use the information above to help determine what groups of customers are most important to your business and segment them accordingly.
Senior Analyst at Berstein, Toni Sacconaghi, released a note today predicting that Apple’s advertising business will be worth billions by 2020. Similar to Amazon, Apple is incrementally focusing on expanding adverting opportunities, especially within the App Store.
Toni Sacconaghi, Analyst at Bernstein, recently predicted that Apple would increasingly focus on and expand its advertising business:
Obviously, advertising is a very attractive business because it has 80 percent gross margins. If you think about Amazon, the conversation around Amazon has increasingly moved towards advertising which is now a four to five billion dollar business, very high margins. That’s all just happened in the last two years and now we’re starting to see Apple do very analogous things to what Amazon does.
Apple’s Ad Business is at $1 Billion Today With Big Potential
Apple’s principal advertising foray today is in the App Store when you search for an app, ads pop up based on what you search for. This is very analogous to what Amazon is doing with Amazon sponsored product ads where an ad will pop up when you search for an item. We think this business today is maybe a $500 million to $1 billion dollars, but it’s only in 13 countries.
Apple Ads Are Not in China Yet
They’ve just actually rolled it out to six more, that’s including six recently rolled out to. It’s not in China yet. We’re not seeing very high ad load, so you only get one ad when you do a search, whereas on Google or Amazon you might get four or five. The potential for this business to really inflect is significant and again it’s a very high margin business.
Apple Has Big Potential for Increased Ad Load
If you go to Amazon or Google you literally have to scroll down an entire page before you get non-advertised based hits and Apple today is only one, so it’s certainly possible that you could do more ads. Moreover, what Apple doesn’t do is once you’ve once you’ve done your search and you go to the next page there’s no advertising and that also occurs at Amazon and Google.
There certainly may not be the potential for the same ad load going forward but Apple’s is so low relative to what we’re seeing elsewhere that we think there’s a potential for increased ad load.
Apple’s Privacy Stance is a Limitation in Its Efforts to Advertise
I think Apple’s privacy stance has really been a limitation in its efforts to advertise. Obviously, targeted advertising is worth much much more than general advertising, so Apple will continue to try and do both while preserving privacy. The ads are really based on very limited data. They’re based on whether you’re on an iPhone or an iPad, they’re based on your geographic location, age, and gender, and that’s it.
Self-made marketing phenomena Neil Patel says that there is an alternative to buying Google Ads to grow your company. The answer he says is creating a free leader product or service that drive customers to your site for you to later upsell. Patel sees this alternative solution as a less expensive and more sustainable “growth hacking” strategy.
Neil Patel discussed this growth hacking strategy in a recent video:
You Don’t Have to Buy Google Ads to Create a Big Company
Google Ads are continually rising in cost. What if I told you I have a really cool solution that’ll give you a much better ROI in the long run than Google Ads. Today, I’m going to share with you the best alternative to Google Ads. What most people don’t realize is, you don’t have to spend money on Google Ads to create a multibillion-dollar company.
Have you heard of Dropbox? Of course, you have and the chances are it’s on your computer. Did you know that when Dropbox first came out they tried to grow by doing Google advertising? And what they found is, even though they had a product that costs around $5 a month, which is around $60 a year per customer, they were spending roughly $200 to $300 to acquire a customer from Google Ads.
Can you see how those numbers don’t work out? Not only are they spending more to acquire a customer than what they’re paying in the first year, but just because someone’s paying you $5 a month, doesn’t mean that $5 is pure profit either.
How to Leverage a Growth Hacking Strategy
So, what did Dropbox do? They leveraged growth hacking. They figured out a way to get users to come to their site and generate more customers. They did this by creating a free product or a service, and that’s a better alternative to Google Ads. If you look at Dropbox, you look at Slack, even look at Amazon, although Amazon’s not really doing free with Prime buy you get free two-day shipping.
By creating something that’s free or such an amazing offer, think of it as your carrot that you’re dangling, you’re going to get so many people over to your website that then when you upsell them into your paid products or services, it’s so much easier because they’re already using your product or service, you’ve already built that brand loyalty, that connection, that rapport with them. It’s much easier to get that upsell.
It Does Cost a Lot to Offer a Free Product or Service
And here’s what most people don’t understand; they’re like, “Whoa Nellie, if I spent all this money getting people over to my website by having a ‘free’ product or service, it’s going to cost me a lot of money,” and it does. I recently released a tool called Ubersuggest. If you look at Uber suggest, I’m spending $150,000 a month releasing a lot of the features you see in tools like BuzzSumo or SEMrush, for free; 150 grand a month, that’s my cost. My cost isn’t going down, it’s continually rising too.
But you know what, if I had to do paid advertising on Google to get those visitors, my estimation shows that I would be spending a bit more than $600,000. Do you see how giving something away for free that costs me $150,000 a month is much better than spending $600,000 a month on paid ads?
Get Creative with Your Marketing
You do not have to spend money on Google Ads to create a big business, just look at Dropbox. Leverage growth hacking, and then as you have these free tools, these free products, these free services, and it may not be the best ones out there but something that people are used to paying for, what you can do is do things like creating invite flows. Dropbox has it: you want more free space, invite more users. I can do the same thing with Ubersuggest; I don’t, but I can say “Want more free usage? Invite more members.”
You can get creative with your marketing, leverage growth hacking. Just don’t put all your money into Google Ads, and the reason I say that is not because I don’t like Google Ads. Ideally, you should be doing both. But the reason I say this is, the moment you stop Google Ads you don’t have any more traffic.
By creating something that’s free, and it doesn’t have to continually cost a ton of money, like HubSpot, they have this free email signature generator. It doesn’t cost them much money; they only spent a few thousand dollars creating it. They don’t even spend any money maintaining it each and every single month. But they found that it can drive over seven figures worth of revenue to their business per year; not too bad from one free tool.
When does Google dominate the media business? “They already do,” says Brian Wieser, senior research analyst at Pivotal Research. “The reality is from a time consumption perspective, from an ad spending perspective, there’s nothing like Google, and unlike Facebook, they are reasonably well run.” Wieser adds “If Google wants to be a big player in traditional TV they will be. They haven’t invested yet in any meaningful way.”
Pivotal Research Senior Analysist Brian Wieser discussed Google and technology in the media business this morning on Bloomberg:
When Does Google Dominate the Media Business?
They already do. The reality is from a time consumption perspective, from an ad spending perspective, there’s nothing like Google, and unlike Facebook, they are reasonably well run.
At the end of the day if you are CBS you have to focus on building up the content library by selling content directly to consumers and selling it through other channels. You can argue that CBS has been a little further ahead than the others. They were more thoughtful in not participating in Hulu years ago, which was not necessarily a good idea for the partners. They invested heavily in All Access which is doing reasonably well, so that’s good. They are actually building up their properties in a direct to consumer model. The business won’t be as good as the old business but it’s durable.
If Google Wants to Be a Big Player in TV They Will Be
If Google wants to be a big player in traditional TV they will be. They haven’t invested yet in any meaningful way. I think it’s fascinating when we think about sports rights, which is one of the anchors to building out a business going forward, Facebook has hired the former head of Eurosport, Amazon has actually hired the former head of negotiations for Fox Sports. They are going to be big players when it comes to bidding for sports rights domestically in the next couple of years when big rights come up. That is a potential source of competition. Google could very well if they choose to be.
But as a practical matter, the TV business has more players that are trying to use it. Amazon wants to make money from streaming video because they know that they get a better Prime customer, so that’s a totally different set of economics, so they’ll invest on an ongoing basis. For CBS if they keep building good content, keep delivering direct to consumer, they leverage regulation to favor retransmission consent rules or take advantage of them rather the business is durable. It’s just a melting iceberg.
Coming up with new, high-quality content on a regular basis can be a struggle for marketers. And with billions of blog posts and other content being released daily, there’s a big chance that your content won’t even be seen by most of who it’s intended for.
The problem of keeping up with posting fresh content is further compounded by a lack of time as your content not only needs to be good but also consistent. However, what many marketers haven’t figured out yet is that they don’t need to create new content every day. Instead, they can repurpose old content and transform it into something better.
5 Ways Marketers Can Repurpose Content
Assuming that you’re using Google Analytics or a similar program to track the results of your output, start by sifting through your content pile and picking out the most popular ones. Once that’s done, you can then apply several methods for repurposing your content.
1. Transform Content into a Slide or Infographic
Humans are visual creatures, which explains the popularity of infographics, slideshows, and graphs.Transforming your content into a visual format is one of the best ways of repurposing your work. Check your posts for pieces that could be designed into an infographic. While this format is often utilized to make statistics more appealing or to illustrate steps in a procedure more clearly, you can still use content that’s text-rich.
Here are three things to remember when repurposing content into an infographic:
Make sure it’s eye-catching. (Use bright, high contrast images)
Only use images that are relevant and memorable.
Keep it simple and focused on the essential data so that you don’t overwhelm your audience.
Here’s a tip for making charts and infographics: Try Canva or Chartgo; both are free and easy to use.
2. Host a Webinar
There are two trends that you should take advantage of—the demand for useful content and the popularity of video.
You can hit two birds with one stone by going online and hosting a webinar based on the content that you’ve already developed.
Maybe you wrote a piece describing a new product and how it works. Instead of reposting it, conduct a webinar and teach your audience how to use your product or service step-by-step. Facebook Live, Instagram, and Snapchat are great platforms for webinars and tutorials since they’re free and very social. Users can log in and comment in real time, giving you the perfect opportunity to engage with them.
3. Put it up on Pinterest
You can recycle the images you’ve posted on your social media accounts with Pinterest. The photo-sharing service now has250 million active monthly users, making it an ideal place to get attention for your brand. A reported 93 percent of Pinners have admitted to using Pinterest while planning their purchases and 87 percent said they bought a product after seeing it on the platform.
Take advantage of this by creating a Pinterest board or post. Go over your company’s image collection or infographics and organize them by theme. You can then curate them on the platform. Don’t forget to complement your posts with similar topics or related images from other Pinners.
4. Come Out with an eBook
Consider bundling your most popular posts into an eBook. Use different aspects of your blog posts as chapters of your eBook. Make the copy meatier, add a table of contents, an introduction, and a conclusion.
As a savvy marketer, you may also want to try conducting interviews of colleagues and experts within your niche. The information you collect could then be organized and sold as an eBook. Tactics like this can turn out to be quite profitable if you already have a highly engaged audience that is eager for insider information.
5. Turn Old Posts into a Newsletter
Breathe new life into your blog posts by turning them into newsletters. Your followers won’t be able to see every piece of content you post, particularly if you upload new ones daily. A newsletter will ensure that they don’t miss out. You can collate the most popular or relevant posts for the week and showcase them in your newsletter. It will expand your reach and lure more subscribers to your website.
There’s no such thing as old content. You canstill get value out of your old posts by repurposing. Adding new information or placing them in a new format will go a long way in making them look new and relevant once more. More importantly, you’ll save a lot of time and effort.
The CEO of Deloitte, Cathy Engelbert, calls the massive changes that are happening in business and society the 3 D’s: Data, Digital, and Disruption. These changes are bringing about new strategies of leadership and hiring and are requiring new skill sets of inventiveness and creativity.
Thaddeus Arroyo, CEO of AT&T Business says that this disruption is the new normal and that this massively impacts hiring strategies: “The generation of employees that are entering now are coming from this connected generation and they think and work differently.”
Cathy Engelbert, CEO of Deloitte and Thaddeus Arroyo, CEO of AT&T Business recently sat down with CNN’s Anderson Cooper to discuss disruption and how it is impacting business and beyond (watch video below):
Cathy Engelbert: The 3 D’s: Data, Digital, and Disruption
It’s a pretty amazing environment when you think about how to invest in AI, social, mobile, the Internet of Things (IoT), AR, VR, cloud, blockchain, or whatever shiny new tool or technology emerges. As a leader, you’ve got to make these choices. I call it the 3 D’s, data, digital, and disruption.
Data, you’ve got to treat it like it’s the most valuable asset on your balance sheet, even though it’s not on your balance sheet. Disruption, it’s not the who anymore, it’s the what’s going to disrupt you? Then digital, AT&T is obviously investing a lot around the digital experience and the customer experience. You need a different leader in today’s day and age for that.
Cathy Engelbert: Worried About the Robot Apocolypse
Think about the reskilling that is going to need to be required. Everybody is worried about the robot apocalypse and are we not going to be doing what we are today in 5-10 years? I read something the other day that said that this is more about mass redeployment, not mass unemployment. It is an interesting time and people are worried.
I have a teenage son who came to me the other day and said, Mom, I’m afraid robots going to take over my job someday. I said thank goodness he’s actually thinking about this kind of stuff rather than playing video games. These millennials and digital natives and Gen Z’s are a little worried because that’s what they are hearing and reading and seeing.
The World Economic Forum put out a study last year that said 65 percent of school children today will eventually have a job that doesn’t exist today. By the way, back in 1999 at the dawn of the millennium, the Department of Labor put out a report that said 65 percent of school children today will eventually have a job that doesn’t exist today. So it’s actually not a new issue.
Thaddeus Arroyo: Disruption is the New Normal
I like to look at this as disruption is the new normal. This isn’t just in terms of how our business environment is being disrupted. We live in a world now of constant change. The generation of employees that are entering now are coming from this connected generation and they think and work differently.
I also think we are in a new era of leadership disruption in terms of how we approach modern problems. What wins in a world of constant change is creating a culture that can lead and create a north star to manage this change. We have to address a concept of leading in a world of change through constant evolution and moving beyond evolution to adaption.
Most importantly, recognizing that the single most important thing is it still about people. Is it human-centered? I don’t care what business you are in, in some way you serve people and what we put together is put together by the teams that work for us.
Thaddeus Arroyo: Creative but Collaborative
So this disruptive element, how do you put together a culture that is creative at its heart but collaborative that in such a way you can embrace the current generations and tomorrows. We have to ask are you looking for incremental and linear improvement or do you begin the conversation of how do you want it to work?
When you begin with how you want it to work you can do things that are transformative. And your culture has to create that because at the end of the day in this new disruptive world and the leadership model that we put in place culture wins.
Thaddeus Arroyo: CIO is Now the Chief Innovator
I think it has evolved. If you look at what we used to call the Chief Information Officer has moved because now the Chief Information Officer is the Chief Innovator. You can now tap into services rather than building those in the past.
I think we are moving deep into the heart of this fourth industrial revolution and while there is a lot of anxiety that comes with that because what we will be doing is probably as disruptive as when we went from an agrarian to an information society. The reality is that the demand for this influx of human talent to do the jobs that we haven’t even defined today requires constant evolution to create those skills.
How does a startup compete with a huge brand like Victoria’s Secret which by some accounts has nearly a 50 percent market share? By being different and utilizing technology and data.
That’s what Heidi Zak, co-founder, and Co-CEO of ThirdLove, says is key to their growth and success.
Third Love co-founder and Co-CEO Heidi Zak recently spoke about how her company is competing effectively with Victoria’s Secret.
ThirdLove Seeks to Be Different Than Victoria’s Secret
We are a direct-to-consumer ecommerce vertically integrated brand that makes very comfortable bras and underwear. Our differentiation from Victoria’s Secret and others happens in a few different ways.
One is really focusing on product quality and a range of sizes. We have 70 sizes while Victoria’s Secret offers about 36. We have more than double including half sizes. I always say that shoes have half sizes, so why shouldn’t bras?
Another differentiator is our marketing where we use real women in our marketing instead of models with a lot of diversity. We also leverage data to help women find their fit online. What we have done is digitized that experience.
ThirdLove Leveraging Data to Compete With Victoria’s Secret
We created Fit Finder so that in under 60 seconds you can answer questions about your breast shape, body type, fit issues and we will recommend the size and style. Over ten million women have actually done the Fit Finder. We have a massive amount of data with over 700 million data points.
We use the data for product development and design, for thinking about sizes and specs, we use it marketing and personalization, and we use it in inventory management. Across every aspect of the business we are using data day in and day out.
ThirdLove is a Blend of Tech and Beautiful Products
ThirdLove is a company that is a blend of apparel and tech, for sure. Absolutely, data and tech are at the core of what we do, but we also create really beautiful products.
At Google, I really learned to push the boundaries and to think about new ways of solving problems and applied that at ThirdLove. Also, I had been in traditional retail in New York at Aeropostale after business school. So it was really that blend of retail and tech coming together in terms of my background that I think made me comfortable to start this company.
We’ve been growing over 300 percent year-on-year since we were founded in 2012 so we have seen substantial growth. We have 1.5 million customers and we continue to take on more and more market share.
Victoria Secret’s, depending on the numbers you look at, owns somewhere between a third to 50 percent of the market, so there is a substantial amount of market share to be taken given that they are the worst performing stock on the S&P this year. Our current market share is a few basis points, I would say.
Online retailers and small businesses understand how crucial advertising is in driving traffic to their websites. Unfortunately, 97 percent of first-time site visitors will leave without buying anything. There’s a big chance that they won’t ever come back unless you can find a way to convince them to return. One way to go about this is by retargeting them.
What are Retargeting Ads?
Have you noticed that some of the ads you see while browsing a site or checking your Facebook feed are from a website that you previously visited? That is retargeting. These ads either offer you customized deals on items you previously looked at or remind you of an abandoned cart. They can help your business re-engage consumers who visited your online store but didn’t push through with a purchase. These ads ensure that your brand is kept in front of bounced traffic even after your prospects have left your website.
How Do These Ads Work?
Retargeting is an ad technology that redisplays your company’s product or service to consumers who had shown an interest. If someone visits your product page or downloads your app, that’s a pretty good indication that they’re interested in your brand.
Retargeting utilizes a simple Javascript code called a “cookie” that allows you to “follow” your audience. This inconspicuous, little code is integrated on your website. An undisclosed browser cookie is then dropped whenever a new visitor lands on your site.
Once the visitor tagged with the cookie starts to browse, the code informs your retargeting provider when to serve your ads. The prospective client will then see your ads popping up while they’re playing a game, listening to music, reading an article, or browsing another store. For example, if a visitor checked a product page for a blue blazer but didn’t buy it, an ad retargeting them would show the same blazer and maybe a deal slashing the price by 15 percent. Or they might see an ad showing similar apparel.
Your ads will remind them of their interest in your product and hopefully bring them back to your website. Site visitors who see retargeted ads are70 percent more likely to make a purchase.
Why Should Your Business Consider Retargeting Ads?
You won’t be able to convince all your site visitors to buy your product or try your services. The best that you can hope for is to keep them interested while they decide whether they are willing to try your brand. In order to do this, you have to utilize more than one marketing channel. Google revealed that integrating retargeting with other marketing campaigns can help you close up to 50 percent more deals. That’s because most shoppers are more likely to notice the products that they had previously looked up.
Retargeting ads are also 10 times more effective than conventional display ads. The former’s click-through rate is close to 0.7 percent while the latter only has a CTR of 0.07 percent. It’s understandable that small businesses would typically opt for display ads. But a retargeting campaign is still relatively affordable and can complement any ad strategy.
Here’s the Kicker
Retargeting is apowerful and compelling conversion and branding optimization tool. However, this strategy is more effective when used in conjunction with a bigger digital marketing campaign.
Strategies like AdWords, content marketing, and targeted display are good for driving traffic, but they’re not as effective when it comes to optimizing conversion. Meanwhile, retargeting helps boost conversions but can’t drive traffic to websites. It’s best to combine the tools that push traffic and retargeting ads. You’ll get the best of both worlds while helping your brand make its mark.
SEO is constantly changing but search ranking expert Eric Enge still says that everything else should take second priority to content quality and links. In a recent video discussion (below) and blog post, Eric explains how the Google Ranking Score intersects with the Google Content Score which results in a Google Link Score.
Eric Enge is General Manager of Perficient Digital, a full-service digital agency. Previously, Eric was the founder and CEO of Stone Temple which was acquired by Perficient in July 2018. Here’s how Eric explains Google’s current method for ranking content:
Google Considers Content and Links the Two Most Important Ranking Factors
Earlier this year I was part of a live hangout with Andre Ropeta of Google where he said that Google considers the two most important factors for ranking to be content and links to your site. I provided strong backup for the power of links in a study I published last year. From my experience, I think many organizations could dramatically improve their SEO just by creating better quality content and more effectively promoting it but so few bothered to do that.
Are Content and Backlinks All That Websites Need to Think About for SEO?
Of course, just thinking about content and backlinks for SEO would be a gross oversimplification. There are still a lot of other things you can do that will help your SEO. These are things like a better information architecture, making better use of SEO tags, good usability and all that. However, I think it’s undeniable that all of those take a second priority to content quality and links.
How Do Content and Links Interact?
To keep it simple, let’s imagine a hypothetical set of scores for content and links. Here ’s an equation that depicts the possible relationship between those two things:
Ranking Score = Content Score * Link Score
Now let’s pop that plot that on a graph (below). Notice two things, first the Y-axis is labeled Chances of Ranking, not Ranking. We’re dealing with probabilities here, the higher in the curve you are the more probable it is that you will rank high, but of course, they’re never any guarantees.
Second, notice that I’ve made the content score way more influential than the linked score. Think about it, if your content isn’t at least good quality and it doesn’t do a good job of satisfying your users’ query or if it provides a poor user experience then it really shouldn’t have any chance of ranking in the first place, no matter how many links you get.
While links are very powerful for establishing the basic authority of a page, Google is smart enough to know that they don’t tell the whole story. That’s why Google is invested so much in being able to discern the quality and appropriateness of content.
How Should Websites Apply This in a Practical Way?
My goal with my two step ranking model is to simplify SEO for most people without oversimplifying it. But making it simple in no way implies there’s not a lot of hard work to be done in order to be successful, far from it. It comes down to the two things that have always been true for successful companies, make really good stuff and market it effectively.
In the case of content marketing, the good stuff is the content that goes above and beyond in creating delight, trust, and respect in your target audience. The marketing part is effectively sharing and promoting that content and getting it in front of the right eyes and if it’s really good that’s where the earned linked opportunities kick in.
Starbucks hit a home run back in 2014 with its White Cup competition. The coffee giant asked their customers to doodle designs on their paper cups, take pictures, and post them on social media using the hashtag #WhiteCupContest. The best design would become the template for their limited-edition coffee cups. The contest generated around 4,000 entries in three weeks and created a lot of buzz even after it ended. When Starbucks finally unveiled the limited-edition cups, millions of customers took photos of the items and posting them on their social media accounts.
