Will Coronavirus Change Consumerism Forever?

Lately, my father and I have been discussing the impact of Coronavirus in all industries from consumer goods, healthcare, technology, global shipping and many others.  If you think about it, it nearly has impacted every industry and not just domestic, but globally. It’s a frightening thought but it’s the new reality that we are living in. We are quickly adapting to the new changes by using technology to stay connected: having online classes, working from home, having virtual coffee chats/happy hours and zoom calls with family members/gym trainers.

Since we operate a consumer good’s business, we were discussing how the virus will impact the retail/wholesale business. I found an article that shed some more light on our discussion. Currently, as consumers we now find ourselves “as a crossroads”. We are worried about how we will sustain our livelihood and are constantly checking up on our friends and loved ones virtually. Instagram has even started a “Stay At Home” community where you can share your videos and stories with your followers to get a sense of what people are doing at home. This helped to create a strong sense of community for us as we are all staying indoors to protect ourselves and stay safe. We are longing for protection and a strong sense of community as we live through this pandemic.  

As soon as this pandemic is over, consumers will watch how they spend their money. Brands should consider that consumers are evolving and as a result are asking themselves questions: “Why am I spending this dollar? Who am I spending it with, and what greater good will it serve?” This could quite possibly be the future of consumerism. I feel that now more than ever brand’s messaging is extremely important as consumers are watching how brands are responding to this pandemic and are watching how they are helping out their communities. As we move forward, it will be interesting to see how brands continue to respond. But I do believe that consumers will change how they shop. I believe that in order to gain loyalty, brands should continue to find authentic ways to spread their message and engage with customers. Those brands that have stepped up to help their communities have gotten positive responses from the public. So I do believe that brands need to give back to their communities and create a bigger sense of purpose in order to gain the loyalty of their customers. 

This will be interesting to see how this plays out in the future. 

Marketers Helping Small Business in a Time of Need

As a small business owner that had to suspend operations and lay off my entire staff, I can attest that these are trying times--the likes of which I have never seen.  In such a difficult time each and every dollar that a small business owner spends is agonized over, and unfortunately, marketing is often the first casualty as it is by its very essence, a bet placed on the future.  Right now, I'm not willing to bet on the (immediate) future.

Yet even in this gloomy time there are rays of sunshine peaking through the clouds.  Search Engine Land reported on digital marketers and consultants offering their services to small businesses for free.  A couple of the offerings they highlighted:

Lily Ray is serving as a matchmaker for digital marketing professionals and small business owners here - https://lilyray.nyc/seo-and-digital-marketing-support-for-coronavirus/

Footprint Digital's Chris green has a similar setup focused on helping non-digital small businesses get online here - https://helpingsmallbiz.co.uk/.

Joe Youngblood, a marketing consultant established
https://gainlocal.net/small-business-coronavirus-relief-program/

Somewhat surprisingly, demand for these free services seems to be lagging behind supply and willingness to help.   My guess is that small business owners are simply not aware of the free offerings and helping hands standing by.  So if you know anyone that needs any help, please spread the good news!

We're all in this together.  Stay calm and keep marketing my friends.

Full article from Search Engine Land below.
https://searchengineland.com/search-marketers-are-volunteering-services-support-to-help-small-businesses-get-through-covid-19-331722

COVID-19 Now, Insanity Later

Its tough to turn anything on and not here about COVID-19 and how its ravaging the world.  And for good reason, at the time of the writing of this post more than 684,000 people have been infected by the virus worldwide, 124,000 of them right here in the United States.  COVID-19 has already gutted the market, erasing nearly all of the gains seen under the Trump administration, and the worst of the economic impact may be just beginning.

What does this have to do with advertising?  Well, for starters, you need to have a company to advertise for!  The AdAge staff put together a sector by sector analysis for "what a prolonged economic downturn could mean" for the advertising business.  Its not pretty.  Among other things, they warn of a 3%-30% revenue decline for ad agencies, reduction  in digital media inventory prices, death of television as a medium, slowdown in adtech, and a massive decline in ad spending.

Of course we're in uncharted territory here so looking at 2008-2009 may not provide a guide for the future, but its probably the most relevant data we have.  Here's to hoping the smart guys at the Fed help us avoid the most damaging effects of the economic downturn and the economy doesn't melt down.  Until next time, keep advertising my friends.

https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/what-marketers-and-agencies-might-expect-if-recession-happens/2195251

Google Assistant can now translate and read web pages aloud on Android

Google has updated the Google Assistant, so that now Android users can have webpages read out to them. The browser will automatically scroll as the assistant is reading, highlighting the exact word it is on. Users will be able to customize the speed at which the assistant is reading.

Moreover, Google Assistant will also have the ability to translate the content into 42 different languages. So, if a visitor lands on your website and speaks and reads a different language, they might be able to have Google translate the content out loud to them. Google also soon plans to expand this feature to include other types of content like images, URLs, and video.

While this update isn’t technically available to all mobile users (remember, Android only for now), this could mean a big shift in how users consume your content on their mobile devices. 

This makes it even more crucial for businesses to make sure that their website content is utilizing things like titles and section headings in order for the AI to read the content in the most natural way.

Moreover, for users that may have vision or reading issues, this feature can vastly improve their ability to consume long-form content, making sites more accessible and valuable for them. Additionally, for slower readers, the ability to speed up the Assistant can help them consume more content than they would normally. This is also beneficial for those who don’t care to read a lot of content on their phone

Quibi

With million on the line, the big question for the launch of Quibi is, "Will COVID-19 destroy their launch?" Design to promote the ever declining consumer attention span, Quibi hosts short-form, 10 minute content. The platform, designed by storied Hollywoood mogul and Disney ex-exec Jeffrey Katzenberg was intended to be consumed during short breaks during the day. With everyone home nearly 24-7, are mobile consumption habits different enough to challenge the success of their launch. Their big press arrival included a massive Hollywood launch party and instead they have had to opt for social media celebrity promo's given COVID-19. It could also present an incredible opportunity as they may have the most captive audience possible. However, consumption has changed and no one knows what it will look like in four weeks, let along 4 months. This moment in time may change mobile consumption all together and either amplify or eliminate need for products like this. 

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/quibi-was-risky-but-now-things-are-complicated-1286558

How Pinterest is adapting to COVID-19 and why other networks should follow suit

Most social networks are experiencing slower revenue growth as COVID-19 has impacted businesses across sectors and resulted in advertisers pulling back on their ad-expenditure and their campaigns. Twitter was the first to announce that they were seeing a reduced demand for its ad inventory. Soon after, Facebook also announced the impact on their advertising business.

However, even as ad revenues drop, this looks like a great opportunity for these networks to increase their user base and user engagement as more and more individuals are looking towards these platforms to stay connected and informed. Networks that are able to attract and retain users will be able to benefit from this in the times to come.

Pinterest is one such network that is adapting to leverage this trend. It introduced a "Today" tab as a hub for daily inspiration, trending posts and curated topics as traffic surges to a record during the coronavirus pandemic. On this tab, they plan to feature expert information from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on COVID-19 prevention during the next few weeks.

Pinterest's editorial team and guest editors will select items to feature in the Today tab, which appears at the top of the home feed on its iOS and Android apps. The home feed will continue to show personalized recommendations, while the Today tab will help users to see what's happening across Pinterest and in trending searches. ​

Pinterest also added "compassionate search" to its website, expanding a mental wellness feature that had been available on its app. The feature helps to find activities for emotional well-being when people search for terms like "stress relief," which have tripled in the past few weeks.

NAP Citations

I recently learned something interesting about SEO. I have often wondered how search engines like Google or Bing, differentiate between online mentions or citations of 2 different businesses with the same name, i.e. how do they determine that 2 given citations are of the same company?

That’s where NAP comes in. Its an acronym for Name, Address, Phone Number. This makes the NAP citation a unique mention of a business or entity on the internet. Taking an example of a company called Acme Ventures Address: Wework building, New Delhi, India and phone NO: **********

There could be more than one business that has the the same name, so how will Google know that this is a unique mention? Furthermore, if there is another company by the same or similar name that works out of one of the many WeWork buildings in New Delhi, India, there might be further confusing search results. However, in such a case, the phone number would be unique to the entity and hence the NAP combination is completely unique to each business.

This is why search engines use the NAP combination to cluster together definite mentions of entities over the web. Taking the example of Google, a firm’s Google map listing would be the first and primary NAP citation. Therefore, businesses that wish to boost their SEO and get more content visibility online through search engines can leverage this simple method. Furthermore, it’s important to copy and paste Google map NAP citation (using the SAME NAP with not even a small difference such as punctuation marks) every time the firm’s address is mentioned online, across social media handles, in online documents, for filling up online forms (such as for registration).

Google's CoronAd Credits

Google's CoronAd Credits

In the wake of the growing Coronavirus pandemic this week, Google made an announcement to donate $810M in advertisement credits. I believe this is a brilliant move from Google that will not only help small businesses and government agencies, but will also endear their platform to new users to secure long term value. 

Let's see how the $810M will be deployed:

• $250M     ||     (30%)     100+ global government organizations
• $340M     ||     (42%)     Small businesses with active accounts
• $20M       ||     (3%)       Google Cloud credits to COVID-19 researchers
• $200M     ||     (25%)     Non-profits and financial institutions that provide small business loans

While Google is not alone in technology companies supporting COVID-19 efforts, they one of the first I've seen that are donating their product to support economic stabilization. For example, Apple is donating masks, but not iPhones. I hope more companies will start to think like Google when thinking of what they can donate as we move from prioritizing the healthcare crisis to the economic crisis.

Sources:

• https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/27/google-sets-aside-800m-in-ads-and-cash-to-help-in-covid-19-fight/
• https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/apple-ceo-tim-cook-just-announced-extraordinary-measures-to-fight-against-coronavirus.html

What is leading luxury retail into being more innovative??

https://www.insider-trends.com/10-leading-innovations-in-luxury-retail/

Luxury brands are being forced to change and FAST. Fashion still feels SO OLD!! Aside from the new streetwear trends and innovative designer direction, the way that brands operate is still ancient, especially old European Houses.

Slowly but surely, it is starting to come around with a few different initiatives that are driving customer demand. It is no surprise that the first is having the ability to create curated capsules for specific customers and making that product "exclusive". This has been around but there is an expansion for these things now with the additional capabilities that brands have to produce.

Most importantly, there are new ways that brands are attacking market share. They are beginning to embrace the rental market, which has proven to be a winner in the last two years in the luxury world. It has promoted some pretty interesting partnerships, like the only between Neiman Marcus and Fashionphile, which is a refurbished luxury accessory vehicle. Ultimately, where this is all leading is to the end of waste in the luxury market and the dusting off of the OLD feeling. It should be exciting to see what companies will prevail.

Security Concerns after Covid 19

One of the biggest barriers to migrating to the online world, especially for older people is the security concern that your data will be stolen or that you just don't trust buying something you are not seeing.
Since the group of people that is more exposed to this virus is exactly the one that is the late adopter of online shopping this crisis will work as a catalyst to move this group of people out of their comfort zone to try it out and to create their first profiles online. I expect that they will use the brands that they are familiar with it, so I don't think they are ging to experimental about the companies they are purchasing from but it will be a big boost to the traditional retailer who is at the beginning of their online journey



https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/16/online-id-verification-is-seeing-a-spike-in-demand-driven-by-covid-19/

This is how travel companies should react to COVID-19!!!!

This is how companies should be approaching marketing in the travel industry. In a time that you know that people are better at home for the better good, why not show and market your companies values. This to me says that Marriott values the health of their customers and not just their topline number, which motivates me to continue to be a BONVOY loyal member. 

All you have seen other than this around are COVID warnings and travel restrictions followed by stressful messages that tell you that currently the customer services representatives don't have time to deal with you. To me, this message gives me something to look forward to. The picture looks relaxing and amazing. If I had a travel business, I would follow this lead. 

It seems that everything in the world has turned to COVID-19 – managing for COVID, pivoting for COVID, isolating for COVID. Private industry is trying to find ways to do its part to address COIVD, some have found better ways to fill the void (pun intended).

Yesterday, Apple and the CDC launched an app (in collaboration with FEMA and the White House) to address correct information dissemination. The website and app can help you screen and monitor symptoms, will ask about your travel patterns and exposure and advise if you should get tested and how to do it. While this doesn’t actually solve getting the elusive test, the aim of informing significant swaths of the population correctly about the virus is hugely helpful in helping mitigate spread.

As someone that works for an organization that has a role in disseminating accurate public health information, I appreciate this partnership. Apple will create an excellent and usable product and the content will be developed with experts from the CDC. From a digital marketing perspective for Apple, it couldn’t be a better marketing strategy. Using their expertise on the user experience/product development to do good in a time of crisis when massive amounts of people are looking for answers, Apple partners with THE agency that’s providing the answers. It's a win all around. Not that Apple needs name recognition, but from a CSR strand point, they smell like flowers. 

Who is driving the media resources for COVIS?? Surprisingly ....

Marketers are driving the media resources for COVIS almost across the board. You ever wonder what the power of good marketing is? This is one of the results that tells you how powerful it can be to drive eyeballs to content that you have to offer. There is massive time being spent on how to properly market during this time of crisis. Below is a graph that shows just how much time has pivoted to COVIS related marketing initiatives by ad execs.



This leads me to pose the question, "has there ever been an incident in the world that has pivoted ad exec's time so quickly?" I think the answer to that is NO. We may have events that last one day, a week, or even a month perhaps regionally that could shift some attention. However, the magnitude of the attention that has moved to this topic marks the first that we've seen attention focus to one subject across the world for so long.

Is TikTok here to stay?

https://mightysocial.tech/social-media-predictions-2020-tiktok/

All signs point to TikTok having one of the biggest gains due to COVIS. The success of social platform is the "stickiness" or the niche market that they are able to create. TikTok had seen their market explode past anyone's expectations prior to the virus. The quarantine has only fed that fire and it has done so in such an explosive way.

The app has given people something to do while indoors, which takes their market to a completely new level. The only downside is brands are not prepared to capture this just yet. There have been experiments on the platform attempting to gain customer engagement. However, I would argue that the art of capturing a sale using this platform is still not something that people dominate. This could have a major impact on TikToks profitability because, as we learned from the rollercoaster ride of Snap Inc, it's all fun and games until you are forced to turn a profit. At this stage, the app is going through its glory days and I dont think they are capitalizing on it.

The future of TikTok is reliant on the implementation of new marketing tactics that are applicable here and that turn a profit. We will see whats to come.

We are likely seeing the peak of TikTok. Sad but true.

Role in Crisis

There are a lot of articles online about how marketing needs to change during the crisis/pandemic. Be mindful of tone, support other businesses, remind customers how your employees/company have been impacted, etc.

Don't exploit the situation by using fear, etc. to drive sales. Seems obvious enough.

It is estimated covid-19 will cost the economy $2.9 trillion. People are losing not only money but also traffic and conversions.

According to Neil Patel, e-commerce was a mixed bag, depending on what sites sold, traffic was either up or down. For example, if you were selling baby products like diapers or wipes then you saw a nice bump in traffic. But if you were selling luxury goods like big-screen televisions you saw a drop in traffic.

I agree companies should in no way exploit the pandemic, but companies are in dire need to drive growth and increase traffics. It's not about profit, it's about surviving, saving jobs, and getting back to normal. I think brands should be as creative as possible to drive growth during this difficult time, while also keeping the health of our society at the forefront.

Impact of COVID-19 on Digital Advertisers

Due to the unprecedented pandemic unfolding around us, we have seen many scary signs for businesses- layoffs, closures, drops in revenue and profitability, and more. How has the current situation affected online businesses advertising on Facebook and Google?

To start, one piece of good news is that digital attention is at an all-time high. Because people are now forced to stay at home and work from home, they're turning to Facebook and Instagram much more than normal- both as a source of entertainment to stave off boredom, as well as a place to connect with friends and loved ones and get up-to-date news about the outbreak. For advertisers, this means the amount of available impressions and the capacity for ads to reach target audiences is on the rise, reducing lower overall operating costs for campaigns.

These times have also been a reminder of how important good messaging is. Many businesses have had to make apologies for insensitive or tone-deaf ads, while others struggle to get any attention in the first place. Good practice is to pause or postpone non-essential messaging, such as new product launches or "coronavirus deals", while putting more focus on creating good content, maintaining a positive/hopeful tone, and letting people know that these businesses have their backs in these trying times.

Analysts predict that Facebook's ad revenue will decline by 19% for the year. A potential silver lining here is that this means many of your competitors have stopped or reduced ad spending. As a result, businesses that take note and bid accordingly will be able to lower CPM and CPC costs.

While all signs point to cheaper ads at this time, a big problem is that bottom-of-the-funnel objectives like conversions is expected to slow down, due to the economic downturn and larger concerns occupying consumer's thoughts. Therefore, businesses should think about using this time to focus ad campaigns around brand awareness, traffic, and email signups, taking a long-term approach to build up a large audience for retargeting once things start to return to normal.

TikTok is having a moment

Engagement on TikTok increased 27% from February to March. In the current state of social distancing and self-isolating, more brands and creators are taking the time to figure out if and how TikTok may fit into their overall marketing strategy. Interestingly, athletic and leisure brands seem to be thriving through TikTok either directly or indirectly, because people at home are filming themselves working out and live-streaming their workouts. With people quarantined and needing to work out from home, there is an increased appetite to purchase workout wear and equipment they see others using on TikTok. 

Brand not previously on TikTok are finally catching on, as Sherry Jhawar (co-founder and president of celebrity and influencer marketing company Blended Strategy Group) said: 

“Being at home and not having to run around like we normally do has allowed for people to learn the platform. That has been a barrier for certain content creators up until now, that TikTok is new and feels complicated. But now content creators say they have time to learn it and are putting content out there.” 

https://www.glossy.co/fashion/more-brands-and-content-creators-warm-up-to-tiktok-as-social-distancing-becomes-the-norm

ASO or App Store optimization

In the context of mobile marketing, it was interesting to learn that there is a separate optimization strategy for apps like that for the websites (SEO) called App Store Optimization or ASO. As we didn't have a chance to discuss it during the class, I was curious to learn how it works.

ASO is nothing but increasing the visibility and conversion of your app in the App Store and Google Play.

There are 2 main ways to optimize ASO:

On-metadata are the factors or elements that are 100% under the control of the developer: title, developer name, short and long description, icon, screenshots.

Off-metadata factors are not controlled completely by a developer, but can be influenced, for example: installs volume, ratings, and user reviews.

With on-metadata being very similar to keywords optimization for SEO.
The detailed guide for ASO is here:
https://thetool.io/aso-app-store-optimization

Stop Price Gouging

According to a recent NPR article, top law enforcement officials from across the country, online platforms have an ethical obligation to root out price gouging on hand sanitizer and other products that are in high demand during the coronavirus pandemic.

33 attorneys general sent letters to Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Facebook, and Craigslist on Wednesday saying that their efforts to crack down on overpriced items on their selling platforms have so far failed to remove “unconscionably priced crucial supplies.”

These same officials are calling on companies to create policies that look at prices historically to detect price surges, set up a portal for shoppers to report pricing complaints, and proactively monitor and respond to spiking prices at all times and not simply during emergencies alone.

While Craigslist did not respond to NPR’s inquiry, Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and Facebook all said they actively monitor pricing for high demand items and have mechanisms in place to block or remove users that exhibit price gouging.

Understanding that none of these mechanisms will ever be perfect, I do find it hard to believe that some of these retailers cannot do a stronger job of policing this price gouging. These companies have immense resources and in many cases, have teams and sophisticated algorithms that are dedicated to global pricing strategies. While there can and should be some flexibility in allowing prices to go up an acceptable amount (such as 10-30%), it doesn’t seem difficult for a retailer to monitor extreme pricing shifts given that the very same retailer is well aware of a product’s retail price. These laws must be enforced more strictly or retailers will continue to place a low priority on doing what is ethically right for the consumer.


https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/03/25/821513190/stop-price-gouging-33-attorneys-general-tell-amazon-walmart-others

Evolution of Live Stream Marketing Channels

As novel as the current coronavirus, live streaming was once a slightly better version of getting the video of that one event you couldn’t attend — except instead of having to watch the video after, you were able to view it in all its grainy glory (somewhat) in real time. With the evolution of technology, live streamed events have been transformed drastically and I’d argue with the benefits outweighing the drawbacks.

Customer captivity, i.e. exclusive “follower only” events.

Easier interaction with those in attendance and at home.

Sitting in “any” seat you want, to view the event from multiple angles.

Data connected marketing, i.e. event sponsors can hyper-target individuals for higher probability of conversion.

Environmental impact (much smaller net carbon footprint for the event).

The list could continue on and on, but to add one more idea to the mix: full production capabilities in your pocket. With everyone’s smartphone sporting cameras which would rival or best “professional” cameras a decade ago and with the vast majority of these smartphones being connected to at least one, if not multiple, social networks, the sheer number of events possible are exponential. Many people’s quarantine’s show just how exponential, in fact.

Like any good marketer or salesperson, with exponential events being competitively produced at higher and higher quality, it’s hard not to see that there are more and more opportunities for branding and marketing within the digital age.

Integrate email and facebook campaign

The reason to integrate Facebook marketing and email marketing is that they are both highly effective marketing channels and the overall result is much better when they are used in conjunction with each other.

As per an article "5 easy ways to integrate Facebook and Email marketing", Facebook marketing allows you to connect with new users and introduce them to your business. As a platform, Facebook also allows for fast rapport building when customers interact with you and your page. On the other hand, email marketing offers an opportunity for more aggressive sales pitches. It can be more about business, and it’s a great way to increase conversions. It also allows for lengthier content to be shared than would be efficient on any social media platform.

While these different marketing platforms work highly effectively on their own, joining forces and integrating both Facebook and email marketing can greatly increase success overall. When marketing campaigns for both Facebook and email work together, you’ll often see an increase in likes and followers on Facebook, more sign-ups for your email, and more engagement and responses overall.

Below are a couple of ways recommended to integrate email and Facebook:

1.     Include Icons for Facebook in emails

Featuring icons for your social media platforms on all of your emails is a great way to encourage users to follow you on all those platforms if they haven’t already. This can be effective to your existing customers who are in your email list but not following your Facebook page yet.

2.     Provide email sign ups on Facebook

Encourage email sign ups and off-Facebook leads on your Facebook, given that many existing followers will like your Facebook page without finding a place to sign-up for emails.

3.     Host a Facebook Contest

Hosting contests on Facebook is a great way to encourage your followers to sign up for your email list. Hosting contests that feature contest apps can result in massive increases in email sign-ups when done correctly. Click here to see more about different contest apps that can increase email sign ups from your Facebook followers. 

4.     Have an email campaign purely to promote your Facebook page

Sometimes users will not scroll all the way down to the bottom of your email to see the link taking them to your Facebook Page. One way to get more users to like your Page is by featuring an email campaign purely to promote and encourage likes on Facebook. 

5.     Utilize message integration

Message integration allows you to repurpose your content in a way that drives the point home and reinforces it on both email campaigns and your Facebook Page. You can incorporate some of your most popular email content, such as from a newsletter, on your Facebook Page. Similarly, you can take statuses that perform well on Facebook and add it to the email newsletter. You can use either Facebook or email to test images, content, and more, and then use that information on the other platform. Before you run an ad campaign that discusses a certain offer, you can offer it through email, for example, to see how well it performs there. That way you don’t waste money on an ad campaign that won’t perform.

In addition, as per Facebook for business, consumers are comfortably switching between devices throughout their day, making it important for you to not only activate campaigns across channels but also your marketing messages. In this case, the your most valuable customers were those who both opened the email and saw the News Feed ads as they were being reached by multiple channels. Coordinating messaging across channels resulted in reaching customers who were 22% more likely to purchase than those only reached by email.

6. Leverage CRM to extend email-open reach

Based on your business objectives, you can also activate the customer data, to create a customer list you care about, using the list to talk to your existing best customers with News Feed ads, extending the email campaign reach by 77%. Beyond targeting to your existing customers, you can take the next step and build upon the data from your customer database through lookalikes, identifying potential new best customers.

SOCIAL MEDIA FUELS SPREAD OF COVID-19 INFORMATION—AND MISINFORMATION

https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/03/27/mark-dredze-social-media-misinformation/

SOCIAL MEDIA FUELS SPREAD OF COVID-19 INFORMATION—AND MISINFORMATION

Johns Hopkins computer scientist Mark Dredze discusses how social media can help combat—or contribute to—the spread of misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Social media has been used in the past for natural disasters and public health concerns, such as Hurricane Sandy or Zika, however the efforts are happening on a much larger scale for COVID-19. Public Health officials, such as those at the CDC actually can turn to social media to see if there is "misinformation" that should be responded to more broadly. Social media information gathering is an effective means of creating targeted messaging.

That said, Social Media is a double-edged sword. Just as easily as positive information is shared, so are rumors. So the key is, "how to spot the difference?"

First, is to check to see if it is from a "trusted source" such as a local newspaper or government agency. If it is something medical, check with your doctor, first.

There will always be misinformation on Social Media, but a marketer should actively try to promote their brand trust with people, and focus on what they know as being domain experts. A clothing store should not be providing independent health reports. Stick to your brand or promote a trusted source.

Good luck!

Tasteful Ways to Strengthen Brand during CoronaVirus

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/27/how-firms-should-market-themselves-during-the-coronavirus-crisis.html

Coronavirus Has Opened the Corporate Email Floodgates

The email deluge raises questions about marketing practices as nonessential businesses closed shops and storefronts amid the spread of the new coronavirus.

Digital marketers should tread lightly during the recent pandemic at the risk of being "tone deaf" to the situation. There has been a lot of blow back and unhappiness by consumers, seeing a barrage of emails from many, many companies that perhaps they have little to no relationship.

On the other hand, here is what a marketer may consider:

• Acts not ads - Examples include Bacardi making hand sanitizer, Guinness is funding bartenders, Essity to make face masks. These are examples to build brand during a crisis by promoting your good "acts".
• Focus on joy - another way for the marketer to focus on is "joy" which can help offset the anxiety of global citizens amidst the pandemic. Use your brand to inspire. This works best with well known brands, but can be done, thoughtfully with most.

Good luck!

Hacking influencer databases

Famous social media influencers are a popular target for hackers.

Mumbai-based social media marketing firm Chtrbox pays influencers to post sponsored content on their accounts. It had a database of ~50 million records that was left exposed without a password, a low hanging fruit for hackers. Each record had a lot of personal information including the influencer’s name, email address, address, phone number etc. It even contained information on how much each account was worth.

Social Bluebook is another platform that connects advertisers with influencers. It claims to have 300,000 influencers on its books. In October 2019 it was hacked, and the entire backend database was stolen in a data breach. The database contained information on 217,000 accounts. The information included influencer names, addresses, and passwords hashed.

Such hacks can be a huge threat not only to influencers themselves, but to the brands that establish affiliation and identities with a few prominent influencers who may be subject to such hacks.

Lexus & Others Sub COVID Response Campaigns in for Sales Ads

It's hard to find news that's NOT about COVID-19 these days. Really hard. And now, it's becoming more and more commonplace for ads to address COVID-19 response plans (instead of pushing consumers to purchase a product).

For example, see AdAge article titled: "Lexus is the latest automatker to pull sales ads in favor of coronavirus response campaign", which states that "The campaign follows similar efforts by other automakers, including Ford, Hyundai and General Motors, which are trying to preserve consumer loyalty in the midst of economic uncertainty."

This ties into my very first blog post about how Emotion may be the new "ROI" for ad spend; granted, some of the media buys being made with COVID response ads may have been previously contracted and thus, these brands MIGHT have no choice but to spend - they've perhaps just shifted the messaging to match the times. However, I'd bet that others are taking advantage of this opportunity to increase (and or build) consumer loyalty by sparking emotions of loyalty & pride in how the brands are responding in such a time of crisis. Again, I see this as brilliant marketing plays.

With that, I ask all of you (even and especially those still skeptical about emotion as the new "ROI" for ad spend): Have you changed your opinion of any brands/companies based on information you've seen on their response to the global COVID-19 pandemic?

Email Marketing During Sensitive Times

It has now become relatively mainstream to joke about how every company under the sun has managed to amplify their email marketing because of COVID-19. Company emails have ranged from Starbucks providing regular updates on how the company took steps to respond and adjust their business model and product updates to Uber, Lyft, and Via reporting on increased cleaning practices and reduced capacity for ride-share. As isolation increased across the globe, so did the company emails. As marketers proceed, there are a few parameters to consider...

1. You should say something.
1. Keep in mind that timing matters. Be mindful of societal sensitivities as a result of the latest news & updates.
2. Frequency of customer use/visits should inform if you should or should not reach out. If customer X has not interacted with your business in years, consider leaving them out and/or what value you might add by communicating to them during this unprecedented time.
3. Will I be a business they'll continue to want to buy from when this is all over?
4. Updates on business operations that allows consumers to be aware of adjusted capabilities is important. Depending on your product or service, this can be calming. This is good!
5. Informing consumers of how you're taking care of your employees during this time of uncertainty is more often well received than email marketing efforts focused on products. Product/service focused emails could be perceived as being opportunistic.
6. Sharing information about the emergency that could help communities respond has been seen as socially responsible. A company that's using its platform to help the greater good is often well received.
7. It's important to avoid being perceived as being disingenuous at all costs. 
8. SEPARATING messaging has benefits...
1. Separating updates on staff care and product deals will have greater positive effects

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/business/coronavirus-emails.html

Tone-deaf promotions...major turnoff?

There have been many blog posts by our class about brands who are adapting to the new environment and consumer needs during COVID-19, and some are successfully integrating this into their campaigns, perhaps even going a little overboard. But for some reason, I am still seeing brands who seem to be clueless and are coming across as tone-deaf in their digital marketing. For example, Sandals resorts just sent an email titled "Saying Hello To Paradise has Never Been Better", where nothing in the body of the email indicates that they are aware of the virus or the fact that people are not travelling. 

Brands during this time need to consider deleting, postponing, or altering content that could be considered tone-deaf, because it has a negative impact on customers and can turn them off from working with the brand in the future. 

Here are two interesting articles which provide good and bad examples of ways that brands and advertisers can adapt, and should be mindful of being potentially insensitive during this time:

"Many advertisers have adjusted their messaging during the COVID-19 outbreak. Hershey just had to pull ads that showed people hugging and touching, because it was seen as potentially insensitive to promote close contact while most people are practicing “social distancing.” Coors Light pulled the plug on a campaign for March Madness with the slogan: “Official beer of ‘working’ remotely.” That, too, could have come off as tone deaf while more people are working at home, not to watch college basketball, but to avoid the contracting the disease."

https://today.yougov.com/topics/resources/articles-reports/2020/03/18/delete-or-postpone-tone-deaf-content-can-damage-br

https://adage.com/article/digital/twitter-gives-brands-advice-how-communicate-coronavirus-climate/2243871

Zoom Advertising and Privacy Concerns

As large swathes of the United States is forced to conduct business, education and social interactions through videoconferencing technologies like Zoom, some brands have cleverly discovered ways that they can redeploy their advertising dollars. For example, Behr Paint and West Elm has created some work from home backgrounds. Chipotle is hosting "Chioptle Together" sessions on Zoom to bring people together. Other companies have shifted ad dollars to helping local communities.

But we should be aware of Zoom's privacy policy - Zoom reserves the right to store users' personal data, including recordings of video calls, instant messages and files, and the Zoom iOS app sends personal data to Facebook. This is deeply troubling, especially for very personal video conversations, or sensitive business communications. While it isn't clear if Zoom is actually doing any of these things with user data, the fact that its policy allows for such collection and use in itself is a cause for concern and while we are all using Zoom and other video conferencing technologies, we should bear in mind the technology's security/privacy levels.

Coronavirus marketing emails

Over the last two weeks, it seems that every company I have ever transacted with has sent me an email letting me know their coronavirus safety protocols and providing general business updates.  It has been shocking to see just how many email distributions I am on.  I even received an email update from a restaurant I last went to when I was a senior in college at Penn State; the email let me know about their new hours, delivery/takeout-only protocol, and commitment to health and safety.  Since I have no intention of visiting central PA any time soon, this email couldn't be less relevant to me.  It is annoying.

Many companies are capitalizing on the opportunity to reach out to customers with the hopes of generating some goodwill for when we are able to resume business as usual, or perhaps to drum up a few online sales in the meantime.  However, the deluge of emails has been overwhelming, and some companies totally miss the mark in their communications.  A New York Times article discusses the different strategies employed by companies, and why some tactics are more/less effective than others.  Mixing in a sale notification into the same communication as a heartfelt update about the wellness of the staff just dilutes the message and cheapens the outreach.  Consumers are wise enough to read between the lines, and can tell when an email is disingenuous.  Some companies should think twice before sending out random email blasts to their entire database of customers.  In this day and age, every bit of communication must be perfect, and companies can't really afford to make mistakes. 

What better time to launch a new season?

Approaching day 15 of quarantine with no live sports, repetitive news headlines, and a cumulative 20+ hours of time logged on my Netflix account, I finally have something to look forward to.

Season 3 of the award winning Netflix show 'Ozark' is releasing tonight. Outside of yesterday's thrilling high speed car chase in Los Angeles, there have been little to no live events or newly released content for consumers to get excited about. Netflix appears to be one of the few beneficiaries of this bizarre world we are all existing in, but what does it mean for advertisers who are constantly feeding off of dynamic events and occurrences to capture new customers and keep current customers captive?

A recent WSJ article notes "Ad-buying giant Magna Global is slashing its U.S. advertising forecast as economic conditions continue to worsen because of the coronavirus pandemic, which it says will have an unprecedented impact on supply, demand, and media consumption." Advertisers know will certainty that the majority of the country is home-bound, yet tv advertising will still remain unfruitful without live sports programming. The advertisers who choose not to cut ad spend will now have to compete more vigorously for share of mobile users screens than ever before. 

How to find a potentially popular Chinese product to sell on Amazon

In 2020, according to Jungle Scout’s data, Amazon.com has over 166 million products listed across 20 categories. Most of these products are ranked using “Best Sellers Rank (BSR)”, which can help 3^rd party Amazon sales to find potential popular and profitable products from China to sell abroad on Amazon. 

So what is Amazon Best Sellers Rank? 

An Amazon Best Sellers Rank (BSR) is a number that nearly every product in its multi-million product catalog is awarded once the item has had at least one sale. For that reason, the BSR is a good indicator of how well a product is currently selling on Amazon. 

As per the article "Amazon Best Sellers Rank: Everything You Need to Know to Succeed in 2020", the lower the product's BSR, the better its sales. However, the BSR only applies to how a product sells in a particular category. In other words, products don’t have an overall BSR, comparing their sales to every other product on Amazon. But, since many products sell in multiple categories on Amazon, it is possible for an item to have more than one BSR. Particularly when you take into account that nearly every department and sub-category on Amazon has its own individual best sellers ranking system.

How is Amazon's BSR calculated? 

Below are a couple of factors speculated, given that Amazon does not reveal exactly how the BSR is calculated. 

- Current and historic sales

- Product price changes and promotions

- Competitive products 

Where to find the Amazon BSR for a product? 

Find the product and scroll down to the product details portion of the page. See the screen below:

You can go the the best selling products page and then click on a particular department to find top products on Amazon. 

How do you determine what sort of products to sell on Amazon using BSR? 

1. Check the product’s Best Sellers Rank on Amazon using the methods described above.
2. Estimate the average monthly sales for the product on Amazon to get an idea of how often the product sells. You can use the Sales Estimator.
3. Calculate the cost to sell the item. This includes the cost of the product itself, any relevant fees, the cost to store the product if it takes a while to sell.

Here is the opportunity to find a similar product in China with lower costs! 

Amazon offers the sellers with substantial help through its BSR page as described above. This page shows the products based on their categories & sub-categories. After having a quick search at the listing products, the sellers can determine what items are sold the most. In addition, the BSR page offers what the competitors is doing regarding the key issues such as low seasonality, legal problems, price range, lightweight, and improvement room. After reviewing the key issues, the sellers can get a good sense about what products are selling the most and what the customer comments and ratings are. The seller can then do a keyword search on different apps such as Pinterest, Shopify stores, e-bay, and AliExpress’s weekly best-sellers list.

Once the sellers determined which products are likely to make profit. Based on selection of products, thousands of qualified manufacturers can be found on Chinese website, Alibaba or TMALL.

How to find Chinese Manufacturers

Everyday, Chinese companies received huge amount of email and messages asking for samples. So, the seller first needs to test how fast the Chinese company will respond to the sample request message. Why it is important? After the seller on amazon ordered the products, any delay in shipment or production results in the deliver schedule change. The customers on amazon will not get the items they ordered on time, which could easily ruin the product. 

In the first email, the seller needs to tell the Chinese company the purpose of the first order purpose is to test the quality and asks for a price quote, number of units to be ordered and a delivery procedure, in order to demonstrate the sellers' seriousness. 

After receiving the price quotes from different Chinese manufacturers, it is time to pick one or two manufactures with good price. And then, the seller can send first order message to China. The message should include the instruction where the deliver location is, what is the deliver day,  and how the money will be paid.

When the first order arrives at the warehouse or the seller's home, the seller has to inspect all unit for quality level and defects. After reviewing the quality level, deliver time, and how quick respond, the seller can make decision whether to continue purchasing units from this Chinese supplier.