Luxury Retailers Enter E-Commerce

 For this week's blog post, I read an article on how luxury brands are trying to enter e-commerce. This has been a trend for the past few years, but accelerated by the pandemic. Historically, luxury retailers have been hesitant to sell their goods online, mainly due to fear of counterfeit goods. Most have avoided partnerships with Amazon, as the site is known for carrying everything and may give the wrong impression of the luxury brands.

Today, Amazon and other companies such as Farfetch are competing to carry luxury brands online. To assuage the concerns of the luxury retailers, they have given control of the digital storefront to the manufacturers and enforced tighter controls to limit the sales of counterfeit items. Some brands have tried moving online without a partner, but few have been able to find success without partnering with an existing online powerhouse such as Amazon. To date, Alibaba and Amazon are the strongest players in the East and West, respectively, and the two are racing to become the dominant player in the segment.

As international travel has been restricted, many consumers are now shopping for luxury goods online rather than visiting brick and mortar luxury retailers abroad. While the restrictions on travel may be lifted next year with the release of vaccines, luxury retailers are showing a long term commitment to the digital channel as they have seen promising results in the past year. 

This article drew my attention as I wondered what goods can't or typically aren't purchased online. Just a few years ago, it would be strange to purchase a car online, but Tesla and other companies have found success using the online model. I think it's interesting to see luxury retailers begin to embrace the digital sales channel as well after realizing that they can fight the issue of counterfeit goods and still control their brand image while partnering with major online retailers.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/29/business/amazon-farfetch-richemont-ecommerce-wars.html

Chatbots Can Be Used Throughout the Marketing Funnel

Chatbots are an emerging form of digital marketing with a wide variety of applications. Some key benefits of a chatbot include 24/7 availability and automation of responses to the most common customer inquiries. 

A chatbot can be used throughout the marketing funnel: 

1. Awareness - Chatbots can be used to enhance or augment customer awareness. For example, a chatbot can direct a customer to personalized, popular, or sale items on your website. 

2. Interest - When a potential customer is interested, they typically seek additional information with which they can use to make their purchase. A chatbot can directly provide or link to commonly used decision-making information such as customer reviews, warranties & guarantees, or pricing information.

3. Decision - Chatbots can be used to actively push interested customers towards a decision point. Chatbots can leverage the visitor's in-site behavior to prioritize and customize decision propositions.

4. Action - Chatbots can reduce friction between the decision-point and point-of sale. Many bots are equipped to perform the transaction right in the chatbot function, and they can also perform upsell and cross-sell functions. 

There are a wide variety of applications for chatbots, and their prominence continues to rise as small-business-friendly and affordable options proliferate across the web. 

For a more detailed readthrough of applications, see the following source article: How to Use Sales Chatbots to Optimize Sales Funnel | Landbot.

Holiday ads nod to COVID-19, but depicting gatherings also works

In an analysis conducted by Ace Metrix, 32% holiday ads were shown to have incorporated COVID-19 themes stressing how this holiday season is different from usual. 

Ace Metrix determined that campaigns which acknowledged the pandemic performed slightly better with viewers, but not significantly so. Including masks in holiday ads also did not make a substantial different in viewers' receptions. This indicates that acknowledging the new normal is likely more important than addressing all the specific details of it. 

The report shows that referencing the pandemic in ads may not be completely necessary despite the pressure companies feel to abide by safety guidelines in these ads. It appears that a majority of viewers did not care or comment on ads showing social gatherings without safety precautions. 

New norms perpetuated by the pandemic, such as curbside pickup, contactless payments, and video calling are also sparsely shown in advertisements. This may have to do with masks not being overwhelmingly popular in the country, as evidenced by the spiking COVID-19 cases. 

Interestingly, animation has taken a larger spotlight in holiday ads due to production challenges caused by the pandemic. 14% of holiday ads this year utilize some form of animation.

Source: https://www.marketingdive.com/news/holiday-ads-nod-to-covid-19-but-depicting-gatherings-also-works-study-fin/589391/

...Why DTC Brands Plan to Use Texting for Black Friday and Cyber Monday This Year

https://digiday.com/marketing/email-has-become-so-cluttered-why-dtc-brands-plan-to-use-texting-for-black-friday-and-cyber-monday-this-year/

Email is a mature marketing channel; however, still a crucial one with consistently high ROI. That said, it is no surprise that most brands use it - and thus, are scared that email inboxes will be too "noisy" - inundated throughout this season's "Cyber-Five" (the period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday). In fact, I've read an article claiming that it's the best, most convenient time to unsubscribe. So, marketers are turning to texting, "a channel that is still nascent, but growing rapidly." Still, most brands see texting as an extension of their email strategies. The CEO of Sharma Brands states that "the click-through-rate is around 70% and conversion rate is north of 25%." While these results are promising, experts do note that text messaging is a more personal channel. As mentioned in class, customers are at a higher risk of unsubscribing if communication is too frequent. 

How The Pandemic Has Shifted Mobile Gaming Behaviors Worldwide

 https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/consumer-trends/mobile-casual-gaming-trends/

The article breaks up recent, pandemic gaming behaviors into 3 main trends: 

1) Casual Gaming Trends are on the Rise

There is, across the board, an uptick in spending. This can be in the form of in-game spending or purchasing a new game entirely. This presents two opportunities for marketers. Marketers can first focus on acquiring this new "casual" audience at a lower cost. Since 40+ percent of new gamers plan to continue gaming, marketers can also consider cost-per-action (vs. install) to develop more engaged users. 

2) Deeper Engagement and Longer Quests

The author encourages app campaigns to increase engagement - citing King (the maker of Candy Crush) as a prime example. King was able to reengage lapsed users, achieving a better ROI and cost per acquisition.

3) The Power of Power-Ups

Companies can incentivize users to watch video ads with "power-ups and boosters." Over one third of users will engage with the ads receive these incentives - more recently coined as "rewarded interstitials."

And this is just mobile gaming. I'm sure that console gaming (PlayStation, Xbox) has also increased in popularity throughout the pandemic. 

Focusing on value-based marketing in the face of upheaval

 Focusing on value-based marketing in the face of upheaval

Strategic cost optimization is needed now more than ever, in the face of a global pandemic that has prompted corporate leaders to cut budgets affecting marketing spend. 

According to Gartner's 2020 CMO Spend Survey, 44% of CMOs expected an in-year budget cut of more than 5% as a result of COVID-19. Another Gartner poll taken less than two months later reported those expecting a cut of more than 5% had jumped to almost two thirds (59%) of respondents, with the remaining third expecting a cut of at least 15%. 

In light of the above, it is important for leaders to know what to spend on and what not to spend on. There are 3 main mistakes that CMOs make in the COVID-19 era: 

• Mistake 1: Blanket cuts to in-year budgets with unrealistic targets: 

Most leaders apply blanket cuts that spread across most channels e.g., cut on 20% marketing expenses for the year. The main issue with this type of thinking is that marketing's cost base is varied, with a mix of near-term, variable costs (e.g. media spend), and longer-term commitments (e.g. marketing technology costs). From a practical point of view, it's easier to cut some costs than others and some marketing items deliver higher value than others. Rather than applying blanket cuts, leaders should spend time prioritizing marketing's investment, with the objective of retaining the bundles of resources that yield the greatest ROI, and cutting the costs with the weakest return. This is the basic essence of zero-basing: ranking investments based on their return, and considering if better returns could be achieved through alternative investments.

• Mistake 2: Choking-off investments in marketing innovation

Because the value of innovation efforts is hard to measure, innovation investments is placed in a precarious position when it comes to budget planning. Based on mistake No. 1 above, if you can't measure it, it's difficult to defend it. However, the answer should not be to cut innovation programs, it should be to find a better way of measuring the impact of innovation programs. But, why is that?

Gartner analysis from the Great Recession found those companies that focused on costs, talent and innovation achieved efficient growth, outperforming their peers in the immediate aftermath of the crisis, but also sustained (and grew) this advantage in the following years. Efficient innovation investment makes good economic sense.

• Mistake 3: Mistake cost for value when building multichannel budgets

Throughout 2020, Gartner survey data has reported shifts in channel spend e.g., some of the leaders that previously spent heavily on digital channels now shifted to traditional channels and vice versa. But have all these shifts been to the right channel? Are these channel investments being made in the most efficient ways? Evidence from Gartner's Digital IQ analysis, "B2B: How to Maximize the Efficiency of Digital Marketing Assets Amid Budget Scarcity," indicates there are still issues faced by brands. Digital ad spend may have increased, but there's evidence that this spend is not deployed efficiently or with appropriate calls to action. The problem is that very often, channel value is mistaken to channel cost. Even in budget constrained times, channel investments must be driven primarily by their ability to reach the target audience and to move them to the next stage of their journey as cost efficiently as possible.

The above are the key mistakes that CMOs can make during COVID-19, when tackling budget challenge. Getting good at strategic cost optimization ensures that marketing is sustainable in the face of upheaval and it should be part of all marketers' strategic marketing tool kit - whether budgets are climbing or falling - to ultimately lead with a value-based marketing approach.  

Source: https://www.marketingdive.com/news/3-mistakes-cmos-are-making-with-covid-era-budgets/589217/ 

 

TikTok Partners with Shopify on Social Commerce

 https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/27/tiktok-invests-in-social-commerce-via-new-shopify-partnership/

Shopify partners with TikTok- in an effort "to make it easier for Shopify's over 1 million merchants to reach TikTok's younger (highly engaged) audience and drive sales." Merchants will be able to create and run digital marketing campaigns from the Shopify app. While campaign costs will vary, the newly available ad tools will allow merchants to target audiences across demographic characteristics (age, gender, etc.) as well as track the campaign's success (or lack thereof). This is an important opportunity for Shopify as "TikTok is one of the world's fastest growing entertainment platforms." This partnership comes at the right time - as social commerce continues to gain momentum. Competitors, like Instagram, just redesigned its home screen to include a designated "Shop" tab.

'

Xfinity Ad Reveals the Best Gift from Santa

Amid the craziness of 2020, it is heartening to see a well thought out ad that brings not only the holiday spirit but also a warm message that is meaningful for us all. The latest ad "The Greatest Gift" tells the story of Santa talking to his elves via conference call and encouraging them to think of a better gift for the year. Eventually, one of the elves thought of the idea of packing "togetherness" into the gifts, bringing people the moments that they spend with their families, including grandma's cooking, grandpa's stories, and family snowball fight. Besides the upbeat message, the ad is also "full of all the quirks and annoyances 2020 has brought", including being stuck indoors, spouse walking into the background of video call, and talking on mute. These witty details throughout the short firm really strike a chord for the viewers who have certainly been through a lot in the year, and resonated with the audience on an emotional level. 

This holiday season has certainly been challenging for advertisers who are looking to celebrate the holiday spirit while being cautious with social gatherings and large family reunions. The Xfinity ad certainly did a great job of accomplishing both while building a natural connection with the viewers. It is certainly worth noting for all the marketers out there.

Reference: 

https://www.adweek.com/agencies/frustrated-by-2020-steve-carells-santa-finds-holiday-joy-in-ad-for-xfinity/

2021 Email Marketing Predictions

Recent research reports predict consumers will receive more emails and text messages in 2021 than ever before, as brands try to develop more personal relationships with their customers during the covid-19 pandemic. The report predicts marketing message volume will increase by 40% in 2021. If consumers are not coming into stores, brands need to remain top of mind and relevant. In addition to an unpredictable economy, marketers face another obstacle: a changing data privacy landscape. The report predicts brands will spend more on loyalty and retention, versus identifying new customers.

See here for more predictions about email marketing in 2021.

Seeking for an innovative shopping experience in Japan.

 During this pandemic, most of us hesitate to visit brick- and mortar stores, so it boosts online sales and many department stores have been having a hard time finding new strategy on how to attract customers again.

Let me share the endeavor of one of the biggest Japanese department stores named Isetan Mitsukoshi. They launched a new app which could give customers new a shopping experience.

In this said app, customers can receive product recommendations based on their preference, plus the app can connect customers with their salespeople through videoconference, so they can virtually see the items available in their store.

They set a trend using a hybrid shopping experience of both online and offline, and it may become the standard for the new era.

Source:
Isetan app brings in-store shopping experience online amid pandemic
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/11/25/business/corporate-business/isetan-app-coronavirus-shopping/

Comments on Tony Hsieh's Legacy for Marketers

I was devastated to hear the news over the weekend that the legendary entrepreneur Tony Hseih tragically passed away. Tony was best known as the former CEO of Zappos, which he sold to Amazon for $1.1B in July 2009. He made an enormous impact on e-commerce, customer service, and company culture. Marketers can benefit greatly from some lessons from Tony's legacy. Here are a few. To learn more, you can also check out Tony's book, Delivering Happiness. 

#1: Happy employees are critical to gaining happy and satisfied customers 

Tony was a big believer in the value of company culture to deliver long-term business results and the idea that "Your company culture is your brand, and your employees are your brand ambassadors." Based on this idea, Zappos created 10 core values that would guide the employee decision-making process, giving them clear values to work off of. Zappos also provides incredible benefits to all employees and focuses on training them. Employees are given "Zollars" to reward colleagues when they do something in line with the company values. 

#2: Customer service is key for longterm growth 

Zappo's philosophy is "Zappos.com is a service company that just happens to sell shoes." This reinforces their value of providing the best customer service possible. In fact, Zappos gives customer service reps the freedom to make decisions on how to keep customers happy. There's a powerful story of a Zappos customer who returned shoes who were supposed to be for her dad who suddenly based away, so she reached to Zappos to return them. The Zappos customer service rep, on top of creating a seamless return process, sent the customer flowers to express sympathy for her loss. It is believed that this customer became a lifelong customer after this interaction because of the kindness that Zappos treated her with. 

#3: Invest in developing talent

Zappos historically doesn't hire as many experienced workers. Most are hired at an entry-level and then Zappos provides extensive training to help build their skill set with an eye toward Zappos unique culture. This is important because it reinforces the importance of investing in talent and giving talent opportunities, especially in underserved areas (Zappos famously moved their headquarters to Las Vegas). 

Marketers can take a cue from Tony's book and understand the importance of culture for a company's business and brand. I hope that Tony's incredible career and lessons live on. 

Sources:

• https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/28/obituaries/tony-hsieh-dead.html
• https://hbr.org/2010/07/how-i-did-it-zapposs-ceo-on-going-to-extremes-for-customers

 What's old is new again in marketing: 

The pandemic has shifted trends, forcing content marketing back into the spotlight instead of the reliance brands put on experiential marketing. The main force of this comes from the generation that will soon takeover to almost half of all consumers, Gen-Z. It seems that just as the world and brands were feeling adjusted to the demands and shifts of millennials, the Gen-Z generation became old enough to have purchasing power. 

However, if content marketing is the key to Gen-Z, I wonder why it is that brands still have such a hard time capturing them as consumers? If you look at different industries, many new brands are emerging as disruptors in the category because they are able to capture the Gen-Z market. In the beauty industry as an example, acne products and solutions have existed for decades. So why is it then that brands like starface and topicals were able to disrupt the acne skincare market and attract so many of these new consumers? 

I don't know if we have an exact science behind it, but the article I included at the end of this link has some good ideas on how to regain their attention through new ways of content marketing. 

A few suggestions were:

1) Video content that has them stop in their tracks

2) Content focused on the benefit and service and not just the product

3) micro influencers or those that feel genuine to the consumer 

The way to win this new consumer, is to speak to them not as a brand and a seller but as a friend building a community. These consumers want to be part of something larger and more important, and their digital native ways allow them to do so. The brands just need to catch up and on. 

https://gulfbusiness.com/generation-z-how-should-brands-target-and-engage-them/

Advertising on the Apple Watch

I was gifted a brand new Apple Watch recently and started thinking about the advertising capabilities of the device. On one hand, the small interface makes advertisements very intrusive and distracting. The ads would need to take up the whole space in order to be even legible. Normal placement methods would not work very well. On the other hand, the device's hyper localization and fitness use cases present a lot of opportunities. The Apple Watch is also connected to the iPhone, which provides a wealth of data to utilize.

To no surprise, a company has already created an application to that enables personalization based on location that has been around since 2015. TapSense makes ads as relevant based on current phone usage metrics and motions on the iPhone to close ads in a non-intrusive way. It seems the company has not been successful, however, with the website down and not much growth since 2015, according to Crunchbase. 

In fact, with Apple's move to limit IDFA data usage on apps such as Facebook for iOS14, it will be even harder to place ads on Apple Watch, since they are both highly connected. The implications of reduced ads both increases user experience, though I think in the short run. No more intrusive ads during normal usage are definitely a plus. In the long term, however, the lack of ads could limit developer incentives to build on the platform, and decrease a potentially lucrative revenue stream. These counteracting forces would keep the Apple Watch in its current niche category of primarily being a fitness device. Maybe that is the intention and for the best? 

Brands Taking a Stand Against Black Friday Sales

This year, many companies are shying away from traditional Black Friday blowout sales in light of the current circumstances and some are even going as far as discouraging excessive spending. It is a very different message than we’ve seen in the past and serves as a refreshing new approach to brand building with a longer-term view. Some of these companies include Alohas, Allbirds, Bearaby and Patagonia who used the tagline “Buy Less, Demand More” and directed consumers to their used clothing marketplace website in an effort to get customers to reduce waste and pollution. Bearaby took it to the next level by actually making it more difficult for consumers to make purchases on their website by inserting error pages and popups along the consumer’s path to purchase to inspire the consumer to take a step back and shop more mindfully. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the long run. Will consumers internalize this message or believe that it’s just a marketing ploy? Will it breed enough loyalty and awareness for companies to offset the surge in sales they are potentially missing? Will these companies avoid brand dilution by not offering steep discounts?

https://www.thedrum.com/news/2020/11/27/top-anti-black-friday-campaigns-patagonia-allbirds-more-reject-consumerism

https://www.morningbrew.com/marketing/stories/2020/11/24/bearaby-everlane-among-brands-experimenting-antiblack-friday-messaging-year

Mask-wearing in Commercials: Yes or No?

2020 has been quite the year and the COVID pandemic is still very much a part of our daily lives. Living in NYC, wearing a mask has become a daily necessity and a norm, but this is definitely not the case everywhere in the U.S. If you live in the suburb, you can easily walk outside without seeing another person and not need to wear a mask (and also forget that the pandemic is ongoing). I'm sure we all had a moment sometime this year, when we were watching TV and all of sudden felt weird seeing people in crowded places not wearing a face mask. Once in awhile, an advertisement will also remind us of how things "used to be". 

So the question is, should commercials have people wearing masks? In my opinion, they should. Mask wearing reduces the spread of COVID and having masks in commercials would help reinforce wearing masks as the norm and the right thing to do. However, for companies, the goal of an advertisement is to promote the brand or a specific product and more often than not aims to connect with the consumer emotionally. Consumers don't want to be reminded of the pandemic and want their moods uplifted. It really depends on the context, but ultimately companies need to be responsible for whichever decision they end up choosing. 

Google Improves Ads for Mobile

Source: https://www.blog.google/products/ads/local-ads/

Mobile phones have fundamentally changed many aspects of the world, and marketers have been embracing their importance. Over the past several years, marketers have substantially increased the amount of ad spend allocated to mobile, both on browsers and in apps, in an effort to reach customers on their preferred and most-used device. Also recognizing this trend, Google has made substantive changes to its ad platform on mobile to help marketers reach their goals.

The latest installment from Google includes expanded features to assist retailers in targeted local and shopping campaigns. The local campaigns were designed to drive traffic to nearby store locations by geotargeting mobile users, and the shopping campaigns expanded capabilities for consumers to purchase items online and pick them up in the store. These ads are more seamlessly integrated with Google Maps, providing even more convenience for the potential consumer. These new features were impeccably timed as the pandemic continues to rage on and the holiday season is approaching, and retailers are embracing these new innovations to help them meet sales targets.

Google’s continued focus on seamless integration has helped the tech giant remain at the forefront of innovation, further solidifying its leading position in the tech world. The debate continues as to whether Google has monopoly power, but there is no doubt that it provides great services to its customers.

YouTube to offer audio-only ads

Source: https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/youtube-music-audio-ads

YouTube is launching a new audio-only ads, targeting users primarily listening to podcasts and music on background. Advertisers will have an ability to target users based on music genre (e.g., rock, rap, pop, etc.) they listen, and their interests (e.g., motivational, "gym music", etc.). YouTube claims that during their alpha trials 75% of audio ads resulted in a significant increase in brand awareness of advertisers.

I think these news are particularly worrisome for such audio and podcast streaming services as Spotify and Pandora, both of which generate generate substantial ads revenues of $0.7bn and 1.2bn per year through audio ads, since YouTube's impressive trial results and likely an aggressive expansion into audio-only ads clearly intensifies its competition against them. 

However, it is not only music and podcast streaming services who should worry but all marketing platforms. Considering vast amount of data Google already possesses and the recent news of YouTube incorporating shopping functionality (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-09/google-tries-to-turn-youtube-into-a-major-shopping-destination), Google has high chances of becoming the one-stop advertisement platform in future

Black Friday is here - and it's completely different

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/11/27/black-friday-holiday-shopping/

The article summarizes how the pandemic has changed Black Friday from lining up outside in the cold on Thanksgiving night to mainly online. Stores like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, and Macy's that typically have huge crowds waiting for the doors to open are relatively empty this Friday morning. Buy online, pick up in store is more popular than ever before. But many stores have invested in their eCommerce technology and sites to capitalize off of the virus restrictions.

With more stores optimizing their online  channel, customers are receiving incredibly large numbers of email ads. Even Thanksgiving evening, I received hundreds of emails from stores having sales on Black Friday, or that had started holiday sales even earlier. Stores must be creative in their digital marketing - they must be able to stand out amongst the droves of emails consumers have been receiving all week. I've seen some stores have sign-ups for early access, or open sales early for their most loyal customers. Many brands are utilizing their Instagram to build hype around drops of new products or promotions. Even companies that do not typically have sales (like Everlane) are discounting products this year. 

Despite the struggle of many department stores and brands that have gone out of business this year, smaller DTC brands are doing well - and proving themselves fierce competition. There are so many lists of black owned brands and other local, smaller brands to support this year. These smaller, DTC brands are often better at social media than the large brands because they are nimble, and can adapt quickly to always stay culturally relevant. These small brands are constantly interacting with their followers, and able to gauge what to restock, or discount in their limited inventory. Hopefully Black Friday will help many of the up and coming brands stay afloat throughout the continuing pandemic. 

Football Clubs Can Market Too

As a big soccer fan, and especially a big fan of the Premier League, it's always good to see English clubs make new efforts in digital to market their team and expand their reach. In one particular case, Chelsea FC recognized that their stadium could only accommodate 42,000 people, a tiny fraction of their global fan base. Their challenge: to improve the match day experience for those fans that were not able to be there in person. The metrics they set to validate their goal were 1 million MAU and at least the 4th most downloaded football app in the world.

Gaining and keeping engagement was key - they had to analyze their mobile data, create personas to design the app experience, and then use paid media and push marketing to tempt less active target fans with relevant content. Then using these fanbase estimates, were able to calculate a cost-per-monthly-active-user number, and bump it up against the value of users continually engaging with the app over a longer period of time (ads, in-app spend, gear purchases, etc.).

The club's meticulous marketing approach worked - within six months of launch it met its goals, becoming the fourth most popular football app overall, and winning the 2020 Marketing Week Masters award for mobile. It shows what can be done when a business identifies a customer base that is mostly stagnant, and designs a concentrated marketing effort to target them and win their engagement.

https://www.marketingweek.com/masters-awards-chelsea-increased-fan-loyalty/

Most effective marketing channels for fintech startup launch

Our startup on November 16th publicly launched our product (www.jenova.ai). We used multiple social media channels to promote our launch, including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and WeChat. We tracked the visits to our website on Google Analytics.

In the week of November 16th, there were 662 new visitors to our website. Nearly 90% of the new visitors came from direct URL visit or organic Google search, 4.2% came from Facebook, 3.3% came from LinkedIn, and 2.0% came from Instagram. 

Even though we do not have precise methods to measure the casual relationship between promotions on each social media channel and new visitors, nor can we effectively measure the number of impressions and the % of impressions that converted to website visits, we are able to get a good sense of how effective each social media channel is by monitoring the number of new visitors after each promotion was posted online, with the peak number of new visits somewhere between 20 minutes to 90 minutes after the promotion was posted. 

Using this crude method, we determined that Facebook posts and Instagram posts were ineffective in driving website visits; this is likely due to the relatively low number of followers we possess on those two platforms. We also determined that LinkedIn was extremely ineffective in driving traffic, despite the high number of impressions, connections, and social shares. By far the most effective channel for driving traffic was through WeChat social circle share feature, which accounted for the vast majority of the 90% direct URL visits and google searches. 

Snapchat riding on the TikTok train

 On Monday the 23^rd, Snapchat revealed a new feature on the app that allows users to post a short video to all followers, similar to the TikTok feed that many are used to. Snapchat plans to give out $1M a day to the creators as a way to popularize the new feature. Just like TikTok, and the most recent copy of the app, Instagram Reels, Snapchat Spotlight will have a vertical feed of videos from the creators on the app. TikTok also has a creator fund which gives out payments to its most popular creators based on video views, likes, comments, and shares. The Snapchat Spotlight will make that $1M a day available to the creators of videos that have the most views or interactions in a similar fashion. Snapchat already has 250M daily active users, and this new feature will become immediately available to them.

In the past, unlike TikTok or Instagram, Snapchat had been closed off to typical influencers because there is no discovery engine and the platform is made for viewing the content of people you are connected to. Now, however, users of the app will be able to see content from all creators based on an algorithm that brings videos to their feed. As this new feature becomes more widely known and used by the influencers and top creators of today, it is likely only a matter of time before, like TikTok, it is used as the newest space within digital advertising for products.

UK Competition Complaint against Google

Google has made a push to phase out 3rd party tracking cookies (what it's calling its "Privacy Sandbox" initiative), but is facing a challenge from digital marketing companies in Europe. The Sandbox initiative would essentially make it harder for marketers to track users across the web by making it easier for users to block tracking cookies. 

A group of digital marketing companies filed an official complaint with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), asking the Authority to block the implementation of the Sandbox. The coalition of companies, who is calling itself Marketers for an Open Web (MOW), wants to put a hold on the Sandbox to give regulators time to come up with plans for "long term competitive remedies to mitigate [Google's dominance]". The MOW's goal is to the keep an open web model, which they believe is necessary to have a free and competitive media and online economy.

A CMA spokesperson says they will be assessing the issue, whether to open a formal investigation under the Competition Act, and if they need to impose some interim measures to suspend any anti-competitive conduct pending a full investigation. The CMA had already previously concluded that Google and Facebook's market power is so great that it requires a new regulatory approach. Though no decisions on what action to take have been made yet, the CMA has made it clear that, if they find it necessary, they can still act on related competition concerns.

The MOW's director has said that Google's Privacy Sandbox would be an irreversible step towards a "walled garden" (like we discussed in class), where Google would control how businesses and users interact on the Internet. In the meantime, adtech companies are hoping to come up with some alternative to the cookie to sell to regulators as a competition solution.

Source

Amazon: Taking Market Share In Digital Advertising

This article takes an investor's point-of-view on Amazon (specifically Amazon's digital advertising business). The investor projects that Amazon's market share for digital advertising will continue to grow from around 9% to 12% in the next few years. Just as Google and Facebook are successful players in the market because they have access to lots of data, Amazon is a digital advertising force because it has access to consumer purchase data.

What the author does not detail, though, is that all data is not created equal. Amazon has purchasing intent data. When a user searches for "basketball" on Amazon, they are looking to buy a basketball from Amazon. Advertisers would pay a lot to position their product at the top of the user's webpage. And they do. Therefore, I think the author is conservative. My take is that Amazon's market share of digital advertising will continue to grow since they are at the very bottom of the consumer funnel.

Article link

Shopper's marketing strategies in a post-covid world

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about drastic changes across every aspect of people’s lives.  The tradition way consumers shop was brought to an immediate halt when the world went into lockdown in March and while since then stores have opened up once again, shoppers’ behaviors have changed.  With this change it deems necessary to change the traditional linear in-store marketing strategies to ensure shoppers attraction continues with these new post-Covid-19 trends.  Just as Josh Kovacs of Facebook stated, “shopping used to be a place you go, now it’s something you do, almost anytime, anywhere.”     

First and foremost, the brands need to ensure that they are reaching the shoppers earlier in the shoppers journey because “we now live in an encompassing digital ecosystem” and all the information is abundantly available at each and every persons fingertips.  It’s no longer about determining which store is closest and/or most convenient; instead, now “shoppers can effortlessly shift between researching a product on the brand site, comparing prices on various retailer sites and watching videos on social media of influences using the product.”  

Secondly, since shoppers are spending less overall time in stores, it means there is less time and opportunity for the shoppers to discover new brands.  As such, marketers need to find novel ways to reach consumers to ensure they don’t just go to the shelves with the brands that are more familiar.  

Thirdly, it's important that brands make use of the omnichannel platforms because “with this ongoing high level of activity and engagement, brands and retailers can easily impact shopping behavior.”  

Lastly, various brands should use the abundant methods of research and data available today to tailor campaigns based on their KPIs.  Overall, writ large it is most important that the retailers and brands work to personalize and localize the shopper’s experience to ensure that they continue to drive shoppers.    

Source:

https://www.retaildive.com/spons/shopper-behavior-has-changed-should-your-shopper-marketing-strategy-change/589292/  

CPGs go digital

 

The business model of CPGs has proved challenging in today's direct-to-consumer, data-driven marketing world. Because CPGs are not selling direct to any of their end consumers, they generally lack first-party data on their customers. This makes it very challenging to understand their end customer, which is at even greater risk as Google contemplates killing third-party cookies. 

In the past few months, Mondalez has been experimenting with new ways to reach the customer directly. They recently launched a customizable Sour Patch online store, as well as a customizable Oreo online store. While these new personalized options are aligned with consumer trends, these new DTC channels also provide Mondalez with numerous benefits. These online stores provide an opportunity for Mondalez to learn more about the loyal fans of Sour Patch and Oreo; They can leverage these customer insights for future marketing and product strategy. They also can drive greater product margin, as they do not have to giveaway wholesale margin, discounts or promotional dollars.  

Other CPGs have been turning to digital, as well. For example, Kimberly-Clark recently announced the new role of chief digital and marketing officer who will help Kimberly-Clark better leverage their first-party data and customer insights. 

While digital is important for CPGs to understand the customer, its also critical for CPGs to be meeting the consumer where they shop. COVID 19 accelerated the pace of digital transformation and increased the amount of online shopping across all categories.  As CPGs struggle to compete with digitally-native Amazon private label brands, it will be critical for them to be digitally-savvy to remain competitive. 

Getting Fuzzy - Where Marketing ROI Measurement Falls Short for Small Businesses

 During a recent consulting project for a small DTC shoe company, my team found ourselves hyper-focused on building out channels that deliver clear ROI, along with the tools to measure it. Think Google Ads, Facebook Messenger, email marketing. For a small company just getting started, it's easy to justify investment in opportunities that clearly drive sales and make the company money. 

But how should a start-up think about their brand and the marketing tasks that come with building it? What is the value of brand awareness, and how can you generate it? How do you measure it? Many digital strategies like influencer marketing and organic social are great at generating awareness and brand loyalty, but they come with a hefty investment of time or money, and their ultimate impact on the bottom line is often unclear.

"Should we focus on brand awareness?" is a great question, but it's so difficult to answer that many small businesses automatically choose to kick the can down the road. Is this the appropriate choice? 

One one hand, the case can be made that passing on brand awareness at the outset is the smart move. At a startup, cash is king, and a startup has limited resources to invest in advertising. Putting money where the clear immediate returns are is important. 

On the other hand, a business needs to think about the type of customers they are acquiring. There is a lot of "low-hanging fruit" available through targeted digital advertising methods, but are these potential customers the best long term customers? Will they believe your brand message and stick around to make purchase after purchase over time? The low hanging fruit may be more transactional, and drawing customers in through brand awareness and affinity could have better long term return on investment. 

Ultimately, it's up to each business owner to decide how awareness fits into their marketing roadmap and brand vision. In some ways, the choice is between near-term measurement and long-term sustainability. Considering the pros and cons of each side of this decision can help small business owners ensure they make an active choice on this issue that aligns with their business goals. 

New Instagram Layout Places Focus on Reels and Shopping

Source: https://www.insider.com/instagram-update-new-layout-hate-reels-shop-notifications-james-charles-2020-11

Instagram recently rolled out an update to their app layout, moving the Notifications and New Post tabs up to the header, and replacing them with Instagram Reels and Instagram Shopping tabs.  This shift signals a significant change to Instagram's strategy as it seeks to maintain its dominance in the social media space.  

"Reels" is a direct competitor with TikTok, which has built a community of users around a variety of short-form content.  However, Reels has generally been negatively received by Instagram users & influencers, who claim that the feature wasn't wanted and that placing it in premium screen real-estate was unnecessary.  Furthermore, much of the Reels content on Instagram are simply cross-posts from the TikTok platform, suggesting Instagram has yet to develop a community around the new feature.

The Shopping tab allows users to browse and purchase products in-platform, and provides a new channel for businesses to promote and sell products.  Again not a "core" function of the app, users are upset that it's been placed in such a front-and-center location.  We have yet to see whether the backlash will force Instagram to revisit their old layout, but for now it appears that the app is full-steam ahead on its new features.

Digital Assistants: The New Marketing Frontier

 As Digital Assistants continue to penetrate our everyday lives and change the way that both older and younger generations interact with technology- marketers will have to discover how to convey their unique brand traits through these platforms. Brands will have to increasingly rely on sonic branding.

Some brands have already built strong sonic branding (ie. Netflix, McDonald's) but in a world where people are ordering goods through their digital assistants, it will become even more important. When choosing a sonic sound It needs to be distinctive but also something that won't get annoying after repeated listening. Additionally, companies will need to consider the UX by determining where the sound will play within the customer journey. 

Coronavirus and the Beauty Subscription Industry

 

Birchbox was founded in 2010 by two Harvard Business School graduates, and was a pioneer in the subscription economy trend. For a decade, Birchbox has delivered sample beauty products for subscribers to try out on a monthly basis, with the option of purchasing the full-sized products on its website. The company was valued in $485M in 2014. However, it has struggled in the last few years with its business modes. While subscription economy is booming, Birchbox does not make the majority of its revenue from the subscription boxes – its revenue relies heavily on converting beauty box converter into shoppers on its website, and they have not been very successful in doing so. In Feb of 2020, right before the coronavirus pandemic hit US, it was forced to let go 25% of its global staff to cut cost.

However, this changed after the pandemic. Birchbox noticed that as people noticed they were not going to be able to go outside for a while, they became more interested in pampering themselves and shopping online – and Birchbox is right at the intersection of that. Instead of targeting the beauty products enthusiasts, Birchbox noticed a significant uprise in the number of casual beauty customers. These are customers who are not super invested in the beauty industry, but now want to have something to look forward to on a monthly basis. Birchbox reacted fast, and shifted their marketing strategy and content to target this new and rising customer segment, to much success. Going forward, Birchbox is also focusing on sustainable and “clean” beauty, which also appeals better to the casual beauty customers.

Source:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lelalondon/2020/09/02/has-coronavirus-saved-beauty-box-companies-birchbox/?sh=4c0e10b13848

How Does Tik Tok “For You Page” Work?

 How Does Tik Tok “For You Page” Work?

TikTok users in the US has soared to more than 91 million by June 2020. As an active user myself, I’ve been curious to learn how TikTok creates my “fyp” (for you page) that caters to everything I am interested, ranging from cooking to dating advice and even plant tips.

After digging the internet to find out how the fyp works, here are some ways the page is curated to meet every users’ interest and needs.

1. Interaction

Tiktok collects how people interact with videos, considering which videos they liked, commented, shared, or saved. This is similar to Instagram’s algorithm, leaning into providing more videos users interact more with. The biggest differentiator though is based on the video completion rate. A use who finishes the video will get more videos similar to the ones they watched in full, making it important to hold people’s attention to stay relevant on the fyp.

2. Hashtag Usage

The algorithm also reflects the hashtags that were searched by the user to bring up videos similar to what was searched. That’s why some videos will have hashtags that aren’t necessarily relevant to the video, in hopes of getting more views and exposure.

3. Video Push

If a video gets more engagement, then it receives more push to reach more people. In other words, this is how videos go viral as it feeds on the growing engagement and likes.

Now that I have an idea of how TikTok algorithm works, I will revisit this topic one day hopefully as an influencer at that point.

Thanksgiving Day Digital Marketing Tips for Entrepreneurs

Thanksgiving holiday means many marketing campaigns for entrepreneurs and business owners. Before we turn to the tactical tips, we should look at the origin of the Thanksgiving holiday and the meaning behind the holiday. 

Thanksgiving holiday is attributed to numerous different feasts celebrating things as diverse as thankfulness to God, ends of droughts, and military conquests. For business, the holiday is the time of year to be grateful for our fortune and thankful for our customers’ loyalty and patronage. 

 

1. Send a personalized “Thank you” e-mail to your fans - Thank the followers and fans for doing business with you and for their loyalty thought the year. 
2. Give out a free trial or an online store gift card - Businesses can offer up this gift depending on the marketing budget. It’s another tactic as a promo. 
3. Involve the audience in your online presence - Another kind of engagement is to use the UGC content. Have users send a snapshot of their family gathered around the table, decorate for the holiday, even share their favorite recipe. 
4. Thanksgiving free downloads, guides, resources - Have some freebie to share! Try to dedicate a landing page for a direct download. Things to put up can include an e-book, complimentary gift, etc.  
5. Be festive online with more quality visual content - Grow the email list by hosting photo sweepstakes like a Thanksgiving Photo Upload Giveaway. Each day of the week, share an image or a status update submitted by your followers on the social media pages.

Pandemic Shopping and What it Means for Retailers

I could count the number of times I went shopping in person since the beginning of the year. Our shopping habits have changed a lot since the pandemic. Covid has accelerated the digitalization of retailers and changed the shopping habits for many consumers. The retail industry needs to rethink and plans ahead for its digital future.

Early last month, two Macy’s stores were used mainly as fulfillment centers where employees processed online orders and returns rather than a place for customers to browse and shop. Amazon is also planning to purchase department stores in major cities for urban fulfillment centers to better meet faster shipping demands.

The digital shopping trend is hard to reverse. Once people are used to the convenience of browsing online and expecting delivery to homes, it is hard to attract consumers to shop in stores frequently. In addition, the change in shopping habits will stick. Walmart reported that e-commerce sales went up 79% in the third quarter, while Target said its e-commerce business was up 155%. 2020 will be an inflection point for retail. Online shopping is expected to continue to increase in the coming years. Retailers are pushed to be ready for the e-commerce competition.

 

 

References:  

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/technology/pandemic-shopping.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/business/retailers-ecommerce-black-friday.html

The increasing importance of Digital Marketing during the holidays

With the pandemic, many people have adopted new habits, being online shopping one of them. A few statistics are noteworthy of our attention.

- When it comes specifically to holiday shopping, 37% of shoppers plan to purchase more online this year than they did last year.

- Moreover, 31% of shoppers said they would use social media and 25% said personalized campaigns could trigger a holiday purchase.

- Although 44% reported a significant reduction in income, 82% affirmed they would spend the same or more as last year on big holiday deal events.

This is a great opportunity for brand and marketing leaders to connect with a large number of consumers who adopted new habits. Digital marketing will play an even greater role on holiday sales this year.

Source: https://marketingtechnews.net/news/2020/nov/24/understanding-changing-consumer-behaviours-this-holiday-season-and-how-marketers-can-gain-confidence-into-2021/

Post pandemic advertising trends

    Millions of people in the world are suffering with the ongoing pandemic and billions were impacted having to change the way they live their lives. Those fortunate enough were able to set up a home office and keep their jobs, while others just tried to avoid going to other places rather than work or groceries markets. Companies had to adapt to the new reality and most of them had to come up with cost cutting plans that often involved the marketing budget. But now, after realizing that the pandemic won't disappear so soon, companies are investing again in ads and they need to pay attention on what has changed since the beginning of the year. 

A few of these new trends are listed below:

1) Data driven consumer behavior: now more than ever marketers need to be aware of customer preferences and use data analytics to narrow down their targets and reduce advertising spending

2) Localized digital marketing strategies: given all the different restrictions that the pandemic imposed, marketing team need to find ways to connect with local customers and make sure that information, such as working hours or temporarily closed, gets to them.   

3) Creating a healthy space for customers: companies need to be conscious that most customers are afraid to leave their homes due to the threat of the virus, so showing that companies do care about sanitization helps customers take the courage to enter their places.     

4) Communicating brand purpose: events and discussions such as the black lives matter or even the pandemic itself suggest that companies that have a clear purpose and stand for it might have more loyal brand advocates in the future.   

Although this list is far to be exhaustive the topics above are quite relevant to think about before advertising and one thing is certain: the post pandemic marketing will have several elements that will be different from the pre pandemic one.    

Sources: https://www.agencyreporter.com/emerging-trends-that-are-set-to-reinvent-the-marketing-landscape-post-pandemic/,     

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in a Covid World

For as long as I can remember (and for 93 years), the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has been part of my Thanksgiving experience. But this year, it will be different. The parade is fully virtual, for television audiences only, with a mix of live and pre-taped performances. A lot will remain the same – musical and dance performances, mega balloons, and floats. But this year, tractors will operate the balloons, instead of hundreds of handlers. This year’s Parade will feature performances from other major NYC parades that were canceled earlier this year due to Covid, including the Puerto Rican Day and St. Patrick’s Day Parades.

The Parade will air on NBC, who has also partnered with Verizon to livestream the event on YouTube and on Twitter. Verizon will offer 360 degree views from the flagship Macy’s store, where the Parade is taking place. This will allow viewers to feel in control since they can't be there in person to experience the scale of the balloons firsthand. 

It’ll be interesting to see how this virtual parade impacts Macy’s brand and profitability compared to prior years.

 The Digital Marketing mistakes of "Emily in Paris"

"Emily in Paris" is the new netflix sensation. A series which follows Emily, the protagonist, as she moves from NYC to Paris to provide "the american point of view" to a marketing firm.

The show focuses a lot on digital marketing and social media, mainly Emily's social media pages. However, it makes three key mistakes when a dressing this topic.

1. Misguided use of hashtags.
The argument that Emily's posts are fairly inconsistent, seems to point that she would not be able to have grown her followers based my the magnitude she did.

2. Followers growth
Emily was able to jump from roughly 50 followers to over 10k in less than 6 months.
This escalation seems to be fairly impossible given that there was no specific event(s) that could fuel such growth

3. Emily's social media content
Most of Emily's content would rank fairly low on relevance on social media. An example would for example be a selfie eating a croissant. Particularly when there isn't even a mention of the place or a suggestion.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/358972

Miguel Fernandes

Leveraging Hyperlocal

Because of the pandemic, the distance at which we venture outside of our own neighborhoods has naturally drastically decreased.  Not only for visiting friends and family and commuting or traveling for work, but for our purchasing habits as well.  Of course, there has been a dramatic shift to e-commerce, and businesses all over the world are adapting to that shift, but there are plenty of businesses that cannot shift to e-commerce.  A local coffeeshop, for example, depends on in-person sales and many businesses like it are sustained through touchpoint with their community.  In a situation where businesses not only depend on the strength of community word-of-mouth but need to stay afloat during the pandemic at a time when tourism is down and the word-of-mouth will not reach as many people, a hyperlocal marketing strategy can be very useful.  

Hyperlocal marketing targets potential consumers in geographically restricted areas and messaging is very specific to that small area.  A great example is the “near me” search on Google, which is probably the most accessible and commonly used form of leveraging the hyperlocal strategy.  According to a Wordstream blog posted this summer on the subject, near-me searches have been increasing at a rapid YOY pace since 2014.  But how else can businesses take advantage of hyperlocal?  Another key element to successful hyperlocal marketing are strengthening online product reviews and making them readily accessible to local markets of consumers with the intention of inspiring in-store purchases.  Another effective strategy is advertising on podcasts or publications that are particularly popular within a small geographic location.  New York City is ripe for hyperlocal marketing because not only is there a strong city-wide culture, but many subcultures specific to smaller boroughs, neighborhoods, and even zip codes within neighborhoods.  Businesses can leverage channels beloved and/or widely utilized by their particular community to get the word out and encourage in-person patronage from their prospective customers.  

source:

https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2018/01/25/hyperlocal-marketing

Snap: Comeback or Copy Cat

In an effort to compete with TikTok, Snapchat launched a view video feature called Spotlight to spur viral video creation. Contrary to Snap’s bread and butter of short-lived video between friends, the new Snap Spotlight feature will focus on paying professional content creators to create viral videos shared widely. Snap says it has approximately $1M a day to go toward the efforts to incentivize content creators whose content goes viral. As an avid TikTok user, I'm very curious to see how this plays out, because a lot of what goes viral is oftentimes unintentional and difficult to replicate. The best viral videos are the ones that are organic.

I'd love to know what you think! Will Snap's new monetary incentive be effective? Will they be able to change the video format they've become so well known for? Will they be able to attract audiences from other leading social media platforms? Should Snap remain focused on its original offering?

Sources: 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/snap-counters-tiktok-with-spotlight-video-sharing-feature-11606140000?st=d1cycwcf195y7hu&reflink=article_copyURL_share

Evolution of Black Friday

Black Friday is almost upon us. But how has it evolved? Originated in the 50's in Philadeplphia, the term Black Friday was only first used in print in the late 60's and it took around 20 more years, until the 80's, for retailers to actually start harnessing its power. At this point, the name was used as a reference to "being in the black", which actually meant to be in the red due to low profits during the year. Many years have passsed and, today, Black Friday has evolved from a day to a full long weekend with Saturday being called Small Business Saturday, (Sunday remains a rest day), Monday being renamed Cyber Monday and the newest trend on Tuesday now called Giving Tuesday. Where is it going? It is only a matter of time until Black Friday moves from a day to a full week.

McDonald's new loyalty program will optimize digital, drive-thru opportunity

 The food giant is expecting to surpass $10 Billion in digital sales this year, a lot thanks to their commitment to invest in technology as drive-through voice technology, mobile contactless ordering which enabled McDonalds to decrease service times by 30 seconds in one year. 

The new McDonalds loyalty program coming in 2021 is targeting customers to tailor their offerings to them. By understanding costumers consumptions patterns there will be an immense opportunity for the chain to leverage their database and improve their digital marketing efforts. 

https://www.marketingdive.com/news/MyMcDonalds-loyalty-program-digital-drive-thru/588750/

IP Address Targeting vs. Cookie Targeting

The core advantage of digital marketing over more traditional OOH or print-based marketing efforts is based in its ability to accurately identify audiences with higher likelihood to be interested in, and ultimately buy, the product.  There are many options for firms to explore as they start targeting potential customers, but here I'll discuss the value of cookies vs. IP address targeting.  

Cookies, in internet-speak, are a way for websites to track your session on their site.  By accepting cookies, the user consents to share their activity (what they clicked on), sometimes their account information and preferences. In return, the user can expect to experience a more streamlined website - their preferences can be saved, their process through a check-out can be replicated when they come back, and websites can effectively highlight certain products or services based on the cookie's data on preferences.

IP addresses, on the other hand, share much less information - it's mainly just the identifier of which local server the user's computer is accessing when they visit websites.  However, though it includes less rich information than cookies (specifically on click history on individual web-pages), it does provide an important value-add over cookies: it's directly tying the individual to the behavior on your website.  Cookies can be susceptible to bots, crawlers, and others acting on a central machine, and they are easily cleaned out whenever a user clears their browser history.  IP targeting also offers an important degree of confidence when thinking of local marketing.  Since there is such high confidence in the location of the user, IP targeting is exceptionally useful for driving local traffic, or selling products that have a specific geographic limit (like banking products, or local government races).

L'Oreal's digital response to the pandemic

 https://www.wsj.com/articles/loreal-applies-digital-makeover-to-sales-efforts-11605046234

The article above highlights several digital innovations that L'Oreal has rolled out in response to the pandemic. I thought two things here were particularly interesting:

First, the brand has leveraged a lot of gamification into their new platform. The mobile app, which allows beauty consultants to virtually apply makeup to prospective customers, also lets customers choose new hairstyles and accessories and employ them in gaming formats. This is a relatively new/nascent part of digital marketing, but interestingly applied in this case.

Second, L'Oreal has created a platform that is primed for network effects. In particular, they have empowered influencers and bloggers to use the product, through their live streaming platform and support of beauty-based master classes.

As other brands, particularly those in retail and beauty, contemplate their pandemic response, they should look to L'Oreal as a benchmark for how to adopt a fresh, digital experience.

How Pharma Companies Can Better Leverage Influencers

 A recent survey about influencers in the pharma space has found that people are much more likely to trust patient influencers who have experience with a particular condition/in a certain disease community versus lifestyle influencers when it comes to branded pharma products. It should be noted that the survey was conducted by WeGo Health (a company that connects healthcare companies, agencies, and consulting firms to “Patient Leaders”, or patient influencers), so perhaps the survey is not an 100% independent unbiased source. That said, the findings are not surprising: patients trust authenticity and want to hear from individuals who seem relatable and knowledgeable when making these important (and often life-changing) decisions about their or a loved one’s health.

WeGo found that when it comes to promoting pharmaceutical products, the “micro- and nano-influencers”, which have fewer followers than other influencers, are actually the best ones to partner with since they have such strong engagement and trust within their small circles. In fact, WeGo explains that for the best (i.e., most quality) reach, pharma companies should target these micro-influencers and create similar look-alike audiences based on these highly engaged and trustworthy patients. This is contrary to the approach behind most influencer marketing (for CPG products, clothing, etc.), where it makes sense to partner with a few influencers with huge audiences; it reflects a more targeted approach centered on authenticity, reliability, and relevance.

Source: https://www.fiercepharma.com/marketing/pharma-brands-and-social-influencers-forget-lifestyle-gurus-and-stick-to-trusted-patient

Facebook Provides New Ad Copy Tips to Help Maximize Performance

 Since we are discussing about social and content marketing strategy and we are also doing group projects for our client, I found it would be very helpful to share the latest 5 tips provided by Facebook to maximize Ad performance.

1. Give your brand a voice
2. Position your products
3. Say it with words
4. Create branded packaging
5. Spend strategically

"Advertise to people who have visited your website, app, store or Facebook Page, or who have already purchased your products or services. Retargeting people who are already familiar your brand gives them another opportunity to consider your products."

Indeed, retargeting can be highly effective - some research has shown that customers are up to 70% more likely to convert when retargeted with display ads.

Source:https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/facebook-provides-new-ad-copy-tips-to-help-maximize-performance/588585/

Streaming TV Targeted Advertising

New regulations have restricted how companies such as Facebook and Google store data on their users to protect consumer privacy. This has reduced the amount of data available to marketers in these media channels. 

The article I linked today discusses how advertisers on streaming tv platforms are wary of falling to the same fate. Smart TV's track user viewing habits and can use this information to target specific ads to viewers. Similar to Facebook, these viewing habits could offer a lot of insight into demographics and interests, helping maximize the value of marketing dollars.

Vizio TV owners are allowed to opt out, but over 90% of users choose to opt in. The article suggests that users that understand how their data is used are more willing to share it. In fact, sharing data can actually improve the viewer experience through relevant ads and automatically updated picture settings depending on the type of programming. However, consumers should be allowed to toggle and choose what information they share to their benefit and what information doesn't create benefit them to share.

While online channels such as Google and Facebook have closed off a lot of information to marketers, these marketers hope that streaming TV's will be more open and offer more detail on consumers. This open approach could help draw more advertisers in and overall ad dollars.

Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/streaming-tv-advertisers-want-better-targetingminus-the-privacy-backlash-11604574000

 What is next for Social Media?

Facebook, Instagram, TikTok- these channels have had their fair share of issues and public problems to deal with this year. Although has that deterred users truly from actively engaging on the apps? Even more so, does this deter others who are trying to create and build the next one? 

According to Beauty Independent, it has not stopped Yubo, one of the newest additions to the social media platforms that makes money from selling features to users rather than the traditional advertisement route. Yubo is a place where (mostly teens) can hang out and livestream. It is a French based app designed to create a sense of community. 

In these challenging times, it seems social media platforms may be one of our only ways to build and nurture communities. We can see from new features and focus that the existing platforms are continuously trying to evolve to meet needs of their customers. 

Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Youtube are all on the list included in the Beauty Independent article on "tweaks to gain customer attention." It is also likely possible that with the second wave of COVID-19 sweeping the world, these platforms will continue to hunker down and innovate to survive. 

https://www.beautyindependent.com/social-media-networks-new-features-this-week/

Keeping a check on Gen-Z's heightened sentiments

The pandemic has changed the way of shopping for many people, but not so much for Gen-Z's. This group of consumers was actually the most prepared for the rise in online shopping channels and have most likely enjoyed the increased accessibility to their favorite stores. However, while their sentiments for online shopping may be favorable for retailers, their sentiments regarding current events are constantly evolving. For digital marketers, this makes traditional campaign creation processes, wherein marketers plan their campaigns 6+months in advance, almost irrelevant with content becoming obsolete or no longer relevant for their younger consumers. Gen-z's shopping behavior shifts with cultural and political events and requires marketers to keep up to speed with what's happening globally, not just within their retail landscape. Specially, an understanding of the current climate is even more crucial for the holiday season as gen-z's experience heightened emotions and sentiments such as stress, anxiety, and tighter budgets. The digital marketing tactics employed must be able to alleviate emotions for this audience in order to attract their attention requiring a deviation from traditional product marketing and incorporating a human element. 

https://www.retaildive.com/news/what-the-pandemic-has-cemented-about-gen-z/588863/

Ilia's customer experience success

https://www.glossy.co/beauty/how-better-cx-practices-can-make-a-beauty-company-more-inclusive/

When Ilia launched its new serum skin tint in February, it went beyond launching 18 different shades to make the product inclusive, it also ensured that its customer service providers were equipped to handle inquiries from all different ethnicities. The company used The Workforce Pro to hire and train customer service specialists to understand skin color and tone, and help customers find their perfect product match.

In addition to making the customer service more inclusive, the strategy also likely made it easier for customers to shop virtually. Given the pandemic and accompanying lockdowns, it is more difficult for makeup consumers to go into store and find their correct shade in person. Ilia allows customers to chat with customer experience representatives over Instagram, email and on their website to find the right shade. You simply have to submit a photograph of yourself and a professional will reply with their recommendation. 

Ilia CEO credits The Workforce Pro integration and emphasis on inclusivity with the brand's astronomical success of its new product launch (200% sales increase on Sephora.com). In addition to demonstrating the brand's commitment to inclusivity, this partnership was well timed to enhance the e-commerce experience at this critical time. 

Gender diversity in ad industry improves, while ethnic inclusion stalls

The Association of National Advertisers ("ANA") recently conducted a survey on diversity among its members who are CMOs. The survey found that the percentage of female CMOs has improved, up to 52% in 2020 from 47% in 2019 and 45% in 2018.

Despite this positive for gender diversity, ethnic diversity has not seen similar progress. Only 12% of ANA CMOs are ethnically diverse, whereas 26% of marketing professionals are indicated to be ethnically diverse. This is especially evident for African Americans and Hispanics. African Americans comprise only 5% of senior-level employees while comprising 13% of total ANA members, and Hispanics comprise only 8% of senior-level employees while comprising 18% of total ANA members.

This study indicates that marketing departments still have a ways to go to improve ethnic diversity at senior levels. They need to improve their talent recruitment and employee retention practices to ensure diverse candidate pools and talent pipelines. P&G, for example, has established a goal to have gender and ethnic representation at management levels that is at least reflective of percentages in total population. Other companies should also look to institute such goals to increase DEI.

Source: https://www.marketingdive.com/news/ana-gender-diversity-in-ad-industry-improves-while-ethnic-inclusion-stall/589247/

Content Marketing Trends for 2021

 Content Marketing Trends for 2021

Link: https://www.convinceandconvert.com/content-marketing/content-marketing-trends-to-keep-in-mind-for-2021/

Content Marketing has been a big component of digital marketing for quite some time now.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to progress around the world, it’s important to continuously evolve content marketing strategy—now more than ever.

Key trends are:

1. Growing Competition: With more businesses investing more in online marketing, the competition is inevitably growing. These days, we are all forced to invest more time and money into getting the content noticed. COVID has accelerated this trend.

2. Content becoming an integral part of the buyer journey: Consumers turn to technology to fulfill an immediate need. Google claims that more than 90% of their users use devices for help and inspiration while in the middle of the task. Content needs to fulfill those immediate needs and do a good job of making answers easy to find. Tools like Text Optimizer help create content in the problem/question + solution/answer format, allowing you to address popular questions on any topic.

3. Content driven remarketing is picking up: Content-driven personalization is about encouraging your returning site users to continue whatever they were doing when they initially left your site. Tools like Finteza allow to create personalized experiences for your site returning users to engage them further.

4. Streaming video content is getting popular: As in-person meetings and conferences are still mostly impossible, video streaming has become even more popular than it was last year.

5. Multi-channel marketing is more important than ever: Finally, being everywhere is more important than ever because consumers are quickly adapting to new technology and exploring new channels.

Does My Brand Have to Participate in Black Friday?

 

Does my brand have to participate in Black Friday?

Each year, the day after thanksgiving marks that largest shopping day in the United States. Known as Black Friday, this frenzy of shopping for the holiday season is complimented by deep discounts and lightning deals provided to consumers from brands and retailers. The ubiquity of this holiday is clear and there is a now an expectation from consumers that all brands will participate in some form. Certainly, this makes sense for seasonal brands to jumpstart their sales season but do we all have to partake?

In recent years, some have spoken out against this holiday. Calls of over consumption and environmental waste are now brought into the discussion as cons against this shopping frenzy. This year in particular, there is a movement call “Make Friday Green Again”, which is a coalition of brands who are pledging to not participate in black Friday sales. While currently still small, this type of movement is gaining traction and provides a reason for brands to not participate in black Friday. As always, you need to understand what is best for your brand and the consumer. Seasonal products may have no choice but to kick start their sales on black Friday, while sustainably focused brands may find it better to align with the values of a movement like “Make Friday Green Again.” Either way, despite Covid-19, we are likely to see record numbers this year for black Friday shopping.  

Can Snapchat take on TikTok

     In an announcement not widely heralded by news sources, Snapchat launched a feature called Spotlight.  This feature will showcase user created videos beyond friend groups and is a direct challenge to Tik Tok’s turf. Interestingly, there are several key differences with Snapchat’s new feature – videos will mostly be anonymous (unless a user has a public profile – which is very unusual). Snapchat videos also can’t be watermarked making it more difficult to upload copies of Tik Tok videos. Despite their feature differences, the playbook for growing the service is a basic one – money and lots of it. Snapchat has committed to paying creators $1 million per day through the end of the year. Despite Snapchat’s built in user base, I believe they will find it difficult to lure creators due to the anonymity of the platform. What remains to be seen is how their placement algorithm will compare to Tik Tok’s, as this is a key differentiator.

The power of co-branding

    

Everyone is doing co-branded partnerships these days. Across retail and DTC, consumer brands are teaming up together to leverage the power of their independent brands and drive more buzz to their products. Just a few of the latest -  Ulta and Target, Peloton and Spotify, Lyft and Chase, Madewell and thredUP, adidas and Allbirds.

This strategy has become even more prominent in recent years. As industries increase in competitiveness, co-branding is a great way to drive new consumers to your brand by leveraging the customer base of your partner.  

One of the most recent partnerships was between Kith, Coca-Cola and Pendleton. They launched a hoodie (link below) that sold out in minutes.  https://kith.com/products/kith-x-coca-cola-x-pendleton-terry-williams-3-hoodie-ivory-multi

While this is clearly an example of a partnership that worked, there do seem to be limits to what a reasonable partnership can be. I don't think there are many combinations of brands that could get away with a 3-way partnership - at a certain point your product starts to look like a billboard vs. a thoughtful partnership of brands with a shared objective. 

When forming a partnership with another brand, its important to make sure the union of your brands feels authentic and purposeful. Consumers today can see right through inauthenticity (cc: Gap removing their election-themed "unity hoodie" after backlash).  While Kith may have been able to pull off a 3-way partnership because its Kith and they have a wild cult following, it's important to remember that not every brand has that same cache. 

Using a different type of cookie for data

Many brands are trying to capitalize on the personalization trend, especially during the pandemic. Oreo, part of Mondelez, is now joining in with the launch of their OreoID website, allowing consumers to fully design their own Oreos. While this seems like a great new product offering and definitely increases the margin on these iconic cookies (with an order minimum and upcharge for customization), what’s more is that the company can collect consumer data based on their personalized experience. This is hugely powerful for Mondelez, especially for a product like Oreo that has so many limit time offers and brand partnerships. Consumers are willing to pay about 25% more for personalized products and the company can now track consumer behavior and tailor future products and campaign targeting based on the trends and insights they are gathering on the new site.

https://www.marketingdive.com/news/oreo-lets-fans-customize-cookies-in-personalization-push/588964/

Twitter Launches "Fleets"

Lagging long after its competitors, social media giant Twitter has launched a new feature called "Fleets" - their version of the Facebook or Instagram Story - a temporary piece of content, such as photos or videos or text, that exists for 24 hours and then disappears. The feature is meant to encourage more frequent interaction and engagement with Twitter. They initially rolled out the feature to select markets, including Brazil, India, Italy, South Korea and Japan, and have now rolled it out globally.

As is expected when a new product launches, there were a number of bugs in the feature that the company has been working to fix. For example, Fleets were failing to disappear after 24 hours and were still accessible long after they were meant to disappear. Users were able to view and download people's Fleets without the poster being notified that their Fleet had been viewed or downloaded. 

Reactions to the new feature have been mixed, from some users hating it to others loving it - which was the case with Instagram Stories as well, which did not meet especially positive reception upon its launch. However, it is a widely used feature now and I can see the same happening for Twitter as well. 

YouTube to Run Ads on All Videos Without Payment to Creators

 YouTube has recently changed its Terms of Services and added a new section allowing the website to show ads on all videos regardless of whether the creator is large enough to be part of its Partner Program. This allows YouTube to monetize upon these videos but does not require them to provide payment to the smaller creators whose videos are being used. In the past YouTube would only run ads on videos from channels that were part of the YouTube Partner Program or used to be. To be eligible for the YPP, a creator has to have 4,000 public watch hours in the past year and over 1,000 subscribers. Now the only criteria for monetizing a video is whether it meets YouTube’s “Advertiser-Friendly Guidelines,” including no inappropriate language, violence, inflammatory or sexual content, drug-related or firearm-related content, and any content that explicitly states hatred against specific individuals or groups of people. All videos with ads will also have to meet brand safety measures set forth in the Global Alliance for Responsible Media.

YouTube has already reported a strong third quarter with ad growth at $5.04B, but this new update to its terms will allow the site to bring in even more ad-related revenue. This new update is already upsetting creators who are outside of the YPP and not able to benefit from the addition of ads to their videos. They believe that the site is exploiting their creations and that this will only hurt the smaller creators in terms of views. This tactic could prevent their growth on the channel and potentially take away from the viewing experience of their followers, no matter how small that number is.

How Single Click Checkout is underpinning Authentic Brands' Revamped Retail Strategy

 https://www.glossy.co/fashion/how-single-click-checkout-is-underpinning-authentic-brands-revamped-retail-strategy/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=glossydis&utm_source=daily&utm_content=201119

Authentic Brands' struggling group of retail companies Forever 21, Brooks Brothers, and Lucky Brand are looking to partner with FinTech startup Bolt to implement an Amazon-like one-click payment functionality. The cart abandonment rate is approximately 70% for digital retailers, resulting in an estimated $18 billion in lost revenue. Amazon's patent for one-click purchase expired recently, opening up an opportunity for other retailers to try this technology.

In the midst of a continuing pandemic, enhanced digital functionality is of utmost importance to retailers. With online as the most critical channel currently, any functionality to improve the customer checkout experience is worth the investment. While I personally try to avoid one click checkout because I like to have the extra time to consider my purchase when online shopping, I'm sure many with appreciate the convenience. Having this functionality also allows customers to better compete with Amazon - the ultimate disrupter in the e-Commerce space. Lastly, the one-click payment supports customer loyalty - to enable the function, customers must save their billing and shipping information, allowing retailers to have their customers' data.

Challenges in marketing CBD products

CBD oil is all the craze these days. It became legal to use in products in 2014 but only in the past few years have big corporations decided to take the plunge and leverage the ingredient in products. The reason behind this lies in the legal challenges of what brands are allowed to communicate to consumers. While CBD oil has been heavily researched and proven to provide many health benefits such as easing chronic pain, relieving anxiety and stress, and even help people sleep better, none of these benefits can be directly stated in marketing and product claims. 

When marketing a CBD oil based product, a brand is now allowed to make any health claims or functional claims. Health claims are considered misleading by the FDA and FTC. However, cosmetic claims are allowed as they do not imply any fundamental changes in the structure and function of the body. For instance, instead of "reducing wrinkles", a brand can say "improves the appearance of wrinkles". In addition, emotional and intentionally vague language tends to be the loophole for brands. Words like "soothing and calming" and "eases stress" tends to be prevalent in the language around CBD products. 

As a result, there is a lot of consumer confusion over the effectiveness of CBD and the validity of the claims that the brands are allowed to make and communicate. 

Black Friday Marketing Tactics

I love the Thanksgiving Holidays and I love a good deal. Black Friday is something that I enjoy taking advantage of and I even plan my larger purchases around it, whether new clothing or electronics. The landscape for Black Friday has evolved a ton in the past few years. Gone are the days when you would camp out overnight in front of Best Buy to get that laptop. I did that one year in the Minnesotan winter, which was absolutely brutal. The experience was great though. Nowadays, it seems like Black Friday deals start the week before, or even all of November. 

I started thinking about deals this year, and how advertisers use digital marketing, especially since a lot of the purchases this year will be virtual. They seem to be timing ads, focusing on email marketing, and above all, acting early. I don't remember seeing Black Friday email blitzes and TV placements this early in previous years. The deals are aggressive and in your face, with large bold letters and vibrant colors. Subject lines are also getting more creative. I saw one that looked like a reply (subject line re:) making it look like an ongoing conversation. Finally, there seems to be a timing element and the usual limited quantities.

In the past, I've always been wary of fake Black Friday deals, but this year, it seems to be even more prevalent. I've resorted to crowdsourced information like Reddit, in order to find the best deals. People can chime in with their opinions and beat the information asymmetry. For larger purchases, I even check historical prices. It seems Black Friday is being redefined and the advertising and marketing is being adapted for the digital age.