Top 5 Digital Marketing Insights
Top 5 Digital Marketing Insights
In the digital age, consumers feel overwhelmed by the constant bombardment of advertising messages by marketers who are relentlessly vying for their attention. In order for marketers to captivate the attention of consumers, simplicity is key. Simplicity not only in terms of the delivery of a marketing message, but when it comes to purchasing, marketers should simplify their decision-making process. Although simplicity is indeed important in captivating a consumer’s attention and securing a transaction, I believe that simplicity alone is not enough. Ultimately, companies that invest and make a concerted effort in developing authentic relationships with consumers will enjoy long-term loyalty.
Keep it simple, stupid
Due to the over excess of information and our hyper connectivity, our attention spans are now shorter than ever before – a mere 9 seconds.
Our short attention span scans through a barrage of information to land on what is most relevant to us personally. Although consumers can access marketing messages 24/7, their hyper connectivity leaves them in a state of perpetual partial attention. As such, when crafting messages, marketers should be focused on making their point – fast! Not only do marketers need to keep their marketing messages simple and concise, according to the article “To keep your customers, keep it simple” by Patrick Spenner and Karen Freeman, marketers should focus their effort on simplifying the decision making process for consumers. According to their study, the best tool for measuring consumer-engagement efforts is the “decision simplicity index”, an indication of how easy it is for consumers to gather and understand information about a brand, how much they can trust the information they find, and how readily they can weight their options. As such, the easier a brand makes the purchase decision journey, the higher its decision-simplicity score. Brands that scored in the top quarter in their study were 86% more likely than those in the bottom quarter to be purchased by the consumer considering them. According to Spenner and Freeman, the most effective marketers use 3 tactics:
1) They minimize the number of information sources consumers must touch as they move toward a purchase
2) Provide trustworthy sources of product information and recommendations
3) Offer tools that enable consumers to weigh their options by identifying the features in terms of relevancy
Whilst I agree with Spenner and Freeman that simplicity is key in the age of hyper connectivity, I do not agree with their stance that marketers should solely focus their attention on simplifying the decision making process for consumers and disregard building relationships with consumers. Striving for simplicity and building a relationship with a consumer is not mutually exclusive, both efforts should coexist.
Develop relationships and engage consumers
In addition to striving for simplicity, marketers should also focus their attention on developing authentic relationships and engaging with consumers. In the article, Spenner and Freeman shed light on the fact that contrary to marketer’s perceptions, being part of a community ranked the lowest (22%) on the list of reasons why consumers interact with companies via social sites. Whilst the study reveals that marketers may misjudge the most important factors that influence why consumers follow them via social sites, this is not enough to suggest that marketers should discount focusing on building relationships and communities altogether. 22% is still a significant amount of people who value being part of a brand’s community. As the 80/20 rule suggests, your top 20% loyal customers contribute to 80% of the profits. Focusing on the needs and wants of your top 20% of customers will ensue in healthy profits.
Keep it short & sweet
The article also falsely suggests that pursuing a relationship and engaging customers equates to constant messaging and providing an overabundance of information. The writers frame the pursuit of simplicity and developing relationships with customers as ideologically incompatible. This is simply not the case. Such concepts should be in synchrony and ought to be pursued simultaneously. With regards to engaging consumers, the surest way to engage is by being succinct and to the point. Red Bull is a brand that has mastered the art of engagement by embracing simplicity. The company’s online writing style is characterized by being succinct and short & sweet. Facebook posts feature captions such as: “No better time than right now”, “flipping spectacular” and “This weekend, get board.” The series of short, catchy posts, captivate the attention of Red Bull fans and engage them. Due to their keep-it-simple-stupid school of wordsmithing, their Facebook page has reached 40,995,178 likes.
Empower consumers to get involved
People have an inherent desire to feel valued and important, which is why, providing ways for consumers to get involved and engage is important. Social media contests in particular have gained in popularity and can be a powerful catalyst for spreading a brand’s message. When Frito-Lay developed a new potato chip flavor, they bypassed focus groups and turned to Facebook to directly engage with the customers. Visitors of the Lay’s “Do Us a Flavor” Facebook app were asked to suggest new flavors. In February of this year, the 3 finalist flavors were available in stores for people to buy and try. There were approximately 3.8 million consumer-generated flavor submissions. The staggering figure indicates that if you empower consumers and grant them with the opportunity to get involved in the brand, they will respond.
Strive for simplicity and engagement
In the age of hyper connectivity, the bombardment of marketing messages, excess of information and choice ultimately impairs the consumer decision-making process. Under this climate, it is particularly important for marketers to focus on simplicity; in terms of the delivery of a marketing message as well as simplifying the decision making process for consumers. However, simplicity can only get you so far. In order to secure customer loyalty and differentiate yourself from competitors, the key is to engage consumers – not by bombarding them with messages every few seconds, but rather by listening to them, empowering them to have their say and keeping communication short, sweet, and to the point.
In a world that is becoming progressively digital, the term “big data” is becoming increasingly ubiquitous. In 2001, industry analyst Doug Laney articulated the widely accepted definition of big data as the 3 V’s: Velocity, Variety and Volume. Velocity refers to the unprecedented speed at which data is streamed, variety relates to the way in which data today comes in a range of formats and volume alludes to the sheer volume of incoming data online.
Indeed big data is so “big”, marketers simply can’t afford to ignore it. Big data is transforming our world and revolutionizing the landscape of marketing in the process. Big data presents both invaluable opportunities and advantages for marketers as well as obstacles. According to a study conducted by eMarketer, 61% of those surveyed claimed that big data is both an opportunity and an obstacle, and for many there is still a long way to go when it comes to harnessing big data and using it in the decision making process
Lets start with the benefits and opportunities of big data.
Big data offers invaluable customer insight which informs marketing decisions
Big data is rich with customer insight, providing marketers with a greater understanding and intuition for their customers. For example, Netflix, which boasts 33 million worldwide, looks at 30 million “plays” a day, 4 million ratings by subscribers, 3 million searches as well as the time of day when shows are watched and on what devices. As a result of this wealth of data, Netflix knows what shows people like to watch and that helps them predict and determine interest for a given show.
Moreover, the success story of the Netflix original “House of Cards” captures and embodies the sheer importance and effectiveness of how big data can be used to provide customer insight to predict consumer behavior. Through its database, Netflix already knew that Director David Fincher’s films were popular amongst subscribers. Moreover, films featuring actor Kevin Spacey had always performed well, as had the British version of “House of Cards.” Given this insight, Netflix was able to determine a Venn diagram intersection that inferred that buying the series would be a guaranteed success.
Image Source: The New York Times
Uses historic data to predict future interactions
Big data enables variable testing which helps predict what works, and what doesn’t. For example, multi-channel big data enables companies to predict what the impact of changing their traditional media spend will have on their digital business. Big data allows Marketers to predict what effect one less TV ad would have on online sales. Netflix is a company that is constantly testing. They regularly select a group of customers, typically by the tens of thousands, and use them as guinea pigs to determine what works, and what doesn’t.
Increases effectiveness of retargeting campaigns
Big data allows marketers to track online consumer behavior for retargeting purposes. In other words, big data enables marketers to serve ads specifically tailored to consumers based on their online behavior, whether it click-through or purchase activity. Moreover, the variety of user data available helps brands create micro segments and devise individual retargeting strategies accordingly. As such, brands are able to adapt their investment strategies for each segment and maximize their marketing ROI.
Despite the many opportunities that are presented with big data, it still has its limitations.
Big data doesn’t tell you what to do
According to the CEO of SumAll, “Data is very good at validating past activity or opening up new ideas,” however, “it won’t tell you where to go.” Many marketers assume they can just collect data and that it will inform what they are going to do. In reality, marketers still need to rely on people to interpret the big data and make the critical marketing decisions.
Lost in translation
In order to unleash the power of big data, one must first harness the data. Integrating large amounts of data from a variety of sources is no easy task. However, figuring out exactly how to translate and convert that information into more visits and fuller shopping carts – in real-time, customer-by-customer is even more difficult.
Issue of privacy
A discussion on big data is not complete without mention of the issue of privacy (or lack thereof). The case of how Target disclosed a teen girl’s pregnancy to her father shows how far retailers will go to search for more customer information and how consumers are being stripped of their privacy.
Big data offers companies and marketers an intimate glimpse into our personal lives, they know more about us than ever before. Marketers need to be sensitive to the privacy issue and acknowledge the fact that this is a real concern for customers. When it comes to retargeting, advertisers should delay ads so that retargeting isn’t so obvious. Marketers should master the art of subtlety when it comes to big data because failure to do so just might scare customers away.
Beyond big data
Whilst it is indeed true that big data presents countless opportunities and benefits for marketers, l believe we should not solely rely on big data and disregard human qualities such as intuition and instinct when it comes to marketing decisions.
Although I can’t deny the sheer value that big data offers for marketers, I believe data can never replace human insight, creativity and emotion. Humans are complex creatures. We are emotional, intuitive and we are not as logical as we like to think. Sometimes we don’t even know what we want. In the words of John Landgraf, the president and GM of FX networks, “Data can only tell you what people have liked before, not what they don’t know they are going to like in the future,” he said. According to Landgraf, a good programmer’s job is to find “the white spaces in our collective psyche that aren’t filled by an existing television show”. Such choices were made in a “black box” that “data can never penetrate”.
To succeed in the information age, I believe marketers should let the machines do the work where possible. The beauty of big data lies in its ability to enable marketers to build customer experiences and products that are based on hard data and evidence, instead of hunches and guesses. However, in order to truly take advantage of big data, we need to invest in (real) people too.
As we move forward into the digital age and as big data continues to play a greater role in marketing, we should not lose sight of the importance of human insight and instinct. Although society as a whole is becoming increasingly technologically savvy, lets not forget that, we are human, after all.
Image Source: www.deviantart.com
In the digital age, User Experience Design is playing an increasingly prominent role in the art of branding. As activity in the digital and social space is growing at an unprecedented pace, brands must learn to adapt to the growth in digital activity. Brands should no longer only focus on the in-store experience, but the online experience too.
Red Mango, the popular smoothies and frozen yogurt chain, is a brand that has recognized and embraced the value of creating a great user experience for customers. The user experience across their website and mobile platforms is characterized by simplicity, ease of use, and usefulness. By evaluating the UX of Red Mango across digital platforms, I’ll shed light on what works and what doesn’t.
When it comes to UX, there are a few points to consider…
1. Keep it simple stupid (K.I.S.S)
The Red Mango website embraces a sleek and simple design that is pleasant to the eye, whilst being functional and practical.
In terms of aesthetics across digital devices, the color palette of red, white and green remains consistent. Although images of their special offer items such as their smoothies and mint cookie differ in aesthetics such as color and font, the rest remains consistent. This level of consistency across aesthetics reinforces their brand identity. Moreover, the choice of fonts and color palette reflects the brand personality. Red Mango positions itself as healthy, fresh, reliable and an emblem of consistent quality. The aesthetics reflect these qualities.
As for practical value, the functions are clearly and neatly displayed to the left, top and bottom of the website, leaving sufficient empty space. As the website is not cluttered and chaotic, the overall experience of navigating through the website is pleasant and desirable.
As a brand, we must be constantly thinking: “how can I make my consumer’s life easier?”. As our culture is becoming increasingly saturated and noisy, customers appreciate user-friendly products that embrace simplicity and provide value for customers, whilst being aesthetically appealing.
2. Be quick to capture and maintain our attention
The Red Mango website is responsive and loading time is quick.
We live in a culture and age that expects instant gratification. According to Sally Hogshead, our attention spans have declined to a mere 9 seconds so as consumers, we expect information fast. As such, the user experience should be responsive and allow the consumer to find what they want, fast.
3. Customize content accordingly
The content provided by Red Mango across digital platforms are specifically customized and tailored accordingly.
Whilst their website is comprehensive and highly informative, providing information on their brand story, displaying infographics and video content etc., their mobile app customizes information according to store location and is overall more simplistic in content and design. Upon launching the app, users must select their Red Mango store. Once the location has been selected, information is kept to a minimum. Only information that would be most relevant and useful to a customer using a mobile device on the go is displayed. For example the address, opening hours and directions on how to get there are shown, whilst other information such as ‘our story’ and ‘careers’ that would be shown on the website, is omitted. Moreover, the app is also perfectly integrated with their rewards system, offering a “check-in to earn points” function based on its geo-targeted capabilities.
4. Be Social
At the bottom of the website, Red Mango displays their social media icons proudly.
In an increasingly social world, brands should always integrate their social media channels on their website. The more ways the customer can connect with your brand, the longer you’ll keep them engaged and connected.
5. Don’t be intrusive
The moment visitors enter the Red Mango USA website, they are welcomed (against their own will) by a pop-up video titled “What is Red Mango?”.
Interruptive marketing tactics such as pop-up videos are (for lack of a better word) annoying and unwanted. Marketers should always think like consumers. They should put themselves in the customers’ shoes and imagine how the customer is experiencing the brand.
As much as you want your customers to view your branded content and no matter how awesome you think the content is, being intrusive comes at the price of compromising the user experience. Consumers want to be in control, intrusive marketing tactics are unpleasant, unwelcome and such techniques undermine the customer’s sense of autonomy.
Thus, whilst Red Mango has created an effective and engaging UX across digital platforms for their customers overall, there are still areas which they can improve on.
In the era of digitalization and advanced technology, there is a pressing need and importance for Marketers to focus on perfecting the UX across digital platforms. In the 21st century, the brands who can master the art of UX across digital platforms will be well ahead of the game.
Our lives are becoming increasingly digital. With mobile now accounting for approximately 10% of our media consumption, our phones are occupying a more central role in our lives. In response to the steady rise of mobile usage, marketers are allocating more of their marketing budgets to mobile.
Whilst it is certainly true that mobile is a marketing gold mine, many marketers fall into the trap of assuming that mobile marketing is limited to display ads and text messaging ads. This is simply not the case. I personally find display ads and text messaging ads to be intrusive, disruptive and uninteresting. The moment I see an unwanted text from a brand, I automatically switch off and lose interest. What many marketers have yet to realize is that the true potential of mobile marketing lies in apps, not ads.
The beauty of branded apps lies in the fact that consumers don’t perceive them to be advertising. People use apps for a variety of reasons – for entertainment, functional, or social purposes. Whatever the reason is, one thing remains certain – apps add value to consumers’ lives. Understanding this is key. Brands should ask themselves “How can we add value to our consumer’s life?” rather than “How can we shove a branded message in front of our consumers face?”
Kraft is a brand that got it right. In 2008, Kraft launched its iFood Assistant app. According to Ed Kaczmarek, Director of Innovation at Kraft, “People’s lives are becoming increasingly complex and they’re looking for relevant content and solutions to make their lives easier.” Indeed, the iFood Assistant app is useful and makes customers’ lives easier.
The app allows users to browse recipes by category or occasion, stores their favorite recipes in a recipe box, displays how-to videos and offers a built-in shopping list. Since its launch in 2008, the app has reached the 2nd spot in iTunes’ lifestyle section and has since been included in iTunes’ list of top 100 paid apps. The reason for its success? The app is useful to its target market. By offering a variety of useful services and functions to the user, they are providing users with reasons to use the app, thus enhancing long-term engagement with the Kraft brand.
Not only is the app functional and useful, it is also user friendly. The app is organized and easy for users to navigate. Users can browse recipes according to the meal eg. breakfast, lunch or dinner etc. Additionally, if the user has a specific recipe in mind they want to learn, they can use the built in search engine to directly find what they are looking for. In terms of aesthetics, the app is soothing to the eye. The app uses a dark brown wooden background that is calming and pleasant. Moreover, each recipe available in the app is accompanied by an enticing photograph of the dish.
Kraft is a brand that truly understands what mobile marketing is all about. The success of the iFood assistant app has taught us that apps should provide value to the consumer, because ultimately value will drive brand engagement and loyalty. Lastly, you should always look for the “sweet spot” of what your brand can offer consumers.
Sources:
- http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/kraft-rings-iphone-ifood-assistant-104973
- http://adage.com/article/digital/kraft-hits-killer-app-iphone-marketing/133869/
- http://mashable.com/2010/10/06/branded-mobile-apps/
- http://www.kraftrecipes.com/media/ifood.aspx
- http://hbr.org/2013/03/for-mobile-devices-think-apps-not-ads/ar/pr
A new academic year means a fresh new start.
Moving forward, I will use this blog as a platform to discuss issues and topics pertaining to digital marketing, in addition to documenting my journey in the city of my dreams aswell as sharing my creative work; my photography and videos.
Why is digital marketing worth talking about?
The 21st century has ushered in an era of rapid change and a multitude of communication channels. With the advent of the digital age, the term ‘digital marketing’ has become somewhat ubiquitous. A lot of people are talking about it, but not many people know what it’s really about.
With this in mind, I endeavor to deconstruct ‘digital marketing’ in this blog; shedding light on what it really means for marketers and discussing the issues and trends shaping the industry. With the rapid advancement of technology and as our lives become increasingly digital, I believe it is an extremely exciting time to be a marketer. As such, this blog will be an open dialogue about the marketing industry with reference to digital trends and technology.
Without further ado, lets talk about the advancement of digital technology, how this impacts our culture and ultimately, what this means for marketers and how we should respond in light of these changes.
