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According to eMarketer’s latest forecasts, worldwide business-to-consumer (B2C) ecommerce sales will increase by 20.1% this year to reach $1.500 trillion. Growth will come primarily from the rapidly expanding online and mobile user bases in emerging markets, increases in mcommerce sales, advancing shipping and payment options, and the push into new international markets by major brands.
In 2014, for the first time, consumers in Asia-Pacific will spend more on ecommerce purchases than those in North America, making it the largest regional ecommerce market in the world. This year alone, B2C ecommerce sales are expected to reach $525.2 billion in the region, compared with $482.6 billion in North America....
In 2015, Facebook is changing the way the News Feed works for its users. These changes will specifically affect brands and the way they conduct Facebook marketing campaigns through their Facebook Pages. These changes can affect your company’s social media marketing plan, so to help your business adjust, we have outlined some common questions and their solutions. It’s time to prepare for the Facebook changes in 2015 and develop a Facebook marketing plan to expand your reach....
... News UK may have originally set out to disprove certain preconceptions about the difference between print and digital ads, but Abba Newbery, director of ad strategy for the company felt it was perhaps pricing that needed to change.
“This research challenges the common held belief in our industry that people behave differently based on which platform they are consuming content. What it actually shows is that behaviour is driven by content and not platform,” she said.“
If memory encoding for ads on print and tablet are the same despite people spending shorter time on tablet ads then maybe news brands should be charging the same?”...
L2 conducted a study to assess the digital performance of 382 leading consumer brands in the world, drawing them from eight verticals across 17 platforms and concluded that they are active, on an average, on seven social platforms each.
The researchers also found out that presence across lots of social platforms does not guarantee greater engagement from fans. It was also observed that local networks are capable of delivering better results in areas where they have a strong social presence instead of bigger sites like Facebook and YouTube....
Steven Althaus's moment of digital truth came this past spring. BMW's global director of brand management stood in front of top management, telling them the automaker was about to use a drift mob to help market their new car, the M325i.
Five professional drivers were set to go behind the wheel of the M325is and drift--or drive at high speeds, hit the brakes, and turn the steering wheel to spin the car abruptly--around a traffic circle in Cape Town, South Africa. Their aim was to simulate a flash mob; a staged but seemingly spontaneous performance.
BMW executives fired off questions to Althaus that veered toward disbelief. “I presented the idea of a drift mob and they said: 'Is this really going to work?' I had to say, ‘I don’t know. Nobody’s done it before,’” Althaus recalls....
Here is a tale of two retailers. In it we can see a glimpse of what the implications are of either embracing the digital world or just playing at the edges.
In the USA Nordstrom is a brand that is investing heavily in technology and building its online brand assets. Over the last 3 years it has invested more than $2 billion in technology primarily aimed at making it easy for customers to buy online. That is 50-65 per cent of its cash flow. But sales have increased 50%. Its share price is up 200%. It is obvious that they get this social digital web.
The department store Myer on the other hand has invested very little in its digital presence and assets over the last two years in comparison. Its sales are flat and the share price is down 50%.Which one would you invest in? Is business extinction a real possibility for one of them?....
Twenty years ago last month, a team of well-meaning designers, coders and magazine publishers inadvertently unleashed on an unsuspecting world one of the most misguided and destructive technologies of the Internet age: the web banner ad.If that is an exaggeration, it is only a slight one.
FThe first banner ads — those long rectangular ads at the top of a web page — looked innocent enough; a half-dozen spots for a variety of large companies, including AT&T, Volvo and Zima, they made their debut on HotWired, the web offshoot of Wired Magazine, on Oct. 27, 1994. People who took part in their creation say the first banners were a resounding success, garnering adulation from readers and advertisers.
But their success birthed a monster that went on to swallow the web whole and has created two decades of havoc. “It’s almost like a prank that was played by the technology industry on the media industry 20 years ago,” said Chris Dixon, a technology investor at the firm Andreessen Horowitz who has long lamented the reach and permanence of the banner ad....
A lot of soccer moms live in the most-searched zip codes in the United States....
Pretty basic stuff, yes. The most interesting thing Esri calculates, however, are their own "Tapestry" classifications, a series of "68 unique segments based on demographic and socioeconomic characteristics." The profiles are broken into two sections: "Lifemode groups," which are "markets that share a common experience—born in the same generation or immigration from another country—or a significant demographic trait, like affluence," and "Urbanization groups," which are "markets [that] share similar locales, from the urban canyons of the largest cities to the rural lanes of villages or farms."
The classifications are based on data from the 2010 Census, the American Community Survey (ACS), The Doublebase consumer survey from GfK MRI and the Esri's most Updated Demographics.
The segments each have very specific titles. For example, you'll find groups titled "Boomburbs" (young professionals with families who live in the suburbs and own minivans) and "Trendsetters" (people who "live life to its full potential").
We were curious how Esri might describe the people living in some of the most popular zip codes in the country, so we went back to our list of 2013's most-searched zip codes to find out....
Once again, the Walmart website made a pricing error, and once again shoppers tried to pounce on it only to later have their orders canceled.
And as always happens in these situations, some of these folks are mistakenly claiming that this was a bait-and-switch scam.
This time, the deeply discounted item was a $100 Walmart gift card, which the site somehow listed as only $10.
So of course, people jumped at the chance to purchase these deeply discounted cards.
One woman tells Houston’s ABC13 that she ordered 80 of these cards (total face value: $8,000) for $800....
To ensure that they know what’s important and what comes next, today’s marketers have to pay attention to technology trends, new business models and also the changing behaviour of consumers.
Old digital strategies are making way for an overall brand experience that will be reflected online and offline as well. There has been a huge restructuring as far as business models are concerned, which is why these digital marketing predictions for 2015 have gained huge significance....
In today’s increasingly digital world, it’s important for online retailers to leverage social media and develop a memorable online “window” shopping experience.
One common misconception among retailers is that money can’t be made directly through social platforms, but there is indeed potential for a clear stream of revenue driven by branded, strategic and innovative social media activity.
For consumers scrolling through posts on Facebook and Tumblr, or the array of images on Pinterest and Instagram, it is similar to strolling down Main Street past local shops. If they see an ad, post or Pin that peaks their interest, they are more likely to click on it, just as they’d be more likely to walk into a store with an interesting window display....
Ninety-three percent - that’s how many organizations said they rely on content marketing for brand building and demand generation this year according to the Content Marketing Institute. With 87% of buyers stating that digital content has a large impact on their purchasing decisions this year, it’s clear that content marketing is on the ups.
So who’s doing it really well? Which brands have rocked the boat and set the example? We scoured our archives and asked content marketers to weigh in, and here’s our list of the 25 Top Content Marketers of 2014....
You already know social media marketing is a channel that can drive traffic and sales, but the question is: are you actually seeing an increase in traffic or sales?
Chances are you are not. Why? Because you are using obsolete tactics that aren’t effective anymore.
If you want to change that, just avoid these 7 strategies
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ShareThis's consumer sharing behavior report, which analyzed data collated from 52 million unique users registering more than 1.9 social signals, found that each travel share generates 18 click-backs - 40% more than other types of shares.
Furthermore, 10% of social media users share travel-related content and 19% of those who are in the process of planning travel share travel-related content.
While most travel-related social sharing takes place on Facebook and Twitter, the study reveals that users are most engaged with travel content on Pinterest, Blogger and email when in the throes of travel planning. Users still prefer to use a desktop computer for travel research, while smartphones are the preferred device for sharing....
All marketers are forever searching for that magical customer engagement recipe that will instantly transform their respective companies into massive retail entities. While this might not solve all of those problems for marketers, CrowdTwist recently published an illuminating e-book titled, 25 Loyalty and Engagement Stats You Need to Know, which outlines a plethora of key statistics and takeaway recommendations that can help boost revenue, spark customer engagement, and create customer loyalty.
Here’s a sneek peek at the e-book and those very important 25 Loyalty and Engagement stats....
Twitter is adding another feature to its fledgling e-commerce stable, today introducing Twitter Offers, which will enable advertisers to offer digital coupons within tweets.
Twitter users who see the tweets will be able to claim the offers by linking their credit or debit card accounts to Twitter. The discounts can be redeemed using the synced card, either online or in a retail store.
This brings some obvious benefits for retailers, who have long struggled to link digital marketing with retail sales....
Who are today's brightest marketers? Which brands—and agencies—stand out among the rest?Look no further than MarketingProfs' 2014 Bright Bulb B2B Award winners, who were announced by MarketingProfs chief content officer and best-selling author Ann Handley and comedy writer and emcee Tim Washer at the B2B Marketing Forum in October.
Rather than just give you a short and sweet list of winners, we pulled together this summary of what they did and why we think each winner is awesome....
A question we get asked all the time at HubSpot; and the answer? We obnoxiously respond with a question, in fact, multiple questions – are your personas hanging out on social networks? And if so, which networks?
Who in your organisation is responsible for managing your social presence; is it marketing? Sales? Both? How much content do you have to share on social? Is it enough? Is it the right content?
I could go on and on. However, it’s not until you can answer these questions, that you can then start to create an effective social strategy that will answer the original question proposed....
When online "experts" share their "expertise," it is always advisable to observe with some skepticism. While the Internet can be considered the modern bastion of knowledge, opinions, and ideas, it is not completely dependable.
In fact, most of what you can find on the web is unreliable information. Take the case of online marketing as an example. Many online marketing "experts" who preach their supposedly effective strategies embarrass themselves by the failure of their ideas in their own practical application.
The following can be considered the worst mistakes in online marketing in 2014. They represent the biggest misconceptions in marketing being peddled by self-proclaimed marketing experts and even by those who have had some real experience in online marketing....
Humans will remember something longer if it made them feel rather than think. They gravitate towards provocative images -- think food, sex and danger. They’re drawn toward images of faces. The color yellow puts them on edge.
Understanding how the human brain works is fascinating, but it’s also good business.
Marketing campaigns rooted in neurology are more likely to get and hold attention. And in the attention economy we are living in, where consumers have access to more emails and tweets than they could ever manage to read and digest fully, being able to get and hold attention is what separates the wheat from the chaff. That’s what gets consumers to spend.
If you are looking to get more of your marketing efforts seen, then have a look at this infographic, embedded below, generated by Nashville, Tenn.-based Emma, an email-marketing software provider. The infographic highlights 12 biological trigger mechanisms that make the human brain light up....
... It’s so easy to forget where we were 11 months ago as a company. Inbound marketing with HubSpot has completely transformed the way we do business and how we create new customer relationships.
In fact, this exercise of reporting has been good for me, because I quickly forget how things used to be. The results, reports, and data are awfully compelling....
Type the name of almost any successful consumer Web company into your search bar and add the word “addict” after it.
Go ahead, I’ll wait.
Try “Facebook addict” or “Twitter addict” or even “Pinterest addict” and you’ll soon get a slew of results from hooked users and observers deriding the narcotic-like properties of these websites. How is it that these companies, producing little more than bits of code displayed on a screen, can seemingly control users’ minds? Why are these sites so addictive and what does their power mean for the future of the web?...
Not only are you hectically hurrying to close out the year on a good note, you’re also pressured to produce your budgeted marketing plan for the year to come. It can often feel like the month itself is draining your very life force… but maybe it’s not just the month. Maybe, you have something stalking you from the shadows… Maybe something is steering you down dark paths you’d normally avoid… Maybe… you have a vampire in your midst, and nowhere would it be more apparent, than in your content.
Your content, you see, is a reflection of the lifeblood of your organization. It carries all the qualities, characteristics, and attributes that make your organization unique and valuable to your target audience. Certain dark forces, however, can eat away and this energy in your content. These marketing vampires can manifest themselves in multiple forms, so to swiftly slay these evil spirits, here are 5 of the most common vampire varieties along with their most effective weaknesses.
With the rise of e-commerce, more retailers are scrambling to stay ahead of consumers’ evolving expectations about home deliveries.
To that end, insight into global distance selling sales—sales where customers purchase items via TV, phone, or internet and have that good delivered to their home—is now a retailer’s best friend. According to market research firm e-Marketer, global e-commerce sales are expected to jump by 20% to $1.47 trillion this year alone, and by 16% next year.
Worldwide delivery company DHL checked the pulse of delivery-based consumers in a survey of over 11,000 people aged 16-64 in 20 countries. Here are its findings in 10 charts:The British and Germans are all about getting goods delivered; Canadians not so much....
The funny thing about referrals is that because it’s such a no brainer, a lot of businesses don’t have a formal program setup to ensure e that they’re maximizing this channel, by automatically or programmatically asking all their customers. That’s both a shame and an opportunity lost, because for every one customer who may be naturally inclined to refer or recommend a businesses to their friends“without” being asked, there are almost certainly a number that will be too busy, or not inclined to refer anything without being asked to do so.
That’s reflected in the research as well. Some research done by Texas Tech showed that while 83% of consumers indicate they’d be willing to refer a business they frequent, only 29% actually do. That’s because surprisingly most businesses simply don’t ask.A quick and easy customer referral program is not only a great marketing strategy on it’s own, because of that gap in consumer willingness and businesses asking, there is also a really good chance that setting up a customer referral program is great low hanging marketing fruit you can take advantage of....
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Not only are these e-commerce sales stunning, the growth is projected to continue. Any business that isn't selling online is not going to be in the game in the future. Must-read for marketers. 9/10