There have been some far reaching changes in the world of marketing since the turn of this century. The first of them is that advertising has lost some of its credibility, due to which PR is now seen as more important. Examples abound of companies such as Google, Uber, Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter that have gained users through digital marketing rather than ad spend. The US president Donald Trump is another example where him being controversial led to him making more news thus greater PR eventually leading to him winning the election. A lot of companies such as Nokia make the mistake of putting its own name first into a category it wants to enter in. Apple on the other hand used to coin a separate name to its category rather than use its own brand name as it did with the Macintosh and I-Phone though it bombed when they launched the Apple Watch. Another noticeable change is that the name matters more than strategy as observed through the closure or brand erosion of Radio Shack, Eveready and Orville Redenbacher in comparison to innovative ones such as Duracell. Another change is that visual marketing is more powerful now than verbal as evidenced by Corona’s rise above Heineken for bottled beer in the USA thanks to their ads showing the attractive lemon on top. Companies such as GE and IBM that have tried to be in the market with single brands succeeded less than multi-brand conglomerates such as Apple, P&G, Unilever, Nestle and Coca-Cola.

Source:http://adage.com/article/al-ries/revolutionary-marketing-turn-century/308635/

Uploaded Date: 20th May 2017

Virtual Reality (VR) has long been promised as the next powerful tool for digital marketing. The launch of Oculus Rift was expected to be the tipping point, yet use of VR in marketing as of now remains limited. This is due to several reasons, one of them is the perception of VR as a frivolous tool meant for gaming purpose. This perception needs to get altered before any large scale adoption by marketers. The second factor is cost, as VR does not yet provide ample bang-per-buck compared to other platforms such as Facebook’s billion plus audience. VR headsets are as yet cumbersome to use and not sleek, so unattractive and difficult to use. Another mistake in times gone by was over optimistic estimates which makes present usage numbers appear puny. While there have been some fragmented campaigns by corporates such as Pepsi, Volvo or Pokémon Go, there hasn’t been any concerted effort at promotion of this technology. Thus few studies have been conducted on its overall ROI.

Source:https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2017/05/15/when-will-virtual-reality-become-common-in-marketing/#5864f0cf290a

Uploaded Date: 20th May 2017

There is much of fear mongering about robots taking away human jobs, but a more nuanced look suggests that while mechanical aspects could get automated, the emotional connect can never get replaced. Thus the desired method is soon going to be a cognitive based one incorporating mechanized live support. A lot of customer service agents could lose their jobs. Their number at present is estimated by marketing research firm Gartner at three and a half million in the USA and three quarters to a million in the UK. They could instead be supplemented by a variety of options. This includes intelligent assistants, crowd sourced agents, web chat services and work from home options. While Digital First is a thought much in vogue at present, the disruptions are not going well with a lot of stakeholders. This is because dissatisfaction has been experienced with the changing status quo. The good thing is that a positive vision is emerging of times to come. Thus any digital changes must be in line with staff expectations and skill sets as well as customer beliefs. For successfully introducing such digital business innovation, marketers will need to explain to the customer base the question of why this change is needed and how it is going to impact them. A visual pathway has to be created for customers and employees likewise to appreciate the transformation intended.

Source:https://customerthink.com/a-practical-guide-to-blending-bots-the-crowd-and-live-agents-in-your-contact-centre-of-the-future/

Uplaoded Date: 19th May 2017

Contrary to usual perceptions, marketing automation actually humanizes many processes of the buying cycle. Human beings tend to trust others more when they perceive the person to have greater empathy. That is why e-commerce websites tend to show up recommendations based on previous searches. Thus marketing communication helps in automating trust by tracking engagement and subsequently nurturing relationships. It also helps in digital marketing by sending out personalized marketing content such as emails or push messages. This personalized communication needs to be sent at the right time. It mustn’t overdo as that will kill trust and be annoying. Constant social media presence is one way to build trust. In order to gauge customer insights, digital tools end up being attentive listeners. They track all usage records and maintain data in order to extract relevant business intelligence. 

Source:https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/05/05/marketing-automation-can-help-build-trusted-relationships/#46ee2630481e

Uploaded Date: 19th May 2017

Direct marketers generally tend to wrongly perceive brand marketing as easier. This is partly because the latter group has all these years been primary been focusing on the ‘who’ of marketing while completely ignoring the ‘where’ and ‘when’. Their conversations have revolved around audience demographics, brand personas, psychographic or consumer lifestyle segmentations. But this needs to give way due to the highly competitive and dynamic nature of today’s marketing. An example can be cited from video sharing giant YouTube. This platform was being used for digital marketing purpose but instead backfired as a lot of company ads were placed next to adult videos. Thus a faulty implementation of ‘where’ led to massive brand erosion for many. Placing ads at wrong times of the day have equally hurt brand reputations. ‘Where’ can relate to adjacency, geography or view-ability all of which need to be factored in.

Source:http://marketingland.com/audiences-not-just-211742?

Uploaded Date: 18th May 2017

Marketers and company representatives often debate on the value of Facebook ‘likes’. Till a few years back, the number of likes, shares or comments was used as a barometer to measure the effectiveness of the digital marketing strategy of any company. But times have changed and marketers are questioning the real value of the same in monetary terms. Thus a controlled study was conducted by the Harvard Business Review to test this theory. It seems that while there is a correlation between likes any brand page receives and its visibility, it rarely translates into real earned dollars. There is no causation effect on family members or friends. On the other hand, these ‘likes’ are emblematic of pull marketing methods. Likes alone won’t matter until supplemented by customer testimonials, third party reviews, brand partnerships or influencer advocacy. This phenomena is called ‘social proofing’ where the more number of likes, shares or comments tend to increase the brand’s credibility. On the other hand, a company page with few of them, leads to negative perceptions being built. Any social media page must undergo a SWOT Analysis to assess its positioning. Also the said social media page must be the epicenter of all major marketing activities done. That is how likes can truly be converted to earn real monetary value.

Source:http://marketingland.com/what-is-the-value-of-a-like-212700?

Uploaded Date: 18th May 2017

Remarketing has become clichéd. It is a constant process of visiting some websites and the same ads reappearing when visiting some other site. Remarketing can be done using Google Ad Words, Facebook or other such platforms. Studies suggest that nearly seventy percent of online shoppers don’t make it to the checkout page even. Thus some methods have been identified which will best enable effective remarketing. First of all, the people in charge must understand the target demographic. A remarketing tracking code must be added to every nook of the brand’s online presence. This will allow better capture of data to perform business analytics. Similar to the tracker there must be a burn code as well. These need to be applied when a customer who has already revisited the site and actually made the purchase is still seeing those remarketing ads. This will irritate the customer, so now pixels will need to be burnt. Creativity must be applied but not to the point where essentials such as a Call-to-Action (CTA) or SEO campaign is ignored. Digital marketing is not about the immediate sale, so a patient brand promotion is needed beforehand. It could bring back lost sales.

Source:https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2017/03/10/five-secrets-of-effectively-executing-a-remarketing-strategy/#6d2385652853

Uploaded Date: 18th May 2017