Two of the global retail giants on other ends of the spectrum- Amazon and Target- have diversified their strategies in order to attract newer audiences. Target which specializes in large retail outlets has opened up smaller ones like the one in Manhattan. Amazon meanwhile plans to further expand its physical grocery stores to curbside pickups as well. The former is being done to attract younger customers, while the latter strategy is being summoned as Amazon ahs realized that a mix of online and physical formats works best. Some major learnings have emerged for the retail sector. First of all greater presence for Target will mean more footfalls and revenues, a concept that did not work well with Wal-Mart but with due experience, Target is better positioned to guard its territory against disruptors like Amazon. Target also understands the millennial generation well and its image as an inexpensive option bodes well with them. Target has takes risks but it has the added advantage of extracting valuable business intelligence from the Wal-Mart campaign so that it does not repeat the same or similar mistakes. Target is also an expert at merchandizing and customizing the product categories as per market requirements. They segment for geographies rather than believing in a one-size-fits-all strategy. Amazon and Target are both going all out for both retailing formats as research has revealed that especially the Generation Z-ers and Millennials both use physical as well as online formats simultaneously.

Source:http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/how-target-and-amazon-are-changing-the-rules-of-retail/

Attribution in digital marketing means attributing credits to various touch points along the consumer’s purchase journey. It is getting increasingly challenging to assign values across the media mix that will fairly allow budgets to be formulated. Business analytics using Google data is an obvious method but riddled with inconsistencies as it is very difficult to measure which part of the funnel made the major impact. There are methods known as first click and last click. In the first click method, the entire credit goes to the top of the funnel where the first query was made, while in the other entire credit goes to the last click end of funnel. This method will soon expire as marketers have realized this is not holistic. Google has also started rectifying ways to integrate online with offline methods. A metric known as “in-store visits” uses signals to deduce online-to-offline impact using data from disparate sources such as Google Maps, Wi-Fi and GPS. Another channel is cross-device alignment as final sale could be made on some device but another one was where the initial information was captured. Holistic campaigns allow multi-channel tracking, long term relation building, personalized content and non-linear brand connect with customer. Personalized campaigns are now in vogue in order to fortify customer relationships.

Source:http://searchengineland.com/rethinking-todays-attribution-problem-260767

Marketing has undergone tremendous change to be lumped together with the word tech as MarTech. Going by trends, five predictions have been made on MarTech for this year. First of all, Augmented Reality (AR) which already hit highs in 2016, will scale even higher ones this year. It will beat off competition from the related Virtual Reality (VR) as the latter has more barriers to quality delivery. The ideal of algorithm driven business intelligence will take a hit this year. Instead constant experimentation using machine-learning will be the new norm in 2017. Algorithms themselves will keep getting improvised. Cloud based solutions from players such as Oracle and Salesforce have the power to deliver continuous value and so consumers are embracing more than lengthy systems based integrators. Dynamics 365 for example recently adopted a single interface from Microsoft which combined its CRM and ERP functions. Due to uncertain macro-economic conditions, more mergers and acquisitions may be expected this year. Microsoft and Salesforce have already started consolidating while we are also witnessing vendors coming together to provide single suite solutions. With the burning down of narrow corporate silos, the Chief Digital Officer (CDO)’s position may soon become redundant due to the very digitization done by them. As the whole organization gets geared up to the new reality, specialist requirement into digital operations may cease.

Source:https://m.marketingprofs.com/articles/2017/31351/martech-in-2017-five-predictions-and-expectations

At several tech forums or exhibitions, Amazon’s Alexa offering has emerged as the star. This internet-connected voice assistant initially was limited for use on Amazon’s Echo device only, but has now been integrated with LG, Lenovo and Whirlpool devices as well. The Internet-of-Things (IoT) was already popular at several such shows, yet the individual smart devices could earlier only be connected to the internet and not to each other. This has changed with the launch of Alexa and Google’s Home. However, at this point, Alexa can only be used as assistant to do repetitive tasks using existing records. Advertisements are not allowed on them, but that could change someday. Till it changes, innovative methods of conducting digital marketing need to be thought out. Opt-in settings could be set up where coupons are provided for using brands costing less than favourite existing ones the user prefers. Or as an alternative, if the preferred brand is not available, perhaps then a rival brand can juxtapose in.

Source:http://marketingland.com/alexa-can-acquire-new-customers-marketers-202733?utm_source=googlenewsstand&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed-channel&utm_content=retail

Like most recent years, 2016 also saw its share of spats by the football fraternity on social media. Global conglomerate Virgin tried belittling Birmingham’s Aston Villa’s terrible year by poking fun at their latest manager Roberto di Matteo’s departure. Villa did not take to this kindly by responding to its historical high trophy cabinet and Virgin’s own lack of punctuality with its train system. Joleon Lescott had a disastrous year on the pitch, but his reputation further suffered due to his tweet showing his luxury sports car at the height of his team’s troubles. Belgian striker Christian Benteke on signing for his new club Crystal Palace, remarkably got the club’s name wrong by instead updating his profile mentioning Burnley. On being reminded about this gaffe, he conveniently put the blame on his Twitter handlers, the agency that does digital marketing for his own brand. Other football clubs such as Leeds United, LA Galaxy, Brondby and Charlton Athletic all had their run-ins with banana-skin type PR disasters. Individuals not spared included Neymar, Joey Barton and Nicklas Bendtner.

Source:https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/dec/31/football-and-social-media-a-turbulent-12-months-in-review

2017 like the last few years will continue to throw up surprises but social media marketing will continue to grow at an electric pace. Some new trends may be predicted for this field in the coming year. While YouTube has been around for more than a decade now, the use of live streaming in digital marketing has only just started taking off. 2017 promises to be a year where this trend continues going north with the likes of Facebook Live, Meerkat, Snapchat and Periscope at the cutting edge of this field. Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning is another field which will pose major challenges but also provide massive opportunities in 2017. Instead of long wordy content, short precise stuff will be preferred through media such as Twitter or Instagram. Facebook bought Whatsapp, Oculus Rift and Instagram while Microsoft took over LinkedIn. Consolidations are on the rise in the social media industry, they will continue to go up, so either the smaller players accept the money on offer to differentiate further to leverage their niche. A major part of marketing will see automation in 2017. In fact, a vast majority of small businesses are already losing money every month for not adopting automating techniques, a trend that will surely reverse with many more of them adopting the same in 2017.

Source:http://www.business2community.com/social-media/top-social-media-marketing-trends-2017-01744959#U2DFt1bX0mvOb9l2.97

There exist broadly two methods in which the data generated from social media can be used. One of the methods is as a tool to identify competitors’ offerings. The other is to map the customer journey. In the first method, detailed analysis has to be made on the kind of products and plans competitors are offering, a lot of which they will share on their social media feeds as marketing tools. This will provide insightful business intelligence. As part of the second method, customers’ data needs to be studied to see the kind of posts, tweets or reviews made by them. They will also provide authentic feedback on products giving the brand insights on which part of their offerings they must modify to meet customer expectations and needs.

Source:http://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2016/12/19/two-ways-you-can-use-social-media-data/#655d3f6c11e7