The State Of Digital Marketing In 2015

Planning ahead for 2015? Don't miss these key trends in digital marketing, as examined by columnist James Green.



The digital marketing industry is experiencing a major transformation.

The current state of digital is directly tied to data. Data are everywhere, informing marketers about audience interests, consumer intent, and device activity.

As mobile use continues to increase and media is progressively being bought programmatically, consumers expect a seamless and entertaining online experience.

With marketers and their agencies well underway with planning for the year ahead, here are a few trends that likely will be top of mind in 2015.


1. Big Data Will Become Bigger

Companies are sitting on massive amounts of analytics related to sales, purchase history, search activity, site interactions and more.

While this data is valuable, any single data point taken in isolation can give you a very warped view of the customer.

Linking data together and leveraging a historical trail of data points allows you to obtain bigger insights into what your customers are looking for and where they are going next.

The world of big data gives marketers the most complete obtainable customer profile, which informs audience strategies, smarter media buying and creative decisions.

Big data will only become bigger and bigger as data sources are combined.

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2. First- And Third-Party Data Will Be A Hot Topic

Within the world of big data is the combination of first and third party data sources. Brands will be retargeting customers based on their buying patterns, combining their own customer data with intent data from around the web.

Marketers want to know when their customers are in market for a good or service so that they can sell to them before they visit a website.

Incorporating data from social, location, search and site will improve the ability to attract customers at multiple stages of the consumer funnel, improving and optimizing your retargeting strategy for both prospecting and retention.


3. Automation Will Continue To Increase

Eventually, all media buying will become automated.

The swapping of insertion orders will be replaced by systems that seamlessly communicate with each other to reduce the duplication of work and improve accountability, measurability and efficiency.

The more interesting trend to watch will be how much media will switch to RTB. Over time, it’s likely that 100% of direct response advertising will be bought in real time; but how far up the funnel this trend will go remains to be seen.

There will always be a place for Super Bowl ads and other high-impact units on high-impact sites. However, these ads will be bought where there’s a large audience and will not be based on individuals, so they won’t be bought through RTB.

That said, over time, more and more advertising is going to be bought in real time, even TV.


4. Ad Fraud Will Still Be A Concern

Ad fraud won’t be much more than a blip on the road to RTB dominance. There are many companies and organizations fighting it.

Fraud, or suspicious activity as it’s sometimes euphemistically called, is simply a duplication of what happened to search at the turn of the century.

Search was easier to control because there was really only one provider (Google), and they fought it directly.

Now, fraud is recognized to be 5-10% of all search clicks. Display fraud is more complicated because of the large number of players in the space: publishers, ad servers, Supply Side Providers (SSPs), Demand Side Providers (DSPs), ad exchanges and other intermediaries.

As of now, there are a myriad of providers that can help, and only the reckless few don’t use these tools to avoid fraudulent activity.

Unfortunately, there will never be a real “crackdown” on fraudsters because these players are based in countries where these activities are not necessarily illegal. So, chasing them down seems unlikely to happen.


5. The Need For Personalized Advertising Will Grow

The opportunities for personalized advertising will continue to grow as the adoption of apps, location based advertising and dynamic creative optimization (DCO) increases.

There are so many data elements available to advertisers, enabling them to transform generic advertising into relevant marketing in real time, regardless of their device and location.

We will see this trend continue into 2015, as purchase, product level and search activity are used to predict consumer intent and therefore, inform which ad to show, and when, as well as what creative elements should be optimized within the ad itself.

In 2014 we witnessed new platforms, channels and technologies that led to major shifts in the industry and positioned data as the main ingredient for finding, reaching and engaging customers.

The biggest theme of 2015 will be “big data” as we see data sources coming together to create meaningful 360-degree customer views and actionable analytics that inform and even transform your marketing strategy.

Sourse: http://marketingland.com/state-digital-marketing-2015-109130
By James Green

Email is not dead. But email IS changing.

Email facts

Last Updated: December 2014

• There are over 4.1 billion email accounts. This figure is predicted to reach 5.2 billion by 2018 which is a growth of more than 26% - Radicati Group (2013)

• There are 2.5 billion email users worldwide, including both business and consumer users. - Radicatti Group (2013)

• 72% of US online adults send or receive personal emails via smartphone at least weekly - Forrester (2014)

• 122,500,453,020 emails are sent every hour. - MarketingProfs (2014)

People prefer email for commercial communications

• 81% of US online shoppers are more likely to make additional purchases, either online or in a store, as a result of emails based on previous shopping behaviors and preferences. - Harris Interactive

• 68% of consumers find email to be their #1 preferred channel for recieving commercial messages - CG Selections "Nationaal Email Onderzoek" (2013)

• 66% of consumers have made a purchase online as a direct result of an email marketing message - Direct Marketing Association (2013)

• One in five (19%) of consumers said they read every email newsletter they receive just to see if something’s on offer. - Forrester Research "North american technographics survey" (2014)

• In 2014 consumers delete less promo emails without looking, down 25,4% relative to 2010. - Forrester Research "North american technographics survey" (2014)

Email is going mobile

• By the year 2017 1.779 Million people will access email via their mobile device. - The Radicati Group "Email Statistics Report 2013-2017"

• Mobile email will account for 15 to 70% of email opens, depending on your target audience, product and email type. - eMailmonday “the Ultimate mobile email stats” (2014)

• 30% of consumers now read their email exclusively on mobile devices – Yesmail “Email Compass: The Mobile Effect” (2013)

And email marketing?

• 80% of content marketers use email marketing - CMI "B2B Content Marketing Research" (2014)

• 55% of companies generate more than 10 percent of sales from email - Econsultancy "Emailmarketing census"(2014)

• marketers consistently ranked email as the single-most-effective tactic for awareness, acquisition, conversion, and retention. - Gigaom Research "Workhorses and dark horses: digital tactics for customer acquisition" (2014)
• Email is almost 40x better at acquiring new customers than Facebook and Twitter - McKinsey & Company (2014)

• 42% of businesses say email is one of their most effective lead generation channels. And for B2B marketers, 88% say email is the most effective lead generation tactic – Circle Research (2012)

• DMA research puts the ROI of email marketing in 2014 at US$24,93, almost double that of search advertising and better than any other direct marketing channel - DMA UK "National client email survey 2014".

• 88% of marketeers say emailmarketing is bringing them a positive ROI. – ExactTarget “2014 State of Marketing”

Source: http://www.emailisnotdead.com/

What is an Autoresponder and Why Do I Need It?

You've heard it time and time again, "The money is in the list!" This is, after all, the Golden Rule of online marketing. But, where's the list? How do you get a list? What do you do once you have the list? These questions can all be answered with one word: Autoresponder!

Simply put, an autoresponder is an automated follow-up tool, which you set-up to check back with your prospects through email messages you create and schedule. There are various autoresponder services out there, but the most popular once, by far, are AWeber and Get Response. The reason these two services are at the top of the popularity ratings is that they are simple to use, offer several features like form-creation and broadcasting capabilities, and they have great deliverability ratios (all that means is that it is very unlikely for your messages be sent to your prospects' SPAM folders).

Now, the way an autoresponder works is by storing your prospect's information from your opt-in box and getting them on queue to receive your pre-set messages. So, if you have a website (blogs and Facebook business pages can also have opt-in boxes added to them) with an opt-in box which asks prospects to type in their name and email, once someone provides that information, the autoresponder takes care of the rest. Depending on the settings you have established, the new lead (what a prospect becomes after filling-in the opt-in box) will start to receive your messages according to the schedule you have set up.

Why do you need an autoresponder? 
Well, the most obvious reason is that you need a way to build that infamous list! It is absolutely no use to you to have an offer people can only see once, especially if they make a purchase that first time. Also, autoresponders put your marketing and follow-up on autopilot. Think about it, you can set up your list so that people receive emails from you on a set interval for as long as you wish them to. And, the beauty of it is that after the initial set-up, you don't have to do anything else. Another beautiful aspect of having an autoresponder is that it allows you to "broadcast" or send one-time offers to your list with ease. This is another way of capitalizing on your list.

Should you get an autoresponder? 
If you are serious about building an online business, then the answer is YES, ABSOLUTELY, WHAT ON EARTH AREYOU WAITING FOR! Remember, that the money is in the list. You cannot make a living on the internet if you have to go back every day and start from scratch! Imagine how long it would take you to do all the follow-up by phone or writing emails one at a time. AWeber and Get Response are also a great value for their cost. Both go for about $20/month. AWeber will give you the first month for $1. Get Response also has a free version, which can be a good way to test it, if you're still a bit skeptical, but it limits considerably number of leads you can store and broadcast. Also, if you are an affiliate to several opportunities or businesses, then you can broadcast your list with new offers. This means you no longer have to start a business venture from scratch!

Autoresponder: by far the BEST tool a network marketer could invest in. Not only is it essential for list-building, but it will truly put your lead management on autopilot. Get your account today!


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4625214

Why You Must Not Miss List Building

There must be some reasons some internet marketer can earn millions of dollars while others make zero cents. On the other words, if two equally experienced internet marketers are asked to start their business again but one of them cannot build a list. I am sure that one will quit within one month. This is because he lacks of the most powerful tool to make real money, which is "list building."

What is a list building? 
List building is a powerful and evergreen internet marketing strategy that allows you to contact your website visitors. When visitors browse through your website, they find the information on the website is useful to them then they agree to give their contact (mostly email) to you. They would like to know what else you can offer them. With the list, now you can generate income without driving new traffic every day.

Why list building is important? 
First, it is the main source of income in internet marketing. This is because the majority of the new traffic that you bring in to your website does not buy. They most probably look around and then leave your website. The reason behind it is they are thinking somewhere must have a better offer. Despite the "better offer" does not exist, and they love the information you have provided, they are most likely to forget it and never come back unless they bookmark your site. So you must capture their contact before they click away from your site.

As mentioned earlier, people do not buy at the first time you offer them. The research showed that many buyers will only purchase after being offered six to seven times. The fact surprise you, doesn't it? However, do you think the same visitors will come back to your website and be offered for six to seven times? Therefore, holding the subscriber contact information can eventually help you archiving your financial goal.

In addition, people refuse to pay their money to you is simply because they do not know who you really are. People prefer to buy with someone they know instead of a stranger. However, they will not offer you a chance to build a relationship with them. You need to grab the opportunity by yourself. Therefore, every new contact you get will be your future friends. Build a good relationship with them, so they are comfortable to buy any services or products from you.

If you can build a quality list of 100,000 contacts with an auto responder you now can work less and start making passive income. You will be liberated from the financial trap, work lesser but earn more money. An auto responder such as Aweber.com allows you to follow up your subscribers automatically. This is the why you choose internet marketing, isn't it?

Conclusion 
You have no reasons to say NO to this internet marketing strategy. If your traffic does not convert to sales, you must lack of a quality list in your business. Build a list now to take a large leap for your business growth.


Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6735773

5 holiday email marketing tips to kickstart your Christmas campaign right now

The holidays are no longer a two-month affair. In 2013, shoppers took to the stores with gift lists in hand starting in early September, according to Time, and retailers were working their audiences with promotions before summer’s end. By the end of December, consumers spent some $46.5 billion during the season—up 10% from 2012. And so, getting your share of those holiday shopping budgets means planning earlier than ever.

Let’s look at how you can plan a mobile strategy that brings an increasingly advanced holiday crowd to your business this fall. Mid-summer is the time to begin planning your marketing strategy, one that will reach customers right as thoughts of Labor Day drift toward the start of school.

The Holiday Stakes: E-mail Marketing and the Mobile Consumer

One key approach to the early holiday shopper is to find them where they live—and where they spend their money—and that’s increasingly online. And it’s increasingly online via mobile devices.

Recent reports tell us that there’s a $294 billion world, out there, when it comes to ecommerce, and 29.5% of that happens on smartphones and tablets. Furthermore, purchases via mobile devices jumped 22%, in 2013, according to a new report from Campaigner.

But that doesn’t mean that every enterprise simply gets to press “send”. Reaching the online and mobile shopper takes having the right message in the first place—and then getting it out in a way that prompts consumers to click-through and buy, or show up in person for your excellent offer.

E-mail marketing is one way to go about that — 64% of decision-making mobile consumers read their e-mail on a mobile device — so your campaign could reach them in just the right spot. But with that idea come some relevant cautions. To understand what those are, we turn to stats from the Campaigner study, showing what consumers said they want from brands that come to them with offers via their inbox.

• 45% of respondents said they open mobile marketing e-mails that feature both compelling text and graphics.
• Only 2% said they are motivated by graphics alone.
• 42% stick to what they know, reading promotional e-mails on their mobile devices primarily based on the familiarity of the sender’s name.
• 21% indicated that an awareness of an ongoing deal or price promotion is a primary driver to read promotional e-mails on their mobile device.
• 20% cited the e-mail subject line as the main reason they decide to read marketing e-mails on their mobile device.

This paints a picture of the mobile consumer, ones who are receptive to marketing e-mails, as being a fairly sophisticated — and particular — audience. In these cases, enterprise leaders looking to effectively reach customers have to become marketers of the same kind — savvy enough to build an e-mail campaign that hits the visual and storytelling marks, and also able to leverage the right audience in the right way to bring in conversions around their holiday push.

Getting Past ‘Open': How Enterprise Can Build a Better E-mail Campaign

“Retailers have a significant opportunity to embrace the growing market for mobile shoppers this holiday season,” said EJ McGowan, general manager at Campaigner. But it’s an opportunity that comes with a catch.

“While consumers are more interactive with mobile content and purchasing, [some] marketers are still providing a lackluster mobile experience,” McGowan said. “Some consumers feel content is not personalized, underscoring the importance of relevant content to increase sales and effectively engage with consumers.”

To get you thinking about the relevant and personalized touches that customers desire, check out the following key ideas for crafting outreach:

5 summertime tips for building a better e-mail campaign, this season and all year round:

1. Build a campaign around environments. The 2014 survey found that 56% of participants read promotional e-mails while relaxing or watching TV, and 28% do so at work. The summer months are the perfect time to create and test various messages, subject lines, and mobile designs. Prepare to cultivate multiple environments and so increase your chances of reaching your customers in the perfect way, at the perfect moment.
2. Implement responsive design. Marketers should take the summer to review their responsive-design strategy. Spend time with the analytics surrounding your previous mobile e-mail campaigns. Where you see flagging open rates, freshly encourage mobile interaction by emphasizing those measurably important subject lines. Lean into the image-text combination that mobile customers say they prefer.
3. Streamline content. Nearly 22% of survey respondents said that too much text, or hard-to-read text, irritates them most about reading marketing e-mails on mobile devices. Shorten and simplify your message.
4. Conduct A/B split testing. Once you’ve crafted compelling subject lines and responsive, streamlined content, test these elements of your campaign. Create an A/B split-test on multiple subject lines and then watch in real time as variations go head-to-head.
5. Focus on established and key customers. Keep a version of the 80/20 rule in mind. That is, don’t waste your time on — and/or alienate — the 80% of consumers who won’t drive revenue for your enterprise. Focus instead on the 20% of consumers who do spend time and money with your brand. And then , encourage a continued relationship with that segment by providing rewards, loyalty programs, and great deals for the holidays.

Creating a mobile e-mail approach in the run-up to the holidays doesn’t have to include elements of the impersonal and bland. It doesn’t have to be ineffective because of common and easy-to-avoid mistakes. By working with the above five ideas in your planning, this summer, you’ll hit the digital ground running with an effective e-mail marketing campaign.


And your holiday sales success story? It just might start this month.


Source: http://blog.bigcommerce.com/holiday-email-marketing-tips-kickstart-christmas-campaign-now/

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