Customer engagement looms large as the best way to maintain business success in light of the harder economic times we are facing. With more and more brands struggling, it has never been more important to retain customers to safeguard the future of businesses and this is allowing customer publishing the opportunity to show its true metal. Recent Mintel research conducted by APA showed that the customer publishing industry is now worth £904 million, with growth of 15% expected in the next three years, making it worth £1.1billion, despite the recession. The reason that the medium is bucking the trend of other marketing tools is that brands are recognising the power of editorialised content in customer engagement. In times of recession, when consumers are being more careful with their money, customer publishing is able to offer a brand experience, representing a lifestyle which consumers feel that they are part of. In short, customer publishing engages beyond the clothes that someone buys or a car ad that takes their interest. Editorialisation is able to encapsulate a brand and represent a lifestyle through engaging content which moves away from the hard sell which consumers experience more and more as brands are fighting harder for less consumer cash. Luxury brands are a good example of those which are seeing the value of customer publishing in the longer term due to the recession. With consumers becoming more and more wary of the need to save for the tougher times ahead, high-end brands have to take a broader view and accept that they will be affected for the coming months. However, by engaging in editorialised content they can maintain their customer relationships even though they are not purchasing directly, so that their brand is at the forefront of their minds when the economy takes an upturn. It should also be remembered that customer publishing is no longer limited to the traditional magazine model as digital is a huge area of growth for the medium, with eCRM, e-zines, mobile applications and podcasts all being produced by customer publishers on a regular basis. Indeed, the Mintel report has shown that digital is now the main format for 15% of customer titles and many traditional magazines now also have online versions and other digital content available. The rise of digital is a natural progression for the medium which has always been aimed to offer consumers content when and how they want it. As well as the benefits for consumers, the growth of customer publishing is testament to its vital role in the marketing mix due to the easily measurable nature of the medium. Investment in customer publishing garners high response rates from consumers, making it possible for marketers to directly track what their money is doing for the brand. Again, the growth of digital extends the investment of editorialisation as a channel-neutral approach makes content available to a huge variety of audiences in the consumer landscape. So, whilst the recession takes hold and increases its grip on budgets, marketers need to think carefully about how to forge the deepest consumer relationships that will stand the test of time and economic downturn. Customer publishing provides this, with expertise in editorialisation of brand developed over many years combined with levels of innovation and creativity which continue to produce successful campaigns for brands across a huge range of sectors.
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While the likes of Tesco are hell-bent on converting consumers to their own labels, brands would do well to spread their risk, diversifying their energies into the independent sectors where accurate new sales insight is shining a light on missed opportunities. With the large multiples currently weighting their promotional activities in favour of their own labels, brand suppliers are left with a painful dilemma. They can’t afford to jeopardise their position in these all-powerful national retail outlets by kicking back. Yet, at the same time, they know they are chasing ever-diminishing returns if they continue to depend so heavily on this vast, high-profile distribution channel for their products. It isn’t only through in-store promotions and TV and newspaper ads that the likes of Tesco and Asda are squeezing the big brands by blatantly comparing their prices against the big names. Even online, despite their pre-set ‘Favourite’ folders, consumers are being pushed by Tesco into ‘clicking here to see cheaper options’ for each item they have previously preferred. So how can the brands protect their market share, and sustain profits? Continually driving down their own prices risks devaluing the brand, while steadily chipping away at margins. The only real option is to boost sales elsewhere. Yet until now, the vast, yet extremely diverse and complex independent retail sector, as well as the often neglected but substantial independent catering sector, have held mixed prospects for the big brands. While there is no question of the scale of the market opportunity – the independent retail sector comprises over 50,000 store locations while there are over 250,000 independent catering establishments (from cafes to hotels) – the challenge to date has been how to target and maximise these sectors cost-efficiently and profitably.
The crux of the problem has been a lack of sales intelligence. Where sales and trend analysis statistics abound in the multiple sector, comparable insights have been sorely absent in both the independent retail and catering sectors. This lack of visibility has left brand suppliers and wholesalers very much in the dark when assessing where product categories and specific brands are selling well and, crucially, where opportunities are being missed. These companies’ only option has been to deploy local field sales teams to trawl the market, randomly making appointments and trying to boost sales with blanket promotions. Adding to the cost of sale, this has hampered the brands’ ability to generate healthy profits from the sector. Until now, that is. At long last, light is being shined into the black hole of sales data which exists but has never before been collected or analysed in the independent sector. Recognising the difficulties of capturing EPOS data from thousands upon thousands of diverse outlets, wholesalers have now been incentivised to capture and share information about actual shipments to stores. In return for providing this data, the wholesalers are given access to broader trend data, allowing them to identify opportunities they have been missing. No wonder, then, that wholesalers have been signing up to the service increasingly over the last few years. The intelligence is also being extended to the brand suppliers, creating a scenario where both parties now have a broader, more holistic view of what is and isn’t selling across the independent market – allowing them to do something about it. For example, a brand provider may have assumed previously that an increase of 3% in sales of a particular label of beer over a given period was impressive - metrics which take on a whole new significance once it is discovered that total beer sales across the independent sector were up 7%. With consumer shopping habits currently shifting to an unprecedented degree, driven by worries about the recession, it is dangerous to assume that trends being witnessed in the multiples sector apply also to the independent market. The availability of real statistics and their interpretation into actionable insights offers brand suppliers and wholesalers a powerful tool. For the first time, this allows them to accurately analyse the independent sector by outlet type, location, and consumption of product category and brand. Armed with this detail, they can hone their marketing and sales activities to pinpoint, measure and exploit specific opportunities. This means that promotions can be tailored, and informed decisions taken about the relative merits of a face-to-face sales call over a targeted direct mail promotion. This is a massive leap forward from the days of unqualified streams of data, or even business intelligence and CRM information. What’s on offer here is more than insight, even. This comprehensive, accurate, context-based sales information provides actionable insight. Consider a huge brand like Coca-Cola, which may have been selling over several million products into this market - but without any visibility of where they had ended up after entering the wholesaler’s depot. Suddenly, it is in a position to hone its sales activities and influence greater take-up of its products, at such a fine detail level as being able to determine which fish and chip shops or newsagents warrant a fridge to stock its products, or which profitable outlets are failing to stock the Diet range. Over the 4-5 years it has been exploiting such insight in the food and drink market, Nisa has seen sales to 3,000 targeted member stores grow by 30%, thanks to the ability to accurately and cost-efficiently identify and exploit opportunities for the first time. The transparent intelligence it has access to is so sophisticated that wholesalers and brands can see not only how sales have broken down and where distribution opportunities have been missed, but the potential financial impact to their business if those gaps were addressed. Such capabilities offer an unprecedented and very welcome lifeline to the brands as they strive to create new sales opportunities and reduce their dependence on the multiples for profitable growth as the recession threatens to deepen. For the wholesaler, this could be just the beginning in forging stronger, more fruitful relationships with their suppliers, and boosting profits.
With the much-publicised collapse of Mosaic Fashions, and the recent announcement that Baugur Group is filing for bankruptcy, the outlook may seem bleak for retail groups operating within the UK. While remaining consortiums may be tempted to fight for their survival by cutting costs at every corner, by doing this they are missing out on an opportunity to build loyalty across multiple brands.
Vouchers and coupons rewarding loyalty and encouraging repeat visits have become commonplace across the retail industry in recent months, and in some cases have been a hugely successful strategy. However, few retailers are using their loyalty scheme to its full advantage. Retail groups have a significant opportunity to embrace the current consumer trend for cutting costs, as they are in the unique position of being able to offer consumers reductions and rewards across multiple retailers. By analysing customer behaviour, a retailer can issue a relevant, targeted promotion that encourages a repeat visit, or offers the consumer an introduction to another retailer within the group.
This will work alongside the consumer’s desire to ‘shop around’ to find the best price, while keeping the best customers within the group. With dramatic budget cuts and a strong shift towards own label products, retailers and brands need to work together to allocate all remaining budget in the most efficient and effective way possible. While the retail industry continues to face an uncertain future, retail consortiums must use their market position to their advantage if they want to weather the economic storm.
While much has been reported on the losers of the down turn, what are starting to emerge are clear winners. So while TV advertising may be on a downward spiral, search is beginning to shine as marketers understand that it is a far more accountable channel.
Conversely though, early indications show that in the travel sector search is down. This is highly surprising considering that digital marketing can play a fundamental role for travel brands to build and retain relationships with customers, especially through difficult economic times. So why are travel brands failing to explore their true potential? It is no surprise that the industry expects people to take fewer holidays over the next two years. This downturn is hitting everyone but the super rich, so the average UK consumer is seriously going to question every pound spent. For this reason travel brands are rightly questioning all marketing spend. However, some seem to be taking a very short term approach and have cut budget across every media channel, a strategy which I believe to be wrong.
Brands, regardless of sector, need to consider the long term objectives of sustaining market position and capitalise on competitors failings. We all know we are in a time of survival of the fittest, and the brands that will fare the best are those who can offer highly competitive costs.
For the travel sector in particular, consumers are very savvy about scouring the internet for the best costs. Unlike other sectors the majority are more prepared to search for a holiday or flight than they are with other purchase decisions, as well as being more prepared to compare the available options. Importantly, this is also witnessed with first class bookings, where free transfers and upgrades are being used to secure the all-important booking. Even the previously less price sensitive business travel sector will be increasingly competitive as businesses push to reduce overheads at every possibility. So, while search in travel may have dipped slightly I predict it will bounce back.
Brands will not be able to ignore the fact that digital mediums can offer them an inexpensive means to maintain customer loyalty through ongoing communications. Over the coming months the search marketing landscape in travel will become aggressively competitive, especially around long-tail, DR-focused terms, such as "cheapest flight London New York May". Many advertisers will no longer be able to afford the top-funnel keywords, while conversion rates are likely to be relatively low and falling. The reduced advertiser numbers may, however, in turn reduce the CPCs on such terms in the long run. This creates an opportunity for large brands to get in on a market with, by far, the biggest search volumes.
With this in mind it is essential that media becomes more integrated to ensure greater value for money. Working with Qantas we were able to demonstrate a direct correlation with the volume of brand term searches around an ATL branding campaign. This connection was vital for planning ongoing activity and securing media budget.
Ultimately, 2009 will be about getting the basics right and understanding how to unlock the power of digital media. The search landscape changes rapidly and the winning brands will be those who are able to pick up on trends and understand the buying cycles to ensure optimisation is witnessed. Importantly by engaging consumers and giving them the content and price they want and when they want it, will ensure that some brands will undoubtedly prosper.
However effective an organisation’s customer analysis, segmentation and targeting, online direct marketing campaigns are fundamentally constrained by the limitations of creating relevant and timely email content. As a result, whilst many organisations are now maximising the customer experience with optimised landing pages and web content, they have been unable to follow up that experience with relevant email messaging created on the fly. Yet optimised email creation enables organisations to respond to a customer’s online behaviour in real time, combining the valuable customer analysis and segmentation information with on site web activity, including links to the landing page, to create a far more relevant marketing message, without the manual overhead. It is this timely response to real time customer activity that will enable organisations to deliver highly effective, integrated online marketing for the first time and maximise the significant investment in online customer acquisition. With declining marketing budgets, organisations simply cannot continue to invest huge amounts in the intensive customer acquisition campaigns that have defined online marketing in the past decade. As the cost of customer acquisition continues to spiral in the face of escalating competition, it is now time to refocus activity and look to gain far greater value from every customer interaction. Certainly, over the past couple of years a growing number of organisations have achieved a significant increase in online conversion rates by dynamically optimising web content. Indeed, average uplift is around 27% in recent months, quite an achievement in a challenging economy. However, despite the sophistication now applied to changing web content to reflect customer behaviour, email marketing techniques remain slow, highly manual and less than scientific. While email marketers acknowledge that changes to graphics; the location of call to action buttons; and campaign text have a significant effect on conversion rates, there is little scientific evaluation. Indeed, today, the typical approach to testing an email campaign is to send out two, maybe three, different emails and wait a few weeks to compare the conversion rate results. This, highly unscientific, approach is simply not producing results. It fails to reflect consumer behaviour in real time and hence potentially misses time sensitive opportunities. While the creative work carried out for online campaigns is increasingly sophisticated, most marketing departments have little or no way of accurately assessing performance or, critically, feeding results into future campaigns. In reality, most marketing departments are increasingly overwhelmed by the amount of information now available from a raft of performance measurement tools but they seldom offer clear, actionable steps towards achieving the marketing objective. However, the technology now exists which enables organisations to test multiple versions of an online direct marketing campaign simultaneously. Performance is measured against a variety of criteria in real time and the email content optimised according to the results. Typically performance is gauged on initial click through rates to the web site or landing page; but the measure can be extended to include product selection, final purchase or, in the case of a product comparison site, click-out to another site.
The incomprehensible and frankly irresponsible decision from Andy Burnham to reject any change to the rules governing product placement is hugely depressing, but does serve one purpose in that it must surely ignite the debate about future funding models for commercial TV. In particular, what should the relationship be between brands and broadcasters in terms of commissioning and producing programming? For, as the good ship UK Commercial Television heads towards the iceberg and the deck chairs are arranged in ever more confusing patterns, this must be the time to ask whether the Advertiser Funded Programme should not be a major part of the broadcasting landscape moving forward. Product placement is actually only a minor side show. There is a far bigger issue revolving around creating commercial and creative relationships that justify brand spend on broadcast TV. And it’s time to start talking about it seriously. It would be foolish to pretend that it’s the answer to all the woes currently assailing UK broadcasters, but surely it is time to engage with the model in a more sophisticated and committed way. The advantages and benefits are so manifold, so obvious and so compelling that it seems extraordinary that more serious attention is not being paid to AFP. So why now and what can we do to make it work? And if the logic is so strong, who or what is preventing it from happening? Why? Well, look no further than the recent survey from Jack Myers in the USA. Looking at the prospects for all forms of advertising and marketing in 2009 and 2010, amongst the appalling tale of woe and decline, two sectors stand out. Myers reckons advertiser spending on Branded Entertainment/Product Placement will rise by 8% in 2009 and 15% in 2010. And marketing investment in Online Video will rise by 25% and a massive 35% respectively. Yes, they have a different regulatory culture, but it’s happening in the US and that can only be because all key parties –broadcaster/platform, brand and production company – have worked out a way to make it happen that benefits all of them. And what happens in US media is extremely likely to cross the Atlantic at some point. The arguments over the collapse of the effectiveness of the 30” spot are surely all too well rehearsed and familiar. Metaphorical hands up from those of you who know teenagers who purposely build in 5-10 minutes of pause time into their Sky + so that they can fast forward through the ad breaks in a show that they could perfectly well have watched live? And of course, there is the Ofcom figure of 88% of the 6.3m owners of PVRs who always or almost always fast forward through ads. Aversion to “pushed” advertising amongst young people is reaching epidemic proportions. No wonder the US brands are looking for new ways to work with TV and video. Why aren’t we responding with similar vigour? Historically, it has sometimes been hard to put together a commercial and creative model that brands could invest in with confidence. That’s no longer true. Now, with the right expertise, it is almost always possible to construct a compelling case for direct investment in production and the ownership of programming rights in response to a strategic brief. For many years, the AFP model really had to justify itself as a linear TV experience. It could and did happen successfully, but there was an understandable hesitancy amongst marketing directors based on the lack of demonstrable ROI. The advent of meaningful online and VOD platforms changes all that. Brands and production companies should be embracing the chance to re-work content to integrate much more direct commercial messages for the unregulated platforms. All the Ofcom issues relating to undue prominence disappear online, so brands can produce exactly what they want – no more of those frustrating conversations with commissioners arguing over a certain number of brand references. For those brands who want to sell directly from a screen or who want to gather further information about potential customers, there’s a wide range of interactive options to play with. If you want guaranteed ROI, what could be more enticing? So how are the broadcasters responding to this brave new world? Well, not quite as logic would dictate. The bizarre truth is that if you went to a big commercial broadcaster and said you were interested in spending £1m on a traditional TV campaign, you’d be drowned in a tsunami of corporate hospitality, lunches, and golf. But if you approached the same broadcaster with £1m and the intention of working up some programming ideas and commercial models in partnership with a view to funding productions, it’s often hard to even know who to talk to. And when you do find someone, they often operate in apparent isolation from the rest of the company and hence struggle to pull the key players together. In short, attention to AFP remains peripheral at best. However, things are starting to change. The traditional commissioning antipathy to brand involvement is dispersing. This, recently, from a senior executive at a major broadcaster; “right now, if it’s fully funded and reasonably entertaining, we’ll put it out at 7.30pm”. If brands don’t use the current funding crisis to drive AFP, then they are surely missing a gilt edged opportunity to create deal models and assets that work for them. Broadcaster appetite has never been greater, meaning that deals that would have been unthinkable only 18 months ago are now achievable. For example, surely there can be no further resistance to providing an onscreen link direct to a brands site, rather than having to navigate via the broadcasters own site? Broadcasters should be actively pursuing brands to create strands for shoulder peak, afternoon and weekends, where budgets are most under threat. They should be pursuing niche brands to create late night strands that can roll out seamlessly online. This means sitting down and devising content that will work for both parties. It does not mean touting existing formats around to brands hoping that they will pay for them. That’s never going to play well. The idea that the brand can be excluded from the creative process is condescending and counter-productive. Include the brand as an equal and key partner from the start. Select a short list of production companies to pitch in response to a joint brief. Cover off the commercial and regulatory issues at as early a stage as possible. All this can seem scary and new, but there is really no excuse for not embracing it now. And please can we have some senior executives to talk to? Finally, they need to cut the umbilical cord with exclusivity. For AFP to work, it has to have the flexibility to travel everywhere and onto multiple platforms. One issue that needs tackling is how AFP shows are scheduled. By now, everyone must know that it’s legally impossible to guarantee a transmission time in a contract, but there is so much more that broadcasters can do to avoid the most annoying scenario for brands. That’s the one where a change in transmission time [inevitably to a less attractive slot] is announced as a fait accompli, with no prior consultation and no sensitivity to how it might impact on a brands campaign, let alone ROI. There has been an attitude around that implies that AFP is somehow more disposable than traditional commissions when it comes to scheduling sacrifices. That must change. In fact, in future, it needs to be the reverse. So, what else is stopping us and who needs to do what to make it work? The media agencies and to a lesser degree, the creative agencies have a lot to answer for. As jealous as ever over their relationships with brands, they’ve paid lip service to the idea of them producing content. But very few of them actually mean it. They know they lack the basic skill sets – no relationship with or experience of the commissioning process and no knowledge of how a TV programme is made or what a TV production budget looks like. Far better to continue to push clients down the familiar path of the 30’ spot and continue to rake off the usual margins, than to encourage them to invest in an area they have trouble delivering. All this has lead to a desperate failure of education. When it comes to AFP, the average level of understanding amongst senior marketers is worryingly low. Isn’t it the role of the fabled one stop agencies to educate their clients in new marketing models? The advertisers don’t escape either, and they too need to look hard at how to engage. They need to ask more questions; questions of their agencies and their researchers. If AFP is working and growing in the US, why aren’t we doing it here? And there is one aspect that Marketing Directors must take on board – AFP can make money and provide new revenue streams. Of course, most marketers are not used to seeing a direct financial return from their spend, but it can and should always happen with Brand Funded Content. Apart from anything else, they will be creating an asset that can appear on a balance sheet. Advertising that directly pays for itself? Now there’s an idea! Next in the firing line are the Government, Ofcom and the current broadcasting codes. How often is that tired but familiar refrain “But Ofcom don’t allow us to do that…” heard? Actually, the codes leave huge responsibility to broadcasters to interpret what is editorially justified. That interpretation needs to be far more brand friendly in future and Ofcom need to be responsive to that. If there is one argument that needs to be strongly rebuffed, it’s the one that posits that product placement [and by extension, brand involvement in format creation] will inevitably turn programmes into glorified advertorials. That is simply nonsense and how desperately depressing was it to hear the latest from Andy Burnham? To suggest that is simplistic, and frankly insulting to the UK creative community to assume that they won’t be able to execute product placement with imagination and in a way that doesn’t impinge on viewer enjoyment. Does anyone think that people want to watch over-branded shows packed full of clumsy product placement on TV? If brand integration is not done well and with sensitivity, it won’t work, because people [particularly young ones] are incredibly savvy when it comes to branding and being sold to. Michael Grade has at least got this one right when he says this decision must be fought and challenged. As in other areas of business, it’s time to start thinking what has previously been close to unthinkable. For Ofcom, this means a radical review of how brands can work with editorial content on TV. To be blunt, we need to move quickly towards a model more analogous with the USA. One which allows brands a far more central role in devising content and which gives them more freedom to exploit that content. It doesn’t need to be such a horrifying prospect. Does anyone object to Ford’s involvement with 24? Does anyone mind that Dr Pepper and T Mobile are actually credited for promotional support at the end of the new 90210? For anyone who doesn’t believe advertorial can work, take a look at Tiger Woods’ 5 minute film for Buick on Youtube. It’s a brilliant combination of top talent, and a clever, but simple format and a natural presence for the brand. And if some shrinking violets are upset by the more visible presence of those horrible brands on TV, is that not a necessary price we are going to have to pay for the very existence of big budget productions in the future? Let’s trust the viewer. Such is the nature of the funding crisis facing all broadcasters that I believe Ofcom should be moving immediately to propose a revised broadcasting code. And if it requires primary or European legislation, then all involved should be actively lobbying at the highest level. The effect of inaction will be seen on the nation’s screens in about 12 months time, when the stream of commercial UK drama production has dwindled to a trickle, at best and the percentage of repeats rises to a record high. Is that really serving the viewer? This raises the question of the role of production companies in driving Brand Funded Content. The brighter ones have long appreciated that direct investment by brands in programming is going to be a key part of their funding model in the future and some have good people with a strong understanding of how to work with brands. But many need to view this area with more sophistication. As referred to above, it’s simply not good enough to approach brands with the old “the broadcaster loves it but can’t afford it, so would you like to pay for it?” shtick. Brands need more. They’ll need to see that you’ve thought through all the opportunities for the content. They’ll need to see that you are embracing them creatively and are prepared to work on formats together. And they’ll need to see you as true partners and you’ll need to appreciate that your primary commissioning link in future will probably be with a brand manager, and that its time to say goodbye to those cosy relationships with commissioner mates. Finally, a challenge to brands and broadcasters; can anyone find fault with the following model? Brand X invests £500k in a yearlong content and production plan to create carefully formatted factual programming that delivers to a brand strategy. The brand has creative control of content and production. One production hub fires out linear TV edits [plenty of money for two series of 10x 30’], VOD edits, online edits, social network edits, in-store edits, hand-set edits, in flight edits, international edits, DVD edits. Each will be different both in look and feel and how it delivers for the brand. Some will drive a wider brand message via association [linear]. Others will directly sell products off a screen [online]. And some will recruit the customers of the future [interactive VOD]. For the unregulated platforms, include more product placement. All can sit on a balance sheet as assets and there should always be some new revenue generated. Job done? So, can we all grow up, wake up and make this work? Of course we can, because necessity is the mother of invention No one pretends it’s easy, and all concerned have to buy into the Diana principle of there being 3 people in a marriage – brand, production company and broadcaster. It will require will and imagination to surmount some of the current entrenched and short term positions. But it can be done. The risk of not summoning up that will and imagination is just too great. Oh, and don’t forget the programme. It’s still a hit business, and all the brand support in the world won’t polish the proverbial. Nick Ryle, Partner RWA.
There is no denying that 2008 wasn’t quite ‘the year of mobile’ and with a miserable economic forecast for 2009 it looks like this might continue to be the case for a while yet. But while mobile might not have won over hearts and minds just yet it still deserves far more attention than it has been receiving of late. Given the current financial climate it is easy to see why many in the industry feel that now might not be the best time to test new media channels. However, I would argue that shying away from new challenges and opportunities is the last thing that companies should be doing right now. This reluctance ignores the new demographics, more engaging messages and more appropriate timing that utilising new media channels such as mobile can bring. At the moment everyone feels comfortable about focusing on online activity. This is because there is plenty of evidence supporting the argument that online is a safe bet because it provides solid ROI, which ultimately makes it justifiable. Perhaps surprisingly for some mobile brings with it similar benefits and so should be viewed as another safe option. The ROI it delivers continues to be incredibly healthy, and the cost of creating mobile sites continues to reduce. For these reasons the platform’s search capabilities are becoming an increasingly attractive proposition for advertisers. The substantial benefits mobile brings to the table don’t stop there. In addition to the capabilities outlined above it offers the ability to connect with consumers’ on the move – an increasingly important benefit as consumers work and personal lives become increasingly mobile. Furthermore, it offers unparalleled reach allowing brands to expand their existing market share while tapping into new audiences. Reach is of course vital, but when budgets are tightening companies need to make every communication count, making targeting another increasingly important consideration. We all recognise the impact of effective targeting and the highly personalised communications it allows for. All brands, but particularly ones that are relevant to an audience in transit, can benefit from the huge opportunities in this area that mobile search provides. Utilising mobile search to support your wider campaign activity can provide a brand with real standout from its competitors. With competition increasingly fierce, particularly in cluttered markets such as finance, this capability will increasingly gain the recognition it deserves. Conversion rates are another area where mobile matches online, allowing for effective and easy-to-monitor direct conversion rates, bringing consumers literally straight through to the company. Mobile sites can also be monetised in same way as websites, creating a stand alone source of revenue. So the ROI arguments are clear – low cost, minimum resources required and significant return likely. In these straitened times we should all be focusing on such opportunities rather than backing away from them. Now is an opportune time to steal the march on the competition and history shows fortune favours the brave. Consumers’ use of mobile search is on the increase. In the same way as with the internet previously, some advertisers are still behind the curve of consumers adopting mobile as a mainstream communications platform. Now is the time for our clients to push ahead with making media firsts. He who dares wins!
The British Bankers’ Association reported that the amount banks lending to small businesses rose by 239 million in January, proving that small businesses can still emerge and grow despite the current economic climate. In some instances small and medium sized companies are actually better equipped to deal with harsher times as they can be more streamlined, determined and focused on consumers needs. But are there things that small businesses can do to optimise these advantages and boost consumer confidence?
Commenting on this data, BBA statistics director, David Dooks, said: “There have been net rises in term lending to small businesses each month since last autumn, albeit at levels below last year's monthly average, reflecting subdued business investment in the economic downturn. At the end of last year, the outstanding level of term lending was some 9 per cent higher than a year earlier. The many small businesses that don't borrow are drawing on cash reserves to fund current cash-flow needs, such as January's tax payments. Despite the recession, people are still embarking on new business ventures, as shown by the number of new start-up relationships in early 2009 being in line with last years average."
There’s always room for small to medium sized businesses to flourish in the current economic climate because of the unique relationships they can foster with their customers. It is so important to get the small details right and build mutually respectful relationships with consumers, as it’s far easier to adapt to individual needs and build brand trust and consumer confidence at a grass roots level. But businesses that rely on reputation and word of mouth can’t afford to make mistakes. So it’s particularly important during the current economic climate to give customers what they need and make sure that their recommendations become an effective form of free marketing. This is something that has become increasingly important and recognised by all businesses, whatever their size.
In its latest quarterly referendum survey, members of the Forum of Private Businesses voted for restoring business confidence (65%) and restoring consumer confidence (63%) as the two issues they most want the Government to prioritise in the 2009 Budget in order to support their businesses.
For smaller businesses, finding ways to reward customers is particularly important when trying to develop and enhance consumer confidence during the current economic climate and that’s why The Rocket Marketing Group offers a number of reward programmes including The Midweek Dining Club, The Home & Garden Club, The Big Savings Club and The Entertainment Club. These are particularly good for small and medium sized businesses to be involved with, as they offer free marketing on a national scale to an ever growing customer base of 300,000 people. All our partners have to do to receive this free marketing, is offer an exclusive discount to our members. It is a way of giving customers something back for remaining loyal to the brand.
The Rocket Marketing Group’s range of reward programmes are also available to be sold to a business’ existing customer base. We currently work with clients such as JML who generate commission by selling a range of clubs to their customers. This gives JML incremental revenue and gives the customers a wider range of products and services at a reduced rate, which they associate with JML, making it more of a one stop shop for consumers’ needs.
Contact The Rocket Marketing Group whatever the size of your business, for more information or to discuss how free marketing through our reward programmes can help your business.
Sponsored links, the answers to a search query that are paid for by client companies, have had to work hard to reach the elevated status they enjoy today.
In times of general financial hardship, an ugly and persistent mantra tends to rear its head that goes something like this: "brand advertising is an expensive luxury."
If you’ve ever had enough spare cash to peruse prospectus materials for investment funds or stocks and shares ISAs, you will be familiar with the ever-present caveat that ‘past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance’. This is intended to draw your intention to possible risks associated with learning from the past. During the current downturn I’m beginning to worry that our obsession with databases may require similar warnings to be printed in bold font on the walls of our marketing departments. Over the last ten years, predictive analytics – such as using results from one campaign to draw in the focus of the next – have become the bedrock upon which the best relevancy-based marketing activities have been founded. And quite rightly so: it’s been a win-win situation for brand owners and their consumers, with each getting what they want. For the brands, lower costs and focus upon their most valuable market opportunities; for the consumers, receipt of relevant messages and offers.
We use our UK representative online panel to research current attitudes, then combine findings with transactional customer databases.
Despite the recession there are still a number of companies, across a range of industries that are experiencing profit growth. We should be celebrating these successes and not let our focus be consumed by the negative stories. Recession is almost certainly a time for change, but not necessarily failure. Brands may have to adapt to reflect how people are spending; like Waitrose, which recently introduced a lower priced range to their traditionally high-end selection of products, to encourage profit growth.
This change from Waitrose came days before supermarket Morrisons reported an operating profit growth of 7.7 million this year; proving that value is currently an important issue for supermarket shoppers. Chief Executive, Marc Bolland, said: “Our focus on fresh food and value appeals to shoppers everywhere and provides a strong platform to take Morrisons from national to nationwide.”
This, it seems is a theme that unsurprisingly repeats itself across many areas, not least entertainment. As people are watching the pennies, cheaper entertainment seems to be an easy way for people to cut back. This is good news for companies such as Cineworld, which operates 75 cinemas. The company has just released its figures showing that sales for the year rose by 4.4%.
On this, Chairman, Anthony Bloom commented: “Movies have an enduring appeal and a visit to the cinema is relatively low cost when compared with other forms of leisure and entertainment.”
Operating in a similar sphere, LOVEFiLM.com, Europe’s largest online DVD & games rental service and entertainment has also had a phenomenal year achieving success during recession: “40 per cent increase in memberships since the credit crunch began. Now renting over 3 million DVDs per month from a catalogue of nearly 70,000 unique titles, the latest figures reveal further proof that for Britons, staying in is the new going out.
Commenting on the recent success during recession of LOVEFiLM CEO Simon Calver said: “This is further evidence of what another great year it’s been for us. Given the uneasy economic climate, we’re thrilled that customers increasingly recognise LOVEFiLM as the affordable and accessible entertainment option. Coupled with our recent acquisition and integration of the Amazon DVD rental business in the UK and Germany, we are looking forward to what the next year brings.”
A few other success stories include KFC announcing the creation of 9,000 jobs, McDonald’s sales increasing by 7.6 per cent in the final quarter of 2008, Cadbury announcing a 30 per cent annual profit growth as consumers turn to chocolate treats during the recession – and the list goes on.
This small selection shows the success of businesses offering cheaper options and reflects the way people are choosing to spend their time. For the average Briton adjusting to the difficulties of a recession may mean spending less, but that doesn’t have to mean enjoying life any less. Value brands and cheaper entertainment options are the obvious choice for consumers, so how can every other business align themselves with value brands to ensure steady trade, without damaging the brand’s values?
Businesses such as LOVEFILM and Cineworld have capitalised on marketing their brands through loyalty and membership programmes, which give members further discounts and build loyalty at a time when the public are looking for extra value. But these clubs are also a way that brands such as Virgin Experience Days and Theatre Tokens can offer customers discounts and drive sales without devaluing their usually more expensive products.
The Rocket Marketing Group has a range of products that offer businesses a way to tap into the discount market. These products include The Entertainment Club, The Midweek Dining Club, The Big Savings Club and The Home and Garden Club.
There's no question that with the dreaded credit crunch biting, marketers are starting to tighten their belts just like the rest of us. But they still need to get their message out there to their target audience and advergaming is one of the most cost-effective ways to do that. Sadly, due to some seriously low quality games flooding the market (you know who you are!); it seems that there's still some cynicism around the power of advergaming. But think about it… What better way to get consumers engaging and interacting with your brand than an absorbing, fun game? Quite simply, people like playing games – that's why they buy an Xbox or Wii. So if you can give them simple, but crackingly addictive games for free, then it's win-win. And because they've chosen to play the game, you're more likely to create a positive interaction with them, which as a result, means they'll be more likely to click through to wherever you're pointing them; have a greater propensity to buy your brand in the future; and they're more likely to give you valuable information about themselves in exchange for a voucher or competition entry. It's a quid pro quo situation. A good advergame needs to be easy to play, but a challenge to master. The problem is, a lot of advergames out there are actually rubbish to play and there's nothing to master! If a game's rewarding and there's a sense of achievement, you're halfway there to hooking in your potential customers. So, beware of the agencies that charge £5-10k for a "viral" game and talk you into believing that they've got a game that will go "viral". It's just not that simple. Just because it's a game, it's not necessarily viral. Another major benefit of advergames is the way the Flash content is "stripped out" and posted on hundreds, even thousands of websites. So you can create an engaging game, but sitting within that Flash content is a product/service microsite, (See www.jellyjumper.com <http://www.jellyjumper.com/> <http://www.jellyjumper.com/> as a good example) that gets your brand out to a massive audience. But if you're a UK company, there's really no point in getting teenagers in Rio playing your game. You need to go after the right people in the right country. This is where clever seeding is crucial. If the game idea itself is well targeted and your seeding is spent in the right areas, there's no reason why you can't hit the relevant target audiences. Using seeding companies like Viralnet, means you can guarantee, yup guarantee, players within your target geographic region. In fact, you can be looking at guaranteeing several hundred thousand players - and that's before the viral spread takes over. Recently for one client, through three advergames, we added over 250,000 new opt-ins to their e-mail database and increased sales by an impressive 15%. You can't argue with that.Advergaming works. So marketers should take a good look at their digital budgets - with £50,000 or so they could be engaging and entertaining impressive numbers of current and potential customers and starting a rewarding customer relationship with them. www.inbox.co.uk - InboxDMG is a member of Digital Marketing Group plc, www.digitalmarketinggroup.co.uk.
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Forget the doom mongers, there is a small core of people who make up most of your revenue and they are quite smitten with you. You’ve persuaded them and they are happy to spend their hard-earned money with you.
Experian recently carried out a report into online retailing entitled Engaging Online with the Empowered Customer. It revealed a juicy nugget of information: 70% of revenues were generated by just 30% of customers. For marketers who remember Pareto’s classic 80:20 rule, these statistics ring true.
The rule has become a tenet because it never seems to lose its currency while markets change and develop. Even if you grow your base of customers, you will presumably have more turnover, but 80% of revenues will come from only 20% of them. The intuitive reaction is to target the “one-off” purchasers in order to encourage them into the 20% group. Here’s how the Pareto maths add up: Say 10,000 customers contribute £1,000,000 of income. If the rule holds, then 2,000 of them will contribute £800,000 (£400 per head) and the remaining 8,000 will contribute £200,000 – £25 per head.
If you want to get another £100,000 of income, what looks easier? Getting your 2,000 loyalists to spend another 12.5% (£50 each), or recruiting another 4,000 new customers? So, the smart option for recessionary times is to get passionate about your best customers. Now is the time to thank them and give them the incentive to spend more with you, or at least spend at the same level.
Make sure they “opt-in” to a dialogue with you. Don’t be too coy – remember these are the ones that love you. Then start talking. What about a discount on their next purchase? A free gift? Be daring: ask them to recommend you to their friends. This is where e-marketing can help. It’s a low cost and immediate way of keeping in touch. No long development cycle, and with the benefits of complete “trackability”, and the option to run test matrices to see what works.
A balance between email-based marketing, and onsite or online-based campaigns needs careful consideration. I would recommend that you look at your online sales and find your top 20% then get a four-to eight-week programme of communications going with them. Use a range of offers and techniques. And if it works think about rolling it out to the other 80%. You’ve invested in some key customers, and it’s paid out. Now’s the time to cuddle up close until the economic frosts start to thaw. Author: Mark Wooding MD of full service agency Soprano
One of our clients is a large chain of licensed premise so we try and keep abreast of things by reading the relevant trade publications including The Publican who recently commissioned some research into the UK’s top 50 beer brands.
Normally we see this sort of research as being consumer focussed but in this instance the information was gathered from a group of 500 licensees who were asked what brands they would stock if given a completely free choice regardless of price or availability.
I’m unsure what the research hoped to achieve but none the less it is still an interetsing role call of beer brands. One thing that did strike me is that there isn’t a cask bitter in the top ten.
The Top 50 Beer Brands
1. Carling2. Foster’s3. Guinness4. Stella Artois5. John Smith’s6. Tennent’s7. Carlsberg8. Kronenbourg 16649. Beck’s Vier10. Peroni11. London Pride12. Budweiser 13. Greene King IPA 14. Worthington’s Creamflow 15. Harvey’s Best 16. Belhaven Best 17. Tetley Smooth 18. Grolsch 19. = Abbott Ale, Sharp’s Doom Bar, Heineken 22. Amstel 23. = Carlsberg Export, Timothy Taylor Landlord 25. = Black Sheep Bitter, Budvar, San Miguel 28. = Bombardier, Woodforde’s Wherry 30. = Adnams Bitter, Wadworth 6X 32. Staropramen 33. = Coors Fine Light, Hoegaarden, Holsten Pils 36. = Deuchars IPA, Bass 38. = Beck’s, Miller Genuine Draft40. = Corona, Leffe, Kirin, Marston’s Pedigree, Shepherd Neame Spitfire, St Austell Tribute 47. = Boddingtons, Copper Dragon Best, Old Speckled Hen, Otter 50. Courage Best
Although the list includes some micro-brewed beers, the majority of licensees want the brands that excite consumers and have the marketing budgets to back that up. What is slightly worrying is that of all the beer brands listed there are only seven that I haven’t tried yet…..still it’s nearly the weekend!
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