I don’t think a business should ever use “standard digital marketing” because I am not sure what the standard is. There is a better chance of getting hit by a truck than clicking on a banner ad. Pay per click has no efficiency and gets more costly at the holidays as competition heats up. Content is great, if it is done correctly. SEO is something you do every day. Video, social and TV are all great mediums — if you have something to say. All retail brands need to think differently to succeed. They need to think about one thing. Online and offline retailers need to think about their customers. They need to think about what that customer persona is and how to best engage with that customer. There is no one-size-fits-all model for marketing. If a brand truly understands their customer, then they have no problem building effective marketing and advertising programs. Ineffective marketing highlights the brands who do not understand their customers. And those are the brands using “standard digital marketing” that is… Read more »

Ms. Giampetro makes a great point. There is no black-and-white for success. Digital marketing success is to be found in the infinite shades of gray. Given the amazing statistics cited regarding digital ad spends and their conversion one can certainly recommend NOT simply spending more money through DoubleClick. Brands and retailers need to find the appropriate mix that remains honest to their brand and, most importantly, their customers and shoppers. Based upon numerous statistics it would seem to make sense to focus on your existing customers as opposed to randomly scattering a message into the digital ether.

Retailers need to understand their customers, where they view ads and what motivates them to shop when and where. Then they need to try to influence consumers to come to their site based upon what is important to the customers. Not only is the location of advertising (online vs. traditional advertising) important, but so is the appeal of the ad and the style of presentation. That is why REI’s campaign was so effective.

I’m old-fashioned on this one, but to me it’s not as much of “where do I spend my ad money” but more of “what am I going to say with creativity.”

There are so many ads on TV and digital media and most of those ads are not effective. There’s too much of the same “me-me” approach with nothing unique about how to attract the customer to watch and hopefully pay attention. Great campaigns are the ones that stand out, get people talking about them and most importantly responding. Once you create the right campaign, then you can decide on how to deliver it through broadcast media — both TV and radio and absolutely digital. Also make sure that when the customer logs on to the company website there is representation there as well along with representation in-store. Campaigns need to be everywhere in every medium and every place a shopper will see them.

Gearing your thought process around the consumer’s shopping journey and how both acquisition and engagement programs support these is a good place to begin. Then consider the current source of first-party data and insights about your customers. Progressive marketers in many industries are breaking down the barriers between paid media and advertising, and direct consumer engagement through email, mobile and social channels. Developing creative marketing approaches like those cited here and enabling them based on a single source of consumer insights to power owned, earned and paid media programs is a best practice.

Young customers have an internal filter that screens out pop-ups and banner ads. Mind you, standard digital marketing doesn’t even register. Instead, marketers should focus on UGC campaigns, a seamless mobile site and work with management to make sure their in-store staff is fully trained and friendly. Creating a positive brand experience will go a lot further than interrupting customers’ daily browsing with pop-up ads.

We shouldn’t paint digital marketing with too broad a brush, and we need to be careful that we don’t oversimplify our metrics. Digital marketing is about MUCH more than email and display ads — search results (on Google, but more importantly on Amazon) are far more important for brands than display ads, and tend to see strong returns. And click-through rate is a terrible measure of success for a display ad: Work that we did at Nielsen five-or-so years ago, where we looked at the impact of display advertising, revealed a negative correlation between campaign impact and click-through rate.

If there is a way to personalize a digital marketing ad based on the customer’s last purchases, frequency of purchases, etc., the success rate will be higher. That’s the beauty of digital. You can play, tweak, experiment, etc. And you can create several different “personas” of customers and market appropriately to them. Content is another powerful way to compete. It’s not ad content. It’s useful, interesting and relevant content.

Part of the problem with digital marketing is the difficulty of hitting a moving target. Customer behaviors and preferences change so rapidly that it’s hard to keep up. That’s why personalized content, like live video, is becoming so important. Retailers should not rely on technologies that do not help create a differentiated shopping experience. And if the technologies do not provide useful, leading-edge metrics required for today’s marketplace, then a search should be done for enhanced campaign automation capabilities. For example, when you can actually recognize your customers by name, it’s much easier to keep them engaged and drive them to respond. But knowing their name is one thing. You also want to know who they are, what they like and what interests them. You need the data, insights and analytics that the latest technology can deliver. This is much easier said than done. I am seeing some innovative retailers leveraging some new tools that are dramatically changing their digital marketing strategies because of the findings these tools are providing. Old stuff just doesn’t do… Read more »

Digital marketing has a wide spectrum. I use our Facebook page to advertise, and boost certain items for a few dollars, and it helps. The other advantage is I already have a captive audience, and those consumers will open up a Facebook post, as they love the in and out deals we bring in. Institutional copy digital advertising I do not open, but if I like a certain retailer, and receive an e-mail blast, or Facebook post, I will look at it, since I am a fan of their products. Does this sound too simple? Maybe, but it can be an elaborate video, or a single red hot sale item, that brings them in, and we always try to keep it fresh. I am done with print advertising at the end of the year, and am seeking out digital companies, who can put together our 8 page tab strictly online, which will save us a huge amount of money. So far some of the proposals are well less than 1/2 of what I am paying,… Read more »

Retailers will succeed with a mix of ad mediums. That said, one of the most destructive ideas that has come up in the past few years is “digital first.” To declare media approach prior to knowing what challenges you must overcome is incredibly short sighted. This is made worse in that digital’s big payout is tactical. There are great digital options for driving very, very near term activity. However, digital lacks good options for achieving critical strategic goals — like long term brand health, shifting consumer attitudes, etc. My primary concern about digital’s growth is a result of its tactical nature: Digital first focus has led retailers to abandon strategic advantage and get lost in the nuts and bolts. (Digital is incredibly nuts and bolts — usually consuming time and energy within a retailer at a far higher rate than it returns benefit.) Smart retailers will balance their spending. Lead with TV — TV should be the engine of your marketing for the holiday. Then put together smart campaigns in digital formats (as well as… Read more »

The key is relevance — both to your customers and to your corporate brand identity. Taking the REI #OptOutside campaign as an example, this works because it speaks to the core nature of their customers — being outdoors. It also is clearly connected to REI’s corporate culture of promoting an outdoor lifestyle and sense of adventure that doesn’t always follow the trends of everyday life. Not every brand can do this as effectively as REI, but that’s the point. That’s why it stands out to all of us. Other brands need to be equally creative but ensure they’re being core to their culture and brand identity in the process. Otherwise the campaign loses relevance to potential customers and then is simply ignored.