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GUEST BLOG: Gauging the return on investment available from marketing
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According to figures published by Google in its Car Purchasing UK Report in April 2018, £115.9 million was invested in direct mail and online display by UK car dealers during 2016 alone.

While automotive manufacturers often have a substantial marketing budget available to them though, this is not always a luxury to firms when they are looking at their marketing campaigns.

Due to digital visibility not usually coming cheap due to the increased interest in online platforms, VW service providers Vindis takes a look at whether such investments are indeed worth the cost…

The automotive industry

Within Google’s Drive To Decide Report, which was created in association with TNS, a discussion took place about how the auto shopper of today is more digitally savvy than previous generations. In fact, over 82% of the UK population aged 18 and over have access to the internet for personal reasons, 85% use smartphones and 65% choose a smartphone as their preferred device to access the internet. These figures show that for car dealers to keep their head in the game, a digital transition is vital.

Research online will also be carried out by 90% of auto shoppers, the same report goes on to reveal. 51% of buyers starting their auto research online, with 41% of those using a search engine. To capture those shoppers beginning their research online, car dealers must think in terms of the customer’s micro moments of influence, which could include online display ads – one marketing method that currently occupies a significant proportion of car dealers’ marketing budgets.

Of the entire UK Digital Ad Spending Growth throughout 2017, eMarketer claims that the automotive industry accounted for 11% of the total. This placed the industry in second place behind the retail sector. The automotive industry is forecast to see a further 9.5% increase in ad spending in 2018.

As many car purchases still occur on the forecourt though, what effect is online having on influencing the decisions of auto shoppers? 41% of shoppers who research online find their smartphone research ‘very valuable’. 60% said they were influenced by what they saw in the media, of which 22% were influenced by marketing promotions – proving online investment is working.

Across the automotive sector, traditional methods of TV and radio continue to be the most invested forms of marketing. In the last past five years though, it is digital that has made the biggest jump from fifth most popular method to third, seeing an increase of 10.6% in expenditure.

The healthcare industry

An entirely different set of rules are followed for marketing when it comes to the healthcare sector. This is generally because it is restricted by heavy regulations. The same ROI methods that have been adopted by other sectors simply don’t work for the healthcare market. Despite nearly 74% of all healthcare marketing emails remaining unopened, you’ll be surprised to learn that email marketing is essential for the healthcare industry’s marketing strategy.

Email is used by approximately 2.5 million people as a primary form of communication. The use of email has also increased in value and usage over the past few years. This means email marketing is targeting a large audience. For this reason, 62% of physicians and other healthcare providers prefer communication via email – and now that smartphone devices allow users to check their emails on their device, email marketing puts companies at the fingertips of their audience.

Those in the healthcare industry should see online marketing as another platform that will make for worthwhile investment as well. This is especially the case when you consider that one in 20 Google searches are for health-related content. This could be attributed to the fact that many people turn to a search engine for medical answer before calling the GP.

According to data from the Pew Research Center, a search engine will be the starting point of 77% of all health enquiries. What’s more, 72% of total internet users say they’ve looked online for health information within the past year. Furthermore, 52% of smartphone users have used their device to look up the medical information they require. Statistics estimate that marketing spend for online marketing accounts for 35% of the overall budget.

Don’t forget the appeal of social media marketing either. Whilst the healthcare industry is restricted to how they market their services and products, that doesn’t mean social media should be neglected. In fact, an effective social media campaign could be a crucial investment for organisations, with 41% of people choosing a healthcare provider based on their social media reputation! And the reason? The success of social campaigns is usually attributed to the fact audiences can engage with the content on familiar platforms.

The fashion industry

The success of many fashion retailers will depend on their investment online. This point is underlined by the fact online sales in the fashion industry reached £16.2 billion in 2017! This figure is expected to continue to grow by a huge 79% by 2022. So where are fashion retailers investing their marketing budgets? Has online marketing become a priority?

Almost a quarter of all purchases in December 2017 were tied to ecommerce. This is according to the British Retail Consortium, as online brands such as ASOS and Boohoo continue to embrace the online shopping phenomenon. ASOS experienced an 18% UK sales growth in the final four months of 2017, whilst Boohoo saw a 31% increase in sales throughout the same period.

Next, Marks and Spencer, and John Lewis are just three of the well-known brands in the industry to have invested millions into their operations and marketing efforts online. Such tactics aimed to capture the online shopper and drive digital sales. John Lewis announced that 40% of its Christmas sales came from online shoppers, and whilst Next struggled to keep up with the sales growth of its competitors, it has announced it will invest £10 million into its online marketing and operations.

It also seems that many shoppers aren’t willing or interested to head to the high-street in order to shop. Instead, they like the idea of being able to conveniently shop from the comfort of their home, or via their smartphone devices whilst on the move.

In research carried out by the PMYB Influencer Marketing Agency, 59% of fashion marketers increased the budget they had available for influencer marketing last year. In fact, 75% of global fashion brands collaborate with social media influencers as part of their marketing strategy and more than a third of marketers believe influencer marketing to be more successful than traditional methods of advertising in 2017 – as 22% of customers are said to be acquired through influencer marketing.

The utilities industry

Comparison websites are now being used by so many consumers when they are trying to find the right utilities supplier for their needs. These websites could be the key to many suppliers acquiring and retaining customers.

Comparison websites often spend millions on TV marketing campaigns, which are then watched by so much of the nation. Therefore, it has become vital for many utility suppliers to be listed on comparison websites and offer a very competitive price, in order to stay in the game.

Compare the Market, MoneySupermarket, Go Compare and Confused.com are currently the four largest comparison websites. These companies are also among the top 100 highest spending advertisers in the UK, but does that marketing investment reflect on utility suppliers?

The difference between a high rate of customer retention for one supplier and a high rate of customer acquisition for another supplier can be determined through comparison websites. If you don’t beat your competitors, then what is to stop your existing and potential new customers choosing your competitors over you?

Instead of customer acquisition, British Gas has altered its marketing goals towards customer retention. Whilst the company recognise that this approach to marketing will be a slower process to yield measurable results, they firmly believe that retention will in turn lead to acquisition. The Gas company hope that by marketing a wider range of tailored products and services to their existing customers, they will be able to improve customer retention.

A loyalty scheme offering discounted energy and services has received a £100 million investment. This scheme focuses on the value of a customer, their behaviour and spending habits over time to discover what they are looking for in the company. The utilities sector is incredibly competitive, so it is vital that companies invest in their existing customers before looking for new customers.

Digital should be a key focus for those in the utilities sector too. 40% of all searches in Q3 2017 were carried out on mobile, and a further 45% of all ad impressions were via mobile too – according to Google’s Public Utilities Report in December 2017. As mobile usage continues to soar, companies need to consider content created specifically for mobile users as they account for a large proportion of the market now.

Concluding thoughts

Online marketing investment should be seen as very important for some industries, such as the fashion and automotive sectors. With a clear increase in online demand in both sectors that is changing the purchase process, some game players could find themselves out of the game before it has even begun if they neglect digital.

The picture grows even more for sectors such as the utilities industry. Whilst TV and digital appear to remain the main sales driving forces, it’s more than just creating your own marketing campaign when comparison sites need to be considered. Without the correct marketing, advertising or listing on comparison sites, you could fall behind.

The average firm is expected to allocate a minimum of 41% of their marketing budget to online strategies during 2018. This is according to webstrategies.com, with this figure expected to grow to 45% by 2020 too. Social media advertising investments is expected to represent 25% of total online spending and search engine banner ads are also expected to grow significantly too – all presumably as a result of more mobile and online usage.

Where do you stand when it comes to investment into marketing strategies? If mobile and online usage continues to grow year on year at the rate it has done in the past few years, we forecast the investment to be not only worthwhile but essential.

Sources

https://pmyb.co.uk/global-fashion-company-influencer-marketing-budget/

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-uk-clothing-market-2017-2022-300483862.html

http://uk.fashionnetwork.com/news/Online-is-key-focus-for-UK-fashion-retail-investment-in-2017,783787.html#.WrOjxOjFKUk

http://www.mobyaffiliates.com/blog/retail-accounts-for-14-2-of-digital-advertising-spending-in-the-uk-in-2017/

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-2933401/Energy-price-comparison-sites-spend-110m-annoying-adverts.html

http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/03/28/british-gas-shifts-acquisition-retention-marketing-know-the-value-keeping-the-right

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/uk-companies-online-advertising-spend-10-billion-more-last-year-2016-pwc-a7678536.html

https://www.webstrategiesinc.com/blog/how-much-budget-for-online-marketing-in-2014

https://www.kunocreative.com/blog/healthcare-email-marketing

http://www.evariant.com/blog/10-campaign-best-practices-for-healthcare-marketers

https://getreferralmd.com/2015/02/7-medical-marketing-and-dental-media-strategies-that-really-work/

GUEST BLOG: Customer Experience – The latest silo in the marketing mix
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Joey Moore, Head of Product Marketing, Episerver

For years, marketers have talked—and written—extensively about the disconnect between marketing and IT. Who should own email lists and sensitive data? Who should have access to the website CMS? Who should decide which marketing automation platforms to install? These are just a few of the questions that have plagued the marketing/IT debate.

In 2019 however, this debate finally feels like it’s come to a close. According to new research from Episerver, 93 percent of marketers now have the ability to directly edit their company’s website, while 80 percent expect to have complete ownership over their brand’s web presence within the next two years.

Instead of seeing this as a ‘land grab’ from IT, however, 62 percent of marketers say they are simply working collaboratively with their IT departments in order to reduce silos and ensure the best customer experiences. While this is great news for customers, the problem of marketing silos has not gone away for good. Instead, a new debate has started to rage—this time between marketers and the new wave of customer experience (CX) professionals.

Over the last few years, customer experience has become a central topic for most businesses, with as many as 35 percent hiring specific teams and individuals to manage the CX journey. In contrast, only 45 percent of marketers feel they have genuine autonomy over the customer experience, with many feeling that CX teams aren’t delivering the same quality of experience that marketers themselves would provide if they were in charge.

As a result, Episerver’s research shows that as many as 80 percent of marketers are planning to take over the CX role by 2020, removing the need for standalone customer experience departments and professionals.

While new technologies are making it easier than ever for marketers to control elements of the customer experience, by attempting to force out CX teams, marketers are falling into the exact same trap they did with IT.

Just as IT teams work across so much more than just marketing technologies, today’s CX teams also provide a far more all-encompassing view. Working with customer service departments, contact centres, HR and employee training courses, the remit of today’s CX professionals goes well beyond just marketing. Given this fact, marketers should be careful about biting off more than they can chew.

Instead, what is needed is a joint approach, one in which marketing and CX teams work together and collaborate in the best interests of the end customer. Technology can enable this collaboration, providing a seamless link through which marketing and customer experience teams can decide the CX direction of their company and ensuring it’s implemented across all levels of the brand. This will be the future of CX, not total marketing ownership, but technology-driven collaboration.

GUEST BLOG: Digital marketing and its relationship with print in 2019
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Online advertising and digital platforms are the main drivers for many marketing campaigns. But in this digital age, can businesses survive without print advertising or, is there a future for digital and print playing to their strengths and working together?

Where The Trade Buys, specialist providers of marketing materials for events, has pulled together a helpful guide with their insights…

A focus on digital campaigns for driving sales

Many campaigns today are lost without digital. With more consumers than ever before spending time on the internet, businesses would be foolish not to get involved with online marketing.

Search engine marketing is one area of advertising that companies are becoming more involved with. As the name suggests, this side of digital marketing focuses on driving a business’ site to the top of the search results around relevant target phrases — from corporate keywords like ‘business cards’ to more fashion-focused targets like ‘dresses’. As a result, this can increase brand exposure and site traffic while improving sales figures.

Social media marketing is another area of business activity that wasn’t popular a few years back. From paid adverts to viral campaigns, the digital world has opened up many doors for small and medium companies in particular — exposing themselves to an audience that may not have known they existed and in turn, generating mass interest.

The digital world has made room for businesses to begin analysing their audience, allowing them to gain a greater insight to their general behaviour and spending patterns. From tracking analytics, whether this is across social media platforms or the main website, marketing managers are able to identify key areas of interest and create campaigns around this to drive sales.

There are many methods businesses can follow to hook an online audience and stay ahead of their competitors. Through a combination of search engine and social media marketing, many brands are beginning to run competitions and deals that are only exclusive to an online following. These low-cost campaigns will benefit from extensive reach.

Does print advertising still have something unique to offer

Although more businesses are beginning to take their focuses online, they shouldn’t neglect the power of print and the opportunities that can come off the back of it. Print very much has a place in modern advertising as it can offer a personal touch unlike no other and generally has a longer life cycle which is always beneficial for the exposure of your brand. Take printed leaflets for example, once they have been posted through the door, whoever picks them up will have to acknowledge your materials!

As well as door-to-door print advertising, business merchandise has not taken a backseat since the sprout in popularity of online promotions. Brand image has never been more important for businesses and shouldn’t be ignored — as a result, more companies are making investments in personalised products that represent what they stand for. Whether this is to help them externally, with the likes of outdoor banners, or internally for your office with the likes of customised calendars.

Although printed goods can often be higher in price, they can drive exceptional ROI to your campaign and create a memorable experience for the receiver which should be a core focus for your print campaign. This can be achieved through eye-catching designs and a choice of luxury materials which will lead to a meaningful engagement.

Print and digital collaborating

Although online and offline advertising are two entirely separate entities, they can work well together, and some brands are already utilising such methods.

Take QR codes for example, more businesses are trying to audiences in the real world to their online solutions. As QR codes are unique and can entice people to be more inquisitive, they can drive immense traffic to online campaigns when printed on banners. Through this method of advertising, marketing departments can track success and gather data on users when they’re interacting with the code. With the data collected from campaigns like this, businesses can record contact information (such as email addresses) if users decide they want to opt-in.

When looking closer to news publications, many of them still offer printed versions of their product — blurring the line between print and digital. With an understanding of the influence they have online, they’ve been able to merge two channels together and to distribute stories to a wider audience.

Near field communication is another area that should be further looked into when it comes to the relationship between online and offline platforms. Essentially, near field communication is a type of technology that has the ability to connect two smart devices — often with the help of a print medium. For example, a section of a poster can be tapped with a mobile phone which will then take the user to the ecommerce site for a specific product.

Digital companies testing out print marketing

Online hospitality marketplace, Airbnb has made huge waves in the way that we now book our holidays. Predominantly a digital business with its own website and downloadable app, the company decided to launch its own magazine for registered hosts (those who advertise their property) which is around 18,000 people. This magazine included personal stories of hosts and their accommodation, encouraging interaction with the digital business through print. Although the magazine production has been put on hold since, it’s a good example of how an online business can promote its services elsewhere.

Remember those iconic Coca Cola bottles that had labels with your name on? The printed labels for the Share A Coke campaign allowed the drink manufacturer to become more personal with its customers and as a result, buyers then shared their bottles on social media which made it an integrated campaign.

As we can see, digital and print both play huge parts in the marketing of a business. But often, they can be most successful when they’re brought together.

Sources

https://www.jeffbullas.com/mixed-marketing-create-joined-print-and-digital-campaigns/

https://www.wsj.com/articles/heres-what-happened-to-pineapple-airbnbs-one-off-print-magazine-1449684006

GUEST BLOG: Overcoming marketing isolation
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Marketing has been transformed over the past two decades, evolving from a primarily creative, somewhat fringe activity to a core corporate function, defined by metrics.

Yet while the ability to demonstrate ROI may have added discipline and improved marketing’s board level credentials, there is a significant downside to the reliance upon individual, task based measures. It is not just the CMO who is frustrated by the inability to join multiple sets to diverse metrics to gain a deep understanding of the true operational impact of marketing; individual marketers operating in task basked silos are completely blind to the role they play within the full marketing and sales funnel.

For generations now raised to expect instant gratification and an ability to contribute, these data silos are damaging morale and contributing to employee churn – resulting in ever less successful marketing teams. Data may have redefined marketing and provided essential proof of value but the tide is turning.

Without a real-time view of data gathered from all aspects of the sales and marketing funnel, which underpin a relevant dialogue with sales and, critically, build a far more motivated and engaged team, the gains in reputation and corporate value could be rapidly eroded, insists Marc Ramos, Chief Marketing Officer, SplashBI…

Providing the complete picture

From Pay per Click (PPC) to email campaigns, social media to content generation, every marketing role is now supported by an extraordinary depth of data, often in real-time. But how effectively is marketing working as a whole? Is marketing delivering the quality and quantity of sales leads required? Despite the proliferation of data, the vast majority of resources are siloed – from sales automation tools to Google Analytics, data may support day to day campaign management but it delivers little, if any, valuable and actionable insight to the CMO.

From the CMO’s desire to identify and remediate problems in real time, to the Sales VP’s requirements for a better dialogue with marketing and the corporate need for accountability, siloed data sources, however deep and however fast, fail to provide the complete picture. And that is unbelievably frustrating, not only for the CMO but for individual marketers. The current real-time data sets offer a marketer great insight into campaign performance; but if that insight stops the moment the leads are handed off, and the overall company objectives are not being hit, the model is clearly flawed. Isolated individuals, however well they perform within their own remit, lack the motivation and engagement that is essential to achieve long term success.

Analysing full funnel data

It is a real-time understanding of the links between each marketing element – and hence data set – that delivers new levels of accountability and visibility between marketing and sales and vice versa. What leads have been delivered to sales and how effectively have sales closed those leads? Where, what and how is this affecting the overall corporate objectives this week, month, quarter or year? With visibility all the way to the CEO, when full funnel data is pulled together, analysed and reported on properly, the entire organisation can be held accountable.

The ability to leverage a pre-built business visualisation of the complete marketing funnel is a revelation. Encompassing web traffic performance and PPC, email campaigns and social media response, a high visual, real-time view of the entire funnel changes every aspect of the CMO’s activity – from real-time campaign tweaks on the fly in response to a drop off in specific performance to the day to day management and motivation of staff.

This latter point is key: while deep, cross business insight will improve the relevance of marketing metrics and enable effective targeted response, this complete, end-to-end view can also re-centre the marketing team by overcoming task based isolation. By creating marketing goals that are inclusive of sales performance, the business can consider and understand the performance of individuals as part of the whole and vice versa: for the first time each individual can understand the value of his or her marketing role to the overall business.

Taking individuals out of their task based siloes not only makes it far easier to focus on the best leads but, more critically, it provides context to day to day activities, context that is fundamental to building engagement and motivation. For the CMO dealing with the constant challenge of staff retention and the fear of losing great talent, adding cross-organisational business insight, including sales, finance and HR data, to full funnel analytics can also be a revelation.

A pre-built visualisation can provide a better understanding of the issues created by a multi-generational workforce of baby boomers, Generation X and millennials; or identify those managers who retain and get the best value from their talent. Essentially, with the ability to rapidly explore diverse business information, the CMO has new insight to support the creation of a true marketing team, rather than a number of isolated individuals, – a team that shares the same business vision and works effectively together.

GUEST BLOG: Best books for digital marketing execs to get ahead
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By Where The Trade Buys

Ready to take your business to the next level? Want to excel in digital marketing? Knowledge is power in business, and in the rapidly evolving sector of technology, staying ahead is critical.

The last thing you want to do is fall behind in business — so learning all there is to know is crucial for success. From how to create the optimum working environment for creative minds, to the world’s next consumer-changing digital trends, there’s a lot you don’t know yet about entrepreneurship and the tech industry…

Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World

Bold, written by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler,is the ideal book for the tech-savvy entrepreneur. The first section of this illuminating book gives you an incredible insight into how start-up companies are today going from ‘initial concept’ to ‘multi-million-pounds status’ quicker than ever, and how tech — like 3D printing and androids — might be influencing this trend.

After, you can learn about business strategies from leading entrepreneurs, such as Richard Branson, before you reach the section that might interest you the most. Bold’s finale discusses the various, actionable ways you can build your company, with tips on creating lucrative campaigns designed to rocket your start-up to the top. A must-read for the big dreamer.

The Industries of the Future

This book by Alec Ross is perfect if you’re in the tech industry and want to know how to incorporate online strategies. A New York Timesbestseller, Ross delivers an extensive insight into your industry’s most important advances, from cybersecurity and robotics to genomics and big data, using input from global leaders.

If you’re searching for Ross’ credentials, you’ll soon discover that he was once the senior advisor for innovation to Hilary Clinton. So, his viewpoint is perceptive, learned and unique. His extensive travel has given him access to the some of the most powerful people in business, and his book is packed with astute observations regarding opportunities for growth and the unknown tech forces that are changing — or will change — the world.

The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future

As a former executive editor of Wired magazine, author, Kevin Kelly discusses and debates how various tech trends will adapt and amend our lives over the next 30 years or so. The best part of The Inevitableis how it paints a picture of ways in which technological forces will overlap, mix and come to co-depend on each other — crucial to know if any of these trends relate to your business.

Featuring sections on VR and AI, the author does an excellent job exploring the long-term impact of tech and it can permeate every aspect of our lives — both personally and as a consumer. Want to prep your company now for the customer of tomorrow? Then, get ahead of the game.

How Google Works

As potentially the most respected tech and digital company on the planet, this book about Google is an absolute must-read for those in the digital industry. How Google Workswas written by Google executives, Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg, and offers an authentic view in the corporate strategy, workplace culture, decision-making, and management philosophy of the brand.

If you want to learn how Google picked itself up after mistakes (remember Wave?) and has maintained an uncatchable drive towards innovation, this book is for you. Glimpse into the birth and evolution of Google to emulate its success.

The Lean Start-Up

If you’re in the digital sector, The Lean Start-Upby Eric Ries is a book you need to take in from cover to cover. This book looks at how new companies can launch, adapt and grow within an industry that has fierce competition. Offering real examples of setting up a new business, you get a great insight into how to make a success of your business and avoid the typical pitfalls.

Your One Word

Author, Evan Carmichael has written an outstanding account of his business process. Carmichael created and sold his biotech company at just 19 years old, so if you want tips on how to emulate his success, make this title the next on your reading list.

Learn how to analyse your business and validate its aims to make sure you enjoy limitless success with Your One Word. If you need a boost of confidence and an injection of motivation to start making your tech-business dreams come true, immerse yourself in the powerful words of Carmichael.

The Upstarts

The Upstartsby Brad Stone offers an amazing glimpse into the inspiring world of two global companies: Uber and Airbnb. Reading this book, you find out how these giants began and developed to become two of the most respected and innovative brands in the world.

Being an entrepreneur, you’ll know the importance of understanding how new trends and innovations can change standards — such as how people travel and what they expect from accommodation — and this is what you learn more about in this book. What can your business do to change the world?

Conscious Capitalism

Capitalism and its benefits is a contentious subject, and this is discussed brilliantly in Conscious Capitalismby authors, Raj Sisodia, and CEO of Whole Foods, John Mackey.

If you’re new to running a digital marketing or tech company, you should have good knowledge of how to deal with staff, shareholders and anyone else who deals with your company. Referencing several other leading companies — such as UPS, Google and Amazon — Conscious Capitalismgives an insightful and expert analysis of how you can infuse your business environment with positivity for the optimum workplace culture.

Having awareness of your company’s impact on the world and how to treat people who interact with your products and services are crucial to success — which is why this book is worth a read!

This article was created by Where The Trade Buys — a leading UK print company and supplier of roll-up banners.

Sources:

https://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/knowledge/articles/2017/08/best-books-to-read-for-small-business-success/

http://www.growthbusiness.co.uk/30-must-read-books-on-business-technology-and-productivity-as-picked-by-entrepreneurs-2552123/

http://uk.businessinsider.com/must-read-tech-books-2017-9?r=US&IR=T/#lean-in-women-work-and-the-will-to-lead-by-sheryl-sandberg-6

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mnewlands/2017/02/24/13-must-read-entrepreneurial-books-for-tech-founders/#1b08967a56b9

https://www.rocketspace.com/tech-startups/top-6-books-for-tech-entrepreneurs

GUEST BLOG: Digital marketing in the automotive sector – 2018 trends
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By Mediaworks

Despite the roll-out of an entirely online car-buying process from manufacturers like Hyundai, research shows that 98% of car purchases take place offline. However, 86% of pre-purchase research is done digitally.

Over half of car buyers start their research online, with 41% taking to search engines like Google to source the information they are looking for. 50% find their car dealer online and for 42% of buyers, it’s a dealer they have had no prior relationship with.

Clearly, a strong digital strategy is crucial now if automotive brands are to secure their place at the forefront of potential customers’ minds. And this digital dependence is only set to grow in the future, with more than half of customers admitting they would consider a fully online car-buying process.

So how do they do it? Digital marketing agency, Mediaworks, has released a new white paper specifically aimed at the automotive sector and outlining what their digital focus should be over the coming year. The Driving Digital: Digital Forecast 2018 white paper is available to download for free, but here we’ve summarised its key takeaways:

Mobile first

Mobile is a huge area of opportunity for those in the automotive sector, with 65% of potential car buyers actively researching on their smartphones — whether that’s while watching TV, during a commute, or in-between tasks.

To capitalise on this mobile-centric audience, automotive brands need to have a mobile-friendly site. You should already have this in place by now, so you should turn your attention to refining its functionality to give a superior user experience. An app could be a wise investment too, to differentiate your brand from its competitors and better support the sales process before, during and after.

Journey personalisation

It’s predicted that by 2020, customers will prioritise the overall experience offered when deciding between brands, outweighing both cost and product. With journey personalisation, you can bridge the gap between online and the dealership to deliver a superior customer experience.

How well you adapt to technological advances like AR, VR and MR will be intrinsic to this. Consider using this technology to enable virtual showrooms for customers or AR scans of unreleased vehicles. Harness artificial intelligence to improve the timing and location accuracy of promotions and discounts.

Voice search

Fuelled by improving error rates, voice search currently accounts for 40% of searches. It’s predicted that by 2020, half of searches will be delivered through voice — making it a clear priority for automotive brands.

Start by optimising your content to capture more conversational, long-tail and local searches and make sure its style, format and flow matches the new search shift. Visual search is also on the rise, so consider how you could implement it.

Customer profiling

Every digital marketing campaign’s success hinges on how well you understand your customer. As customers become more comfortable with sharing their data, it’s up to you to build a comprehensive data model.

Use the data you collect around purchase history and customer feedback to target others within the demographic with relevant offers. Harness local inventory ads to promote the most popular vehicles to potential customers near to your physical dealerships.

Data

May 2018 will see the rollout of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will impact how automotive brands collect and store data. As you transition from segment-based to signal-based data, you should prioritise contextual marketing using data from each digital touchpoint.

Attribution

Fewer than 27% of marketers use multi-touch attribution models, despite 90% believing attribution is important for online success. Multi-touch attribution is beneficial in that it helps you assign value to each of your marketing efforts.

Review your existing model to see how well it’s currently giving value to the different channels and stages of the purchasing funnel.

By conquering the above trends, automotive brands can strengthen their digital position and grow their success through 2018 and beyond.

GUEST BLOG: Digital Marketing – The best academic routes to success
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By James Potten, Managing Director of RED Academy

Education Secretary Damian Hinds recently spoke about the university fee system and the necessity of increasing variety in tuition rates across the UK.

His revised plan places an emphasis on how degree courses could benefit a student’s future career. He said that a combination of three things should determine tuition costs: the cost [to the university] to put it on, the benefit to the student and the benefit to our country and our economy.

There has also been an emphasis on the career strategy guidance and encouraging more schools and businesses to work together to better prepare students for the workforce after they leave school. While this looks like a promising move for current students, what about those who have already finished school and are looking to break into sectors like digital marketing? Often, this requires specialist knowledge and industry experience but without this first-hand insight at school, what can we do to help students fill the gaps?

Weigh up all the options

In the digital marketing world, there are many alternatives to fill gaps in learning, like work experience, sandwich courses, apprenticeships, and part-time and full-time alternative study options focus on real-world experience. In a poll from The Independent, 58 per cent of employers rated work experience as their most looked for qualification, with personality coming in second at 48 per cent. Time and time again work experience is proven to outweigh grades and a university degree during a job search in terms of value. By gaining hands-on work experience, students are better able to acclimate to work situations and, typically, have more success in the beginning of a new job or task. In a similar way, apprenticeships or courses that incorporate real-world experience are shown to develop work readiness and tend to yield a faster return on investment for both employers and employees.

Employers tend to see students that undertook an apprenticeship as delivering higher quality work more quickly than say students who have graduated without experiencing placements; it is for these reasons that the government aims to increase apprenticeships by 50,000 a year.

Sandwich and degree alternative courses are also a good way for students to gain the necessary background, while still maintaining classroom learning. By being placed in a work environment, students are allowed to make important networking connections, build social capital, and improve self-confidence through accomplishment. These environments also provide students with a safe place to make mistakes and to fail, which is often where true learning happens. According to one study, “employers view part-time study as a good model to develop work readiness” and “part-time students, including young students, do achieve a more favourable labour market outcomes at least in the first few months”.

Some options for part-time courses and other courses that incorporate real-world experience, specialise in short-term, highly focused courses, which allow students to work towards certifications while building real skills to help get them hired.

When it comes to digital marketing or digital design, to succeed students will often need a broad skillset and an understanding deep enough to put these skills into action.. While there is plenty of content out there covering the basics, being able to put this into practice and work on projects with support from industry experts and real clients is where real experience can be gained. Look for courses and projects where you can put theory to the test and take part in activities in an agency-style or work place environment.

With only about 50 per cent of UK students choosing to go to university, there are many alternative opportunities gaining traction each year. By combining real world knowledge and classroom instruction, typically lead by working professionals, students can not only increase their chances of landing a job that they can excel at, but refrain from taking on thousands of pounds of student debt.

The restructuring called for by Damian Hinds is necessary and will mostly likely help future, and current students, however it leaves out students trying to enter into industries that benefit from additional experience and training. For those students, it is up to them to find alternative opportunities that work within their own lives, while helping them to move forward in their careers. In order to succeed in a more digital and technical industry, people need to have the necessary training and background to adequately perform at a high level. Alternatives like apprenticeships, work experience, sandwich courses and part-time courses could help people bridge the learning gap, while allowing them to remain fiscally responsible.

www.redacademy.com

Print Marketing

GUEST BLOG: Why should start-ups take advantage of print marketing?
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By Where The Trade Buys

Despite the rumours and the attitudes in the world of business, print is not dead!

Whilst many companies are making a transition towards a more digitally focused marketing strategy, they could be missing out on the benefits that still exist for the traditional method of print marketing, as they get carried away with the digital craze.

Because digital platforms have so many active users, companies believe their business has the best chance of getting their message across to their audience on social and digital platforms – however, 80% of online users do not click on any online banner adverts, meaning just 20% do!

Is it worth paying the competitive price for the digital space for just 20% – to which not all of those users will convert into sales? If you also consider that magazines are still very much a part of our lives, with 63% of UK adults still reading magazines, according to YouGov – whereas only one in ten UK adults regularly read online magazines – maybe digital isn’t so perfect after all.

Print marketing, however, is tried and tested, and it works – it still exists for a reason, and that is because it is successful, when done properly. 34% of all printing is for advertising and marketing products, such as event programmes, tickets etc, and 30% is attributed to newspapers, magazine and brochures etc. The print industry is heavily reliant on marketing and advertising.

So why, and how, can entrepreneurs utilise print marketing, as opposed to digital marketing, to take their start-ups down the road of success – without breaking the bank?

Direct mail is sometimes referred to as ‘junk mail’, however, figures suggest that the term junk mail couldn’t be further from reality. In 2015, more than 2.5 billion direct mail coupons were redeemed and 54% of consumers that were surveyed revealed that they want to receive direct mail from brands that they are interested in. With 80-90% of direct mail getting opened, and just 20-30% of emails getting opened, there is a clear winner for start-up companies looking to get their message across to potential new consumers.

A big concern for many entrepreneurs is their marketing budget – but for those start-ups which don’t have money to burn when it comes to their marketing campaigns, it doesn’t mean your campaign won’t succeed. There are several print marketing techniques that can make your campaign a success whilst on a budget.

According to findings from StartUp Britain (a national campaign supported by the government), there are around 80 new businesses launching in the UK every hour, so it’s clear that entrepreneurial competition is fierce. Direct mail and brochures are a good place to start – neither need to break the bank either, but it is a big business. In 2009, direct mail accounted for 10.7% of the UK’s whole advertising expenditure.

Creating a brochure or leaflet on a budget doesn’t mean you have to compromise on quality. Simplicity works. Your main priority when designing your brochure is to ensure your branding is clear, your message stands out and your style is eye catching. Remember you are on a budget so you don’t have pages and pages to play with; stick to 8-12 pages. You want to encourage consumers to act after all, not take up an hour of their time reading your brochure. There are several must-haves, which even when designing on a budget, you must consider:

  • Attention grabbing headline.
  • Unique selling point(s).
  • Call to action.
  • Clear design.
  • Concise content – keep this limited to ‘need-to-know’ information as you don’t want to throw too much information at consumers, and this will also save you money in printing costs.
  • Keep everything accurate – don’t allow mistakes to slip through the net.

When your brochure or leaflet is ready for print, where budget is concerned, it is important to print the right amount of copies. Whilst the more copies you order, the less you pay per copy, ordering 500 brochures if you are only going to use 250 is simply a waste. Your spent money is likely to sit on a coffee table or in a cupboard gathering dust on unused brochures too. Therefore, make sure you utilise your budget wisely.

Overall, print marketing, although a traditional marketing method, is tried, tested and trusted. If the figures aren’t enough to convince you, then the affordability of it could sway you. Whilst digital platforms are useful to have to engage with customers on a familiar and mobile platform, print marketing has been proven to drive results. For start-ups, print marketing is definitely something that should be addressed.

www.wherethetradebuys.co.uk

Sources

https://smallbiztrends.com/2017/01/direct-mail-marketing-statistics.html

http://www.britishprint.com/downloads/documents/HE6LE8HOCC_UK_PRINTING_Facts_and_Figures_webflyer.pdf

Christmas

GUEST BLOG: Planning for paid social advertising success at Christmas
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By Rob Kabrovski, VP Accounts EMEA, Adaptly

The Christmas season is a wonderful time of year, but it can also be stressful for retail marketers. That pressure is for a good reason: UK sales amounted to almost £43 billion in 2016, with shoppers spending in excess of £805 million on Christmas Day alone.

With consumers facing messages and advertisements from all different directions, it takes careful planning and strategising to execute campaigns that will break through the noise.

It is possible for advertisers to own the Christmas season timeline, making this year’s campaigns the most effective yet.

Dominate the Pre-Season Period

Christmas conversations often start as early September but there’s a huge spike in interest once Halloween has passed.

Almost half of UK shoppers claim to have planned most of their Christmas purchases by early October, but just over 15% will have actually finished their shopping at the end of the following month.

Make sure to get ahead of competitors by carefully creating a content calendar and owning the pre-Christmas planning period. This is a key time for driving awareness and increasing product consideration, as consumers are in a much more relaxed state-of-mind. Christmas season is saturated with ads and it’s important to get a head start to reach your target audience before ad fatigue sets in.

Users increasingly turn to social platforms to plan their Christmas purchases and activities. The sooner you start adding content, the more likely you are to get noticed and stay top-of-mind throughout the entire period.

Test and Learn

Use the October pre-season period to do your testing. Iterate on creative and ad formats to identify what resonates best with your customer – setting you up for success later on. This is a perfect time to identify which products, assets, and messaging your audiences are responding to, in order to optimise top performers closer to the actual date.

Focus this time on driving brand awareness and create excitement in the run-up to major shopping events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Seed your messages to core users – customers, fans, site visitors, and email subscribers – then reach your entire target audience on the actual day of a sale.

But remember that announcing promotions too early can delay consumers from making a purchase. 60% of UK customers say that they have hesitated to buy a Christmas related item in the hope of picking up a bargain later on.

Bid Aggressively

The competition tightens towards the end of November, in particular around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. That means you’ll have to be willing to bid aggressively to get a bigger share of users’ wallets.  This can have an effect on your usual sales targets, so use historical data to determine the best timeline and appropriate budgets for your business.

Even though this period may be slightly pricier than usual, you’re reaching users while they are most receptive to offers and gift ideas, and while purchase intent is at its peak.

Most consumers are actively looking to make purchases, so creative elements should be focused on product demos or inspiring users with gifting ideas. At this point, use ad formats that drive traffic to site and bring customers closer to purchase.

Drive Sales with Retargeting

In the immediate run-up to Christmas, driving sales becomes more important than ever. A total of £25 billion was spent online between Black Friday and Christmas Eve last year, and compared to 2015, ecommerce orders saw a 51% increase for the week leading up to the 25th.

Leverage the audiences you have already driven to your site; and dynamically retarget users based on product pages they have viewed.

Put the right items in front of shoppers at the right time and personalise your content based on users’ previous behaviour.

Don’t forget customers who are likely to purchase your products for their own use; retarget them with items they viewed earlier in the year. Entice these users with the opportunity to buy their own perfect gift – now available through a Black Friday deal or with a special Christmas discount.

Christmas can be a stressful time for marketers, but it also presents ample opportunities to connect with customers while purchase intent is high. As long as you plan your activity well in advance and focus on driving users through the purchase funnel, this is definitely the season to be jolly.

www.adaptly.com

VW Polo Vindis

GUEST BLOG: VW Polo – Why does controversial advertising work?
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Volkswagen are known for their alternative approach to advertising campaigns – in particular, their VW Polo campaigns. VW dealership, Vindis, explores how Volkswagen have used controversy and humour by taking advantage of potentially bad news, and why they have worked – can other SME’s capitalise on this advertising technique?

Controversial branding and advertising campaigns can ruffle some feathers within society, but one thing that is guaranteed, is that it will catch people’s attention. But the question remains, where do you draw the line? How far is too far? Is there such a thing as bad publicity?

Alternative approaches to advertising such as the use of controversy and humour in campaigns can spark engagement and discussion within society. However, it’s subjective to the person viewing it – an advert can be interpreted in many ways, and what one person might find amusing, another could find grossly offensive. The trick is to be clever with your message and imagery, rather than offensive. With 30% of men and women admitting they avoided purchasing from brands with distasteful advertising campaigns, be careful with how you approach your campaign.

Clever advertising?

Volkswagen have a reputation for piggy-backing onto current affairs to keep their advertising campaigns up-to-date and attention grabbing. They have continued to approach all VW Polo advertising with the moto ‘small but tough’.

In 2014, after an image went viral off an elephant straddling a Volkswagen Polo, assumedly using the vehicle as a scratching post, the brand capitalised the image using it as part of their campaign suggesting that the Polo comes with ‘Elephant Impact Protection as Standard’ – the campaign was amusing to the audience, whilst also relatable and current as the image was ‘real’. Whilst this could have been potential bad news about an elephant getting close and personal, crushing the VW Polo, the brand saw an opportunity to utilise the image in their favour, tactfully making the most of its ‘small but tough’ slogan.

The internet played a major role in the success of this campaign. Had it not been for the power of social media, it’s likely that VW would have not seen the image and the cleverly thought out campaign would not exist. Following the rise of digital media and social media apps, advertisers and brands can use ‘viral marketing’ as a tool to spread information almost immediately.

Another campaign that saw VW capitalising the ‘small but tough’ slogan was the 2003 ‘Cops’ advertisement. Showing a dozen police officers taking cover behind the VW Polo whilst in a gun battle, the brand cleverly got their message across to the audience – ‘small but tough. Polo.’

Volkswagen are clever at using a model’s best feature to its full advantage in their advertising campaigns. One of their campaigns capitalised on the size of the brand’s supermini. With the tag line ‘one benefit of the new Polo is that you can park it anywhere’, the advertisement shows a VW Polo parked on top of the billboard. Suggesting you literally can park it anywhere.

How can SME’s capitalise on controversial and funny advertising?

Controversy can pay off if you are clever about it, with potential to get your brand noticed. However there are some topics which you should always avoid. Generally, it’s a safe option to avoid anything to do with racism, sexuality, religion and politics aswith these topics, everyone is likely to have different opinion. SME’s in particular should stick to safer topics which you are more likely to get away with a controversial approach. The best way to approach your advertising campaigns is to keep up with viral and current trends. Capitalising with reactive marketing is a great way to drive engagement towards your brand. Reactivate marketing campaigns are designed to jolt the viewer awake – shock adverts catch the viewer’s attention, and usually keeps their attention.

SME’s should take advantage of digital presence, especially social media. Whether you are a large corporate business or an SME, Google, and the likes, can’t differentiate between each and treats you both the same – it’s up to the users and readers to choose who deserve the exposure and recognition. Remember, it’s free to set up a social media profile. Whilst you might not have the same budget as a larger competitor, that’s no reason not to be seen, or heard for that matter. Keep current trends in mind, and be clever with your advertising. If you can catch your audience’s attention, there is nothing separating you from the big boys.