Here Are 12 Doggone Interesting Digital Marketing Stats From the Past Week

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Thanks to the holidays, there are more digital marketing stats to delve into than usual. We’ve selected 12 of the most interesting numbers from the past seven days.

1. The Exchange Lab studied digital advertising performances on Cyber Monday and found that the average conversion-to-sale rate was 0.12 percent. That’s a 184 percent increase over the previous day. Last year’s Cyber Monday conversion rate was 0.22 percent, representing a Sunday-to-Monday lift of 49 percent. More than anything, the raw conversion rates—well below even 1 percent—show how hard it is to create an online advertisement that actually gets viewers to click the buy button.

2. Yet Adobe found U.S. Cyber Monday orders totaled nearly $3.1 billion, a one-day Internet record and a 16 percent increase over the same day in 2014. The previous record was set last week on Black Friday, when $2.7 billion worth of goods was purchased.

3. Amazon scooped up 36 percent of all online sales on Cyber Monday, according to Slice Intelligence, an e-commerce data player.

4. Amazon challenger Jet.com, which launched in July, reportedly brought in $2.7 million in sales on Monday.

5. With so much noise on the Web, it’s getting more and more difficult to build social-media audiences, but at least one marketer has had a strong month when it comes to Facebook. From Nov. 9 through Dec. 1, toy brand Little Tikes grew its Facebook audience by more than 166,000 fans, according to Engagement Labs (not to be confused with the previously mentioned The Exchange Lab).

6. Pixability looked at the top 100 retailers, per the National Retailer Federation, to forecast YouTube ad spending among big merchants during the holidays. The Boston-based tech company prognosticates that YouTube’s skippable promos, called TrueView, will bring in $41 million this quarter for the Alphabet-owned video giant thanks to gift marketing.

7. Let’s move away from the holidays and into some stuff that’s not so cheery. Ad blocking is costing the digital publishing industry $781 million a year—yet it makes up only a small chunk of the $8.2 billion lost to other problems like bot traffic and content piracy, according to a report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

8. VTech’s current public-relations disaster is one of the scariest holiday marketing tales of all time. The toy seller is reeling after learning that hackers gained access to data for about 6.4 million profiles belonging to children.

9. Hey, maybe Google+ ain’t dead after all. On Nov. 26, GlobalWebIndex said one in every four Internet users utilize Google’s social platform at least once a month.

10. And, maybe Facebook ain’t dead yet with the kids. Forrester Research found that while only 65 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds think the social platform is “cool,” it surprisingly reels more of them in than Snapchat, Instagram or Twitter. Sixty-one percent of tweens and teens said Facebook is the social net they get on most often, per Forrester. Additionally, 47 percent are visiting Facebook more this year than they did in 2014.

11. Few people have been as ubiquitous in the media as Donald Trump has been in recent months, and the front–runner for the Republican presidential nomination yesterday chatted with Periscope users for about 10 minutes. In terms of viewers for his virtual Q&A, Trump’s high-water mark for the livestream was nearly 7,500.

12. Last but not least, on Tuesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan revealed that they plan to give away 99 percent of their Facebook shares over the course of their lifetimes. Zuckerberg’s estimated net worth is about $46.8 billion. The development came in conjunction with the announcement of the birth of their daughter, Max.

H/T: Adweek.

6 Digital Marketing Stats About the Holidays Worth Checking Out

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‘Tis the season for digital numbers that give folks an idea of what’s about to happen during the holidays. Check out six we found particularly interesting:

1. According to Salesforce Social Studio, Black Friday social conversations—via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, blogs, etc.—are up 20 percent over last year.

2. DataRank, part of Simply Measured, pulled 77,000 #BlackFriday tweets from Nov. 1 through Nov. 22. In its study, the company examined positive sentiment versus negative sentiment around the hashtag and found the following:

    

3. Walmart has appeared in 38 percent of the tweets about retailers, DataRank said, which made the big-box player No. 1 in that regard. Best Buy was second, appearing in 26 percent of such Twitter messages, while Target drew 23 percent. Here’s a full look at DataRank’s merchants-based findings:

    

4. Millennials will spend on average $352 on holiday shopping this season, per Ypulse, which surveyed 1,000 Gen Y consumers. Their primary gift-giving recipient will be dear ole Mom (84 percent of the time).

5. According to November research from AYTM Market Research, 47 percent of U.S. Internet users said holiday promotions before Nov. 4 were effective in getting them to make purchases. Twenty-five percent “somewhat agreed” that such promos worked, while 29 percent disagreed that the ads were effective.

6. Researcher eMarketer projects a nearly 6 percent gain in retail holiday sales this year, with e-commerce continuing to grow in the double digits.

Non-holidays bonus stat: Monetate analyzed 7 billion online shopping experiences in the third quarter and found that social networks’ conversion rates came in at 1.3 percent, representing a slight lift year over year.

H/T: Adweek. Getty Images.

7 Ways Black Friday Is Different From Cyber Monday

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It’s easy to lump Cyber Monday into the Black Friday fold, but this $3 billion shopping holiday has some unique traits of its own.

When discussing late-November sales, we frequently refer to the “Black Friday season.” This is because the big day itself has morphed into something bigger, even absorbing Thanksgiving. We often rope Cyber Monday into this term, too, as retailers tend to roll one day of sales into another at this time of year.

But Cyber Monday exhibits its own unique traits outside of Black Friday, starting with the fact that it’s outpacing the “main” shopping holiday in savings. Cyber Monday saw more Editors’ Choice deals than Black Friday in both 2014 and 2013.

So what makes Cyber Monday so special? Read on to learn a little more about everyone’s second-favorite shopping holiday.

Cyber Monday Has Happier Origins

Pinning down the origin of the term “Black Friday” is not easy, but the current prevailing theory goes like this: Philadelphia police negatively coined the term in the 1950s. Apparently, hordes of people would descend upon the town on the Friday after Turkey Day, ahead of the annual Army/Navy football game on Saturday. Stores would take advantage of all the extra business by promoting big sales, and cops were stuck with long, busy shifts that left them dreading the date.

Black Friday didn’t come into its more widespread, awesome reputation until the 1980s. But Cyber Monday’s origins are much more recent; the term was coined by the National Retail Federation in 2005 to describe the Monday after Thanksgiving, when people continued to shop online after returning to work. And nothing makes anyone happier than goofing off at work!

And There Are Fewer Ads

Before you’ve even thought about where to find the best deal on a turkey, you’re no doubt aware of the upcoming Black Friday sales. This is because retailers (and intrepid deal sites) have been posting Black Friday ads far in advance, sometimes as early as the beginning of October. However, we see comparatively fewer Cyber Monday ads — possibly because retailers know that shoppers will check out those sales anyway.

According to a recent DealNews survey, 85% of consumers said they’ll be shopping on Cyber Monday, up from 76% in 2014. Compare that to the 53% of people who said they’ll shop on Thanksgiving. Too many Cyber Monday ads might discourage even more Thanksgiving shoppers.

In-Store Doorbusters Go Bye-Bye

Along with fewer ads comes a dearth of doorbusters. Cyber Monday is an online shopping holiday, after all, so there’s no reason to go knocking down the doors of your local Sears to score a $5 toaster. Of course, “doorbusters” in general are dying out. In-store shoppers have long been frustrated by the concept of low-stock items that sell out in seconds, and retailers are listening. Nowadays, it’s not uncommon to find so-called doorbusters listed online on Black Friday.

Cyber Monday Has the Most Online Sales

We’re not talking about coupons here; by “sales,” we actually mean goods sold. Cyber Monday is the biggest online shopping day of the year, and Adobe has estimated that it’ll reach $3 billion in sales for the first time this year, a 12% increase over 2014. Compare that to Black Friday, which is expected to generate $2.7 billion in online sales, and Thanksgiving, which will do $1.6 billion.

Why are shoppers still eager to spend funds on Cyber Monday, even after Black Friday? According to Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst for forecast tech consultancy Forrester Research, it’s because “customers had fewer negative associations with Cyber Monday than with Black Friday.” See? Everyone loves shopping at work.

But Fewer Mobile Shoppers

That same Adobe report we mentioned above revealed that Thanksgiving is projected to become the king of mobile sales in 2015. For the first time ever, mobile devices will overtake more traditional computers on Thanksgiving to drive the majority — 51% — of online visits, representing 29% of online purchases that day. This mobile mania won’t last, though; both Black Friday and Cyber Monday are expected to see more traditional online traffic.

Some People Are Totally Shopping at Work

And you thought we were joking! While not a federal holiday, the Friday after Thanksgiving is a public holiday in 24 states. By Monday, everyone is back at work and almost certainly browsing sales at their desks. To be fair, a wonderfully industrious 56% of shoppers claimed they didn’t shop at work last year in our survey.

Sadly, these hardworking shoppers may miss out on the best bargains. Last year 67% of the deals we found on Cyber Monday were posted before 5 pm ET. That means bargain hunters will have to log on during business hours to snag the best sales.

Fashionistas Love Cyber Monday

The Black Friday season is like the Olympics, with different shopping events on each shopping holiday. Where Thanksgiving and Black Friday are better for electronics, Cyber Monday shines in soft goods. Clothes and shoes are especially awesome buys, with retailers busting out Black Friday-beating coupons in several cases. Beauty products are another oft-overlooked, but awesome, Cyber Monday category.

Should you not be the sartorial sort, you can always stock up on toys, or shop for a new major appliance. Better yet, book a killer hotel deal on Cyber Monday; you’ve probably had enough of those visiting relatives at this point.

In the end, if you’ve been ignoring Cyber Monday, it’s time to give this hardworking holiday another shot. With billions of dollars under its belt, this shopping extravaganza is here to stay!

H/T: DealNews.

 

 

8 Digital Marketing Trends to Watch in 2016

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Brands are always on the hunt for new ways to bolster web presence, which is why the demand for solid digital marketing strategies is so high among business owners. But keeping up online means more than implementing what’s already being done, it means staying ahead of the curve as well. Keeping tabs on emerging trends is the best way to keep your marketing campaigns successful, and your brand top of mind.

Here we take a look at some digital marketing trends you’ll want to keep an eye on as we approach 2016:

1. 2016 will be the year of HUMAN for digital marketers – Gone are the days of corporate-speak messaging and dull, boring campaigns. Videos, pictures, humor, and human!

2. Interactive Content – If “content” is the word of the year for digital marketing, then “engagement” is certainly the runner up. Simply getting your audience to show up is half the battle in an increasingly noisy world of content. The key to creating a lasting impression now relies on content that engages, and interactive content has become a key tactic in that battle. Tools such as animated presentations or real-time polls are great ways to both entertain and encourage social sharing. Moving forward you can expect to see less traditional blog posts or press releases and more interactive quizzes or diagrams.

3. Technical Savviness – This will become a necessity for digital marketers. As the modern marketer strives to understand how social, content, demand gen, PR, and SEO call all work successfully within a fully integrated marketing strategy.

4. Digital and Predictive Analytics sophistication and (effective) usage increases. By using big data to highlight trends and patterns, marketers are able to setup campaigns based on probable outcome, a.k.a predictive analytics. This means marketers are now able to use data to engage with prospects in a way that’s relevant on an individual level (i.e. displaying ads for products you’ve already been researching). That means less risk and more reward. Expect to see brands invest more into their digital marketing campaigns as their leading strategy moving forward.

5. Wearable Technology –  2016 could likely mark the shift from early adoption into mainstream for such devices, meaning a new channel of accessibility for digital marketers. From watches, hats, pants, shoes, and even shirts, everything we wear will soon be able to connect and communicate with the web. Local marketers will have a ton of possibilities as engagement options become only a matter of what’s touching your skin.

6. Hyper Personalization – Personalization has made its way into just about every aspect of digital marketing, but next year will bring a heightened use of algorithms to hyper-personalize ads. Retargeting and location targeting will pair up in more marketing campaigns to deliver a cohesive consumer experience that anticipates and responds to the customer’s every need.

7. App Development – Start to look for dedicated apps to replace mobile-optimized sites in the near future. An app serves all the same roles of a mobile site, but does so in a more intuitive and user centric way. Looking at some notable sites, such as EBay and Amazon, you’ll find that opting for a dedicated app is already becoming a standard. Look for others to start doing the same.

8. Visual Stories – The ability to craft visual stories that inspire emotion and spark the movement will help companies get noticed and amplify their message. Storytelling is perfect for driving in engagement and nurturing leads, storytelling is slowly becoming one of the most sought after ways to communicate the brand’s core message. A mix of visual and textual storytelling is all set to inspire emotions in consumers that make them interact with the business.

Which of these trends have you been already following in 2015? Which ones would you continue with in the next year? Of course when it comes to marketing trends, this is just the tip of the iceberg. You can be sure 2016 will bring about plenty of opportunity for digital marketers to take on new tactics that shift the status quo.

Onimod Global keep ahead of the Digital Marketing world trends to ensure you never miss an opportunity.  Our digital marketing strategies increase your online reach, strengthen your brand equity, help achieve stronger business results and generate greater profitability. Contact us to speak with an Onimod Global expert today.

Tips For A Successful Email Marketing Holiday Season

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With the holiday season upon us with Black Friday right around the corner, it’s time to super-charge your email marketing strategy.

The holiday season represents a huge opportunity for marketers to connect with their audiences and drive sales. Holiday sales in 2015 are expected to represent approximately 19 percent of the retail industry’s annual sales of $3.2 trillion. Additionally, the National Retail Federation is forecasting online sales to increase between 6 and 8 percent to as much as $105 billion.

To help you make the most of it, here are 10 tips that will make your email marketing results merrier:

1. Mark Your Calendar

Email marketing is a highly effective method to reach people this holiday season. With 57% of email subscribers spending 10-60 minutes browsing marketing emails during the week, you’re likely to reach people no matter where they are. Here are this season’s most notable holidays to plan your email campaigns around:

Veterans Day – Wednesday, November 11

Thanksgiving – Thursday, November 26

Black Friday – Friday, November 27

Small Business Saturday – Saturday, November 28

Cyber Monday – Monday, November 30

Hanukkah – Begins Sunday, December 6

Green Monday – Monday, December 14

Free Shipping Day – Friday, December 18

Winter Solstice – Tuesday, December 22

Christmas Eve – Thursday, December 24

Christmas Day- Friday, December 25

Boxing Day – Saturday, December 26

Kwanzaa – Begins Saturday, December 26

New Year’s Eve – Thursday, December 31

New Year’s Day – Friday, January 1

2. Use Progressive Profiling To Send Segmented Offers

Predictive intelligence and individualized recommendations are great, but during the holiday season, your subscribers’ historical data (even very recent data) may not be very helpful because they’re shopping for others more than themselves. Rather than using data to make guesses, it can be more effective to just ask your subscribers what kinds of products they’re interested in.

For instance, on Nov. 13, 2013, Zulily sent a progressive profiling email that resulted in a brand alert email being triggered on Thanksgiving Day. And on Nov. 5, 2014, Sony sent a progressive profiling email where respondents received a targeted triggered email on Black Friday.

In both cases, that’s great timing for an email that the recipient is already primed to act on.

3. Add Seasonal Content To Your Triggered Emails

Triggered emails are not “set it and forget it,” they are “review and renew.” That’s especially true going into the holiday season.

Make your triggered emails more relevant to holiday shoppers by adding seasonal imagery to the headers and gift services footers to the bottom of those emails, and adjust the logic and timing of your cart and browse abandonment emails. For instance, time to purchase is compressed during big shopping days like Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Green Monday, so you’ll likely want to fire off your abandonment emails more quickly than usual.

4. Use Preview Text To Support Your Subject Lines

This is a quick win for the holiday season. Preview or snippet text is displayed under or to the right of the subject line in the inbox view of many major email clients, including the native iPhone email app, Gmail and Yahoo Mail.

Last November, only 47 percent of B2C marketers were optimizing their preview text so that it supported their subject lines. Anecdotally, it’s only slightly higher today.

Think of preview text as a second subject line — and you wouldn’t dream of having long URLs, administrative text and other nonsense filling up your subject line. Whether you use visible or hidden preheader text to create your preview text, don’t leave it to chance.

5. Use Social Media For Aspirational Discovery, And Site Search And Purchase Data For More Practical Discovery

Social media sites like Pinterest can tell you what people aspire to buy from you, and that information can be super-useful in getting your subscribers excited about the holiday season and thinking about the possibilities. That’s especially true early in the holiday season.

But what’s actually happening on your site and in your stores, regarding the products that your customers are buying or actively considering, can be much more telling and worthy of focus.

Consider using this information in your email campaigns more as we get further into the season, when the wisdom of the crowd can be a powerful tool to direct shoppers to your most popular products.

6. Resist The Urge To Email Chronically Inactive Subscribers

It can be oh-so-tempting to want to get a little holiday boost by emailing a bunch of your subscribers who haven’t engaged with your emails in a long time, but resist the urge. The vast, vast majority of subscribers who haven’t engaged in more than two years are likely long gone, with a good chunk of those having abandoned or changed their email address.

Email a bunch of those folks during the holiday season, and you risk getting junked or blocked — which means that you risked your ability to reach your loyal, engaged subscribers for a shot at re-engaging a tiny percentage of inactive subscribers. Not a good bet.

For a smarter, less risky bet, try to identify the seasonal shoppers among your subscribers, those who were engaged and purchased during the holiday season but then quickly became silent afterward and haven’t engaged since. Those subscribers are much better candidates for re-engagement efforts going into Thanksgiving week.

7. Merry Mobile-Friendly Emails

Lastly, and perhaps most important, is ensuring your emails are mobile-friendly. It’s no surprise that prior to (and during) holiday shopping trips, consumers are looking to their mobile devices for the top email offers in their inboxes. Data points in this direction, with internal analytics showing that 50-70% of merchants’ marketing emails are being read on a mobile or tablet device. Coupled with Goldman Sachs’ forecast that mobile commerce will jump to $626 billion in 2018, proves the importance of meshing mobile and email.

Note that 65 percent of all email in the US is now opened first on a mobile device. Take advantage of this device segmenting by sending email offers with key words such as “[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][INSERT HOLIDAY] SALE!” or “[INSERT HOLIDAY] – 30% Off Online Only!” Phrases such as “Early-Bird Special” or “24 Hour Sale” work well too.

Keeping mobile top of mind will improve your lead generation and customer acquisition numbers.

8. Have A Plan For Last Sleigh Day

Because Christmas falls on a Friday this time around, express shipping is likely to play a bigger role in the final days of the holiday season. Last Sleigh Day, which is Dec. 22 this year, marks the last chance for guaranteed Christmas delivery with express shipping for most retailers.

After you wrap up your Cyber Week promotions, be sure to include your order-by deadlines for standard shipping and express shipping in a module at the bottom of your emails. And if your brand is going to offer discounted or free express shipping going into Last Sleigh Day, be sure to communicate that to your subscribers.

For more expert advice on how to captivate your customers this holiday season, contact an Onimod Global Digital Marketing expert today.

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Here Are 9 Eye-Opening Digital Marketing Stats From the Past Week

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Instagram and Snapchat continue to heat up in the digital marketing world. Check out the gaudy numbers those social players are pulling as well as six other stats from the space in the last week that we found particularly interesting:

1. New York researcher eMarketer said today that 32 percent of U.S. companies with 100 employees or more will use Instagram for marketing this year. That number will increase to 49 percent next year before jumping to 71 percent in 2017. What’s more, eMarketer said, Instagram may be more popular with marketers than Twitter in two years.

2.  CEO Evan Spiegel and his team forecast that Sponsored Selfie Filters—a new ad unit from Snapchat—will reach up to 16 million viewers a day, BuzzFeed reported. The ad purchase will cost a maximum of $700,000 per day.

3. According to Fast Company, Snapchat earlier this year discovered that between 60 percent and 70 percent of users stopped watching its video ads after just three seconds. Coca-Cola, however, has evidently cracked the code by simply making content tailored for the app. Working in concert with Snapchat, the magazine reported that the soda giant is getting a Snapchat video completion rate of 54 percent for 10-second clips.

4. Twitter has started offering Conversion Lift, which helps brands measure the effectiveness of Promoted Tweets, enabling them to better target ads. Referencing Conversion Lift data, the San Francisco tech company claimed that people who see Promoted Tweets are 1.4 times more likely to interact with a brand than those who don’t see an ad.

5. Millward Brown polled more than 13,500 multiscreen viewers—i.e., people who own a TV and either a smartphone or tablet—in 42 countries on what they think about video advertising. The researcher found that the average consumer between the ages of 16 and 45 watches 204 minutes of video a day, split equally between TV and online. Indeed, the tube and digital video are now on equal footing for both Gen Y and Gen X consumers. What’s more, 45 minutes of the average online viewing time is done on a smartphone, while desktop accounts for 37 minutes and tablet for 20 minutes.

6. The aforementioned eMarketer study also found that 88 percent of U.S. companies will utilize at least one social-media network for marketing this year.

7. P.F. Chang’s is running a user-generated content effort around National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October called #PFChangsPink. The brand saw a 1,300 percent bump in UGC from the goodwill initiative in its first eight days.

8. During last week’s Democratic presidential debate, Hillary Clinton’s Twitter handle got 293,696 mentions on the microblogging platform, besting challenger Bernie Sanders’ 278,405.

9. Mode Media, formerly Glam Media, said it has streamed more than 1 billion video views in the past six months. Mode.com’s channels include Glam (women’s lifestyle), Brash (men’s lifestyle), Bliss (health and wellness), Tend (parenting), Foodie (recipes and restaurants), among others.

Bonus stat: So far in 2015, only 14 percent of initial public offerings have been done by tech companies, per a Wall Street Journal article citing stats from Dealogic.

H/T: AdWeek.

Why Video is an Effective Digital Marketing Component

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Marketers are getting increasingly aggressive on the digital front. They are implementing innovative techniques to make their offerings more visible and appealing to the masses. To this end, it is time we seriously consider video as a new medium.

According to a blog quoting a comScore report, 64% of the visitors may purchase a product after watching a relevant video, while a Forbes survey reveals that 75% of executives watch videos

1. Classifying viewers

Your viewers are not going to be all of the same age and with similar interests. Your offerings, however, must be relevant to all – from fresh graduates to the veterans. So, you cannot expect one video to strike the same chord in every viewer’s mind. The trick is to understand the preference of different sections of your audience, and create different videos to target them simultaneously.

2. Getting a great videographer

A skilled videographer, who understands your requirement, is going to be your best friend in making appealing videos for your digital marketing activities. A good videographer can:

  • Capture and highlight the aspects of your offerings that your target customers should know and understand
  • Advise what kind of video you need – brand story, company introduction, customer testimonial, product demo, etc.
  • Make the video uniquely related to your offering by including actors or real people, animation or real videography, or a combination of various suitable components
  • Tell a story from the emergence of problem to its solution, and the result in the short video

3. Utilize social media to the fullest

For a successful video-based digital marketing campaign, presence on YouTube and other digital media is essential. The post says that 91% of the video snippets displayed on search result pages are from YouTube. Share your videos through Facebook, Twitter and other popular social media, with backlinks to your website brand page. Similarly, your website should offer links for sharing the video through various social media. By utilizing social media, you actually gain by leveraging every viewer’s reach.

4. Making a viral video

There is no particular trick to make a viral video. However, you can analyze all the popular viral videos to determine what makes people like them more than other videos. Presence of an influential personality is always helpful. Besides, most viral videos have an unusual or odd approach to story-telling. Focus on humor, children and/or animals, a tone; they are more likely to strike the right chord in your viewers’ minds. Besides, subtle reference to a current incident also works often.

5. Monitor video performance

Regular and frequent releases are good, but you also need to monitor the performance of your videos. Some of the common performance parameters are:

  • Number and type of viewers
  • Time spent on a particular video
  • Number of views per viewer
  • Click-through rate

6. In-house vs. professional studio

Depending on budgets and other factors, you can choose to hire a video production company or have an in-house team for the production. Usually, large organizations have an in-house team for video production. However, you can rely on video companies to produce highly appealing and effective videos for your digital marketing campaign.

So, consider videos a vital component when you think of digital marketing. All you need is to take the first step to enter this domain with conviction in order to reap the benefits.

Why Video is an Effective Digital Marketing Component

H/T: Martech Advisor

2015 Digital Marketing Stats: The Good, the Bad and the Intriguing

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We look at the 2015 stats that show great leaps forward and hurdles still to be overcome for digital marketing

A decade or more ago, digital marketing, or internet marketing as it was more frequently referred to back then (see digital marketing Vs internet marketing), used to be a wild-west like frontier. Opportunities were everywhere, and there were also plenty of people getting it horribly wrong. In the past 10-15 years things have changed markedly, and in general things have been getting a whole lot better for digital marketers.

 

the good the bad and the ugly

 

Much like the past 15 years, 2015 so far has brought plenty of good news for digital marketers; increasing digital ad budgets, increased focus on content and SEO has given them plenty of opportunities to show their worth and marketers. The stats that have come out so far from various studies and compilations this year demonstrate this clearly. However, they also show there are problems with digital marketing that companies are still not overcoming. Big data has been a big trend for a few years now, but it is clear that many businesses are not able to turn data into insights effectively. Accurate measuring ROI remains a problem for many, whilst some are still failing to get tangible results from Social Media.

That’s why we thought we’d present some of the best and worst of digital marketing stats of the year thus far. The good show how fast digital marketing is growing and getting ever more effective, whilst the bad stats demonstrate the challenges that still remain.

All the surveys and research that generate these stats often throw up some interesting tidbits of data that are often fascinating. We thought that we’d add these intriguing stats into our compilation for good measure.

Good

  • Content marketing in 2015 generates 3 times as many leads as traditional outbound marketing, but costs 62% less. (Source)

 

  • Content creation and management now claim the second-largest share of digital marketing budgets. (Source)

 

  • 28% of marketers have reduced their advertising budget to fund more digital marketing. (Source)

 

  • 84% of top performing companies are using or plan to start using marketing automation by 2015. (Source)

 

  • 73% of B2B marketers use video as a content marketing tactic, and 7% of marketers plan on increasing their YouTube marketing.
    71% of companies planned to increase their digital marketing budgets this year (Source)

 

  • 78% of companies now say they have dedicated social media teams in 2015, up from 67% in 2012 (Source)

Bad

  • 62% of companies did not agree with the statement ‘we have the analysts we need to make sense of our data’ whilst 63% did not agree with the statement ‘we have a good infrastructure in place to collect the data we need’. (Source)

 

  • 70% of marketers were not confident in their companies ability to measure the return on mobile ad spend. (Source)

 

  • 52% of Americans think that most online shopping sites need improvement, whilst 79% of Brazilians2 and 87% of Chinese people think this. (Source)

 

  • 83% of consumers reported that they have had a “bad experience with social media marketing.” (source)

 

  • The top three social networks used by B2B marketers are LinkedIn (91%); Twitter (85%); and Facebook (81%). However, just 62% of marketers say that LinkedIn is effective, while 50% say the same for Twitter and only 30% of B2B marketers view Facebook as effective. December 2014 (source)

 

  • 20% of companies said Digital Marketing is very much separate from the rest of their marketing/advertising efforts, whilst only 14% said they were a ‘digital first organisation. (Source)

 

  • 91% of people have unsubscribed from company emails they have previously opted into. (source)

 

  • Only 8% of companies have an email marketing team, despite the fact it is often rated as the platform the delivers the highest ROI of any digital marketing tactic. (source)

 

  • Almost half–48%–of all emails are opened on mobile devices. Yet 39% of marketers say they have no strategy for mobile email, and only 11% of emails are optimized for mobile (source)

Intriguing

  • 15% of Google searches have never been searched for before. (source)

 

  • 60% of all Internet activity in the US originates from mobile devices and about half of total Internet Traffic flows through mobile apps. (source)

 

  • 50% of all mobile searches are conducted in hopes of finding local results, and 61% of those searches result in a purchase. (Source)

 

  • The most followed brand on Twitter is Facebook (source)

 

 

H/T: Smart Insights.

10 Online Marketing Metrics Critical To Your Campaign’s Performance

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When was the last time you conducted a thorough marketing analysis for your business? If your answer is, “I can’t remember,” don’t feel bad. Many business owners deprioritize marketing analyses in the face of more pressing needs.

The good news: There’s never a bad time to conduct a detailed marketing analysis that lays the groundwork for a comprehensive online marketing strategy.

As part of your analysis, you’ll need to pay attention to key online marketing metrics and digital marketing measurements that offer insight into how your online presence performs relative to the competition and what you can do to improve its performance.

If you want to learn how to improve your online marketing performance without breaking the bank, start with these 10 metrics.

1. Traffic Sources

While it’s important to keep track of your total visitor counts and other high-level traffic metrics, these data points don’t always provide the level of fine-grained insight necessary to adjust and shape your online marketing plan effectively.

For a closer look at your website traffic, pay attention to traffic sources. In Google Analytics, you can find this information in the Acquisitions tab.

Traffic sources can be broken down into four main categories: direct, referrals, search and social.

  • Direct traffic consists of visitors who typed your main URL into the search bar and navigated directly to your site.
  • Referral traffic comprises visitors who clicked external links to get to your site.
  • Search traffic consists of traffic generated by organic and paid search results.
  • Social visitors arrived through links embedded in your social media profiles and feeds.

Once you have a sense of where your traffic is coming from and how traffic figures change over time, you’ll have an easier time determining which areas of your online marketing strategy are working and which need tweaking.

2. Bounce Rate

Your website’s bounce rate is calculated by dividing the total number of visitors by the number of visitors who navigate away from the site after viewing just one page.

Bounce rate is a great proxy for overall interest in your website’s content and messaging. In most cases, lower bounce rates are better.

3. Time on Site

Time on site is another useful proxy for visitor interest. The longer your visitors spend exploring your website, the more likely they are to absorb information about your company and take meaningful action to enter your sales funnel.

Sophisticated digital marketing strategies focus on simultaneously reducing bounce rates and increasing time on site readings.

4. Conversions

Your website’s conversion rate is an absolutely critical measure of your online marketing plan’s overall effectiveness.

It’s important to note that website visitors can “convert” in many different ways including filling out a form with personal and financial information, signing up for a recurring membership, submitting an email address, completing an online transaction and more.

It’s your responsibility to define what “conversion” means for your business, measuring said conversions in Google Analytics or another marketing automation program such as HubSpot, and taking steps to boost your conversion rate.

5. Lead to Close Ratio

Lead to close ratio is another important metric that determines how effective your website and your online marketing ecosystem as a whole is to shepherd prospective customers through the buyer’s journey. It’s expressed as the total number of leads you generate divided by the number of sales.

6. Repeat Sales Ratio

Most businesses thrive on repeat sales. In fact, many service providers now focus on recurring sales models defined by weekly or monthly payments. If this describes your business, you’re no doubt focused on getting your repeat sales ratio as high as possible.Even if you follow a more traditional retail sales model that emphasizes individual, one-off transactions, repeat customers are critical to your profitability.

7. Cost per Lead

Your cost per lead is expressed as your total marketing outlay divided by the number of leads generated in a given period.

Lower costs per lead are generally better than higher costs per lead, but it’s okay to deviate from this rule during periods of heightened marketing investment.

8. Cost per Sale

Cost per sale is expressed as your total marketing outlay divided by the number of sales in a given period. It’s a great measure of the average cost of a single sale.

However, keep in mind that cost per sale measures discrete sales costs and thus isn’t equivalent to return on investment.

9. Average Customer Value

Customer value is a relatively complex measure of the total amount of value a given customer produces during their relationship with your company.

By extension, average customer value is the measure of the average customer’s value contribution. This metric is determined by a number of different factors, including transaction size, transaction frequency and the average duration of customer relationships.

10. Return on Investment

In many ways, your return on investment is the “ultimate” measure of your marketing plan’s effectiveness. It’s a measure of your total marketing investment relative to your total revenue.

Virtually every tweak, adjustment and new initiative you launch with respect to your online marketing strategy should have one overarching goal in mind, which is to boost your return on investment.

Therein lies the key to profitability and growth.

Learn How to Improve Online Marketing from the Experts

These 10 online marketing metrics aren’t the only digital marketing measurements that you need to keep in mind as you plan and deploy your digital outreach strategy. They’re critical to a comprehensive marketing plan.

If you can effectively track and measure your traffic sources, bounce rate, time on site, total conversions, lead to close ratio, repeat sales ratio, cost per lead, cost per sale, average customer value and total return on investment, you’ll find yourself well ahead of the curve.

H/T: Business2Community

Social Media Marketing Tips for the Fall and Holiday Season

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October begins the holiday season for businesses and marketers. You should embrace the new seasons and holidays as part of your social media marketing strategy. The seasons are a perfect time to produce relevant content that revolves around current situations all your customers and prospects are currently in. Holiday shopping begins before Halloween for 20 to 40% of all consumers. The fall season is a very busy time for people to be searching the internet and browsing social media for Halloween costume ideas, fall recipes, fall decorating ideas and crafts, the list is almost endless. It’s important your business has a strong online presence during this pivotal time to take advantage of a large audience. Below are some marketing tips for your business to implement this holiday season:

1. Profile background to match the season
Consider customizing your social media profiles for the holidays. Your online presence should reflect the current season your business is experiencing. Showing an updated and current online presence will build up the credibility for your business in the eyes of the consumers. An idea could be to promote a specific product or service your business offers that would interest viewers the most during the specific holiday or season your currently in. Include an image of this on your social media background along with a theme to match the holiday or season. For instance, a jewelry store could highlight a couple seasonal jewelry pieces they sell on their social media background along with any seasonal specials.

2. Search for relevant hashtags to use during the season and implement them into your content strategy and editorial calendar
See what holiday or seasonal hashtags are being commonly used and see if your business can relate to it or if it caters to your customer’s lifestyle. Craft social media posts with the relevant hashtags a couple times a week to increase the reach of your messages. You could also make a special hashtag for your business that’s relevant each year the holiday season approaches. It will help keep the conversation going. For instance you could use your brand name followed by gift idea, like this #BrandnameHolidayGiftIdeas to showcase your products and services. Some other relevant hashtags could be #HolidaySavings and #HolidayDeals.

3. Write a blog posts that relevant to the season and your business
Look for opportunities to use seasonal topics and traditions to engage your audience in a timely and relevant way. This can humanize your business and help customers connect with you in a whole new way. For example, Napoleon Perdis, a popular makeup brand, created a series of “How To” tutorials demonstrating how a customer could apply Napoleon Perdis makeup to create classic Halloween looks.

4. Share social media posts relevant to the season
Showcasing what you have in common with your audience is a great way for your brand to humanize it’s image and strengthened your relationship with your current and future clients. Share tips relevant to the season like Gibson Air did with this tweet “Fall Energy Saving Tip: turn fans clockwise in the fall to force warm air down, improving the energy efficiency of your home” During the fall season HVAC companies should provide tips that relate to heating and preparing for the winter season. A jewelry store could highlight seasonal jewelry fashion trends in their social posts. Always keeping up with the trends will allow customers to see you as a credible information provider that’s always up-to-date and cares about delivering the freshest content to viewers. This will encourage customers to engage and search out information from your business.

5. Create a Pinterest board revolving around the holiday
Pinterest is a great source of traffic and a great way to increase the reach of your messages. During the holiday season people are searching Pinterest for specific holiday or seasonal ideas, tips and gifts. This is a great opportunity for you to develop a special holiday Pinterest board to increase your reach and visibility online. If you are an HVAC company you could create a Pinterest board titled “Fall Décor Ideas” where you would share fall décor ideas for homes. You would be providing content that’s relevant to your customer’s lifestyle, your business and the current season which is always a win-win situation.

6. Create a social contest revolving around the holiday or season
Giveaways are a great way to create exposure and a buzz around your product, service or brand. A contest that matched the season would be a strategic way to capitalize on a trending topic. For example, TomTom launched a holiday-themed sweepstakes giveaway and called it “TomTom’s 12 Days of Giveaways”. Create a special Facebook tab for your contest to further capture data to further analyze to develop social media strategy. Make a contest that requires users to enter an email, to help build up your email list so you can update subscribers on future contests, promotions and announcements. In fact 55% of brands use email as their number one holiday marketing channel (Accenture)

7. Create a special YouTube playlist revolving around a seasonal or holiday topic
You can create your specific playlists on your YouTube channel to feature videos that has information your customers may be searching online during a particular season or holiday. For example Travel Channel is featuring a “Fall in Finger Lakes” playlist on their YouTube channel during October and features the best attractions to experience during the fall in New York’s Finger Lakes region.

fall season social media marketing tips for YouTube

8. Implement event marketing and host a holiday themed event, that’s promoted on social media
Events are a great way to interact with your customers and to increase your exposure. Social media can further the experience of your events in many ways. You could create a special hashtag to create a conversation around your event and promote it on your social profiles. You should also develop photo albums on your social networks to share photos of the event. A holiday or seasonal themed event shows your customers and your community your fun and creative side.

9. Create seasonal specials and coupons
If you’re looking to boost engagement, offering coupons and discounts are one of your best options. Try developing a seasonal special that you can offer each year to keep customers coming back. Share these specials in social media posts to increase your reach.

Use these marketing tips and ideas to make the most of the spike in holiday traffic and spending, and create a positive impression of your small business that will last long into next year.

H/T: Toni Corsini