direct and digital marketing midterm :(

Spider

A program which crawls the web and retrieves web pages in order for them to be indexed against content, keywords and links in and out (also known as "bots")

Offline Direct Marketing

Catalogs, Direct mail, Direct selling

Big Data and Fashion

Fundamentally, big data is about making useful predictions to help grow a business • Establishing patterns, correlations and inferring probabilities with accuracy • In fashion, big data will affect every aspect of the industry • Marketing and communication as other industries • But what about buying and planning? • Today, several companies are entering the market as service providers

The Scope of Direct Marketing

Getting Data, collecting and using customer information

What Can we do With a Database?

Target marketing • Cross-selling • Sales analysis and forecasts • Analyze "pull" or trigger products • Promotion analysis • Customer retention and churn (attrition) analysis • Profitability analysis • Customer value measurement

Stored in a database

§ Databases are used to store all known data about a prospect or customer including for example, history of purchases, sources of response, credit rating, demographic information, and more § Terms such as targeted, relationship, database and one-to-one marketing are often used interchangeably, along with direct marketing

Direct Marketing at the Heart

§ Direct marketing is at the forefront of this online revolution § It has absorbed the technological advances faster than any other discipline. It has created the 'dialogue' with customers § Today, advertising, brand building, engagement and sales promotion all can occur in a one-to-one context § The concept of real-time one-to-one marketing has finally arrived!

Direct Marketing: Building Customer Loyalty

§ It can cost five to ten times more to get a new customer (acquisition) than it costs to keep a customer (retention) § Loyal customers have higher frequency and monetary measurements § Moreover, loyal customers are the primary source of referrals, which are the single greatest influence on customer's purchase decision making process § It is said that 20% of customers of any given business produce 80% of the profit of a company!

Economic Impact

§ Marketing in general, as well as direct marketing has a significant impact on the economy of a given country § In the U.S., where 70% of the country's GDP comes from consumer spending, the impact is enormous § A great deal of money is spent by businesses to inspire consumers to spend that money on their products and services

Direct Marketing: Measuring Customer Value

§ Some key aspects of measuring are: § Recency: The amount of time since a person or firm last purchased § Frequency: The number of times a customer buys within a season (or predetermined time frame) § Monetary: The amount of money a customer spends within a given time frame

Direct Marketing: Technology is the Driver

§ Technological advances have shaped the evolution of advertising throughout history - this is not new § Each technology fundamentally altered the way that businesses could communicate with their customers BUT § These developments don't necessarily completely replace those that came before

Direct Marketing: The Online Revolution

§ The Internet has changed the balance of power between companies and customers § It has created many new marketplaces such as online auctions including the global phenomenon of eBay, Amazon, and Alibaba § Additionally, personalized, on-demand marketing is a possibility of because of the internet and personal computing devices

Direct Marketing: The Basics

§ The basic reason for any direct marketing program is to get a measurable response that will result in profit for a company § To create a response, there must be a call to action (CTA) § Calls to action may include getting people to: § Make a purchase § Make an inquiry § Subscribe to an email list § Come into store § More...

Direct Marketing: The Marketing Landscape

§ The increase in affordable computer power now allows today's direct marketer to hold as much relevant information on every customer as the twentieth -century mass marketer held on the entire market § This represents nothing less than a revolutionary change to the marketing opportunity!

Direct Marketing: What Causes People to Respond?

§ The quality of the list (database) § The media selected § The creative (advertising) § Copy § Layout/Format § Timing § The actual offer!

Identification

name, contact, email, phone number, salesperson

Behavioral

purchase patterns, referral rate, loyalty status, date of last purchase, frequency and value of purchase

Lifestyle

attitudes, media usage, brands bought, interests, hobbies

Direct Marketing: Measuring Customer Value

§ The ultimate objective of a successful direct marketing program is to build a long-term, or lifetime customer relationship § Some key aspects of measuring are: § Long-term or Lifetime value (LTV): The total financial transactions with a customer over the life of the relationship

Sales Share By Product Category

• The largest direct selling companies in the U.S., by revenue, are: • Amway • Herbalife • Avon Products • Mary Kay • Melaleuca • Direct selling takes place in the apparel industry as well! • It is the ultimate luxury service...

Marketing Definition

"An organizational function and set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders."

Direct Marketing Definition

"Direct Marketing is the interactive use of advertising media to stimulate an (immediate) behavior modification in such a way that this behavior can be tracked, recorded, analyzed, and stored on a database for future retrieval and use."

Why a Search Strategy?

"Even in this age of rampant online engagement, peer recommendation and reviews, the way that the vast majority of people find the things they need online is by typing a phrase into that little empty box on the homepage of their favorite search engine."

How Do Search Engines Work?

1) "Crawl" all web pages (spiders) 2) Process content, links into and out of each site 3) Create an index 4) Sites are ranked by relevance using algorithms 5) Serve result to searches from indexed sites

What is Augmented Reality?

Augmented reality (AR) is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data • It is related to a more general concept called mediated reality, in which a view of reality is modified (possibly even diminished rather than augmented) by a computer • As a result, the technology functions by enhancing one's current perception of reality • With the help of advanced AR technology (adding computer vision and object recognition for example) the information about the surrounding real world of the user becomes interactive and digitally manipulable • Artificial information about the environment and its objects can be overlaid on the real world

Moving Towards the Cloud

Business applications are moving to the cloud • It's not just a fad—the shift from traditional software models to the Internet has steadily gained momentum over the last 10 years • Looking ahead, the next decade of cloud computing promises new ways to collaborate everywhere, through mobile devices • Major service providers supporting cloud data management and social CRM are: • SAS • IBM • Oracle • Microsoft • Adobe Social • Salesforce

Velocity

Data is streaming in at unprecedented speed and must be dealt with in a timely manner • RFID tags, sensors and smart metering are driving the need to deal with torrents of data in near-real time

What Is A Credible Source?

Difference between opinion and fact. Unbiased with evidence.

Use of advertising media

Direct marketing uses a combination of advertising media always more effective (IMC)

Direct Marketing Today

Everything goes in cycles...

Links

High quality inbound links from "authority" websites is crucial to SEO • When spiders are crawling the internet and gauging what is of quality and importance to their customer, the quality of "references" is what informs the algorithm • The more links that point to an individual page, the higher the collective "vote" of confidence, higher the importance • A link from a high-traffic, authoritative website will improve SEO

What is a Database?

In its simplest form, a database is a list of information • Information is stored in a database which is a "collection of data to support the requirements of a specific group of users" • Stored in spreadsheet software programs (such as excel), increasingly stored in the cloud • The blockchain is a database

Algorithm

In mathematics and computer science, a self-contained step-by-step set of operations to be performed - these operations can perform calculations, data processing, and automated reasoning

How to Gather Information?

Internal and External sources

History of Direct Marketing

Later it came to include telephone marketing, magazine subscription selling, book and music publishing, and other direct-to-consumer methods over and above catalogue-based mail order

Subscription (Direct) Selling Has...

Made a Comeback

Fashion a Key Component

Mail-order companies offered ready-to-wear clothing for example, at a time when many Americans still wore clothing tailored from fabric purchased locally.

Track, record, analyze

Measuring the results of a marketing initiative is a hallmark of direct marketing. A variety of metrics that track for example, spending, response rate, and ROI (return on investment)

Interactive

One-on-one communications between a marketer and an existing customer or a prospect (potential customer) that initiates a dialogue or two-way interaction

Sponsored/Paid Search

Paid search marketing refers to the paid-for advertising that usually appears alongside, above and occasionally below the organic listings on a search engine results page • An advertiser will pay each time the ad is clicked (PPC) • Alternatively, advertisers can buy ads on a "cost per thousand" (CPM) basis • Paid search is a great way to generate links and traffic to build SEO • Again, selecting keywords is key •Marketers must strive to optimize ads and converting clicks into sales

"Organic" or natural search

Results of a search engine that are based on algorithmic, scored, spidered ranking

SERP

Search engine results page

Data Management

Traditional business applications have always been very complicated and expensive • The amount and variety of hardware and software required to run them are daunting • You need a whole team of experts to install, configure, test, run, secure, and update them • When you multiply this effort across dozens or hundreds of apps, it's easy to see why even the biggest companies with the best IT departments aren't getting the apps they need • Small and mid-sized businesses don't stand a chance

Online Direct Communication

Websites, Search engine marketing (SEM), Paid advertising, Social media, Cookies, Retargeting, Email marketing, Ecommerce, Mobile commerce, Social shopping, Livestream shopping

Demographic

age, marital status, gender, family status

Financial

credit history, income, products bought, order size, service history, method of acquisition

Direct Marketing Today

§ Today, direct marketing is at the center of a retail and marketing revolution § The Internet has become the essential element in both consumers' and marketers' lives § Like any marketing activity however, marketers need to make sure their budgets are being used for targeted, customer-centric communication § Direct marketing now entails a complex selection of tools and techniques that engage both customers and prospective new customers § Consumers have the freedom to respond to their preferred channel for communication and purchasing § Direct marketing is not just for consumer facing businesses (B2C), but also an essential tool for business to business (B2B) companies § Today, it is hard to imagine and organization the does not use direct marketing in one form or another

Key Benefits of Social Media

• At the beginning of social media, marketers were weary of engaging the medium, afraid of the lack of control in an "open conversation" • Key benefits changed minds, including: • Deeper engagement with customers, real-time interactions • Affordable insights not available via any other platform(s) • Customers were already online! • The opportunity to influence influencers • Nurturing brand advocacy • The power of earned media (viral capabilities) • Harnessing the crowd

Defining Big Data

• Big data is a popular term used to describe the exponential growth and availability of data, both structured and unstructured • Challenges for companies include the volume, velocity, and variation of data to be processed

SMS Marketing

• Businesses can send text messages to prospects and customers to increase brand awareness, boost engagement, and even generate sales • Specific tactics include: • Promote a sale • Offer a coupon • Announce new product • Send updates and notifications • Reminder of appointment • Collect customer feedback • So much more... • SMS marketing more mature in Asia than in the U.S.

Fashion Application?

• Catalogues have so much potential, as the meaning of print evolves • The channel represents oneon-one digital and physical engagement, that lasts for longer than a TikTok video • Generating deep engagement, they can foster customer loyalty!

Cloud Computing

• Cloud computing means storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead of your computer's hard drive

Cluster Analysis

• Cluster analysis is a data reduction technique that groups variables based on similar data characteristics It is useful for: • Segmenting customer groups based on demographic, financial, or purchase behavior characteristics • Segmenting customer groups based general customers, long-term customers, short-term customers • Segmenting customer groups based on attrition rates, response to promotions

Why Catalogs Are Making A Comeback

• Combined media (catalog and email) had been demonstrated to be especially effective • Blending retail trends and consumer psychology, catalogs stand apart from the increasingly cluttered digital inboxes and social media feeds • As physical products, they can linger in consumers' houses long after emails are deleted, which increases top-of-mind awareness among consumers.

Segmentation

• Companies can create their own internal customer segments based on data gathered (Identification, Demographic, Financial, Lifestyle, Behavioral)

Data Mining

• Data mining is "the process for discovering patterns and rends in large database sets to find useful decisionmaking information" • There are a number of data mining tools and techniques • Some are used to identify significant relationships that exist among variables

Variety

• Data today comes in all types of formats • Structured, numeric data in traditional databases • Unstructured text documents, email, video, audio, stock ticker data and financial transactions

Why Catalogs Are Making A Comeback

• Despite two decades of email and social media marketing, and the digitization of the consumer experience, catalog mailings have been steadily increasing since 2015 • Consumers are surprisingly enthusiastic about receiving them - response rates from catalogs have increased by 170% from 2004 to 2018 • The effects are not just confined to digital laggards who do not go online - in fact, there's evidence that Millennials are particularly interested in catalogs they receive in the mail • Many brands and retailers, such as Nordstrom, Patagonia, Crate and Barrel, Restoration Hardware, and leisure services such as vacations and cruise lines, are investing heavily in physical catalogs • Even pure-online retailers that prided themselves in creating efficient and digitized consumer experiences such as Wayfair, Bonobos, Birchbox, and Amazon are now printing catalogs!

Catalogs/ Direct Mail

• Direct mail (flyers etc.) are still important promotional tools for the home industry • Catalogs, whether in printed or electronic form, remain an important channel by which retailers reach their target customers • Fashion has a long history with catalogues, but times have changed! • Is there hope for print catalogues in the future?

Collecting Data

• Direct marketing relies on the collection and application of information • The advantage of direct and digital marketing is that it generates better information about customers and prospects and this helps develop more effective and efficient marketing strategies

Direct Selling: An Overview

• Direct selling is a business model in which a company utilizes person-to-person interactions to sell products • Typically, the process involves an independent seller buying the goods from the parent company and then selling them to other individuals • Direct selling companies can specialize in anything from wellness supplements to household items • Since 2015 the global retail sales from direct selling have increased from about $184 billion USD to approximately $192 billion USD 2018 • Direct selling companies specializing in wellness products make up a 33% share of sales in this industry, making it the largest direct selling product category • The top market for direct selling is the United States!

The Demographics of Direct Selling

• Direct selling provides millions of Americans with the opportunity to supplement their income, balance work with family and was a gateway for women to enter the "workforce" after WWII • 74% of people involved in direct selling in 2019 were women • Nearly 20% of Americans who become involved in direct selling are Latinos • Direct selling has an outstanding involvement rate with women and minority groups

External sources

• Edited electoral roll • Lifestyle databases • Credit reference • Information brokers • Rented databases • Social networks, forums

Effective Email

• Email can be used to communicate: • Promotions • Event sign up • New product information • Continued engagement • Brand perception • More.... • Effective email contain the following elements: • Compelling visuals • Copy that is on brand • Multiple CTAs

Email Marketing

• Email marketing can be one of the most powerful elements of a digital marketing strategy • When email marketing began, it was very effective, with high click through rates (CTRs) and high conversion • This has changed - emails from companies often remained unopened and are seen as "junk" mail • Today the CTR is low, but conversion is still high - so it the ROI! • Emails are a revenue driver, and also serve to keep a brand or retailer top of mind • Email remains a VERY effective marketing tool

Email Marketing Systems

• Email marketing specialists offer services such as: • Contact list management • Provide templates and easy to use tools to upload content • Testing • Tracking • Content strategies • Some leading service providers are: • Mail Chimp • Campaign Monitor • Benchmark • More...

Keywords

• Knowing what keywords and phrases customers are using when searching for a product a business is trying to sell is the foundation for SEO • How to know what words people are using? Search engines will help via tools such as GoogleAdWords • Analyze the competition • You want the content of your site to include the most popular keywords and phrases to drive targeted traffic; these can change overtime and need to be updated • Combination of short-tail (one or two word phrases) and long-tail phrases (lower search traffic, higher conversion)

Social Media

• Many types of applications can be included under the umbrella of social media, including: • Submission sites, internet forums, discussion boards • Media sharing sites • Reviews and rating sites • Social networks • Blogs, microblogging • Podcasts • Strategically, there are advantages and disadvantages to each form of social media • A campaign selects certain social media platforms because of the functions/benefits offered

Remarketing, Retargeting

• Remarketing is a way to connect with people who previously interacted with your website or mobile app • It allows you to strategically position your ads in front of these audiences as they browse a search engine or its partner websites, thus helping increase brand awareness or remind those audiences to make a purchase • While retargeting focuses on pulling in new audiences or customers through ads on social media, email or other platforms, remarketing often focuses on sales or marketing emails sent to re-engage customers • Today, brands and retailers in fashion work with third party web and social remarketing service providers

Search Engine Optimization

• SEO is the process which aims to get websites listed prominently within search engines' organic search results • SEO is driven by a collection of factors: • Quality of site architecture and content of website • Influence of other websites and social channels • For mobile search, mobile optimization ...75% - 90% of users NEVER scroll past the first page of search results...

SMS Marketing

• SMS (short message service) marketing is sending promotional campaigns or transactional messages for marketing purposes using text messages (SMS) • These messages are mostly meant to communicate time-sensitive offers, updates, and alerts to people who have consented to receive these messages from a business

Internal sources

• Sales force, contact center, retail outlets, email, phone, post • Must train customer facing employees to gather information at every opportunity! • Questionnaires, primary market research

Search Engine Marketing

• Search engine marketing (SEM) is the process which aims to get websites listed prominently in search engine results through: 1) Search engine optimization (SEO) 2) Sponsored /Paid search • Today, it is not uncommon for people to use SEM for sponsored or paid search only, and SEO for search engine optimization

Social Media Dashboards

• Social media platforms have developed "dashboard" software that help keep track of of, analyze, and update accounts • There are also tools that help congregate all the information into one place • Hootsuite • Later • Sendible • Social CRM software

Origins of Direct Marketing

• The origins of what came to be called "direct marketing" lie in the mail-order business • In the late 1800s, many companies were selling direct to consumers servicing the needs of a rapidly growing rural America • The classic examples in the USA were the Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward catalogues, which can be traced back to the 1880s

An Interactive Opportunity for Fashion

• The use of QR codes already connects physical items with digital content • The scale of 5G availability will bring Augmented Reality marketing campaigns to life!

Email Marketing: The Stats

• There are 3.9 billion daily email users worldwide • Email generates on average $38 for every $1 spent, which is an astounding 3,800% ROI, making it one of the most effective options available. • Mobile opens account for 46 percent of all email opens • 35% of business professionals check email on a mobile device • 73% of millennials prefer communications from businesses to come via email • 78% of marketers have seen an increase in email engagement over the last year • 80% of business professionals believe that email marketing increases customer retention • 59% of respondents say marketing emails influence their purchase decisions • Very important in the B2B marketing context!

Search Engine Optimization

• To optimize a site, it needs to be: • "Crawlable" - avoid all flash, JavaScript code, image mapping (need text hyperlinks etc.) • Spiders are interested in text, text- based hyperlink • Content has to be good (keyword use, page titles, link titles, tagging visual content) • IT'S ALL ABOUT KEYWORDS! • Superior incoming links

Volume

• Transaction-based data stored through the years • Unstructured data streaming in from social media • Increasing amounts of sensor and machine-to-machine data being collected • Enabled by cloud computing (no storage issues)

Rules of Engagement

• Understand how people are using different platforms, and for which purpose (this changes continuously!) • Apply rules of conversation! • Draw on what you know already • Be prepared • Look, listen, learn • Be authentic • Be relevant, interesting, entertaining • Don't spam or hard sell • Respect the rules of the platforms

Different Types of Remarketing

• Video Remarketing (Google Ads): Your ads are shown as pre-roll video ads on YouTube and other Google display partners to people that have previously visited your site • Search Remarketing (Google Ads): Your ads are shown at the top of the search engine results when someone who has already visited your site searches for specific terms or services • Display Remarketing (Google Ads): Your ads are shown as display ads on other websites within the Google display ad network • Dynamic Remarketing (Google Ads): Boost your results with dynamic remarketing, which takes remarketing to the next level with ads that include products or services that people viewed on your website or app • Social Media Remarketing: You can use remarketing to serve ads to people who have visited your website while they browse social media channels and partner websites

Elements of Digital Marketing

• Websites • Search engine marketing (SEM) • Paid advertising • Social media marketing • Remarketing • Marketing automation (including email marketing and messenger marketing)

Elements of Digital Marketing

• Websites • Search engine marketing (SEM) • Paid advertising • Social media marketing • Remarketing • Marketing automation (including email marketing and messenger marketing)

How Does Remarketing Work?

• You know those "cookies" you are always accepting without knowing what they are??? • Cookies are a small file that stores various bits of information and allow owners of websites to "follow you" on the internet • When someone visits a website, a few lines of code from retargeting partners drops an anonymous cookie in the user's browser • This cookie tracks the site visit without storing any sensitive personal info like name and address • When this cookied users leaves a site to browse the web, the cookie tells your ad platform when that user visits another site and places a customized ad on that site • Alternately, e-mail follow up is a big converter!! • On average, only 2% of website visitors convert; remarketing goes after that - customers who see retargeted ads are 70% more likely to convert