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Is your 2024 marketing strategy really prepared for cookie and election disruption?

June 10, 2024 No Comments

Sourced from The Drum

The demise of third-party cookies and an election year team up to present marketers with both challenges and opportunities.

A once-in-a-lifetime perfect storm of technological disruption and cultural flashpoint is about to descend on the digital marketing landscape, resulting in both short-term challenges and long-term change. Few marketers seem prepared for either.

Here’s what’s on the horizon.

Storm 1: Third-party tracking cookies are going away… even if that day is now further than expected. That means the days of simply buying data on customers and retargeting them based on the information purchased are limited.

Storm 2: The 2024 election cycle, and all the down-ballot issues that come with a presidential election year, are going to eat up nearly all available ad inventory, driving up costs and driving down ROI.

Taken together, it’s going to be extremely difficult for brands to cut through the noise and target the right audience while trying to maintain efficiency.

But there is a way to weather these headwinds and come out the other side a winner. Spoiler alert, it all points to a strategic investment in first-party data, owned channels, and partnering with companies that have the data to help you execute a winning plan.

First, let’s examine more closely the magnitude of the storms upon us.

Cookie depreciation

Yes, Google keeps delaying its promise to end the use of third-party cookie on Chrome browsers. But what’s interesting is that one of the reasons behind this delay is a lack of industry readiness for a world without cookies.

We’ve seen the headaches that over-reliance on tech solutions can have on brands. Remember when Apple killed Identifier for Advertisers (which matched ads to unique individuals on iOS devices)? Brands advertising heavily on Facebook were hit particularly hard – it took nearly two years to normalize reach and metrics closer to what brands were used to seeing before that iOS update.

Perhaps that’s what has marketers so pessimistic about the future of cookies.

Up to 80% of advertisers still rely on third-party cookies today.
70% of marketers raise concerns that digital advertising will take a step backward following the death of the third-party cookie.
69% of advertisers think the death of third-party cookies will have a bigger impact than both GDPR and CCPA.

In a worst-case scenario, according to ad sales company Raptive, a 30% deprecation could easily translate to a 30% drop in revenue for brands relying heavily on cookies.

What’s more, the “Privacy Sandbox” APIs Google is creating for advertisers who remain heavily reliant on cookies is hardly a solution. Google itself says it’s “not intended to be direct, one-to-one replacements for all third-party cookie-based use cases,” according to the company’s blog. Regardless, the required innovation and building of new ad tools on top of Privacy Sandbox will require significant new costs and an entire shift in the development of these tools.

All in all, this is uncharted territory. But it seems clear the financial costs to rebuild an ecosystem will be large. There are lots of unknowns, but the biggest is how will these changes affect revenue, and what’s the new normal for an ROI model with paid ads.

Social is no haven either. Visitors from paid social are almost 40% more likely to bounce from your site than paid search traffic. Instead, social will likely remain a brand awareness play.

Regardless of the source of traffic, if an unknown device hits your site, you need to be prepared to capitalize on that activity.

Can you offer up the right value exchange that convinces the customer to opt-in for more information?
Are you using identity partners that may have a profile on that device and recognize its potential as a high-value customer?

This is critical information that allows you to engage potential new customers the moment they visit your site. Rather than offering new visitors a generic discount code, you’ll be able to make a more specific, personalized offer that has a far higher chance of converting into an opt in. Or offer a pop up touting a loyalty perk rather than a discount code.

Getting that unknown visitor to convert to an owned channel will then allow you to learn even more about these visitors and refine your offers to them even more, resulting in offers more likely to convert to sales, and ultimately a more long-term loyal customer.

If you can convert 30% of your unknown paid traffic to known contacts, your advertising spend will become far more meaningful.

The election

While the presidential race will get the headlines and no shortage of advertising funds to spend, a large majority of ad dollars will come from congressional and local races. This is where political ad machines will be targeting people based on behaviour and other data.

All those dollars will be spent chasing the same people. They call them voters. You call them customers. Either way, political ads will be chasing the same people on the same platforms, vying for the same inventory. So what does that mean?

Consider this: political ad spend is expected to shatter the previous record of $10 billion that was set during the previous election cycle. Predictions for 2024 election ad spend range from $10bn to $15.9bn. And while the majority of political advertising spend in the US goes to local broadcast TV, an increasing amount is moving toward digital channels.

Digital advertising company Jump saw Meta’s CPMs (cost per thousand impressions) rise from a total of $8 to as high as $15.50 during election week 2020, an overall increase of 94%. This is what’s ahead of us and what marketers need to prepare for.

This isn’t a financial discussion either. Brand safety is always a concern during elections. Political ads from so-called “dark money” groups can be highly inflammatory, and you neer know what kind of ad will show up next to yours.

All the more reason why owned channels are much safer. Be in control of where your message lands by seeking one-to-one communication in the personal and private space of the inbox or as a text message.

3 things you can do

1. Focus on identity

Work with partners who can match unknown site visitors against a database of millions of known devices to identify which are your target customers worth engaging with. Get them opted in as early as possible so you can use owned channels to engage.

2. Leverage owned channels

Once you can identify existing opted-in contacts and convert new site visitors, use triggered email and SMS channels to personalize offers based on their web activity and interest in your products or services. This is far more effective (and far lower cost) than remarketing with paid ads.

3. Provide value

Increase your knowledge of each new customer by offering value in return for zero-party data that allows you to make more personalized offers and recommendations in your one-to-many outbound messaging campaigns.

To learn more about how the depreciation of cookies and the upcoming election cycle will affect marketing budgets and strategies in the year ahead, watch the Wunderkind webinar “Navigate the Turbulence: ROAS Strategies for Brand Marketers in an Election Year” here.

Sourced from The Drum

In News

Artificial Intelligence And Marketing—The Perfect Match

June 6, 2024 No Comments

By Alex Kudos

Marketing has continued to evolve over the years, and with the integration of artificial intelligence, it has emerged as a transformative force. As marketers at one of the largest social discovery companies in the world, we are constantly exploring innovative ways to enhance user engagement, foster meaningful connections and drive business growth. AI has entered the space and is changing how we think about marketing within the dating industry—including localization, data-driven attribution, predictive conversations and its impact on creative endeavours—but how can it help other marketing firms as well?

Localization Bridges The Gap Between Global Reach And Local Relevance

One of the key challenges faced by global social discovery companies is the need to strike a balance between reaching a wide audience and delivering locally relevant experiences. AI-powered localization solutions are valuable tools allowing us to analyze user data to understand cultural nuances, language preferences and regional dating trends.

Through localized content, tailored recommendations, and geo-targeted advertisements, AI enables us to create more personalized experiences for users across diverse regions. For instance, with dating.com, we are able to analyse user interactions and preferences in specific locations, it is now possible to fine-tune matchmaking algorithms to better suit the preferences of users in different geographic areas, ultimately enhancing their overall experience and increasing engagement.

Data, which most companies sit on mounds of and don’t know what to do with it, is the secret weapon to make AI work for your company. By gathering data on local demographics, preferences and cultural nuances, marketers can feed this information into AI-powered tools that can capture sentiment analysis, social listening, market research, etc., and quickly adapt materials accurately across multiple languages and regions.

Data-Driven Attribution Unravels The Complexities Of User Behaviour

Multi-touch attribution is extremely important if there are a number of brands, platforms and channels under one portfolio. In these instances, understanding the customer journey and accurately attributing conversions to various channels are essential to marketers. Data-driven analytics help unravel the complexities of user behaviour, identify the most influential marketing channels, and optimize strategies accordingly. With advanced machine learning algorithms, marketing teams can analyse vast amounts of data to determine which marketing efforts are driving the highest ROI.

Predictive modelling allows us to forecast future user behaviour and tailor our marketing initiatives accordingly. By understanding the factors that influence user engagement and conversion, we can allocate resources more effectively, maximize marketing impact and drive sustainable growth.

Marketers should research a centralized system to house data for data integration and then enlist the help of a skilled team of data scientists to develop algorithms and constantly analyse the data. As this data continues to be analysed and automated, marketing campaigns can be optimized in real time.

Predictive Conversations Anticipate User Needs and Preferences

AI-powered chatbots and conversational agents are powerful tools for engaging users in personalized and meaningful interactions. Companies should consider implementing an advanced chatbot such as ChatGPT into their core product to help with user questions. Earlier this year, OKCupid integrated ChatGPT into its platform to assist with finding out the right questions that correlate directly to what’s happening in the world and pop culture. These AI-driven models can understand user intent, respond to inquiries and provide tailored recommendations in real time.

This formula can be replicated for many companies across industries. It is essential to be able to forecast customer behaviour and preferences to tailor messaging and shift strategies accordingly.

AI Use In Creative Elevates Brand Storytelling And Visual Communication

Compelling creative content is essential for capturing audience attention and conveying brand messages effectively. AI technologies such as generative design are changing the way companies approach creativity, and also speed up the process. From image recognition and content generation to personalized video recommendations, AI can create highly engaging and relevant content at scale. These services and tools are readily available and most can be integrated into existing platforms that are already functioning within an organization.

Marketers can employ AI-driven image recognition to analyse user-generated content to identify trends, preferences and brand associations. Generative design tools make it possible to automate the creation of personalized visual assets such as custom graphics, videos and interactive experiences, upleveling brand storytelling capabilities.

The integration of AI into marketing strategies within the social discovery industry represents a major shift in how we engage with users, drive conversions and foster meaningful connections. From localization and data-driven attribution to predictive conversations and AI-driven creative endeavours, AI technologies can empower marketing teams to deliver personalized experiences that resonate with users on a deeper level.

Feature Image Credit: GETTY

By Alex Kudos

Follow me on LinkedIn. Check out my website.

Alex Kudos has over 18 years experience in marketing and currently serves as CMO at Social Discovery Group. Read Alex Kudos’ full executive profile here.

Sourced from Forbes

In News

Revolutionize Your Marketing With Automated Email Campaigns

June 4, 2024 No Comments

By Megan Smith

Best Practices and Strategies for Email Automation

I’m allergic to busy work.

This is a problem — both the pollen that triggers my seasonal allergies and busy work are occasionally unavoidable.

But this article is about the best automated email campaigns, workflows that act like busy-work antihistamines, helping you save your time and sanity.

These strategies further empower you to deliver personalized, impactful messages at scale. That means you can foster customer loyalty while growing your business. Sending individually relevant messages used to require an army of PAs. Now, you just need the right email automation platform.

This comprehensive guide covers basic definitions, effective tools, best practices, and case studies. Let’s learn how to leverage the latest email marketing for your brand.

Introduction to Automated Email Campaigns

Email may play a pivotal role in your marketing strategy, but there’s no reason for you to do everything yourself. That’s where automated email campaigns come into play.

The Evolution of Email Automation

Sending out mass emails used to be a tedious, time-consuming task. Then came the email list, a quick way to send the same message to a large audience at the same time. Email newsletter services followed, allowing people to use templates and schedule communications.

Email automation takes things to the next step. Now, brands can send personalized messages to their audiences at personalized times.

Instead of manually sending out individual emails, you can set up workflows to shape and send messages based on specific actions or events.

Email automation helps save time and improve engagement rates. By delivering relevant content at the right time, you can connect with audiences more effectively than ever.

Businesses have embraced new channels in the past few years, but the popularity of email has also increased. It’s the best way to get your message to those who want it when they want it.

Defining Automated Email Campaigns

Revolutionize Your Marketing With Automated Email Campaigns

In a nutshell, automated email campaigns are emails or a series of emails that are sent out automatically, based on certain triggers or schedules.

Common examples include welcome emails, cart abandonment reminders, and post-purchase follow-ups.

The Importance of Email Automation in Marketing

Email automation can make a significant impact on your marketing efforts, driving the engagement and conversions necessary for growth.

The top reasons marketers implement automations (across channels) are:

To streamline marketing and sales efforts (35%)
To improve customer engagement (34%)
To improve customer experience (34%)
To minimize manual tasks (30%)

In other words, people want to save time and improve customer relationships. Email automation is particularly suited to accomplish both of these objectives.

Enhancing Customer Engagement

Maintaining an engaged list is email marketers’ top challenge. One of email automation’s key benefits is its ability to enhance engagement and build relationships.

By using data about your subscribers, such as their browsing behaviour or purchase history, you can tailor each email to the individual recipient. This level of personalization leads to higher open rates, more conversions, and ultimately, stronger brand loyalty.

Automation also allows you to send timely and relevant content such as birthday wishes, reminders to resubscribe, and other messages that require prompt delivery. Ensure that your brand stays on the minds of your customers — when they’re most open to engagement.

Email is also the surest way of connecting. By 2026, there will likely be 4.73 billion email users who are largely receptive to contact. In one study, 70% of all consumers liked being emailed by brands. Compare that to the 34% who want social media messaging.

Streamlining Communication Processes

Another major advantage of email automation is the way it streamlines your communication processes.

By automating routine tasks like sending follow-up messages after a purchase, you can free up your time to focus on developing your product or strategy.

Automation also ensures consistency without requiring additional effort. You want each customer to receive the same high-quality experience, regardless of when and where they interact with your brand.

Brand consistency improves brand awareness and credibility. It can even help you generate an additional 10-20% of revenue.

Types of Automated Email Campaigns

That’s why automation matters generally. But what emails should you automate?

Marketers commonly automate several types of emails. Here are the four most popular automated email campaigns:

Welcome emails for new subscribers (83%)
Onboarding or post-purchase (68%)
Subscriber re-engagement (40%)
Cart or browse abandonment (38%)

They’re popular because they work, helping brands grow and attract repeat business.

Welcome Email Series

First impressions count. Welcome emails have substantially higher open and click-through rates than your average newsletter.

Welcome emails are typically triggered when a new subscriber joins your mailing list, introducing them to your brand and setting expectations for future communications.

Add a strong welcome email to your campaigns. You can send a single message saying hello or create a full welcome series showcasing valuable content and special offers.

Abandoned Cart Reminders

I’m personally responsible for more than one cart’s abandonment issues. It’s easy to get distracted or second-guess one’s choices when shopping online.

I’m not alone. The average cart abandonment rate across multiple studies is 70.19%. That’s a significant source of lost revenue for brands.

Abandoned cart reminders are an opportunity to reclaim those dollars. With an automated reminder, you can nudge potential customers to complete their purchases and boost your conversion rate.

Note: A lot of cart abandonment happens because e-shoppers are just browsing. Consider including an additional discount to incentivize people to commit or send along relevant reviews, helping them with the research that’s increasingly integral to online shopping.

Re-Engagement Campaigns

Sometimes relationships go stale, but you shouldn’t give up. Keep your subscribers engaged and reach out when their interest flags.

Re-engagement campaigns aim to reignite the spark, reinvesting them in their relationship with your brand.

These campaigns typically involve sending targeted content or special offers to inactive subscribers. With a well-crafted re-engagement campaign, you can win back subscribers and maintain a healthy, engaged email list.

Post-Purchase Follow-Ups

Automated follow-up emails are a good idea after significant customer interactions such as a purchase.

Post-purchase emails go out after a customer makes a purchase, offering thanks, asking for feedback, or suggesting other products they might like.

Post-purchase follow-ups are a great way to build customer loyalty and encourage repeat purchases. By providing value even after the transaction, you can foster a long-term relationship with your customers.

Other Automated Email Ideas

You don’t need to stop there. Email campaigns are the most popular marketing automation. Take full advantage of it with these ideas:

Birthday or anniversary emails: Send a message to mark the occasion and show your customers how much you appreciate them.
Transactional emails: Help customers track their purchases with order and shipping confirmations.
Inventory updates: Let subscribers know when an item they were interested in is back in stock.
New product recommendations: Use data from previous purchases to send targeted emails with tailored recommendations for the new season.
Loyalty program updates: Keep customers informed about their loyalty reward status and offer incentives or discounts to encourage continued engagement and purchases.

Automated emails are also great for nurturing leads. When a lead heats up, take advantage with an email or a drip campaign convincing them to buy.

Planning Your Automated Email Strategy

How do I automate my email campaign?

Start with a clear strategy. With so many possibilities, a strong, guiding strategy makes the difference between modest improvement and wild success. To that end, don’t forget the following elements as you make your plans for the month or year ahead.

Setting Clear Objectives

Identify your goals. What do you hope to achieve with your email campaigns? Whether it’s boosting conversions, reducing cart abandonment rates, or re-engaging inactive subscribers, having clear goals can guide your strategy and help measure your success.

It’s also important to ensure that your email objectives align with your overall marketing strategy. All of your marketing efforts should work together towards

achieving your business goals.

Segmenting Your Audience

Audience segmentation is an essential step in email automation.

Not all of your subscribers are the same. They may have different interests or be at different stages in the customer journey.

Email segmentation involves categorizing your email subscribers into smaller, more targeted groups based on specific criteria such as demographics, purchase history, or behaviour. This strategy allows you to tailor your messages to their unique needs and interests.

Create targeted content that resonates with each group, and automate email campaigns to send these messages to the right people at the right time, increasing engagement and conversion rates.

Personalization Techniques

Almost a third of marketers personalize their email messages and offers. In addition to addressing people by name, they use data about their subscribers to shape their content.

Start by addressing the recipient by name. Using the recipient’s name in your email, especially in the subject line and greeting, instantly adds a personal touch. It makes your communication feel more like a conversation than a sales pitch.

Dynamic content can also personalize mass messages. These blocks of content in an email change based on the characteristics of the recipient. A common example is an e-commerce message with product recommendations based on customer history.

Creating Content for Automated Emails

The best strategy won’t help much without the follow-through of strong automated content.

Crafting Compelling Subject Lines

Your subject line is the first thing your subscribers see and makes the difference between an opened email and one that’s sent straight to the trash bin.

Craft a compelling subject line — keep it short, descriptive, and enticing. Personalization, such as including the subscriber’s name or referencing their past behaviour, can also boost open rates.

Designing Engaging Email Bodies

A good email design blends attractive visuals and compelling text. Make sure that your copy is easy to read and holds subscriber interest.

Keep It Simple

The first rule of effective email design is simplicity. Overly complicated designs can confuse your audience and detract from your message.

Stick to a clean, minimalist design with a clear hierarchy of information. Use white space effectively to separate different sections and make your email easier to read.

Use a Responsive Design

With more people checking their emails on mobile devices, responsive design is no longer optional — it’s a necessity. Your emails should look great and be easy to navigate, whether they’re viewed on a desktop, tablet, or smartphone.

Use Compelling Imagery

Images can significantly enhance your email’s appeal. However, they should be used judiciously—not every email needs an image, and too many can distract from your message.

Abide by image best practices for email. Make sure they’re high-quality, relevant, and optimized for quick loading.

Be Consistent With Branding

Your emails should reflect your brand’s visual identity. This includes your logo, color scheme, typography, and overall style. Consistent branding helps build recognition and trust among your subscribers.

Calls-to-Action that Convert

The call-to-action (CTA) prompts subscribers to take a specific action, often providing a big email button for them to click.

A good CTA is clear, concise, and compelling. It should tell subscribers exactly what you want them to do next, whether it’s visiting your website, making a purchase, or downloading a resource.

Creating a sense of urgency can also encourage subscribers to take immediate action. Let people know why they should buy now with phrases that highlight scarcity, limited-time offers, or key selling points.

Best Practices for Automated Email Workflows

The best practices for setting up your workflows include tips about timing, testing, and deliverability.

Timing and Frequency

Too many emails can annoy your subscribers and lead to unsubscribes, while too few can mean missed opportunities. It’s all about finding that sweet spot.

The optimal timing and frequency can vary depending on your audience and the type of emails you’re sending. Use your data to understand when your subscribers are most likely to engage and how often they prefer to hear from you.

Find the right days and times to send messages, too. Try to catch readers when they’re likely to be at their computers.

A/B Testing for Optimization

Email A/B testing involves sending two versions of an email to different segments of your subscribers to see which performs better. You could test elements like subject lines, email design, or CTAs.

By analysing the results, you can make data-driven decisions to improve your future campaigns. Remember, even small changes can lead to significant improvements in engagement and conversions.

Ensuring Deliverability and Compliance

Take care of your list hygiene with regular cleaning and proper compliance.

To ensure that your emails reach your subscribers’ inboxes, you need to maintain a healthy sender reputation. Proper protocols and list maintenance will help your emails stick to reader inboxes instead of spam or promotion folders.

On the compliance side, you must adhere to email marketing laws like the CAN-SPAM Act or GDPR. Provide a clear way for subscribers to opt out, include your physical address in your emails, and obtain permission to contact people by email.

Tools and Technologies for Email Automation

The right tools and technologies make it easy to create content and run automated campaigns.

Choosing the Right Email Marketing Platform

What is the best email automation software? The right platform for you depends on your budget and needs, as well as the size of your email list.

Create a list of the features that matter most to your brand such as:

Segmenting capabilities
A user-friendly interface
Robust analytics
Personalization features
A/B testing tools
Responsive templates

Take a look at the top email newsletter services and find an option that provides the suite of tools you need.

You should also take the platform out for a spin before committing. Many services offer free trials, which allow you to find software you find intuitive.

Integration With CRM Systems

Many brands need to choose email automation platforms that integrate with their customer relationship management (CRM) systems.

By integrating your email platform with your CRM system, you can streamline your marketing efforts, gain a more holistic view of your customers, and provide a more personalized experience across multiple touchpoints.

Analysing the Success of Your Email Campaigns

Now that you’ve set up your strategy, crafted your content, and chosen your tools, it’s time to measure the success of your efforts.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Identify your key performance indicators (KPIs) on your analytics dashboard.

KPIs are vital in understanding how well your email campaigns are performing. Pick yours with an eye to your main marketing objectives. Do you want to focus on conversions, customer lifetime value, customer engagement, etc.?

Common email marketing KPIs include open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and unsubscribe rates.

Learning from Data: Metrics that Matter

Each number tells you different things about your current email performance. Use industry averages as benchmarks in your evaluation.

For example, high open rates suggest that you have a gift for compelling subject lines, and high click-through rates testify to the strength of your body content.

On the other hand, high unsubscribe rates could signal that your content isn’t resonating with your audience, and high bounce rates indicate issues with your email list or deliverability.

Pay attention to numbers that indicate larger patterns in customer lifecycles, too, such as engagement over time. Which type of email results in the highest engagement? Is there a point where subscriber interest starts to decline, and how can you combat this fatigue?

Case Studies: Successful Automated Email Campaigns

Enough theory. Let’s look at some real-world examples of successful automated email campaigns.

Industry Leaders and Their Strategies

Industry giants use automated emails to engage their audience and boost conversions.

Amazon is a prime example of successful email automation (pun intended). It sends personalized product recommendations based on each customer’s browsing and purchasing history. This strategy helps Amazon increase engagement and drive repeat purchases.

Other major retailers also make good use of automated personalization and reminders, particularly when it comes to abandoned cart emails.

Small Business Success Stories

Small businesses, too, can see significant benefits from automated email campaigns. For example, many Etsy stores send offers, generally coupons for additional discounts, to people who mark their items as favourites.

Automations are also helping brands in the newsletter world.

Richard Patey uses automation to sell digital products through his newsletter Digital Asset Investor. He appreciates the way beehiiv allows him to customize workflows and “create a funnel”:

“I have low-cost “tripwire” products on the thank you page within the welcome email. So a certain percentage of people are buying that, which helps with the acquisition cost. Then I have sponsorship, affiliate, and higher-ticket products.”

Saeed Ezzati of Superpower Daily uses beehiiv’s latest automation upgrades to automate reengagement campaigns and list maintenance. This saves him time each week now that he no longer has to tackle these tasks manually.

Future Trends in Automated Email Campaigns

This is a fast-changing field, and new trends in email automation are rapidly emerging.

The Role of AI and Machine Learning

AI and machine learning are playing an increasingly important role in email marketing. In 2022, top marketing uses for AI included paid advertising, email messages and subject lines, product recommendations, and predictive analytics.

In addition to analysing customer data and personalizing content, some AI-powered email tools can analyse initial campaign results more quickly so that brands can refine them.

Interactive and Dynamic Email Content

Another trend shaping the future of email marketing is the use of interactive and dynamic content.

Interactive emails, such as those featuring quizzes or surveys, can increase engagement and provide valuable insights about your audience.

You can even ask people directly about the content they want to read. Just ask Matt Grey of The Soulful Entrepreneur. He’s leveraged beehiiv’s one-click polls to achieve impressive engagement and growth.

Maximizing ROI With Automated Email Campaigns

There you have it. Automated emails are a key tool for marketers of all sizes, and the future will only increase their centrality to the field.

By leveraging the right email platform and automation best practices, brands can personalize their approach, engage their audience on a deeper level, and ultimately, maximize their returns.

Get started by identifying the campaigns that would most benefit your business and selecting a platform with the automation features you need.

If you already have your tools, go ahead and set up your first automated email campaign. Craft a welcome email or cart reminder. Then, let your software do the rest.

Why Trust Us?

beehiiv is the most exciting new player in the email game, building off years of practical newsletter experience. As for me, I regularly write by-lined articles about digital marketing, particularly focusing on email and long-form content.

By Megan Smith

Sourced from beehiiv Blog

In News

14 Marketing Mistakes Startups Often Make (And How To Fix Them)

May 22, 2024 No Comments

Sourced from Forbes

For many new entrepreneurs, one of the most exciting stages of starting a business is getting the word out to potential customers. This is the stage when you can finally start to generate interest in what you have to offer, which means more customers and more profits. However, marketing can involve a multitude of different strategies and tactics, leaving plenty of room for error and overcomplication.

Thankfully, like most things in business, marketing mistakes create a great opportunity to learn and adjust for future success. To help, 14 experts from Forbes Communications Council discuss some of the most common marketing mistakes they see a lot of startups make, as well as their recommendations for what they should be doing instead.

1. Trying To Tackle It All

The pace, the speed, the desire to “do it all”—these are the traps to be wary of as the team sets out to develop a brand or launch a product as a startup. Simply put, instead of tackling it all, take on one, two or maybe three short-term initiatives that can both drive revenue and build your brand. Stay disciplined and be willing to defend your decisions within the organization. – Blair Primis, Flagship Specialty Partners

2. Agonizing Over Their Online Presence

Startups often agonize over their online presence, taking on large web design projects, spending valuable time on logo work and delaying social media. They should invest time in developing products and services, getting the right employees and finding and supporting customers. Get started in practical ways online and upgrade over time versus going for perfection early on. – Tom Treanor, Snipp Interactive

3. Failing To Follow A Strategy Based On Research

Startups often take on random acts of marketing versus following a strategy based on research: market, buyer, competition. Further, many startups feel they can buy their way into leads and brand recognition with paid ads. But without strategy, experience and data, they will churn through the budget fast with very little quality or output to show for it. – Alison Murdock, Trusted CMO, Inc.

4. Putting More Effort Into Marketing Than The Actual Product

A pattern I’ve seen in many startups is the 80/20 mix: 80% of the budget and resources go to marketing, while 20% go to product. While this might be effective in securing early funding and a strong user base, empty hype around products with limited value and functionality will damage a young company’s credibility and diminish its potential for future growth (or acquisition). If you build it, they will come. – Nick Karoglou, ACI Worldwide

5. Rushing Toward A ‘Big Bang’ Approach

A common misstep I’ve observed is the rush toward the “big bang” approach in marketing without first understanding the battlefield. It’s like launching a spectacular fireworks display in broad daylight! The mantra should be: Observe, engage, then fire. Find out where your audience hangs out, experiment in those spaces with bite-sized, impactful messages, and then learn from the feedback and scale. – Vikas Agrawal, Infobrandz

6. Prioritizing Short-Term Gains Over Branding

Startups often prioritize short-term gains over branding. Instead, focus on defining brand identity, maintaining consistent messaging, delivering exceptional customer experiences, building trust, investing in content marketing and embracing authenticity. These aspects contribute to a strong foundation for long-term success. – Suneeta Motala, Stewards Investment Capital

7. Mistaking ‘Activity’ For ‘Strategy’

Too many marketers, especially early in their careers, mistake “activity” for “strategy.” To avoid this problem, brands need to clearly define their audience, understand the problem they solve and articulate their point of difference. Start there, and then create marketing objectives, strategies and measures from which to execute. – Dave Minifie, Terakeet

8. Focusing On The Bottom Of The Marketing Funnel

Most startups are so zeroed in on revenue that they tend to focus on the bottom of the marketing funnel. This is amplified by the fact that lower funnel marketing activities are easier to track and provide valuable data for startups. That said, startups are entering new markets with no brand awareness. Investing in brand building allows companies to broaden their pool of interest and be more efficient. – Roshni Wijayasinha, Prosh Marketing

9. Developing The Brand Before Conducting Market Research

It’s not about the logo. I’ve seen it time and time again. Many founders are too quick to spend time and/or money on developing the brand before they have invested in market research to establish the viability of their product or service, define differentiators and determine the target market among other things critical to the success of a startup. – Jen Iliff, 3X Marketing

10. Overlooking The Importance Of A Cohesive Brand Identity

Startups often fail to establish a consistent visual and messaging presence, hindering brand recognition. Instead, they should invest in creating a strong brand identity from the outset, ensuring consistency across all touchpoints. This builds trust, fosters brand loyalty and sets the foundation for successful long-term efforts. – Maria Alonso, Fortune 206

11. Assuming Media Coverage Will Generate Funding

Startups often think generating media coverage will automatically lead to funding. In reality, investors invest in founders. Startups should prioritize building founders’ market credibility and showcase their ability to scale the business. Strong leadership and a solid customer base will help make startups more attractive to investors, increasing their chances of securing funding in the long run. – Parna Sarkar-Basu, Brand and Buzz Consulting, LLC

12. Aiming To Make A ‘Big Splash’

Startups want to make a big splash and too often go for the quick hit that fizzes out. Startups need to start with a strategic plan that includes their vision and goals. From there, a marketer can develop a plan that aligns with the strategy, creating a regular cadence of brand awareness and important sales. This will help a startup last! – Kimberly Osborne, UNC Greensboro

13. Lacking Focus And A Plan

A startup has limited resources, yet founders often try to be all things to all people. Do the research, understand the market for your product, talk to customers directly for their insights and build a focused go-to-market plan. I built a GTM blueprint that includes the ideal customer profile, the company manifesto (unique selling point, messaging and more) and a comprehensive execution plan. But, above all, gain focus. – Doug Vinson, Secuvy Inc.

14. Taking The ‘Faster, Better, Cheaper’ Route

“Faster, better, cheaper” is not a strong basis for long-term competitive advantage. Startups tend to focus on launching new products and branding based on functional benefits against a narrow target market. Build competitive advantage by ensuring your brand is differentiated from your competition and incorporates emotional benefits, purpose and identity. Build your brand—not just your revenue. – Toby Wong, Toby Wong Consulting

Check out my website.

Feature Image Credit: GETTY

Sourced from Forbes

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Communications, PR, public affairs & media relations executives from Forbes Communications Council share firsthand insights.

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Traditional Ads Are Annoying — These 4 Megatrends Will Change Marketing in 2024

May 10, 2024 No Comments

BY JAXON PARROTT.

These four major marketing trends are set to explode this year.

very marketing professional today knows the rules of the game are shifting at the breakneck speed of technological innovation, making it harder to focus on the fundamentals that will maximize success.

Obviously, there’s never one secret sauce that guarantees big wins for marketers this year (or any other). But to my mind, there are four major technological and customer-preference megatrends that promise to build momentum in 2024 and beyond.

I believe embracing these accelerating trends as you adapt your organization’s marketing strategy will help ensure your budgets are smartly allocated and returns on investment are fully optimized.

1. The “Authentic Age”

Today, when marketers are increasingly required to quantify ROI based on complex data —such as cost-per-click and sales conversion rates—focusing on a “soft” concept like authenticity might seem irrelevant.

But thinking so would be a mistake, in my opinion.

Consider this: Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2023 was “authentic.” Explaining why, Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster editor at large, said in an interview with the Associated Press, “We see in 2023 a kind of crisis of authenticity. We realize that when we question authenticity, we value it even more.”

Customer preference for authenticity has only accelerated now. In an information universe of inaccuracies, uncertain sources, and deep fakes, people crave authenticity more than just a year ago.

Related: 9 Key Tips for Navigating the Upcoming 2024 Marketing Landscape

2. Influencer marketing

With so much content and misinformation floating around, customers are more likely than ever to be influenced and persuaded by a real person than a brand. Influencer marketing has emerged as an essential component of the marketing mix.

The desire for authenticity among customers explains the growth of influencer marketing and creator economy, which is expected to be worth $24 billion by the end of this year.

While budgets today receive more scrutiny than ever, 67% of marketers surveyed by CreatorIQ reported increasing their investment in influencer marketing from 2022 to 2023. Among the brands that increased their spending in this direction, only 24% were working with a net new budget.

According to the survey, among brands that increased their influencer marketing spend, 76% diverted the funds from other marketing activities. In other words, the majority funded their influencer marketing by redirecting resources from other marketing functions—the most common source of which was paid advertising.

And no wonder the power of influencer marketing content, which is more organic, offers a greater possibility of going viral and gaining earned (not paid) media attention among highly relevant target audiences.

Related: 4 Tips to Avoid Influencer Marketing Catastrophes

3. Creator-driven B2B newsletters

Niche newsletters focusing on specialized areas such as AI, health tech, and finance have become pivotal sources for industry insights. Progressing into 2024, the growing interest in newsletters highlights a collective appetite for content curated by influencers and professionally enriching content.

The B2B realm is rich with newsletters designed for an audience that values quality and specialized knowledge. These independent voices offer a refreshing alternative to the conventional narratives found in most major trade publications. They provide insights that feel like exchanging insider information within a community of peers, enriching the professional discourse with diverse perspectives and expert knowledge.

Creator-led newsletters, exemplified by Morning Brew or my own company’s Presspool Insights, which covers AI marketing tech innovations and best practices, are revolutionizing information consumption habits and attracting a quality audience not seen in traditional ad platforms. The main reason is that the audiences are manually opted-in, engaged, and educated or highly interested in the topic they’ve subscribed to.

Platforms like LinkedIn have emerged as prime venues for B2B content creators, each providing unique advantages. Substack and other new platforms have simplified the newsletter creation process with ‘no-code’ solutions, empowering creators with ownership over first-party subscriber data — a major benefit as Google begins eliminating third-party cookie tracking data this quarter. I expect this trend to increase rapidly going into 2025 as the barrier of entry gets smaller and smaller.

4. AI-enabled, ROI-optimized campaigns

Coming full circle, leveraging the power of influencer marketing strategies through today’s creator-led newsletter distribution platforms enables the same type of KPI tracking associated with paid search ads like Google and Facebook for the last two decades.

At my software platform, Presspool.ai, for example, we track everything from impressions to total clicks, unique clicks and conversions. Everything is tracked and monitored in real-time to ensure full transparency into the data analytics while providing our customer with AI-enabled feedback on how to better optimize messaging for higher and higher ROI in their future newsletter campaigns. This falls right in line with ROI optimization, which I believe will become more and more essential in today’s competitive marketing landscape.

The bottom line is that traditional advertising and PR have grown over-saturated and, to be blunt, annoying to buyers. People don’t trust ads from brands or large corporations as much as they once did. Instead, they trust individuals who have a high level of authenticity and specific knowledge. Referrals from these influencers combined with the best technology for tracking and ROI optimization are the most potent form of customer acquisition, and it’s now possible to access platforms that do it all in real-time, at scale.

BY JAXON PARROTT.

ENTREPRENEUR LEADERSHIP NETWORK® CONTRIBUTOR. CEO @ Presspool.ai

Jaxon Parrott is a marketing and AI expert based in Austin, Texas. He currently serves as the CEO of Presspool.ai, an ai-enabled marketing software touting a customer base of over a dozen unicorn and high-growth emerging tech startups.

Sourced from Entrepreneur

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I experimented with gen AI to boost my creativity for a year. This is what I learned

May 9, 2024 No Comments

BY BILLY JONES.

Hootsuite’s VP of marketing explains how incorporating AI as an integral part of strategy and brainstorming processes has transformed everything.

BY BILLY JONES3 MINUTE READ

In the fast-paced world of marketing, I’ve always approached creativity as an organization’s bread and butter, with innovation as the knife that spreads it. As the VP of marketing at Hootsuite, I’ve found an unexpected ally in this creative quest—artificial intelligence and, more specifically, ChatGPT.

I’ve incorporated AI as an integral part of my strategy and brainstorming process in the past year—transforming the way I think, create, and deliver business value for my organization. Here are five ways it’s made an impact.

REINVENTING THE CREATIVE BRIEF

My years in agency life at BBDO have ingrained in me a love for structured creativity. The “Get-Who-To-By-Because” brief has always been a staple in my toolbox. It helps zone in on who I am trying to target, pushes me to identify the pain point I am trying to solve, how I plan to solve it, the key message that I’m trying to drive home, and the why behind the entire campaign.

Recently I began using ChatGPT to reframe these briefs. By feeding it relevant information and asking for multiple versions of a brief within the “Get-Who-To-By-Because” format, I’ve been amazed by the unexpected perspectives it offers. This process has helped fuel my creativity. Coupled with my experience in the creative space and deep understanding of my customer, it ensures that the final output is both human-centric and insight-driven.

CRAFTING TARGET PERSONAS WITH PRECISION

We all know that data is king. But the interpretation of any data is the key to the kingdom. ChatGPT’s ability to dive into vast public data pools has been a game changer for developing customer personas.

For instance, I asked ChatGPT to define the core demographics of North American social media managers.

From there, I used that very demographic output as an input to a user persona framework. ChatGPT was able to create detailed user personas that captured everything from challenges and joys to the preferred technology stack, budget, and even their favored media outlets. These insights have been invaluable in refining my team’s content and paid media strategies.

ENHANCING RESPONSE-BASED ADVERTISING

In marketing’s creative landscape, a tactical approach is sometimes crucial. ChatGPT excels here, notably during a time-strapped holiday season. Tasked with creating a compelling email for a January webinar with little time and lots of folks on holiday, we used prompted ChatGPT with our holiday webinar theme “Supercharge Your 24 Social Strategy” and asked for it to help us craft a click-worthy email via the AIDA (Attention-Interest-Desire-Action) framework. The outcome was a remarkable 300% increase in click-through rates, showcasing AI’s power in strategic, responsive advertising.

ACKNOWLEDGING THE POWER OF AI EDITING

From crafting a Slack message to assisting with internal briefs, ChatGPT has been my go-to editor. Its ability to tailor certain messages to specific communication styles—such as being jargon-free—is nothing short of impressive. This has enhanced the clarity and impact of my communications across the board.

SERVING AS A CREATIVE ARCHIVIST

In preparing for a product launch, ChatGPT has served me well as a creative archivist—providing insights on past marketing campaigns from companies who have similarly launched disruptive products.

By getting specific around needing to understand the specific tactics that drove success, ChatGPT has helped shape our approach to generating fame and achieving widespread industry impact.

These are just a few examples of how I’ve used AI in the past year. It has played multiple roles—from a strategist and brainstorming partner to a copywriter and researcher.

Throughout all of this, it’s important to remember that AI is a tool and not a replacement for human creativity.

To me, AI provides deep insights based on what’s been done. But it’s our creativity that dreams up ideas that have never been done. As we continue to harness AI’s power, it’s our human touch that will continue to make a real difference in the world of marketing.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

BY BILLY JONES.

Billy Jones is the VP of Marketing at Hootsuite. More

Sourced from FastCompany

In News

Social SEO Examples: 3 Ways Brands Rank in Social Search

May 7, 2024 No Comments

By Kristen Wiley.

What does social SEO actually look like? This post digs into examples of social search engine optimization and how brands are ranking in social search right now.

Social SEO means applying search engine optimization (SEO) strategies to social media:

Thinking of social platforms like search engines (and not solely distribution channels)
Identifying consumer search trends to inform your organic and paid social content
Creating content to satisfy search intent and rank for relevant social media keywords

Meanwhile, recent research confirms that platforms like TikTok and Instagram are peeling product searches away from Google and Amazon among younger consumers.

That’s why brands are scrambling to figure out how to improve social media SEO rankings ASAP.

Below we dig into real examples of social SEO to highlight how brands rank in social search.

3 Examples of Social Media SEO in Action

Good news for brands: there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to tackling social SEO.

Much like ranking in Google search, your social media SEO strategy should involve a variety of tactics. From uncovering keywords to creating search-friendly content, here are three real-life examples of social SEO to inspire brands.

1. Brands Targeting Social Media Keywords

Keywords are at the heart of traditional search optimization and social SEO is no different.

For CPG brands, it’s no coincidence that many of the most popular and frequently searched social SEO keywords are similar to what you’d see on Google. For example:

How-to keywords (ex: “how to remove stains from white clothes”)
Superlative keywords (ex: “best pregnancy pillow”)
Tips and advice-related keywords (ex: “ways to fall asleep”)

You can see the value of ranking for these respective keywords on TikTok or Instagram if you were a brand in the cleaning, parenthood or sleep supplement spaces, right?

Look no further than how brands promote products on TikTok to see how product and pain-point social media keywords can be incorporated into short-form videos. The same applies to IG Reels and photos. The social SEO example below highlights why being above the fold is valuable for brands.

Brands that rank for keywords related to their products or industries make it happen through a combination of word-of-mouth and social media keywords.

That’s why UGC and influencer collabs are becoming more important as social SEO grows.

Social media keyword research is kind of an art and a science. You need a pulse on your audience, their challenges and how to speak their language. Coupled with social SEO software, you can confirm what your target audience is actually searching and build your social keyword strategy from there.

What do you do with these social SEO keywords, though?

Consider how you might sprinkle keywords in the title, headers and meta descriptions of a blog post.

With social SEO, you have options to include target terms in your content via:

Video descriptions
Captions
Spoken audio
Comments and replies

Much like you’re expected to naturally weave keywords into your content, the same rings true for social SEO. Keyword-stuffing social content is a recipe for tanking your engagement and potentially being seen as a spammer.

The takeaway? Think “less is more” when it comes to social SEO keywords.

Be strategic but subtle. Prioritize long-tail phrases and terms that could seamlessly be spoken or written in a video description by a creator organically. On the flip side, avoid rigid keyword phrases that feel robotic or unnatural.

2. Brands Ranking Within Social Media Hashtags

The role of hashtags in social SEO is crucial but often misunderstood.

Most consumers aren’t finding products in general hashtag searches. However, that doesn’t mean that hashtags are “dead.” Not by a long shot.

Below are some examples of how hashtags help your social SEO:

Hashtags help social algorithms understand “what” your content is. This goes hand in hand with greater discoverability and visibility, especially when it comes to TikTok SEO. When TikTok sees a video or account earning consistent engagement within a hashtag, it’s like candy to the algorithm. This results in higher rankings.

Hashtags help your content get served to a relevant audience versus random users. Food for thought: the #dryskin hashtag has over 4.7 billion views on TikTok. Hashtags related to specific customer problems or pain points or subsets of your audience are tags worth targeting.
Hashtags can signal purchase intent. Branded hashtags are especially important here. Someone searching a specific brand (#Dove) or review-related hashtag (#DoveReview) is much more likely to make a purchase than someone browsing a general #skincare tag.

Again, the value of hashtags can’t be overstated for social SEO. Especially for beauty and skincare brands. Fact: beauty brands that consistently use TikTok hashtags rack up 3.5x more than the median industry engagement rate.

And since engagement impacts your social SEO rankings, a hashtag strategy does matter.

But just like with social SEO keywords, don’t overdo it!

TikTok and Instagram recommend between three and five as the “sweet spot.” Remember: you don’t want to distract viewers. A handful of tags is fair game for the sake of helping algorithms understand what your post is all about.

3. Brands Ranking with Search-Friendly Social Content

No surprises here. You can’t rank for social keywords and hashtags without content.

If you want examples of social SEO, look no further than content that’s already ranking for keywords. Here’s how you can mine for social SEO content ideas:

Check TikTok and Instagram’s autocomplete results for inspiration. These are real-life social media keywords that people are using already.
Look at what’s ranking for “best [product]” or “how-to [task]” keywords. These are prime keywords to tie to your future content.
Focus on pain points. What are the problems your target audience is hoping to solve? Think about struggles, challenges and common complaints. Anticipating customer questions and concerns is a goldmine for content ideas and social SEO keywords.

From here, you can brainstorm and start testing your content ideas for social SEO. In most cases, this involves a combination of education and entertainment (AKA“edutainment”).

Some common content formats that rank in social search include:

“Storytime” videos showing off products in action
How-tos and tutorials featuring products based on pain point keywords
Before-and-after videos that highlight a product’s positive results

Just like with traditional SEO, be ready to test and experiment to see what ranks and what doesn’t.

Whereas one blog post can grab the lion’s share of Google traffic with multiple keywords, social SEO is much more of a numbers game in terms of volume.

We’ve seen first hand how a high volume of influencer content can help brands rank for keywords faster. This makes sense given how social algorithms on both TikTok and Instagram favour UGC and influencer content over brand-generated content.

As a result, creators have more of a chance to “hit” with the algorithm and cement your brand’s social SEO rankings when they post on your behalf. Especially if you’re consistently partnering with a high volume of creators at once. This approach to influencer partnerships is becoming the norm for UGC advertising.

Creators can integrate both general and brand-specific keywords and hashtags while publishing relevant content ideas to help your brand rank even faster. These details can likewise feature in your brand’s creative brief so influencers hit the right beats.

How to Put These Social Media SEO Ranking Ideas into Action

Ranking in social search doesn’t happen by accident.

And so many brands are already cementing their rankings through consistent influencer collabs.

The good news? The best time to start growing your social SEO presence is now.

Making it happen is possible with a high volume of ongoing influencer partnerships and creators posting about your brand. The sooner you scale, the faster you can start ranking.

That’s where Statusphere’s micro-influencer marketing platform can help.

Our software matches brands with creators from our vetted network for collaborations at scale. With automated matchmaking, streamlined fulfilment and in-depth reporting, brands can generate more UGC and build their social SEO presence without waiting.

We’ve already powered 75,000 influencer posts on behalf of 400+ CPG brands.

Want to learn more about how our platform works? Get in touch with one of our experts to see how we can help you get more influencer content in a fraction of the time.

By Kristen Wiley.

Sourced from STATUSPHERE

In News

36-year-old’s ‘aha moment’ helped launch the creator economy—and turned her blog into a $2 billion company

May 3, 2024 No Comments

By Tom Huddleston Jr.

This story is part of CNBC Make It’s The Moment series, where highly successful people reveal the critical moment that changed the trajectory of their lives and careers, discussing what drove them to make the leap into the unknown.

Amber Venz Box only wanted to earn a reliable income doing what she loved. She didn’t intend to help create an entire online industry.

The 36-year-old is the co-founder and president of LTK, a Dallas-based marketing company that connects more than 250,000 influencers and bloggers with over 7,000 retail brands with advertising budgets to spend. She’s credited as a pioneer of the creator economy with a business most recently valued at $2 billion, following a 2021 fundraise from Japanese investment holding company SoftBank.

In 2010, Box was an unpaid fashion blogger trying to promote her services as a personal shopper. She’d held some low-level positions in the industry: a fit model, an intern at Thakoon, an assistant buyer at a luxury boutique in Dallas.

When an article in The Dallas Morning News pointed readers to her blog, Box realized she’d made a mistake: Potential clients were reading her fashion tips and buying the clothes themselves. She wasn’t making a penny, and affiliate marketing — where blogs link out to retailers in exchange for a cut of sales — wasn’t yet commonly used in the fashion industry.

“That was an ‘aha moment’ of, I have to modernize my business so that I can actually continue to charge for the sales that I’m driving to my customers,” Box tells CNBC Make It. “That was the impetus for us starting [in 2011] what was RewardStyle, and is now LTK.”

She and her then-boyfriend, an electrical engineer and tech analyst named Baxter Box — they’re now married with four kids — adapted existing affiliate linking tech to fit her blog. Once she started making money, she realized she could sell the technology to other bloggers, who could benefit similarly.

Since launching, LTK has helped online creators earn at least $2.7 billion in pay-outs from retailers, according to the company. It has turned 240 influencers — all women — into millionaires, Box says.

Here, Box discusses the challenges of launching LTK, the risks of completely devoting yourself to an uncertain venture and where any aspiring entrepreneur should begin.

CNBC Make It: Can you describe the process of turning your fashion blog into an online business?

Box: [Baxter] saw me really struggling. We went for a walk one day, and he was like, “Anything’s on the table. How would you want to make money on this?”

My old business model [as a personal shopper] involved getting paid a commission. That seemed fair. That’s what I wanted to do here. So he researched and found some technology that we could apply back to this space.

I put between $500 to $1,000 towards engineering to get this going, and he did the same. I drew up, on PowerPoint, what I wanted it to look like. We met with this guy on the weekends and paid him piecemeal, hourly, to start coding it.

In 2011, we launched and I was able to start earning commissions.

Did starting a business feel like a big personal risk?

There was also almost no [financial] downside. I was in my early 20s, living at home, still eating my dad’s cereal. Worst case, this stays the same. Best case, you have a business where you get to do the things you want within this lifestyle that you wanted to create.

But there was a pressure of, “This better work, because I’m sacrificing everything to make it happen. And what if I do this for X period of time and it doesn’t? That’s going to just be this huge hole and pit in my life.”

I was spending 24 hours a day [on the business]. I was silencing phone calls. I was not spending time with friends. I abandoned a lot of relationships, and very quickly.

How confident were you that this would become a viable business beyond your own blog?

I was confident that people would be excited about it. Bloggers didn’t make money [at the time], and I knew that the second they made $100, that they would want to keep doing this. But I really didn’t know how we were going to pay the bills that we were incurring from hiring an intern, hiring an engineer.

One of the biggest challenges with retailers was getting them to believe that someone who had a website on the internet should be part of their marketing plan. The feedback I would often get was: “We work with celebrities or models. This is not part of our plan. We are a luxury brand, we are elevated.”

There were two key businesses at the time that were selling [luxury items] online, ShopBop and Net-a-Porter. I basically asked them to pay me a commission for the online sales that I was driving, and that’s when the business really took off.

You started LTK before most people knew the term “creator economy.” Did you feel like you were ahead of the curve?

No, I really didn’t even think of it as an industry. I struggled until 2015, when we fundraised for the first time, to try and explain the space that we were creating — articulate it in a way that investors were interested in.

I was talking about blogging, young girls on the internet, fashion. I was a young girl. This was my first business and I was from Dallas. It was very challenging to get investors excited about it and raise money around it. Most of the comments were like, “I’ll ask my wife,” or “I’ll ask my girlfriend.”

We raised $300 million [from SoftBank] in 2021. I think it’s probably one of the largest investments, if not the largest, in the creator space. That was when the industry, to me, really arrived.

What’s your best advice for recognizing a window of opportunity and deciding to commit to pursuing it?

The time isn’t “always now” — it’s always yesterday. If you have a real problem, then other people have that problem too. Solve it now, because someone is going to eventually be able to solve it.

It’s who gets there fastest, spreads the word and builds that community around it best. And that’s with almost every decision as a founder — you move with urgency to win.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Feature Image Credit: Amber Venz Box, 36, is the co-founder and president of influencer marketing company LTK. Source: LTK

By Tom Huddleston Jr.

Sourced from CNBC make it

In News

The Difference Between Marketing and Advertising

April 24, 2024 No Comments

By Shubhomita Bose

If you ask the person next to you about the difference between marketing and advertising, there’s a strong possibility you won’t get a clear answer. That’s because for many people, there’s only a subtle difference between marketing and advertising that’s often difficult to explain.

To be honest, advertising and marketing are closely related disciplines that have much in common. Yet they differ in many ways too. To see the differences and how each can benefit you as a small business owner, you must first understand the basics of both.

The Difference Between Marketing and Advertising

This section aims to unpack the distinct roles and impacts of marketing and advertising, clarifying how each contributes to the success of a small business. While closely related, understanding their unique functions is essential for strategic planning and growth.

What is Marketing?

Marketing, in simple terms, refers to the means of communication between a company and its target audience. The American Marketing Association defines it as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”

Marketing involves techniques such as market segmentation, target group identification and market analysis to adopt the right strategy for customer engagement and product promotion.

Four primary elements that form the crux of marketing include Product, Price, Place and Promotion. These elements were introduced by marketer E. Jerome McCarthy. See the breakdown for each of these elements below.

Product

A product is seen as an item that addresses a consumer demand/need. It could be a tangible good or an intangible service. Choosing the right product is critical because it’s the cornerstone of your business and what attracts customers in the first place.

Price

This is the amount customers pay for the product. Price determines the company’s profitability and, thereby, whether or not the company will succeed. Setting the right price requires understanding your market and ensuring value for your customers.

Place

Products must be located in a place where consumers can access them. Place involves strategies such as selective distribution, franchising, and exclusive distribution. The right location or distribution channel can significantly increase a product’s success by making it easy for customers to find and purchase.

Promotion

All means of communication that a company adopts to provide information about the product are considered promotion. Promotion may include elements such as public relations, advertising, and sales promotion. Effective promotion increases the visibility and awareness of your product, encouraging more sales.

Let’s now try and understand what advertising means.

What is Advertising?

Advertising is defined as a form of marketing communication used by companies to promote or sell products and services. In essence, advertising is one of the components or subsets of marketing. In other words, if you think of marketing as a pie, then advertising will be an important slice of that pie.

The primary goal of advertising is to influence buying behavior by promoting a product, service, or company. To achieve this goal, advertising focuses on creative positioning and media. In doing so, advertising spreads awareness about what you have to offer.

According to the “Hierarchy of Effects” model put forth by Robert J. Lavidge and Gary A. Steiner, a buyer moves through six stages when making a purchase. These are awareness, knowledge, liking, preference, conviction and purchase. These six stages are further divided into three categories: Awareness and Knowledge (Cognitive), Liking and Preference (Affective) and Conviction and Purchase (Conative).

These three categories are explored a bit further below.

Cognitive

At this stage, consumers process the information provided to them through advertising communication. Advertising should, therefore, present information on the product’s benefits to pique the interest of the target audience. It’s essential that the message is clear and compelling to create a strong first impression and foster curiosity.

Affective

When consumers are in the affective stage, they should be able to start associating with the brand. Advertising should, therefore, resonate with the audience’s emotional aspects. This connection is vital for building brand loyalty and preference, as consumers are more likely to choose brands with which they feel an emotional attachment.

Conative

The conative stage refers to a stage where buyers are either actually making a purchase or simply showing the intent to purchase. At this stage, advertising evolves into a method of expediting the purchasing process. The conative stage refers to a stage where buyers are either actually making a purchase or simply showing the intent to purchase. At this stage, advertising evolves into a method of expediting the purchasing process. Effective advertising here encourages the consumer to take action, making it as easy as possible for them to make the purchase.

Aspect	Marketing	Advertising
Definition	Communication between a company and its target audience for creating, delivering, and exchanging offerings with value.	A subset of marketing focused on communication to promote products or services.
Key Elements	Product, Price, Place, Promotion	Creative positioning and media
Product	Addresses consumer demands/needs	Promotes products or services
Price	Determines profitability and success of the company	Not directly related to pricing
Place	Strategies for product distribution and accessibility	Not related to product location
Promotion	Includes public relations, advertising, sales promotion, and more	Primarily focused on promotional activities
Goal	Customer engagement and product promotion	Influencing buying behavior
Hierarchy of Effects	Cognitive, Affective, Conative	Cognitive, Affective, Conative
Cognitive	Providing product information to capture interest	Presenting information on product benefits
Affective	Creating an emotional connection with the brand	Resonating with the audience’s emotions
Conative	Facilitating the purchasing process	Encouraging purchase or intent to purchase

How Do Advertising and Marketing Differ?

As you can probably tell by now, marketing and advertising differ. As noted, marketing presents the overall picture of how a company promotes, distributes and prices its products or services. Advertising is a component of this overall picture.

Apart from advertising, a marketing plan includes other components such as public relations, sales and distribution strategies. All these elements are expected to work both independently and interdependently. All must work together to support the same marketing goal.

What’s interesting to note is that advertising typically accounts for the largest expense in most marketing plans. It’s not difficult to understand why. A well-executed ad campaign is run on multiple channels and at a high frequency to create the desired impact.

It’s also worth mentioning that creating a marketing plan is typically more time-intensive than creating an advertising campaign. Since marketing involves various disciplines such as market analysis, marketing research, positioning, and segmentation, it includes more strategizing than advertising.

In other words, advertising supports marketing by creating the right buzz about a company’s product or service. It generates curiosity in the minds of the target audience but ultimately works to support the overall marketing plan.

Blurring the Line Between Advertising and Marketing

In the digital era, the thin line that exists between marketing and advertising is getting increasingly blurred.

With search engine marketing (SEM) and display advertising, digital marketers are now working in the online ad space. Social networking is turning out to be the most preferred channel for most of these marketers who are pairing advertising with marketing to achieve the best results.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good thing. Here’s why.

Many believe social media is a powerful marketing channel that should be used cautiously for advertising purposes.

Ted Rubin, Chief Social Marketing Officer at Collective Bias explains in a guest blog on IBM.com, “Ads have their place, but too many brands try to “advertise” within their social communications to drive immediate action. Not a good scenario, because over time that misuse of the medium diminishes trust and efforts to build relationships.

To leverage social media in the most optimal way, marketers need to have the right strategy for advertising and marketing. To begin with, it’s important to understand what customers want. Do they use social media to be bombarded with adverts and gimmicks? Or are they looking for information presented in an interesting way?

Brands that have checked the pulse of their target audience know how social media can benefit their integrated marketing communications strategy. Keeping that in mind, they know how to leverage it without overusing it.

For businesses, the key thing is to really understand how advertising and marketing work together to bring about the right results.

The Evolving Landscape of Advertising and Marketing

In today’s dynamic business environment, the line that once clearly separated advertising and marketing is becoming increasingly blurred. The digital era has ushered in new opportunities and challenges, pushing marketers to explore innovative ways of leveraging both disciplines for optimal results.

The Power of Digital Marketing

With the advent of search engine marketing (SEM) and display advertising, digital marketers now operate within the vast realm of online advertising. This transition has allowed businesses to harness the precision and reach of digital platforms to target specific audiences effectively. Social networking platforms, in particular, have emerged as favored channels for marketers, offering unique opportunities to blend advertising with broader marketing strategies.

The Cautionary Note

However, it’s crucial to exercise caution in the digital marketing landscape, especially within the realm of social media. While social media can be a powerful marketing channel, the overuse of advertising tactics can lead to adverse consequences. Bombarding audiences with adverts and gimmicks may yield short-term gains but can erode trust and hinder long-term relationship-building efforts.

Crafting the Right Strategy

Successful digital marketers understand the importance of crafting the right strategy that aligns with customer preferences. It’s essential to discern whether your audience seeks to be bombarded with advertisements or if they are looking for information presented in an engaging and meaningful way. This requires a deep understanding of your audience’s habits and values, ensuring that the strategy respects their online experience and adds value to their digital interactions.

Finding the Balance

For businesses navigating the digital landscape, the key lies in comprehending how advertising and marketing can work harmoniously to achieve the desired outcomes. Striking the right balance between engaging marketing content and strategically placed advertising is the path to building strong customer relationships and achieving sustainable business growth. Tailoring your approach to serve both your business objectives and your audience’s needs is crucial, as it ensures that your marketing efforts enhance rather than disrupt the user experience.

As the digital realm continues to evolve, small business owners must adapt their approaches to advertising and marketing, ensuring they leverage the latest tools and techniques effectively. By doing so, they can position themselves for success in an ever-changing business landscape.

Aspect	The Evolving Landscape of Advertising and Marketing
Digital Marketing	The digital era has blurred the lines between advertising and marketing, ushering in opportunities for precision targeting and audience reach through online platforms like SEM and display advertising.
Social Networking	Social networking platforms have become favored channels for marketers, offering unique opportunities to integrate advertising into broader marketing strategies.
Caution in Social Media	While social media is a powerful marketing channel, overusing advertising tactics can lead to negative consequences, eroding trust and hindering long-term relationship-building efforts.
Crafting the Right Strategy	Successful digital marketers tailor their strategies to align with customer preferences, understanding whether audiences prefer information or advertisements presented in an engaging way.
Finding the Balance	Achieving the right balance between engaging marketing content and strategically placed advertising is key to building strong customer relationships and sustainable business growth.
Adaptation	Small business owners must adapt their approaches to leverage the latest tools and techniques effectively in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

Leveraging the Synergy of Advertising and Marketing

While advertising and marketing each have their unique roles and objectives, it’s their collaboration that often leads to the most significant impact. Here’s how businesses can harness the synergy between these two disciplines for a powerful competitive advantage:

Integrated Campaigns: Develop comprehensive campaigns that seamlessly blend marketing strategies with advertising tactics. Ensure that your advertising efforts align with your broader marketing objectives and brand messaging.
Consistent Messaging: Maintain a consistent and coherent message across all marketing and advertising channels. This consistency reinforces your brand identity and fosters trust among consumers.
Data-Driven Insights: Utilize data analytics to gain valuable insights into consumer behavior and preferences. Incorporate these insights into both your marketing and advertising strategies to create more targeted and effective campaigns.
Cross-Promotion: Promote your marketing content through your advertising channels and vice versa. For example, share blog posts or informative videos through paid advertising to maximize their reach and impact.
Feedback Loops: Establish feedback mechanisms to gather insights from advertising campaigns and use them to refine your marketing strategies. The insights gained from advertising performance can inform your broader marketing decisions.
Unified Goals: Ensure that your marketing and advertising teams share common goals and key performance indicators (KPIs). This alignment ensures everyone is working towards the same objectives and fosters a sense of collaboration.
Customer Journey Mapping: Create a comprehensive customer journey map that includes touchpoints from both marketing and advertising. Understanding the customer’s path from awareness to conversion allows for a more integrated approach.
Personalization: Leverage data-driven personalization techniques in both marketing and advertising efforts. Tailor your messaging to individual customer preferences for a more personalized and engaging experience.
Testing and Optimization: Continuously test and optimize your advertising and marketing strategies. A/B testing can help determine which approaches are most effective and where adjustments are needed.

Read the complete Small Business Advertising Guide:

- Introduction to Small Business Advertising
- How Can Advertising Help Your Business?
- What Is The Difference Between Advertising And Marketing?
- Where Can You Advertise Your Business?
- What’s The Cheapest Way To Advertise?
- Where Can You Advertise For Free?
- How Much Do Small Businesses Spend On Advertising?
- How to Plan your Small Business Advertising Campaign (Checklist)
- 50 Small Business Advertising Ideas
- How to Advertise Your Small Business Locally
  - Marketing/Advertising Photo via Shutterstock

By Shubhomita Bose

Sourced from Small Business Trends

In News

MARKETING VS COMMUNICATIONS: WHAT’S THE BIG DIFFERENCE?

April 23, 2024 No Comments

By Ashley Simpson

The good news is that marketing and communications have some overlap that makes both a great move for your career. They are both a core component of a robust marketing strategy, but they have slightly different focuses.

NUMBERS AND STATISTICS VS. WORDS

The first and most significant difference between marketing and communications is how success is measured.

Those responsible for marketing strategies are focused on the bottom-line numbers: how many clients or leads are brought in, campaign performance, and profit. Marketing managers know exactly who they are targeting and use market research to do just that. Statistics are a core component of marketing.

Communications strategies are more focused on the words used to relay a feeling to that ideal avatar that the marketing strategy targets. Oftentimes, they rely on copywriting to create content for a wide variety of customers and outlets. They might write newsletters for email marketing, copy for a landing page, and blog content.

OUTCOMES VS. ATTITUDES

Because of the last difference, it might be clear to you that there’s another difference between those who have a communications degree and those who have a marketing degree.

Namely, they concern themselves with two dramatically different levels of success.

Marketing managers are typically concerned with the outcomes of a digital marketing strategy. They want to know what the bottom line of the advertising effort is costing them and if it has a great return on investment (ROI). If there is no discernible outcome, then the marketing department will need to refocus its efforts.

On the other hand, corporate communications is focused on the attitudes of those public relations campaigns. Communications focuses on how people feel about a brand and if the target audience is likely to view them favourably. It’s less about the numbers and more about the feeling.

SALARY DIFFERENCES

Last but not least, there is a salary difference between marketing and communications careers. For those who are more concerned with the bottom line, a marketing career may be the better option. It tends to pay more than communications in the long run.

Entry-level marketers make an average of $48,752 annually, while marketing managers make about $140,000 annually.

Entry-level communications representatives make slightly more at $62,101, while managers make about $123,777.

While you may make more initially from communications careers, marketing has the better salary if you are looking for a career you can stick with long-term. However, they are so similar at higher levels that it may pay off to score that higher starting salary associated with communications careers.

WHAT IS MARKETING?

Now that we have the differences between marketing vs communications out of the way, it’s time to think about what each one offers individually. Pursuing a marketing degree means you are going to be thoroughly invested in the nitty-gritty details of marketing campaigns.

Marketing covers promoting and advertising for the company you work with to help them find new clientele who will contribute to the bottom line of the business. It’s a lot of strategic planning and statistics that prove that target customers are being reached with a campaign.

In other words, marketing focuses on emerging technologies to help leverage these capabilities for financial profit.

WHAT IS COMMUNICATIONS?

Unlike marketing, communications focuses on both written and spoken communication. Instead of looking at the numbers, a communications degree helps you to focus more on the experience of the ideal customer avatar. Everything about it is designed to be customer-centric, including the essential experience of intercultural communication.

It’s about the quality of the relationship you’re nurturing over how many leads and sales you make. Communications professionals want to make a lasting impression rather than just making a sale in the here and now.

While the goal is ultimately the same (help customers find a brand they love), they take different forms. Communications is often focused more on inbound marketing such as content creation, including writing a blog post or email campaigns. Marketing is more focused on outbound marketing, reaching new and potential clients. If you choose to work in communications, you may want to consider becoming a content marketing consultant.

SIMILARITIES IN MARKETING VS COMMUNICATIONS

As you might have gathered, there is a lot of overlap in what a marketing or communications role may play. Both are focused on improving company perception, though one is focused on the dollars and the other more so on brand management.

Here are some similarities that might lead you to study both marketing and communications as your ideal career path forward.

DESIRE TO REACH AN AUDIENCE WITH A TIMELY MESSAGE

While communicators focus on the actual wording of the message, both marketers and communications majors will want to reach an audience with the right message at the right time. While communications majors might work on inbound marketing and marketers work on outbound, both aim to improve the lives of their target audience.

They are passionate about the companies they work for and want the world to know about what is being offered.

INCREASE PERFORMANCE AND RECOGNITION OF THE BRAND

Despite having different sets of tools to manage any given marketing plan, both roles are focused on driving more sales to the company. Marketers concern themselves with the bottom-line numbers, but that doesn’t mean those in communications careers don’t care. They simply pride themselves on how well the words they write drive sales.

Both want the business to take off and see massive success. After all, their jobs depend on it. While they have key differences in what matters to them, performance is at the heart of all they do.

SKILLS REQUIRED FOR SUCCESS

Whether you work in marketing or communications, you will still have to have some of the same skills. As with most positions these days, you need excellent interpersonal communication skills. You should be able to communicate with the team you are on, as well as other departments, to yield the best results.

Plus, you will need to have a great deal of creativity to get the company’s message out to other people. No matter what your niche, you will have to come up with innovative new ways of reaching people via marketing campaigns or content marketing.

PLATFORMS USED (SOCIAL MEDIA, WEBSITE, COMMERCIALS, ETC.)

Of course, there is also significant overlap in how marketing and communications professionals reach their given audience. In today’s world, social media is one of the most prevalent areas where industry trends are leading both marketers and communicators to market.

The specific message you send and the specific platform you use will differ, but you should have some familiarity with all of them.

There are also more traditional means of communicating a message to a prospective customer: print ads, website content marketing, Google ads, commercials, and more. There is a seemingly endless list of potential platforms that both marketing and communications professionals will need to understand.

It’s all about delivering information by any means necessary, whether that requires social networking, press releases, or some other means of hitting the right audience at the right time.

COULD YOU USE A MARCOMM DEGREE?

Many people find that they don’t want to decide between marketing and communications. Both aspects of the marketing plan are interesting to them. This is why many schools are now offering what is known as MarComm degrees, where students double major.

This allows the overlap to work in your favour. You can earn the high-dollar compensation of a marketing manager while working with the words and content of the communications department. It makes you more versatile in the industry and gives you an endless supply of potential positions.

Many programs will allow you to get your bachelor’s degree in both areas which can be great for your potential income down the line.

FINAL THOUGHTS: WILL YOU CHOOSE MARKETING VS COMMUNICATIONS?

Do you have in-depth knowledge related to running a marketing campaign or focusing on content marketing? It might be time for you to think about making a career path out of those skills, which could start with going back to school for a marketing degree or a communications degree (or both!).

Whether you want to write website content or analyse the numbers, there is likely something in one of these two career paths for you to follow if you love digital marketing. Consider whether you might be well suited to making a job switch to one of these fields!

Here are some other courses for business that might help you to jumpstart a new career in these areas!

By Ashley Simpson

Ashley is an experienced freelance writer with an enthusiasm for finding creative ways to earn money online. She uses her passion for words to share what she has learned with the world.

She spends most of her time blogging for a multitude of websites and consuming everything she can get her hands on in relation to personal finance and side hustles.

Sourced from Niche Pursuits

marketing

The demise of third-party cookies and an election year team up to present marketers with both challenges and opportunities.

Cookie depreciation

The election

3 things you can do

1. Focus on identity

2. Leverage owned channels

3. Provide value

Sourced from The Drum

Localization Bridges The Gap Between Global Reach And Local Relevance

Data-Driven Attribution Unravels The Complexities Of User Behaviour

Predictive Conversations Anticipate User Needs and Preferences

AI Use In Creative Elevates Brand Storytelling And Visual Communication

By Alex Kudos

Sourced from Forbes

Best Practices and Strategies for Email Automation

Table of Contents

Introduction to Automated Email Campaigns

The Evolution of Email Automation

Defining Automated Email Campaigns

The Importance of Email Automation in Marketing

Enhancing Customer Engagement

Streamlining Communication Processes

Types of Automated Email Campaigns

Welcome Email Series

Abandoned Cart Reminders

Re-Engagement Campaigns

Post-Purchase Follow-Ups

Other Automated Email Ideas

Planning Your Automated Email Strategy

Setting Clear Objectives

Segmenting Your Audience

Personalization Techniques

Creating Content for Automated Emails

Crafting Compelling Subject Lines

Designing Engaging Email Bodies

Keep It Simple

Use a Responsive Design

Use Compelling Imagery

Be Consistent With Branding

Calls-to-Action that Convert

Best Practices for Automated Email Workflows

Timing and Frequency

A/B Testing for Optimization

Ensuring Deliverability and Compliance

Tools and Technologies for Email Automation

Choosing the Right Email Marketing Platform

Integration With CRM Systems

Analysing the Success of Your Email Campaigns

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Learning from Data: Metrics that Matter

Case Studies: Successful Automated Email Campaigns

Industry Leaders and Their Strategies

Small Business Success Stories

Future Trends in Automated Email Campaigns

The Role of AI and Machine Learning

Interactive and Dynamic Email Content

Maximizing ROI With Automated Email Campaigns

Why Trust Us?

By Megan Smith

Sourced from beehiiv Blog

1. Trying To Tackle It All

2. Agonizing Over Their Online Presence

3. Failing To Follow A Strategy Based On Research

4. Putting More Effort Into Marketing Than The Actual Product

5. Rushing Toward A ‘Big Bang’ Approach

6. Prioritizing Short-Term Gains Over Branding

7. Mistaking ‘Activity’ For ‘Strategy’

8. Focusing On The Bottom Of The Marketing Funnel

9. Developing The Brand Before Conducting Market Research

10. Overlooking The Importance Of A Cohesive Brand Identity

11. Assuming Media Coverage Will Generate Funding

12. Aiming To Make A ‘Big Splash’

13. Lacking Focus And A Plan

14. Taking The ‘Faster, Better, Cheaper’ Route

Sourced from Forbes

These four major marketing trends are set to explode this year.

1. The “Authentic Age”

2. Influencer marketing

3. Creator-driven B2B newsletters