Research Shows ABM, AI, Analytics Drive B2B Marketing Success

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A new report based on business-to-business marketing data from Salesforce Research, Forrester Research and the Information Technology Services Marketing Association shows how technically sophisticated top-performing B2B marketers have become in order to woo today’s demanding clients. “B2B marketers are increasingly using a mix of account-based marketing (ABM), artificial intelligence (AI), and analytics to connect the right customers with the right content at the right moments,” concludes B2B Marketing Trends: Insights From the Frontline released in June. To enlighten our B2B clients, AccuList can pass along a few key findings.

Unified Data Vital to Personalization Demand

Today’s business buyers demand personalization: 69% of business buyers expect companies to anticipate their needs, and 60% of business buyers are comfortable with companies applying relevant personal information in exchange for personalized engagement. B2B marketers are not quite up to speed yet, however, with only 46% of B2B marketers reporting a completely unified view from customer data sources. This is true even though most marketers agree that personalization improves brand building (92%) and customer advocacy (80%). The high-performing marketers have invested in customer data and are reaping the rewards, with 66% of high-performing teams saying they are satisfied with their ability to use data to create relevant, personalized experiences. In contrast, the under-performers are way behind, with only 7% satisfied with their use of data.

High-Performing Marketing Teams Use ABM

Account-based marketing (ABM) programs are collaborative efforts between marketing and sales teams, designed to focus attention on high-value customer accounts. High-performing B2B marketing teams are much more likely to collaborate effectively with sales teams on ABM programs (54%) compared with under-performing marketing teams (34%), according to the report. Because of the value of ABM programs, one-third of B2B marketers are currently planning to build them into their existing marketing automation platforms. Among B2B marketers using ABM, the ABM programs now account for more than a quarter of their total marketing budgets. Why? Nearly half of ABM users say the programs deliver higher ROI than comparable marketing methods: 77% of ABM users are achieving 10% or greater ROI, and 45% of ABM users are seeing at least double ROI compared to other marketing methods. ABM ROI is not a slam-dunk however; the top four challenges reported include getting data and reports to track results, personalizing marketing to key account contacts, getting adequate budget to support programs and resources, and developing customizable, scalable campaign assets. To further leverage ABM, many marketers have added, or plan to add, technology platforms such as website personalization to serve relevant content, predictive analytics to select accounts, and business intelligence or ABM data aggregators to measure results by account, etc. Also gaining in popularity is use of chatbots or conversational interfaces, while traditional efforts such as personalized, dimensional direct mail integrated into digital marketing continues to bolster ABM, too.

Growing Use of AI by B2B Marketers

Some 69% of business buyers expect personalized “Amazon-like” customer experiences today, per the recent B2B report. As a result, AI usage among B2B marketers grew 23% in 2018, with the majority of these marketers using AI within marketing platforms to optimize mid-cycle engagement. B2B marketers are using AI to facilitate online experiences with offline customer data, to drive next best offers in real time, to improve customer segmentation, to create dynamic websites and landing pages, and to personalize overall customer journeys, as well as a number of other goals. B2B marketers are also beginning to use AI technology beyond their marketing automation platforms; for example, almost half of B2B marketers use connected devices, and one-third added voice-activated personal assistants (such as Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa) in 2018. Register to download the free “B2B Marketing Trends: Insights From the Frontline” for more data on other B2B marketing trends.

Facebook Both Boosts and Challenges Fundraising Efforts

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AccuList helps its nonprofit clients with fundraising via direct mail and events as well as digital channels, and online giving certainly has seen tremendous growth in recent years. But the latest M+R Benchmarks report shows a distinct slowdown in nonprofit online revenue. After years of steady growth (a 23% increase in 2017), online fundraisers reported just 1% growth in 2018. Exploring the why behind that drop yields some important lessons for fundraisers moving forward, especially when it comes to Facebook campaigns.

Facebook Changes the Game, But Are Nonprofits Ready?

M+R cites multiple trends underlying lower online revenue growth—from declining e-mail response, to more low-dollar mobile traffic, to falling online donor retention. But the report starts by noting how rising Facebook usage has both undercut revenue measures and signaled potential for future growth. Yes, changes to the Facebook algorithm resulted in, on average, only 7% of followers seeing any given post, but use of Facebook Fundraisers’ peer-to-peer giving really took hold for the first time in 2018. However, because of the way the donations are processed, the Facebook Fundraiser dollars were not included in M+R online revenue calculations. It’s an important missing piece for revenue growth: The Facebook Fundraiser tool for hosted fundraising now accounts for about 99% of all nonprofit revenue processed on Facebook, with nonprofits raising $1.77 through Facebook for every $100 raised through other online channels, per M+R. The impact is big for some sectors. For example, health nonprofits received $29.88 from Facebook for every $100 in direct online revenue in 2018, accounting for about 30% as much revenue as every other source of online revenue, including e-mail, web giving, monthly donors, digital ads, and search. To turn the new Facebook Fundraiser use into a bigger revenue boon, notes the M+R report, nonprofits would need to make an effort to get more individuals (the average now is 56) involved in hosting fundraisers and in attracting both more donors and higher-dollar donors (now the average per hosted fundraiser is seven donors and a modest $31 gift per donor).

Ignorance of ROI Is Far From Bliss

Another recent study pointed to a deeper issue with nonprofit Facebook efforts. The 2019 Digital Outlook Report—from care2, hjc and nten—found that nonprofits surveyed reported spending anywhere from $0 to $100,000 on Facebook and Instagram campaigns. But the majority (over 75%) answered “don’t know” when asked about any resulting revenue! Clearly, the report urges, staff need training in analytics, whether using Google or another tool, as well as calculating not only resulting donations but the value of lead generation, e-mail signups, event attendance, etc. If there is any good news from this kind of ROI blindness, it is that Facebook probably has untapped potential.

Tips for Optimizing Facebook Fundraising

CauseMic recently offered some helpful tips for fundraising with Facebook. In using Facebook Fundraiser, in order to benefit from site traffic and donor information as well as dollars, start by disabling the “donate” button and direct supporters to donate on your website rather than through Facebook. Donors will learn more about the mission and fundraisers can stay connected with them for better retention. Second, nonprofits shouldn’t focus only on the Facebook tool hosting fundraisers; they can use promoted posts and ads to grow the support base, interact with supporters, promote events, etc. When a breaking news story or emergency occurs that impacts giving, it can be incorporated into social media outreach to spread the word and raise money more quickly. Just make sure to use tracking analytics and calculate result values to avoid the ROI ignorance identified in the Digital Outlook Report noted above! Plus, make sure that Facebook is a consistent piece of a multi-channel strategy, and remember that it offers a proven response driver to multi-channel campaigns: video. Use the platform to post videos about donation impact, to host live videos, to publicize upcoming events, and to tell the organization’s story with visual/emotional resonance. Finally, pay attention to timing in planned Facebook campaigns; M+R found that nearly a quarter of all Facebook revenue is raised in the month of November.

For more on general trends in online fundraising, see the latest M+R Benchmarks.

2019 Forecast Stresses Mobile Marketing Innovation

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As mobile use has expanded to include the majority of the population, mobile marketing has become integral to AccuList USA clients’ multiple marketing channels, including direct mail’s mobile-scanned QR & AR codes, mobile-optimized e-mail, nonprofits’ mobile giving and retailers’ geo-located ads and apps. When the average U.S. adult is expected to spend more than three and a half hours a day on a mobile device and 70% of digital advertising is already mobile, it’s no surprise that 2019 is forecast to be another banner year for mobile marketing. A recent ClickZ post outlines some of the big trends to expect.

Increased Efforts to Combat Mobile Ad Fraud

Mobile ad fraud is on the rise, doubling year-on-year during the first quarter of 2018, which also saw an increase in fraud sophistication, such as SDK spoofing and click injection. As a result, ClickZ author Luca Mastrorocco predicts that advertisers will push to avoid fraud and boost brand safety by demanding supply chain transparency from vendors, increasing use of anti-fraud metrics for mobile apps, and seeking to engage users directly via mobile network operator rather in-app.

More Apps and More Diverse Apps

Even with over 2 million apps in both Google Play and the Apple App store, Mastrorocco asserts that the mobile app landscape is far from saturation, citing innovations such as J.P. Morgan’s online banking app offering free or discounted trades in its digital investing service, the success of TikTok’s viral 15-second video app, and Facebook’s investment in a new Lasso app to compete with TikTok. He foresees even more app development and innovation ahead, especially in AI-based apps and use of virtual reality and augmented reality (AR).

An Embrace of Mobile Interactivity

Mastrorocco also predicts that interactive mobile experiences, such as IKEA’s new AR app allowing users to virtually place furniture in their homes, will blossom in 2019, blurring the line between mobile advertising and content. Gamification will play a central role in interactive mobile marketing, even among non-gaming brands, he adds, as brands use playable ads to communicate with users in a entertaining way and to join digital and brick-and-mortar sales, such as by rewarding players with prizes or discount vouchers that can be redeemed in-store.

A Focus on Real-Time Data Tracking & Analytics

Expect data-driven tactics to expand significantly in 2019. Brand marketers are forecast to increase their demand for user-centric advertising that tracks performance and analyzes results in real time to optimize media and creative in-flight. Their goals will be to both produce the best possible user experiences and more cost-effective ad spending. Brands using real-time data to produce iterative in-house creative can gain a competitive edge over those relying on agency creative, per Mastrorocco, who sees a resulting rise in experimentation with geo-location targeting and dynamic creative optimization. For the complete article, go to https://www.clickz.com/mobile-marketing-2019/221210/

Many Business Publications Fail to Fully Mine Audience Data

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Business periodical marketers come to AccuList USA for help with audience building via multi-channel campaigns. But as data experts, we’d like to remind them that their audience data offers other revenue streams worth mining. Most publishers know that targeted audience data is key to competing for ad dollars; for improved subscriber response via personalization; and for better targeted content marketing, but a recent Adweek article by Jason Downie suggests several other ways to monetize audience data.

Building Valuable Off-the-Shelf Audience Segments

Downie urges publishers to build “off-the-shelf” audience segments that can be sold directly to advertisers, for example. Consider how a seminar promoter could use a business magazine’s data if the publication built an audience of people interested specifically in his topics or proven seminar buyers; the advertiser would be able to enjoy the benefits of tapping not just a business-engaged audience but a strategically targeted set of potential buyers more likely to convert. By creating off-the-shelf audience segments, the publication offers more options for ad clients and more targeted impressions from high-value users. Audience segments can also offer insights that can be further monetized. For example, analytics could show that seminar attendees are four times more likely to share content online. That makes them online influencers, and since influencers are extremely valuable, the publisher can demand a higher CPM. Additionally, an audience segment can open the door to new advertisers and marketers, including non-endemic spending. A business publisher’s analytics may show a subscriber segment visits golf sites as well as the magazine site, for example. The publisher can now woo clients looking to target “golfers.”

Using Data to Win RFPs

Another way publishers can take advantage of data is in the RFP process, according to the Adweek article, noting that the average publisher spends up to 1,600 hours per month, or 18% of revenue, responding to advertiser RFPs. Publishers can develop a customized response to an advertiser RFP, starting with first-party data to build out the RFP-requested audience and then enriching that database with third-party data appending. Digital campaigns can expand targeting by adding lookalikes. Author Downie advises running a portion of an ad campaign without audience or contextual targeting to identify additional audiences, interests, actions and behaviors of those who respond well to the campaign but were not included in the initial targeting.

Turning Data Into New Revenue Streams

Another option for publishers with high-quality audience data is to sell it as “second-party data.”  The data can be sold either directly to another company through a second-party data exchange or through a programmatic data exchange. Second-party exchanges are popular because they are private marketplaces one-to-one with another company, versus an open environment. And, of course, subscriber lists can be monetized as “third-party data,” earning regular rental revenue on the open market and via data brokers. For more detail, see the full article.

Today’s Zoo Marketing Embraces Conservation, Digital

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AccuList USA helps a number of museums and zoos with marketing to members, donors and visitors. A 2017 report on the U.S. market for museums, historical sites, zoos and parks, worth $14.5 billion annually, noted that some of the most significant changes are occurring in the zoo market. Consumers’ rising concerns about conservation and ethical treatment of animals have been a driving force. As the public loses its appetite for viewing animals in cages, zoos are initiating a new stress on realistic exhibits and conservation–and their marketing is reflecting that shift.

Zoo Marketing Wins by Stressing Conservation and Natural Habitats

A recent Platform Magazine article on the new wave in zoo marketing, noted to its PR-pro readers that the winning zoo marketing strategy seems to lie in finding the middle ground between promoting conservation and creating entertainment. Many zoos do this by creating exhibits that mimic animals’ natural habitats. For example, the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington, promotes exhibits for jaguars, penguins and grizzly bears, which have won exhibit design awards. Meanwhile, the Houston Zoo not only advertises the fact that it shares part of the money from each ticket with conservation programs but plans to build a new exhibit to showcase the Texas Wetlands, which have a large variety of animal and plant life.  The Platform article also cites Zoo Atlanta’s strategy for merging consumer experiences and conservation by promoting its contributions to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan (SSP) with new animals’ births that help “maintain healthy, genetically diverse and self-sustaining animal populations within North American zoos.”

Zoos Use Digital Marketing to Stretch Budgets

However, one marketing challenge for nonprofit zoos like Zoo Atlanta is stretching “our limited advertising budget,” Vice President of Marketing and Membership Tracy Lott acknowledges. And digital media investments are one way her zoo stretches those marketing resources. For zoos following Zoo Atlanta’s lead by starting or expanding a digital marketing strategy, Search Influence, a digital marketing agency, suggests five key steps to success.  Efforts need to begin with planning, with an emphasis on defining member/donor/visitor profiles for targeting. Then local prospects, loyal members and tourists can be sent the different messaging that will resonate and drive response. Next comes a polished website to showcase attention-getting content and provide a platform for sales and donations, supported by a traffic-building investment in search optimization and paid search. Third, zoos need a curated content-marketing strategy for website, social media and paid digital advertising to promote unique draws, from exhibits and events to conservation and education. Leveraging that great content then requires a targeted digital advertising strategy. Since 90% of time online is spent outside of search, mainly on Facebook, Instagram and other social platforms, one focus should be social media ads with enticing video, graphics and messaging. These ads can be targeted by interests, location, family status, buying behavior and more to boost response. These also can be tied into a multi-channel strategy that includes direct mail; for example, our Digital2Direct program serves Facebook ads to selected “matched” postal records.  Finally, to maximize ROI, marketers need analytics with defined KPIs per platform, including use of Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to track multiple e-commerce platforms and websites.

 

 

Shoppers Demand Seamless Omnichannel Retail Strategies

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Omnichannel marketing is the rule for today’s retailing. While print catalogs continue as a vital merchant tool, with 42% of households reading catalogs per the U.S. Postal Service, integration of multiple channels–including online, mobile and social with direct mail–is now essential to our catalog and e-commerce clients’ success. Unfortunately, while the majority of consumers expect to shop seamlessly across all those channels, only 7% of retailers provide the unified “start the sale anywhere, finish the sale anywhere” experience that customers want, per the recent “2018 Customer Experience/Unified Commerce Survey” by BRP Consulting, a retail management consulting firm.

Omnichannel, Cross-Device Shopping Is Now the Norm

Marketers just can’t afford to ignore that the majority of shoppers now interact with promotions, educational content and purchase services via multiple channels and devices. According to the same BRP study, three in five (62%) consumers surveyed said they check online reviews/ratings before visiting a store, yet just 61% of retailers offer consumer product reviews for research! Shoppers now rely on mobile to continue the digitally supported buying process in-store, with nearly 60% of shoppers looking up product information and prices while using their mobile phones in stores, per Retail Dive’s 2017 Consumer Survey. Also per BRP, nearly three out of four (73%) of consumers want the ability to track orders across all points of interaction, going beyond an estimated delivery date to include when the order is being prepared, date shipped from the warehouse, etc. Plus customers expect an automated return process, with 68% of consumers surveyed telling BRP they are more likely to choose a retailer offering an automated returns process.

Analytics Need Complex Channel/Device Attribution

Merchants can leverage customers’ cross-device penchant to optimize acquisition and conversion, argues a Direct Marketing News article by Pierre DeBois. But they must keep in mind that, while the opportunity to boost ad frequency and content persuasion across channels is huge, smart management is required to avoid turning targeted promotion into a bludgeon. As Bill Kee, Google’s group product manager for attribution, highlighted at the 2017 Google Marketing Next conference, “If I am on three devices, and if I see your ad five times, it means you’ve reached me 15 times…believe me I get it.” The first place to start is good omnichannel analytics to understand the contribution of each channel to ROI and its place in the customer journey. Only then can merchants cost-effectively tailor targeting and investment to maximize sales. One useful analytics tool is Google’s Unique Reach report, which displays digital ad frequency metrics across devices, campaigns, and formats to measure how many times a person views a given ad, and combines attribution influences from AdWords, DoubleClick, and Google Analytics, suggests DeBois.

Using Images and Chat to Direct the Customer Journey

Good omnichannel analytics also can improve use of image and video content to maximize the proven effectiveness of image/video in digital engagement, to answer the customer demand for education, and to direct prospects through the sales funnel. However, quantities of images bombarding customers across multiple channels can overwhelm and confuse, so both media curation and a content mapping strategy aligned to the customer journey are needed. One example of a targeted image strategy is use of an “image story” feature on a social media platform to orchestrate images and/or a short video, notes DeBois. Pinterest Lens, Instagram Stories, and Twitter Moments are all image story features. Because the majority of consumers research products and services online now, marketers also can gain an edge over competitors by offering customer-facing elements such as chatbots. In contrast to apps, which may be used only for a few discrete tasks and then ignored, a chatbot’s programmable assistance can provide both engagement and continuing response performance improvement.

For more, see the Direct Marketing News article.

Print Catalogs Still a Key Multichannel Merchant Tool

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Despite the growth of e-commerce, printed catalogs retain their important marketing role for AccuList USA’s B2B and B2C catalog clients, and recent data from Multichannel Merchant‘s 2018 State of the Catalog survey highlights that trend.

Print Catalogs Boost Brands, Push Digital Traffic

A big majority of the merchants surveyed (84.2% ) by Multichannel Merchant (MCM) said they continue to use print catalogs as a channel to reach customers. Their commitment to the traditional print catalog comes from its value as a multipurpose marketing tool. For example, branding led the ranking of main print catalog goals, with an 8.86 out of 10 rating. Branding was followed by web and mobile traffic driver and customer retention (both ranked at 8.14), reactivation (7.57), and prospecting and store traffic spur (6.43).  Meanwhile, though measuring catalog effectiveness remains a matter of debate among merchants, a majority (57.1%) do have a formal measurement program, whether via matchbacks, tracking codes, response analysis or segmentation testing.

Frequency, Page Counts & Circulation Hold Steady

Although merchants continue to seek maximum ROI by testing page counts and formats, the majority surveyed by MCM (83.3%) maintained the same page counts in 2017, and 50% also reported the same circulation numbers. Looking ahead to 2018, 50% planned to increase page counts, but respondents split into thirds over increasing, decreasing or maintaining circulation size. As far as frequency, 83.3% said they would hold it steady for 2018.

Digital Catalogs Join Array of Print Formats

Most merchants surveyed (57.1%) rely on both a digital catalog and a standard 8.5X11 print catalog. But many also use a “slim jim” print format (14.3%) or, especially for B2B, annual “big books” (also 14.3%). Some retailers report they send out other types of direct mail pieces, such as small gatefolds or postcards with special offers. Digital page-flipper catalogs are also in use to reach customers between mailings and in areas not mailed (such as Europe). For more on the report, go to http://multichannelmerchant.com/marketing/state-catalog-alive-well/

Why You Should De-dupe Your Data

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In today’s data-driven marketing, data is not only the most important asset that your company can have but can also make or break your campaign. Having clean data impacts not only marketing activities but also impacts your reputation, operations and decision-making. De-duping is one of the most important aspects of overall data hygiene. Duplicates can be found on many levels of data; they arise at the household level, individual e-mail level or company level. But before you can de-dupe your data, you must make sure you have a clear definition of what a duplicate is. Some businesses de-dupe based on a household address for direct mail campaigns, others on an e-mail basis for e-mail marketing campaigns, and some de-dupe based on the company level. If you are still not convinced that you need to de-dupe, consider the following benefits:

Avoiding Different Offers to the Same Customer

Having direct mail going out to the same household can be costly, and it can also be extremely embarrassing. For example, you send two different direct mail creatives to the same household. As one of the records was a customer, you decided to provide a returning customer 15% off, while the other record was marked as a prospect and only got 10% off. Now the person opening both direct mails will be confused by having two different discounts, and the company also can face a PR nightmare.

Cutting Unnecessary Cost

It goes without saying that having duplicates increases your cost. For example, assume you are doing a direct mail creative which costs you $5 per mailing. Your list contains 10,000 recipients. The total cost of mailings therefore is $50,000. If you decided to de-dupe, you would find out that 10% of your mailing list was duplicated. Therefore, $5,000 was a waste of resources. It would have been much cheaper to de-dupe prior to deploying your campaign.

Good Analytics for Decision-making 

Analytics is important not just from a perspective of understanding how your marketing and sales is performing but also from a decision-making perspective. By having duplicates in your CRM, you are going to be double-counting your list capabilities, miscalculating your true growth rates, and getting the wrong rate of responses. If you are looking to make a decision on future campaigns, basing it on duplicate data will give you the wrong list count, wrong budget and possibly the wrong creative picked (especially if you are basing it on an A/B testing done previously).

Reducing Customer Service Confusions

If there are duplicates in your CRM system, having clients call in, e-mail or come into the store will make it difficult for staff to track down the right individual. For example, Mary Smith is found twice in your CRM with the same phone number. She calls in to your customer support to inquire about her order status. Your customer service rep decides to pull up the customer account by phone number and finds two records. Now she has to put the customer on hold while she checks both accounts to try to locate the last purchase before she can even assist the customer. Not only is it wasting everyone’s time and making customer service inefficient, it also makes the customer have a bad customer service experience.

Preventing Potential Loss of Sales

Finally, the biggest impact that duplicates have on your business is a potential loss of sale. If you have duplicates, you do not have a true view of all prospect or customer activities. Therefore, you could be excluding prospects from a sales call because your lead scoring system indicated that they are not ready. However, if the data from both records was combined, you would have all signals indicating they are ready to be passed on to sales. With duplicates, by the time you figure it out, a customer may have already lost interest and gone with your competitor.

You can easily de-dupe your list by using a de-duping tool that will require less effort to identify duplicates and establish a master record than is required to deal with the consequences of duplicate data. De-duping should be part of your data-cleaning initiative, either prior to any major campaign or on a yearly basis.

If you are interested in data clean-up and use of a de-duping tool, contact guest author Anna Kayfitz, CEO of StrategicDB Corp.

Social Media Pros Predict Wide Range of Changes in 2018

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Both B2B and B2C marketers are planning on investing more in social media marketing in 2018, per surveys. So AccuList USA’s clients may want to take a look at the trends that social media experts are predicting for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest marketing in the year ahead, as recently gathered up by Social Media Examiner.

Video Boom: Moves by LinkedIn and Facebook

Among the more than 33 predictions featured, multiple social media pros stressed the growth and impact of video, as “even simple selfie videos filmed on cell phones are propelling businesses higher than video-less businesses,” to quote one forecaster. B2B marketers will be pleased to know that LinkedIn advertising is expected to roll out video ads for business pages and geofilters for videos, now in test. Facebook, which remains the social media ad leader, is positioning to become a major player in online video. In 2017, Facebook debuted Facebook Watch for select creators (a TV-like option). In 2018, it is forecast that the program will expand to all people and pages on Facebook, and also that Facebook will likely roll out new features for video creators, perhaps including preferential Facebook news feed exposure for original native video, revenue-sharing deals, or even a dedicated video app. With the video boom, metrics will need to get more sophisticated across platforms. Since each platform counts their video views differently (Snapchat at 1 second, Twitter at 2 seconds, Facebook/Instagram at 3 seconds, and YouTube at 30 seconds), watch for marketers to go beyond number of views to data measuring the time spent and the attention held across all screens on all platforms.

Instagram Gains Ground With Marketers

Instagram is forecast to keep surging after fast growth in 2017, with 15 million businesses using Instagram by July 2017 (nearly double the 8 million businesses that used Instagram in March 2017), with 80% of Instagram accounts now following at least one business, and with global advertising set to reach $4 billion for 2017 year-end. One reason is that Instagram has been improving its tools for marketers, including InstaStories promoted within the  “news feed,” the Story Highlights feature that allows pages to host static collections of previously disappearing story posts on profiles, “swipe up” calls-to-action, posts that click through to online stores, and soon the ability to follow hashtags.

Rising Ad Costs Force Smarter Targeting, Metrics

The bad news for marketers is that the popularity of social media will translate into rising ad costs in 2018, with pricing of Facebook and Instagram advertising predicted to rise over the next 12 months. However, that cost trend should actually spur businesses hesitating to invest; marketers who commit to social media ads now will generate awareness, build audience (particularly via e-mail subscribers) and gain a competitive advantage in the increasingly crowded market. Given the rising cost to gain the attention of prospects and acquire customers, more businesses also are urged to hone ad effectiveness beyond generating leads followed with automated e-mail—for example using retargeting, AI and other techniques to ensure prospects see the most relevant messaging for their point in the customer journey. And, as cheap organic reach declines in effectiveness and paid ad costs climb, the importance of ad metrics increases. Whether on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter, marketers will need to track the metrics of each ad or promoted post, combining a paid acquisition model with historical data and personalized content if they hope to translate social media marketing into real revenue results in 2018, warn the social media mavens.

For more predictions, see https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-predictions-2018/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=NewsletterIssue&utm_campaign=New

Effective Cross-Channel Marketing Requires New Tactics

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AccuList USA embraces multi-channel marketing for broader, deeper and more nuanced audience reach–but we also recognize that, without careful planning, there is a risk of counterproductive ad frequency and confusion.

Untangling Cross-Channel Confusion

At the recent 2017 Google Marketing Next conference, Bill Kee, Google’s group product manager for attribution, is quoted giving a powerful illustration of how a multi-channel campaign can saturate the market: “If I am on three devices, and if I see your ad five times, it means you’ve reached me 15 times….believe me I get it.” So how can marketers improve performance given today’s complex, interconnected channel usage? In a recent Direct Marketing News article, Pierre DeBois, founder of digital analytics firm Zimana, suggests several tactics for better cross-device/cross-channel effectiveness. First, DeBois recommends using cross-channel/cross-device analytics in place of traditional last-click attribution or channel-to-channel comparison. The goal should be to see the complete picture of channel contributions to ROI at each step of the customer journey, he advises. An example is Google’s new Unique Reach report that displays digital ad frequency metrics across devices, campaigns, and formats to measure how many times a person views a given ad. The report combines attribution influences from AdWords, DoubleClick and Google Analytics.

Content Curating and Chatbot Support

It is a new marketing axiom that videos and images are great response-getters for digital media. But multiple cross-channel/cross-device campaigns can visually overwhelm and confuse customers, too. DeBois advises marketers to locate videos and images in a content mapping strategy so they can understand how their media aligns with each step of the customer journey. Plus, they should curate media by carefully selecting and orchestrating images, videos and messages in order to help customers understand products and services. One helpful curating tool is the “image story” feature on social media platforms, including Pinterest Lens, Instagram Stories, and Twitter Moments. Another option for providing a consistent customer story across channels is to employ chatbots, DeBois suggests. Chatbots offer programmable assistance, powered by rules and sometimes artificial intelligence, to interact with customers via a chat interface, auditory or textual. Chatbots are often found in recommendation engines and can increase customer engagement through a series of questions and responses. Among the many chatbot services, DeBois points to those built for Facebook Messenger as most useful for businesses with a strong social media audience. Amazon Lex is another option for building and managing conversation bots. To read his article: http://www.dmnews.com/mobile-marketing/how-to-make-media-more-effective-for-cross-device-marketing/article/669602/