acculist | Brand Marketing

Has Your Marketing Adjusted for the Current E-commerce Surge?

April 7, 2020/in B2C Marketing, Brand Marketing, channel preferences, Creative, Data Analytics, Digital Marketing, E-commerce, KPI, Marketing Plan, Multi-Channel Marketing, Online Advertising, Real-time Marketing, Response Analytics, Retail Marketing, Search Marketing, Testing, Video Marketing, Website /by David Kanter

Pandemic lockdowns across the nation have turbocharged e-commerce, with online sales growing by triple-digits since social distancing went into effect. Many predict a longer-term change in buying habits that will continue after the crisis has passed. The new environment is pushing some AccuList’s clients, especially retailers, to up their online game. Is your marketing ready? Most marketers are not, according to a recent Profitero and Kantar survey of 200 brand executives, which found that only 17% believe their organizations are leading competitors in e-commerce.

E-commerce Marketers Need to Prioritize Key Strategies

E-commerce marketers need to quickly prioritize key strategies, advises a recent post by Forbes magazine’s CMO Network contributor Sarah Hofstetter. A problem identified by the Profitero and Kantar survey, for example, was that only 11% of organizations have functional-level e-commerce goals in place. Hofstetter urges organizations to make e-commerce a part of everyone’s job, from building e-commerce KPIs into bonuses to accountability for quality content on retailing websites to cross-functional e-commerce goals to overcome internal silos. Next, marketers should recognize that, because online consumers are likely to shift among brands in a time of limited inventory, delay and hyper-competition, they need to boost online profiles and product discovery efforts. That includes targeted SEO and SEM, strong ratings and reviews, engaging targeted content, and aligned multichannel outreach. Third, e-commerce’s new hyper-competition requires a shift from offline to speedier online tactics, such as algorithmic matching of competitor price changes and real-time tailoring of product assortments and promotional strategies by audience. Fourth, organizations can beat competitors by boosting online agility. Note that 63% of brands do not test and optimize their content to improve sales impact (Profitero and Kanta survey), and 61% do not use digital shelf analytics or shopper panel data to test, measure and improve digital execution. So brands that digitally test new products, new traffic-generating variables and new marketing messages can get ahead of the curve.

Messaging and Media Mix Can Adapt to New Realities

Janet Balis, a principal of Ernst & Young LLP, recently penned a Harvard Business Journal article offering broader advice for marketers as they lean into today’s new buyer realities. The nuances of creative messaging and brand voice have become more delicate, she notes, warning that commercially exploitative brands will not fare well. An example of smart messaging comes from Guinness, which shifted its usual St. Patrick’s Day focus from celebrations to longevity and well-being. Plus, organizations that promote doing good, from food bank donations to repurposed manufacturing for PPEs, enhance brand image for the longer term, as long as contributions are perceived as material and not solely for commercial benefit. Next, since the mix of consumer-preferred media platforms has changed during the crisis, marketers may want to modify their media mix, for example with more ad-supported premium video streaming to take advantage of spiking digital entertainment, or advertising around peaking news consumption (broadcast or digital). Finally, marketers will want to put a greater emphasis on behavior trends and response tracking to better adapt messaging and targeting. Closely observing trends on social-media platforms and e-commerce product pages can help more quickly spot opportunities and looming problems.

Even Small Retailers Can Use Google Tools to Boost Agility

Google is the lead search engine for e-commerce players, and it recently offered advice for using its tools to improve results during the pandemic and beyond. Even smaller, less sophisticated retailers can take advantage. For example, the online agility advised by Forbes and Harvard Business Journal articles requires staying informed of market and customer changes. Tools such as Google Trends and Google Alerts help users stay up-to-date on local conditions and customer mindsets, while retail-category metrics for Google Search and Shopping campaigns help spot shifts in product category demand. In the overcrowded e-commerce space, transparency and accuracy also loom large in capturing fickle visitors and buyers, so Google advises not only updating the customer-facing website but also the Buyer Profile on Google Maps and Search, for example to show changes in hours, extra safety precautions, shipping timelines, delivery or pickup options, etc. Finally, online customers now expect companies to rapidly adjust. So, within Google Ads, e-commerce efforts should update campaigns for any product or policy changes, and retailers should also enable automatic item updates in the Google Merchant Center to keep inventory and product data current, especially for price and availability.

B2B Experiential Marketers Have Options to Pandemic-Hit Events

March 11, 2020/in AR, B2B Marketing, Brand Marketing, Digital Marketing, Direct Mail, E-mail Marketing, Event Planning, Experiential Marketing, Interactivity, personalization, Print Technology, QR, Viral Marketing, VR /by David Kanter

What happens when experiential marketing—the strategy of engaging customers in branded live experiences—faces a world where events are being cancelled or postponed thanks to novel coronavirus fears? The blow to b2b experiential marketers is significant. Back in January 2020, the Demand Gen Report found that 53% of U.S. B2B marketers surveyed rated in-person events and tradeshows as their most effective channel for driving lead conversions, above digital-only efforts such as e-mail and the company websites, and, as a result, 41% of respondents planned to increase event marketing in 2020. Of course, that was before the coronavirus began to scuttle plans.

Virtual and Viral Replace In-Person Crowds

The event drought doesn’t mean that the power of experiential marketing vanishes, but marketers do have to adapt, at least in the short term. As experiential agency Fake Love’s CEO Alanna Lynch explained in a recent AdWeek article, since there’s no doubt experiential marketing will be affected, “particularly around large-scale events with a global audience,” the company is “proactively thinking about how our approach to branded experiences may need to evolve in the short term, more specifically, how physical activations could be experienced virtually and then shared virally.” In a ClickZ post, Gretchen Scheiman reminds experiential marketers of the potential power of online experiences, ranging from gaming like Fortnite, to educational platforms like Kahn Academy to McDonalds restaurants, where parents who might hesitate to send children into crowded Happy Meal Play Zones can visit happymeal.com for downloadable coloring pages, activities and interactive games. Jillian Ryan at eMarketer likewise urges pandemic-deprived marketers to “go digital and be nimble” as virtual conferences replace physical events, creating digital touchpoints whose content and engagement can still influence the intended audience. Indeed, event cancellations can provide a great opportunity for marketers to A/B test whether their physical event presence is as crucial to conversion as presumed, Ryan notes.

Direct Mail and E-mail Offer Experiential Opportunities

Plus, experiential marketers have some good old-school options that have been technogically enhanced for interactive engagement. Ryan urges consideration of direct mail as an experiential tool, for example. In addition to its visual and tactile engagement, direct mail can be highly targeted and personalized, and now, thanks to digital print technology such as QR, VR and AR, digitally interactive as well. Similarly, ClickZ’s Scheiman reminds that targeted e-mail is another great way to create a direct line of communication with people around an event or experience, physical or virtual. She cites the example of Single Malt Scotch Whiskey, which uses personalized invitations with location data for local tastings of top shelf whiskey, inviting only people within driving distance but sharing tasting notes and photos from the event with people who aren’t able to make it as well. It would not be a big leap for the brand to create a “virtual” tasting in lieu of an actual gathering, she points out.

Managing Marketing During the Coronavirus Crisis

March 4, 2020/in AI, Brand Marketing, Content Marketing, Creative, Data Analytics, E-commerce, Engagement, Multi-Channel Marketing, PR, Segmentation /by David Kanter

The global spread of the coronavirus and fear of the virus already have caused significant disruptions in supply chains, corporate profits, economic growth and government policy. No one knows how bad things will get before they get better, but marketers need to be prepared.

Ready for More Online Traffic, Target Carefully and Prep for Delays

Certain industries are more likely to be significantly affected as people shun travel and large gatherings: airlines, cruises, events of all kinds (perhaps even the Tokyo Olympics), business conferences, hospitality, and even retail venues. Supply disruptions also could affect sectors ranging from auto manufacturing to high tech to promotional products. A general slowdown could cut advertising spend initially, but experts believe it is more likely that there will be a reallocation of dollars to cater to quarantined or self-isolating consumers via mail order, digital marketing and e-commerce for product sales; via online entertainment such as video and gaming options; and even via streaming of sports events instead of stadium venues. In a recent blog, AI and data tech company Appier suggested tactics to leverage this rise in online consumption by using online data to identify coronavirus concerns and deliver targeted relevant content and advertising via keyword segmentation, which is especially relevant for health, wellness, medical, and sanitation sectors. Companies can also develop more branded online apps, games, and videos to compete for the expanded online audience. Plus, it will be important to use AI and audience data for contextual targeting and proper placement of advertising (no travel ads in China) to avoid creating a negative brand impression. Because companies may face logistical delays, they need to commit to transparent multichannel communications on product shortages and estimated delivery times, as well as timely response to questions and complaints, advises Appier. At the same time, increased engagement via website, e-mail, social media, push notifications or in-app messaging can bring customers closer and help reduce frustration levels and attrition.

Set the Right Tone With Empathetic Messaging

Appier also stressed that marketers need to set the right messaging tone for an anxious audience, avoiding the hard sell in favor of customer and community support. In a PR Week interview, Priyanka Bajpai, regional head, Southeast Asia, SPAG Group, promoted the company’s 3E approach to messaging during the crisis: Empathy to show cautious optimism and trust in the future ability to work together and find solutions; Engagement of internal and external stakeholders to inspire confidence; and Education using multiple channels to outline the criticality of the situation and steps taken by the brand to support stakeholders. Brands may also want to highlight nonprofit support efforts to address the pandemic. Prince Zhang, CEO, Greater China, Ketchum, advised PR Week: “If you are a big enterprise that makes donations to fight coronavirus, you should make a precise external announcement with key information around the exact amount of donations, the recipient organizations, the purpose of donations, logistics etc. Brands should avoid any marketing around the donations.”

Create a PR Communications Plan Before Things Get Critical

In a recent Business2Community post, William Comcowich, interim CEO of customized media monitoring and analytics firm Glean.info, advised developing a PR Communications Action Plan just in case the crisis deepens and lengthens. Under the plan, a company would 1) stay informed and ready to act by continuously monitoring the media and regularly engaging with stakeholders; 2) emphasize employee safety, including travel plans and remote or telecommuting options; 3) boost corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities by contributing to relevant social causes (such as the Red Cross working in China); and 4) supply reliable information to staff and customers and also counter misinformation.

Promotional Products Market Faces New Challenges

November 20, 2019/in B2B Marketing, Brand Marketing, Customer Service, Data Analytics, Data Management, E-commerce, Economy, Market Research, personalization, Promotional Products, Search Marketing, Technology /by David Kanter

Many of AccuList’s promotional products marketing clients have been able to ride corporate buyers’ profits to an average 1.3% annual growth rate in the last five years through 2019, reaching $17 billion in U.S. revenues this year, per IBISWorld market research. But a number of challenges, requiring innovative solutions, lie ahead.

Tariffs, Amazon, Economy May Challenge Growth

Continuation of the tariffs imposed in the U.S.-China trade war are likely to have a direct impact on the promotional products market, where the vast majority of products come from China, creating rising product prices and uncertainty, even though most suppliers and distributors have continued to post sales gains this year. One of the options that some companies are already taking is a shift to sourcing from countries outside of China, such as Vietnam, per the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI). Meanwhile, the promotional products market is facing competitive challenges from the entry of big online competitors such as behemoth Amazon. Market execs have told ASI that they believe the entry of the e-commerce power threatens to potentially cut out suppliers and distributors by positioning itself as the lowest-cost provider from a product and freight perspective. Their worries include Amazon opting to partner with only select suppliers and distributors; selling direct through its platform; and/or using its search presence for rankings that create winners and losers, and force up advertising expenses for all. Web-based distributors and large online stores are on the front lines, but all promo products firms fear competing with the e-commerce giant’s buyer expectations and immediate delivery and return services. Finally, the potential of an economic slowdown or even recession has some nervous, too. To prep for that possibility, promo product pros say they are putting more stress on prospecting and networking, distributor-supplier partnering to reduce costs, and lower-ticket items with good repeat business.

E-commerce and Technology Will Be Key Drivers

ASI recently interviewed 10 leading suppliers and distributors in the promotional products market for their visions on handling such challenges over the next 5-10 years. The good news is that all foresaw continued growth, albeit with increasing consolidation and online dominance. For example, Mark Simon, president/CEO of distributor HALO Branded Solutions, forecast: “Technology will drive every aspect of the industry in the next 10 years. Buyers will require more robust and more diverse methods to select and purchase products, and follow their orders throughout the order life cycle… Our industry must keep pace with the enhanced buying experience other channels are providing to stay relevant.” E-commerce will be the standard, benefiting big players but leaving room for niche firms as Mark Freed, President/CEO of distributor Genumark, predicts: “I see continuous growth from the large online players that provide a fast, painless, accessible solution for clients looking for simple, inexpensive drop-shipping. I also see continuous growth and consolidation for multifaceted large distributors providing a suite of features that meet a variety of complex requirements for sophisticated clients, which could be related to logistics and fulfillment, quality and compliance, off-the-charts creativity and relentless customer service. There will still be a place for smaller, boutique-size distributors, but they better have a niche like specialized knowledge of the client’s industry or unbelievably innovative ideas.”

Bigger Roles for Data Analytics, Personalized Service, and Creative Marketing

Meanwhile, in the expanded digital environment, data management will loom large; Sharon Eyal, CEO/owner of supplier ETS Express, asserts that “in the next five years, a reliance on data will be more important than ever… We look at how many orders we have in production, which materials are being used, which items are being ordered, which types of decoration, etc. and then we expand and contract in departments as needed.” Up against Amazon, personalized customer experience will be key, too; Jana Schmidt, CEO of distributor Harland Clarke, stresses the “need to provide a personalized, frictionless experience to businesses as clients seek to promote their brands. There’s separation between having an e-commerce presence and truly building the online buying experience.” And creativity will count for even more; Debbie Abergel, chief strategic officer of Jack Nadel International, says, “There will also be a growth of creative promotional agencies – the rise and marriage of creativity and custom. Think about corporate clients that invest in giving their clients and employees a true brand product experience; not price-focused, but looking to build their brand name.” She cites the interest in reusable straws as an example. Read more predictions for the promotional products industry.

New Survey: Online Marketing Pumps Offline B2B Sales

April 10, 2019/in Acquisition, B2B Marketing, Brand Marketing, Buying Cycle, Catalog Marketing, Digital Marketing, Digital2Direct, E-mail Marketing, Industrial and Tech Products, Market Vertical, Marketing Plan, Marketing Research, Omnichannel, Online Advertising, Publication Marketing, Recognition and Incentive Marketing, ROI, Sales Funnel, Search Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Trade Show Marketing, Warehouse and Back Office Products, Website /by David Kanter

AccuList’s many business-to-business marketers—including business/industrial supply catalogs, business periodicals, trade shows, and recognition/incentive products—should be investing in a 2019 omnichannel marketing plan to maximize the online impact on offline buying, at least according to the latest research from Boston Consulting Group and Google. An optimal, best-practices mix of digital engagement channels—such as search, display, video, social media, e-mail and websites—with traditional print catalogs/mail, sales calls and brick-and-mortar stores can increase the marketing contribution to sales by 3% to 8%, BCG has found.

Decision-Making Starts Online, Even for Offline Buys

On average, two-thirds of B2B buyers of industrial machinery, industrial supplies, and packing and shipping products and services indicated in a new BCG survey that their purchase decisions had been significantly influenced by digital, even though the majority of buying journeys end with an offline purchase. The survey revealed that some 58% of industrial-machinery purchases were significantly influenced by online activity, even though 100% of the purchases were made offline. For industrial supplies, 88% of buyers performed some form of online research prior to purchase, while 69% then purchased online and 31% purchased offline. Packing and shipping buyers were more evenly divided in online-offline buying preferences, with 54% digitally influenced, 42% purchasing online and 58% buying offline. But it is the differences underneath the online influence data that reveal the opportunities for boosting sales. For example, spending to boost online branding ads/engagement can pay off when 75% of online industrial machinery researchers said that they consider two or more brands at the start of their buying journeys, compared with 55% of those who engage in offline research only. At the same time, 58% of industrial-machinery buyers said that they begin their online search with a product, rather than a brand, in mind. For these researchers, the manufacturers’ websites become primary points of influence.

Nurtured Online Researchers Make More Follow-up Purchases

One of the more encouraging findings in the BCG study was that online business researchers make more follow-up purchases, especially if there is engagement post-sale. When manufacturers of industrial machinery engage their customers digitally after an initial sale, those customers are three times as likely to research supplementary products, twice as likely to purchase them, and three times as likely to repurchase the product. Buyers of industrial supplies engaged digitally post-sale are eight times as likely to purchase a supplementary product of the same brand and twice as likely to repurchase the same product. Effective after-sales digital marketing activities include promoting online account sign-ups, encouraging app downloads, maintaining regular contact through e-mail or “nurture” communications, and ensuring a positive overall customer experience with the product or service.

Measurement Is Key for an Optimal Online-Offline Mix

For the best marketing return on investment, B2B marketers need to measure impacts and influences across the entire buying journey to connect digital marketing expenditures and tactics to offline sales. BCG found that measurement innovators use a variety of techniques—such as customer research, marketing-mix modeling, multi-touch attribution modeling, matched-market testing, and direct match-back approaches. For example, multi-touch attribution (MTA) is a modeling approach that attributes sales to the marketing activities that contributed most directly to revenues, using predictive models and artificial intelligence to derive statistics-driven attribution weights. Direct match-back uses unique identifiers to tie a sale directly to the marketing activities that generated it at the individual or transaction level. Unique identifiers include credit card information, mobile tracking, in-store beacons, cookies, e-mail addresses or phone numbers.

Read more of the BCG study for survey details and success examples. And ask the AccuList team how we can help via our range of digital marketing services and Digital2Direct program, which combines targeted direct mail with social media ads or e-mail.

For 2019 Edge, Event Pros Shouldn’t Overlook Direct Mail, SEO, Experiential Marketing

February 15, 2019/in Audience Development, B2B Marketing, Brand Marketing, Direct Mail, Direct Mail Lists, E-mail Marketing, Event Marketing, Event Planning, Experiential Marketing, Market Research, Marketing Research, Search Marketing, Segmentation, Social Media Marketing, Trade Show Marketing, Uncategorized /by David Kanter

Per the latest industry surveys, AccuList USA’s trade show and conference marketing clients can look forward to solid event industry growth in 2019–along with potential marketing strategy shifts in an increasingly competitive landscape.

Businesses Are Bullish on Event Marketing

Event software firm Bizzabo’s survey of over 1,000 mid- to senior-level marketers at major companies in 2018 found good news for the event industry: Most respondents (41%) consider live events to be the most critical marketing channel in achieving business outcomes (out of 9 possible channels), a 32% increase from 2017. Business execs are also doubling down on live events. Between 2017 to 2018, the number of companies organizing 20 or more events per year increased by 17%. Additionally, the vast majority of respondents (95%) believe in-person events provide attendees with a valuable opportunity to form connections in an increasingly digital world. This reflects a 12% increase compared to 2017.

E-mail & Social Media Remain Favored Promotion Channels

Meanwhile, Eventbrite, an online event management and ticketing firm, surveyed 1,200 event professionals last year to see how marketers are likely to spend in 2019. Word of mouth, an effective tactic for 63% of event marketers, is bolstered by investments in social media marketing, which 49% of event creators placed among the top three most effective drivers of ticket sales. They cited Facebook and Instagram as the top social platforms for reaching event-goers. E-mail rounded out the top marketing channels per those surveyed, with 38% of event professionals relying on it.

Trends Encourage Growth of SEO & Direct Mail Use

However, with 89% of attendees using search for purchase decisions, Eventbrite foresees a necessary expansion of SEO efforts. There’s definitely room for growth, with almost half (46%) of event professionals saying they aren’t using SEO. And, while e-mail is cited among the favored marketing channels, direct mail continues to turn in higher response for the 41% of event pros who use it. Eventbrite thinks the 50% who cite competition as their biggest challenge will want to reconsider the edge offered by adding mail to their arsenal, urging the hesitant to take a trial run by segmenting mailing lists and sending flyers or save-the-date cards to a test portion.

Experiential Marketing Is 2019’s Hot Buzzword

Experiential marketing is a hot new trend for trade show exhibit providers, brand marketers and event planners. It is a strategy that engages attendees by using branded experiences at an event, as part of an event, or in a pop-up activation not tied to any event. It’s all about immersing people in memorable live experiences to create more lasting and positive brand impressions. Yet Eventbrite found that close to 60% of event creators are not using experiential marketing. Acknowledging an intimidation factor, Eventbrite urges starting small, for example by promoting a pop-up shop (temporary retail space) grand opening at an event, by offering a smaller experiential activation like an on-site art installation, or by using a partner on-site sponsorship to enhance the event experience.

Download the Bizzabo report “2019 Event Marketing Benchmarks and Trends” for more details on event industry trends.

2019 Marketing Creative: Simple, Bold, Interactive Design

January 23, 2019/in B2B Marketing, B2C Marketing, Brand Marketing, Creative, Digital Marketing, direct mail creative, E-mail Marketing, Interactivity, Marketing Trend, Mobile Optimization, Print Advertising, Print Technology, Social Media Marketing, Uncategorized, Video Marketing, Website /by David Kanter

A new year brings new marketing creative inspirations for AccuList USA’s direct marketing clients, for both digital and printed promotions. Some interesting trends are shaping up, per graphics and ad agency experts.

Simplified Design, Bold Colors & Retro Vibes Win in 2019

The Ballantine and Brand Shouter agencies and the Digital Agency Network suggest some key digital creative trends to embrace this year, many of which can also be applied to direct mail and print advertising. This year, expect more clean, minimalist designs and less use of borders, bars and boxes to separate elements, all say. At the same time, minimalist doesn’t mean drab; more designers are forecast to embrace bright colors and bold color transitions and gradients with black or white text. And speaking of type, Brand Shouter foresees more beautiful, complimentary, brand-consistent typography as well, especially since marketers are shifting toward more text-only designs, while DAN forecasts more use of multicolored vector fonts. Plus, thanks to print technology advances, metallics will rise in popularity to pop in simplified designs, per DAN. Meanwhile, the minimalist flat look, which works well in mobile presentations, also can be livened with the inclusion of 3D elements, as Apple is doing, notes Brand Shouter. And since everything old is new again at some point, several retro trends are forecast. DAN sees use of the bold duotone graphics of the 1970s as well as vintage fonts and motifs, while Ballantine thinks the bright colors and funky designs of the 1990s and early 2000s, which remind many of today’s designers and target buyers of childhood, will reappear to leverage nostalgia. Finally, hand-drawn illustrations will be used to create that feeling of originality and authenticity, predicts DAN.

Story-telling, Video and Mobile Will Be Ubiquitous

Ballantine underscores three ubiquitous trends for creative this year. Video will only continue its impact in marketing, especially in social media, now that 54% of Internet users watch social media videos at least monthly and 65% of ad impressions on Instagram come from video ads, making video a necessary part of most creative budgets. Story-telling over selling is another general trend, especially in social media advertising, where story ads are designed to reflect a platform’s personal user experience rather than slick promotion, mimicking a post from a friend. Finally, marketing design must cater to mobile users now that 57% of online searches originate on mobile devices, almost 50% of web page views worldwide occur on mobile devices, and 95% of Americans own a cellphone and 57% own a smartphone. Any creative that is not mobile-optimized is sacrificing a huge market.

Watch for Interactivity and Diversity to Break New Ground

A Marketing Week article goes beyond colors, fonts and platforms to highlight other underlying trends likely to impact 2019 creative. For example, the rise of voice-enabled technology creates a push for sonic branding to complement visual creative across platforms, channels and media. Look for brands to begin to weave sound into interactive video, chatbots and voice recognition software. Visa, for example, spent a year working on a signature “chime,” heard whenever customers pay through their phones, to evoke a sense of security and efficiency. Meanwhile, the growing demand for diversity within organizations and their outreach to customers will push marketing creative beyond stock photos of diverse employees or graphics of multicolored hands, suggests Marketing Week. In fact, businesses can use creative development as a non-confrontational, thought-provoking, story-led effort to honestly address concerns. For example, multinational food services and facilities management firm Sodexo launched a campaign supporting its disability inclusion commitment with new creative that presented people as tennis coaches, parents and musicians, rather than focusing on their disabilities.

Check out this useful infographic that includes many of these marketing design predictions at https://venngage.com/blog/graphic-design-trends/

Harness These 2019 Trends to Boost Social Media ROI

January 2, 2019/in AI, Apps, Brand Marketing, Content Marketing, CPM, Data Privacy, Influencer Marketing, Interactivity, Lead Generation, Marketing Technology, personalization, Real-time Marketing, ROI, Social Media Marketing, Social Sharing, Uncategorized, Video Marketing /by David Kanter

As social media marketing competition rises, organic reach dwindles and social ROI gets tougher, AccuList USA clients will need to hone their social media marketing data, targeting and creative strategies. Here are just a few big social media trends to include in planning for next year, based on analysis by Hootsuite and Social Media Today.

A Need to Re-build Trust and Transparency

Trust in social networks has declined. Edelman’s “2018 Trust Barometer” found that 60% of respondents no longer trust social media companies, and Facebook is among the hardest-hit, thanks to headlines about its role in 2016 presidential election interference, ongoing “fake news” abuses, and security breaches compromising user data, reports Hootsuite. Twitter has its own trust problems because of the use of bots and fake accounts. As a result, Hootsuite sees brands focusing less on maximizing reach and more on “transparent, quality engagement.” Instead of posting the same content across multiple platforms, marketers are more likely to favor context-specific and audience-specific messaging that reaches smaller but more valuable groups in 2019. The need to balance privacy demands with personalized treatment is also leading marketers to be more open about when and why data is collected and then to use only willingly shared information to create personalized one-to-one experiences and unique value offers. Yet personalization still drives success despite privacy issues. Social Media Today (SMT) reports that up to 96% of marketers surveyed believe personalization advances customer relationships.

Micro-Influencers Replace Celebrity Influencers

As the number of social media influencers has grown over time, prices for their services have climbed, and, at the same time, trust in celebrity influencers has declined, both Hootsuite and SMT report. One solution is to increase use of experts and employee advocates over celebrity influencers, notes Hootsuite. Meanwhile, SMT suggests more micro-influencer marketing. As opposed to major influencers, micro-influencers exist in every marketing niche. While they have followings of fewer than 10,000 people, most of the micro-influencers’ followers are genuinely interested in what they have to say. Since micro-influencers are not massively targeted by advertisers, they also are seen as trustworthy and down-to-earth, notes SMT.

Stories Format Challenges New Feed Use

Hootsuite predicts that “the news feed may be slowly becoming a thing of the past,” as social media users increasingly prefer content in a stories format. Certainly, the stories format has exploded on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp–and is even being tested by LinkedIn. In fact, Hootsuite cites a recent finding by consulting firm Block Party that sharing via that method is growing 15 times faster than feed-based sharing. One way marketers can ride the trend is to push intimate, less polished content in a stories format, suggests Hootsuite, although the company acknowledges that the stories format’s intimacy and spontaneity do not fit with all brands.

ROI Gets Tougher, But Shopping Gets Easier

Social marketers who rely mainly on organic reach are behind the curve. The pay-to-play era is here and driving larger social ad budgets, Hootsuite notes, with “The CMO Survey” reporting a 32% increase in social budgets in 2018 alone. As the price tag for social ads rises, along with competition for audience, ROI is getting tougher. Hootsuite can cite the most recent “Internet Trends Report” from Mary Meeker, which found that while click-through rates on Facebook are up 61%, CPMs (cost per thousand impressions) have soared 112%. But good ROI is still attainable, especially as the gaps between social media and commerce narrow. For example, Meeker’s 2018 report also showed that 55% of survey respondents have purchased products online after social media discovery. Shopping is being made easier by technologies such as in-stream payment tools and video plugins along with social media special features such as shoppable posts, Instagram’s Explore shopping tab, Facebook Marketplace and Pinterest’s Buyable Pins. Video is especially effective in social ads, with a study by video marketing company BrightCove showing that 74% of respondents cited a connection between watching a social video and making a purchase.

Growing Real-Time Messaging and Listening

Messaging applications are becoming integral to social media business relationships. Hootsuite cites a survey from Twilio, which found that nine out of 10 respondents would like to use messaging apps to communicate with businesses. Plus a study by Facebook IQ finds that 61% of U.S. respondents used a messaging app to contact a business in the prior three months. The audience reach of messaging is undeniable. According to Meeker’s report, the top five messaging applications—WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Instagram and Twitter—total some 5 billion monthly users. However, there are challenges, warns Hootsuite, such as messaging scale and using artificial intelligence in a way that avoids privacy infringement and unsolicited communication. The next step, predicts SMT, is use of social listening (monitoring) to actively generate leads and facilitate social selling. Social listening is the act of crawling the web and social media platforms to find all mentions of a brand (or keywords) on social media platforms, blogs, forums and news sites. Monitoring tools such as Awario, Brand24, Mention, Brandwatch, and Hootsuite now are used mainly for customer service and reputation management, but a few brands are already monitoring to find leads, and some monitoring tools are introducing features for lead generation!

2019 Forecast Stresses Mobile Marketing Innovation

December 23, 2018/in AI, Analytics, Apps, AR, Brand Marketing, Content Marketing, Creative, Data Analytics, geo-targeting, Interactivity, Marketing Trend, Mobile Marketing, Mobile Optimization, Real-time Marketing, Targeting, Video Marketing /by Katherine Sharma

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/

New Marketing Trends Bolster Food Gifting Growth

September 27, 2018/in Audience Development, B2B Marketing, B2C Marketing, Brand Marketing, Catalog Marketing, Creative, Digital Marketing, Digital2Direct, Direct Mail, E-commerce, E-mail Lists, E-mail Marketing, Food and Wine Gift Market, Generational Marketing, Market Research, Marketing Forecast, Marketing Trend, Omnichannel, Seasonal Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Uncategorized, Website /by Katherine Sharma

One of AccuList USA’s areas of specialization is providing mailing lists, data services and marketing support for the food and wine gift market, and so we keep an eye on emerging trends in this growth industry. In fact, food gift sales will approach $20 billion in 2018, up 4% over last year, per the “Food Gifting in the U.S.: Consumer and Corporate” report for 2018-2020 by research firm Packaged Facts.

Holiday Sales Dominate, But New Trends Push Overall Growth

Marketing dollars will naturally focus on year-end sales, since, while consumers and businesses are giving food baskets across a wider variety of occasions today, ranging from anniversaries to graduations to birthdays, Christmas is still the food and wine gifting mainstay. More than half of the 130 million consumer food gifters purchasing in the last 12 months bought during the winter holiday season. But how can food gift marketers push sales growth year-round? One key factor will be continued innovation that creates exclusivity and artisanship, avoiding the commoditization that drains profit with discounting, notes the report. To support that kind of brand power, marketing efforts will need to embrace the kind of story telling that creates a sense of authenticity and uniqueness and builds a gourmet brand image. Capturing the high-end boutique buyer can require a softer sales approach that aims at building knowledge and trust, say via featured recipes as an example. Food gift marketers also need to continue expanding gifting occasions beyond holidays, not only for consumers but also for the lucrative corporate market, by pushing work anniversary and thank-you gestures for example. Finally, while the food gifting market is heavily dependent on older, high-income consumers, tapping into millennials will require a more omnichannel approach that takes into account millennial ordering preferences, stresses the Packaged Facts report.

Embracing Omnichannel Marketing Options

An omnichannel wooing of millennials will combine direct mail/catalogs with e-mail, social media and e-commerce strategies. While traditional direct mail continues as a food gifting workhorse, a strong online presence and SEO strategy is especially essential. Luxury biscuit gift company Biscuiteers provides an example of how it matters: The company increased their website traffic from new customers by 90% and SEO revenue by 77% in 6 months by optimizing category landing pages for different types of food gift buyer and season. E-commerce goes hand-in-hand with a good e-mail strategy. For example, the venerable Hickory Farms brand decided to improve the quality of its customer data and create a more agile e-mail campaign process by integrating its marketing and commerce tech to trigger consumer journeys and automated e-mail sends. E-mail inbox placement this year rose to 94%, almost 10% above industry standard, plus e-mail list growth improved. Hickory Farms CMO Judy Ransford explained to CMO magazine that the smarter list management “helps us deliver e-mails at the frequency customers want, and to make sure the content quality is better. This year we’ve seen a huge improvement and not such high attrition rates as a result.” Social media also has become a must-have for food gifting via leading platforms like Facebook and Instagram for consumers and LinkedIn for corporate prospecting. That should increase gift-basket marketer interest in AccuList USA’s Digital2Direct program, which is designed to link targeted direct mail with Facebook ads or e-mails to the same recipients.

Who’s Winning in 2018 Gift Basket Ratings?

By the way, marketers looking for successful food gifting models should check out Top Ten Reviews’ 2018 ratings. We’re happy to note that our client Wine Country Gift Baskets’ Gourmet Choice Gift Basket was awarded best overall value for 2018 in a test of 11 gift baskets from the leading gift basket companies. Top-rated winners delivered on value for the price in terms of food and wine taste; presentation; ease of payment; delivery speed, options and geographic coverage; range of baskets; special options such as kosher, vegan and organic; offers of extras such as add-on wine, tea, books, puzzles, etc; and, of course, quality customer support. To read more, see the review of best gift baskets of 2018.