Digital MarketingBest Practices for Retailers

2015

ALYCE Digital & Social

Lisa Zyhylij AckermanDirector, Marketing Communications

Jess SheahanDigital Strategist & Social Media Manager

SEO & PPC

SEO• Being found by the customer today, begins with a

Mobile or Internet Search using Keywords i.e., “Prom Dress”.

• Search Engine Optimization efforts helps your business get found before your competitors.

• It is estimated that many retailers allocate +30% of digital marketing budgets to SEO & Digital advertising efforts.

Improve SEO Unpaid

Unpaid (Organic)• Create high quality, original content• Regularly update your web site with new content• Use appropriate keywords in your content• Link your web site to social media accounts

Improve SEO Paid

Paid search marketing means you advertise within the sponsored listings of a search engine (Google, Bing, Yahoo) or a partner site by paying either each time your ad is clicked (pay-per-click - PPC) or less commonly, when your ad is displayed (cost-per-impression - CPM).

Email Marketing

Email is here to stay…• 73% of Marketers agree email marketing is

core to their business• 60% of marketers claim that email is a

critical enabler of products and services• 74% of Marketers believe email produces a

positive ROI• 43% of businesses have email teams of 2-3

people. Salesforce.com/Pardot Blog 1/2015

Email & Mobile• You can’t spell “email” without “mobile”…• 1/3 of marketers report their subscribers are

reading emails on mobile devices 50% of the time.

• 72% of online adults send or receive emails weekly (Forrester)

• Responsive design is key

Responsive Design?

Most Critical aspects of an Email• Email content & design (79%)• Campaign management (74%)• Contact Management (74%)

Most effective aspects of an email • Content & Design (66%)• Templates (59%)• Quality control (58%)

Top 3 uses of email• Newsletters (66%)• Promotional content (54%)• Welcome series (42%)

Top 3 most effective emails – think ‘what value am I providing the recipient’.• Mobile opt-ins (76%) “Insider secrets…” “Event

Invites” etc…• Birthday emails (75%) – “For your birthday

day…we have a treat for your”• Transactional (74%) – discounts, free shipping

etc…

Email marketing success metrics

• Click-through rates (47%)• Conversion rates (43%) – Call-to-Action

(CTA’s)• Click-to-open rates (38%)

Responsive designs

• Can increase click-thru rates by 130%

Contact management• Don’t be a dirty Spammer – keep your lists

clean• CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 set rules for

commercial email practices• Make sure people WANT your emails.

-Subject Line/Title (catchy & implies value)-Content & Design (easy & pleasant)-Less is more – 3 main messages with one CTA-Provides value to the reader: Information, Entertaining, Instructional-Frequency (Can vary by business, Quarterly or Monthly if message value is significant)-Clickable links to more info if you need it

Hallmarks of a good email

Email Marketing Support – Template ImagesProm Promotion/New Collections

Small Business Service Providerscan help you.Cloud or Software?

Important channels for your business

Know Your Platform - Know Your Audience!

• Be where your customer is and inform and engage them.• Current Active Alyce Paris Social Media Platforms:

- Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Youtube, Pinterest, Google+ • Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & Vine for Social

Engagements

You are able to better control the type of content (messaging & images) which different sectors of our audience come in contact with by understanding “who” is on each of these platforms

Who Do We Want To Reach?

Instagram:- Fastest growing & most well-liked social media platform for pre-teens/teens in the world!

Twitter:- The platform people turn to if they want to engage with a brand/multinational organization - As a brand, we MUST be on this platform to offer the best customer service to our vendors & their customers

Vine:- Owned by Twitter, think of this as Twitter’s video platform. - A forum in which to have a little fun with the brand and engage directly with fashion-lovers, Vine is used by a high percentage of pre-teens/teens, Vine also allows you to share high quality videos on various other social platforms

Facebook:- Think of Facebook as the original social media platform… This means the whole family is on it!- Don’t forget that mom & grandma are on Facebook too – This means you are selling directly to the

person holding the purse strings

Your profile Images should be your logo or an image that represents your brand.

Mirror, mirror on the wall... Which #FallFashion is most stylish of them all? #AlyceParis

Be #Empowering from every angle when you wear an original design by #AlyceParis!

Wall to wall #Style is the hottest #Fashion trend this year! #AlyceParis

*Use hashtags and website address in posts and/or page

“Behind the Scenes” #alyceparis.

Best practices for Instagram Tell your story They say a picture is worth a thousand words. By sharing what your brand is doing on Instagram, you’re telling your brand’s story more effectively than with just words alone.

Go behind-the-scenesPeople love thinking they have the inside scoop. Share behind-the-scenes photos to provide your customers insight of what’s to come.

Post consistently Post daily, three times a week or once a week–frequency doesn’t matter, but consistency does.

Create and monitor brand-related hashtagsCreate unique hashtags for your brand or its products. Encourage your customers to use these when posting photos about you.

Best practices for Instagram Know what your community likes Keep track of what kinds of content your followers engage with most. Highlight fan content You brand should show your fans some love. If they post a photo and say something nice about your brand, “regram” their content and thank them. Engage with your fansInstagram isn’t just about posting and liking photos. Fans can leave comments and ask questions too—be sure to acknowledge and respond to those.Run photo contests Running a contest for a chance to win a product or gift card is a great way to engage your fans. Stop #hashtagabuseMake sure the hashtags you use are relevant to the content you’re posting. The wrong hashtag can lead to unintended negative consequences.  

Best practices for VineShare a Story Based off a Strategy

Making a great Vine requires a strategy. Vines only last six seconds, which may seem short but six seconds is enough time to get a message across and tell a story- but it is also challenging in that the time limit means you must be sharper, smarter and more creative.

Stay Focused

Try to focus on just two to three concepts, since you are only designated a short amount of time, you need to keep the video concise so that it doesn’t look jumpy and so that viewers can easily follow.

Best practices for Vine

Make Your Content Premium

You are expected to deliver a certain level of production quality, and while great ideas are necessary, it is also imperative to follow through when it comes to execution.

Best practices for FacebookUtilize Facebook Page Insights

Facebook Insights is an incredible tool that will help you gain valuable information about the people who Like your page.

Target the right audience on each post

With the information gathered on Facebook Insights you’ll be able to target your posts and make sure they’re shown to the people who want to see them.

Incorporate videos into your posts

In case you didn’t hear, video posts are getting way more organic reach (and engagement) than any other type of post on Facebook.

Create a series of Facebook ads aimed at the same goal

Showing a series of ads around the same goal is essentially telling your target audience a story to pique their interest.

Best practices for FacebookRespond to Comments and Questions in a timely manner

Customers expect support if you have page. Always respond quickly and kindly. Questions to Fan Base can help with merchandising.

Facebook content needs to be familiar, timely or novel if you want it to be shared

You need to create a variety of posts, with different lengths of headlines, pictures or videos that strike an emotional chord and links that are valuable to your target audience.

Run a Facebook Contest with a specific goal in mind: Running a contest on Facebook is a great way to get new emails and leads.

Photo contests grow brand awareness and keep your fans engaged by allowing them to vote. Use your page to gauge new product offerings.

Setting Your Goals

Goals are easier to achieve if you SET them! You will want to set some benchmarks for your company on social media

You want to be interacting with your online audience in a timely manner and in a consistently brand appropriate voice to increase engagement (Likes, Favorites, Comments, Shares), increase your reach, bring customers into your stores & ultimately get them to make their special occasion purchases from you!