Back to the Future: Four Marketing Tactics Essential to Your Success in 2013

Back to the Future: Four Marketing

Tactics Essential to Your Success

in 2013

Contents

Small Businesses to Use Mobile for Event Marketing in 2013 �� 1

National Brands Betting on Local Digital Marketing in 2013 �� 5

Five Impacts of Facebook’s Open Graph on Marketers in 2013 �� 9

Mobile Email Expected to Reach Tipping Point in 2013 �� 16

Connect with us �� 19

1©2012-2013 MarketingProfs LLC • All rights reserved.

Small Businesses to Use Mobile for Event Marketing in 2013

Among small businesses and nonprofits planning events in 2013, more than 8 in 10 (81%) say they plan to increase their use of mobile technology to market their events, according to Constant Contact’s EventSpot survey.

So far, most small businesses haven’t invested in mobile technology for event marketing. Only 16% of those surveyed say they distribute event-related content to registrants’ mobile devices.Among those 16%, most distribute content such as event schedules (75%), session descrip-tions (41%), speaker bios (19%), and presentation slide decks (16%).

Below, additional findings from the study titled “Going mobile: How small organizations are using, and planning to use, mobile for their events” by Constant Contact.

Smartphones and Events: Now and in the Near TermOn average, only 15% of small businesses say they frequently or always use a smartphone for event planning.

http://news.constantcontact.com/press-release/small-businesses-set-increase-use-mobile-technology-events-2013-according-constant-con

http://news.constantcontact.com/press-release/small-businesses-set-increase-use-mobile-technology-events-2013-according-constant-con

http://www.constantcontact.com/about-constant-contact/index.jsp

http://www.constantcontact.com/eventspot/index.jsp

http://conta.cc/XtNTKm



However, 87% say they are somewhat or extremely interested to use smartphone technology for event planning, and over the next six months, more small businesses plan to do so:

• 6% of small businesses now offer a mobile check-in app via smartphone and 22% plan to offer one in the next six months.

• 16% send save-the-date notifications via mobile device and 23% plan to do in the next six months.

• 5% provide event schedules via a mobile app and 25% plan to do in the next six months.

• 29% offer mobile registration and collect payments via smartphone and 49% plan to offer the service over the next six months.

• 24% engage with attendees via smartphone by posting event insights, learnings, or com-ments to social networks and 17% plan to engage this way over the next six months.



Tablets

Similarly, only 12% of small businesses say they frequently or always use a tablet for event planning (79% are interested to start), and greater numbers plan to do so over the next six months:

• 3% now offer a mobile check-in app via tablet and 14% plan to in the next six months.• 6% send save-the-date notifications via tablet and 15% plan to do in the next

six months.• 3% provide events schedules via a mobile app and 17% plan to do so in the next

six months.• 18% offer mobile registration and collect payments and 32% plan to offer the service

over the next six months.• 10% engage with attendees via tablets by posting event insights, learnings, or com-

ments to social networks and 16% plan to engage this way over the next six months.

Despite the enthusiasm for mobile technology, there’s clearly a gap in skills: 90% of small businesses say they would like to learn more about using mobile technology specifically for their events.



Social MediaSlightly higher numbers of small businesses are using social media to promote events and engage attendees:

• 23% promote events using a hashtag and an additional 26% plan to do over the next six months.

• 27% use Pinterest with 18% having created a specific board for attendees to post on.

“Mobile tools will no doubt assume a much bigger role in event planning for small busi-nesses and nonprofits but considerable training needs to occur before we’ll see widespread adoption,” said Chris Litster, vice president and general manager of EventSpot from Constant Contact. “Mobile technology offers the distinct advantages of reach, convenience, and afford-ability but until small businesses have the proper training, many won’t be able to leverage mobile tools to maximum advantage.”

About the data: Findings are based on a survey of 299 small business (B2B and B2C) and nonprofits using Constant Contact›s event management product, fielded in September 2012.


National Brands Betting on Local Digital Marketing in 2013

Some 91% of national brands say they plan to spend more or the same on local marketing (i.e., campaigns directed at customers in their local markets) in 2013 compared with 2012 spending levels, and they cite mobile marketing, local blogs, and online customer reviews as their top 3 digital priorities for the coming year, according to a survey from Balihoo.

Across the board, digital tactics are playing an important role in brand success: 67.5% of national brands surveyed say digital marketing is extremely or very important to national brand success.

http://balihoo.com/resources/microstudy-national-brand-digital

http://balihoo.com/



Larger companies rely on digital more: 45.0% of national brands with annual revenues greater than $500 million rank digital marketing “extremely important,” compared with 38.8% of all national brands.

Below, additional findings from the report titled “National Brand Use of Digital in Local Marketing,” based on a survey of 384 national brand marketing executives in North America.

Local Digital Marketing Priorities in 2012 and 2013 Asked which local digital tactics there are using in 2012, national brands ranked “other social media” (Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) (75.52%), Facebook (69.27%) and SEO (66.15%) as their top 3 priorities.

Only 22.66% of national brands are now using local search registration, and only 19.53% rank it as a priority for 2013.

National brands cite the following as the top 3 digital tactics planned for 2013:1. Mobile marketing: 35.42%2. Local blogs: 31.51%3. Online customer reviews: 30.99%





National Brands Lack Confidence in Affiliates Roughly one-half (51.3%) of national brands rely on local affiliates (dealers, agents, resellers, channel partners, retailers, and franchisees) to promote and sell their products and services.

Among those 51.3%, nearly 9 in 10 (87%) say their brand is not well represented on affiliate websites. Only 4% of this sub-segment rank their affiliates as excellent at marketing, with the majority (47%) ranking affiliates as moderately effective:

Asked which areas their local affiliates lack expertise and the ability to execute effectively, national brands cite mobile marketing (53.4%), SEO (49.4%), and PPC (46.6%) as affiliates’ top weaknesses.



“Balihoo’s survey results are in line with other industry research showing the growing impor-tance of local marketing for national brands, but what’s particularly interesting is how national brands are prioritizing their local marketing tactics,” said Pete Gombert, Balihoo’s CEO.

“When it comes to digital tactics, we found that local websites and local search registration are not top priorities for national brands, yet they form the foundation for a strong local marketing infrastructure,” Gombert added.

“We also see there is a lot of opportunity for national brands to better lead and support their local channel partners. CMOs and marketing managers should look more closely at these aspects of their local marketing programs as they plan ahead for 2013.”

About the data: Findings are based on a survey of 384 national brands based on North America with revenues greater than $100 million in annual revenue, fielded via email from August 1 to September 10, 2012. Respondents met the criteria of marketing professional or executive.

http://balihoo.com/


Five Impacts of Facebook’s Open Graph on Marketers in 2013

by Brad Klaus

The past decade has included a massive surge of improvements and advancements to the way consumers carry on their digital lives.

Here we are in 2012, everyone is connected, and everyone is sharing more and more online every day. Social networking sites reach 82% of the world’s online population—that’s 1.2 billion users worldwide!

Consumers have now become a brand’s most influential stakeholder, wielding the ability to influence friends and peers significantly more than advertisers can. That shift in power has caused a corresponding transformation in social networks and how brands use them to engage with and market to consumers.

Facebook’s Open Graph, for one, is a formidable force that is changing the way brands and consumers interact. As 2013 approaches, more brands will try to quantify the ROI of their

http://www.marketingprofs.com/authors/1535/brad-klaus

https://developers.facebook.com/docs/opengraph/



Facebook marketing investments, and the Open Graph provides significant new marketing opportunities to do just that.

Brands can engage with consumers both on and off Facebook, broadcast consumer stories across Facebook, and drive awareness and word-of-mouth (WOM). Brands can also buy Facebook Sponsored Stories to improve the performance of their advertising on Facebook and test the convergence of media types.

Let’s take a look at the five ways that Facebook’s Open Graph will have an impact marketing and how a particular children’s retailer used the Open Graph to drive massive brand aware-ness and engagement.

1. Moving Beyond the ‘Like’With Facebook’s Open Graph, brands can now create relationships and interactions with consumers that are contextually relevant. For example, a wine distributor can enable users to “recommend” or “taste” a wine, a fashion brand can allow users to “want” a pair of shoes or “own” a dress.



The Open Graph enables brands to interact with consumers across all touchpoints (website, ecommerce storefront, and more) to create those contextually relevant stories, which are then broadcast via Facebook to the consumer’s Timeline as well as their friends’ News Feeds and Tickers. All of those stories create powerful, relevant earned media that allows brands to drive awareness and WOM.

Savvy brands will develop a strategy to use Open Graph actions that are aligned with their brand, products, and services. They will use Open Graph applications to create opportuni-ties for contextually relevant engagement and sharing with consumers, both on and off of Facebook.

2. Shifting the Facebook Focus to the Consumer TimelineWhile the Brand Timeline is an important tool for consumer engagement, Consumer Timelines are where the majority of interaction takes place, making them incredibly valuable to marketers.

Consumer stories about brands are now broadcast front-and-center on the Consumer Timelines as well as in the News Feeds and Tickers of their friends, creating digital virality. In addition, brands can create a persistent connection with consumers’ Timelines by creating an aggregation or “Brand Billboard” that tells the ongoing story of that relationship.



Brands need to develop strategies to claim real estate on the Consumer Timeline, and they need programs to foster consumer stories via the Open Graph.

3. Gaining Unprecedented Insight Into Consumer DemographicsWith Facebook, marketers can understand who is sharing stories about their brand, as well as reach (impressions), engagement (clicks), and conversions. Marketers can also see aggregate demographics of friends who engage with stories, enabling them to optimize campaigns. For example, marketers could see that females dramatically outperform males on a campaign and so reallocate ad budget accordingly.

The deep insights through the Open Graph will enable brands to optimize marketing cam-paigns both on and off Facebook.

4. Replacing Facebook Ads with Sponsored StoriesSponsored Stories is significantly more relevant than most advertising, because friends are en-dorsing brands and providing social context. Facebook research shows that recall of messages increases 50% with social context. Sponsored Stories results are significantly higher, with a 46% higher CTR and a 20% lower CPC than Facebook Ads. In Addition, Sponsored Stories are the only mobile ad unit on Facebook.



If Sponsored Stories plays out according to Facebook’s plan, more and more brands will switch their Facebook ad dollars to Sponsored Stories.

5. Facilitating the Convergence of Owned, Earned, and Paid MediaWith the Open Graph, brands can engage consumers across all owned media touchpoints (website, blogs, social networks, and more) and foster creation of earned media (Stories). That earned media is then broadcast across Facebook to amplify awareness organically. Brands can further amplify the reach of earned media stories by purchasing highly effective paid media (Sponsored Stories). Or, in Facebook’s words, spread word-of-mouth at scale.

With Facebook, brands will be able to implement strategies to test the impact of the conver-gence of media types. Brands will be able to foster earned media (in the form of consumer stories) to fuel more effective paid media (Sponsored Stories).

An ExampleHighlighting those five impacts, Extole (my company) recently powered a Facebook social promotion for a leading children’s retailer.



The promotion was a Back to School Instant Win Sweepstakes with a goal of generating 10,000 participants.

The children’s retailer combined owned, earned, and paid media to garner participation in the sweepstakes and generated 14 million impressions and 27,641 unique entries, and each entrant participated an average of 3.9 times.

Owned media brand promotion drove 22% of the sweepstake entries. Earned media from the organic Open Graph stories and direct referrals drove 69% of the sweepstakes entries. Paid media Sponsored Stories drove an additional 9% of the entries with only $5,500 in ad spend.

For every person who entered the sweepstakes after seeing a promotional message from the brand, at least three more people participated based on earned media recommendations.

What’s even more impactful is that the brand promotions hit only the brand’s fans and cus-tomer list. The earned media stories and Sponsored Stories hit an audience of nearly 4.8 million friends on Facebook—13 times the audience of brand promotions!



* * *

Facebook’s Open Graph allows brands to quantify the ROI of their social investments, drive advo-cacy, awareness, and engagement, and it provides a canvas for brands to test the impact of the convergence of media types today. The next generation of social marketing is here, and Facebook’s Open Graph is leading the charge.


Mobile Email Expected to Reach Tipping Point in 2013

More than one-third (36%) of email messages across 12 key industries were opened via mobile devices (phones and tablets) in the first half of 2012, up from 20% one year earlier, according to a study by Knotice.

Moreover, the share of mobile email opens is projected to surpass 50% for most brands over the next 6-12 months, the study found.

Below, additional findings from the Knotice Mobile Opens Report, based on email campaigns conducted across 12 industries during the first half of 2012.

http://www.knotice.com/aboutknotice/press-items/KNOTICE-Press-Release-090612.html

http://www.knotice.com



iPhone, iPad Dominate OpensMobile phones accounted for 25.85% of all email opens in 1H12, and tablets accounted for 10.16%. iPhones were the most popular device, accounting for 19.71% of email opens, fol-lowed by the iPad tablet with 9.63% and the Android phone with 5.88%:

Mobile Opens by IndustryMobile opens (i.e, via smartphones and tablets) across the top-performing sectors in 1H12 were as follows:

• Consumer Services: 42.17%• Financial Services: 40.13%• Cable and Telecom: 35.85• Retail: 35.56%



By contrast, the average number of B2B email opens in the first half of 2012 via mobile devices was 16.30% (13.76% via mobile phones and only 2.54% via tablets).

Mobile Opens by Time of Day As in previous studies, the share of email opens occurring on mobile devices spikes during the early morning, late afternoon, and late night:

About the data: Findings are based on the analysis of 807 million permission-based emails from 12 industry segments, sent from January 1 to June 30, 2012.


Ann Handley twitter.com/marketingprofs Managed by Chief Content Officer Ann Handley

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Back to the Future: Four Marketing Tactics Essential to Your Success in 2013

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Transcript of Back to the Future: Four Marketing Tactics Essential to Your Success in 2013