News You Can Use

Brand Marketers Reveal How Agencies Can Foster More Productive Client/Agency Relationships

• Posted: May 4, 2015

Portada reports on a current Association of National Advertisers (ANA) Survey which reveals the areas of agreement and disagreement between clients and their agencies.

Among the questions clients were asked, “What could your agency do to foster a more productive client/agency relationship?”

Top responses:

-Be more proactive

-Have a better understanding of the client’s business

-Integrate/collaborate with other agencies

-Increase transparency

Enhancing client/agency relationships is essential to both partners in the industry.

 

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Insights for Marketers From The World Happiness Report

• Posted: May 4, 2015

Dr. Paul Marsden provides insights from the 2015 World Happiness Report. These insights can provide valuable guidelines for marketers seeking deeper engagement with their customers.

-Customer ratings of their happiness with product, service and brand experiences provide an opportunity for marketers to understand customer satisfaction. Happiness can be measured with the Cantril Ladder.

-Understanding the six drivers of human happiness revealed by this report (health, social support, household income/GDP, trust, generosity, and freedom) provide marketers with the key to positioning their products to satisfy these drivers.

-Knowledge of positive and negative human emotions can provide marketers with guidance when developing campaigns. Critically important to emotional happiness are freedom, generosity, and social support.

-Marketers can help customers achieve purpose and meaning in their lives, which are important factors for human happiness.

Aligning with customer happiness can provide opportunities for marketers.
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Number of Mobile-Only Internet Users Exceeds Desktop-Only Users

• Posted: May 4, 2015

ComScore reports that the number of mobile-only adult internet users exceeded the number of desktop-only internet users in the U.S. as of March 2015.

The share of mobile-only users has climbed over the past year to 11.3 percent while the desktop-only population has declined to 10.6 percent. It is important to note that 78 percent of digital adults use both desktop and mobile platforms.

Adam Lella points out that this mobile-only milestone signifies that smartphones and tablets have become the primary choice of consumers for internet access.

However, 87 percent of total digital commerce still comes from desktops despite mobile platforms accounting for 60 percent of total time spent shopping online.

Lella concludes that the comScore report confirms the consumer shift to “mobile first.”

 

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Customer Service and the Expectations of Millennials

• Posted: May 4, 2015

A study from Aspect Software analyzes the customer service expectations of different generations.

Millennials expect a rapid and convenient channel for customer service interactions.  Texting represents an opportunity for brands to address the customer engagement preferences of Millennials.

Jack Loechner, writing for the Research Brief From the Center for Media Research, summarizes the findings from this study, which includes these points about Millennials and customer service:

-56% moved their business from at least one company during the past year due to poor customer service.

-More than 50% reported that their customer service expectations have increased over the past three years.

-69% feel good about themselves and the company they are doing business with when they can resolve a problem without speaking to customer service.

-This generational segment is more “experience-loyal” than “brand-loyal.”

An effective customer service strategy will address the preferences of Millennials for omni-channel support and self-service.

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Digital Ad Revenue Increases by 16% in 2014

• Posted: April 27, 2015

MediaDailyNews reports on an IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report showing that U.S digital advertising revenue rose 16% to $49.5 billion in 2014 compared with 2013.

This report, which was prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers, also shows that social media advertising revenue was $7 billion.  This increase reflects a 57% increase in 2014.

David Silverman, a PricewaterhouseCoopers partner who participated in the IAB conference call, believes that brands have developed strategies to monetize their investments in social media. As a result, there has been an increase in the cost per click for ads running on networks, such as Facebook.

Mobile advertising increased by 76% to $12.5 billion.  Search, digital video, and non-mobile display-related advertising also showed revenue increases.

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Create a Strong Employer Brand To Encourage Employee Brand Advocacy

• Posted: April 27, 2015

Lisa Cervenka, writing for MarketingProfs explains why employer branding is an important priority among talent acquisition professionals worldwide.

The employer brand addresses the image of the organization as a preferred workplace, and serves to attract, engage, and retain employees.  It answers the question: what makes employees want to work at your organization?

Cervenka discusses three fundamental steps essential to creating a strong employer brand:

-An employer brand needs to be flexible and consistent.

-An employer brand has be to genuine and customizable.

-An employer brand needs to include the voices of the employees.

The result of strong employer branding is to create strong employee advocacy of the company’s brand, product, and services.

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Amazon Prime’s Major Impact on Retail Competitors and Consumer Shopping Behavior

• Posted: April 27, 2015

Jason Caine, writing for the Compete Pulse Blog, discusses the impact of Amazon Prime on both consumer purchasing behavior as well as on the responses of online retail competitors.

Caine presents Millward Brown Digital research which shows that the increase in Amazon Prime membership means that an increasing number of shoppers at other retailers are also Prime members.

Research by The Compete Panel of Prime vs. Non-Prime members’ cross-shopping behaviors demonstrates Amazon Prime members consider a narrower set of retailers when shopping online.  In fact, less than 1% of Prime members are likely to consider any of the other popular online retailers during the same shopping session.  In addition, 63% of Amazon Prime members convert on the site during the same shopping session.

The responses of Amazon Prime’s online retail competitors have included price match guarantee offers and the launch of subscription programs. Amazon Prime’s success has emphasized the need for competitors to  focus on the consumers’ e-commerce experience, to lower consumer purchase barriers, and to improve their conversion rates.

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The Critical Importance of the Customer Experience to Corporate Success

• Posted: April 27, 2015

Victor Milligan, Forrester Research’s CMO, discusses how the creation of a superior and differentiated customer experience (CX) is a crucial priority for his organization as well as for most companies.

He points out that putting this priority into action is a challenge for many companies.  Focusing on the  customer experience is a new kind of operating model.  It is not an attitude, tagline, or one-time corporate initiative.

Among Milligan’s observations::

-CX is about the customers, on their terms and in their voices.

-CX analytics must consider the quality of the customers’ experience.  Customer satisfaction and advocacy metrics are no longer sufficient.

-CX improvement must be connected to operational changes and requires a committed financial investment by the company.

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Global Consumers Agree That Brands Must Be Environmentally Responsible

• Posted: April 27, 2015

The MarketingCharts Staff presents a summary of the GfK survey of consumers in 23 countries who were questioned about their attitudes on environmental responsibility.

In the U.S. 66% of consumers agree that brands and companies have to be environmentally responsible.  On a worldwide basis, 76% of consumers agree with this statement.

In terms of purchasing behavior, 54% of American consumers agree that they only buy products and services that appeal to their beliefs, values or ideals.  63% of global respondents also agree with this statement.

Despite skepticism about the environmental messages presented by brands, consumers have shown a willingness to pay a premium for products from socially responsible companies. GfK notes in their survey results, “with so much competition for consumers’ money, everything that brands can do to align with their customers will help them stand out and win loyalty.”

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A Solid Content Marketing Strategy is Critical to the Success of the Overall Marketing Strategy

• Posted: April 20, 2015

David Kirkpatrick, shares ideas for content marketing on the MarketingSherpa Blog.  Both consumers and B2B prospects are doing most of their own research.  B2B prospects are getting 80% down the pipeline before contacting a salesperson.

Kirkpatrick emphasizes that content marketing is not about selling a company, a product or a service.  It is about becoming a trusted destination for prospects by providing content which results in thought leadership and brand awareness.

Content can come from many sources, including:

-Created internally by Marketing

-Provided internally by subject matter specialists within the company

-Supplied by third-party experts and industry leaders

-Generated by users

In addition to using content from multiple sources, it is also important to share different types of content:

-Written blog posts

-White papers

-E-books

-Video

-Webinars

-Slide decks

-Infographics

 

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