Ch13 - Inbound Marketing Communications

Promotional Mix, Continued

Public Relations
Communications tool that seeks to influence opinions & attitudes of target groups through use of unpaid media exposure

Direct Response Marketing
Tool designed to communicate with consumers in targeted & personalized way using either traditional or online approaches. Both approaches work together to get consumers to stores or e-commerce site to complete transaction

Event Marketing & Sponsorship

Digital Marketing Communication
One of the first touch points that brand may have with a consumer is through its website, where consumer may go to find out more about product or company

Online Marketing Tools

The Social Media Landscape

What is Social Media?

Why and How Social Media Transformed Marketing Communications

Comparing Social Media with Traditional Media

Social Media Marketing
When brands reach out to consumers online through social where ppl connect with friends & contacts to share comments, articles, opinions, videos, images as a form of self-expression

Social Media Marketing Networks and Tools

Social Media Networks in Canada

  • Most developed SM programs use multiple SM sites to profile brand in creative, engaging, imaginative ways
  • Before creating SM marketing program, marketers need to check any restrictions SM sites may have for running elements like contests & should adhere to marketing regulations in CA
  • See Figure 13.3 A comparison of social networks

Best Practices in Social Media Marketing

Creating & Measuring Social Media Marketing Programs

Best Practices

  • Obtain senior management commitment
  • Set company-wide governance for SM
  • Create detailed SM policies, guidelines, rules of engagement
  • Set clearly defined & measurable SM marketing objectives
  • Select platform that will be used to deploy, monitor, measure SM activity
  • ID social networks that will be used
  • Establish metrics that will be used to evaluate approaches
  • Dedicate, train, hire SM marketing experts
  • Understand negative comments will surface on SM & plan to handle them
  • Realise that mistakes will be made
  • Integrate SM programs into marketing practices

The Mobile Marketing Landscape

The Mobile Market

  • 2020 - 5.1 billion unique mobile subscribers & expected to grow to 5.8 iby 2025
  • There are more mobile connections globally than entire pop. (when looking at devices)
  • Mobile devices are personal, portable, usually on
  • Ppl use mobile to help in path-to-purchase - Ppl check mobile multiple times a day, providing numerous touch points for marketers to engage on this journey
  • Allows marketers to communicate directly with consumers at point-of-purchase, whcih can be persuasive & compelling

Mobile Devices
Growth driven by smartphones & tablets but wearable devices expected to increase in popularity once privacy issues overcome

Consumers & Mobile Devices

  • Mobile spending rep 13% of e-commerce sales in CA 2019
  • Retail e-commerce sales will continue to be larger part of total retail sales, with growth continuing to 2023
  • Amazon is top online shopping destination for consumers in CA
  • E-commerce sales currently represent 10% of overall retail sales

Mobile Marketing Tools
Allows for one-to-one personalized communications where targeting can be precise, not only demographically but by device, interest, real time location

Mobile Web

  • Created & designed for smaller mobile screen with screens that load quickly, display clearly, offer unique mobile features that satisfy goal-oriented mobile user
  • Web for mobile must be fast, functional, and easier to use than brand's desktop website
  • Mobile Users visit websites an average of 6x before making a purchase
  • 83% of those who use mobile to R product want to make purchase within 1 day

Mobile Apps

  • Software programs designed for mobile devices so that quick tap or click, they engage with info, entertainment, other forms of interactivity
  • Google Play has 2.6 million apps on Android platform, Apple App Store has 1.9 million, Windows has 670,000, Amazon has over 500,000
  • CAs are downloading apps at a slower pace but also uninstalling them at rapid rate
  • Most popular apps are for SM, weather, maps, music, TV/movie, gaming, YT, banking
  • More likely to be downloaded when recommended by friends and family if they sound interesting & fun, if user is familiar with company or brand, if they have exclusive offer
  • Most consumers expect apps to be free

Mobile Marketing Regulations & Best Practices

Mobile Marketing Regulations

  • Be aware of Canada's privacy legislation & CASL
  • CRTC, CWTA, MMA have additional codes of conduct to protect consumers & help standardize industry

Mobile Marketing Best Practices

  • Abide by marketing regulations & use mobile-first approach to mke connections
  • Mobile-first - Mobile becomes central element in marketing program & is integrated throughout consumer path-to-purchase
  • Mobile not added as afterthought, but instead its integrated into marketing programs from start
  • know how tech impacts consumer behaviour & learn how mobile devices are integrated into daily lives
  • Changes in shopping habits & mobile analytics used to get insights on how to best approach, engage, connect

Facts

  • Marketers with small budget - This is a more affordable way to communicate with wide audience
  • PR professionals build rela with media & stakeholders & use tools like press release, SM releases, press kits, news conferences, and events to spread the word

Can also take on form of crisis
management & image management

Crisis Management
Help companies navigate difficult circumstances by advising on what strategies should be followed to rectify situations & salvage company's image

Publicity
Non-personal form of communication that appears in media & is not paid for directly by the organization. Not controlled by company itself, & company has no control over what is discussed

Ultimately the media decides if, what, & when it may spread message about a company, brand, or individual

Public Relations Tools

Press Releases
An announcement written by org & sent to the media

Press Conferences

  • When reps of the media invited to an informational meeting with company
  • Advanced materials & press releases often distributed ahead of time & external experts &/ executives from company are present
  • Often used during crisis management

Special Events

  • The creation, support, or sponsorship of special events like company-sponsored seminars, conferences, sporting, or entertainment events
  • Goal - Create forum to disseminate company info & to create positive brand associations for participants or viewers

Company Reports
Formal company info that's published in annual reports, brochures, newsletters, videos

Social Media Releases
A multimedia, online press-release platform that includes video, text, images & SM buttons for sharing on social networks & comment areas

Facts

  • Unique - Includes a CTA for consumers
  • Is often multifaceted & designed with short-term communication blasts to build long-term rela with company & brand loyalty

Offline Approaches
Direct mail, catalogues, telemarketing, direct-response advertising on TV, radio, print, where phone numbers or websites drive an immediate CTA

Online Approaches
Internet facilitates one-on-one interactions & use tools like email campaigns, SM interactions to drive consumers to landing pages, websites, or microsites

Lead Generation
Resultant request for additional information

Traffic generation
Resultant visit to location or website

Email Marketing
Use of opt-in email lists where consumers register & give permission to receive online communications

CMA (CA Marketing Association), strictly advises against spam

Permission-based email
When recipient chooses to receive email from marketer, while spam is unsolicited email that clutter Internet

80% of customers willing to receive emails from companies

Event Marketing
Creation or involvement of brand in experience or occasion that heightens its awareness, creates positive associations, generates desired response

Experiential Marketing
Can be based around event, but often combines PR, event marketing, & promotions to break through clutter of competing marketing messages

Often woven into integrated campaigns to make connections with consumers & create a buzz

Sponsorship
Involves company paying a fee in exchange for inclusion in event, involvement in its advertising opportunities, or exposure within event itself

Websites

  • Design & content central to successful ranking on search engines which facilitates discovery by consumers
  • Content needs to be fresh & frequently updated (e.g. blogs)
  • Often form foundation of company or brand's digital marketing strategy (e.g. links to SM, newsletter & email comm sign up)

Transactional Websites
Electronic storefronts focused on converting an online browser into an online buyer

Promotional Websites
Focus on showcasing products & services

Microsites
Promotional websites created to showcase specific brand or for short-term promotional purposes (e.g. contests, promotional offers)

Corporate Websites
Destination for consumers & media that want to quickly access company & product information

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Internet marketing approach that includes SEO & PPC

SEO
Looks at website design, technical coding, written content, incoming links, and website updates to ensure websites highly rated & properly indexed by search engines.

PPC Advertising
[Search advertising] cause primarily appears in search engines in form of mini-text ads that are served during keyword search. Paid by PPC only when ads clicked. PPC image ads also exist on some blogs & SM sites

Influencer Marketing
Practice of focusing on identification & recruitment of influencers to advocate company's products, services, & brands rather than focusing exclusively on prospective buyers

It's based on the concept of personal influence - Consumer's purchases often influenced by views, opinions, behaviour of others. Influencer marketing applies this to SM & user-generated content

IDing an Influencer
Largely based on number of followers, which is attributed to influencer's perceived credibility, knowledge, authenticity, reliability in providing relevant content to their audience (trust).

Recruiting Influencers

  • Involves partnering with individuals who are willing & able to effectively engage with followers with product, service, or brand
  • Often compensated - Paid, given free products or services, reimbursed for expenses in creating & posting content
  • Estimated 75% of large US companies will spend $101 billion on influencer marketing initiatives in 2020

Influences exist within specific categories

Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Based on the spread of positive messages about product by listening to consumers, identifying influential individuals who can spread the word, & making it easier for them to do so

72% of respondents claiming that reviews from friends & family influence their decisions

Works on several levels

Viral Level
Tries to create buzz through SM that sends fun & interesting messages, many times with influential ppl who spread the word

Influencer Level
IDs key communities, opinion leaders, product advocates who get personally involved with brand & have ability to influence others

Professional Level
Official referral programs may be put in place to reward satisfied customers who refer brand to contacts

Defining Social Media
A unique blending of technology & social interaction to create a communal experience & personal value for users

SM is an online media where users submit comments, photos, videos - often accompanied by a feedback process to identify "popular" topics

Most SM involve genuine online convo about a mutual interest (one build on personal thoughts & experiences)

Some SM sites involve games & virtual world where online

Business firms also refer to SM as consumer-generated media

SM sometimes called Web 2.0, Web 3.0,
or user-generated content

Web 2.0 & 3.0

  • ID technological functionalities that make it possible for high degree of interactivity among users
  • Web 2.0 inc. functionalities that permit ppl to collaborate & share info online
  • Web 3.0 (now in early application stages), inc. additional functionalities that allow personalization & customization to each individual based on location, interests, needs. It integrates new features like cloud computing, big data, Internet of Things, security solutions, & privacy protection

User Generated Content (UGC)

  • Any form of online media content that is publicly available & created by consumers or end users
  • [Consumer-generated content]
  • Includes video, blogs, discussion forum posts, digital images, audio files, related content
  • 80% of content on SM is UGC

3 criteria to qualify as UGC

  • It is published etiher on publicly accessible website or on SM site, so it's not simply an email
  • It shows significant degree of original or creative effort, so it's more than simply posting newspaper article on personal blog without editing or comments
  • It's consumer generated by an individual outside of a professional or commercial organization

Classifying SM
2 Factors

Media Richness

  • Involves degree of acoustic, visual, personal contact between 2 communication partners - Face-2-Face communications, say being higher in media richness than telephone or email communications
  • Higher media richness & quality of presentation, the greater the social influence that communication partners have on each others' behaviour

Self-Disclosure
In any type of social interaction, individuals want to make positive impression to achieve favourable image with others - This image is affected by degree of self-disclosure about a person's thoughts, feelings, likes, dislikes - where greater self-disclosure likely to increase one's influence on those reached

SM can complement & augment traditional media when focused on brand-building, customer acquisition, customer advocacy

Content Marketing
When brands or companies reach out by creating & sharing expertise & brand info that's designed to inform & engage with tools

Blogs
Web page in form of online diary that's used by orgs & individuals to post updates that inc. personal opinions, activities, experiences.

Vlog
Blog that's posted in video format

Wiki
Collaborative website that uses application where multiple users can create, add, edit, or delete content

Conversation Prism

  • Developed by Brian Solis
  • Visually demos vastness of SM landscape & all that it has to offer
  • Tracks dominant, niche, & promising new social networks
  • Shows SM much larger than just the popular sides we hear about. Includes blogs & wikis too

Differences

  • SM is flexible & can be changed even after it's published
  • SM is available immediately
  • SM creates conversation & marketers don't have full control over messaging
  • SM can have less reliable demographic data about its audiences
  • SM can be produced inexpensively
  • SM needs dedicated attention

Misconception that SM is free
While it's less expensive to produce, need to consider time for monitoring & managing SM

93% of marketers believe SM marketing generates brand exposure & 87% indicate increased traffic is major benefit

71% mentioned that SM helped them develop loyal fans & 58% believe SM responsible for providing market insights

On average CAs spend 18% of SM time interacting with brands. Most common inc. visiting store or brand websites; talking abt companies with contacts; reading permission-based content; following companies on FB, Tw, IG, LI; & posting comments on same sites

To avoid negative situations on SM, companies create SM policies & guidelines to help guide programs & interactions

72% of consumers expressing a compliant on Tw expected an answer within an hour, but only 11% of companies responded within an hour

Risk is that if companies aren't meeting customer expectations, they are likely to feel negatively about brand. Negativity is expressed in very public SM forum

Facebook

  • Over 2.3 billion users
  • Free social network that is top choice for ppl wanting to share photos, videos, stories with their connections
  • Most used social networking site by marketers
  • Usually centre of brand's SM program & accounts for most of its SM audience (cause of dominance & well-dev platform)

3 Tracks

Personal Track
Users create personal profile; add other uses as friends; exchange comments, photos, videos & likes; receive updates through notifications in News Feed feature. Also use private message|

Group Track
Use FB Groups to allow FB members to create public or private groups where members focused on particular interest. Allows members to post comments to everyone, gives notifications & allows ppl to upload docs

Page Track
Allows artists, public figures, businesses, brands, non-profits to create pages that ppl can like & follow to receive notifications & updates in News Feed

Facebook as a Promotional Tool

  • Pages - Brand engagement, Insights (analytics), customer inquiries, run ads (CPC, CPM - bidding system), live video for increased brand reach
  • Challenge - Creating fresh, creative, engaging content that will be shared by followers

Tips to Max Consumer Engagement

  • Post when engagement is highest, not when most users logged in
  • Learn about your customers & share content that your customers want to see, not just what you want them to see
  • Learn from past which content perform strongest & create more
  • Use photos, which are still the most posted & shared content. To make it even easier, post IG photos to FB
  • Engage by replying to comments
  • Create share-worthy content with headline that will grab attention
  • Include a CTA in your post by asking for a share, comment, or like
  • Keep posts short, between 0-50 words

Twitter

  • For individuals & orgs to post & receive short newsworthy text updates & links in 280 characters from accounts of interest
    • Pro Speed that ppl can scan updates & decide whether they should read
    • Uses lists, favourite tweets, retweets, notifications
    • Encourages users to use hashtags so topics & convos searchable
    • 330 million global users & supported in 40+ languages
    • Live-stream - Periscope

Twitter as a Promotional Tool

  • Used for customer service & marketing purposes
  • Second place for unhappy customers (#1 is FB)
  • 78% of CA brands on Tw
  • Brand tweets - Pre-planned, pre-approved to coincide with marketing events & integrated into marketing communication programs, deploy real-time tweets in response to opportunities & buzz
  • Some marketers use it to show expertise & build following on SM

Tips to make tweets stand out

  • Develop editorial calendar & schedule events throughout year
  • Create & reuse graphic templates
  • Use videos & images for Twitter promotions
  • Use Twitter ads that take form of promoted accounts or promoted tweets. Advertiser pays only when followers are added or tweets clicked, retweeted, favourited, or when result in reply. Ads can be targeted by interest or by using own email contact list

Real-Time Marketing
Planned tactical approach where brands make self relevant online during events or newsworth occurrences by diving into conversations as they occur with aligned short-term messaging that takes advantage of current buzz

YouTube

  • Free video-sharing social network owned by Google
  • More than 1 billion global users collectively watching billions of hours of videos per month
  • Launched in more than 130 countries

YouTube as a Promotional Tool

  • Banner ads - Sponsored/featured videos, or in-stream video ads
  • Can optimize YT channels & videos for search engines by using keywords
  • Marketers may upload videos designed to go viral - Carefully orchestrated approach that involves creating catchy content that is often humorous or very creative to appeal to wide audience that will quickly view, share, rate video - Sends it to top of YT's recommended videos (immediately boosts popularity)

Instagram

  • Owned by Facebook
  • Mobile app that's world's largest photo-sharing site
  • More than 1 million active users
  • Can connect account to other SM so images seamlessly appear on FB & Tw - Element that makes IG very popular
  • Quickly being recognized by marketers as essential tool to share visual content
  • 82% of brands in CA use IG

IG as a Marketing Tool

  • Behind the scenes footage from events & stunning product shots & contests
  • Visual brands do well on IG

Tips to build engaged following

  • Include CTA
  • Leverage hashtags that are already relevant to your audience. Consider familiar tags to particular interest
  • Share your IG posts on Tw, FB, Snapchat
  • Post at right time. Post when audience can engage with your content. Use of IG tends to peak during off-work hours

LinkedIn

  • Freemium business networking SM site for professionals launched in 2003
  • Over 690 million global marketers & over 100 million active users
  • Used in over 200 countries
  • 35% of CA brands on LI & use company page to drive engagement
  • Orgs share company values, expertise, updates with current & potential customers

LinkedIn as a Promotional Tool

  • Used by orgs to profile their expertise & target individuals, companies, sectors who may be interested in their ervices
  • Advantage of having fewer distractions than the other SMs as it's focused on business & work-related topics
  • Stand out for B2B marketers cause also target company, job title, job function, group, which can result in very high quality responses & business leads

Tips to increase engagement for company pages

  • Make headline stand out
  • Post videos
  • Use sponsored updates to extend reach beyond current followers
  • Leverage company page analytics to understand trends & optimize content
  • Include logo & impactful banner image on your company page

Creating SM Marketing Programs
Qs refer to range of elements to understand company's SM policies, selecting which SM right for brand, determine analytics platform to monitor, measure, deploy SM programs, etc.

Planning SM Marketing

  • What are your company's SM policies & guidelines?
  • How does your target market use SM & what drives engagement?
  • How can SM be integrated into other brand marketing programs?
  • What type of content is suitable for your brand on your selected SM
  • Who will be creating SM content for your brand & what is the budget
  • What are your daily/weekly targets for SM posts & interactions
  • Who will be running & monitoring SM programs
  • What analytics platforms will be used to monitor, measure, evaluate SM programs
  • What social media networks are appropriate for your brand & target group

Measuring SM Marketing Programs
Software vary by provider, but platforms allow marketers to respond to questions, complaints, pre-schedule posts, ID brand advocates with strong influence scores that can amplify & spread positive brand messages

Social Media Analytics
Real-time measurement, interaction & analysis of SM to assess SM campaign performance, message resonation & amplification, consumer sentiment, common themes

Social Media Monitoring
Monitoring brand mentions, consumer sentiment, buzz, engagement on Internet

Engagement Metrics
Measure how, how much, how often consumers interact with SM content

Optimization Metrics
Provide data that can point to adjustments or changes that should be made to your SM program. Generally look at CPM, CPA (cost to acquire new follower or sale), CPC

Marketing defined by MMA (Mobile Marketing Association)
Sets practices that enables orgs to communicate & engage with audiences in interactive & relevant manner through any mobile device or network

Feature Phone

  • Cellphone that is Internet-enabled & allows for email, text, browsing, but can't download or use apps
  • Tends to be cheaper & make mobile landscape more complex cause often built with own unique tech, making consistent viewing across devices difficult

Smartphone

  • More advanced cellphone that has similar functionality to personal computer in addition to taking pictures, playing music, movies, GPS, useing apps to enhance features & capabilities
  • Wearable electronics market in CA growing radpily (3.8 milion units being worn by customer segments)

Main mobile device platforms in CA - iOS & Android (even split), then it's Samsung & Blackberry but very very tiny

Majority of CAs use mobile for messenger, watching videos, while map services come close second
See Figure 13.7 Mobile Subscribers - Canada

Showrooming
Practice of using mobile in-store to check competitive online product reviews & prices & then purchase cheaper product online. Marketers note mobile taking store out of store & making shopping accessible on the go, 24/7

3 Approaches

  • Optimize desktop for mobile usii responsive design platforms that offer flexible layouts, flexible images, flexible file options so websites auto adjust & resize to render on mobile
  • Design separate mobile websites with streamlined content & finger- and thumb-friendly navigation
  • Combo of first 2 approaches. Some orgs will make 3 different interfaces (desktop - info rich, tablets - heavy image-based content, smartphones - less content & fewer images)

3 types of apps created for marketing programs
Depending on type, can be expensive or cheap for marketers. For users, app functionality important, & most users won't understand difference between the types

Native Apps

  • Created specifically to be hosted & run on mobile
  • Downloaded from app store & sits in mobile devices
  • Provides rich experience by interacting with mobile features (e.g. GPS, camera, notification system)
  • Can work offline
  • Tech differences dictate that separate native apps need to be designed for iOS, Android, Windows, BlackBerry devices
  • Can be expensive

Mobile Web Apps

  • Websites designed to simulate native app experience
  • Run off browsers rather than actual mobile device & ask users to add shortcut to home screen - So can run on any platform, making them cheaper to develop
  • User exp is not as rich as native app (can't don't interact with mobile device features
  • Apps don't pay app store developer feeds, don't need app store approval, don't share revenue with app store

Hybrid Apps

  • Combines the superior functionality of a native app with flexibility of a web app
  • Can interact with mobile features, but render in browser so can be used across mobile platforms with minimal changes - So lower costs
  • Generally cheaper to develop than native apps cause need minimal development changes for cross-platform use
  • Typically don't provide rich exp as native apps, but becoming increasingly popular

Push Notifications

  • Content that is sent to mobile devices
  • CASL - Consumers must opt in to consent to receive push notifications, marketers must provide clear method for consumers to unsubscribe or opt out

The Wireless Code

  • CRTC regulates Wireless Code
  • Intro in 2013 as mandatory code of conduct for all wireless service providers
  • Ensures wireless contracts easy to understand & contracts can be cancelled after 2 years
  • Complaints against wireless service providers can be lodged Commissioner for Complains for Telecommunications Services

Common Short Code (CSC) Guidelines

  • Administered by CWTA to provide direction on CSC pricing & marketing practices
  • Mobile marketers must provide participants with mandatory keyword protocols
  • Consumers must double opt-in to some premium subscription CSC programs & be informed of its terms, conditions, pricing

MMA Global Code of Conduct

  • Administered by MMA - Guides industry with standards, guidelines, best practices
  • MMA has over 800 members & is represented in nearly 50 countries
  • Privacy policies & terms & conditions must be clear, & opt-in & opt-out protocols must be used
  • Messaging should be limited to its initial purpose, personal data must be protected, all MMA members must demonstrate compliance with code

Mobile Best Practices

  • Think mobile first & start with a mobile perspective
  • Generate creative specifically for mobile
  • Communicate across multiple screens to create seamless experience as consumers switch between devices
  • Target your audiences more specifically using rich dataset available from mobile interaction, including location
  • Utilize full spectrum of mobile tools to interact with consumers
  • Integrate mobile marketing programs into traditional marketing campaigns
  • Offer great service, functionality & benefits
  • Leverage every stage of the path-to-purchase, understanding that mobile used for search & discovery, connecting, & purchasing
  • Test your way to success by tracking, measuring, & making adjustments to improve results & ROI