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Marketing automation – the tools, resources and support required to improve the campaign’s implementation and performance. MGM is the manufacturer and distributor of an award winning rum range and one of the leading local and regional distributors of premium wines, spirits and liqueurs. Absolute is one of the brands distributed by MGM and makes up 11% of the company’s total sales volumes. Currently, the company does not maximize the potential of an integrated marketing approach to build new business or engage current consumers – they rely on an offline marketing strategy with websites for the individual brands distributed.
These website are essentially brochure websites – “small one to three page websites used as online resources to convey Information and display promotional material” (Anon. , 2013) about the brands and bulging brand awareness. However, some of the brands (e. G. Absolute) are taking a more integrated approach, with their websites and other online platforms playing a more significant role in their marketing activities and campaigns. A more in depth overview of the organization and Absolute can be found in the Appendix.
Essential Elements Campaign Planning & Management Planning and managing the campaign is vital for its success, whether it is a short- term, long-term or continuous program. Chaffed and Ellis-Chadwick (2012, IPPP) suggest a six stage approach which can be applied to The Art Wars campaign: Goal: Increase sales for Absolute through on-trade activation. Insight: Although Absolute holds the greatest market share locally, volumes continue to decline and consumers do not view the brand as being as trendy or innovative as they once did five years ago.
Segmentation & Targeting: The Absolute consumer can be described as Creative Millennial – inspired individuals between the ages of 25 and 35 who have a sense of creativity and believe they have the ability to alter themselves and society. The on- trade sector is critical when trying to (re)build a spirit brand as it’s where brands have the ability to influence the consumer in a more meaningful way. Offer & Message: The intention of the message is to engage local consumers by encouraging consumption in exchange for a memorable brand experience and meaningful dialogue.
Budgeting & Selection of Digital Media Mix: Boucher et al (2013) note that “the growing popularity of digital channels is creating challenges for marketers in allocating budgets. Key among these challenges is the need to assess where they just put their advertising budgets – traditional or digital, the mix in which they should do so”. With a limited budget, the main focus for this campaign will be on investing in controllable and targeted media with a lower cost-per-acquisition (Zed Media, cited in Chaffed & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012 IPPP – 460).
Integration: All communications used for the campaign must be coherent, consistent, show continuity and be complementary (Pickett and Frederick, 2001 , cited in Chaffed and Ellis-Chadwick, 2012 IPPP). For a more impacting campaign, the suggested digital marketing channels – micrometers, affiliates, word of mouth through influencer, search engine optimization and social media – will be combined with more traditional offline communications such as public relations (PR), exhibitions, sales promotions, and merchandising.
The below mind map (Figure 1) depicts the above concepts in a more cohesive and clear visual (Myers, 2013). ; Mind Map FIGURE 1. – The Art Wars Search Marketing Search Marketing is “the process of gaining traffic and visibility from search engines through both paid (PC) and unpaid efforts (SEE)” (Anon. , 2013). It includes: Search Engine Optimization (SEE) – earning traffic through “achieving the highest position or Nanking possible in the organic listings” (Chaffed and Ellis-Chadwick, 2012 IPPP) in search engine results pages (Seers).
Chaffed and Ellis-Chadwick (2012, IPPP) note that “… Generating the highest rankings… In the Seers can generate more visits because of a higher click-through rate”. A study published by prospect (2006) reveals that 62% of search engine users are clicking on the first page and, only 10% of users are willing to click on results past the third page. Paid search (PC) or sponsored links/results – buying traffic through paid search listings on a ‘per click basis.
The infinite of this are it can deliver a more dynamic and very targeted message to qualified visitors; utilizes the most popular medium for locating information (www); and has one of the lowest cost-per-customer acquisitions (Flanagan, 2011). To implement and maximize the benefits of search marketing, Absolute must fully understand the local demand for the product using tools such as Google Towards to determine what consumers are searching for and how best the brand can leverage this information to gain traffic and visibility for its campaign to increase sales in the on-trade sector. Google Towards
Insights into the target audience are crucial to the success of this campaign. The Google Towards Keyword Planner is a free tool which makes the process of building a new campaign (or refining an existing campaign) more efficient by giving greater insight into which keywords, ad groups, bids, and budgets Absolute may want to use for The Art Wars campaign. The Google Towards Keyword Planner can provide: Keywords and ad group ideas – allows the search for keyword and ad group ideas based on terms that are relevant to Absolute, the vodka category, its landing page, or even the competition.
Historical statistics, e. G. Reach volumes to help determine which keywords to use for The Art Wars campaign. Traffic estimates to help guide bid decisions and the overall projected budget for the campaign. (The Art Wars campaign) Source: HTTPS://towards. Google. Com/OK/Corporealness/ [Accessed 11 November 2013] Recommendations The websites ranking can be improved through on-page optimization. Content marketing plays a pivotal role in this – content must be written in such a way that it increases the number of times a keypads (e. . The Art Wars, Absolute, premium vodka) is used. External and internal link building can also boost the ranking, e. . Sharing links to the website through social media (Faceable, Twitter) (Chaffed and Ellis-Chadwick, 2012 IPPP) or, externally, identifying and creating popular, engaging content – cocktail recipes, cocktail party shopping lists, portending tips, event schedules – or perhaps identifying potential partner sites.
For maximum traffic and conversions, a landing page not only needs high rankings for the right keywords, it also needs to find the best landing page match for each of the selected keywords, e. G. The Absolute homepage is likely to be the landing page for the main keywords Absolute, premium vodka, vodka) but The Art Wars page may be the landing page for keywords like art, art wars, music (Barberries, 2013). 1. Evaluation of Vans’s ‘Roller Babies’ Campaign Objective Using digital as the central medium, Vans’s intention was to strengthen the existing brand relationships and drive global awareness of the brand in a more fun and innovative way (Anon. , 2013). Avian realized the full potential of online video to reach far beyond that of Just using traditional media (TV, radio, print). The ‘Roller Babies’ campaign was launched online and gained momentum without the assistance of emulations traditional media resulting in over 100 million total views on Youth.
By focusing on digital channels, this campaign left a lasting impression at a much lower cost per acquisition compared to relying on traditional channels. Key Media & Format Used Youth was used – teaser videos were released two weeks prior to the official launch on heavy traffic sites and blobs – and this was supported by a dedicated Faceable page, Twitter to spread the word, and offline communications such as bus shelter touch-screen print ads and the Avian ‘Adult Playground’ in London with oversized swings and see-saws (Ported-Stance, 2013).
In order to track the global spread of the campaign, video fingerprinting – a combination of massive-scale web- crawling and automated analysis of the audiovisual DNA of the source video files using computer vision algorithms – was used track its success. This enabled the accumulation of views, comments, and tweets for uploads of the video showing (in real-time) the campaign’s true reach and social media impact (Anon. ).
Results by the Digital Training Academy (2013) include: Becoming the #1 video on Youth Earning the 2009 Guinness Book of World Records award for the most viewed online died ad Earning the #1 spot on the Viral Video Chart Achieving a total reach of 102 million views (with over 72 million visible measure views on Youth to date) Receiving over 54,000 comments and tweets Approximately 500,000 Faceable fans across a number of fan pages Attracting over 14,000 Youth friends and subscribers Key Learning Some of the key learning from this campaign that can be applied to The Art Wars campaign are: If the content is coherent and relevant to the target audience, using digital channels can be very effective in spreading a brand’s message in a cost effective way. All marketing efforts – whether digital or traditional – must be consistent and coherent in their message. Content is king. Word of mouth is the best way to have a campaign go viral and spread the message. 2. 1 An Integrated Approach An integrated approach entails combining on and offline media to present a clear and coherent message to current and potential customers. Attracting Visitors There are several relevant and suitable techniques to attract visitors to the website.
According to Their (2013) the below online techniques are recommended: Social Media enables one to reach a larger audience and helps promote the websites intent when users share and distribute through social media. Including the URL in the text of all posts allowing for easy click-through; providing accurate and succinct descriptions of the websites content; including a share button for social networks to make sharing easy, and; to capture the attention of the target audience, combining seasonality and creativity to spark their curiosity and interest in visiting the website for optimal results. A websites search ranking can be improved through the use of SEE, increasing targeted website traffic by boosting the click-through rate and aging the website more visible to the target audience.
Content can be used to improve a websites organic ranking – the use of a basic web page and post format with clear and concise titles that accurately describes the content, using targeted keywords in the file name and description of images on the site, ensuring that the URL used contains targeted keywords relevant to the content and, displaying high quality, interesting and shareable content. A good call-to-action or online incentive – a digital coupon for a free Absolute cocktail redeemable at one of the participating the brand through accessing information on the website. The placement of this digital coupon is important – it must be somewhere very noticeable.
Online videos – a quick how-to video on a popular Absolute cocktail or an inspirational interview with one of the collaborators – can also create buzz and drive traffic to the website. Targeting influencer – influential artists, musicians, fashion designers, floggers – and getting them to help spread the websites content and increase its audience through word of mouth (WHOM) helps build positive brand awareness by creating and sustaining an opinion of Absolute and making or changing decisions online through heir large follower-base on social networks, magnifying the brand’s marketing efforts. Jobs (2013) states that “a websites only an effective marketing tool if visitors can find it”.
The below offline techniques are recommended for The Art Wars campaign: Include the web address (wry. Absolute. Com/artworks) on all printed materials intended for the end consumer, e. G. Cocktail menus, posters, business cards, napkins. Use CAR codes on printed materials (cocktail menus, posters, shelf talkers and neck hangers) and ensure that it directs consumers to the most relevant page on Absolutes website. Run a promotional offer/competition and direct consumers to a unique URL on the Absolute website to download a voucher for a complimentary Absolute cocktail, a discount on their next purchase of Absolute or, to enter the competition for a chance to win an Absolute Experience.
Submit articles on the featured collaborators for The Art Wars campaign to local print media and publications for inclusion in their upcoming issue (Public Relations). Showcase Absolute through featured cocktails created based on the final artworks and showcase the final artworks through events/exhibitions hosted at select bars. Driving Website Traffic To drive traffic using social media, Litany (2013) suggests having a clear plan for how a websites content will be mapped out so that viewers will want to share it – content can be shared by leaving traces of the website on social media through status updates or putting up links with interesting and playful titles, e. G.
True Originals; joining and creating social groups such as Twitter to distribute website content whilst remaining relevant to the discussion; strategic blob commenting to lead viewers to another blob that may address the same topic; and crating content (it is not accessory for content to always be ‘original’, Just for it to be relevant and interesting to the target audience). Truce (2013) contends that content marketing helps build relationships with the target market and improves search rankings. Content must be recent, of high quality, engaging and shareable, e. G. Exhibition schedules, video interviews with collaborating artists/bartenders, how-to Absolute cocktail videos, cocktail recipes, articles relevant to the brand/campaign, shopping lists. Marketing more streamlined and efficient way’ (Rimier, 2013) – allows the delivery of relevant offers and personalized content in a timely manner, improving leads and conversions on the website.
Lieberman (2013) suggests that interactive content can help maximize the benefits of marketing automation by creating a dialogue with the target audience resulting in an exchange of information. Placing interactive content – consumer or brand surveys, quizzes and assessments – in email templates can significantly improve open and click-through rates. Marketing automation can also be used for content personalization, improving conversion rates by delivering what the customer wants when they want it, e. G. Person going onto The Art Wars landing page followed by a confirmation page including a free Absolute cocktail redeemable at the upcoming Art Wars Exhibition (Polite, 2013). Social media scheduling can make social media marketing more efficient and effective when planning and organizing updates and posts.
But, finding the right balance is key in determining the best publishing frequency; monitoring (and participating) conversations is necessary for content to be engaging and; timing is crucial to remaining relevant to the target audience – sharing a digital coupon for a free Absolute cocktail at The Art Wars Exhibition held on December 15 on December 22 is not recommended. 2. 2 Capturing Leads How to Capture Leads Ninety-five percent of website visitors do not turn into leads (Gallagher, 2013). Therefore, the primary goal of any website should be to collect sales and then provide information (Moon, 2013). To do this, the website must be able to generate inbound traffic using SEE, be easy to navigate so that information is in expected places, make the call-to-action obvious and, should also incorporate an email marketing program.
To capture leads, a website needs to engage visitors and capture their contact information. One way to engage visitors is by providing them with the information that they are looking for, e. G. Features on the collaborating artists (Figure 3), cocktail recipes or generation of cocktail party shopping lists. FIGURE 3: Meet the Collaborators Source: http://www. Absolute. Com/us/collaborations/ [Accessed 5 November 2013] To capture visitors’ contact information in order to reach out and turn them into customers, it is important to ask for it. According to Narrowed (2013), asking visitors to register will get lox more potential business than waiting for them to volunteer their contact information.
But, the return for providing their contact information has to be seen as valuable – a whitepapers on the essential elements for cocktail mixing, a personal bartender app, or online coupon offers for complimentary cocktails at an Art Wars Exhibition. Social media has a role to play in capturing leads – the more integrated the brand’s social presence is with its website, the more opportunities there are for an ongoing conversation with potential customers. When someone reads Absolutes blob, registers to comment and comments, the brand now has the traffic back to Absolutes landing page; the placement of a Youth video link with owe-to drink mixing demonstrations is a great selling tool (Latin, 2011). 2. Nurturing Prospects Karee (2013) defines lead nurturing as “the process of systematically delivering a brand’s messaging and content offers in order to continue guiding prospects down the marketing funnel after they have converted and preparing them” for consumption, bearing in mind that only 27% of leads are sales ready when they first provide their details. To nurture leads an ongoing conversation with prospects must be maintained, providing further helpful, value adding, interesting and dynamic information for evaluation, e. G. Brand details and history, event schedules, collaborator features and videos. To provide a more relevant and engaging experience, segmenting using demographics helps determine what content and when. Nurturing Vehicles Although 70% of people do not open email, it can be an effective tool for nurturing leads with the application of marketing automation.