Retail Industry Marketing

When it comes to the marketing industry, it’s important to stay ahead of the curve. Not long ago, digital marketing was only a whisper within corporate marketing teams – now it’s here, it’s as competitive as ever and it’s completely changing the way we do business. Here are my predictions for what’s to come over the next year.

Smart, personalised content
It’s time to stop being oh-so-frightened of data capture and start taking advantage of the fact that personalised content makes browsing the web an absolute pleasure! Take Linkedin, for example – simply log in and you’re presented with the...

When Seth Godin introduced the concept of permission marketing in 1999, it was a big idea: ask customers to accept marketing messages from you. Looking at the best uses of mobile, I believe we are at a new crossroads; one where customers request marketing messages.

Never forget that digital messages rendered on mobile devices are personal and intrusive. On the Advertising Aggravation Continuum (shown below), they are most comparable to telemarketing. We all know what happened to that traditional marketing channel and the impact on brands that abused it.

In the middle of the continuum, people...

Nostalgia is fun. One need only look at BuzzFeed’s Rewind or Facebook groups celebrating the tenets of growing up in the ‘80s to notice the popular Internet trend of commemorating childhood favorites. It’s a rush of fond memories and “walking-uphill-both-ways” pride when we recall the objects and attitudes we prized in years gone by.

One piece of nostalgia that anyone with Internet in the ‘90s can remember is the hilarity and virality of those terrible ‘90s chain emails. These emails made their unwarranted way to the inboxes of early Internet users of all ages, and they defined the...

As I write this, 93% of UK online consumers are email subscribers and 40% of these subscribers are opening, reading and responding to email on their mobile phones or tablets. If you think these statistics suggest UK consumers prefer email above all channels for receiving offers and information from brands, you are absolutely correct!

A new report from eMarketer confirms why more marketing budget is flowing to permission-based email and why email has become “The Linchpin” of integrated digital marketing strategies.

Among the key findings in the report are these:

• Econsultancy and Adestra’s Email...

Each Thursday at 11am EST, marketers from around the world join the ExactTarget user community on Twitter for a conversation about trends and campaign ideas across the interactive marketing industry. We call this virtual coffee chat the ExactTarget Café.

During a recent #ETCafe chat, we discussed how Valentine's Day marketing campaigns fared. The #ETCafe community discussed how marketers "showed the love" to their consumers... and how marketers stood them up. Our featured guest, Windsor Circle, also shared some great data, graphs, and images around this year's Valentine's Day campaigns.

Here's a...

What happens after your customer engages with your mobile program? Your welcome strategy for any new mobile customer should include a combination of channels—email, mobile, and social—to support consumers’ cross-channel behaviors.

Don’t think of “welcome” as a single message. Whether your welcome strategy covers the first 10 days or two months, as with any relationship, it takes some time to get to know each other.

Here’s a sample step-by-step welcome campaign. We’ll use a retail company’s mobile app as an example, but you’ll see how these basic ideas can apply to almost any industry.

Day 1:...

Each Thursday at 11am EST, marketers from around the world join the ExactTarget user community on Twitter for a conversation about trends and campaign ideas across the interactive marketing industry.  We call this virtual coffee chat the ExactTarget Café.

Over the past couple of months, it seems the majority of buzz and conversation in our industry has been related to mobile. From our Inspired Marketing Predictions for 2013 to redefining strategy, everything is related to the idea of mobile becoming increasingly important to the strategy of every marketer... especially retail. I debated calling this blog post "The Power of Now," because frankly... we are dealing with the idea of now. 

Give me my product now.

Let me browse products now. 

I want pricing on your product (and all your competitors) now. 

Not long ago, social changed the way people...

To be successful in a landscape where data is everywhere—from Point-of-Sale (POS) to email, Twitter, and Foursquare—retailers must learn to connect the dots and communicate with each customer as an individual. Without a unified, 360-degree view of each customer, retailers will struggle to create and execute relevant, targeted communications that drive buying decisions.

This week I’m sharing three quick wins you can implement immediately to solve the interactive marketing challenges facing retailers today.

Challenge #2: Inconsistent multi-channel marketing

Quick Win #2: Increase transactions...

In this #InspiredMarketing blog series, we have shared predictions on the future of marketing from 25 industry thought leaders. These predictions are also compiled in our new whitepaper, Inspired Marketing Predictions for 2013. In our final post of the series, Christopher Krohn of Restaurant.com shares his thoughts.

2013 Means “Game On” for Gamification

Marketing fads and gimmicks come and go— from sock puppet ads to Second Life virtual stores. Every now and then, however, true innovations emerge that revolutionize how marketers engage with customers. From where I sit, 2013 will be the year in...

In this #InspiredMarketing blog series, we are sharing predictions on the future of marketing from 25 industry thought leaders. These predictions have been compiled in our new whitepaper, Inspired Marketing Predictions for 2013. In today’s post, Linda Woolley from the DMA shares her thoughts.

Regulatory Threats Rise Up

The economic turmoil of the past four years has deeply affected the marketing industry. Yet, of all the changes I’ve observed, perhaps the most significant has been the evolution of marketing data as a highly effective driver for bottom-line growth.

According to “The Power of...

In this #InspiredMarketing blog series, we are sharing predictions on the future of marketing from 25 industry thought leaders. These predictions have been compiled in our new whitepaper, Inspired Marketing Predictions for 2013. In today’s post, David Berkowitz from 360i shares his thoughts.

3D Printing (The “D” Stands for Disruptive)

In 2012, 3D printing started to migrate from the lexicon of techie tinkerers to the business trades. By the end of 2013, marketers will need to engage in serious scenario planning to assess how 3D printing may impact their businesses.

Two companies that best...

ExactTarget is fortunate to serve some of the best brands in the world, and many of them understand how important it is to mine for customer preferences or brand advocates, improving the overall performance of their marketing campaigns. There are plenty of tools to help you do this, but the reality is, most brands are ignoring data that’s right underneath their noses!  I love this tweet from Olivier Blanchard @thebrandbuilder

"Only 59% of B2C companies use social media for market research. ‪http://bit.ly/UXXQP8  (No wonder SM isn't working for 41% of B2C companies.)"

ExactTarget partners with Vis...

In this #InspiredMarketing blog series, we are sharing predictions on the future of marketing from 25 industry thought leaders. These predictions have been compiled in our new whitepaper, Inspired Marketing Predictions for 2013. In today’s post, Phil Szomszor of Firefly Communications shares his thoughts.

B2B Social Media Comes of Age

A recent eConsultancy survey found that 67% of marketing decision makers agreed that social media is integral to their marketing mix (and only 11% disagreed). But when I speak to B2B marketing and PR leaders, the received opinion is that social media is a “consumer...

Over the next several weeks, we will be sharing predictions on the future of marketing from 25 industry thought leaders. These predictions have been compiled in our new whitepaper, Inspired Marketing Predictions for 2013. Today, Jeff Eden of DEG Digital shares his thoughts.

The Year of “Omnichannel”

Most organizations are collecting and using data to drive sales and help decisions. However, few are truly taking advantage of the opportunities in front of them to leverage that data for successful, meaningful, sustainable engagement— usually erring by being too focused on tactics without cohesive...

A few weeks ago, TechCrunch published an article about Amazon rolling out “Amazon Pages” for brands. I’ve been following along ever since, trying to figure out how these can be put to use.

Amazon Pages will be home base for brands, authors, artists, merchants, and local businesses on Amazon, where they can customize the look and feel of their pages, display hand-picked products, make posts both to Amazon and Facebook, present other engaging widgets, and view analytics to measure effectiveness. You can learn more and download the PDF guide from Amazon Marketing Services here.

All in all, it seems...