Chart of the day: Youtube remains the main distributor channel to enhance engagement rates

Looking into the future, it is important that companies have a clear digital plan entering 2018. With a multitude of different platforms at every marketer's disposal, it can be challenging to know which ones need the most attention to connect with potential customers. However, there are some channels and media that cause the biggest disruption for marketers and their efforts to get their brand noticed. When we asked respondents about future disruptors to their busi- ness, people across the globe cited the current political landscape as a source of disruption in their jobs. For the rst time, we received a multitude of references to current events: Brexit, the current U.S. administration, economic crises, world politics, and even a call-out on currency uctuations in South Africa. For business leaders, uncertainty and fear in the political and…

Chart of the Day: Millennials  (18-34 year olds) utilize a greater range of channels before purchasing products online than Gen-X and Baby Boomers

As consumers, we are more savvy with our purchases that ever before. By the time we have finally decided to buy a particular product we will have spent a good chunk of time researching our options to try and find the best deal we can for the product that suits our needs. In research conducted by Salesforce surveying 4,000 consumers across the UK, USA and Canada, it was found that while the respondents spent most of their time researching on the internet before purchasing online they also spent a significant amount of time using multiple channels including email, in person, on mobile apps and more. Interestingly, there are significant differences between the behavior of millennials, Gen-X and Baby Bloomers. Millennials seems to not favor a particular channel after using websites with…

4 examples of omnichannel changing the retail experience

The numbers don’t lie: the days of consumers visiting their local general store to satisfy every shopping need are long gone. It’s no secret that there has been a shift in shopping preferences moving to the online world, with 67% of millennials preferring to shop online. But in recent years, even the meaning of “online shopping” has evolved. A once-simple buying journey on a retailer’s website has rapidly evolved to a complex situation, for shoppers and retailers alike. With so many shopping options, today’s consumers are often loyal to a variety of retailers and websites, including online marketplaces like Amazon and eBay, large retailers like Target, and category-specific stores like REI and Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. And it only gets more segmented from there. Consumer touchpoints are increasing with astounding velocity — and…

How to use data to optimise your multi-channel marketing

Multi-channel marketing provides businesses with the opportunity to engage with consumers across a variety of different fronts, tailoring messages for specific groups while maintaining a consistent message and brand. But it’s not simply a matter of sending your message blindly out into the ether – to achieve true success over multiple channels you need to make effective use of the data at your disposal. This article demystifies this process, helping you understand what this data is, where you need to find it and what you need to do with it. As with all marketing, a little bit of considered thought at the start of the campaign makes a real difference in the result.

Tracking your data

This may seem obvious, but the actual obtaining of your data is the most important place to start and tracking a campaign is really the only way to determine…

Sajjad Bhojani, Head of Multi Channel Marketing and Developments outlines the Dunelm process for digital strategy creation

Our recent research on managing online channels shows that many businesses still don't have a digital strategy, although a good proportion now do. Our templates and guides give ideas on how to structure digital plans, but there is also the question of what is the best process for developing online and multichannel plans and reviewing performance against targets. To help answer this question I spoke to Sajjad Bhojani,
 when he was Head of Multi Channel Marketing and Development  at Dunelm and asked to explains their process for strategy creation and ongoing management of online channels. (This case study was originally in 2014, but we're sharing again to fit in with our multichannel marketing theme, since there are some interesting learnings). Dunelm is the UK’s largest…

Research reveals marketers approaches to multichannel marketing

In partnership with Digital Doughnut, EPiServer surveyed over 200+ marketers to find out how they are tackling multichannel marketing. The resulting report presents an overview of single-channel, multichannel and omnichannel strategies, as well as insights about how well marketers feel they are able to implement these strategies. Below you will find some key findings from the report, as well as examples of companies who are successfully providing a more seamless experience for users. Over the last five years, the way that brands are communicating with their customers has fundamentally changed. Instead of adopting a single-channel, or even multichannel approach, businesses must now offer a truly seamless experience across all devices. Rather than tailoring their approach to multiple individual touch-points, the latest digital marketers are breaking down these out-dated silos and are providing customers with a single coherent view of their brand - delivering the right message,…

Exploring the difference between Omnichannel and Multichannel and the implications for designing effective User Experiences

We've all been hearing and reading quite a bit about Omnichannel Marketing of late. It’s great that companies and brands are embracing the ethos behind the term to make their products and services more connected, open and oriented towards the individual. For this reason I feel it must then share and indeed integrate with many aspects of user experience online. This article aims to summarise my thoughts on how UX approaches and the principles of UX contribute to effective omnichannel Marketing.

What is Omnichannel Marketing?

Okay, so we have to say Omnichannel is simply buzzword or phrase to describe something not new in real terms along with the related but similar multichannel marketing term. Omnichannel marketing is as a strategic marketing activity helps to define the marketing decisions that are driven by the choices that consumers have in how they engage a brand. It…

The top strategies for retail brands looking to compete online with the digital natives and pureplays

Last year Accenture’s Love Index report discovered that 4 out of the top 5 most loved brands were Digitally Native Vertical Brand (DNVB). These are 'online pureplays' brands which are born from, and function solely in the digital landscape like Netflix and Amazon. But surprisingly, the fifth company to have made that list was Walmart due to the digital experiences that it was creating. There’s a lot of emphasis on creating digital experiences and equally a lot of news around brick-and-mortar having hit a glass ceiling; It’s this dynamic that led the Huffington Post to recently report that nobody knows what’s going on with online shopping. We beg to differ. You do know what’s going on, the difficulties for a multichannel brand is knowing how to execute efficiently and track accurately. If you can relate to…

The Focus is now on Personalization across Various Channels to Drive Retail Business Growth

Ever tried going back to early nineties and visualizing how shopping used to be in those days. You would go to a store or a mall, preferably the one for which you don’t have to take a detour. Most of your shopping would be completed on weekends with family tagging along. You would rely on your friends’ advice, magazine reviews and TV ads for deciding what to buy. Your friends would also call to inform you about the latest deal or clearance sale. Fast track to the present day and you have Amazon Go. No Cashier, no checkouts; just visit the store, pick up what you want and simply walk out of the store. The shopping experience for customers has completely transformed over the years. The…

If your app marketing is reliant on a single channel, then you are setting it up to fail

When you develop a new app, all your focus on is how great your app is. But most of the developers forget that once the app is developed you need to have the right marketing strategy in place in order to reach your potential customers. This is the time when you need to decide if you are going to focus on a single marketing channel to promote your app or apply a 360 degree approach. This article will explain you why it’s important to exploit multiple channels for your marketing efforts, but before that let’s get to know what is Single and Multi channel marketing.

What is Single Channel Marketing?

Single channel marketing tends to focus on one type of marketing activity. Let’s say if you want to get more downloads for your app, you are…