Online biggest driver of brand engagement for Retail brands

Newsflash: Retail

A recent study from IAB has identified that online ad spend delivers the biggest impact for retail brands within the media mix. Online was seen to drive 40% of brand engagement, whereas Press received 31% and TV 19%.

Another interesting statistic was that the retail brands surveyed spend 2.5% of their marketing budget online, seems pretty low considering these statistics.

See further details on the brand engagement study from the IAB here:

Brand engagement measurements for the store brands reviewed are listed below, the results indicate that store reputation and whether they could associate themselves with the retail brand (Affinity) provided the highest %.

If it is affinity they want (only women surveyed) then it is my opinion that online is place to give it to them, with opportunity to segment, talk in their voice, get them chatting to you (Blogs, Facebook Fan pages etc etc).

I am confident that we will see the brand engagement level for online rise this year, as more retailers turn to the web for their online promotions.

It was only yesterday that I found myself completing an online competition for Primark to win a £200 shopping spree (times are hard!).

Interesting brand engagement measurements and results from the New IAB study on retail brands:

Affinity (24.3%) - whether the store has a good reputation, and is for 'people like me'

Quality (19.3%) - that the store sells well known, high quality brands ·

Fitting one's needs (16.5%) - relating to store convenience, and whether it suits a consumer's particular tastes ·

Presence (14.7%) - a readily available, traditional store, with a national high street presence

With recession looming and purse strings tightening, businesses may want to cut back on marketing spend and for retail sites, this study indicates that online is the way to go especially as you have the ability for tighter targeting and of course have the ability to truly measure the ROI of your marketing efforts.

Trend Spotter Alert !!

This will be a quick post, just to outline, how you should really delve into Web Site Analytics.

It is important to be curious, asking the "Why?", never jump to conclusions and when looking at peaks and troughs, always have an open mind.

It is after that exercise that you can pull out your marketing plan, and say oh, it is because of my Yahoo Banner ad, that I had more conversions, or it's due to that article I submitted to XY directory. But don't look at the plan, until after your 1st review, as you may miss something rather interesting, with the question: Why ?

When on the search for trends (Google Alerts is a good one), look cross industry and notice the changes in customer expectations on and offline. When did X site realise that a helpful online assistant would be essential in their transactions.

I am noticing lately that the social, in social networking is on the rise, with industry experts posting articles on their blog, about their home lives. Connecting in a personal manner is the new way of doing business (Quote: "Sarah G"), it is knowing where to settle which is the issue (Quote: "Sarah G")

My advice and sure would be others too is to not just look at your competition, look outside, get inspiration from everywhere, and do something totally different from the one in which you are next to in natural search or sponsored listings.

Generalising is the key. I will be back with my generalisations shortly....

Sarah G

Search Timeline

History of search

1995 - AOL got people on the Internet

1999 - Yahoo Organised it

2003 - Google made it searchable

2007 - Facebook made it socialable

e-Scape Interactive envisage that the future of search will be focused around the power of the new social networks, with consumer decisions based on other peoples opinions/recommendations. We envisage that search engines of the future will display information based on: Personalisation (Vertical search & social book-marking) and intent (to buy/order/rent etc). It’s just a thought, and builds of the martini effect, anytime, anyplace, anywhere – by adding what do you want it for, what do you want to do with it. We would be interested to hear your thoughts on where you believe the future of search will be and what your ideal search engine would look like, so if you are passing by, feel free to comment:

Google / Facebook / MySpace / Someplace else ?

Get to grips with the Gartner Hype Cycle

The Hype Cycle (Gartner's 1995 model)

Basically, the hype cycle measures the buzz as well as the adoption rate.
It doesn't necessarily relate to the long-term utility - or success - of a phenomenon.
That is something that only time will tell.

For further information see:

Diagram
WikiPedia link
Introduction to the 5 phrases to 'hype cycle'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gartner

5 phrases of the Hype Cycle taken from http://www.gartner.com/

1. "Technology Trigger"The first phase of a Hype Cycle is the "technology trigger" or breakthrough, product launch or other event that generates significant press and interest.

2. "Peak of Inflated Expectations"In the next phase, a frenzy of publicity typically generates over-enthusiasm and unrealistic expectations. There may be some successful applications of a technology, but there are typically more failures.

3. "Trough of Disillusionment"Technologies enter the "trough of disillusionment" because they fail to meet expectations and quickly become unfashionable. Consequently, the press usually abandons the topic and the technology.

4. "Slope of Enlightenment"Although the press may have stopped covering the technology, some businesses continue through the "slope of enlightenment" and experiment to understand the benefits and practical application of the technology.

5. "Plateau of Productivity"A technology reaches the "plateau of productivity" as the benefits of it become widely demonstrated and accepted. The technology becomes increasingly stable and evolves in second and third generations. The final height of the plateau varies according to whether the technology is broadly applicable or benefits only a niche market.

Social Network Marketing Trends listed July 07

Recent 2007 trends include:

Face book overtaking MySpace in share of UK Internet searches - (reported by Hitwise)

Growth of Podcasts

Uptake of photo sharing software

Google bought You Tube & now offer web-wide video search.

Microsoft are going to launch a service similar to You Tube

Yahoo’s ‘Flickr’ added multilingual capabilities

Rumour that Yahoo are keen to buy Bebo, the UK’s leading social network site (as the mo), which would increase their presense in the UK market.

You Tube launched nine new international sites

Google now offer web-wide video search on Google video

e-Marketing on the move: MSN recently launched mobile portal, Google mobile and Yahoo! One search.

WebTV / Apple TV / surf in the living room TV.