Raise Your Instagram Strategy Game With Experiential Sets
Adding experiential experiences to your content marketing strategy can help grow and engage your audience online and offline. Instagram, the popular photo and video site, will celebrate its 10th birthday in 2020. According to Sprout Social, just about a billion people use Instagram regularly, with about sixty percent of these users logging in at least once a day. While Instagram isn’t the largest social site, it is remarkable for the sort of famously Instagrammable experiences that its devoted audience has come to expect from content providers. As a marketer or content marketing agency, learn one way that you can tailor your Instagram strategy to include such an experience. Developing an Instagram strategy around experiential set design Many kinds of businesses have used Instagram as part of their effective content marketing strategy. Lots of other businesses even owe their starts to this unique social platform. As an important example, Instagram has even birthed an entire cottage industry of off-line sets that creative people develop just to generate the perfect backdrop for Instagrammable experiences. Lately, these typically colorful and well-designed places have been called experiential sets. Fast Company referred to them as a sort of Disneyland for the selfie set, designed to appeal to short attention spans and a be-seen culture. Besides typically charging an admission fee, they also generally have sponsored rooms or galleries. What is experiential set design? To understand experiential set designs, it helps to consider some examples. Fast Company highlighted the Museum of Ice Cream’s debut in 2016. It launched in New York City, and then later attracted such celebrities as Kim Kardashian, Beyonce, and Katy Perry as it spread to Los Angeles and Miami. Copycats with similar ordinary themes and extraordinary sensory experiences popped up soon afterwards. Some examples include the Museum of Pizza and the Egg House. Of course, the most obviously named one is called the Museum of Selfies. No matter the theme, they’re always designed with a photogenic quality in mind; however, they usually offer a live experience that appeals to multiple senses, such as feeling, smelling, and even tasting. Naturally, the admission to the Museum of Ice Cream includes a free scoop, provided by rotating vendors, who hope to gain more exposure both offline and online. This new trend in experiential set design for events has moved to established museums or galleries and traveled as popup exhibitions. Critics have sometimes belittled these sets as dumbing down culture for the digital age and exploiting patrons by letting them pay high admission fees for superficial art and blatant advertising. Great examples of experiential settings At the same time, some efforts have been taken more seriously. As an example, The Color Factory has enjoyed serious design credibility with its focus upon color, creativity, and the way people experience spaces. They’ve even collaborated with such prestigious designers as the Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt Design Museum. While the developers keep it a kid-friendly place, The Color Factory also appeals to couples on dates, tourists, and of course, Instagram and other social media influencers. Of course, major brands have started sponsoring their own experiential settings. One good example includes the Escape the Room games that HBO sponsored at SXSW. They provided sets inspired by popular HBO shows, including Game of Thrones, Veep, and Silicone Valley. These games immersed players in the shows’ stories in an incredibly engaging way. Using experiential set design for B2B on Instagram It’s sort of intuitive to see how a B2C content marketing agency can make use of these experiential sets to help improve brand recognition and grow their audiences. For example, Refinery 29’s contribution to this new industry, 29 Rooms, has had branded rooms from such companies as Smirnoff, Kraft, and Revlon. Non-sponsoring celebrities and social influencers might simply use the interesting backdrops of the venues as imaginative settings for their photos and videos. Meanwhile, the settings themselves may benefit from plenty of online exposure, admission fees, and sponsors. At the same time, the concept of experiential sets can also lend itself very well for marketers who want to gain exposure for B2B on Instagram and other social sites. It’s important to note that a Bizzabo survey of hundreds of experienced marketers found that 87 percent of C-suite executives think live events will begin to factor much more in their marketing strategy. Turning life events into Instagrammable experiences For some good examples of way the executives might consider spending some of their marketing budgets on experiential sets for live events: Look at the Healthymagination marketing campaign by GE. They designed realistic medical settings that include demos of the ways that their tech helps improve them. For something a bit more colorful and in line with other experiential settings, consider the way that HubSpot has designed their inbound marketing conference, complete with a giant #INBOUND hashtag sculpture to remind attendees how to find their posts and tag their own. If you want to add a high-tech approach, you might even follow Intel’s lead in using immersive augmented and virtual reality tech to create a memorable and Instagrammable experience. One highlight included a hologram of one of their general managers, Gregory Bryant, speaking to the crowd. Live events can lend themselves perfectly to serving as venues for Instagrammable experiences. Of course, it’s possible to turn the setting into its own event. Businesses can create their own branded experiences, either to keep in their headquarters buildings for visitors or as a popup that they can move around to trade shows and conventions. They can use their sets to highlight their company’s history, products, and community service. All the while, they can turn this immersive experience into something very sharable, so they benefit from both offline and online attention. Should experiential sets become part of your content marketing strategy? If you can find an experiential set relevant to your business, you may find that a great venue to produce sharable content. If you’re looking for a novel, competitive edge for your content marketing agency, you might even come
Podcast Marketing: How to Create Branded Podcasts That Connect
As a content marketing agency or business, don’t overlook the power of podcast marketing to meaningfully connect with your market. As a business or content marketing agency, have you overlooked the potential of podcast marketing? Even though this might first appear like a niche tactic, you should know this audio-only kind of content has blossomed into the mainstream. Take a moment to learn more about the popularity of this media and how to start podcasting to connect yourself and your brand with an audience. Why no content marketing agency should overlook the power of podcasts According to Convince and Convert research, plenty of podcasts have connected and engaged with audiences. For instance: About 70 percent of Americans have heard of various podcasts and over half half Americans over 12 have listened to at least one. Typically, when at least half of the population has done something, it’s fair to consider it part of mainstream activity. In addition, almost one-third of people listen to at least one podcast regularly. This figure represents an increase from just about one-quarter of over-12 Americans from the previous year. To put these percentages in context, about 90 million Americans listen to at least one podcast every month, and 61 million listen each week. One good thing about podcasts is that they appear to appeal to various age groups, so almost any content marketing agency should be able to find their niche audience for podcast advertising. For instance, you can find more podcast fans under 55, but the numbers are about the same if you’re talking about listeners in their 50s, 30s, or teens. A few years ago, most people listened to podcasts on their computers but now tend to favor mobile devices that let them enjoy this content on the go. Also, as with radio, people tend to listen to podcasts while they’re attending to another task, such as driving, walking, doing chores, and finishing homework. That fact that busy people can listen to their favorite podcasts while cooking or commuting may also help account for their rise in popularity. How to start a podcast that connects with your audience Naturally, some podcast producers enjoy more attention than others. While a podcast can give you a chance to engage with a lot of people, you will always face competition for attention. As a provider of a podcast platform and training, NPR offered some valuable insights to help develop a quick connection with an audience: Get off to a strong start According to NPR’s own data, typical podcasts lose up to 35 percent of their audience within five minutes. After that, the dropout rate declines. They say that even mediocre episodes with strong introductions will perform better than great episodes with poor introductions. Some tips to help engage with audiences right away can include: Ask thought-provoking questions: Get listeners to think about their own reactions to questions. Promise more information that may either solidify or change their views. Jump right into the narrative of a story: Help the audience imagine they can see, hear, feel, or even taste a situation. A few minutes later, you can catch them up with a little background. By that time, you should already have them hooked. Present listeners with a mystery: Offer listeners a mystery or problem that might intrigue or even plague them. Promise an in-depth analysis to help find solutions. Establish a personal angle: Tell the audience why the story is personally important to you. In this case, you may start with more exposition than narrative, but you can use your experiences to help develop a connection quickly. Re-engage listeners every few minutes Your strong introduction will help you keep keep listeners engaged. At the same time, you risk losing some of your audience as you move past the intro and into the meat of the topic. Worst of all, you might feel like you’re speaking into a void, so it’s also important to keep engaging your audience to remind yourself that you have one. For instance, you might invite listeners to send feedback through social media or even contact tools that your platform provides. If possible, you can comment upon some of that feedback during your podcast. Letting the bulk of your audience know that other audience members are also engaged enough to leave feedback also helps maintain interest. Mentioning people who leave feedback and thanking them for their contribution will let them know they’re valued. Develop good descriptions and artwork For most podcasts, you will have a chance to include thumbnail artwork and text descriptions that potential listeners can view. Basically, these work like the headlines of news stories that will entice people to give your podcast a try. Try to craft these to specifically reflect both the spirit and content of your episode. The best examples evoke a reaction that will convert your potential listener into an audience member and hopefully, a fan of your brand. Can podcast advertising help your business? As with any kind of content, you should define your target market, set marketing goals, and of course include a marketing message and clear call to action. Once you understand what you hope to achieve, you can develop the sorts of content that should appeal to potential customers. You might directly advertise or simply use the podcast as a way to encourage more people to opt into your social media or subscriber list. You can also find podcast platforms that include analytics to help you see how well you’re retaining listeners and of course, eventually converting some to leads and customers. Successful marketing podcasts tend to focus upon some educational aspect that relates to the business. For instance, Ken Greene represents a financial firm, and his podcasts help his audience learn about such important personal finance topics as investing and saving money or improving credit scores. A pet food company might attract an audience by inviting vets, trainers, and other professionals to a podcast that covers various pet care topics. Just about
Is Airbnb Beating Resorts for Millennial Travel Bookings?
Most Airbnb business comes from millennial travel, so resort marketing needs to offer the travel experiences millennials still crave. Like a lot of services offered by the new sharing economy, Airbnb’s business model appeals to many millennial travelers. And since millennials now make up not only the largest generation — but the biggest one in history — any travel audience development agency needs to see courting them as key to finding more customers and sustaining growth. Learn why Airbnb appeals to millennials and how hotel and resort marketing might transform to court this large and well-traveled generation. The popularity of Airbnb for millennial travel business In order to understand why Airbnb has offered such fierce competition for traditional hotels and resorts, it’s important for an audience development agency to learn more about how millennials view travel. According to Slice Intelligence data, sourced directly from digital consumer receipts, Airbnb enjoyed an almost 90-percent revenue growth during the same period when the large hotel booking sites only increased earnings by about 19 percent. Slice Intelligence also found: Just about half of the Airbnb customers fell between the ages of 18 and 34. At the same time, that age group accounted for less than 30 percent of Marriott guests. Airbnb customers paid average nightly rates about 25-percent cheaper than hotel guests did. At the same time, they tended to stay longer. While average Airbnb prices matched most closely with budget motels, guests stayed an average of 3.5 nights, which tends to reflect typical stays of more luxurious hotels and resorts. Slice also found that almost 40 percent of their guests booked at least a month in advance, compared to an average of 23 percent on other large hotel booking websites. Since the Airbnb guests tended to stay longer, it’s fair to assume that many of Airbnb’s customers didn’t necessarily plan to save money on their overall trip. Judging by the fact that they were also more likely to book rooms well in advance, it looks like many of these travelers made careful plans to maximize value. Choosing Airbnb isn’t all about price for millennial travelers According to Airbnb’s own survey of its millennial customers, choosing the home-sharing service isn’t all about prices and value. They found this group considers travel an important aspect of their life and many prioritize it over reducing debt, saving for a home, and other long-term goals. Over 80 percent of the millennials surveyed said they wanted travel to offer them a unique and personal experience with a chance to experience local culture. A majority expressed an interest in staying in interesting neighborhoods, dining in locally run restaurants, meeting new people, and enjoying a more adventurous trip. These travelers probably don’t mind getting a good deal on their room, but they’re also motivated by the chance to set their own itineraries and experience a destination outside of what they may consider the facade of an all-inclusive resort or planned tour. Any travel audience targeting agency needs to focus on the importance of experience for younger adults and not just on prices. Younger adults also felt like Airbnb had a more sustainable and eco-friendly business model since at least originally, it focused upon simply sharing a room in a family home. How can hotel and resort marketing better compete with Airbnb? While the millennial generation makes up a large portion of Airbnb’s customers, Resonance Consultancy surveyed members of this group who had booked overnight stays within the past year. A majority still picked hotels and resorts as their first choice. By taking a look at some of the things that these travelers considered important, an audience targeting agency can demonstrate how their resorts and hotels deliver. Safety and privacy While respondents typically said that they considered price important, they also cared about safety and privacy. They felt traditional lodgings did a better job of delivering these two important considerations. Wellness, comfort, and luxury amenities Millennials may value their travel experience; however, not all prioritized the experience of staying in a local neighborhood over everything else people tend to associate with a hotel or resort stay. For instance, most Airbnb lodging lack the sort of spas and swimming pools found at luxury hotels and resorts. Business amenities Some businesses have even turned to Airbnb for employee travel. At the same time, hotels generally offer such services as business centers, meeting rooms, and high-speed WiFi to court business travelers. Price comparisons People tend to associate Airbnb with moderate prices, but according to Hotels Online, that comparison doesn’t always hold up. Particularly in some markets, average prices for Airbnb rooms sometimes meet or even exceed the average daily rates in hotels. Promotions and packages Hotels can run loyalty programs that improve the chance of repeat businesses. They also generally have the resources to put together experiential packages that might include dining, tours, and other experiences to provide a good experience and a good value. Local culture If some guests hope for more immersion in local culture, resorts and hotels are in a good position to come up with such creative ideas as a locally owned restaurant, bar hop, or street market tour. Also, traditional lodging businesses tend to employ lots of local people who can provide friendly, face-to-face service and interaction with guests 24/7. That’s not a resource that Airbnb guests can typically count on. Sustainability While sharing a home with local residents appears more sustainable than maintaining a hotel or resort, these traditional travel businesses can do their part and make certain guests know about it. Also, Airbnb has generated quite a bit of controversy lately since some property owners have invested in homes just to use as rentals, which has caused housing problems in some cities and driven up rental rates. Finding more customers by courting millennial travel Naturally, successful hotels focus upon knowing their customers. These days, they also need to court more customers by getting to know travelers who may have made decisions to book with Airbnb or
Inbound Vs. Outbound Marketing: Why Should You Care?
After years of testing different forms of online and offline marketing, marketers still debate the virtues of an inbound vs. an outbound marketing strategy. Consulting marketing pros may not always help you take sides in this debate. That’s because representatives of an outbound or an inbound marketing agency will naturally have their own biases. Before you decide which types of marketing to invest in, start by learning how inbound and outbound differ and which tactics will produce the best results for your unique business. What is an outbound marketing strategy? Outbound marketing refers to typical forms of paid advertising that you may find in print, broadcast media, and of course, on the internet. Some common examples include television or radio commercials, mailers, paid search listings, and banner ads. Businesses usually pay for this sort of advertising in order to gain recognition from a wide audience. They hope this exposure will help improve brand recognition and drive sales. Pros and cons of doing outbound marketing for your business Outbound marketing in popular shows, publications, or websites can cast a very wide net, so your business may enjoy a lot of attention. These ads can introduce new people to your brand. You may also try to target your outbound advertising to reach a particular audience. For instance, a business might have their ads run at certain times or on specific websites that are likely to attract the kind of audience they want to court. At the same time, these kind of ads typically insert themselves between the audience and whatever they wanted to hear or see. If you want to read the news, you may not appreciate having to scroll past a banner ad. Likewise, if you’re eager to watch your favorite show, you may find commercials annoying. For this reason, some marketers disparage outbound marketing by calling it interruption marketing. The advertisement interrupts whatever the consumer had intended to do. Also, an outbound marketing strategy relies upon talking to customers and prospects, but it starts a mostly one-sided conversation. Generally, you only have a short time or small space to provide your marketing message. Even if some viewers have an interest in your product or service, you have to hope that you’ve crafted your advertisement in a way that appeals to them. What is an inbound marketing strategy? If you think of outbound marketing as casting a net, you might picture inbound marketing as drawing people in with a magnet. Businesses strive to get found when consumers search for the sort of content that they or others produce about them. In that way, inbound marketing may inform, educate, and even entertain, and though it’s crafted with a marketing message, it’s not always directly selling. The internet did not give birth to inbound marketing. For instance, Jell-O almost failed so badly that the owner considered selling off his product rights and factory. An enterprising inbound marketing agency came up with the idea of passing out free Jell-O recipe books in 1904 to literally create an appetite for the product, and the company quickly rebounded. Today, marketers tend to associate inbound marketing with such internet platforms as business websites, social media, blogs, directories, and review sites. As noted in Impact, 70 percent of consumers research products before making a purchase. The right kind of content should help answer consumer’s questions, solve problems, and in some cases, even generate demand. For instance, following the early example of Jell-O, lots of food manufacturers publish recipes that feature their products. Other companies may even use less direct kinds of content that are not so much designed to sell but to are crafted to simply attract an audience that matches their typical buyer’s profile. As an example, Casper, a mattress company, publishes a wellness magazine called Woolly. How to create an inbound marketing strategy Few businesses know more about inbound marketing than HubSpot. They function somewhat as an inbound marketing agency but are better known for the services and tools that marketers use. According to HubSpot, it’s important to begin by analyzing which models tend to work well for similar companies to figure out which actions to take and which to avoid. Getting started also means figuring out how to develop an infrastructure to use for implementing the plan. For instance, a business might need to add a blog to their business website or create profiles and pages on social media sites. To develop the tactics to execute the outbound marketing plan, companies might follow these guidelines: Develop buyer personas: A buyer persona describes a fictional example of a typical customer. It might include such potentially relevant information as age, location, income, gender, and even the number of children or profession. Your personas should represent various kinds of customers you may have and could also include something about their unique motivations for calling upon a company. Outlining buyer triggers: Once you’ve developed a sample of buyer personas, you should document any events or issues that might trigger more interest in your offerings. As a simple example, Betty Crocker’s recipe site will tell you that besides making biscuits or pancakes from their baking mix, you can also use it in a simple recipe to make a quick pizza crust. The next time you go shopping, you might remember to add their product in case you get a pizza craving. Defining keywords: Now that you understand your buyer and what might lead them to buy from you, you can develop lists of keywords that they might use to search for you online. You could brainstorm and then use some keyword tools to generate these lists. If you already have analytics for your website, don’t forget to browse past searches too, particularly if you know they’ve led to conversions in the past. Develop goals: Your inbound marketing campaign goals should support your overall business goals. You also need to have a way to measure them. For instance, you may want your business to increase revenue and brand awareness. Some
Using a Reddit Marketing Strategy to Reach Niche Audiences
These Reddit marketing tips will help you reach niche audiences, improve your brand, increase traffic, and avoid common Reddit pitfalls. Almost every digital marketer knows about Neil Patel. He’s one of the internet’s top influencers and a bestselling author. When Neil Patel calls Reddit the most intimidating social platform, you have to take notice. Intimidating or not, Mr. Patel also says that the right Reddit marketing strategy can help deliver targeted traffic and many other benefits to your business. Why invest in a Reddit marketing strategy to attract a niche audience? Reddit does have a reputation for hosting a population of harsh critics and controversial topics. Disrespecting Reddit users with inauthentic marketing tactics will do your brand more harm than good and perhaps even get your account banned from the more prickly communities. Given its reputation, you might wonder if Reddit really has a place in your social media strategy. Still, according to HubSpot’s collection of Reddit statistics: Over 430 million users access the site and search the site over 46 million times each day. The site gets about 21 billion screen views every month. Reddit has over a million communities, called subreddits, and at least 130,000 of these are active. You can find subreddits dedicated to almost every interest, from cute pictures of animals to guides to navigating the dark web. As with many other social sites, the most active discussions tend to center around popular culture, public figures, and current events. HubSpot’s statistics also supported the idea that Reddit users, particularly younger ones, tend to view the site’s crowd-sourced opinions as a great place to research solutions to problems, products, and services. Done well, Reddit can provide a valuable addition to your company’s content marketing strategy. Even better, a fairly high portion of Reddit users earn at least $75,000 a year and have a college degree. This means that you have the chance to connect with a relatively high-income and educated audience. Even if that doesn’t describe your best market, you will also benefit from the Reddit user’s ability to self-select their communities. Compare that to social sites like Facebook, where users often complain they see ads and content that don’t interest them. Three important Reddit marketing tips to help attract your tribe If you’re marketing your own business or offering services from a content marketing agency, you should see how you might benefit from adding Reddit marketing to your toolbox. Make sure you take the time to understand this unique social site before you plunge in. 1. Understand Reddit’s structure If you just look at the front page, Reddit may look like a very plain bookmarking site from 2005. Indeed, back then, that’s what the original founders pictured. It was only after they added subreddit communities, that this site really took off. If you’ve never spent time on Reddit, the first thing you should do is explore the communities that align with your interests. Finding communities Communities have this URL structure: reddit.com/r/subreddit. You can also search for communities and topics in the search box at the top. As an example, a search for marketing found reddit.com/r/marketing, reddit.com/r/content_marketing, and more. If you just want to start by looking at the front page, you will also see tags by the titles that tell you which community these popular posts originated in. Post Types You may also notice three common kinds of posts on Reddit. These include media posts, text posts, and link posts. For instance, clicking the title of a linked posts will redirect you to the linked page. Posts with such media as graphics, videos, and even polls may tend to attract lots of views. Still, you may find that your thoughtful text posts drive the most conversation and engagements. As with most social sites, a mix of content types tends to perform the best over time. Voting Reddit users can vote posts up or down. Obviously, more upvotes will tend to keep your post higher on the subreddit’s page. Posts will lots of votes can even make it to the front page. So yes, you can think of Reddit as a popularity content. Your own popularity will depend upon how well you read the room — or in this case, the subreddit, the quality of your content, and sometimes, your overall reputation, called karma on Reddit. Profile page As with other social sites, you can also develop your profile page. That’s where users can see a feed of all of your post history, your overall karma, and how to content you directly. Digging Deeper into Reddit Mashable published a beginner’s guide to Reddit a few years ago, but they’ve updated it somewhat since then, so it’s still a pretty good resource for beginners. It will introduce you to Reddit’s unique culture and provide more information about Reddit’s structure and organization. 2. Present yourself as authentic While you have a good chance to post your message in front of an engaged audience, you’ve also been warned that these users may not, as they say, suffer fools lightly. The tone in subreddits varies considerably, even those with similar topics. Read the rules As you would when venturing into any new community, like an old-fashioned forum, make sure you adhere to the subreddit’s unique rules and browse enough posts to understand what kind of posts tend to gain positive notice and which either don’t gain traction or even draw criticism. Understand the community’s tone Again, the most popular types of posts can vary considerably between subreddits. If you look at r/entrepeneur, for instance, you’ll probably see a lot of serious case studies that have been developed just for that community at the top. In contrast, r/books tends to favor links to interesting articles about books and authors. To help you understand the community, you can sort posts in a variety of ways. For instance, sorting by “Hot” will show you the most popular posts. You can also find a checkbox to select such time frames as the last 24
How Casper’s D2C Method Has Customers Resting Easy at Night
Casper’s DTC product marketing agency success: Authority content, social influencers, a fun brand, and a high-quality product. When it comes to out-of-the-box selling techniques, you have to take note of Casper as a prime example. After all, they were one of the first companies to literally have their customers take mattresses right out of the box it was delivered in. While they’ve struggled with profitability, this D2C and digitally native mattress company has excelled at increasing revenue and brand recognition. Casper had a plan for moving their bottom line to the black too, though that’s been somewhat hampered by the coronavirus outbreak. Still, any product marketing agency can glean some valuable lessons by studying Casper’s model. How Casper Changed D2C Marketing for Mattresses Even though most folks spend at least one-third of their lives in bed, few consumers find mattress shopping very engaging. You’ve usually got to learn about and choose options between plush and firm, plus you need to decide between traditional, memory foam, hybrid, gel, and more. Even though most people only replace their mattress once or twice every decade, high-quality choices can range between several hundred to a few thousand dollars. So while most consumers don’t pay attention to mattresses often, they tend to spend some time considering this occasional purchase well. This can add up to a customer experience that’s often somewhat boring and stressful at the same time, which may explain why lots of consumers probably don’t replace their mattresses as often as they should. Since most mattresses are also large and bulky, customers may also have to consider the difficulty of moving it themselves or paying even more money for delivery. Mostly, consumers have to go to all of this expense and trouble for something that they generally cover up with a sheet and forget about until they decide they need to buy a new one. For most consumers, shopping for a mattress may feel more like a chore than an adventure. What’s different about Casper’s direct to consumer advertising and marketing? With its direct to consumer advertising, Casper changed this experience from a typically poor one to something that its target market, millennials, wanted to associate themselves with. Instead of having consumers go to a furniture or dedicated mattress store to consider dozens of different options and make a purchase, Casper set out to convince customers they had perfected the perfect mattress for everybody. At first, they just started with the Original model. In turn, people could simply order by that one product on the internet and get it delivered in a box to their door. Instead of thinking of getting a somewhat modestly priced mattress delivered in a cardboard box as inferior, Casper set out to make consumers perceive their model as fun, progressive, and sensible. To be fair, according to Forbes, the company’s two founders lived on the fourth floor of a walkup apartment when came up with the delivery-in-a-box idea. Instead of struggling to get a mattress home or adding to the expense by paying movers, customers could simply have their purchase mailed to them. That worked out both easier and cheaper. Casper’s D2C marketing hacks: digital and print content Mostly, any consumer marketing agency should take note of the way that Casper employed content marketing to position themselves not just as an online mattress brand but as authorities in the entire sleep industry. Besides blog, social media, and video posts, they also created their own magazine, Woolly. According to the magazine’s about page, it focuses upon wellness, comfort, and modern life. The publication’s not specifically about mattresses or even sleep but contains satire, modern art, essays, and advice. It attracts the sort of audience that the company believes would also consider sleeping on a Wooly mattress but certainly isn’t the digital version of a Casper infomercial. Woolly has been described as authentic and creative, probably exactly the way that the Casper brand wants to position itself. Casper’s advertising to their target market The company’s also supported it’s visibility by courting social influencers and celebrities. One of the most famous examples is a social post by Kylie Jenner, picturing herself moving into a bare apartment with just a Casper box on the floor beside her. According to HubSpot, that one ad doubled net sales. They also post cheerful ads in such locations as New York MTA stations and invest in TV ads. What advice could a D2C marketing agency give Casper? Judging by revenue, Casper has run very effective marketing and advertising campaigns. They’ve certainly introduced a new generation to a new way of buying a very traditional product. Still, they have a couple of problems that have hampered profitability: Infrequently purchased item: People don’t buy new mattresses very often. Even if Casper might convince customers to ditch their old mattress in favor of their product, they won’t have a chance at a repeat sale for several more years. Also, high-quality mattresses usually cost at least a few hundred dollars, so many people want to see and feel the product before they buy it. Supersized marketing budget: Gartner says average companies spend between 10 and 12 percent of their revenue on marketing. In the last few years, Casper’s has ranged in the mid-thirties to mid-forties. In comparison, Wayfair spent about 16 percent. Casper is on the way to fixing some of these issues. For one thing, they’ve started to introduce other sleep-related products to their mix. Examples include frames, pillows, and bedding. Now they even sell a line of gifts that includes dog beds, weighted blankets, and a glow light that they say helps people fall asleep. With the massive investment they make in promoting their brand, they’ve realized that they need to encourage repeat sales with smaller and more impulsive purchases. Like other online retailers, Casper has also realized that they’re missing out on a lot of customers by keeping their products out of retail stores. Even BarkBox has started placing pet supplies in Target, and Amazon has
How BarkBox’s DTC Model Fetches Customers
What can a pet product marketing agency or business learn from BarkBox’s success with their subscription, DTC retail model? Ecommerce analysts already considered pet industry marketing as one of the most rapidly growing sectors. That began years before the rapid spike in online sales generated by the coronavirus outbreak. Along with all of the good news about online pet sales, BarkBox relied upon a DTC, subscription model to rank as a notable success story. Since 2012, the company has mailed boxes of canine goodies to millions of dogs and more recently, partnered with such large retailers as Amazon and Target to open new markets. Find out how BarkBox converted so many pet owners into loyal customers. What’s novel about BarkBox’s pet industry marketing strategy? BarkBox’s business model has relied upon sending out a box of pet treats, toys, and accessories to subscribers each month. According to Business Insider, the company has mailed these boxes to over two million pets (and their owners) since its founding in 2012. To understand how this company’s pet product marketing works, it’s helpful to first take a look at the products and services they offer. What’s in a BarkBox box? To keep their offerings interesting, the packages have a theme each month. For instance, they might have a holiday-themed box in December or a dinosaur-themed assortment in June. Every month, subscribers get two toys, treats, a chew toy, and a special item for the month’s theme. In-house designers create the toys and test them on the company’s own dogs. To get started, customers create a profile by answering some questions about their dog, so the packages are somewhat customized to the pet’s diet and size. Customers can also choose between plush toys or Super-Chewer, non-plush toys. After the simple and quick subscription process, customers can choose between: One box for $29 Six months for $25 a month One year for $22 a month A Business Insider reviewer ordered the treats for her own dog and was pleased with the quantity and quality of the products she received. Treats were free from common allergens and the toys held up to rough play. Her dog appeared to like everything, and the company gives customers the option to reorder certain items on their own. They also offer a money-back guarantee in case a customer gets something in the box that their pet either doesn’t like or can’t have. In addition, BarkBox donates a percentage of their profits to services that provide free and low-cost vet services. Their pet packaging design has been described as somewhat kitschy and dog-centric, which appeals to pet owners. Overall, the reviewer felt pleased with the quality and suitability of most of the items and the value and customer service that she received for her money. How has BarkBox expanded upon their DTC subscription model? At first, the company’s pet marketing services mostly relied upon their own DTC subscriptions. More recently, they’ve expanded to offering both individual products and subscriptions on Amazon. As just one example, Fox News said they have earned revenue of over $1 million just from sales of one popular dog bed offered on the retail giant. According to Mark Meeker, the company’s CEO, the additional sales from Amazon have given them their first across-the-board profitable year. Working with Amazon, BarkBox still sold directly to consumers. They’ve also expanded to retail sales, both online and in physical stores, through a partnership with Target. A company spokesperson said that they knew lots of pet owners still bought supplies offline, and they wanted to get their products in front of these customers too. The BarkBox response to the coronavirus outbreak Even though it’s possible to find BarkBox items in some stores, they still mostly rely upon online sales, either through their own website or through Amazon. During the outbreak, eCommerce has boomed, and pet products have been a major contributor. The company has responded to the outbreak by allowing more flexibility with its subscriptions, since they understand some of their customers may face financial uncertainty. With the rise in online sales and even in pet ownership during this crisis, this flexibility hasn’t appeared to hurt them at all. In fact, it’s generated good buzz for the brand, and sales have remained strong. They’ve also responded to some common disruptions that have plagued most companies during this crisis. For instance: They’ve reported on their FAQ page that they have had to scramble with supply chains to prevent delays in production and delivery. The company has also worked with their factories to ensure proper safety precautions to protect their employees, their customers, and of course, their customers’ pets. They have also assured customers that their pet product packaging is probably safe since the CDC said that the virus would not survive on surfaces long. In any case, BarkBox appeared to do a good job addressing both customer concerns and typical issues they faced during this market disruption. In general, customers understand that they may experience some delays during a crisis. They tend to respond well when businesses communicate transparently about issues. Naturally, customers won’t tend to tolerate businesses that might take chances with their health or that of employees and communities. How did BarkBox succeed with their DTC, subscription model? In many subscription categories, BarkBox first emerged as the only company offering these kind of pet products. As consumers began to adopt this model, they may have not even had any other choices, so BarkBox got some attention for innovation. Still, even most subscription sellers deal with higher churn rates than BarkBox does. Why has this particular pet food supplier enjoyed so much success retaining customers? Typically, customers opt into these kind of subscriptions partly for convenience and value. If they’re disappointed or simply underwhelmed with the product or service, they cancel at the first opportunity. It’s fair to argue that BarkBox went out of their way to deliver quality and good service, so they didn’t have problems with armies of disgruntled customers or
Email Marketing: 10 Email Subject Line Tips to Boost CTRs
Email marketing hacks for your email marketing strategy: Use these test subject lines to engage subscribers and boost CTRs. Every year, you probably see articles that tell you email marketing has died and that you need to turn to some new technology or tactic to boost your content marketing strategy. At the same time, almost every internet user has at least one email account that they check regularly. In fact, HubSpot’s research found that an average email marketing strategy generates an astounding 3,800 percent return. If you’re not getting back $38 for each $1 you spend on email marketing, start with the very first thing that your audience will see — your subject line. Boost your email marketing strategy with these tips for effective subject lines If your own efforts or even those of an email marketing agency haven’t benefited your business, you may simple need to get more people to open up your message by crafting better subject lines. To provide you with some inspiration, consider these tested tips for attention-grabbing email subject lines. 1. Mention video Video marketing has gained plenty of attention as a way to engage people and convert customers. Data analysis from email providers have found that just mentioning video in your email subject line can boost open rates. You don’t need to include the video inside the email but can simply link to a video you have posted on your own site. 2. Add the recipient’s name If you use a CRM or other email marketing system, you should have a way to insert the name of your subscriber or customer into the subject line. Typically, anything you can do to personalize your emails should help gain attention and help the recipient find your content more valuable. With more sophisticated email apps, you can do more, but even the most basic tools generally make it easy to insert a name. 3. Try using lists and numbers List titles, like this one, “10 Email Subject Line Tips to Boost CTRs,” tend to attract attention. People appear to focus upon numbers, so that may explain the popularity of lists. Also, the list style offers content producers a way to organize a lot of information in digestible chunks, and that’s the kind of content that many internet users like to browse. 4. Appeal to FOMO To some degree, concerns about feeling left behind tend to impact almost everybody at one time or another. Perhaps it’s even a survival instinct from the times when groups offered protection against dangerous predators. Today, fear of missing out even has its own acronym — FOMO. Adding a time or quantity limit to emails about special deals can work very well. Let your audience know that your deal ends Saturday or after the first 100 responses. If you want to extend your offer later, you can always explain that you had such a good response that you wanted to please more customers. 5. Keep titles fairly brief but not too short Marketing Land reported upon a study by Retention Science, a marketing analytics company, of 540 email marketing campaigns that sent a total of about 260 million individual emails. They found: Titles with six to 10 words generated an average open rate of 21 percent. Titles with five or fewer words generated average open rates of 16 percent. Longer titles with more than 10 words generated average open rates of 14 percent. Apparently, it helps to include enough words in the title to communicate the point but not so many words that you risk losing readers. 6. Consider adding recognizable movie titles or song lyrics That same Retention Science study found that titles that incorporated movie titles or lyrics averaged over a 26-percent open rate, compared to more traditional subject lines that only averaged about 16 percent. Some mildly amusing and attention-getting example might include: Gone With the Wind — These Deals Will End Thursday I Gotta Feeling You’re Going to Love These Walking Shoes 7. Phrase titles as questions or exclamations Used carefully, punctuation can help titles stand out in a crowded inbox. An exclamation point at the end can help communicate urgency. Alternatively, questions may make your audience curious about the answer or eager to answer themselves. You might also experiment with other special characters, such as asterisks, hyphens, and quotation marks. You might also phrase the question to suggest that something will happen if the reader doesn’t take action. As an example, you’ve probably gotten emails that say you won’t get any more emails unless you respond. 8. Try to add a little humor Like you, your customers probably consider going through their packed inbox a chore some days. If you can get them to crack a smile, they’ll probably appreciate the effort. Some examples of mildly amusing subject lines could include: You’ll Like This Down Comforter Better Than Your Cat Hey, it’s Friday! You’re Just Watching the Clock Anyway! Since You Didn’t Win the Lottery Today… 9. Surprise or challenge your readers You have to take care with this, but clickbait’s a thing for a reason. Of course, you need to make sure you understand your audience pretty well because you have to walk a fine line between getting attention and giving offense. For instance, a title like “Why Your Email Subject Lines Stink” might get attention but also could turn off some readers. If you run a Florida marketing agency, you might need to tread lightly with the famous “Florida Man…” jokes. 10. Personalize your titles and content No matter how well you craft your email titles, you probably won’t enjoy the highest open rates if you can’t segment your audience and appeal to their interests. For instance, a customer who just purchased a pair of men’s hiking boots probably won’t have much interest in women’s ballet flats. On the other hand, there’s a good chance that customer might need the perfect socks to complement those boots. Why not take a little extra care to ensure
Online Pet Marketing During and After the COVID-19 Crisis
Pet marketing in 2020: Consumer confidence may have waned, but pet owners still spend money on their dogs, cats, and other pets. COVID-19 has generated plenty of concerns about health and finances all over the world. This global pandemic may have initially begun when the virus jumped from an animal to a human host. On the plus side, the CDC says that you probably don’t have to worry about pets getting sick or contributing to spreading the disease. Instead of making people leery of keeping pets, the crisis appears to have sparked interest in them. In fact, pet ownership has even increased in the United States during these days of social isolation. Even better for pet product marketing, most sectors of the industry have proven remarkably resilient to past financial downturns. Still, pet industry trends and consumer behavior have changed abruptly during the current crisis. It’s important to understand what’s different about the COVID-19 outbreak than financial slumps of the past. That way, you can develop pet product marketing plans that will attract and retain today’s customers. How has the coronavirus impacted pet marketing? Even before coronavirus, marketers have touted pet product marketing as a typically recession-proof industry. That positive view of the overall pet business held true both during the Great Recession of the last decade and in the aftermath of 9/11 two decades ago. Still, the current pandemic has generated both some new opportunities and new challenges for the pet business. For instance, previous economic downturns did not have associated stay-at-home orders and perhaps, did not occur quite this abruptly. While many retailers and marketers still have plenty of reasons to feel optimistic, others have struggled and may need to pivot their pet marketing plans rapidly in order to maintain and grow their business. Local pet services face the most obstacles The virus has generated the most challenges for local pet services. In particular, locally owned businesses may struggle to survive. Travel restrictions and increased remote work have slashed the need for such services as pet boarding, daycare, and dog walkers. Restrictions on in-person contact have limited dog groomers, even if they’re considered essential businesses. People may delay some other discretionary services as they tighten their purse strings. On the other hand, one sort of pet service has enjoyed an upswing. According to USA Today, pet shelters and adoption centers have not reported an increase in the number of pets dropped off because owners were either financially unable or too ill to take care of them. Actually, pet shelters have reported an increase in the number of people who have signed up to foster or adopt shelter pets. Because of social distancing measures, people may have decided pets can help them cope with isolation. Others may simply have found more time to care for a furry friend. Also, many shelters and sponsoring agencies have made it possible to reduce or even eliminate adoption fees. Probably for multiple reasons, expect to see pet ownership increase and not decrease during the coronavirus outbreak. Local retailers must take safety measures and find alternative business tactics Most of the government stay-at-home orders consider pet stores an essential business. That means that they can stay open, even when non-essential businesses have had to close. At the same time, they’ve generally had to take more stringent safety measures to satisfy local regulations and of course, to keep their customers and employees safe. For instance, stores might limit foot traffic, have employees use PPE, and offer curbside service or new delivery options. Keven Fink serves as the CEO of Worldwide, a pet products manufacturer. He said that many of his company’s local retailers should have prepared themselves better by leaning into online retailing a little more. He believes they should take advantage of their community presence by offering more online ordering with local pickup. In this way, customers still won’t need to pay a shipping charge. Still, they can enjoy the convenience of contact-free payments, online ordering, and in many cases, same-day pickup. Traditionally, this model has served other types of retailers with physical stores very well. In addition to other marketing, physical stores could better position themselves by adding online pet supply marketing to their existing advertising. How to benefit from the rise of online pet supply marketing Pet industry marketers will face challenges both during and shortly after the outbreak. Compared to an original project increase of five percent for 2020, the marketing research firm Packaged Facts predicts an overall 17 percent decline for the year. Most of that decline comes to a drop in such pet services as boarding, dog walking, and pet daycare services. Travel restrictions and stay-at-home orders mean that more people won’t need this kind of help. Packaged Facts also expects a somewhat more modest decline in other discretionary services and products but an increase in sales of such non-discretionary pet products as food and litter. Along with obstacles, marketers can also find some growth opportunities. Online pet supply marketing already enjoyed steady growth before the outbreak. Mobile and online sales have been surging for all sorts of eCommerce. Pet product retailers and marketers should take this as good news because historically, online sales have tended to grow the overall market instead of cannibalizing other retail sales. Packaged Facts expects online sales to reach at least 24 percent of total industry sales in 2020 and grow to over 26 percent within five years. Choosing an online platform Larger retailers and distributors may already have their own eCommerce platform. Other pet product marketers may simply take advantage of the vast audience and developed infrastructure that Amazon already offers them. If a pet product supplier has a brick-and-mortar store, either option can offer a customer base that extends far beyond their local market. Of course, many sellers have both a presence on Amazon and their own store. Managing both Amazon listings and a business website makes an marketing a bit more complex; however, it can also offer your business many
The Rise of eCommerce Marketing After COVID-19
Use eCommerce marketing to take advantage of the growing population of regular online shoppers, while avoiding the pitfalls of this digital transformation. As news of the COVID-19 pandemic spread almost as fast as the coronavirus itself, governments started encouraging people and businesses to take social distancing measures. Soon after, even the brick-and-mortar businesses that didn’t have to close their doors, often cut hours to reduce the risks to staff and customers. Both businesses and customers have experienced dramatic changes in a very short time. Still, this sudden shift in shopping behavior has allowed eCommerce to boom. How does the COVID-19 crisis impact eCommerce marketing? As with all crises, some dramatic changes are likely to remain permanent. For instance, business reliance upon eCommerce marketing had already grown at a steady pace. During the pandemic, buying and selling online suddenly spiked. These growth figures come from the Salesforce Global Shopping Index for the first quarter of 2020: Traffic growth: 16% Digital commerce growth: 20% Individual shopper growth: 4% Certainly, marketers expect eCommerce growth over time. Still, these figures from the first quarter of 2020 surpassed the 2019 holiday season, which was considered a productive one. When compared to last year, home goods increased by 51 percent. Active apparel grew by 34% and toys by 31%. Such essential goods as food and personal care items spiked up 200 percent. Is the rise of eCommerce marketing permanent? Each holiday season attracts new eCommerce business. As new shoppers get introduced to online shopping or at least, shopping at new sites, the first quarter has always surpassed the first quarter for the previous year. However, analysts don’t necessarily expect as much activity in the first quarter as occurred during the holiday season. According to CIO Magazine’s report on the impact of COVID-19 on consumer behavior and eCommerce marketing, none of this is temporary. They believe that the current crisis will create the sort of emotional bookmark that 911 and Pearl Harbor did. Some of these rapidly upset routines will cause people to revaluate and change behaviors long after the crisis has passed. To support this assertion, consider new research from the Capgemini Research Institute: Before the coronavirus pandemic, 59 percent of consumers reported a lot of interaction with brick-and-mortar stores. Just about a quarter of consumers said they expected to frequent stores as much afterwards. Within the next six or nine months, less than 40 percent of consumers said that they expected to return to previous levels of visiting physical outlets. Before the pandemic, about 30 percent of consumers reported a high level of engagement with online stores; however, 37 percent now report this behavior. In other words, consumers anticipate shopping online more and in physical stores less. Will the eCommerce boom end physical stores? Because of these survey results, Capgemini analysts agreed with CIO’s assessment that this bump in online spending would continue even after the crisis ends. At the same time, even the Amazon marketing agency doesn’t want to see local, physical stores vanish. For instance, Amazon purchased Whole Foods and opened outlets to give their customers a better experience. Prime subscriptions offer customers the choice to either save money online or inside a store. People can see, touch, and even smell products. Customers also can choose in-store pickup for deliveries, an option that has proven increasingly popular with other omnichannel outlets. Capgemini also doesn’t expect physical stores to vanish; however, shoppers may have higher expectations in the future. It’s intuitive to predict that survey respondents said they would pay more attention to sanitization issues in stores. They also said that they would be more likely to patronize physical or online businesses that communicated a strong sense of purpose and a commitment to sustainability. Customers will return to stores. At the same time, they may visit stores less and be much pickier about which ones they choose to frequent. Vital eCommerce marketing tips Ecommerce marketing may enjoy a boom because of the coronavirus. At the same time, even businesses with existing eCommerce platforms have to overcome some obstacles: Pre-coronavirus, many businesses focused mostly or solely upon foot traffic and have had to abruptly change their strategy to include eCommerce marketing. This increases competition for keywords, consumer attention, and of course, online revenue. While an established eCommerce brand will enjoy some advantages, they may not entirely overcome the budgets of large companies that need to rev up online marketing fast. As CIO Magazine ironically phrased it, the digital transformation wasn’t entirely prepared for the digital transformation. Some platforms could not handle the sudden and unexpected surge to “Black Friday” traffic levels. Very commonly, retailers suffered because of supply chain disruptions and inefficiencies. Many simply didn’t have the processes and manpower in place to handle the extra business. Even Amazon had to slow down delivery of non-essential items to ensure essential products moved to their destinations quickly. With these obstacles in mind, these essential eCommerce marketing tips can help companies survive and thrive through the current crisis and beyond: Shore up supply chains: You can’t make good inventory decisions without good information. Contact manufacturers or distributors to understand how they’re coping and what you can expect from them. Hedge your bets by finding alternative suppliers. Communicate with customers: Just as you want your suppliers to keep you in the loop, your customers want to know if they can rely upon you to provide them with excellent service and reliable deliveries. These days, people also want to feel good about doing business with you by knowing that you’re striving to improve safety for them and employees. Let people know how well you’re doing through emails, your website, and social media. Revisit your understanding of customer needs: You may believe your business understood your customer very well before the crisis; however, your customers’ situations and needs have changed as abruptly as your company’s have. For example, many beauty products companies started adding hand sanitizer to their product line to help meet customer demand. Understand that customers may