Strategy

Your brand journey is never finished

Branding is both an art and a science and it’s a living, breathing discipline that’s always changing. We can’t take a class, get a degree, and sit back on our laurels and say we’re brand “experts”. Even those of us who have been successfully making a living for a long time in building and managing brands need to stay on our toes.

That’s because we live in a world where there are unprecedented changes in technology, social media and consumer macro trends, and all of these have an impact on the way we create strong brands that engage our consumers.

The good news is there has never been a more exciting time to be a digital marketer. The bad news is that it’s never been more challenging.

That’s why if you’re going to be in the game, you’ve got to play to win and commit to continual learning. 

14 reasons behind John Lewis’ 44% increase in online sales

It proved to be a fruitful Christmas for John Lewis, with like-for-like sales up 13% in the five weeks to December 29 compared to the same period in 2011.

And the news from its ecommerce store was even more impressive. Online sales grew almost three-times faster at 44.3% and now account for a quarter of all group sales.

In fact it reached more than £800m in annual sales through Johnlewis.com in December.

So how has John Lewis managed to pull off such a massive increase in online sales? Here’s a run down of some of the reasons behind its continued success…

Are you responsive, mobile or app-based?

I was recently asked by a client “If time and money weren’t an issue, what type of mobile development would you do? Responsive, mobile or app?”

“All three,” I replied.

“Ok…  And if you could have just one?”

Most of my projects (and particularly the one in question) revolve around brand communications and loyalty programmes, here’s my running order:

Russia open its doors to homespun and foreign entrepreneurs

Behind Lenin’s Tomb in Moscow there is a small door embedded in the Kremlin Wall where Soviet rulers used to duck through on their way to presiding over the annual May Day Parade.

The door is small and, according to a Russian soldier I met there a decade ago, it was deliberately so because of Stalin’s diminutive stature.

After all, if he was about to acknowledge the size of his huge army, the last thing he needed was to be reminded of was his lack of height.  

Rather like Stalin’s door, the, er, window of opportunity for Russian entrepreneurs has been similarly narrow. Inventors and creators were employed by the State and any resulting IP or patents would be owned by the State.

300+ predictions for 2013

2013 is here and while the global economy has been a source for concern since the global Great Recession, many believe that tech and digital-heavy markets will continue to thrive in the coming year.

That’s good news whether you’re a digital marketer, developer, designer or entrepreneur, but the devil is always in the details and it’s usually easier to capitalize on an opportunity if you can spot it early.

10 lessons learned from launching a Twitter Chat

Back in September 2012, myself and fellow Ecommerce Consultant Dan Barker decided that there was a gap in the market for an ecommerce centric industry chat.

Why? You may ask.

Well, we both regularly get asked ecommerce questions via social media channels (Twitter, Google+ & LinkedIn being the most common) and we also tap into the fountain of knowledge that is our followers.  

There is a constant flow of, and demand for, knowledge sharing. This blog takes a look at what we have learned launching a Twitter chat and the mistakes we’ve made along the way.

COOKIES

Cookie compliance: Econsultancy analyses the latest ICO guidance

I’ve been on record a number of times saying that I think the EC Directives relating to cookies are fundamentally flawed. We could make a parallel with the current UK/EU Euro ‘situation’ but let’s not go there. In the UK the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has a duty to enforce these directives and, as they say, “This isn’t going away. It’s the law.”

Yesterday the ICO released its updated guidance for UK website owners. You can download the PDF from the link in the news release. 

Given the tough task of interpretation, guidance and enforcement that is the ICO’s duty, I have to say that I think this document is a valiant and comprehensive effort given the task and I’d commend them for this. I would urge you to read it for the full details. It is clearly written and quite practical.

Below are some of my initial thoughts on reading this latest guidance.

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The four Ps of Personalisation

One to one marketing is back. And this time it’s personal.

There is nothing new about the concept of personalisation. Peppers and Rogers popularised “one to one marketing” in the dotcom heyday and personalisation platforms were very much in vogue.

As companies wrestled with the subsequent crash, and the dawning reality that actually they had a long way to go in sorting out basic usability before they started on more advanced targeting and customisation, personalisation went quiet. 

Email Marketing Industry Census 2017

How do you create a marketing function fit for the future?

This was the question a newly-appointed CMO asked me recently. It’s a tough question. Almost as tough as the “What does good look like?” question we get asked all the time in the realm of digital marketing and ecommerce where reliable benchmarks or accepted best practice are hard to come by. 

The challenges and opportunities around the future of the marketing function are well known. Dealing with ‘big’ data and analytics, figuring out how social media fits in, integrated online and offline marketing, delivering a seamless customer experience across channels, working more closely with “IT”, moving from broadcast to dialogue, globalisation, innovation, personalisation, more agility, attracting and keeping the right talent. 

But how do you create a marketing function best placed to embrace these challenges and opportunities?  As ever, the answer is “it depends”. But rather than end with that consulting cop out, I wanted to draw out some of the insights we believe we at Econsultancy have observed. 

Should CMOs aspire to be CXOs?

That’s CXO as in “Chief Experience Officer” though perhaps more often called Chief Customer Officer.

A quick check on LinkedIn shows very few CXOs outside of agencies though many more Chief Customer Officers.

But job title semantics aside, the key theme is ‘customer experience’. Is it overhyped? Or is it the future of marketing?