A leading email marketing expert believes adding a ’subscription pause’ option could benefit subscribers to mailing lists.
Margeret Farmakis believes the original direct marketing technique can be applied successfully to email marketing, so recipients do not return from holidays or an extended break with a clogged-up inbox.
Farmakis comments: “Just like cancelling your newspaper delivery when you’re off on holiday, this ensures that subscribers don’t come home to a mountain of out-of-date emails that will never be read.”
The expert believes subscribers are more likely to engage with a brand when they are empowered with the ability to control and shape the emails that they receive.
Marketing experts predict affiliate marketing will drive £4.62bn in UK online retail sales during the current year.
That’s the verdict of a report from Econsultancy, which estimates that the sector increased by 8 per cent in 2009 and will jump by a further 12 per cent this year.
The report suggests the sector was worth around £4.13 billion pounds last year, and the figures are set to improve further in 2010 with online sales set to hit £56 billion, according to data from the Interactive Media in Retail Group.
Aliya Zaidi, research manager at Econsultancy, believes the results demonstrate a strong future for the sector:
“Econsultancy strongly believes that the sector will continue to add value to the customer journey and drive significant sales for companies which they wouldn’t have otherwise made.”
She added: “The harsh economic climate has caused problems for the sector but it has also benefited from a shift in marketing emphasis to performance-based marketing and online channels.
“There is also increased consumer demand for bargains, coupled with the growing trend towards researching purchases online. Increased consumer thriftiness has meant opportunities for affiliates offering deals, discounts and voucher codes.”
A marketing expert has advised companies to make the most of open source technology.
Nicola Clark, features editor of Marketing Week, believes smaller companies can prosper by setting up a ‘bit.ly link’ to monitor real time statistics.
Clark believes the inexpensive option could be of great benefit to marketing companies:
“There’s no barriers to this type of technology it’s available to everybody.
“Say you were a shop and you wanted to measure how many people were visiting your blog, you could post a link to your blog on your Twitter by using www.bit.ly, which will mean that every time someone clicks on your blog you will know what time they clicked and what location that they’re in so you can get real time stats.”
A recent study by SEO Analytics suggests 47 per cent of companies only demonstrate basic levels of search engine optimisation.
An expert has claimed the internet is now the key platform for marketing across the majority of brands.
Karin von Abrams, senior analyst at research and analyst firm eMarketer, said that the web has taken up the leading role in business promotional activity – in what appears to be good news for anybody searching for web marketing jobs.
Ms Von Abrams also made it clear that digital channels and social media are now crucial as a means of reaching out to target audiences.
“Every brand or business can benefit in some way from building awareness online, or from rethinking its business processes to make full use of digital channels.
“Advertisers in the UK have also made great strides in cross-media marketing, and the expertise in this area is growing all the time.”
Earlier this year, a fascinating eMarketer report revealed that companies spent more than a tenth of their online marketing budgets on social media in 2009.
In fact, the study revealed 19 per cent of their online marketing spend went towards email channels last year.
Recently released data which shows Facebook has reached saturation point will not impact on internet marketing campaigns, a leading expert has predicted.
Web User News Editor Ben Camm-Jones has been responding to the news that the average time a UK user spends on Facebook has dipped from 30 minutes to 27.36 minutes in June.
However, Camm-Jones has pointed to the fact Facebook still accounts for 54.48 per cent of all social networking site visits:
“If Facebook continues to expand the range of games and apps available, it’ll continue to engage large numbers of people for a long time, so there is no reason for Facebook to panic.”
New research suggests email marketing is a leading contender to claim the title of the ‘powerhouse’ of promotional activity.
According to acclaimed marketing blogger Anna Russell, social marketing activity may grab the headlines in media reports on the industry, but it’s actually email marketing that is often at the heart of successful campaigns.
Russell believes digital marketing professionals should not overlook the importance of effective email marketing.
Commenting on a recent survey that shows email marketing is often used to drive traffic to Facebook and Twitter pages, Russell reveals:
“This is not surprising when one appreciates that 82 per cent of consumers connect with fewer than ten brands in the social media space.
“In fact, 71 per cent of business executives claim they use email to promote their social media presence.”
Leading sportswear company Adidas has kicked off an ambitious social media and digital marketing campaign to promote its new personal coaching technology – the miCoach app.
The clothing giant have launched a global campaign that will incorporate aspects of PR, digital and social media, TV, print and point of sale activity.
The highlight of the marketing strategy is a 60-second film that will feature some of the world’s biggest sports stars including footballer David Villa, GB athletics golden girl Jessica Ennis and tennis star Andy Murray.
The campaign shows off the potential of the miCoach app as a training tool and workout assessor.
The direct marketing industry generates £205 billion for the economy every year, according to new data.
The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has put together an inaugural Value of DM Report, which analyses the financial contribution made by the industry to UK commerce.
Aside from the revenues generated by direct marketing, it seems companies spend over £43.3 billion on direct marketing activities on an annual basis.
Email and online activity accounts for 30 per cent of direct marketing budgets, whilst catalogues and direct mail account for 28 per cent and 26 per cent respectively.
The Executive Director of the DMA, Chris Combemale, believes the results are encouraging for the sector:
“At a time of tremendous economic turmoil, the report shows that direct marketing has been a consistently solid sales generator for businesses throughout all sectors.”
Two Midlands-based firms have merged to create one of the largest marketing agencies in the region.
Staffordshire company Ward Lovett has joined forces with Interactive Marketing, a digital based company.
Interactive director Mark Roberts believes the merger will help deliver ‘complete communication solutions’ to their clientele base:
“Both Ward Lovett and Interactive Marketing have very clear strengths in different skills sets which we believe will complement each other in the merged agency.
“The synergies were apparent from the beginning of negotiations and I am delighted that we have had the opportunity to bring the companies together to form a business which we think will offer a unique proposition in the Midlands marketing industry.”
Ward Lovett director Kerst Ward has revealed the importance of merger in relation to adapting to the current marketing climate:
“Technology and the internet have prompted a massive refocus in the way marketing has developed in the last ten years.
“It’s not enough to be a specialist in a few disciplines, clients are demanding a communications service which draws on a complete ‘tool kit’ to deliver an integrated solution.
“With the changes that the merger will bring I am confident that we will be able to seamlessly combine all aspects of the marketing mix under one roof.”
McCann Manchester has been handed the task of launching the digital strategy for London 2012’s volunteer programme.
With the Games now less than two years away, there is now a renewed emphasis on hiring volunteers, or ‘Games Makers’ as they have been dubbed for the 2012 Olympics.
The agency will influence all major digital decisions in relation to the volunteering process, including the launch of an interactive Game Maker game and all social marketing activity.
The CEO of McCann Manchester, Sue Little, commented:
“Developing and delivering the digital strategy for this project is real testament to the strength in depth we have within our overall digital offering.
“One of the great benefits of our digital responsibilities is that we’ll continue supporting the Volunteering digital process right through to Games Time.”
She continued: “We firmly believe that as well as helping LOCOG [London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games] secure the volunteers it needs to deliver a successful Games, our work will help create a true legacy of volunteering and increased community involvement across the whole of the UK and we are delighted to have played a key role in this project.”
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