Account-Based Marketing | Here to Stay?
Growth hacking, micro moments, conversation marketing; all content marketing buzz words that have been buzzing around this year. In fact Contently have put together a list of some of the worst! Is account-based marketing (ABM) a concept that will stick and be adopted by SMEs, or is it likely to be forgotten by 2017?
What is Account-based Marketing?
Often used by B2B firms, account-based marketing brings together sales and marketing focus to a clearly defined set of target accounts. Instead of casting the net wide open and trying to appeal to as my companies as possible ABM is about working in detail on a small number of core clients.
So if you image the traditional sales funnel, built very wide at the top to attract as many prospects as possible and then narrowing to filter through the process. This technique is out with account-based marketing, and instead marketers will cherry pick the brands and organisations that make the most sense to them. Building a relationship and a strategy to work with these organisations means those accounts are getting dedicated time and resource, and also that campaigns and strategies are particularly personalised.
Why Now?
This chart from eMarketer shows that the majority of firms are considering incorporating an account-based marketing approach. The fact is that the idea has been around for years, whether labelled with this title or not. It is the advance in technology that has allowed marketers to identify these core accounts more easily and accurately in recent years.
What are the Benefits?
Clear ROI – Marketo point out that compared to other marketing initiatives, the 2014 ITSMA Account-Based Marketing Survey...
Being Sustainable | How Big Brands Are Learning From SMEs
The Charted Institute of Marketing have brought together some really nice examples of how, for big business, learning from SMEs might be very effective advice.
Many creative ideas, viral marketing and innovative campaigns have started life small, and having the ability and flexibility to be truly innovative and creative is often a trait of young and small business. Being nimble, pioneering and sustainable are other characteristics of entrepreneurial small business – and particularly qualities big businesses could do with learning from SMEs.
In the CIM’s special ‘Marketing Sustainability’ report they spoke to three thriving SMEs who have made sustainability one of their key focuses. By being sustainable they have found new marketing opportunities and new business. Here are the three SMEs the report featured.
Wyke Farm
About: Wyke Farm is muti-award winning producer of cheese and butter.
How they’re sustainable: The business is building a renowned reputation for pioneering practices, such as all energy in production coming from solar and biogas. This SME also encourages workers to continually develop sustainable innovations.
What they say: Richard Clothier, managing director said: “A lot of corporates that I speak to, particularly efficient ones that are good at lean manufacturing models, struggle with the concept of sustainability. There is often a myth that it will cost more or complicate the business. But SMEs like ours show that if you develop things incrementally, if you’re authentic and are prepared to invest in a sustainable model, you can grow the business and make it more appealing to customers.”
“The reality is that when you adapt the marketing strategy so that sustainability is at its core, the net positive impact becomes more apparent. It can actually yield savings and efficiencies that you would never achieve using a lean manufacturing strategy alone.”
Falcon Coffees
About: Flacon Coffees...
Keep Going with Amazon Go!
Amazon Go is set to launch in Seattle in early 2017 and could be the next step in revolutionising the way we shop in-store.
E-commerce and online shopping is developing almost daily, but our physical, high-street shopping experiences have been becoming more digitalized over the years too. Self-service checkouts, digital catalogues and more recently the introduction of augmented reality for some retail brands is changing the way we shop.
In what could be the next significant move for shoppers Amazon Go is a new kind of shop, that offers a new kind of experience. Walk into the shop and scan your phone (something like entering the tube) put your phone away and simply shop as normal, picking up what you want. The best bit is though, that you can simply walk out, now queuing, no checkouts!
How Does Amazon Go Work?
Amazon describe their ‘Just Walk Out’ technology to be similar to that of self-driving cars, using “computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning.” More specific information hasn’t been confirmed but it’s likely that cameras, sensors and artificial intelligence will work together to create the shopping experience of the future. But really as a user all you know need to do is have an Amazon account, which will be charged for what you take from the store shortly after you leave.
The first store in the US will be a grocery store where shoppers can quickly pick up ‘on the go’ snacks or do a bigger shop if they wish.
Amazon Go will of course give Amazon even more customer data about how...
Digital Skills Gap – The Facts
Following Google’s recent announcement promising free digital skills training to everyone in the UK, and much discussion over the past year about the ‘digital skills gap,’ I thought we’d recap on some of the facts.
Google boss Sundar Pichai announced: “No matter where you live, no matter where you’re from, no matter what your job is – you deserve access to all the information, education, and opportunity the web has to offer.” An extension of Google’s Digital Garage that has been running for the past couple of years to help SMEs and entrepreneurs make the most of digital, the initiate aims to help everyone tackle digital.
Digital Skills for SMEs
Although online tools and resources are more accessible than ever, for small and growing businesses the House of Commons Digital Skills Crisis report found that 49% of SMEs are suffering tech skill gaps in the UK. It also reported that the digital skills gap costs the UK economy around £63bn a year in lost income.
The issue is built on the fact that digital is changing so quickly, constantly. Entrepreneurs are good at what they do, which is why they go into business but keeping up with the ever evolving world of digital, and managing to successfully complete proves difficult for some. Awareness of the tools and support that are out there is one thing, finding the time to learn and develop is another. The rise in popularity of freelance and flexible workers may be a solution to some of the issues, as SMEs are able to draft in experts to work part-time or on a project basis....
Consumers Are Willing To Pay More For Purposeful Brands
Michelle Keaney, partnership director at The Marketing Academy and founder of Three Point Zero recently wrote an article for Marketing Week about responsible consumption and how consumers are willing to put their money into ‘purposeful brands.’
As we head into the busiest time of year for most e-commerce brands. Research last year from IRI and Boston Consulting Group showed that the growth of brands classed as Responsible Consumption brands has overtaken ‘conventional’ brands. One of the important points is that RC brands are able to charge a higher price – on average 58% more than regular brands.
For years studies and polls have shown that consumers are keen to shop more responsibly, and it seems now the time has come for them to actively do so. This could be down the fact that there’s more choice when it comes to purposeful brands brands, or that they’re now more accessible than ever.
The opportunity for these brands if big. Globescan’s 2016 public radar shows 40% of ‘aspirational consumers’ – the world’s emerging middle class – want to choose brands that “have a clear purpose and act in the best interests of society.” Although apparently consumers struggle to name brands that represent this purpose they look for, some examples are; Toms shoes, Ella’s Kitchen, Tesla, Cook and Method.
The Risk of Becoming Irrelevant
If responsible consumption is important to 40% of the world’s consumers – could brands that ignore RC become irrelevant? Creating wealth for shareholders is one thing, but there are a progressive amount of social capitalists who believe in addressing challenges and change when it comes to business. However, these two...
Why Online Reviews and Testimonials are So Important and How to Make Them Work For...
According to BrightLocal 92% of us read online reviews and 68% consider them a significant trust factor. So as well as building local reputation and trust, reviews can impact your rankings and testimonials can win you in-SERP stars. Many local businesses may also use third-party review sites. But what does all this mean, and what’s the difference?
Third-party reviews are reviews from customers on external sites such as Tripadvisor. Traditional testimonials are snippets taken from a customer and placed direct on your website. The thing is here, you may only choose to display the most positive testimonials on your site. Onsite reviews via website applications now allow business owners to have customer reviews posted directly on their site, often including ratings or stars, or allowing for owners to reply and comment. So there’s lots of options, and Miriam Ellis, local SEO expert at Moz suggests to yield maximum benefits, you’ve got to:
Know the guidelines and technology
Have a clear goal and a clear plan for achieving it
Commit to making a sustained effort
Each site, e.g. Google, Yelp, Facebook, etc. has a different set of guidelines in relation to customer reviews and using schema technology. For more detail about this check out the advice from David Deering on this Moz blog.
In terms of defining your goals for your own on-site consumer feedback pages, you will need to do this per city or area if you have more than one location. Here are Mike Blumenthal’s (GetFiveStars’ co-founder and renowned local SEO) top tips for creating your goals.
Be customer focused – make sure your testimonial page is easily accessible and portrays your brand well.
Be Google focused – get your testimonial page ranking well, ideally showing a star rating. You can also have...
Is this the AI game-changing smartphone?
This week, Google launched the first phone made both inside and out by Google that is set to change the landscape for smartphones as we know them.
Equipped with a whole range of advanced features, including a fingerprint sensor on the back that users can swipe to access their notifications, a fast-charging, long-lasting battery (up to seven hours in just fifteen minutes), an incredibly high-quality camera and Google Assistant. It also comes in two different sizes; the 5in (12.7cm) or 5.5in (14cm) OLED (organic light-emitting diode) screen.
Pixel is the first phone with Google Assistant built in. Somewhat like Apple’s Siri tool, users just need to say, “Ok Google” or touch and hold the Home button to activate. Labelled as “your own personal Google, always ready to help”, the tool allows you to hold a more advanced conversation with your device than any smartphone has before.
Instead of just giving commands in isolation like its competitors, Google Assistant is dialogue driven due to the advanced and sophisticated way in which it stores data. It can bring up anything on your phone from last weekend’s photos to a review of your day on request. It also offers help with directions to a location your friend gave you in a text. Just say, “navigate there.”
Now, the camera. The Pixel camera is the highest rated smartphone camera anyone has ever made, scoring a DxOMark Mobile of 89. The 12.3MP camera features an f/2.0 aperture and a sizeable 1.55 micron pixels that enable users to capture exceptionally high-quality photos in any kind of light.
Capture action shots easily with Smartburst – a tool that takes...
