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How retailers can prepare their mobile apps for Black Friday
Up and down the country, retailers look towards Black Friday with a characteristic mix of excitement and anxiety.
Chris Bishop
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Millennials like me will ditch legacy banks for connected experiences
It’s a fact universally acknowledged that millennials (of who I am – just – a member) are a lost generation.
Why there should be more plaudits for digital audits
Now do you think we’re sexy?
Let’s be honest, digital website or media campaigns audits don’t sound all that sexy.
Why are we still talking omni-bollocks?
Why are we still talking omni-bollocks, when we should be talking retail?
Why all the jargon?
Why all the omni-channel cliches and the multi-channel job titles? Why all the endless debates about whether digital is right for a brand or not, or digital versus in-store?
Think affiliate marketing doesn’t work for luxury brands? Think again
Sadly, for years affiliate marketing has been seen as the poor relation of the digital advertising family.
Tracking networks and technology companies typically selling the channel as a no-frills, “no-win no-fee” way to pad out marketing plans.
What’s the point of social media for luxury brands?
Research from Emerson College’s Engagement Lab, suggests luxury brands performing well in social media engagement often lagged behind in word-of-mouth (WOM) performance.
At the same time, brands who performed well in the WOM arena were making less impact in social media.
Luxury retailer discounting on Singles’ Day: Will they do it again on Black Friday?
Earlier this week I wrote an article on Econsultancy about Black Friday and whether UK retailers will abstain or get involved with the American inspired retail holiday.
Well, like in politics, a week is a long time in retail. Today might be Armistice Day in Europe, and a day of sombre reflection, but in China it’s the wildly popular Singles’ Day sales frenzy.
Are we doing Black Friday in the UK or not?
It’s that time of year again; the weather’s miserable, tear jerking Christmas ads are back on the telly, and everyone in British retail is trying to decide what to do about Black Friday.
Are you ready to start paying for your social media?
Last week, Snapchat’s announcement that it will charge $750,000 for a disappearing ad on its platform drove an audible gasp from the industry.
Although this has resulted in mass shock across Marketing Directors and Community Managers, it does highlight one thing: the (always inaccurate) myth that social media is free is certainly over: 2015 is the year for paid amplification on social.
Seven tips to achieve profitable sales via generic PPC
Are you just throwing money away on your PPC generics, or even questioning the worth?
An emerging trend from the brands that I speak to on a day to day basis, as well as industry leaders, is the questioning of the value of spending money on generic paid search adverts and whether this budget is better reallocated into solely brand terms, or even other marketing channels.
So whilst profusely stating the benefits of this approach as a customer acquisition strategy, I am often shocked when auditing brands’ existing PPC accounts (monthly spend ranging from £5,000 – £150,000).
The overall quality of search campaigns from a range of boutiques, high-street brands and multi-nationals are worringly sub-standard.
It is only then that I begin to understand the scepticism that this digital media tactic can effectively and efficiently drive greater branding awareness and ultimately revenue.
Negative SEO: still taboo or becoming an accepted practice?
It can sometimes get a bit murky in the digital marketing world, with slander, extortion and Google penalties all potential weapons for practitioners of negative SEO.
This article aims to look at the current state of negative SEO, its place in the industry, how search engines are reacting/might react and significantly, ways to proactively detect negative SEO.
The future of SEO was PR, is it CRO now?
Staying ahead of the Google curve can be a feat in itself if you spend all day analysing keyword saturation rates and anchor text diversity. All SEOs need to remember it’s important sometimes to go back to basics to see the bigger picture.
Are we sculpting keywords and orchestrating anchor text to give Google-bot an easier job? No! We’re trying to make the internet a more productive and valued place, where users are able to locate worthy content easily and intuitively, and the same principle should be applied to all facets of our businesses, be it in store or online.
So instead of relying on SEO/PR practices, we should be thinking about how we can add value, and improve the customer engagement through other methods. What about Conversion Rate Optimisation?
A conversion health pack would certainly improve overall performance and budgets, but will enhancing usability improve SEO?
It could take a manual review to fully interpret all usability improvements, but even if this doesn’t occur, the algorithm still pays attention to drop rates, engagement (time spent on page), page-views, and this group of metrics all count towards overall visibility.
So the bottom line is, as long as your developments actually enhance the user journey, you’ll see ranking gains and a higher domain authority accruing.