DM Magazine October 2021

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eCommerce Post-Pandemic and Planning Location-Based For Holiday Marketing Shopping PM 4 0 0 5 0 8 0 3

VOL. 34 • NO. 9 • OCTOBER 2021

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The Challenge of Martech and Automation

Vol. 34 | No. 9 | October 2021

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How eCommerce Brands Can Conquer ❯ 12 the 2021 Holiday Shopping Season A New View of Digital Behaviour

DATA-DRIVEN CREATIVE

LOCATION-BASED MARKETING

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Exploring Post-Pandemic Location Based Marketing OCTOBER 2021

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How eCommerce Brands Can Conquer the 2021 Holiday Shopping Season

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ECOMMERCE

BY DARWIN LIU

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n 2020 the eCommerce industry saw an increase in consumer spending by 44 percent year over year because of the pandemic. While many government restrictions have relaxed, 2021’s holiday season is still expected to see exceptional growth in online sales.

Like so many things in 2021, Black Friday and other holidays are changing continuously. That is why we identified seven tips that every eCommerce marketer should know in order to focus brand energy in the right places and win the holiday shopping season.

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Consider Shifts in Consumer Spending and Behavior Current consumer behavior trends must be considered when creating a strategy around overall business goals. Understanding the consumer’s mindset when shopping online or in-store will help marketing initiatives when it comes down to tactics in capturing overall revenue/sales.

Consumers are hoping to get back to “normal” but are staying conscious about COVID-19 and Delta variant updates. That means making strategic online advertising more important than ever for holiday shopping.

Account for Fluctuation in Search Demand Even though trends in search demand might fluctuate, actual account performance might differ.

If demand is projected to be down in a relevant category or vertical, all is not lost! You can find pockets of growth.

To have the best chance of cultivating this growth, take a deep dive into each account with the

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following in mind: Look into projections in search demand for applicable product categories; ❯ Monitor performance more closely and often than usual to make adjustments based on realtime trends; ❯ If possible, have fluidity in promo offering/schedule to pivot as needed with fluctuations or opportunities with demand; and ❯ Audit remarketing initiatives to identify new seasonal opportunities and ensure the optimal customer experience. ❯

Be Transparent about Shipping and Supply Chain Challenges When the 2020 lockdown first began, the surge in eCommerce sales caused a scarcity of materials and shipping capacity. Even though it has been 18 months, most brands are still being affected by supply chain delays.

With all of this uncertainty, ensure that the brand does not earn a reputation of overpromising and under-delivering by being transparent with the internal team and customers. If shipping times are delayed, make sure to communicate that with the support team and customers.

Transparency with the team and consumers will not only help build trust and brand loyalty, but can also help to increase conversion rates.

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Effectively Collect and Use First-Party Data If your brand does not collect first-party data (email addresses, phone numbers, etc.) from current customers, start now.

Stop reading this article and add an email and text collection pop-up to the site.

Even if there is no solid plan for

how to use this data, having this information in the brand's hands is becoming more crucial by the day. With all of the privacy updates being put in place and the road to the “cookie-less internet,” the ability to communicate directly with customers is going to prove to be the best way to let them know about new products and sales, as well as gather valuable feedback.

Once data is in hand, create a plan for connecting meaningfully with customers. Implementing targeted and timely email and text flows based on the behaviour of an individual customer is incredibly effective.

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Re-evaluate Campaign Spending A solid, well-thoughtout spend plan is non-negotiable.

You should start by ensuring campaigns are not being limited by budget. If they are, this likely means that campaign goals are too aggressive and the system simply cannot achieve the set target in automated campaigns. Contrary to popular belief, the first step is not to increase the budget, but to increase the goal.

Next, check if all of the campaigns are scaling spend and budget limits will not be met.

It is imperative that ads are still showing leading up to promotion.

Begin pushing the week before promotion and there will be less competition in the auction.

Another important step is having a plan to scale up during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Remember the budget will not pace the same throughout each day and spend will fluctuate throughout the day as traffic surges in the later hours.

Monitoring brand terms is another key item. With such aggressive promotions,

competitors will be looking to capitalize on your brand. Check branded terms throughout the day and increase bids if need be. The top spot may be lost but that is less expensive due to relevancy score and it being your brand.

Strong, appealing promotions may be common sense, but during the holiday season, brands have to put their best foot forward.

Shoppers will likely choose where to purchase depending on the best offer.

Create Loyal Customers and Cut Through the Noise with Referrals Online brands heading into Q4 2021 have the potential for more users to come to their site and purchase products simply based on consumer shopping habits.

However, with an exponential increase in competition, both new and established brands need more ways to stand out, capture traffic, and convert users. Enter the “referral program.”

Referral programs incentivize current customers to share products with friends, family and others in their circle. It allows brands to reward their most loyal customers and leverage them as brand advocates to acquire new customers.

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With the increase in options of products on the digital market, new users benefit from a brand’s referral program because they know they can trust a brand recommended to them by a friend or family member and the noise of the market is cut through by a direct recommendation.

DARWIN LIU is the founder and CEO of X Agency, an integrated digital marketing agency of growth engineers with offices in Boston and Nashville.

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MARKETING TOOLS

The Challenge of Martech and Automation ❱ DMN.CA

BY PAULA SARTINI

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arketing technology (martech) is growing in popularity, and there is no shortage of statistics to support the benefits that technology can bring to the marketing arena.

However, while many software offerings and tools tout to help marketing teams achieve their goals and objectives, they can also add to the complexity of the day-to-day.

To start, there are more than 8,000 martech offerings available on offer for marketers to choose from. All of this choice can be a daunting and even complex task, particularly as there are no one-size-fits-all solutions. Each offering provides a solution to meet a specific need, but not knowing what you need can cost money without the benefits. This is further challenged by the need to implement solutions that will meet customer’s changing needs and expectations.

It is for this reason that marketers are looking to add more tools to the martech stack as they try to keep up with the changing martech landscape. This is supported by the World Advertising Research Centre (WARC) and BDO research which found that 76 percent of marketers want to add more tools to their marketing stack. However, before marketers add more tools to their stack, they need to reassess their needs and then implement a solution that will help them achieve their objectives.

The challenge of “upskilling” Before selecting a martech solution, marketers need to understand what the upskilling requirements will be to be able to use the solution. While automation, for example, is believed to free up employee time so that they can focus on pressing matters and strategies, many solutions can add to the complexity of the task, particularly if it requires time

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MARKETING TOOLS

campaigns and customer engagement need to manage the process, it cannot be outsourced to an automation solution to understand your customer’s needs. Marketers need to manage the process of personalized engagement to ensure that customers are not being inundated with irrelevant messaging and campaigns but rather, are receiving the right message at the right time.

This process requires human intervention, creativity and technology to work together to create the right results.

Marketing is about providing value at every customer touch point.

learning how to use the solution and to train other staff on how to use the solution. This can add extra pressure on teams as they focus time and energy on learning how to use the technology and keeping up to date on new updates and changes to the technology which can detracts from workloads.

The challenge of over automation Automation can help to minimise time spent on repetitive tasks, engage customers via bots, keep customers updated on news and product offerings via email campaigns and more. It is for this reason that 63 percent of marketers plan to increase their marketing automation budget in the next year, according to research. However, as consumer behaviour and sentiment can change, messaging must be authentic and relevant and marketers cannot rely solely on automation to get it right.

Marketing is about providing great value at every customer touch point, where email

The challenge of changing customer expectations As the marketing landscape changes and new technologies are introduced to meet changing customer’s needs, marketers must remember the core of marketing, which is about building relationships with the audience.

This must be the key factor driving technology purchasing decisions as marketers seek to free up time to pay attention to building relationships with customers.

Building relationships with customers continues to be about focusing on the human touch and emotional connection rather than the products or solutions your company sells. Technology cannot create these connections with your customers, but it can empower companies to make their customers feel special by freeing up staff to provide the human touch by engaging with customers and using data wisely to inform them of relevant offers that they would be interested in. When looking at martech it is important to look at it from a human context to determine if it will add value to your customer experience.

While there are a lot of innovative technology solutions available to

marketers today, before feeling pressured into using solutions for the sake of using them, marketers need to go back to their roots.

They need to have a great strategy, know their customers and understand how to establish emotional connections with their customers. Once they have this in place, the technologies implemented should help them to achieve this by freeing up time to enhance customer interactions and focusing on the marketing strategy.

Focus on human touch and emotional connections, rather than sales.

PAULA SARTINI is founder and CEO at BrandQuantum. BrandQuantum focuses on creating consistency of brand. Its software

solutions have been designed with security at the core and provide one platform for complete brand consistency. BrandQuantum helps leading local and global companies to deliver brand consistency across key customer touchpoints by helping employees to meet brand compliance standards in every email, document, spreadsheet and presentation.

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to learn how to use the solution, understand the data and keep the technology up to date.

For technology to be effective and make a difference, it needs to be easy to use and seamlessly integrate into the solutions users are accustomed to using daily. Many technologies require an upfront time investment in

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LOCATION-BASED MARKETING

Exploring Post-Pandemic Location Based Marketing

BY ASIF R. KHAN

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or many businesses to succeed, they don’t need to connect with customers across the world, country, or even Province. They just need to reach customers nearby who are most likely to come into their store and buy from their business.

That’s where location-based marketing comes in.

What is location-based marketing?

Location-based marketing includes any marketing tactic that targets audiences based on their geographic location. Locationbased marketing campaigns use historical customer data, location targeting, or real-time locationtracking to identify and reach specific, targeted customers.

The tactics can be used by small businesses as well as franchises and regional brands to tap into a specific local market. At the Location Based Marketing Association, we look at it as the intersection of people, places and media and the linkages between ❱ DMN.CA

geography and the opportunity to influence people in those places.

Benefits of location-based marketing Location-based marketing is an effective marketing strategy for any brand looking to connect with nearby customers because you can: ❯ Reach the customers most likely to do business with you. Through location-based marketing, you don’t waste resources reaching customers who are never going to visit your business because they live too far from your location. ❯ Drive store visits and sales.

Location-based marketing reaches customers when they are most likely to visit a store. It can effectively drive foot-traffic and encourage nearby customers to notice, visit, and buy from a specific location. In recent stats from the LBMA, “nine in ten marketers said location-based advertising and marketing resulted in higher sales.” ❯ Produce a high return on investment (ROI). When you

target the customers most likely to do business with you and stop wasting resources on reaching people who will never visit your business — you get a better bang for your buck and higher return on investment.

The key elements of effective location-based marketing Now that you know what locationbased marketing is and why it’s effective, let’s look at some elements that help you implement this strategy.

Data Data is the fuel that leads to location-based marketing success. Collecting and analyzing historical consumer data helps you pinpoint areas that are hot spots for customers, so you know where to target.

Real-time data can tell you when customers are in a specific area so you can send marketing messages when customers are primed for receiving them.

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Geotargeting Geotargeting is a paid ad campaign setting that allows you to show ads only to users within a specific postal code, city, or geographic region. You can use it to target the areas where your customers are located when running local PPC campaigns, social media ads, or other types of digital ads.

Geofencing Geofencing is the process of building a virtual boundary and showing ads to people when they move in or out of the defined area. It’s proximity marketing that uses GPS technology to show highly targeted ads to people based on where they are and what they are doing or experiencing. This is a powerful approach as you can cater messages to what people are looking for in specific locations — like presenting a mall shopper with a coupon to a restaurant in the mall.

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Location-Based Push Notifications A location-based push OCTOBER 2021

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LOCATION-BASED MARKETING

notification is a tactic that sends D a message to someone when they enter a specific region or area. The message may be an app alert or text message, and it is triggered via a type of beacon technology, geotargeting, or geofencing.

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Location-Based Augmented Reality Location-based augmented reality is the process of anchoring data or features to a specific geographic location or place. The most recognizable version of location-based augmented reality is Pokémon GO. It uses an app to scan an area to find information or bonus materials (in this case, a Pokémon).

This type of location-based marketing is relatively new but expected to grow as it creates a fun way to drive audiences to visit or engage with specific locations.

Local SEO Local SEO is a series of tactics designed to make your brand show up on search engine results pages (SERPs) when

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nearby customers search for terms related to your business. Through a series of tactics, you optimize your website and online brand presence so you are more likely to appear in top placements on SERPs and connect with nearby customers who would be likely to visit your business.

Location Pages Location pages are website pages designed to share information and promote one location of a multi-location business or franchise. Location pages are important because they give local customers a way to find information about the specific location they want to visit. It also aids in other locationbased marketing tactics because you can send paid traffic to the location page rather than the entire branded website, taking local customers directly to the information that matters to them.

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Location Tags Location tags are pieces of information in a social media post that refer to and link

back to a specific business location.

You see location tags when someone checks in on Facebook or when someone shares a photo on Instagram adds their location.

Location tags are a form of free location-based marketing as users are the ones adding and spreading info about your brand.

Start attracting more nearby customers When your customers are located in a specific geographic area, there is no need to design marketing campaigns that reach the masses. Instead, home in on a specific area and use location-based marketing tactics to target the people most likely to visit and buy from your business.

Why now is the time to start using LBM According to the Location Based Marketing Association’s (LBMA) fifth annual Global Location Trends Report 2020, 52 percent of marketers globally say their budget went toward location-based marketing, with mobile, static billboards and digital out-of-home

(DOOH) considered the top three media considered.

Amid a backdrop of increased application of location data to sell products and services, as well as drive public health awareness around COVID-19, 97 percent of North American respondents say they rely on location-based data — an increase in ten percentage points year-over-year (YoY).

The rules around location data privacy are changing, but it’s never been clearer on its value.

The industry is adjusting to target audiences rather than individuals.

The average citizen is much more aware of the value of their location data because they’ve been given more control over it, and yet, see its importance to their everyday lives when it comes to renewing a driver’s license, hailing and Uber or contact tracing in a pandemic world.

Bottom line is the value and power of location data is clear…are you ready to embrace it?

ASIF KHAN is the Founder and President of the Location Based Marketing Association, based in Pickering, Ontario.

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LOCATION-BASED MARKETING

A New View of Digital Behaviour STAFF

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he latest release from Environics Analytics is a breakthrough product which captures up-to-date visitors and visits to thousands of mobile apps and websites to support organizations in identifying trends, targeting across channels and keeping an eye on the competition. These data are updated weekly and available for standard and custom markets right down to the neighbourhood level to enhance existing web analytics and enrich insights.

The ClickScapes database is categorized by companies and interests, including travel, financial planning, education, arts and entertainment, shopping and more. Complementing other EA digital variables included in Opticks databases powered by Vividata, Numeris and AskingCanadians, ClickScapes leverages billions of data points to help analysts: ❯ Learn website and app behaviours – Use existing data with ClickScapes to understand website and app visit behaviours.

Without customer data, leverage MobileScapes by selecting a preferred location to gather visit behaviours from that location to websites, apps and interest categories; ❯ Monitor weekly and monthly trends – Track own, competitors’ and category visit trends and see how different populations compare to overall trends in Canada; ❯ Profile website and app visitors – Develop a deeper understanding of own website and app visitors, and those of competitors by connecting ClickScapes to PRIZM and DemoStats; ❯ Plan for omnichannel media execution – Target based on audience media preferences, improve digital media buying decisions and track campaign impacts week by week; and ❯ Access detailed trends and profile data for any defined geography – Analyze digital behaviour for custom catchment areas right down to the neighbourhood level. ❱ DMN.CA

How to Read ClickScapes Summary Profile - Variables The PRIZM segment composition of a Variable (individual mobile apps and websites including interest categories). The data is available for weekly and monthly time periods. The output contains data for counts of visitors and number of visit days for each variable across each time period selected. Two files are created for each area of interest selected: a PDF document and an Excel file.

The Variable that the report is ranked against is at the top of the report.

Note: The time period for the report is indicated alongside the variable.

The bar chart represents the Index value. An Index of 100 is average. Indices above 100 are above average or over-represented.

Indices below 100 are below average or under-represented. Target Segments are usually identified by selecting segments with significant % and high Indices.

Note: The bar chart and values are based on the number of individual month or week time periods selected, for the PRIZM segment composition of visitors across an aggregated set of ClickScapes variables.

The Benchmark—also referred to as the base—is indicated at the bottom of the report.

SG: Each segment is assigned to one Social Group (SG) based on the urban-rural context, home language (English, French and non-official), affluence, family status, age of maintainer and ethnicity. The SG’s are : Urban (U), Urban Fringe (F), Suburban (S), Town (T), or Rural (R).

LG: The Lifestage Groups (LG) categorize household composition according to the presence of singles, couples and families. The LG’s are Young (Y), Family (F), and Mature (M).

Code: An integer assigned to each segment.

Name: The name of the PRIZM segment.

Count: The number of people or households in the segment who exhibit that behavior. %: (Count/Total Count * 100) The weighted proportion of the population or households in each segment that exhibits that behavior.

Base Count: The number of people or households in the benchmark who exhibit that behavior.

Base %: The percentage of the population or households in the benchmark that exhibit that behavior. envisionsupport@environicsanalytics.com 888-339-3304

“We’re very excited to announce this breakthrough in mining big data,” says Jan Kestle, President and Founder of Environics Analytics. “Shifting from annual updates to weekly and monthly trends is essential to data-driven decision making. This innovative work enables marketers to better understand online and offline behaviour at this critical time.”

Developed using de-identified and aggregated data — on both mobile and home internet behaviour — along with DemoStats demographics, PRIZM segmentation and EA models, ClickScapes is “Big Data” harnessed and normalized using benchmarking data, AI and data science best practices. The result is consistent, reliable and local trend information.

ClickScapes is easily accessible via the audited, secure and privacy-compliant EA ecosystem and can be delivered through EA’s platform, ENVISION. Within ENVISION, these data are updated on a monthly basis with weekly breaks, and annually with quarterly breaks. The product is

also available through project work via EA analysts.

Working with over 100 partners in Canada, Environics Analytics continues to create mission-critical data — informing decisions from insights to activation and attribution to ROI. ClickScapes makes precision marketing campaigns accessible, easier and better for advertisers, agencies and publishers.

Environics Analytics (EA) is the premier marketing and analytical services company in Canada, helping thousands of customers across every industry sector turn data and analytics into strategy, insights and results. Established in 2003, we specialize in using best-in-class data, analytics expertise and purpose-built software to address key challenges in areas such as consumer profiling and segmentation, multichannel media planning and execution, trade area analysis, merchandising strategies and site location decision-making. Our ENVISION platform provides quick and easy access to our comprehensive and privacy-compliant databases — including the latest mobile movement

©Environics Analytics Community.environicsanalytics.com

data. Environics Analytics is owned by Bell Canada. Learn more at www.environicsanalytics.com

What’s in the database?

Choose between ClickScapes and ClickScapes Trends to access two levels of insights. Variables in both products are categorized as a Home Internet derived web behaviour or a Mobile Internet derived web behaviour. ❯ ClickScapes data are categorized by companies and interests, including travel, financial planning, education, arts and entertainment, shopping and more ❯ Unique visitors and visit days metrics available for each web behaviour variable ❯ Data are updated monthly, capturing weekly trends ❯ Available for standard and custom markets right down to the neighbourhood level ❯ Accessible via ENVISION or project work via EA analysts OCTOBER 2021

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DATA-DRIVEN CREATIVE

Maximizing “The Power of Difference” in Creative Materials

BY SCOTT THALER

D

iversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) have been the latest buzzwords in the corporate world, and several companies are implementing calls to action, suggesting that it’s important to showcase diversity now more than ever. What seems to be missing is an understanding that DEI is not a trend; it’s a longterm commitment and has been playing a huge role in creative materials for decades.

The trend that marketers have been chasing for years is the desire to find sweeping similarities in audiences to garner efficiencies in how they are targeted, even if the similarities aren’t entirely accurate.

In today’s society, our differences are rightfully celebrated. So why do marketers still marketing to their audiences as if they’re all the same?

At 9thWonder we embrace diversity by intentionally respecting individualism and celebrating our differences, or as we like to call it, honoring the Power of Difference.

Achieving the Power of Difference requires research and realistic expectations, but its benefits can take your creative content to the next level and unlock relationships with valuable audiences.

Sadly, not all companies who attempt to prioritize these differences get it right, which is why 54 percent of consumers don’t feel fully culturally represented in online advertising, and 71 percent of consumers expect brands to promote diversity and inclusion in their advertising, according to a recent Facebook Business study.

This raises a question that we must always ask ourselves as marketers: “How can we effectively integrate inclusivity into creative materials?” ❱ DMN.CA

There is no standard approach to diversity Diversity is an enormous word to define. It encompasses race, gender, religion, sexuality and more. Within those categories, diversity exists in how people identify and view themselves in society. Recognizing the scope and intersections of different identities are keys to developing inclusive content. While it’s tempting to place people into neat boxes based on their perceived identities, this practice doesn’t consider the ways people hold multiple identities and how those identities intersect. Meeting people at those intersections is where authentic relationships are formed.

Diversity goes far beyond now-normalized tropes, especially in the marketing and advertising sphere. Diversity includes one’s outlook on life and what they value in their personal and social lives — and as marketers it’s our job to dig into that.

By sticking to antiquated ideas of how consumers look, act and think, your creative materials could end up missing the vast majority of people.

Your audience will tell you what’s right Connecting with your audience and understanding their identities requires research. By this, I mean not only researching your audience from a surface level (Where do they shop? How old are they?), but digging deeper and asking more challenging questions (What do they value? How does this topic impact them?).

The Power of Difference suggests there is real power in what makes people different — different backgrounds, cultures

and experiences. We harness this thought and forge connections with these hidden or often ignored consumers, whom we call “ConsumerX” — which is, in fact, a group with buying power north of $7 trillion — and research where these audiences are getting their information from. Their influence is ready to be unleashed on behalf of brands that connect with them authentically.

Taking the time to listen and engage with your audience to understand their desires and needs helps your brand build trust with these groups and ensures that your product is valuable to the people you’re serving.

Diversity must be part of your belief systems It’s easy for companies to say they promote diversity but putting words and art into action is another thing. Plenty have tried by outwardly taking action, but forgo internal adjustments, which quickly creates conflict.

A common example is during Pride Month (celebrated annually during the month of June), companies “rainbow wash” (the use of the rainbow symbol or its colors by companies and brands to indicate solidarity with Pride, whether their own policies and actions benefit LGBTQ+ people or not) their content to show an understanding with the LGBTQ+ community. Throughout the rest of the year, however, few companies continue to recognize this community, donate to programs helping their LGBTQ+ consumer and employees or allow for true inclusion in their product or service.

Creative content should reflect the true beliefs of the company,

not just the content developed to monetize movements. This needs to be lived out loud in how your run your office, your teams you’re your brand. People’s differences should be appreciated and reflected all the time and being intentional about respecting people and their identities will naturally boost your content and help avoid tokenism.

Set realistic expectations Consumers can sniff out inauthentic content and, in today’s age, have the means to publicly address these companies and their values.

Take your time to harness the power of difference and do your research. Look internally at your organization and determine what you stand for and believe in, find a marketing and creative agency that aligns and has the tools to reach this audience, and begin to develop a plan of action to incorporate this audience into your everyday materials.

Every company is at a different stage in their journey toward an understanding, and small actions are just as valuable as grand gestures. Reflecting on where your company is at and setting tangible, realistic goals will lead to authentic outcomes.

True change takes time.

While companies may strive for efficiency when implementing DEI initiatives, the process ultimately requires patience and willingness to constantly find ways to improve. An understanding is fluid, and genuine outcomes are produced through intentional, consistent actions.

SCOTT THALER is the Chief Marketing Office for 9thWonder.

OCTOBER 2021

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