Privacy Laws Are Affecting Third-Party Data (and Your Marketing)

Do you trust organizations with your personal data? How do you feel about them tracking your activity across the internet via third-party cookies? 

For decades, marketers have relied on the power of third-party data to gain insights into their customers. Without it, many of today’s most common marketing strategies would look completely different or even become obsolete. Some examples include:  

• Programmatic advertising
• SEO and keyword research
• Social media advertising
• Targeting and retargeting ads
• Audience building and segmentation

The shift from third-party data (purchased) to first-party data (business-owned) is happening whether you like it or not. This change comes with novel privacy and security challenges that, if not met head-on, will have dire consequences. In Q3 of 2022, approximately 15 million data records were exposed worldwide due to breaches.  

While 60 percent of global consumers think companies collecting their personal data is fine if that means there will be a better user experience, 90 percent worry their data is not secure. Consumers are right to be concerned — data breaches are common and can have serious side effects, from spam calls and texts to proactively replacing a credit or debit card. In a worst-case scenario, these breaches can lead to identity theft. 

When data breaches occur, they undermine consumer trust and confidence and can also affect business performance. For publicly traded companies, share prices fall an average of 3.5 percent after a breach, and share prices drop an average 15.6 percent three years after a breach. 

We recently conducted a research study to determine how professionals view these changes and how they currently gather and use data. In today’s post, we’ll discuss strategies for protecting yourself from liability and data storage and privacy best practices.

Adapting to New Changes on the Way

Cybersecurity issues are no longer isolated incidents. One recent study found that 53 percent of mid- to large-sized companies have experienced a security breach. Since only 19 percent of respondents said they have complete knowledge of where their data is stored, data storage contributes to security breaches. 

But a company’s size does not protect them from breaches. Small businesses are just as vulnerable as larger ones, especially ransomware and stolen credentials attacks. However, unlike their larger counterparts, it’s common for a data breach to put a small company out of business within a few months due to reputation damage, related costs afterward and diverting resources to resolve the issue. 

As data breaches have become more common and sophisticated in recent years, cybersecurity has become more than just an IT issue. One Gartner study found that 88 percent of boards view it as a business issue that many stakeholders need to address. Consumers are chiming in, too. More than 50 percent believe companies should be forced to adopt mandatory data protection controls after a data breach. 

Consumers, employees and business owners are paying more attention to data privacy and security. In 2022, 35 states and the District of Columbia introduced over 200 consumer privacy bills. And five states — California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, and Utah — have enacted comprehensive consumer privacy protections that have transformed the consumer data landscape.

How Marketers Feel About Third-Party Data and Privacy Laws

One in two marketers strongly agrees that data privacy laws make it harder for them to do their jobs. At the same time, 64 percent worry about the privacy of their personal data. We can appreciate enhanced privacy and security protections for our personal data while feeling frustrated in our roles as marketers. 

Add third-party cookies going away in the next few years, and consumer data is more complicated than ever. How resilient you are depends on how your organization treats data and your plan for the future. 

After conducting the research, three distinct attitudinal segments emerged: Independent, Data-Reliant and Concerned respondents. 

If you’re like the Independent marketers from our research, you’re using very little third-party data and feel confident about the quality of your customer data and how you’re managing it. Often, these marketers work for small businesses that know their customers well. As new technology like AI and cloud-based computing becomes universal, you can adopt technology strategically while keeping data privacy best practices in mind.

Data-Reliant marketers lead with strategy and value data. They also rely on third-party data to craft personalized marketing messages to their customers. Because they use third-party data for marketing initiatives, they’re more worried about the future.  

Most marketers we surveyed were in the Concerned segment. These marketers worry about their personal data and think using third-party data is risky. They think third-party data used to target advertisements makes them look like spammers. They know third-party data is going away and believe the best lists are developed in-house. If this sounds like you, put your data practices in place now, not when cookies go away. Start gathering your data today safely and securely.

Protecting Yourself From Liability

Our research shows that 70 percent of marketers use at least two data storage solutions to house data, putting them at risk for data breaches. When your data comes from multiple sources and you store it in different databases, it makes you more vulnerable to attacks. Knowing where your data is and who has access to it at any given time is essential to keeping it safe. Fortunately, following data storage and privacy best practices can eliminate your liability burden. 

1. Data is only as good as the person who enters it. Make sure you have clear guidelines when you ask a customer to enter their data into a form or when you do data entry for your business. 
2. Data can be stored for as long as the consumer allows it. While you might want to keep everything you’ve collected, data can go bad (like milk). When thinking about storing your data, consider giving your customers the ability to request their data be deleted from your database and identifying your business data retention plan.
3. Data should be cleaned constantly. That might seem daunting, but if you are using it on a consistent basis, you want to make sure it’s kept in order. Reflect this in your data retention plan and communicate it to your whole team.
4. Store your data securely. If it’s in an excel file, password protect it. If it’s through a CRM, make sure you know the user policies so you give the right permissions to the right people. If possible, make sure to require two-factor authentication for all users.

As Data Privacy Changes, Change With It

Most marketers know how to duck, bob, and weave when industry changes are out of their control. But we’re all facing dramatic changes in third-party data privacy, security and liability that require a different kind of agility. The more prepared and strategic you are, the easier it is to do your job effectively and efficiently.

Talk with other business owners on how they’re using data. Don’t work through this alone. Use your network to find out how others are dealing with the upcoming changes.

To learn more about the research study, check out our entire Executive Summary. And to explore the data yourself, check it out here.

Does this sound familiar to you? Your brand new, state-of-the-art website is finally Live! Eagerly, you await a return on your investment, giving it more and more time to deliver the results you initially anticipated.  After a few months, you are confounded by the lack of qualified leads, stagnant site traffic, and your ranking on Google Search is buried deeper than the distant relatives you recently discovered while searching Ancestory.com.

Unfortunately, this scenario is one we hear about all too often. As disappointing as it is for us, we understand that it is exponentially more frustrating and disheartening for you – the business owner, especially, after investing large sums of money into the empty promises of easy sales.

An optimized website is an important foundation- but just because you built it doesn’t mean they will come!  Your website (if easily found) is only one piece of the digital puzzle.  To reach your ideal customers and obtain qualified leads depends upon the complete picture presented online.

What is a Digital Brand Presence?

Your Digital Brand Presence is the perception of your company based on all available information across the internet.  This online portfolio consists of your corporate website, social media platforms and posted content, media exposure, and digital advertising. These components connect to create a lasting impression of your business on potential customers and ultimately tell your story.

• Corporate Website – Your digital location that houses all information about who you are, what you do, why you do it, where you do it, and when you do it.
• Social Media Platforms – These should display any corporate events, celebrations, milestones, announcements, answer questions, display product or service videos, and notify customers of pertinent information regarding your company.
• National or Local media coverage of your business should be shared throughout all of your online social media platforms and website.
• Digital advertising- Google Ads, boosted social posts, etc. should be placed in front of your target audience when and where they hang out online.

Why is a Comprehensive Digital Brand Presence Important?

Simply put, your customers are located on the internet and that is where they spend the majority of their time. Having a comprehensive digital presence where you have the strongest visibility is vital.

• As of 2019 and 2020, the average daily social media usage of internet users worldwide amounted to 145 minutes per day, up from 142 minutes in the previous year.[1]
• In 2019, Americans spent over 12 hours a day on major media including television, newspapers, magazines, radio, and digital formats.[2]

Therefore, if a brand is lacking an online presence they are missing out on beneficial interactions with their audience. These interactions could help increase brand awareness, brand relevance, and overall company growth.

How does a Digital Brand Presence Impact your Business?

Nine out of 10 B2B buyers say online content has a moderate to major effect on purchasing decisions.[3] Establishing trust and credibility for a brand is one benefit to having an online presence. More times than not, a consumer or B2B buyer is going to do their research on a business (and their competitors) before they ever decide to make a purchase.  In order for consumers to do their research and prove your validity they must be able to find you online as 67% of the buyer’s journey is now done digitally.[4]

One of the biggest impacts digital brand presence has on a business is the ability to engage with consumers on a human level. This engagement could come in the form of replying to comments, answering questions, or responding to problems or criticism in real time. Additionally, being able to reach customers on a massive scale has a non-disputable impact of curating a consistent web presence. Not only will you be able to be seen by more users, but you will increase your brand’s relevancy.

How Do you Own your Brand Presence?

Be proactive, take control of your online image and potential customers perceptions.  Start by creating a webpage that best reflects your brand and is optimized to the way your customers are trying to find you. But don’t just focus on your website – think beyond that. Look at your social media pages, what information is there, how often it is updated, and what story you are telling through it? Does the information posted reflect your true brand identity? Your content should be original and consistent in tone, style, and messaging. Review your Google My Business listing to make sure it is complete and accurate.  In addition, you may need to look into adding an online directory listing service to improve your 1^st page rankings.

It is also crucial that your site is optimized for mobile devices. In 2021, 53.9% of all retail e-commerce is expected to be generated via (mobile) m-commerce.[5] Here are some tips to ensure your website is mobile-optimized. [6]

• Your website should be programmed to intuitively adapt to whatever device is accessing it in order to provide the most user-friendly experience
• Tap-Friendly: make sure all buttons, links and calls to action have the appropriate size and margin to prevent errors.
• Text Phone Numbers: Make sure all phone numbers are text and not images so users can tap-to-call, or copy and paste the number to share with a friend.
• Visual Content: Since mobile websites are usually viewed on the go and on much smaller screens, utilizing visual content such as infographics and videos will be preferred over reading lengthy text.
• Main Navigation: increase padding around menu items so it’s easy for the user to read and tap on menu items.
• Contact Forms: Increase form input fields so it’s easy for the user to fill out the form.[7]

A comprehensive digital brand presence connects you with your target audience where they reside online.  By consistently engaging your current and potential customers with accessible information and value-added content (how-to-videos, demonstrations, FAQs, etc.) consumers are seeking about your brand adds to your brand relevancy, increases your brand awareness, and helps to continuously grow your business.  By following the tips and strategies presented here you are sure to set your brand far above the competition.  If you would like further information or assistance on developing a digital brand presence, our digital experts are ready to help! Contact us today.    

Sources:

[1] H. Tankovska, Daily social media usage worldwide 2012-2020 (Feb 8,2021) (available at https://www.statista.com/statistics/433871/daily-social-media-usage-worldwide/#:~:text=As%20of%202019%2C%20the%20average,minutes%20in%20the%20previous%20year.?ref=DigitalMarketing.org).

[2]  A. Watson, Time spent with media in the U.S. 2011-2022 (Jun 17,2020) (available at https://www.statista.com/statistics/278544/time-spent-with-media-in-the-us/).

[3] https://www.themarketingblender.com/statistics-boost-sales/(cmocouncil)

[4] https://www.themarketingblender.com/statistics-boost-sales/(siriusdecisions)

[5] https://www.statista.com/statistics/249863/us-mobile-retail-commerce-sales-as-percentage-of-e-commerce-sales/

[6] https://www.outerboxdesign.com/web-design-articles/mobile-ecommerce-statistics

[7] https://www.outerboxdesign.com/web-design-articles/mobile-ecommerce-statisticsar

As people stayed home for much of March and April, they unsurprisingly consumed more mobile media. The added mobile time, however, wasn’t distributed equally. Some long-term trends, such as greater consumer interest in mobile video and gaming, accelerated as people looked to kill more time. Other longer-term trends, including digital audio, stagnated as commuting time fell precipitously.

This year, time spent with mobile video apps will gain 10 minutes, second only to social media. Overall, mobile video will gain 5 minutes, since video watched via mobile web has decreased as people continue to shift such viewing to apps or other devices. The growth in mobile video is part of a bigger trend toward digital video. We expect that the average US adult will watch more than 2 hours of digital video daily in 2020, up 19 minutes from 2019.

The pandemic accelerated a longstanding trend—digital video increased 12 minutes in 2019 and will increase by a further 5 minutes in 2021. The biggest growth is coming via connected TVs, but mobile video is steadily increasing.

At home, people are watching videos of all types. For example, while traditional TV time will get a boost this year, pre-established decline trends will resume in 2021. Digital video across devices, however, is set to grow strongly for the foreseeable future.

It’s forecasted that mobile gaming will also gain minutes as a result of the pandemic. US adults will play mobile app games for 26 minutes on average, a 3-minute increase. By comparison, mobile gaming added 2 minutes in 2019.

Jun Group, a mobile ad firm that places 85% of its ads within mobile games, saw in-app audience ad requests jump 98% between March 12 and April 5. Although this doesn’t necessarily indicate a doubling of time spent among mobile gamers, it does signify a substantial increase in mobile gaming.

Game developers have been actively trying to lure new users during the lockdown. Attribution platform AppsFlyer reported that in-app marketing boosted marketing in gaming apps in the second half of March, resulting in a 50% increase in in-app gaming revenues between mid-March and May 4.

It’s difficult to imagine shopping for scarves and sweaters in this sweltering summer heat; however, the holiday season is right around the corner! Unfortunately, it looks as though we may be celebrating Christmas Corona-style this year.  Retailers across the globe are facing a host of challenges in the aftermath of lockdowns and the impending uncertainty of the fall and winter months. Many retailers have concerns about supply chain issues, temporary staffing, securing their online presence, and ensuring excellent customer experiences, both online and in-person.  If we have learned anything over the past six months, it’s that businesses must be digitally ready for whatever is to come to remain competitive.

How can retailers prepare for this busy season amidst all of the chaos? In February 2020, as COVID took hold of the US, eMarketer predicted the 2020 holiday season total retail spend to increase by 3.4% to $1.042 trillion and E-commerce spend to increase by 13.9% to $156.69 billion. Will these predictions hold up in the era of Coronavirus? Could E-commerce exceed expectations as brick-and-mortar retailers are forced to impose COVID protocols on in-store customers?  In order to answer these questions and more, let’s carefully review pre-pandemic 2019 holiday statistics to provide us with insights as we prepare for what’s ahead.

General Holiday E-Commerce Statistics

2019 was the first holiday season to pass the trillion-dollar mark in retail sales. Brick-and-mortar retail and e-commerce spending totaled $1.007 trillion. (eMarketer)

Brick-and-mortar revenue comprised $869.4 billion of the total season’s revenue, a growth of 2.4% year over year. (eMarketer)

Online spending in the U.S. increased by 13.1% with a total of $142.5 billion spent. (Adobe)

When asked how they’d split their holiday shopping, consumers indicated they’d use the following channels:

• 59% online shopping
• 36% in-store shopping (Deloitte)

Average daily sales totaled $2.3 billion. Every day netted over $1 billion in sales with the exception of Christmas Eve, which brought in $850 million. (Adobe)

Thanksgiving 2019 posted $4.2 billion in sales in the U.S. alone. This was a 14.5% increase from the previous year. (Adobe)

Black Friday 2019 sales totaled $7.4 billion in the U.S., making it the second most profitable day of the season. It was a 19.6% increase from 2018. (Adobe)

Cyber Monday 2019 had the highest single-day sales in history, totaling $9.4 billion. This was a 19.7% increase from last year. (Adobe)

There were $2.8 billion in sales made between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Cyber Monday. More money was spent in this four-hour timeframe than the average day’s sales during the holiday season. (Adobe)

The five-day Cyber Week (Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday) brought in a total of $28.5 billion in the U.S. (Statista)

$1 of every $5 spent online during the holiday season took place during Cyber Week, an 18% increase from the previous year. (Adobe)

Holiday Shopper Spending Trends

In 2019, 89.29% of Americans planned to buy gifts during the holiday season. (Finder)

82.3% of consumers planned to shop primarily with Amazon for their holiday gifts. (Statista)

On average, consumers distributed their holiday spend between the following:

• $596 on experiences
• $511 on gifts
• $389 on non-gifts (Deloitte)

The average family spend over the 2019 holiday season was $1496. (Deloitte)

60% of all holiday sales came from big spenders (those who spent over $2100). (Deloitte)

Early-bird shoppers spend more on average. Consumers who do holiday shopping before Thanksgiving spend nearly $400 more than their later counterparts. (Deloitte)

Spending habits change based on where people live. For instance, urban shoppers planned to spend $843 while rural shoppers planned to spend $636. (NPD)

The most popular categories to spend money on were:

• Clothing and accessories 26%
• Food, beverage, health, and wellness 20%
• Toys and hobbies 17%
• Electronics and accessories 15%
• Home and kitchen 9% (Deloitte)

Holiday shoppers don’t just spend money on gifts. They also spend money on socialization:

• Restaurant dining 59%
• Hotel or Resort stays 25%
• Ground travel 25%
• Air travel 18% (Deloitte)

60% of holiday shoppers start buying Christmas gifts before December 1. (Statista)

However, the average holiday shopper in the U.S. has 53% of their shopping still remaining in December. (Think with Google)

Only 26% of shoppers complete their holiday shopping before Cyber Week. (Think with Google)

33% of consumers will hold on buying holiday gifts until there’s a sale. (Think with Google)

Multichannel holiday shopping is more and more becoming the norm with:

• 69% of people researching online, but buying in-store
• 57% researching in-store, but buying online
• 45% buying online, picking up in-store (BOPIS) (Deloitte)

In 2019, BOPIS (buy online pick-up in-store) purchases grew 35% year over year. (Adobe)

In the seven days before Christmas, BOPIS purchases were 55% higher as last-minute shoppers rushed to get their gifts. (Adobe)

On average, BOPIS carts end up with 2.4 items with a value of $46 as opposed to the 2.9 items and $54 value of e-commerce only shopping. (Adobe)

Holiday Shopping Statistics by Device

While shoppers use a variety of devices during the holiday season, e-commerce spending was split unevenly among them:

• 4% desktop sales
• 5% mobile sales
• 1% tablet sales (Statista)

Of the total $142.5 billion in U.S. e-commerce sales, $64.29 billion came from mobile shoppers. (Statista)

Year over year, smartphone traffic was up 14%. (Adobe)

Smartphone sales were responsible for 84% of e-commerce growth during the holiday season. (Adobe)

Despite more order completion on desktop, the holiday shopping process starts on smartphones two-thirds as frequently as they do on desktop (Adobe)

On Christmas Day in the U.S., 67% of visits and 48% of online revenue came from smartphones. (Adobe)

Holiday E-commerce Marketing Statistics

49% of holiday revenue generated by email came from smartphone users. (Adobe)

64% of holiday revenue generated by social media came from smartphone users. (Adobe)

23% of consumers use social media to help with their holiday shopping. (Deloitte)

The 3 most popular uses of social media for holiday shopping are:

• 60% of shoppers read product reviews
• 53% browse product listings
• 52% look for promotions (Deloitte)

81% of consumers expect to be swayed by holiday promotions. (Deloitte)

As far as promotional incentives go, consumers prefer the following:

• Price discounts 74%
• Free shipping 72%
• BOGO 39%
• Cashback 29% (Deloitte)

61% of consumers are willing to share their personal information in exchange for better promotional offers. 34% prefer faster customer service while 31% prefer faster checkout. (Deloitte)

Consumers want the following assistance when shopping on websites and apps:

• Product recommendations 42%
• Visual search tools 17%
• Curated subscription products 7%
• Voice assistance 6%
• Chatbots 5% (Deloitte)

79% of shoppers are willing to buy from a new retailer over the holidays. (Deloitte)

Holiday shoppers say the following can sway them to buy from someone new:

• Better prices 72%
• Unique products 50%
• Coupons or discounts 27% (Deloitte)

In general, holiday shoppers are motivated by the following:

• Product assortment 76%
• Price 75%
• Convenience 64% (Deloitte)

Finally, Retail experts believe that the coronavirus may do a lot of good for e-commerce sales in the future, especially for mega e-commerce companies like Amazon. However, there’s debate over whether it’ll impact the 2020 holiday season or if it’ll start in 2021 (DigitalCommerce360).

These statistics offer key insights into consumer behaviors that will assist you in planning your holiday season.   Consumers want variety and convenience at a good price, and they want it right now. Do vistors have that experience when visiting your website now?  A solid digital marketing strategy ensures that your website is fully optimized, you’re reaching your target customers, and they’re buying from you over your competitors.  Targeted ads through social media, connected TV, and streaming radio platforms will put your holiday promotions, discounts, and special offers in front of your ideal audience. Tracking every dollar and receiving a decent return on your investment is important to your bottom line, especially now. Investing your ad dollars in proven digital marketing tactics will give you measurable results.  If you need any assistance in preparing your website or digital marketing strategy for the upcoming holiday season, our experts at KeyMedia Solutions are dedicated to helping your business succeed.  Contact us today for a free consultation and let us help make this your best holiday season yet!

Resources: https://websitesetup.org/holiday-ecommerce-marketing-statistics/

A Geofence campaign can maximize your budget when it comes to targeting a specific audience. But this doesn’t mean that it’s right for everyone. There are certain guidelines that should be followed when considering Geofencing as an option for your business.

What is Geofencing?

Geofencing uses GPS to build a virtual boundary area around specific locations, called fences. Once a customer enters the parameters of the targeted area, a Real-Time Bidding process occurs and a display ad is served through apps on mobile devices to individuals who meet the selected target audience.

Getting Started with Geofencing

When you’re in the planning stage of your campaign, it’s important to find the answers to some questions in order to discover if Geofencing is a good option for you.

• Is this a high traffic area?
• Are there multiple locations that we can target?
• Is this a static business that we’re targeting?
• How long can you target the locations?

In the rest of this article, we’ll break down each of these questions and help you decide in a Geofence campaign is right for you.

Is this a high traffic area?

There are many qualifiers that can make a Geofence campaign successful. One of these qualifiers is targeting high traffic areas. Targeting areas with a large amount of foot traffic will increase the likelihood that your ad will be seen.

What exactly is a “high traffic area?” This usually means there will be approximately 15,000 to 200,000 people visiting the targeted area over the campaign’s flight date range. This makes for a good campaign because it gives us the opportunity to spread out the ads among the people who will be at the event. This also helps by limiting the amount of times one person is served your ads.

Are there multiple locations that we can target?

Another good example of a qualifier that would make a good Geofence campaign is a strategy that targets multiple locations. This would be a good strategy to use if you wanted to reach multiple businesses in a specific area.

For example, if you operated a gym and wanted to run a conquest campaign and reach the customers of your competitors. If your competitor has multiple gym locations, you can target each location and expose their customers to your advertisements as they’re working out.

Is this a static business that we’re targeting?

The third quality that would make a good Geofence campaign would be targeting locations that are “static.” A static location is any location that always has your target audience flowing in and out of the business.

An example of a static business would be if you wanted to target advertising agencies in order to reach the business decision makers in that building. They will be in that business location five days a week, so a Geofence campaign would be a beneficial tool to reach them.

As you can see from the example, a campaign can include many different locations. Each of the circles has been identified as a high trafficked location.

How long can you target the locations?

The last question that you should ask when considering a Geofence campaign would be to find out if you’re willing to target the businesses for an extended period of time. One of the factors that we consider when determining if we should try a Geofence campaign is if we can target the locations for 1-3 months.

Targeting a location for an extended period of time not only helps expose your ad to more people, but also gives us time to optimize the campaign to deliver the best results. Based on the day-to-day performance of the campaign, our team of digital specialists is able to make adjustments to guarantee that you’re spending your budget on your target audience.

Is a Geofence Campaign right for you?

There are a lot of factors that you should consider when you decide to use Geofencing as an effective tool for your business. The data that we’ve put together shows that campaigns that exhibit at least two of the four qualities above perform the best towards our client’s goals.

If you have an event or business in mind that has high traffic, static locations, and can be targeted for long flight dates, download our Geofencing whitepaper and learn more about the capabilities Geofencing can provide for you.

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I know it sounds crazy, but we’re less than one month away from Christmas. Although Black Friday and Cyber Monday have passed, there’s still time to make the most of your holiday marketing. In fact, December has become a busier shopping time every year. With 30% of people waiting to do the majority of their shopping in the last week before Christmas, now could be the perfect time to promote your business with mobile marketing.

This year, more people than ever before will use their mobile phones to not only research products, prices, and promotions, but also make their holiday purchases. More than half of the visits to shopping sites (54 percent) will come from smartphones and tablets, surpassing desktop computers for the first time, according to Adobe Analytics’ annual suite of online holiday retail predictions.

With that in mind, here are 4 tips to make sure your business is making the most of the mobile-first shopping world this holiday season.

1) You’ve Got Email

I know our inboxes have all been flooded by the holiday sales and hype the past couple weeks, but email continues to be a valuable tool to reach consumers, especially on their mobile devices. Although statistics vary by industry, around 45% of email opens occur on mobile devices, compared to 36% on desktop.

The chart above shows the time of day emails are checked across devices. It’s most effective to reach consumers via email in the morning on their mobile devices. Tablet and smartphone email checks also increase later into the evening as well.  It’s also important to test not only the messaging of your emails, but also the different days of the week and hours of the day to find that sweet spot to maximizes the effectiveness of your email marketing.

For your holiday email marketing, you should focus on segmentation and personalization. A cookie cutter email strategy will not be as effective as targeted messages that suggest different products or services based on a user’s preferences or past interactions. Don’t forget to add in remarketing messages for users who may have abandoned their purchases, enticing them to come back to your site.

2) Location, Location, Location

The second holiday mobile marketing tip is to use the power of location-based advertising to reach the right consumers at the right time. Smartphones make it easier to reach your audience while they’re on the move. There are a few easy ways to harness the power of location-based advertising.

Local Search: 93% of people who search on mobile devices go on to make a purchase. When consumers look for you or your products, you want to make sure they can find you. Typical local search queries include not only information about “what” the site visitor is searching for (such as keywords, a business category, or the name of a consumer product) but also “where” information, such as a street address, city name, or postal code. Be sure that all your information is listed correctly on directories and search results by keeping your Google My Business profile up to date.

In addition to local search, having a paid search presence can help boost your visibility to potential consumers especially in times of competition, such as the holidays. Be sure to include voice search keywords into your campaigns to fully capture the mobile searcher as 41% of adults use voice search on a daily basis.

Geofencing: The second location-based advertising tactic you could integrate into your holiday marketing campaign is Geofencing. Geofencing allows you to target specific addresses and locations and serve ads to the people in those locations through mobile applications. Whether you’re targeting people in your business with additional promotions, or targeting competitor locations with your message, Geofencing provides the ability to hit those potential customers at the right time. To learn more about the power of Geofencing, check out Tobaria’s blog.

3) The Power of Social Media

Social Media is a great way to interact with current and future consumers. People spend an average of 2 hours a day on social media on their mobile devices. There are tons of fun ideas for posts that can be created and shared during the holidays to spice up your social profiles. Here are a few ideas for unique content to add to your social media calendar this holiday season:

Contests: People love the chance of winning something, especially around the holidays. Come up with a fun contest that showcases your products or services. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the rules and regulations of social contests before posting.

Polls: Twitter has an amazing feature that lets your post a poll about any topic in seconds. Have a weekly Christmas themed poll that gets people involved and coming back to vote the next week.

Go Live: Maybe you’re having an office wide Christmas caroling session or a snow angel competition – going live during these types of fun events can make your brand feel more human and approachable to your followers. You can also use live videos to broadcast sales or specials, as well as highlight products. Be creative and have fun with it!

Photos: Be sure to take photos of the things your company is doing over the holiday season and share them to your pages. Whether it’s setting up decorations or frosting sugar cookies, adding photos to your social media page that are non-promotional is a great way to get positive feedback and interaction.

4) Speed Up the Check Out

Once you’ve gotten the right people to your website, you want to make sure you’re doing everything you can to keep them there and to ultimately make a purchase. 53% of users abandon sites that take longer than 3 seconds to load. Make sure your site is mobile optimized for both speed and usability as more people will use a mobile device to make their purchases this holiday season.

Once you have your site optimized for mobile, you’ll really want to focus on improving the checkout experience. Out of every 100 consumers shopping online, 67 will abandon their carts. Here are three things you can do to up your completion percentage and lower overall cart abandonment.

Limit the Steps: The number one reason people abandon their carts online is due to the overall time it takes to check out. Eliminate extra fluff and steps that may drop off stops in the path to conversion. For mobile, make the checkout process simple and quick to navigate on a mobile device.

Guest Accounts: Another main reason people leave websites during checkout is the requirement to create an account to checkout. Allow people to checkout as a guest without creating a mandatory account. You can always send them information later to encourage them to sign up the next time for faster checkout or special promotions.

Payment Gateways: People will abandon a cart if they don’t trust that their payment information is being safely collected by the website. When possible, add payment gateways through trusted sources like PayPal or Visa Checkout to allow new customers to feel at ease with their payment information.

It’s the Best Time of the Year

With Christmas right around the corner, it’s a great time to try new techniques to reach potential customers and have a little fun doing along the way. With more people using their mobile devices this year to execute their research and shopping, focusing your efforts on reaching consumers on their phones can boost your business exposure and sales in the final month of the year. Remember to focus on the user experience, reach people at the right time and place, and try out different types of content on social media channels. Merry almost Christmas!

How often do we forget a coupon, debit card, or our I.D. at home? Or have you ever just lost them all together? Besides the panic, it’s quite annoying as well. When this happens, we’re often left wondering where in our daily routine did we mess up and lose our belongings.

It’s in these situations that mobile wallet was created to save the day.

What is Mobile Wallet?

The mobile wallet is a digital form of storing payment information right on your phone, tablet, or smartwatch. This provides a convenient way to complete offline and online transactions.  Most wallet options can also store coupons, loyalty cards, event tickets, and flight boarding passes.

The mobile wallet is an app that most smartphones will already have installed or you can download one of the other options. A few popular options are:

• Apple Wallet
• Android Pay Apps
• Google Wallet
• PayPal Cash Wallet
• Stocard – Rewards Cards Wallet

All options will vary on capabilities, but Apple Wallet or Android Pay will both have the capability to store payment and non-payment material.

How to use Mobile Wallet?

1. Download your preferred app to your smartphone.
2. Input you credit card information.
3. When checking out at participating merchants, simply access your mobile wallet on your phone and scan at register.

How does Mobile Wallet work?

“Once the app is installed and the user inputs his payment information, the wallet stores this information by linking a personal identification format like a number or key, QR code or an image of the owner to each card that is stored. When a user makes a payment at a merchant, the mobile app uses a technology called Near-Field Communication (NFC) which uses radio frequencies to communicate between devices. NFC uses the personal identification format created for the user to communicate the payment information to the merchant’s POS (Point-of-Service) terminal. The information transfer is usually triggered when the user waves or holds his NFC-enabled mobile device over the store’s NFC reader. “ – Investopedia

Business Solutions with Mobile Wallet

Businesses can leverage a digital system easily through the iOS and Android phone with mobile wallet passes. Building and promoting a business app can be time consuming and costly. Building a mobile wallet pass within mobile wallet can reduce the time and budget hurdles a app entails. Passes can provide digital solutions for loyalty cards, tickets, coupons, gift cards, geofenced messages and promotions, as well as notifications.

One of the most popular pass solutions through mobile wallet passes is the convenience for your customers to store your business’s loyalty cards or coupons within their mobile wallet. The pass can also allow the capability to alert consumers of rewards and level upgrades within loyalty programs.

Where to create a Mobile Wallet pass:

• Urban Airship
• PASSslot
• PassKit

For years, “Black Friday” was a unique event with shopping, deals, extended hours, and added holiday staff. Now the sales have extended to an entire “Shopping Holiday” weekend. Stores are opening later in the day on Thanksgiving after the turkey has been consumed. Deals extend throughout the four-day “shopping holiday” weekend and now include “Shop Local Saturday” and “Cyber Monday.”

More People Shopping From Home

According to the National Retail Federation more than 122 million consumers planned to shop online on Cyber Monday. Thirty-two percent of those shoppers planned to use their mobile device for deal comparisons and purchases.

With the continued growth of online and mobile shopping during this time of year, mobile friendly e-commerce websites are a necessity for retailers wanting to maintain growth and stay competitive in the market place.

TechCruch reports that of the 3 billion dollars spent over the Black Friday weekend, 1 billion was from mobile. Continuing this trend, Walmart.com reported that 60% of the Black Friday orders were from mobile devices. Other leaders in this trend were Amazon, Target, and Ebay.

All Time High Profits

The profits for online shopping this season have been record breaking, shooting past 3 billion dollars for the first time, according to Adobe.

I am curious, how did you do with online sales this year? What plans do you have for improving for 2017? I would love to hear your successes and your struggles with this year’s shopping season. Maybe we can partner to make 2017 an even larger success.

 

As marketers, it’s our job to stay up-to-date with the latest advertising technology and strategies. As a result, we’ve put together valuable information that can help businesses connect with more customers. This technology includes Programmatic Advertising, Remarketing, and Geofencing just to name a few. But the one advertising tactic that tops the charts is Mobile Marketing.

2016 was a big year for Mobile Marketing as businesses began to push for a better customer experience. Mobile Marketing allows people to learn and engage with a business at their convenience. 2017 not only looks to continue this trend, but to build upon it.

With that in mind, there are some things everyone should know about Mobile Marketing. Here are just a few of the free resources that we offer to help you brush up on mobile best practices.

Attend a Training Event

As Google Partners, we have access to special Livestream presentations from Google Experts. During these Livestream presentations, we encourage people to join us to learn about Online Advertising.

Most recently, we hosted one of these training events at our office about Mobile Marketing and how businesses can use it to connect with different generations. The event was such a success that we will be hosting a second event on November 18^th in Rapid City.

If you’d like to learn more about the event or register right away, visit the event page on our website. You can also fill out the form at the bottom of this page to have your seat saved.

 

Read Mobile Marketing Articles

The KeyMedia Solutions blog is a great place to learn about everything happening in the Online Advertising industry. Many of our articles consist of Mobile Marketing topics and how you can use it. Here are a couple related articles –

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The Shift to Mobile

Online advertising is becoming more popular, especially with more customers using their mobile devices on a regular basis. Companies of all sizes want to develop strong marketing campaigns and find new ways to implement mobile ads in their marketing strategy. As marketers, we need to tap into this technology and stand out above the fold. With […]

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Mobile Programmatic Ad Buying

Mobile devices are used more today than ever before. Why is this? Mobile devices offer us more freedom to access the information we deem as vital in our lives. We have the ability to stay connected with friends and family while also being able to tap into an endless stream of information through the internet. […]

Read More >>

 

Download our Mobile Whitepaper

Looking to take a deeper dive into the ins and outs of Mobile Marketing? If so, downloading our whitepaper is your next step. Our digital specialists worked to create a single document that outlines the top trends in Mobile Marketing.

All of our whitepapers are free to download and are sent directly to your inbox. You can download this whitepaper by filling out the form below or by checking out the Mobile page on our website.

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Watch KMS 10at10

Every Friday morning, we go live on Facebook for a quick show to answer questions and highlight news in the advertising industry. We discuss topics such as new technology and updates to popular platforms. This is also a place where we encourage people to ask their questions.

If you have questions about Mobile Marketing, spend your morning break with us at 10 AM on Facebook. Just comment your questions and our hosts will answer your question live on the show.

You can also check out our YouTube channel where we post all of our past episodes. We recently started to include bonus tips at the end of our live show that you can only view on YouTube.

Check out last week’s episode where Ashley, Luke, and Tobaria discuss Social Media updates and new Audio Marketing.

You Always have Us

I’ve laid out a lot of information that you can start using right away without spending a dime. The last resource that I’ll share is us, KeyMedia Solutions. We’re here to help you with all of your questions. Visit our website and take a look around at all our services.

If you have questions about anything you see on our site, feel free to contact us at any time.

Don’t forget, if you’re in the Rapid City area, make sure to register for our next Training Event by filling out the form below.

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You’ve heard it before, but Mobile Advertising continues to grow at a staggering pace and Americans are using their phones more than ever. Last time we talked about it on our blog, Content Specialist Sam said, “Out of 318 million Americans, 111 million are on their phone now and continue to check them frequently.” (For more info on this, read the rest of his blog here.) To emphasize my point a little further, people pick up their phones 150-200x per day (we’re calling these “mobile moments”). Within the U.S., there are roughly 30 billion of these “mobile moments,” which gives marketers a few chances to get their messaging across. These are incredibly high numbers the U.S. is putting up.

*I took this from Sam’s blog mentioned earlier, but it helps to explain my point.

Because of the potential advertisers and businesses have with Mobile, you want to make sure you’re following some best practices. So, in today’s blog, we’re going to look at best practices of mobile ad development. Specifically, we’ll look at ad layout, mobile specific extras, and ad messaging.

Layout

First of all, keep your ad simple. Because of screen size, you have limited “real estate” to capture someone’s attention. You have roughly two seconds to convey your message before someone will move on. To go along with this, the best way to capture attention is through imagery. Use graphics that are universal but captures your overall message. Like the ancient Athenians said, a picture’s worth a thousand words. Finally, and it may seem obvious, but have a call-to-action button. Call-to-actions can persuade someone to click on an ad and tells someone to perform a specific action you want them to make.

Extra Extra

With current mobile technology, you have the ability to add in mobile-specific features you otherwise would not have on desktops. Below is a list of the best performing “add-ons” we have seen, based on engagement.

• Direct app downloads – helps to promote your app and drive downloads.
• Sitelink extensions (SEM) – gives users additional options to land on specific pages of your site.
• Click-to-Call – gives users the ability to call you directly by clicking on your ad.
• Location extensions (SEM) – displays your physical location in additional to your ad text.
• Reviews (SEM) – users have the ability to see your overall ratings from right in your ad.

While some of these may not work for your business goals, they provide additional opportunities for you to give the information your customers are seeking.

Message

Like I mentioned for ad layout, your messaging should also be simple. You only have a few seconds to get your point across, don’t get lost in the weeds with needless information. But, probably the most important aspect of messaging is A/B testing. A/B test everything: body copy, call-to-action button copy, imagery, and color. One main way to know if your ads a performing at the level you want is by testing them against different messaging or style. Also, tailor your messaging to the specific locations and audiences your targeting. What might work for one group may not work for another.

All in all, the most important thing on mobile is to provide your audience with a pleasant, useful experience. Providing the information potential customers want, when they want it, will help to grow your customer base and keep them coming back for more. If you want to read about Mobile Advertising some more, you can download our Mobile Whitepaper by filling out the form below.