Here’s our roundup of what we’ve been talking about this week, including why thought leadership is a key element in content marketing, how to create purposeful campaigns with triggered emails, and digital tightrope walking.
Chris, Head of Digital
The digital marketing tightrope walk!
Tightrope walking requires the perfect balance, gaining experience through practice and, let’s be honest, a good dose of crazy! The reward of success, however, must be an exhilarating feeling.
To be successful at digital marketing takes a lot of the same attributes.
There are so many channels that can be used to market your business. Whether it be paid advertising, search engine optimisation, developing your website, creating an app or writing engaging content.
The main thing to remember is that one size does not fit all and if you do not get the balance right, you might not make it to where you want to be. Testing what works for your business is a massive part of creating the correct digital strategy. The initial test budget is the most important money you will spend to ensure that future efforts are focused in the right area. Once you know what works for you, you’ll have the perfectly balanced digital strategy, defined from testing, to get you across the tightrope once the crowds flock to see you perform.
Candice, Managing Director
Thought leadership is a key element in content marketing
A thought leader can be defined as an individual or an organisation that is recognised as an expert in their field. They can be recognised by others as innovative, highlighting key trends and topics that influence their industry and help deliver answers to the biggest questions on the minds of their target audience.
Wondering why it’s so important?
Thought leadership is important for both B2C and B2B, but is especially important in B2B as the length of business decision making and the complexity around it has a large number of people involved.
If thought leadership is done successfully, your brand and your expertise will become invaluable to customers and stakeholders seeking advice and information. As you build trust and credibility, it will open doors to new business opportunities, partners, and interest from news media. Your business will build stronger customer relationships, allowing both current customers and stakeholders to feel satisfied that they have chosen such a forward-thinking company.
Most companies want to be known as thought leaders. The few that don’t probably don’t understand how this positioning would positively impact their reputation, their ability to meet their business goals and help drive sales.
Ultimately, thought leadership is one of the successful outcomes of a solid content marketing strategy. There are leaders in every industry. Two you might be familiar with are Guy Kawasaki and Reid Hoffman. Kawasaki, an American marketing specialist, author, and Silicon Valley venture capitalist, was one of the Apple employees originally responsible for marketing their Macintosh computer line in 1984. He popularized the word evangelist in marketing the Macintosh and the concepts of evangelism marketing and technology evangelism. Hoffman, an American internet entrepreneur, venture capitalist and author, was the co-founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn, a business-oriented social network used primarily for professional networking.
Expose your thought leaders in your business and you will soon begin the process of becoming a more social business. As cliché as it might sound, but people buy from people and having real people with real faces, talking to real customers and buyers, will resonate that.
Sian, Creative Strategist
Triggered email campaigns
Promotional emails are great. But what’s often missing is an idea of purpose for the consumer beyond them saying it’s ok to send emails to them. Because of this they lack an element of personalisation that can really elevate how someone thinks about your brand. This is where triggered email campaigns come in.
Based on the idea that we have enough information in our databases for personalised campaigns, these emails are automatically sent out when they’re triggered by a certain event—heightening the value and purpose of the communication.
Triggered emails get above 86% higher open rates, produce 196% increase in click-through rates, and generate 320% more revenue than regular marketing emails.
There are four popular types of email triggers:
Welcome emails
- Triggered by signing up to a service
- Present an opportunity to convert signups to customers with incentives
- Rounds off the process of signing up neatly creating a joined up brand experience
Date specific emails
- Triggered by a specific date i.e an upcoming appointment or a birthday
- Ensures customers come back and generate revenue with discounts
- Elevates the idea of being a valued customer
Spending triggered emails
- Triggered by spending a certain amount in store
- Opportunity to thank customer and turn them into a VIP with more incentives
Re-Engagement emails
- Triggered by a lack of engagement with the brand
- Opportunity to entice customer back with incentives
