Ecommerce Sellers: 3 recommendations on preparing for the holiday season

As an ecommerce seller, you probably already know that the holiday season is a great time to attract buyers and boost sales. The holiday season is approaching and more and more people are shopping online, so it is crucial for ecommerce sellers to get ready for it.  As an IMC student who is interested in ecommerce, I find these two articles below that provide useful tips for sellers to prepare for the holiday season and stand out in the competition.

The 2019 Ecommerce Holiday Readiness Checklist: Technical and Marketing Preparedness — from Local to Global

Author: Rally Stanoeva 

Publication

The first article is written by Rally Stanoeva on the subject of getting ecommerce ready for the holiday season. In the article, the author creates a detailed checklist for the sellers to make sure that they can fully leverage the end-of-the-year shopping season. The article includes topics on mobile commerce optimization, SEO seasonal updates, campaigns and promotions, packaging guidelines, customers’ shopping experiences, the global marketplace, and new technical preparations. As shoppers are getting ready to shop for holidays with excitement, it is important for ecommerce sellers to get well-prepared to attract more eyes to generate more profit.

source: https://is.gd/HolidayShopping

5 Tips To Increase E-Commerce Sales During The Holiday Season

Author: Austen DiPalma 

Publication

The second article is written by Austen DiPalma on the subject of tips to increase online sales during the holiday season. According to the article, end-of-year holidays drive more sales than non-holiday months. Moreover, shoppers also use ecommerce as a search portal for their gift ideas. To increase sales, is suggested that sellers use advocacy marketing by inviting loyal customers to share your content out. You should also make sure that your site is “holiday-ready” just to provide a smooth shopping experience for customers. You may also want to get your site “mobile-ready” for those who shop on their phones. Lastly, holiday-themed content is a good way to attract shoppers’ attention, and personalization message is a great tool to lead shoppers to make purchase.

Recommendations

1.     Use push notification

-       In your apps, use one-time messages for special offers and use automated notification based on user activities

2.     Get personal

-       Send personal recommendations and coupons to existing shoppers in the apps or over emails and offer personalization on your products' listings to build customer intimacy.

3.     Leverage social media

-       Make social media posts about deals and products and create social campaigns before the holiday season starts. 

Now the Christmas season is considered synonymous with the shopping season. Ecommerce sellers have to get ready for it ASAP and react fast to boost end-of-the-year sales.

About the Author:

Nancy Zheng is from the Northwestern IMC program and will graduate this December. She is interested in social media, ecommerce, and the indie music industry. Here is her LinkedIn. You can also follow her on Twitter and Instagram

Shopper Marketing Executives: 3 Ways to Gain Attention in an Increasingly Distracted World

As shopper marketing executives, you know the importance of getting the shopper’s attention and how new technology is making this more difficult. As a graduate student at Northwestern University in Medill’s Integrated Marketing Communications program who has learned from experts at Arc Worldwide, I have found articles which address the issue of how shopper marketers need to implement strategies that get noticed.

In, “5 Trends That Are Radically Reshaping Shopper Marketing,” T.L. Stanley writes about how most shoppers prefer to buy from physical stores, rather than buying online. Shoppers want to touch and feel before they purchase. Additionally, virtual reality, beacons, and other new technologies are joining the shopper marketing realm in order to enhance the shoppers’ experience. Stanley emphasizes a personal approach to shopper marketing, and that it isn’t just about the standard display anymore. If it doesn’t capture the shopper’s attention, it isn’t relevant.

            

                Source: Gartner

           

            Jonathan Dodd shares tips for shopper marketers in “10 Ways Shopper Marketing Can Help Improve Sales in a Tough Economy,” on how to improve their sales in today’s evolving market. He stresses that “consumers use, shoppers buy,” and that shopper marketing focuses on the active behaviors in the purchase decision journey. In addition, Dodd recommends keeping the message simple, otherwise shoppers will default to price. Also, he recommends shopper marketers should constantly evaluate and remain flexible when it comes to their campaigns.

           

Based on my review of these two articles, and my relevant studies in the Medill IMC program at Northwestern, I have developed 3 action-items you should regard for the future, they are:

• ·      No Attention, No Sale—If it doesn’t grab and keep the shopper’s attention, it won’t work.
• ·      High-Touch = High-Engagement—It’s important to engage the community by being interactive.
• ·      It’s Their Journey—It is important to remember that it’s about the shopper’s purchase journey, their active behaviors, and to look beyond the traditional “push” campaigns.

 Next time you’re creating a new shopper marketing campaign, remember these 3 action-items, and you’ll have more and greater successes.

 

Mary C. Fox

I am a Northwestern University graduate student studying Integrated Marketing Communications, graduating in August 2017, and I am interested in specializing in Brand Strategy and Strategic Communications. You can follow me on Twitter at @MCatFox or on LinkedIn.

            

Automotive CEOs: 3 Action items to lead in an Autonomous Future.

As an automobile company CEO, you know that self-driving car had been pointed out as one of the most important trend in prominent Electronic technology shows and reports such as CES (Consumer Electronic Shows) and Fortune magazine. As a graduate student in Integrated Marketing Communication, Northwestern University, who is very interested in the automobile industry, I have found two articles which address the subject that you are going to be interested in.

Daniel Newman, the author of the first article which is titled ‘Autonomous Cars: The Future of Mobility’, says that autonomous cars are not just the technology that makes them possible, but what this means for our future. He also argues that autonomous driving will not only enable people to work, eat, sleep and more on the go but also save 300,000 lives per decade. Even though there is no change in the next five years and people may wait until the prices drop, autonomous cars guarantee your company as the future relevance of one like Ford did. (Ford’s bold shift in the autonomous industry positions itself as the car company to beat!) 

                                                            Illustration by Peter Arkle 

The other article “What The Future Of Mobility Means For Today's Transportation Industry” by Joris D’Inca and Carolin Mentz talks about the threats and potentials for incumbents who are not in this trend, they will find themselves left behind with the increased competition and innovation. If the incumbents of transportation industry keep their traditional methods, they may save money. On the other hand, they have the risk of loss of value and commoditization which means low possibility to make profit. If they invest in the autonomous cars, it will require great effort such as technology and data investment, but it will promise the long-term revenue and opportunities to grow. The best part of this article is this “The game is about to change, and the rule will, too.” 

Based on my review of these two articles, and my studies in the Northwestern Medill IMC program on new technologies, here are 3 action items that I think should be considered. 

§  Weigh Success Outcome – You should see a big picture even though there are            some risks.

§  Become Trend-Aware – You cannot be a market leader if you are behind the              trend whatever the reason is.

§  Take an opportunity – There are always chances where innovation begins.

These 3 action items will give your company a great competitive advantage over other brands and help your company be a market leader in this fast-changing world.

Jeehae Park

Jeehae is a graduate student at Northwestern University in the Integrated Communication Marketing program (graduating in December 2017) who is specializing on Digital & Interactive Marketing and Brand Strategy.

You can contact Jeehae Park Twitter or Linked in

CMOs: 3 Ways to Utilize Online Video to Maximize Your Brand’s Social Strategy

As a CMO, you know that online video possesses tremendous potential to boost a brand’s social presence. According to Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research, the value of one minute of video is equivalent 1.8 million words. As a Northwestern University student in Medill's Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) program, I have come to realize that successful brands today are constantly inventing new ways to improve their video content to better engage with their consumers. Below are two articles that really capture the essence of these brands' efforts. 

One example of a successful video strategy was featured in a Digiday article: InsideToday.com’s original digital video strategy by Eric Blattberg. The Today show is setting itself apart from other morning television shows in the digital space with its original video series on their website, Today.com. They create one or two new videos every weekday and post it on their website as well as on their YouTube channel and Facebook page. The content is informal yet authentic, and offers viewers practical takeaways in a variety of topics. Furthermore, they optimize their video content to best fit each media platform by making Facebook videos text and graphic-heavy (since Facebook autoplays videos on mute while users are scrolling down the newsfeed) and partnering with other celebrity channels on YouTube. In addition, they are starting to see conversations about their content on Twitter, fostering a cross-channel digital presence for the brand. As a result, viewers have come to trust Today.com as a safe and attractive venue to engage with content, providing a great opportunity for family-friendly brands to reach their potential consumers.

Just as the Today show is uploading text graphic heavy videos for Facebook, agencies such as Genuine Interactive and RB are also creating soundless videos that can appeal to audiences by tugging at their emotions. The article Are Silent Movies the Future of Advertising? featured on Adage and written by Jack Neff presents the shifting trend of creating online video content. The new strategy based on soundless and emotional content stems from the fact that Facebook and other mobile sites play videos on mute until the user turns on the sound. Mr. Pape, the creative director at Genuine Interactive says videos must create a visceral reaction to the image or movement for people to stop and watch. Such strategy is now being experimented on TV creative, integrating the digital and TV advertising. Brands are also able to use real-time feedback from the engagement of their videos to continuously improve their strategy.

From my studies as a student in the IMC certificate program and with interest in digital and social marketing strategies, I have found these articles to be representative of what brands are doing today to increase the effectiveness of their video content. There are three main insights I have gained from the above articles:

1.  Focus on visuals. Your video content should provide compelling visuals that capture people’s attentions in a short span of time.
2.  Optimize by channel. Videos need to be optimized depending on the channel, to seamlessly aid the user experience on whichever app or website people are viewing your content on.
3.  Listen to your audience. It is important for marketers to constantly measure the engagement levels and activities around their videos and quickly respond to feedback.

By focusing on these three items, you can strengthen your brand’s social strategy and drive greater audience engagement. You should strive to stay relevant with your target audience by offering them the content and experience that they want. With more engagement, you will see your brand appearing through the social chatter by viewers who want to bring you into their conversations.

Kristin Chung is an undergraduate student at Northwestern University, pursuing an Integrated Marketing Communication certificate at the Medill School of Journalism. Please share your feedback and connect with her on Twitter @chung_kristin or on LinkedIn.

Content Marketers: 3 Ways to Maximize Your Content Shareability

As a content marketer, whether you want to create your Facebook page, Twitter handle, or a website that features interesting articles to attract attention and increase the visibility of your brand, you need to start by learning how to create engaging content that is incredibly sharable. In a world where everyone’s time is fragmented, you only have a split of a second of catch someone’s attention. As an IMC graduate student whose focus is in content marketing and building brand-consumer relationships, I have found two articles that will give you important insights into ways to maximize your content shareability.

In Facebook Media’s article “12 Best Practices For Media Companies Using Facebook Pages”, Scott Hershkowitz and Vadim Lavrusik provide a number of useful tips to media companies and other content producers alike to promote their Facebook pages. Posts include pictures, graphics, and analyses can drive conversations. A personal tone sparks interest because audiences like to know there’s a real person behind posts. The page-targeting tool enables more specific targeting and content crowdsourcing, making it easier to reach the target audience. If you have Facebook Page, do not forget to use Facebook Insights to get page metrics and improve your page.

The second article, titled “How BuzzFeed Mastered Social Sharing to become a Media Giant for a New Era” by David Rowan of Wired.co.uk, discusses the success of BezzFeed and its guild to shareability. Rowan points out that to increase click through rate and the number of shares, Buzzfeed relies on data measurement results, as well as content articles that serve emotional needs. Because the way people consume content has changed, Buzzfeed’s CEO&founder Jonah Peretti tries to stay away from anything that requires adopting a legacy business model. His team aims to create news and entertainment content that can tell people’s stories in this social, mobile age. John Steinberg, former president of Buzzfeed, shares his tips to get ideas spread: the headline must be persuasive and direct; it must feel authentic; people mustn’t feel awkward sharing it; ensure the story has a human aspect; images and lists work; give people the change to react and let them engage; be positive.

  

Based on the insights in these two articles and what I have learned from the Northwestern Medill IMC program, here are the three action items you can do to drive audience engagement and increase the number of content shares.

1.  Include photos, graphics and videos – humans are visual learners and our brains process images much faster than text. Including visuals in your posts to tell compelling stories will attract more eyeballs!

2.  Use a conversational tone to send positive messages – people love to receive uplifting messages with a personality. Let your audience know that there’s a real person behind the posts by using a conversational tone and your audience will be more likely to engage with your posts.

3.  Use web analytical tools – pick one or more web analytical tools to best serve your needs. You can better tailor your marketing strategy based on insights from existing data; such as the piece of content your audience likes the most and where the most web traffic comes from. 

Every brand and every person that wants to be famous is eager to create visual content nowadays. We need to keep in mind that viral marketing needs both analytical thinking as well as a creative mind. Remember to make emotional connections with your audiences and talk like a real person!

Naomi Cao | Twitter @n_cao6  | LinkedIn
I received my B.A in Communication Arts-radio, TV and film and Gender & Women’s Studies from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. I have lived and worked in Los Angeles for two years, with professional experience in entertainment marketing, script development and talent representation. I am now focusing on entertainment & content marketing and consumer insights in Medill’s Integrated Marketing Communications program.