5 Last-Minute Marketing Tactics To Drive Holiday Sales With Millennial Moms

My Thanksgiving grocery shopping is finished; my Black Friday list is ready (yes, I confess I am one of the 5 a.m. deal seekers, but I knock out most of my holiday shopping by the time my family has breakfast). And as I made my Black Friday list, I thought about the light-speed approach of the holidays and the last-minute strategies I would offer CMOs for maximizing holiday sales. After all, these next few weeks of holiday shopping comprise about 20% in annual sales, according to the National Retail Federation. 

1. Perk Up Pinterest. 

According to our research, Millennial Moms find products on Facebook but purchase from Pinterest. Make sure you have multiple boards where busy moms can find gift ideas, quick dinner recipes, crafts for the kids, how-to boards or time-saving products. Check for working links to product pages.

2. Review Your Reviews. 

I knew the number was high, but research for my latest book shows that almost 90% of Millennial Moms make a purchase only after reading a product review. I am often surprised by how many brands don’t pay attention to their reviews. My guess is that you’ve spent some of your marketing budget acquiring blogger reviews, but what about on sale sites, Facebook and Instagram? Respond to current reviews if necessary and encourage new ones anywhere your product is sold. On a related note, we don’t recommend paying for reviews. In fact, we strongly advise against it. However, there are plenty of ways to gain authentic reviews. The next time a happy customer contacts you, why not ask them to express their appreciation for your product by leaving a positive review? Sometimes your biggest fans just need to be encouraged to help your marketing cause and all you have to do is ask.

3. Ignite Instagram. 

Millennial Moms are visual shoppers. Engage your customers to post product images. Give them a reason to take photos in your retail locations or with your product in their home. Millennials (and the younger Post generation) love Instagram and an image of a friend using or wearing your product can be seen as an implied review. 

4. Venture Into Video.

Fifteen seconds is all you need and all the time you have with Millennial shoppers. Recognize the power of videos and the ease of posting them on Facebook and Instagram. Facebook videos can run a bit longer, but not by much. Concentrate on consumer-generated how-to and product videos that show the product being used. On the flip side, a majority of moms in our survey told us they also check a company website and will consider corporate product videos as a reliable source.

5. Don’t Exterminate Email.

With the evolution of social media, many marketers have abandoned email campaigns. But our research tells us that emails (mobile-friendly is a must) are still relevant for busy moms. Warning: email is relevant if your content is, too. Moms love an email with a special offer, deals and coupons. Related content like recipes and crafts for family and kids will get more opens. 

It’s not too late to make the most of the spending juggernaut that is Holiday 2015. Happy Thanksgiving!

5 Last-Minute Marketing Tactics To Drive Holiday Sales With Millennial Moms

Facebook Inc (FB) Q3 2015 Earnings Preview: Video Ads, Instagram Could Drive Revenue To ...

Facebook Inc. has been talking about video since 2013. Most recently, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg referred to the Facebook app as a daily Super Bowl on mobile phones. Now, as the global social network gets ready to report third-quarter results, analysts say they’ll be looking for TV advertising dollars to start boosting its bottom line.

Facebook, which will report after markets close Wednesday, will no doubt try to focus minds on two big numbers: 4 billion (the number of video views each day) and 1 billion (daily unique users). And while Sandberg recently said Facebook prioritizes results, not clicks, it’s Facebook’s massive audience, and all of its data, that is expected to supercharge revenue growth for the company.

Facebook revenue is expected to reach $4.37 billion, up by 36 percent year over year, this quarter, according to analysts’ estimates collected by Yahoo Finance. Earnings per share are estimated to hit 52 cents, up 21 percent year over year.

Over this year, Facebook’s stock price has risen up to about 33 percent, propelling the company to join Apple, Alphabet (Google) and Microsoft in the “$300 billion tech club.” That quick rise, however, has some analysts worried about risk — notably in the company’s spending.

“We all know it’s mobile, it’s video, Facebook is king of the world,” said Tom Taulli, an analyst for InvestorPlace.com. “Where are they at in terms of spending? Things aren’t getting any cheaper in Silicon Valley. We’ve already seen Google take a step back. I think the stock has gotten ahead of itself. That’s a big risk.”

Finding The Money

Facebook’s growth has been fueled by mobile ad revenue, and it’s only increasing. Just as for Facebook’s second-quarter earnings report in July, Nanigans, an ad software company, found that the ads are drawing more clicks than ever before. Facebook’s click-through-rate was up 69 percent year over year, growing from 0.56 percent to 0.96 percent, Nanigans reports.

Not only is Facebook touting improved targeting, such as a new measurement tool called “advertiser outcome score,” the company has also added more advertising options. Facebook’s photo-sharing app Instagram opened advertising to all marketers in September and introduced 30-second video ads.

“For Facebook, there’s been a heavy emphasis on new ad types. They are taking all these steps on how we can drive more from the news feed,” said Tom Edwards, chief digital officer of agency business for marketing company Epsilon.

The expansion is working, for now. Ad spending from the same advertisers analyzed by Nanigans has increased 16 percent since last quarter, and mobile advertising spending is up by 10 percent from July’s report. Advertisers are also increasingly moving money to markets outside of the United States, up by 5 percent, according to Nanigans.

The growth of advertising abroad follows Facebook’s greater push to move into international markets, most notably emerging markets, as growth in the United States has plateaued. The company announced in September, three months after opening an office in Johannesburg, that Facebook’s total user base in Africa is about 120 million monthly active users. Facebook also introduced a lightweight video ad product, specialized for areas with slower wireless connections.

Facebook may also find new dollars in e-commerce. Business’s Pages are now being mobile-optimized, and the site added a “shopping” tab to the mobile app. Yet, some analysts are skeptical of Facebook becoming a destination shopping site.

“Google is a no-brainer as to what they give their customers. People are likely searching for a product, price or recommendation. Facebook isn’t used as much — if at all in certain segments — for getting advice on buying things,” wrote Kim Forrest, VP and senior equity analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group, in an email.

Search has become more open on Facebook. Earlier this month, the company released all 2 trillion public posts for users’ to access through the search tab on the site and mobile app. 

The Big Expense

With Facebook spreading into new markets and industries comes concern about what it could means for expenses. Indeed, in the last quarter, analysts’ inquired about Facebook’s $2.8 billion spending, up by 82 percent year over year. In July, Facebook’s Chief Financial Officer Dave Wehner pointed to the acquisition of WhatsApp as a major contribution. The startup cost Facebook $19 billion, and the company has yet to enact a major money-making strategy for it.

Meanwhile, the team’s been retooling Messenger as the go-to messaging app — with GIFs, payments and artificial intelligence. “They’re turning Messenger into a mobile hub similar to what WeChat does in China. WhatsApp remains as the simple messaging app. The audience size is so big, yet the experience is so simple,” Edwards said.

Another big expense for Facebook — the $2 billion acquisition of Oculus — is also nearing its market debut. The consumer version of the virtual reality headset is expected to ship in the first quarter of 2016. As for content on the product, Facebook announced partnerships with 21st Century Fox, Lions Gate Entertainment, Netflix and Hulu in September.

“While some investors have expressed concern about the CY16 expenses guide as it relates to Oculus hardware, we are more focused on the health and trajectory of the core advertising business, where we continue to see significant runway,” Goldman Sachs wrote in a research note, according to Silicon Valley Business Journal.

Facebook Inc. (FB) | FindTheCompany

Facebook Inc (FB) Q3 2015 Earnings Preview: Video Ads, Instagram Could Drive Revenue To ...

Using strategic inbound marketing to drive revenue

The numbers don’t lie when it comes to the power of technology: 89 percent of U.S. Internet users search online before making a purchase decision (even if the purchase is made locally); 93 percent of adult Internet users are on Facebook; and companies that blog (compared with those that don’t) see a 67 percent increase in leads per month.

While business owners today understand that in order to reach their revenue objectives, they have to embrace technology, they’re not always sure how to do so in a cohesive, strategic way.

There’s Facebook, Twitter, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and email marketing, just to name a few. Oftentimes, business owners engage disparate vendors to handle different digital marketing venues and are frustrated when they don’t reach their goals.

That’s where strategic inbound marketing comes in. Whereas outbound marketing (the lion’s share of most company’s marketing budgets) is difficult to measure and historically low yield, inbound marketing is different.

Costs drop dramatically because you are targeting your audience. People are not disrupted by your message because they are looking for it. And — best of all — it’s measurable.

Strategic inbound marketing takes a combination of tools — organic SEO, Pay Per Click, email marketing, blogging and social media — and turns them into a lead generator for your business.

Instead of having five voices all singing a similar song in different keys, you now have a perfectly harmonized choir, and all of their voices are pointed at your demographic.

If you’re considering hiring an outside consultant to implement a strategic inbound marketing plan, business owners should ask the following questions:

 

Do you have real offices and do you answer the telephone?

A design company’s commitment to a brick-and-mortar presence demonstrates a commitment to their business, and having someone answer the phone indicates a desire to serve clients.

 

What results have you seen in the past? May I see some samples?

Beware of novices in the industry. Pick an agency that has tenure and has worked with clients from various industries. Ask for samples of their work and results that their clients have seen.

 

What metrics do you provide and how often do you report?

Let’s be honest. You don’t just want more traffic to your website or more Facebook likes. You want more business and more sales. An agency that focuses on getting you more leads and that brings you clients outperforms agencies who gathered 500 new likes.

Another question is how often do they report to you? Keep them committed and ask to see updates on their results several times a month to ensure there is constant improvement.

 

What is your breadth of skill?

You need more than good blogging skills for a successful inbound marketing campaign. Pick an agency that is a pro at keyword research, social media, search engine optimization, email marketing and that can help you with website design and development.

If your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. You need someone who can offer a custom solution and can back up their services.

 

Do they offer support services?

Pick a reliable agency that can provide support services and respond quickly every time a problem might arise. Will they respond quickly to your requests for website changes? Do they provide email services? Can they design branded email templates and segment your list of contacts for personalized marketing campaigns?

Your website is the cornerstone of all your inbound marketing activities. A good Web design company will ask potential clients questions like: What are your marketing goals? What types of visitors would you like to have come to your site? What are the pain points or desires of each visitor type and how do you respond to them? What would you like each visitor type to do when they visit your site?

They will then build a site that encourages visitor action by understanding and applying trust building techniques, using content and call outs to create a sense of urgency and implementing layout and design to focus the eye on objectives.

Just remember that strategic inbound marketing is innovative in that it engages people at all stages of the sales cycle. It allows you to track leads, convert those leads into customers, close sales and delight the customer.

Strangers become visitors, who become customers, who become promoters. And that kind of marketing is priceless.

 

Andrew Reilley is the Chief Experience Officer at United WebWorks Inc. He can be reached at andrew@unitedwebworks.com or 912-231-0016.

Using strategic inbound marketing to drive revenue

MakeMyTrip: Market Expansion To Drive Earnings Growth (MMYT)

Summary

• MakeMyTrip delivered revenue growth of 32% during the latest quarter. Losses narrowed significantly.


• India’s e-commerce industry is poised to grow at a double-digit rate this year, which will prove to bring more customers to the company’s website.


• Business-friendly government is pushing aviation industry ahead.


• The company is expected to deliver a profit in 2016.

MakeMyTrip’s (NASDAQ:MMYT) share value has gone up by 33% in a year. The company operates a traveling website through which customers can research, plan and book travel services and products in India as well as overseas. MakeMyTrip has been a top performer in the industry since a long time: the company’s revenue growth has averaged 27% over the past three years, while the industry has seen its revenue grow at a far lesser rate of 9.1%. With the macro environment proving favorable for the company, this trend is expected to sustain ahead.

In this article, I will evaluate MakeMyTrip’s financial strength by reviewing its performance in the latest quarter. Later, I will discuss factors to highlight the future potential of the organization.

Second Quarter

During the period, MakeMyTrip achieved top-line growth of 35% on a constant-currency basis. The $32 million revenue figure was achieved on the back of strong performance across all the core business segments. Of particular importance was the performance of the company’s strategically important hotels and holiday packages “H&P” business: acquisition of easytobook.com and an increase in relationship contracts with suppliers helped MakeMyTrip grow its H&P’s transactions by over 70% during the quarter, and the company registered approximately 75% growth in revenues less service costs on a constant-currency basis.

In addition, MakeMyTrip investment in targeted marketing and lower prices helped it improve the mix of non-air revenue during the seasonally-low quarter to 43% versus 35% in the same quarter of last year. The improving business mix demonstrated that MakeMyTrip was capable of outpacing and differentiating itself from competitors in a fast-growing market.

Even though the top line remained strong, the company’s excess expenditure to achieve higher penetration led it to deliver an adjusted loss of $0.4 million. However, the loss was significantly lower than the $1.5 million MakeMyTrip reported in 2013. Looking forward, the company is expected to deliver a profit due to the reasons discussed below.

Market Growth

At first, let’s talk about the e-commerce market in India, since growth in this market directly affects the magnitude of customers that visit MakeMyTrip’s website. Fortunately, the e-commerce industry in India is changing fast. The market is expected to grow by 70% this year and is likely to cross $6 billion in revenues. The growth alone will make India one of the fastest-growing e-commerce markets in the Asia-Pacific region.

The expansion will be aided by the fact that more than 30% of traffic on e-commerce platforms is now coming from mobile phones and tablets. There is increasing traction in mobile shopping as marketplaces, consumer-goods companies, and food and beverage companies have started investing in mobile commerce.

Also, with the introduction of the first Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)-branded phone after the acquisition of Nokia (NYSE:NOK), the market for cheap-end phones has expanded recently. The reasons are why bookings from mobile now account for over 16% of total online transactions of MakeMyTrip. They also explain why mobile users contribute nearly 34% of the total online domestic-hotel transactions to the company.

To leverage from this growth, MMY recently launched a nationwide TV campaign that focused viewers’ attention on the company’s mobile offering. The campaign has been successful as approximately 31% of the increase in downloads during the latest quarter came due to the commercial.

MakeMyTrip has also enhanced the overall performance of its app by reducing the app download size and bringing new mobile payment-security facilities offered by financial institutions within India. As a latest move, the company recently introduced vernacular content on its mobile app and mobile web, and will continue to expand the content nationwide this year. The vernacular content will allow MakeMyTrip to reach customers beyond the larger cities, where many potential users prefer an Indian dialect to research and shop. Together, these moves will help MakeMyTrip increase its market share in the mobile arena when the overall market is growing.

Secondly, MakeMyTrip will also gain through the aviation industry which is forecast to grow by 6.9% over the next five years. The aviation market is poised to benefit from the recent entry of Air-Asia and license issuance to Tata Airlines, thanks to the new business-friendly government’s plan to liberalize several markets. Also, the ongoing price war among airlines in India will prove to be another catalyst for online-travel companies ahead.

Bottom Line

The losses MakeMyTrip has been delivering are a product of investments that the company has made to position it well in the market. The analysts believe that these investments will finally turn fruitful in the upcoming year and MakeMyTrip will deliver a profit of 27 cents per share. The estimate has further led 10 brokers to value the company’s stock at $33.7 per share, which reveals that MakeMyTrip is undervalued by 24%. Therefore, the company holds a buy rating.

Source: MakeMyTrip: Market Expansion To Drive Earnings Growth

Disclosure: The author has no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. The author wrote this article themselves, and it expresses their own opinions. The author is not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). The author has no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. (More…)

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MakeMyTrip: Market Expansion To Drive Earnings Growth (MMYT)