The Weekly Marketing Roundup: Week of 16/07/19

Thank you for tuning into this week’s digital marketing roundup. Here we talk about the latest news, challenges, and opportunities affecting the digital marketing landscape today, curated by Sydney Digital Marketing. Join the conversation in the comments below.

2019 Key Digital Marketing Growth Stats

1. Global online ad spend continues to rise significantly.

Originally, global online ad spend was forecast to grow by 4% this year, but that has been updated with current trends showing growth to be closer to 4.7% growth. According to Zenith's Advertising Expenditure Forecasts, this means online advertising will reach $329 by 2021, accounting for 49% of all global ad spend.

2. Ad spend, specifically in location-based marketing, is set to grow to $24.4 billion.

The projection of 14% growth in location-based marketing indicates an increased interest in this form of advertising. Marketers' willingness to purchase location-based ads may suggest that this type of ad has proven a positive ROI in the past few years to many marketers. 

3. Nearly half (43%) of advertisers plan to increase spending on influencer marketing.

We are all aware that social media influencer marketing is a hot trend right now; that's why it's not surprising that 43% of marketers are planning to increase their influencer marketing budgets.

On the other hand, this is an interesting stat to look at when a recent study by InfluencerDB came out with data showing a major decline in engagement rates of Instagram influencer content. 

4. The average revenue per Snapchat user is on the rise.

The average revenue per Snapchat user rose from $1.21 in 2018 to $1.68 in 2019. With 190M daily active users and more and more marketers investing in the platform, Snapchat is winning the fight to stay in the game alongside the other social media giants. 

5. Social referral traffic has become a major driver for retail ecommerce sites (and continues to rise). 

Social referral to retail sites has grown by 110% over the past two years. It's growing faster than any other referral source.

Facebook, being the leading social platform, drives the most traffic. Instagram and Pinterest are the most natural and relevant platforms for retailers to advertise on. Snapchat and Twitter also play a significant part in the ad game, but not as much as the other three. 

6. TikTok's worldwide in-app sales surged 500% in May from a year earlier.

TikTok, being the new kid on the block, is working hard to get the attention of advertisers. The app reached $9 million in-app sales in May and is forecast to reach $100 million. "TikTok's focus on video may give the app an advantage as video ads drive media spending," says Mobile Marketer. 

How to create overwhelming demand for a product nobody wants

“I’m sorry,” said the man.

He was one of a dozen people in a focus group trying a new drink. It was 1986. 

“I’m sorry but that tastes vile,” he said. The other participants nodded. “What the hell is it?”

“It’s called Red Bull,” said the researcher leading the group. “It’s an energy drink.”

“Red Bull?” said the man, perplexed. “I wouldn’t drink it again if you paid me to.”

Meanwhile, Dietrich Mateschitz looked on through double-sided glass. 

Mateschitz was an Austrian marketer for a toothpaste company. 

He created Red Bull in 1984 after a trip to Bangkok, where he discovered a similar drink called Krating Daeng.

Krating Daeng was an Asian energy tonic. It was full of caffeine, sugar, B-vitamins, taurine, and a carbohydrate called glucuronolactone. Rickshaw drivers used it to stay awake. Krating Daeng didn’t taste good — it was thick and impossibly sweet — but it did work. It helped people stay alert and focused.

Mateschitz saw an opportunity… 

He was going to sell Krating Daeng in Europe. But to do so, he needed to rebrand the product in a way that appealed to Westerners…

A way that captured attention.

A way that created interest and desire.

A way that compelled action. 

Mateschitz got to work. 

He hired a branding agency that helped him craft:

The package: a thin, small aluminum can. It was different, so it stood out on the shelf. [ATTENTION]

The logo: two muscular, charging red bulls against a yellow sun. This image evoked vitality, strength, perseverance. [INTEREST]

The tagline: Red Bull gives you wiiings. This phrase put a distinct, memorable, compelling image in the reader’s mind. [DESIRE]

The strategy: at more than twice the average cost of a soda, Red Bull was expensive. The premium price gave it allure. [ACTION]

The process took time, a couple of years. It seemed all the pieces were in place but when Mateschitz finally commissioned a focus group, it didn’t go well… 

“I’m sorry,” said the researcher. 

“I’m sorry but I’ve never seen a product fail this badly,” he told Mateschitz.

But the entrepreneur wasn’t discouraged. He knew he wasn’t selling taste. He was selling energy! In fact, Red Bull had found a market in Europe’s clubs and bars, where people mixed it with vodka to stay up. 

People drank Red Bull for the effect.

Mateschitz saw another opportunity…

Enter: The Red Bull Dolomitenmann

Billed as The World’s Toughest Relay Race, The Dolomitenmann was a combination of running, paragliding, kayaking, and mountain biking. It was brutal, and new, and entertaining. Millions across Europe watched it on TV.

Mateschitz sponsored the event, slapping the Red Bull logo on the equipment. The strategy worked. The race linked Red Bull to the hallmarks of extreme sports: vitality, energy, pushing the limits. And the message became clear: Red Bull is a tool.

Mateschitz continued to sponsor extreme sports until the drink, eventually, transcended the club scene and found a market around the world. Today, he’s worth $20 billion. 

 What does your product do? 

Attach that function to something similar, and popular — and it will tell your product’s story with amazing efficiency. 

This article was inspired by an episode of Business Wars, a podcast we would recommend to anyone interested in marketing case studies. VeryGoodCopy edited their narrative for brevity and structure, adding some copywriting colour along the way.

LinkedIn Upgrades Campaign Manager With 3 New Objectives

Yesterday, LinkedIn announced three new ad objectives as options in Campaign Manager: brand awareness, website conversions and job applicants.

“…Our latest version of Campaign Manager is the next step in our effort to give advertisers the tools to create campaigns and directly measure their impact vs their intended goal.”

With these new objectives, LinkedIn has also updated their ad pricing model to offer the best price point for your ads. Each objective aligns with a different pricing style. 

Brand awareness

Selecting brand awareness as a campaign objective will charge you by impressions (e.g. cost per thousand or CPM). This type of campaign will help you get in front of a broader audience, hopefully increasing "brand awareness."

Website conversions

This tool has multiple layers; you can see how many people viewed your ad, how many clicked through and how many took action (conversion rate). If you select website conversions, you will only be charged when someone clicks through to your landing page. 

Job applicants

LinkedIn Talent Solutions customers who are trying to drive applications on LinkedIn or their own site, can now create ads using Campaign Manager.  

Marketers and Influencers Should Take this Lesson from Google

Expertise. Authority. Trustworthiness. It pays to E-A-T with Google.

This is the message that both influencers and marketers need to heed. When people take notice, consume content and pass it along, it is because they trust the source. 

Working with influencers people can trust and turn to for answers is one of the most vital ingredients in building a brand, not just because your audience likes it more, but because Google does, too.

Basically, E-A-T is an SEO term, and it’s also one of the ways Google determines the quality of a website, web page, or other piece of online content. The term appears multiple times in Google’s official Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, forming a core concept at the heart of what Google cares about. 

So what does an SEO concept like E-A-T have to do with influencer marketing? 

First and foremost, if you’re an influencer, demonstrate your expertise – share your knowledge. Strive to be the content creator in your niche that all the other players are chasing. If you’re a brand, partner with influencers who are experts in their niche.

Next, they need to be authoritative. Again, don’t mistake a large follower count for authority. Instead if you’re a brand, find influencers to promote your product to an audience that follows them for their interesting and engaging content.

Too many brands have chosen influencers that aren’t the right fit, and vice versa. This leads to dwindling trust in the influencer marketing space.

People want authenticity. They crave it, and they expect it from the influencers they follow. That’s what builds trust. When choosing an influencer or brand to partner with, make sure your audience is aligned with theirs.

Innovators: Are You a Challenger or a Defender?

Today’s most groundbreaking companies challenge established markets and competitors with innovations that dislocate and reinvent entire industries. These companies set new standards for customer experience, quality, functionality, and service, and incumbents must skillfuly manage their business and customers in order to compete.

Innovators can be categorised as either challengers or defenders, and almost all are better in one area than the other whether they know it or not. Defenders optimise every opportunity to grow revenue from their existing customer base; challengers devise inventive business models and make competition obsolete. Few managers excel at both.

Take this nine question quiz to find out your personal strengths.

Thanks for tuning in to this week’s marketing roundup for Marketers and Business Owners alike. Make sure to follow our company channel for more updates every Friday Lunchtime (AEST).