IS "FAD MARKETING" KILLING YOUR RETAIL BUSINESS
Are you continually buying into all the noise about digital marketing?
Everyone has read in the various trade magazines that home furnishings is struggling with their growth. There was a recent article in Home Furnishings Business in their Factoid section that shows the growth charts by various industries.
Although Healthcare spending still leads the way, Durable Goods, including Furniture and Home Furnishings products, have steadily increased their share of post-recession consumer dollars since 2009. I have to wonder if this lack of growth has a correlation with everyone abandoning traditional marketing and jumping on the digital band wagon .... Hmmmmmm
Even though I'm in the home furnishings business, people in other retail/manufacturing sectors should take notice as to what is happening in retail and the trends are not what I think they could be, because of what I call ... FAD MARKETING What is the definition of FAD |
Click to read the article
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fad
noun
noun: fad; plural noun: fads
an intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, especially one that is short-lived and without basis in the object's qualities; a craze
digitization has changed everything .... or has it?
Digitization is turning something that used to be analog, handwritten, into ones and zeros. This allows for information to be shared exponentially virtually everywhere on the web and available on every device.
Many people, myself included, think this digital revolution has caused your investment in your marketing and promotions to come down, because it so confusing with all the platforms available, it's riddled with fraud, people talk about conversions/eyeballs at the expense of dollar ROI, people telling you that traditional marketing - TV/Radio/Print is dead and so on.
Many people, myself included, think this digital revolution has caused your investment in your marketing and promotions to come down, because it so confusing with all the platforms available, it's riddled with fraud, people talk about conversions/eyeballs at the expense of dollar ROI, people telling you that traditional marketing - TV/Radio/Print is dead and so on.
I CHALLENGE THE ASSUMPTION THAT DIGITAL CONVERSIONS ACTUALLY MEAN SOMETHING
Every day I get a solicitation from someone or some marketing company about how to do digital marketing more effectively. A new dashboard to manage campaigns/engagements, a guarantee of "CONVERSIONS", better SEO #1 page on Google (Really?), and countless other solicitations of this nature.
These solicitations are overtaking my guy in Nigeria, reminding me everyday that he is holding billions of dollars for me if I'd just respond..... ;-)
But the one thing that drives me crazy is when companies promote how THEY INCREASED CONVERSIONS, for retailer X, Y and Z.
What does that mean?
So I looked up the definition
These solicitations are overtaking my guy in Nigeria, reminding me everyday that he is holding billions of dollars for me if I'd just respond..... ;-)
But the one thing that drives me crazy is when companies promote how THEY INCREASED CONVERSIONS, for retailer X, Y and Z.
What does that mean?
So I looked up the definition
The act or process of converting; state of being converted.the act or process of converting; state of being converted.
Or
a change of attitude, emotion, or viewpoint from one of indifference,disbelief, or antagonism to one of acceptance, faith, or enthusiastic support,
AND I STILL HAVE NO CLUE WHAT CONVERSIONS ARE
... and I bet you don't either, at least as it pertains to keeping score with your checkbook?
... and I bet you don't either, at least as it pertains to keeping score with your checkbook?
you need to ask yourself
what is a conversion & If it's worth it?
a conversion means nothing unless there is a QUANTITATIVE roi (DOLLAR Return on investment) attached to it
Every time I read some propaganda about how a marketing company "increased conversions" from some digital ad spend, I feel so very sorry for the company that actually bought into the CONVERSION FAD FRENZY. Getting traffic to your website from a digital ad spend means nothing more than you got some traffic .... did they buy anything from that ad spend and can you track the spend back to the purchase? People, that is all that matters. We keep score with our checking accounts, not someone's eyeballs.
I've written many RANTS about fad marketing,
but i've never compiled them into one easy read
with links to "the facts"
most likely you'll get a lecture from a company on digital as to why you need to spend all your money there because that's where the people are.
REMEMBER, that lecture you're getting is from a company that makes all their money selling you digital stuff
fad #1
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Traditional Direct Mail, Inserts, mailers, and other promotions
DELIVERED TO/IN THE MAIL BOX ACHIEVE A 3.7% RESPONSE RATE A 600% INCREASE OVER DIGITAL ADS MOBILE, PAID SEARCH, SOCIAL MEDIA, EMAIL, AND INTERNET DISPLAY COMBINED ONLY ACHIEVE A .62% RESPONSE RATE
Cost-per-acquisition for direct mail is very competitive.
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Click to enlarge image
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fad #2
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Yes they are our largest generation, but also one that you MUST question when you deploy those precious ad dollars.
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Fad #3
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A Facebook study found that users are turned off by content that pushes people to buy a product or an app, pushes people to enter promotions with no real context or reuses the exact same content from ads because it’s too promotional.
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fad #4
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Nobody wants to write about click fraud, bots or click farms because that would be a counter-narrative to what marketers want you to believe, but it's VERY true
According to Business Insider, a study commissioned by WPP, clicks automatically generated by bots, could reach $16.4 billion in 2017 and could reach over $50BN in 2025. Hey, this fraud and the profits are second only to organized crime’s drug trade! AD FRAUD AT CONSTANT 30%+ One of the biggest reasons fraud is so rampant is simply that it’s not illegal. Unlike credit card fraud, bank fraud, false advertising, etc., nobody is going to jail for ad fraud, and it’s not exactly the sort of activity that elicits a crackdown from law enforcement, which means there is significantly less risk involved. And yet it’s extremely lucrative. |
Click to read more
P&G CUTS MORE THAN $100 MILLION IN ‘LARGELY INEFFECTIVE’ DIGITAL ADS |
fad #5
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Everyone thinks I'm too old to market to because I'm a boomer... Think AgainAmericans 55 and older accounted for 41.6% of consumer spending, up from 41.2% late last year . Toss in 53- and 54-year-olds, and the Boomer- and-older set comprise about half of all consumption,
There's a great article on the NYT titled:
Baby Boomers to Advertisers: Don’t Forget About Us |
Click to read more
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i SUGGEST YOU PULL A DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF YOUR STORE.
I'm willing to wager, the zip codes surrounding your business that have the highest income and home ownership are ... wait for it .... BOOMERS!
we can pull a profile for your store and it's free .... see below
About Bill Napier
Bill Napier - Managing Partner Napier Marketing Group
Bill has been in the Marketing Industry for over 35 years.
Bill has been the Chief Marketing Officer of several small, medium and large companies throughout his career. Many have labeled Bill Napier as being a “ Serial Disruptor and Strategic Storm Chaser” in the retail and home furnishings industry, a moniker he loves!
In the 90’s, Bill’s marketing agency PMA Network (Promotional Marketing Associates, Inc.), with offices in Minneapolis and Chicago, launched many consumer brands, as well as being a strategic consultant for The Times Square Millennium celebration. He was hired by Ashley Furniture in 2000 as their Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and was blessed to be part of their astronomic growth from $800MM – $2.7BN over his 5-year tenure.
He has also worked with two other furniture brands as CMO. He has been an industry consultant since 2007 and with his company Napier Marketing Group has developed and managed some of the largest promotions ever done in the industry.
Bill has developed and maintains the largest aggregated marketing informational website for retailers and brands: www.social4retail.com.
Bill is also focused on how technology can help brick and mortar retailers compete with the huge e-commerce retailers. He believes technology, properly implemented, can level the playing field because over 80% of consumers would prefer to shop and buy local
Bill is also a featured writer and speaker in the retail industry. You may have read his "RETAIL RANTS" in many industry magazines, including SMB RETAIL Technology News, Furniture Today, Furniture World Magazine, RetailerNOW and his Blog on www.social4retail.com.
His vast understanding of the issues retailers and brands face to compete in the digital arena, coupled with his humorous interpretation of his knowledge of trends, facts and solutions for helping companies compete, makes for an engaging and informative session for every brand or retailer that attends his sessions.
His passion is to help retail brands & brick mortar retailers grow their business by creating, guiding and deploying successful marketing B2B/B2C solutions integrating traditional marketing with the web/social media.
Bill has been in the Marketing Industry for over 35 years.
Bill has been the Chief Marketing Officer of several small, medium and large companies throughout his career. Many have labeled Bill Napier as being a “ Serial Disruptor and Strategic Storm Chaser” in the retail and home furnishings industry, a moniker he loves!
In the 90’s, Bill’s marketing agency PMA Network (Promotional Marketing Associates, Inc.), with offices in Minneapolis and Chicago, launched many consumer brands, as well as being a strategic consultant for The Times Square Millennium celebration. He was hired by Ashley Furniture in 2000 as their Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and was blessed to be part of their astronomic growth from $800MM – $2.7BN over his 5-year tenure.
He has also worked with two other furniture brands as CMO. He has been an industry consultant since 2007 and with his company Napier Marketing Group has developed and managed some of the largest promotions ever done in the industry.
Bill has developed and maintains the largest aggregated marketing informational website for retailers and brands: www.social4retail.com.
Bill is also focused on how technology can help brick and mortar retailers compete with the huge e-commerce retailers. He believes technology, properly implemented, can level the playing field because over 80% of consumers would prefer to shop and buy local
Bill is also a featured writer and speaker in the retail industry. You may have read his "RETAIL RANTS" in many industry magazines, including SMB RETAIL Technology News, Furniture Today, Furniture World Magazine, RetailerNOW and his Blog on www.social4retail.com.
His vast understanding of the issues retailers and brands face to compete in the digital arena, coupled with his humorous interpretation of his knowledge of trends, facts and solutions for helping companies compete, makes for an engaging and informative session for every brand or retailer that attends his sessions.
His passion is to help retail brands & brick mortar retailers grow their business by creating, guiding and deploying successful marketing B2B/B2C solutions integrating traditional marketing with the web/social media.
[email protected]
612-217-1297
612-217-1297
