Pivot Digital

At Pivot Digital we are in love with Mailchimp

Many of us have trialed rival systems including but not limited to Campaign Monitor, Campaign Manager, Traction, Constant Contact, AWeber, Exact Target etc but we still come back to Mailchimp. While Mailchimp a few years ago was really lite weight, a combination of funding and visionary product development has now made Mailchimp the clear standout both in way of price, ease of use and reliability.

Here is why:

• Truck load of new pre-formatted and designed templates which you are easily able to customise yourself
• New notification system to help you see how your account is behaving and whether anything needs you to action
• Smarter send metering to enable you to keep track of how you are going against your send limits
• Better smarts around in-email linkages
• Mobile reporting – can now see how your campaigns are performing, how your subscribers are sharing them, and how much revenue your campaigns are generating for you all from your mobile device!

Mailchimp 7.1 is easy to use, uncomplicated and most of all dependable. All our agency run campaigns on behalf of our customers are powered by Mailchimp. As marketers, the reporting, dashboard views and segmenting makes this product hugely attractive and value.

Strongly recommend that should you be in the market for a new email marketing platform, you look no further than Mailchimp.

Yellow Pages is dying but the adage ‘be seen to be found’ still resonates particularly in the case of Google Places business listings.

Here are some things you should know about Google Places:

• It’s free
• Takes all of 5mins to setup
• Will greatly improve your SEO. Did you know for instance that Google promotes Google Places listings in search results and often lists Places above all other links?
• Enhances your visibility and places you and your business on the map

Given the above, I am surprised by the huge number of big brands that are yet to act on creating Google Places listings for their branches, sites, offices.

We all know and it has been discussed in other posts available on the Pivot Digital blog that Google is cleaning up their index and removing overly optimised or heavily SEO’d websites. Pivot Digital firmly believes this to be long overdue and commends Google for taking on such an approach. Establishing and optimising your Google Places listing is totally legitimate and quintessential for all brands that used formally to have heavily reliance on Yellow Pages or other information directories for lead generation.

If you’re a business with multiple sites and haven’t setup a free Google Places listing, ACT NOW!

Pivot Digital strongly urges any and all businesses to get your Google Places listing up and running and to periodically review it as it is ‘best practice’.

I am shocked to learn that less than 16% of SMEs in Australia have a strategy for the digital activities / aspects of their business.

The role and importance of a digital strategy should not be underestimated. Considering that digital is and has already fundamentally changed the way in which we communicate, transact and work, I fail to understand why there is hesitation around devising a strategy for the way in which a business draws or leverages value from digital.

Having a website for your company is not in and of itself a recipe for success. You need a clear and suitable strategy to inform the way your business is to embrace digital and in setting up goals/objectives, parameters, industry bench marking, tactical mix and marketing plan, review mechanisms and success criteria.

While some businesses are thriving online, most are far from it!

According to a Sensis eBusiness Survey released earlier this year “The proportion of SMEs with a website continued to increase over the past year from 61 per cent to 67 per cent. A further six per cent of online SMEs indicated an intention to have one within the next 12 months. Over two-thirds of SMEs reported that having a website had improved the effectiveness of their business.”

Nowadays, all business should and MUST have a website. Websites are becoming in-expensive and invaluable as a way for getting business visible/found by both B2C or B2B. However, before any investment is made, a digital strategy is so important to lay the right foundations and particularly to determine what your business needs are so as to inform then what digital approach is best suited.

Sadly, there are marketers milking client budgets generating sub-standard results and ROI. I believe this is able to be done because there is a lack of cohesion, vision and micro/macro planning.

I have heard it a thousand times, “I know we need to be getting better results, but we are not wanting to commit, we have been burnt in the past”. I hear this and then note that the same client launches a new website a few months later. In other words, they opt for the quick fix rather than taking the time to abstract themselves from their business to take a longer term view.

There are roughly 120,000 new websites going online every DAY worldwide. A website is only one piece of the digital jigsaw. Many prioritise a website over establishing a robust, comprehensive and growth oriented digital strategy and this will only lead to disappointment.

Customers are increasingly using the web to research (source), compare and inform purchasing decisions. Only then will they then choose between coming in store to make purchase or purchase online.

CONCLUSION
Moving a business online without proper planning is silly and can be expensive.

The latest Sensis survey states: “While 95 per cent of SMEs reported that they were online, only 16 per cent of those reported that they had some form of strategy for their businesses digital activities. For most SMEs that did have a digital business strategy, it was most likely to be focused on internet and websites (90 and 89 per cent respectively), with 54 per cent including a mobile component and 53 per cent including a social media component.”

Before spending money on digital (be it technology and or marketing), first consider whether your business has the expertise and a digital strategy in place to best ensure success and carriage in full the vision of your business growth aspirations. If not, I would strongly recommend you go back to the drawing table and get the right advice before you blow money unnecessarily.

Fashion is in a dire state in Australia. Australia is a small savvy market and the fashion industry has failed to keep up with the wants and needs of their customers who are increasingly trending to use the net to “shop around”. You need only look down main shopping precincts across the nation to see a gammit of empty “For Lease” signs in once bustling shopping meccas.

Pivot Digital has worked for many years with a number of fashion related clients. Let me share with you a few learning’s and my thoughts on the future of retail in Australia:

• Try to run online and offline business will be your downfall. What I mean by this is for those business owners who fail to integrate and embrace convergence in their business model are doomed! You cannot run an online business like you do a bricks and mortar business.
• Budget for the same you would otherwise invest in opening a new bricks and mortar store on your online shop. Many fashion businesses make the fundamental failure of perceiving web to be cheap. You will fail if you do not properly invest it on your online shop as you would otherwise if you were to open your doors on a new bricks and mortar shop. That’s not to say you need to spend up big. But, if you are looking at creating an online offering for your business, look to apportion a budget of $50k – $100k (including first year marketing) to do it right!
• Online consumers demand efficiency in the processing of their orders and are price conscious. Don’t delay or fail to communicate with them.
• Communication is key. Online customers want to feel as though they matter. Communicate with them, via email or even via phone.
• Get the fundamentals in place first before you add the bells and whistles. You will never get it right the first time. Like in all businesses, changes, refinements and tweaks will need to be made. For that reason, don’t overcapitalise on the bells and whistles too early on at the sacrifice of your marketing budget. Prioritise getting the engine working and in line with revenue growth, then look to roll out enhancements and enrich the overall customer experience.
• You need to market your business. You can’t just open the doors and expect customers to flock to your brand / store (online or offline). You need to market yourself.

Fashion, in particular is plagued by business owners being either designers or accountants. They are promoters they are not marketers. There is a considerable difference between the two!

Online retail is on the up as more consumers look for convenience, good price and service.

You can promote to the cows come home but if you have an online shop, you need to market yourself both online and offline.

While there is considerable opportunity online, only a select few are doing it the right way! Save yourself and your business and speak to Pivot Digital to help guide you in the right direction!