Return on investment from marketing
by Natasha Christou Digital Marketing ConsultantFigures from Google’s Car Purchasing UK
Report in April 2017, reveal £115.9 million was invested in online display and
direct mail by car dealers in the UK, in 2016 alone.
Automotive manufacturers have a significant
marketing budget to play with, something that not all companies have to invest
in marketing campaigns. With increased interest in online platforms, digital
visibility doesn’t come cheap — but is it worth the cost? Audi dealership, Vindis, investigates.
Automotive
In Google’s Drive To Decide Report, in
association with TNS, they discuss how today’s auto shopper is more digitally
savvy than before, with over 82% of the UK population aged 18 and over having
access to the internet for personal reasons, 85% using smartphones and 65%
choosing a smartphone as their preferred device to access the internet. These
figures show that for car dealers to keep their head in the game, a digital
transition is vital.
The same report revealed that 90% of auto
shoppers carry out research online. 51% of buyers starting their auto research
online, with 41% of those using a search engine. To capture those shoppers
beginning their research online, car dealers must think in terms of the
customer’s micro moments of influence, which could include online display ads –
one marketing method that currently occupies a significant proportion of car
dealers’ marketing budgets.
According to eMarketer, the automotive industry
accounted for 11% of the total UK Digital Ad Spending Growth in 2017, placing
the industry in second place behind the retail sector. The automotive industry
is forecast to see a further 9.5% increase in ad spending in 2018.
With the majority of car purchases taking
place on the forecourt, how is online influencing their decisions? 41% of
shoppers who research online find their smartphone research ‘very valuable’.
60% said they were influenced by what they saw in the media, of which 22% were
influenced by marketing promotions – proving online investment is working.
Traditional methods of TV and radio still
remain the most invested forms of marketing for the automotive sector – but in
the last past five years, it is digital that has made the biggest jump from
fifth most popular method to third, seeing an increase of 10.6% in expenditure.
Fashion
Online investment is critical to the
success of fashion retailers – with online sales in the fashion industry
reaching £16.2 billion in 2017! This figure is expected to continue to grow by
a huge 79% by 2022. So where are fashion retailers investing their marketing
budgets? Has online marketing become a priority?
In December 2017, ecommerce accounted for
nearly a quarter of all purchases, according to the British Retail Consortium,
as online brands such as ASOS and Boohoo continue to embrace the online
shopping phenomenon. ASOS experienced an 18% UK sales growth in the final four
months of 2017, whilst Boohoo saw a 31% increase in sales throughout the same
period.
Many big brands such as Marks and Spencer,
John Lewis and Next have invested millions into their online operations and
marketing to capture the online shopper and drive digital sales. John Lewis
announced that 40% of its Christmas sales came from online shoppers, and whilst
Next struggled to keep up with the sales growth of its competitors, it has
announced it will invest £10 million into its online marketing and operations.
Shoppers no longer want to go to the
high-street store to shop – instead they like the idea of being able to
conveniently shop from the comfort of their home, or via their smartphone
devices whilst on the move.
According to PMYB Influencer Marketing
Agency, 59% of fashion marketers increased their budget for influencer
marketing last year – an essential marketing tactic in the fashion industry. In
fact, 75% of global fashion brands collaborate with social media influencers as
part of their marketing strategy.
More than a third of marketers believe
influencer marketing to be more successful than traditional methods of
advertising in 2017 – as 22% of customers are said to be acquired through
influencer marketing.
Utilities
An increasing number of consumers are
turning to comparison websites when it comes to choosing the right utilities supplier
– websites which could be the key to many suppliers acquiring and retaining
customers.
With comparison websites spending millions
on TV marketing campaigns that are watched by the masses, it has become vital for
many utility suppliers to be listed on comparison websites and offer a very
competitive price, in order to stay in the game.
The four largest comparison websites –
Compare the Market, MoneySupermarket, Go Compare and Confused.com are among the
top 100 highest spending advertisers in the UK, but does that marketing
investment reflect on utility suppliers?
Comparison sites can be the difference
between a high rate of customer retention for one supplier and a high rate of
customer acquisition for another. If you don’t beat your competitors, then what
is to stop your existing and potential new customers choosing your competitors
over you?
British Gas has shifted its marketing aims
toward customer retention as oppose to customer acquisition. Whilst the company
recognise that this approach to marketing will be a slower process to yield
measurable results, they firmly believe that retention will in turn lead to
acquisition. The Gas company hope that by marketing a wider range of tailored
products and services to their existing customers, they will be able to improve
customer retention.
An investment of £100 million is to be
invested in a loyalty scheme to offer discounted energy and services, which
focuses on the value of a customer, their behaviour and spending habits over
time to discover what they are looking for in the company. The utilities sector
is incredibly competitive, so it is vital that companies invest in their
existing customers before looking for new customers.
The utilities sector has also cut itself a
slice of the digital cake, as 40% of all searches in Q3 2017 were carried out
on mobile, and a further 45% of all ad impressions were via mobile too –
according to Google’s Public Utilities Report in December 2017. As mobile usage
continues to soar, companies need to consider content created specifically for
mobile users as they account for a large proportion of the market now.
Healthcare
The healthcare sector runs by its own
completely different set of rules for marketing – generally because it is
restricted by heavy regulations. The same ROI methods that have been adopted by
other sectors simply don’t work for the healthcare market. Despite nearly 74%
of all healthcare marketing emails remaining unopened, you’ll be surprised to
learn that email marketing is essential for the healthcare industry’s marketing
strategy.
Approximately, 2.5 million people use email
as a primary means of communication, rising in value and usage over the past
few years. This means email marketing is targeting a large audience. For this
reason, 62% of physicians and other healthcare providers prefer communication
via email – and now that smartphone devices allow users to check their emails
on their device, email marketing puts companies at the fingertips of their
audience.
Online marketing is another platform that
is a worthwhile investment for healthcare, especially when you consider that
one in 20 Google searches are for health-related content. This could be
attributed to the fact that many people turn to a search engine for medical
answer before calling the GP.
Pew Research Center data shows
77% of all health enquiries begin at a search engine – and 72% of total internet
users say they’ve looked online for health information within the past year. Furthermore,
52% of smartphone users have used their device to look up the medical
information they require. Statistics estimate that marketing spend for online
marketing accounts for 35% of the overall budget.
And not forgetting social media marketing.
Whilst the healthcare industry is restricted to how they market their services
and products, that doesn’t mean social media should be neglected. In fact, an
effective social media campaign could be a crucial investment for
organisations, with 41% of people choosing a healthcare provider based on their
social media reputation! And the reason? The success of social campaigns is
usually attributed to the fact audiences can engage with the content on
familiar platforms.
So, is it worth the investment?
It is clear that for industries such as
automotive and fashion, online marketing investment is critical! With a clear
increase in online demand in both sectors that is changing the purchase
process, some game players could find themselves out of the game before it has
even begun if they neglect digital.
However, for others, such as utilities, the picture
looks to be a lot bigger – whilst TV and digital appear to remain the main
sales driving forces, its more than just creating your own marketing campaign
when comparison sites need to be considered. Without the correct marketing,
advertising or listing on comparison sites, you could fall behind.
According to webstrategies.com, the average
firm in 2018 is expected to allocate at least 41% of their marketing budget to
online strategies – with this figure expected to grow to 45% by 2020. Social
media advertising investments is expected to represent 25% of total online
spending and search engine banner ads are also expected to grow significantly
too – all presumably as a result of more mobile and online usage.
So, do you think the investment is worth
it? If mobile and online usage continues to grow year on year at the rate it
has done in the past few years, we forecast the investment to be not only
worthwhile but essential.
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Created on Aug 2nd 2019 03:15. Viewed 520 times.