.

This summer I had the pleasure of taking ShoeMe.ca President and e-commerce guru – Sean Clark – for coffee.

ShoeMe.ca is an online retailer of over 100 brands of shoes and accessories.  Since launching their business in 2012, ShoeMe.ca has grown to be Canada’s leading online retail store.

At this point, I was considering adding a concentration in e-commerce to my Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Marketing, and I let Sean know that I wanted to learn more about the world of e-commerce.

I lucked out taking this genius for coffee.

When I got to his office, his entire team was in great spirits after a company party that took place at the Whitecaps game the previous night.  It definitely came across as a place where people loved coming to work.

As we sipped on our coffees, Sean walked me through 5 channels of e-commerce/e-marketing that he wanted to introduce me to.

1. SEM – Search Engine Marketing is all about new customer acquisitions and heavily reliant on metrics and conversions.
2. SEO – Search Engine Optimization which focuses on coding, keywords, and relevancy –  but is more truly a programmers job.
3. Display Networks – This approach is a tactic for both re-targeting and media buying strategies.
4. Affiliated Marketing –  This drives traffic to websites, and the tracking pixels are view based conversions and click based conversion.  This is really big in USA & the UK.
5. Email Marketing – This approach proved to have the best ROI for ShoeMe.ca.  Sean explained that if they already showed interest in your company and signed up their email, then the customers WANT to hear from you.

We also touched on ShoeME.ca’s Google Adwords strategy and he gave me insight on their budget and strategy for that – but I am not going to post any details online for Sean’s competitors to see.

Sean started ShoeMe.ca after working for Coastal Contacts (Clearly Contacts), the leading direct to consumer retailer of contact lenses.  Coastal Contacts business model made them the largest seller of glasses and contact lenses in the world.

Roger Hard, the head of Coastal Contacts, has recently invested in ShoeMe.ca to support Sean’s entrepreneurial endeavor as I am sure he will take over the online Canadian shoe market.

Thanks to Sean, I was inspired to dive into the study of e-marketing and I will graduate with my e-commerce concentration when I graduate in April.  I look forward to all of Sean’s success as ShoeMe.ca continues to grow.

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Frank & Oak is one of the most exciting ecommerce companies in Canada today.  When the launch on February 15, 2012, they sold 145  on their first day of business.  Six months later on November 1^st 2012, they sold over 10,000 items.  How did Frank & Oak become a Canadian ecommerce success story?

Frank & Oak was a second attempt at launching an ecommerce site for the young energetic business partners, after they realized their business ModaSuite wasn’t going to take off.  They suggest that if you try a online business and it doesn’t take off in the first 6 months – that it won’t and that investors wont want to invest.  The pillars of ModaSuite were Create, Personalize, and Enhance.  But as they continued to pitch their dream business to investors, they realized the business that they were pitching was not the business they were running.  They convinced their board of directors that with a small shift, their new products would satisfy a sizeable market share, and they would do this under a new company name.  And Frank & Oak was born.

Companies like Groupon, Twitter, and Fab were also sites that relaunched after realizing their core competencies of their respective companies were not adequate.

Frank & Oak considers themselves to be a clothing, technology, lifestyle brand; a brand of the 20-30 year old generation.  Applied technology is an element of their marketing, logistics, and design.  Their life cycle management links back all the way to be integrated with their suppliers.  Because of so much data at their hand, they are able to determine right away whether or not something is a success and react quickly.  This allows them to take on a lot more risks.  Their competitive advantage is their technology driven business model.

They like to compare their approach to business to Apple.  They explain that it is very different purchasing a computer at Apple rather than Futureshop.  This online clothing store caters to men, and how men of this generation like to shop.  Most stores are catered towards women, and Frank & Oak has created the platform and experience that young men want.

Ethan Song, CEO of Frank & Oak, emphasizes how important Personalized Selection is for their business.  Because the merchandising, content, products change for the consumers preferences, it really connects the brand with the client.  Digital media allows for these changes to happen seamlessly in a way that traditional media never could do.  Because of this strategy, the customers become attached and brand loyal.

Frank & Oak thought through the voice and tone of how their brand was illustrated online in order to effectively communicate their philosophy to consumers.  They did not want a cold ecommerce experience, so they brought in very humane elements to their business.  For example, they offer a service called “The Hunt Club” which sends out 5 items of close to members in a crate.  The member then tries them on at home, and can return any free of cost.  Some members compare the excitement and feeling of receiving the crate to Christmas – except The Hunt Club comes every month.  Frank & Oak focuses on the details, right down to hand written cards for each shipment.

Specific digital tactics they use include a mobile app (which currently accounts for 20% of their total sales), pop-up invitations to join when you visit their site, a well strategized referral program, and aggressive email marketing strategies.

How did Frank & Oak get to this level of success? They took risks, used technology, focused on details, and the disintermediation of the supply chain.

Sources 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5. 

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Marketing in a digital world is all about cultivating the experience in the Consumer Decision Journey to turn customers and potential customers into loyal brand advocates.

The business savvy owners of Cavalier: The Fine Jewelry Shoppe thought all about their customers behaviors and the opportune time to influence them.

How does this brick and mortar shoppe influence people in the store to get engaged with them online? When the shoppers are on their phones.  And when is it most probable that shoppers will be on their phones? On the toilet.

When a shopper sits on the toilet in this fine jewelry shoppe, the message is explicit and concise.  At four feet off the ground, it’s eye level, and it communicates and resonates.

Effective.

And this is more than a hunch.  A recent study by Sony and 02 polled 2,000 people and concluded that 75% of people use their phones while on the toilet.  Further more, approximately one quarter of men choose to sit on the loo rather than stand, for the sole reason that they will have both hands free to play with their phones.

Why people use their phones on the toilet?  Well, they have nothing better to do.  Why not check your emails texts, tweets, and follow the Cavalier?

Its like the walls really can talk.  And if Cavalier’s communication is clever enough in the bathroom, they set the bar high for a clever communication strategy via social media.  And their Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter delivers equally engaging content.  When exposed to this message, why wouldn’t a customer follow them?  That way they can check out their photos, tweets, and stay connected with Cavalier every time they gotta-go.

Partially due to this clever bathroom signage, Cavalier has earned 1,524 followers on Instagram, 389 Followers on Twitter, and 2,660 Facebook Page likes, since opening their business in Gastown this summer. 

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Creating content that is dependant on the strategy of going viral is just silly.

You cannot count on content going viral, it needs to earn the momentum to get to that point.  Digital agencies cannot garuntee virality to their clients, and neither can their clients expect this result.

However, bloggers still offer their advice.  Although it isn’t a formula for the success, bloggers still offers their recipe for success. Lets discuss this list of ten steps to go viral online. 

1)      Focus on Current Events and Trends.

2)  Make a Video.

3)  Pay Attention to Keywords and Tags.

4) Get Noticed by Someone Big.

5)  Start a Contest.

6)  Use Humor.

7)   Be Shocking and Controversial.

8)  Use Photos and Visuals Content.

9)   Submit to Reddit.

10)  Don’t be boring.

Hmm.  I think we see the need to take that advice with a grain of salt.

Tailoring content to relevant, engaging, and relatable to specific segmentations of the target market will much more effective resonated with that group and having them act the way that you want to.

Content cannot count on going viral, it must earn it.

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Online advertising with the best execution will drive the highest ROI’s.

But is the investment in online video advertising worth it, when advertising can be done easily with just words on search?

Google Adwords can be optimized and monitored to have extremely high Click-through-rates if executed properly.  But video is generally much more engaging – but maybe even more annoying.

The trick to manipulating words to build your business is by creating headlines that speak to the view – a combination of compelling words and understanding your audience – be persuasive, have a call to action, and differentiate your points of difference compared to your competition.  Video can adapt these elements to build into their campaigns as well.

The initial investment in creating a video campaign is significantly higher than it is to create a Google Adwords campaign – where setting up the initial campaigns, adgroups, and keywords is free.  So this comes down to a matter of scope – whether you choose to advertise with video or simply with adwords should depend on the size of your scope of the campaign which will probably be a reflection on the size of your business.

There are a lot more risks associated with the costs of advertising through video, but as any finance 101 course will teach you – higher risks have the potential to turn into higher rewards.

For example, Virgin Airways recently released a video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtyfiPIHsIg that has got viral.  The concept of an Adwords campaign doesn’t even exist.

But know your target demographic, where they are looking, you can leverage your understanding of contextual advertising for both text and video advertising online.

But, in either case – the highest ROI is a reflection of the execution.

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Since 2007, an annual “youth empowerment” charity event called We Day has gone across North America.  As of this year, they are now going Mobile.

We Day and Telus have paired up to create an App Called “We365”.

This year I volunteered at We Day (because striving for A’s in 5 fourth year marketing courses, working out five days a week, and juggling two jobs obviously leaves tonnes of time to volunteer) on October 16, 2013.

Speakers included Kofi Annan, Martin Luther King III, Adam Beach, Karina LeBlanc, Spencer West, Molly Burke and many more.  Performers included Hedley, Avril Lavigne, Chad Kruger, and Down with Webster.  This event filled Rogers arena with students who – did not buy tickets to the event – earned tickets to the event via hours of volunteer work.

I also found it ironic that I was volunteering for an event for volunteers.

Watch this video to get a feel for We Day.  

Teachers chaperoned their classes here – to what must have been the most incredible field trip ever.  (Yet somehow this still inspired one teacher to go on a negative rant about the great event).

We Day teamed up with Telus to make an app that would not only inspire youth to change the world one day a year – but every day of the year.  And to share this with their friends on a social media platform shared specifically for them.

The app aims to keep young students connected, engaged on social media, and motivating each other about the change-making that they are doing. They can win points, prizes, and scholarships. The app is free to download.

It is moderated, there is no geo-tagging, and it is apparently parent-approved. This makes it a safer form of social media rather than Facebook.  This also fits with the trend that the younger generation is moving away from social media sharing platforms and towards social media messaging platforms.

It communicated that no act is too small to make a big impact, so it encourages kids to take action, share what they have done on this mobile app, and Telus will reward them – just in case that fuzzy warm feeling of “changing the world” isn’t enough.

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How patient are you online?

If you can’t make it through a 140 character micro-blog, I’d give up on this commentary now.  But really, would you watch a 20 minute YouTube video? Would you read a 2000 word blog entry? Recent studies show that online attention spans are shrinking. And what are the implications of short online attention spans for online marketers?

Marketers have always been fighting to grab and hold consumers’ attention – and online there are stimulants competing for your eyes, impressions, and clicks.  But you better be quick and bold with captivating content, cause your window of opportunity is minimal – and shrinking.

Ouch!  Coders slave away making a beautiful, “engaging” pages, and 17% of views leave it in less than 4 seconds.  Only 49% of of webpages with 111 words or less are read?  Well, these stats are making me fairly confident that NO ONE has read to this point.  *sigh*

Let’s set a website up for success.  Take these Six steps offered by e-consultancy to try and earn your consumer’s time:

1)      Chunk Content

2)  Make Skimming Easy

3)  Use Analytics to Identify the Most Boring Parts of Your Website

4) Polish Your Copy

5)  Don’t Forget Visuals

6)  Put Yourself in the Customer’s Shoes

It’s like a vicious love-at-first-site-or-you-don’t-have-a-chance dating world.  This parallel’s with Proctor & Gamble’s concept of ‘The First Moment of Truth’, which explores the science of the 3-7 seconds in which a consumer makes up their mind about a product with their initial exposure to the product on the shelf.

Let’s learn from the historic brick-and-mortar marketing lessons that P&G spent copious amounts of money figuring out.  Whether it’s the prime position on the plan-ogram, or the first fold of a webpage – find a way to WOW the customer’s eyes, take advantage of that initial impression, and earn those purchases and clicks.

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Twitter brought the hashtag mainstream, but it was  instagram that made it cool.

This photo sharing social media platform has taken image crafting to a whole new level and by hashtag-ing photos with words and phrases to attract even more followers “likes” have been giving instagram users the validation that they crave.

Whether its with a Waldern, Earlybird, Toaster, Nashville, or Valencia filter, users are sharing their photos and counting the “likes”.

Instagram has essential created online communities, and by following the hashtags, you can find the interest group that you want to communicate with.  It may be #fashion, #winesofitaly, #planningmyownwedding, or #crossfit, and then the users can “like”, “follow” and engage with others.

But like in any community, there needs to be some governance.  What does instagram do to protect users?

Aside from the option of private accounts and the ability to report inappropriate behaviour, instagram has banned certain hashtags.

This is an extremely smart tactic to keep users from sharing and connecting over certain topics.

Hashtags that pertain to sex, sexual origins, kik (an app that people were soliciting sex on after connecting with people on instagram), drugs, discrimination, and eating disorders were also banned.

Many companies – especially for companies that have an aesthetic appeal to their business – have accounts to showcase their work.  It is good that instagram puts safe-guards in place to protect the content that is being shared.  for example, when kik was created it was not intended to be known as an app that people solicit sex on, but by not policing their own app they lost control of being the author of their own brand identity.

User generated content is something that successful digital marketers know they need to monitor, so it is good that the application itself has taken measures to police their own app.

Sources: 1, 2, + 3

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Across the digital marketing landscape, marketers have different perspectives on the risks, opportunities, rewards and responsibilities of user generated content.

Three companies have done an outstanding job of leveraging user generated content include Bjorn Borg, Charlie by Mathew Zink, and Herschel Supply Co.

Bjorn Borg’s “Become a Swedish Export” Campaign

Platform: Facebook App (329,938 likes/4,191 talking about this)

The packaging of underwear encourages consumers to send in their photos to be selected and featured as a Swedish Underwear Model and win free underwear.

 Charlie by Matthew Zink #charliebymz #charliefan Campaign

Platform: Instagram @charliebymz (34,991 Followers)

This elite bikini brand has gone viral by having “fans”, post photos on Instagram of themselves in the swimwear in hopes to be featured on the @Charliebymz account. 

Herschel Supply Co. #wellpacked #welltraveled Campaign

Platform: Instagram @herschelsupplyco (153,654 followers)

This campaign connects a timeless appreciation of travel with the Herschel brand.  Users have adopted Herschel’s #WellPacked concept and layout, and users post these similar photos to craft their own online identity in line with the Herschel brand personality.  They could be featured on @HerschelSupplyCo.

Key Points of these User Generated Social Media Marketing Campaigns:

• They all are photos that people would want to share on their own accounts, that help craft their identity to their own followers
• They all emphasize the core brand identity
  • Bjorn Borg = Swedish
  • Charlie = Elite & Sexy
  • Herschel = Well traveled

 One Common Trend: A key success factor across all three of these platforms is that they all have a certain level of control.  All campaigns focus on what the main account publishes.  This way the social media managers can be the true authors of the brand, and if a user tries to share content that does not fit with the brand promise, it will not dilute the brands.

The main take away: If digital marketers want to use user generated content to build their brand, they need to have a barrier in check to control what associations the brand builds around their online presence.

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Chatroulette is probably the creepiest website, and digital marketers chose to make it even creepier.

For those of you that are unaware of Chatroulette, you should be proud that you haven’t been exposed to it.  It is a site that pairs two random people from around the world to chat via webcam.  It was made by a 17 year old Russian kid.

As you can imagine, people take advantage of the site for there – um – pleasure.

One can imagine what people sitting home alone have started using Chatroulette for. I know – inappropriate.

E-marketers wanted to tap into this opportunity, and I admit that they did it “on-brand” for Chatroulette’s core customer – guys perv-ing on girls.

 A certain campaign caught my attention.  The campaign was launched with a girl who was broadcasting her own webcam, and would connect with other people.  Except, when she was about to take-off her shirt, her eyes rolled in her head, or her neck snapped in half, and the other Chatroulette user watched this girl be possessed.

Then the words flash the screen:  thelastexorcist.com

Brilliant.  It even fits with the theme of horror movies that the promiscuous one always die first.

BUT, what was the reach?  This comes across as much for of an experiential marketing campaign – and the reach would therefore be extremely limited.  Sure, they chose the right channel of communication, and the execution was incredible, but how far did this campaign reach past the Chatroulette user?

The numbers of impressions must be pretty high actually, the youtube post has 8,448,009 views since being uploaded in 2010.  Sounds like the sharing went viral.

To apply an A,B,C,D model to evaluate creative work:

• A – Attention : This ad definitely caught my attention when I watched the recap of it.  And she is gorgeous, so I am sure she caught the attention of every perv that she was exposed to.
• B – Branding:  The end of the advertisement definitely branded The Last Exorcist ( a movie).
• C – Communication: Does this advertisement get the key message across.  Despite a call of a call to action, the communication is extremely effective in the context.  The target market of both Chatroulette and The Last Exorcist overall lap nicely.
• D- Desired Effect: If people know about Chatroulette’s reputation, they will be entertained by the approach that the marketers have used to communicate that The Last Exorcist is coming out.

Overal, the message (and the channel that they sent it through) creeped me out.

Personally, I’m not going to rush out to see this scary movie, but hey – I’m not the target market for Chatroulette – so its still a job well done.

Other online marketers that have tried to use Chatroulette (yet not as effectively) include:

–Fancy Feet

–Travelocity

–Buzz Spain

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