How to prosper with marketing campaigns after GDPR

Juliana Soto von Arnim
Junior Digital Creative

“So, what do I do now?”...That’s the question that you as a marketer might be asking yourself after the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force across Europe and the UK in May. The law that aims to give citizens more control over their data and to create a uniformity of rules to enforce across the continent, is set to cause a huge storm in the future: post-GDPR campaigns aren’t going to collect as much data as before, or it might be better to stop running lead generation campaigns because no one is going to submit their email after needing to agree with all those required policies.

But there’s no need to panic, this regulation isn’t as severe as it sounds.

Marketers need to only worry about data permission, data access and data focus on their campaigns:
 

1.   Data Permission

With GDPR you need to make sure that your audience wants to stay in contact with you. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that by filling out a form that says, “By signing up, you agree to our Terms and have read our privacy policy”, they want to stay connected. Ask them to specifically opt-in using easy-to-understand text, to your newsletters and emails by ticking the boxes. Check the examples below:

Not Compliant

GDPR Compliant

2.   Data Access

Part of the control of this new law is allowing individuals to access or remove their personal data collected by companies. As a marketer, you need to make sure that your users can easily access and request copies of their personal information, as well as an opt-out for its use.
 

3.   Data Focus

This is where you, as a marketer, need to ask yourself, “What data do I really need?”. GDPR requires you to legally justify what data you are storing on your users and why, as well as how you are using it. So, if you want to avoid unnecessary justifications, focus only on the data that you really need.
 

Without a doubt, GDPR will impact B2C marketing strategies. The good news is that this legislation is a great opportunity to build stronger relationships with the people engaging with your brand.

Gain insights about your audience

When creating lead generation strategies, instead of implementing a simple yes or no tick box, you can provide a range of options to find out what your audience is interested in. Through consent, you can collect insights that not only help you share information with them about topics that really interest them, but also segment your audience into focused communication groups.

Here's an example from Waitrose, part of the John Lewis Partnership, when registering for an account. While the user consents to receive updates from Waitrose, John Lewis or John Lewis Financial Services, the company identifies what their audience is interested in receiving.

More effective email marketing

The unsubscribe link within an email allows your audience to manage their email preferences. Giving them the freedom to turn communications on or off, helps you keep what’s relevant to them up to date, and allows you to target them with more specific or relevant campaigns.

In this case, Amazon notifies their audience about purchases, shipments, and delivery delays by email, text message, or the app.

Build brand loyalty and trust

GDPR no longer allows you to contact your audience for marketing purposes unless you have their permission to do so. Be open, honest and transparent. Give them a reason to share their personal information with you. Building brand loyalty and trust comes through projecting transparency about who you are and what you’re doing with their data.

How can Whichit help build a loyal customer base?
 

Whichit gives you the perfect tool to create a successful marketing campaign that appeals to your customers while protecting their data. At the same time, you as a marketer, get to build a strong loyal customer base.

Whichit interactive ad units help you generate new customers and strengthen existing relationships by analysing actual user behaviour and intent, as well as perception and attitude towards your brand, to inform your current and future marketing strategies:

Collect valuable information, not personal information

Whichit collects user preferences and behaviour without asking for Personal Identifiable Information (PII).

Transparency and Clarity

Whichit captures only the PII the user has agreed to share after opting into required consent forms, such as email addresses.
 

Give the power to the user

All users can request copies of the data stored within the Whichit for Advertisers platform and have the right to be forgotten i.e. remove all data entries upon request, which will increase trust and create more valuable connections with the brand.

Request More Information

I want to learn more about Whichit Data Privacy

References

MacDonald, S (2018, June 4).  GDPR for Marketing: The Definitive Guide for 2018

Gravicus (2018, March 2). A Marketers Guide for GDPR

Why Multi-channel Marketing is essential for an e-commerce Business

Alexandra Radugina
Senior Marketing Manager

Multi-channel Marketing is a tendency for e-commerce businesses. According to Gartner research, marketing campaigns that integrate four or more digital channels will outperform single or dual-channel programs by 300%. However, 90% of marketers still struggle to seamlessly connect more than three channels at a time, making consistent messaging and coordination a major challenge.

Nowadays, direct marketing (email marketing, webinars, catalogues) and indirect marketing (inbound marketing) channels should work together as a single ecosystem. Every day people browse the web, check emails, use social networks, and look for relevant information and services/products. Therefore, the foremost thing digital marketers should consider is to make sure that customers are able to see information about their business effortlessly; this determines the success of the business. Multi-Channel Marketing is indeed a one-stop solution for all the marketers out there.

Before you head out, you should make a list of all the different methods available for multi-channel distribution. This will help you pursue a couple of distribution channels on the top of the list and can even help you consider the best mixture of channels for your future campaigns. As you move ahead, you may even find that some methods are synergistic to each other and can be linked together.

1. Multiple sales channels

Using multi-channels allows e-commerce marketers to list their inventory on different channels like eBay, Shopify, Amazon, Facebook, etc. The tracking information and other needs are communicated from sales channels to the ultimate buyer.

Other features like using QR codes for products your customer might search for can also help you out considerably when selling your products. You must be able to use the right promotional tools to enhance the quality of the marketing campaigns for your business. This is the main aspect of multi-channel e-commerce.

2. Planning Ahead

When you want to plan a holiday special and offer great discounts, you should promote them across different direct and indirect channels. Then the execution should be in a disciplined manner. Plan and make sure that your business makes a great impact on people’s minds.

3. Paid Advertisement

You can ramp up sales by customising your product catalogues and advertising your products to potential buyers via AdWords, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc.  Your product’s nature plays a very important role in the market determining what kind of platform will be suitable for it and whether the platform gives you the opportunity to target your audience based on their behaviour online, interests, or demographics. You can increase sales by listing your products on high-demand blogs and in magazines. Today you can advertise your products on famous sites like Cosmopolitan, GQ, Instagram and many others. Consider building white lists of publishers that are related to your e-commerce business. This will help to reach more customers due to popularity and a positive inclination in the sales growth.

4. Email list

You can easily carry out a market campaign through email marketing. Spreading the word is much easier when you have the required email addresses with you. This is the most powerful tool in marketing campaigns and provides a direct way to reach the customer. This tip can improve your Multi-channel e-commerce progress and can be very useful for your bricks and mortar business. Today, some of the email marketing platforms, like MailChimp, allow you to also run a retargeting campaign on your website, to increase results for your email campaign.

5. Social Media

Being present on social media and being interactive with your clients helps you maintain a strong relationship with them. You can post promotional content, discount offers, and more on social media to attract your consumers to your stores and the website. Social media is the most powerful tool used in all multi-channel e-commerce strategies. It helps to develop a positive brand image for your consumers.

6. Influencer marketing

With the rise of microblogging, social media – influencer marketing becomes a new tool to reach your target audience. There are many marketing platforms that can help you shout out your special offer or product release to millions of customers via industry influencers. You can reach influencers directly or via influencers marketing platforms such as Famebit, Grapevine and others.

7. Content Marketing

Blogs, eBooks, reports, video and interactive commercial content assist customers who are trying to understand more about your e-commerce business. Also, content marketing can help generate new leads and understand prospects’ intent, while also helping you generate coverage within your niche and improve your SEO.

Click the example to see how great Interactive Commercial Content really is! >>>

Test your knowledge: What is an example of Interactive Content?

8. Native Advertising

Native advertising is a type of paid media that doesn’t destroy users experience. It appears to be part of a website’s content, much like a magazine advertorial. According to figures from NewBayMedia, native ads are viewed 53% more than banner ads, the purchase intent is 53% higher, and they generate 82% more brand lift.

In a perfectly built marketing promotion, a multichannel campaign would reach the target audience across all the possible touch points. You can run your campaigns in parallel, or one followed by another to move your customers down the sales funnel. Therefore, it can be fairly concluded that Multi-channel marketing is certainly a big deal for an e-commerce business as it helps them benefit from utilising the virtual space available to them.