2015 - PMX Agency · as DataSong, Convertro, and others. These solutions tend to examine at the interaction across the consumer path and include store, mobile, mail, and e-commerce

2015 Strategic Planning

Guide

New York City (Headquarters) 5 Hanover Square, New York, NY 10004

t: 212.387.0300

f: 212.387.7647

toll free: 888.960.0177

Continuous connection, accessibility, and immediacy will dominate 2015.E-commerce has been and will continue to be an industry driven by buyer behaviors, as well as by shifting demographics, new channels, and far more educated consumers. Technology and industry advancements will always impact the way we do business, but it’s the changing consumer behavior that will make 2015 the year of adjusting and modifying existing approaches and processes in order to be more successful and profitable.

Continuous Connection Consumers are smarter and savvier than ever before. They are willing to be more connected, in terms of both device type and hours. The smartphone story of years past will expand to the mainstreaming of wearable technology and connected homes. What does this mean for marketers? It means consumers are hungry for analysis, which shifts Big Data to just more data, as analysis becomes a mandatory area of expansion for marketers.

AccessibilityThe year ahead will blur the line between digital and brick-and-mortar retail even more, if not erase it completely. Sure, the digital world will continue to drive in-store sales, but from digital pure plays opening physical stores to retailers experimenting with new storefronts - like airport kiosks and subway vending machines - the 2015 consumers expect on-demand convenience regardless of location or device.

Immediacy Fulfillment now means same-day and Sunday delivery. “Click and pick up or return to store” is the new normal. No matter how or in what ways marketers approach 2015, they must do so with one thing top of mind: consumers want it all, and they want it now.

The year 2015 will be the time of consumer-driven marketing, and brands and retailers are tasked with the challenge of telling a brand story that speaks to each consumer individually, across all devices and channels, always and in all ways. With so little time between Christmas and the ball dropping on New Year’s Eve, we’ve put together a 2015 Strategic Planning Guide to take away some of the heavy lifting you’re sure to have in the weeks ahead.

2015Strategic Planning Guidee: [email protected] | t: 888.960.0177

5 Hanover Square New York, NY 10004 main: 888.960.0177 direct: 646.834.9338 fax: 646.453.2623 cell: 646.753.2462

Mary Beth Keelty • Vice President, Marketing [email protected]

pmdigital.comparadysz.com

Section 1:

How to Win Big in 2015Beyond media and omni-channel marketing, we spend a great deal of time as consumers, or wear our client-side hats, to get an even deeper understanding of the consumer’s journey, experience AND what our clients need to foster that relationship. Sometimes it’s a specific media buy, other times it’s a strategic roadmap, and oftentimes, it’s a combination of both. In any event, we keep a watchful eye on our industry as marketers and consumers, with the sole intention of bringing forward our best contribution to our clients and the industry. With that, we’ve added this section to share more top trends and best practices for 2015. We hope you find them useful.

60% of marketers say

that their number one goal for 2015 is to implement a

“digital marketing makeover” across

platforms, programs, and staff.

Our Picks for the Top Trends in 2015

Semantic search: In 2015, Google and Bing will continue to advance their semantic search capabilities. Fueled by the ongoing development of Google’s Knowledge Vault, search engines will continue to be more sophisticated - serving relevant, contextual results, likely in the form of rich snippets.

Increase in mobile ad spending: Mobile ads will continue to be the priority in 2015. Yahoo! and Facebook both reported Q3 earnings boosted by successes in mobile ad spending.

Brands as publishers: In 2015, content marketing will come to fruition across verticals. GE has already developed a famous proprietary content studio, and brands like Marriott have recently followed suit.

Omni-channel ecosystem: In 2015, marketers will fully embrace and apply omni-channel strategies. With more demands for effectively tracking and engaging with customers across channels and devices throughout the various stages of the sales cycle, marketers must create an omni-channel foundation across practices.

The push for programmatic: In 2015, marketers will rely on automation to increase conversion rates. Automation tools will allow for more sophisticated and comprehensive real-time initiatives that allow brands to accurately identify the right audiences at the right moment.

Customers calling the shots: Marketing will increase customer-centrism, meaning that brands will have to adhere to the wants and demands of their audiences.

Big data gets small: “Big data” is unarguably the most overused buzzword in 2014. Every marketer has spent the past 12 months trying to amass more consumer insights. But 2015 will be the year that Big Data will become usable. Marketers will need to focus on how to apply their customer data to increase engagement.

Source: CMO Council’s Eighth State of Marketing study





Section 1: How to Win Big in 2015

Integration of paid and earned media: There’s no more separation between the church and the state in marketing. Teams in paid and earned media will need to operate with complete transparency in 2015 in order for their programs to support and play-off of each other.

1:1 marketing: In 2015, marketers will have to invest in personalized marketing campaigns. Consumers today can instantly distinguish valuable, relevant content from marketing noise. Leveraging audience data to customize communication will be an effective means of keeping audiences’ attention and loyalty.

Video: It is among the most popular marketing trends for 2015. More brands are becoming interested in using relevant, mobile-friendly video content across platforms (i.e., YouTube, Facebook, Instagram).

In-store technology: From Beacons to Google Wallet and Apple Pay, expect to see the digitization of brick-and-mortar stores in 2015.

Amazon’s advertising platform: All eyes will be on Amazon in 2015. Will this e-commerce giant push to become a stand-alone search engine? How will their foray into advertising impact Google? Amazon may be the only e-commerce superpower large and sophisticated enough to change the search landscape. With marketers guessing how far Amazon will go, 2015 will be the year of the search engine. It’s your move, Amazon.

CMOs are going to allocate

major marketing dollars into e-mail,

website design and development,

mobile apps, lead management,

and search marketing.

Our Picks for the Top Trends in 2015 (continued)

Source: CMO Council’s Eighth State of Marketing study





Section 1: How to Win Big in 2015

Section 2:

Integration Is the Name of the GameThe way to true integration is through research and data.

Whether you call it omni, multi, or integrated - learning how each channel, be it online or traditional, impacts and influences each other, and making strategic decisions based on analysis is the recipe for success in 2015.

Big Data was a big buzzword in 2014. Some brands (a mere 6%) were able to harness their data in one location to make informed decisions. The rest of us were left scratching our heads or trying to convince the higher-ups why we needed a Big Data budget and strategy. While some of the hysteria has died down, the need to figure out how to collect your data and what to do with it hasn’t. Why? Because the behavior of consumers has changed, and truly understanding who they are (and how they shop for retailers) is the new normal.

Refining KPIs (key performance indicators) to see how channel interactions impact short- and long-term results will lead to a stronger channel strategy. There are several ways to do this, which vary in degree depending on your desired approach: walk or run.

18% Just over 18% of

marketers execute a sophisticated cross-channel

attribution strategy.

Walk

Brands without a huge budget or with limited resources can still make changes that will lead to a better understanding of the interplay among channels. A few ways to do so are as follows:

Using matchbacks: Yes, the matchback process has become more complicated, but the process is doable for brands looking to better understand their customers’ paths to purchase by source and channel. Create business rules for assigning conversions to sources and channels, and then make the matchback process the last step of the conversion process.

New to file versus house file: Another way to source conversions is by taking order IDs and comparing them with your current house file. This method of tracking is beneficial when combined with either your matchback or your attribution process.

Attribution: This is not just for brands with big budgets anymore. Attribution can be conducted across digital channels using tracking and bid management tools such as Kenshoo’s U-shaped attribution model. Be sure to ask your current agency or in-house paid media staff if they are taking advantage of the attribution options available.

Source: eMarketer – The Omnichannel Challenge





Section 2: Integration is the Name of the Game

Run

Brands that are ready to expand their data relationships and that have the budget have many terrific options:

Third-party attribution: Sophisticated systems and solutions can be implemented across all channel interactions from third-party solutions such as DataSong, Convertro, and others. These solutions tend to examine at the interaction across the consumer path and include store, mobile, mail, and e-commerce.

Vet your options: While most of the third-party systems and solutions are a worthwhile investment, we recommend vetting your potential partners before signing any long-term contracts. Finding the right partner at the right price point will make this investment pay off. Your paid media partner should have conducted a thorough review of providers. If not, PM Digital can provide you with a terrific list of partners and would be happy to schedule a meeting to review your options.

New to Attribution?

While it is true that most retailers continue to use a last-click model because it works and it is clean, we see 2015 as the year for attribution. Below are some of the ways we help clients get started:

To get your data organized, we recommend you have the following:

Omni-channel dashboard with: - Holistic performance view for your entire organization - Singular data view (encompassing all data sources)

Attribution solution: - Allocation of dollars from a sale to an appropriate channel - Deployment of a multichannel attribution platform - Attribution end result: single actionable ROI metric

Understanding these four elements will give direction to your 2015 strategy: 1. The market 2. Your competition 3. Your audience 4. Your programs

Gather your in-house data, market research, and trends, as well as third-party data to get the most comprehensive look at these four areas. If you have the budget, we recommend that you hire an outside agency or consultant to assist in either pulling the data or analyzing the data.





Section 2: Integration is the Name of the Game

Section 3:

Top Trends and Tips by ChannelIn addition to media mix allocation, the burning question on everyone’s mind is, what channels or services should I focus on in 2015, and how can I achieve maximum ROI in each channel? Our subject matter experts reviewed this year’s performance results, along with the data and research results from our trusted partners and third-party resources, in order to present tips and best practices for channels and devices that we think have the most potential to impact your brand or service in 2015.

About 35% of all search engine traffic comes from mobile

devices.

MobileBetween apps, video, search, and commerce, we could write an entire white paper on mobile alone. For retailers in particular, mobile is the omnipresent storefront. For brands, it’s oftentimes the first platform where consumers interact with you. For everyone, it’s as much a regular part of life as your morning cup of coffee. Mobile provides brands with an unlimited opportunity to grow their digital footprint:

Engage current customers: Think about everything one does using a smartphone: e-mail, social media, apps, browsing, etc. Are you taking advantage of every mobile touch point?

Attract new customers: Ninety-three percent of shoppers research a product on their mobile device before purchasing it in the store.

Support in-store purchases: With new technology like Beacons taking the place of store employees, consumers are using their devices to enhance their in-store shopping experience.

Drive revenue through mobile commerce: Mobile commerce is drastically on the rise, and purchases made on mobile devices are expected to see double-digit growth in 2015.

Source: Buzzbuilder Digital Marketing – Tips & Trends for 2014


Section 3: Top Trends and Tips by Channel




Tips and Best Practices

Because mobile continues to be such a strong story and promises to dominate the marketing landscape in 2015, we’ve doubled the number of tips and best practices to help you truly understand and prepare for its impact on e-commerce in the next 12 months:

First impressions are everything: Over 40% of mobile users will click on your competitor’s site if they dislike their mobile experience with you. Dedicate time and resources to improve your mobile site this year.

Be informed about consumers’ in-store purchases through Beacons, price comparisons, and price matching: Showrooming will continue in 2015, and the best defense is a good offense when it comes to managing it. Embrace the way consumers use their mobile devices in your store and implement proactive techniques such as price transparency or enhanced customer service.

Dynamic HTML: If your brand does not have the budget or resources to implement a responsive design, dynamic serving in one site’s URL will automatically alter the HTML code of your site depending on the device that the site is being accessed from.

Tagging: Tag your mobile site appropriately to ensure comprehensive tracking. Effective tag management is necessary if you want to accurately gain insight into your mobile analytics. Managing programs including TagMan and Google Tag Manager allows seamless implementation and maintenance of tags.

Targeted bidding: By now, every marketer knows that mobile ads, when supported by comprehensive bidding practices, generate better results. Google Analytics provides vast insights into users’ devices, locations, and histories, enabling marketers to easily set bidding standards to ensure that ads are seen across the right places, times, and devices.

Leverage ad extensions: Ad extensions are becoming increasingly valuable, especially for local searches. Ad extensions allow mobile searchers to easily see specific brands and store details, including locations, local phone numbers, web page links, and store ratings. Ad extensions are especially effective for drive-to-retail.

4 in 5 consumers want to see mobile search ads customized

to their location.

Use action-oriented ad copy: Providing relevant information in your search ads is great, but influencing calls to action is more valuable. Including phrases like “Call Today”, “Purchase Now” or “Sign Up Here” enables customers to immediately engage with your brand or product.

Apps: Brands have an invaluable opportunity to build relationships with customers through apps. On the most basic level, be sure your app is fully integrated into your overall brand, including the messaging and the look. Also, focus on how much control your users prefer (ads versus no ads) and make changes accordingly. Lastly, don’t “set it and forget it.” Use your app, the apps of your competitors, and even as far as apps in other industries, to better understand user behavior. Use what you learn to improve your customers’ user experience.

User experience: To not lose business, as well as to grow your business, the mobile commerce experience you provide must be seamless and easy to use. Check out successful mobile brands like Amazon, Groupon, Walgreens, and Target to learn new or better ways of improving your customers’ mobile commerce experience.

Responsive design: Responsive design is no longer a luxury for marketers, it is a necessity. Consumers are seamlessly switching between their desktops, smartphones, and tablets throughout the day and demand cohesive brand experiences across devices. Depending on your site needs, choosing either a responsive or an adaptive format will ensure efficient load times and intuitive site structure to ensure that users do not leave on their first glance of your site.

Source: Think with Google - Going Local: How Advertisers Can Extend Their Relevance with Search






Dynamic Remarketing In 2014, Google reintroduced dynamic remarketing on the GDN across all verticals, including travel and hospitality. Facebook also allows dynamic retargeting (including news feed ads in some cases) through FB’s preferred third-party media partners via FBX. Other than GDN and FBX, there are many display partners that offer dynamic retargeting through programmatic display that taps into all ad exchanges for greater reach on the general web. Translation: Dynamic remarketing is working well for marketers, and the recent support from major players signals much more growth in 2015.

Dynamic remarketing is a great way to lift CTR and the conversion rate by showing consumers ads based on their actual browsing behavior. Creative customization allows marketers to show a specific offer message to consumers who did not complete a sale regardless of their location.

88% of marketers

currently practice retargeting in their

marketing mix.

Retargeting audience is finite,

and advertisers need to keep adding new

users to replenish and grow their

retargeting pool, and a few selected

third-party display partners

offer various prospecting

tactics to increase reach.


Know your potential agency partners: Choosing a partner with strong creative capabilities reduces the need for a client to provide multiple pieces of creative while meeting brand guidelines.

Frequency capping: In order for remarketing campaigns to be effective, data must be somewhat harnessed. If consumers are bombarded with remarketing creative, they will be turned off. Establishing set limitations at the start of a campaign is necessary to ensure that the line between effectiveness and harassment is respected. This must also depend on whether a user has visited your site before, is a repeat visitor, etc. Leveraging Google Analytics and user history is key to determining the frequency capping rates.

Align member duration with sales cycle: A woman’s jacket has a shorter shelf life than a tablet or smartphone. Understanding how your audience is likely to buy the products you’re selling will help you determine an appropriate member duration time period.

Creative: People are visual and naturally drawn to images. Featuring products that the user has recently browsed is a powerful way to capture your customers with products they’re likely to buy in real time. Use strong CTA’s and keep your copy simple and concise.

Adjust bids based on user behavior: Repeat visitors are more likely to respond to dynamic ads and return to your site. Basing bids on previous engagement is an effective means of optimizing budgets and impressions.

Consider user attributes: Gender, age, and location should all play into your bidding strategy. Not considering basic attributes is a sure way of misusing display budgets and not hitting the right users at the right time.

Source: Marin Retargeting Guide

Source: Marin Retargeting Guide






Paid Search The paid search story of 2015 will be about completely changing the way we think about paid search - which is a tall order for most marketers, especially those who manage an in-house channel. As we began to understand in 2014, marketers need to pull back from the idea of paid search as a channel and really focus on paid search as it relates to all channels. Further, marketers need to consider the impact paid search has on different and multiple touch points throughout the funnel. In the next 12 months, brands should focus not so much on what needs to be improved from a tactical standpoint (although there are always improvements to be made, which we will discuss further in the tips and best practices section) but on understanding your customers’ path to conversion. The increasing complexity of the customer’s journey translates into an increasingly complex paid search strategy.

In 2015, more significance will be placed on ad

extensions. In October, Google

confirmed that increased extensions

would take the place of traditional

second-line copy in paid search ads.


Seek help . . . and attribution: Yes, we are an agency, but as an agency, we know how complex the paid search landscape has become. We recommend starting with attribution, either a paid search specific attribution or a marketing-wide attribution solution. The more you learn about how, when, where, and why your consumer interacts with your brand and moves along the purchase funnel, the more you’ll be able to accurately budget for and target them with paid search.

Device strategy: Regarding the broader issue of understanding your customer, it’s crucial for brands to design campaigns based on where customers are searching. Nearly all consumers use their mobile devices to research purchases and compare prices. Some convert on mobile, while others convert in store or on tablets or desktops. Dedicate time and resources to ensure that the device experience your brand or service offers is not only top-notch but in-tandem with all of the device-experiences you provide.

Enhanced capabilities: RLSA (retargeting lists for search ads) put better search ads in front of visitors who have already been to your site. Recent enhancements and targeting capabilities have shown huge potential and deliver solid returns.

Drive to retail: Paid search is an excellent way to drive store traffic and interest. Research your browser’s data to get a better understanding of the intent of certain queries and offer the most relevant information possible.

Weather and news jacking opportunities: One of the quickest and most efficient ways to see a spike in conversions is to take advantage of news-related content. Not to mention that you may be leaving revenue on the table if you don’t tailor your campaigns to your customers’ search behavior. Think like a searcher when it comes to creating ad groups and keywords, and launch campaigns that take advantage of this highly intended search traffic.

Source: Inside AdWords blog- Making Every Character Count in your Mobile Search Ads






Paid Social Leverage social activity to create a purchasing behavior with highly-targeted ads based on previous browsing behavior and inspirational content designed to push conversions.

Facebook yields the best-performing results among all the social media providers and is improving so quickly that their ROI now rivals that of non-brand paid search. Facebook has powerful targeting solutions that enable you to target based on the data people share on Facebook.

Worldwide social network ad spending will reach $16.1 billion in 2014, a 45.3% increase

from 2013, that will push social’s share of overall digital ad investment to 11.5%.


Custom audience: Utilize the newest custom audience products to go after the lowest hanging fruit through remarketing.

Target Facebook users: With your first-party database, use e-mail addresses, phone numbers, Facebook user IDs, DMs, or app user IDs to make the match.

Creative: Use visually stimulating imagery. Photos should include real people and real things with minimal text overlay within the image.

Keep it simple: A concise copy with the most relevant information is the start of a successful paid social campaign. Tell the user right away what you’re trying to accomplish and include the link immediately.

Custom messaging: Create different messaging styles based on your outlet as well as your customer segments. Personalized messaging really resonates well with the social audience and leads to an increase in conversions. Custom messaging is great for the following:

- Active customers to build look-alike models for prospecting - Lapsed users to entice them to shop again - People who are e-mail subscribers but have not purchased

Source: eMarketer






E-mail Marketing Think beyond selling. Sure, one of the top goals of e-mail marketing is to drive sales, but with the average consumer being exposed to more than 2,900 e-mails per day, now more than ever, your e-mail program needs to do much more than encourage your customers to make a purchase. Gone are the days of batch and blast; consumers are now expecting a one-to-one relationship with your brand, so it is up to you to deliver.

Consumers spend 9 minutes every day

looking at their e-mails via a mobile device.

48% of total e-mail

opens were done on mobile devices in

Q2 2014.


Microtargeting: Leverage your database to build more finite segments that will allow for deeper customization and personalization, and allow for a one-to-one dialogue with your customers.

Develop a mobile strategy: Sixty-four percent of all e-mails sent are viewed on a mobile device. As a result, you need to ensure that your e-mails are mobile optimized. Review engagements and purchase activities on mobile-specific e-mails to learn and refine your mobile strategy on an ongoing basis. Don’t stop at the e-mails—there is nothing worse than receiving a mobile-optimized e-mail, clicking through the landing page, and having a website that is not optimized for mobile use. New Year is a great time to retest your e-mails across all devices.

Post-holiday: Are you ready to build on your holiday momentum? Don’t forget how many consumers shop, redeem gift cards, and return or exchange after the holiday. This is also a crucial opportunity to set up repeat and future purchases or to promote your rewards or frequent shopper campaigns.

Need for quality content: As brands continue to evolve into publishers, it is critical that e-mails contain compelling, well-crafted copy that goes beyond just selling a product. To increase engagement and sales, customized content should be created to speak to specific segments.

Leverage the customer voice: Integrate social components in your e-mails to increase relevance and stickiness. Customers are always ready and willing to provide feedback in their interaction and experience with your brand. Include reviews, Facebook comments, tweets, etc., from your brand ambassadors in your e-mail.

Source: Experian – Quarterly Email Benchmark Report

Source: UK Mobile Life Report






Content Marketing A content marketing blueprint helps brands organize digital experiences that cut across owned, earned, and paid media to attract, engage, convert, and retain audiences. In fact, brands who lead in content, rather than with channels, report higher sales and conversion rates than those who don’t. A content marketing blueprint is also an excellent way to move from siloed marketing to true omni-channel marketing - as its development and application begin before media mix allocations.

Content marketing also involves audience and persona development. Unlocking the power of deep audience intelligence will provide more actionable, relevant marketing by allowing you to segment and target individuals on a personal, one-to-one basis. New technology, as well as agencies that specialize in persona and audience development, makes this part of content marketing scalable. Expect this to continue in 2015, along with ways to better track and report on customer segments.


Make your content actionable: Telling your brand story is important, but encouraging action is what will increase your content marketing ROI. You can encourage conversions and transactions within your content by always including links to your digital properties like social media profiles, microsites, and landing pages to increase users’ time spent with your brand.

Take an audience-first approach to content: Create content through the eyes of your customer. In 2015, content marketing must become more sophisticated and more relevant to audiences. The only way to create content that resonates with the audience is to continue the development of audience personas. Through surveys, interviews, and performance histories, your brand can flesh out the varying segments of your audience based on demographics, lifestyles, and intentions. Robust personas can dictate not only the subject matter of your content but also the ways in which it is distributed to ensure that it is well-received.

Establish benchmarks: Assess your current SEO and social programs and your competitive set to develop program benchmarks and direct improvements in audience targeting and media selection. All of which benefit social media growth and SEO optimization.

Google’s answer box: Google is looking way beyond Wikipedia for search results, which gives brands a huge opportunity to expand their audience and reach consumers who are higher up the funnel. Consider creating 5–10 landing pages that expand on current topics or your top keywords. Add intent-based terms to your current keywords to reach consumers searching for how to use your product or comparing your product with your competitors’ or similar items.

Involve all internal departments: Content marketing is meant to serve as an umbrella in many cases, telling the brand story before it’s distributed across multiple platforms and channels. For optimal success, appoint dedicated resources to lead your content marketing practice and have them work closely with all departments, including PR and customer service. Understanding each part of the business and the way each of them interacts with consumers will aid in the content creation, as well as build a bridge between all your marketing efforts.






Programmatic Display Along with other CPC media, programmatic display (also known as real-time bidding or performance display) is very cost-effective, particularly for direct-response advertisers who need to see an immediate ROI from their advertising investment. Programmatic display allows marketers to target in different ways, depending on their goals: build awareness, prospect, or remarket. And each goal has unique tactics and various execution methods, so you can determine what you want out of your programmatic buy before you allocate or spend marketing dollars.


Establish goals: To fully leverage display campaigns, create campaigns specific to your goal, whether it’s direct response, branding, funnel strategy, or fan growth. Each goal has different components and tactics, which should be used to achieve the desired goal.

Determine third-party partners: The display landscape has exploded with a number of great partners to help you manage and/or execute your display programs. Make sure to vet each potential partner before you sign an agreement. Some of the questions are the monthly minimum cost, what remarketing tactics they are strong at, and prospecting or branding capabilities. Be sure to contact us for a full list of questions and tips on selecting your best partner.

Develop a media buying process: We recommend formalizing a process so you can clearly measure results and make more informed decisions. For our clients, we start with data to establish a baseline and identify key personas. We then segment each persona for specific targeting before we invest in the media. Setting these benchmarks early will make it easier to see how display is helping your overall marketing efforts, allowing for the necessary allocation of more budget dollars.

Data centralization through a DMP solution: Consider outsourcing a comprehensive data management platform (DMP) that integrates advanced capabilities, driving smarter marketing decisions and delivering better advertising results.

CRM: Programmatic is a terrific way to engage new customers or reengage current customers. Whether you’re retargeting lapsed users who have been your customers, or developing a look-a-like model of your database to identify your best customer, programmatic display can identify potential individual buyers using a data-driven analytical approach.

All new advancements: Advancements in programmatic display have led to the ability to target the right population at the perfect moment. Some of our favorites are the following:

- Segmentation: Segmenting your campaigns based on geolocation or weather-triggered programs is an excellent way to personalize your display marketing, while still driving scale and efficiency.

- Premium inventory: With the explosion of native advertising, marketers are seeing much more high-quality placements for their display ads.

60% of marketers manage

more than 20% of their digital media budgets

programmatically, with 66% of marketers planning to increase

their programmatic efforts.Source: AdExchanger – The State of Programmatic Media






Creative and Web DevelopmentWebsites are meant to connect brands with customers through compelling messaging and engaging experiences. Over the past couple of years, responsive design was all the rage. In 2015, it’s “go responsive or go home.” With more resources available than ever before, brands must invest in proper design, and brands must use data to drive the best web experience possible. In addition to design and data, many other top trends will impact your 2015 planning. We’ve put together a list of top-priority tips and best practices to help you prepare for the year ahead.


Mobile-first strategy: Consumers are spending more time on their mobile devices than ever before, and there is an increasing demand for cohesive digital experiences regardless of device, time, and location. To keep up with consumers’ mobile mind-sets, brands will have to shift their thinking to mobile-first and envision how their digital experiences will be accessed and used with mobile devices.

Microsites: As content marketing emerges and brands feel more pressure to deliver fresh, relevant experiences to their customers, more brands will begin to experiment with microsites. Coca-Cola is among the brands that have already had success with microsite adoption, and it is likely that 2015 will be the year that others will follow suit. Microsites allow brands digital creative freedom; brands can implement timely, one-off experiences without overhauling their main sites’ content.

Coding automation: The art of coding is becoming more accessible and even automated. Not only are more marketers learning this language, but there are also more available programs and services to simplify coding, thus empowering brands to move some coding needs and projects in-house.

Migration to secure URLs: While this trend might be debatable, the issue of secure URLs has gained momentum in recent months due to Google indicating that it may serve as a future ranking signal. Previously, HTTPS sites were most prevalent for those brands dealing with personal finances and transactions, but

transitioning from HTTP to HTTPS might be an effective means for brands to signify the authenticity of their site and content going forward.

Mobile payments: Mobile payments are set to take off in 2015, and this rise will likely have an impact on mobile site design. Brands may need to rethink architecture to support a more fluid transaction process.

Flat design: Flat is the new black. More brand trailblazers (Apple and Microsoft to name a few) are adopting, or rather readopting, flat design. The benefit of flat design is that it redirects users’ eyes and attention toward the content. As an added bonus, it is also easier to implement a responsive design when working with flat elements.

Tiles: Consumers no longer have the time or attention span to read every site detail or navigation. Thus, brands need to adopt a predominantly visual approach. This can be achieved through the implementation of tiles. Tiles are highly visual and highly intuitive, making site details more appealing to the user. Yahoo!’s upcoming site redesign (slated to hit in November) features less content and more visual tiles to streamline user engagement and navigation.

101.7M consumers bought mobile

devices in 2014, according to an eMarketer holiday study.






Direct MailDirect mail continues to evolve and play a vital role in a marketer’s omni-channel ecosystem. The channel offers an effective way to predictively and aggressively scale new customer growth, increase engagement and upsell among newly acquired customers. With the ability to fully tailor messaging and target large-to-micro audience segments, direct mail is a media channel that can be utilized effectively through every step of the customer’s journey. Direct mail can play a lead and/or support role to not only drive sales but also assist in brand awareness and driving traffic to site and/or store.


Targeting: Direct mail provides marketers a powerful means to engage a targeted audience, and given that nearly every consumer has a mailing address, this channel empowers marketers with an expansive reach. Direct mail speaks to customers by name and, with incremental data enhancements, can produce a stronger understanding of consumer demographic and specific interests. This level of targeting allows for strategic testing to find audiences that are more inclined to respond to a relevant marketing offer.

Formats and personalization: Audience-to-format targeting is a key benefit of direct mail. Direct mail offers countless vehicles for highly-personalized messaging and offers. With postcards, self-mailers, catalogs, and brochures, direct mail offers a wide variety of formats, designs, and copy to customize a direct mail campaign. This tangible medium also offers the real estate and opportunity to express brand voice and mission to tell a complete and compelling story.

Measured success: Direct mail is the strongest media in terms of measuring ROI as it allows marketers to monitor the impact of every direct mail touch point. With direct mail, sales are easily measured and tracked within a specific campaign time frame. The flexibility of direct mail provides brands with the ability to adjust formats and volumes designed to reach their ROI goal. By targeting a mailing address, there is a guaranteed delivery that the mail pieces will reach the addressee.

Testing: Testing is one of the key foundational elements and best practices of any marketing campaign—and direct mail is no different. This channel provides ample opportunity for testing based on a number of facets, including messaging, creative approach, package type, offers, etc. Programs can incorporate a robust “test and learn” design using current best prospect models (targets and triggers), leveraging third-party data and media sources to model triggers and segments. Extensive creative/offer testing within and across segments will inform future tests and projections for scale.

Integration across channels and alternative media: As with all marketing efforts, it’s clear that an integrated approach will yield higher results across the board. Understanding the confluence of channels and identifying the appropriate media mix is an ongoing effort that should be continually tracked and evolved. Additionally, testing alternative media solutions, such as Print & Insert, should always remain top of mind. At no point is a brand’s media mix stagnant. Marketers must continually examine when channels come in and out of their plans.






Happy Holidays!

On behalf of Paradysz + PM Digital, we wish you a terrific Holiday Season and Happy New Year. Cheers to a prosperous 2015!

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[email protected] or (888) 960-0177.

2015STRaTEGIC PlaNNING GuIDE

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2015 - PMX Agency · as DataSong, Convertro, and others. These solutions tend to examine at the interaction across the consumer path and include store, mobile, mail, and e-commerce