BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT& ONLINE MARKETING
WHY AM I SPEAKING TODAY? Apart from the fact Richard asked me?
James Abbott
QMU Graduate 2005 BA Degree Retail Business
2005 – 2010 Business Development for family businessSpecialised in online product design & development
2010 – currentDigital Marketing & Development ManagerPrimarily focused on digital marketing & eCommerce development
A HUME COUNTRY CLOTHING
• Established in 1929
• 3rd Generation family owned & managed business
• Originally a gentlemen's tailors
• Now a lifestyle country clothing retailer
• 2007 eCommerce website launched
• Ambitious & Award winning business
• 2010 Winner of Scottish Borders Business Excellence Awards: Independent retailer of year & growth business of the year
• 2012 Winner of Scottish Border Business Excellence Awards: Retailer & Town Centre Business
• 2012 Winner of The Herald Scottish Family Business Awards: SM Family Business of the Year & SM Fastest Growing Business
WHAT I WANT TO COVER
• The Internet – the positives, the threats
• The challenges that online businesses face
• Ways to manage some of the challenges
• What does the future look like online?
• Some useful sites
THE INTERNET & DOING BUSINESS ONLINE
Some of The Positives
• Always open
• Available anywhere
• Can operate from anywhere
As it grows
• You don’t have to do it all yourself
• Outsourcing
• Staff can work remotely
THE INTERNET & DOING BUSINESS ONLINE
Some of Threats
• Continually changing
• Costly
• Online Trust & Reputation
• Your fate is in the hands of others
SOME OF THE KEY CHALLENGES
• Managing Expectations
• Competition
• Online Trust
• Continually evolving
• Keeping up to date
8 seconds is all you’ve got
MANAGING SOME OF THE KEY CHALLENGES
• Managing Expectations
• Competition
• Online Trust
• Continually evolving
• Keeping up to date
MANAGING SOME OF THE KEY CHALLENGES
• Managing Expectations
• Competition
• Online Trust
• Continually evolving
• Keeping up to date
Different Generations Behave Differently
MANAGING SOME OF THE KEY CHALLENGES
• Managing Expectations
• Competition
• Online Trust
• Continually evolving
• Keeping up to date
• Always Growing
• Ebay
• Amazon
MANAGING SOME OF THE KEY CHALLENGES
• Managing Expectations
• Competition
• Online Trust
• Continually evolving
• Keeping up to date
• People have to have trust the site
• Visual appearance
• Contact methods
• Trust can be helped through recognition
• Trust icons & Customer reviews
MANAGING SOME OF THE KEY CHALLENGES
• Managing Expectations
• Competition
• Online Trust
• Continually evolving
• Keeping up to date
• Largest search engine on the planet
• Become it’s own brand “I’ll just Google it”
• Writes the rules for Search
• Largest driver of PPC (pay-per-click) traffic
But Google is also known for these:
MANAGING SOME OF THE KEY CHALLENGES
• Managing Expectations
• Competition
• Online Trust
• Continually evolving
• Keeping up to date
MANAGING SOME OF THE KEY CHALLENGES
• Managing Expectations
• Competition
• Online Trust
• Continually evolving
• Keeping up to date
Online marketing is heavily impacted by Google so a lot has changed over the last 2 ½ years
• Online marketing is now multi-faceted
• It is about pull (inbound), not push
• It is about the user and their experience
• It is about reputation & trust
• The rise of T-shaped marketing
MANAGING SOME OF THE KEY CHALLENGES
• Managing Expectations
• Competition
• Online Trust
• Continually evolving
• Keeping up to date
• Web design continues to evolve
• What was cutting edge becomes norm
• In 2006 Facebook arrived in the UK
• In 2006 Twitter launched online
• In 2007 the first iPhone was released
• In 2010 the first iPad was released
• In 2010 Pinterest launched Beta
MANAGING SOME OF THE KEY CHALLENGES
• Managing Expectations
• Competition
• Online Trust
• Continually evolving
• Keeping up to date
So website design changes, technology changes so you have adapt & evolve, but how?
• Google Analytics
• Visitor Tracking
• Split Testing
• Focus Groups
• Process of continual evaluation and development
MANAGING SOME OF THE KEY CHALLENGES
• Managing Expectations
• Competition
• Online Trust
• Continually evolving
• Keeping up to date
• Industry Events
• Websites
• Blogs
• eBooks
• Networking
• Social Media
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE?
To be honest, nobody knows but it could involve:
• No more desktop computers
• Continued rise in mobile device usage
• Continued development of personalised content
• Live information streaming to your glasses
• Browse the internet whilst your car drives you to work
• Computers scanning you to obtain your measurements
• Using movement to navigate product pages
• Thumbprint scanning for purchase
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE?
But here’s what is already commercially possible (the one’s in red not there, yet):
• No more desktop computers
• Continued rise in mobile device usage
• Continued development of personalised content
• Live information streaming to your glasses
• Browse the internet whilst your car drives you to work
• Computers scanning you to obtain your measurements
• Using movement to navigate product pages
• Thumbprint scanning for purchase
SOME USEFUL SITES, COMPANIES & BODIES
Moz
Mashable
Hubspot
Kissmetrics
Smart Insights
eConsultancy
Smashing Magazine
UX Mag
Attacat Brain
I.D.M
C.I.M
Digital Mind Map
THANK YOU & ANY QUESTIONS
And, if you think of any questions later
Twitter: @modernapproach
LinkedIn: jamesmabbott