The start of the holiday shopping season was expected to begin with a big digital marketing push: a survey of 100 digital advertising decisionmakers by software advertising firm Nanigans concluded that brands were expected to spend $6 billion on advertising from Black Friday through Cyber Monday.
The marketing splurge during those four days was expected to equal one fourth of brands’ total 2018 digital marketing spending. Additionally, 48% of brands said they had planned to increase their digital advertising spending during the shopping season.
In a continuation of a long-term trend, brands were expected to focus on the top three advertising platforms, with 35% of budgets allocated to Google search, 18% to Facebook and 15% to Amazon.
UJET, which provides technology for improving customer support for brands such as Nest and Blink, meanwhile, has released results from a study conducted with Branded Research that, not surprisingly, underscores the importance of customer services.
UJET maintains that 66% of Americans believe that customer service is as important as product quality or pricing when making a purchase. Among Baby Boomers, 71% echoed that belief, compared to 67% of Gen Xers and 60% of Millennials.
The study also found that 55% of Millennials are likely to write a negative online review if they have a poor experience with customer support compared to only 38% of Baby Boomers. Additionally 24% of millennials say they have written negative reviews to try to get discounts for coupons.
Semasio, which helps marketers pitch targeted advertising based on individuals’ unique interests, is also promoting its technology, according to MarTech Series.
In launching its Semantic Standard Behavioral Audiences product, Semasio maintains that brands no longer need to waste advertising money by competing for sales among stale customer segments. The platform offers 200 new audiences based on analysis of top selling products during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The audiences have been integrated into demand-side platforms.
Tech providers are also emphasizing the importance of various strategies to boost engagement, including retargeting and content marketing. A column in Business 2 Community, for example, emphasizes that 86% of mobile shopping carts are abandoned. By decreasing the portion of shopping carts that are abandoned, brands can potentially generate millions in sales that would otherwise have been lost.
To do so, however, brands need to develop comprehensive analytic capabilities to determine why shopping carts are abandoned. In some instances, checkout processes may be too complicated. By making the checkout process easier, brands can improve their online sales.
Oberlo, for its part, is encouraging marketers to create content calendars to assist with planning social media posts, banner advertisements, VIP discounts, email promotions and other aspects of promotional programs.
ADYOULIKE, which offers technology for native advertising on mobile devices, is also joining in the holiday marketing spree with a campaign that targets digital advertisers.
The campaign focuses on the theme “native advertising works.” ADYOULIKE maintains that native advertising is the only format that works on mobile devices, with banner advertising being hindered by small sizes.
It reports that mobile devices were used for 64% of shopping visits in the U.S. last year and it claims that native content outperforms other forms of digital advertising. Native content, furthermore, has fewer brand safety concerns than other forms of digital advertising.
