There are more gadgets in the world currently than there are people, according to data from GSMA Intelligence. It is common for brands to look at online and offline marketing as separate entities, but with growing internet penetration, bridging the gap between online and offline marketing is essential.
As reported in Gartner’s CMO Spend Survey, 98% of marketers say online and offline spheres are merging. Lucrative marketing not only leverages them both but also combines them to deliver an integrated experience and there are a number of ways to successfully achieve this.
Track your customers
Imagine you are browsing online for a winter jacket for your upcoming Christmas holiday. You add a few pairs you like to your shopping cart and decide to visit the store nearby to try them on for size. As you approach the store, you receive a push notification on your phone that one of the jackets you were eyeing is now on sale at 15% off. You make a beeline for jacket, try them on, and take them home. The next day, you get an email promoting the perfect scarf to go along with the jacket.
This seemingly flawless experience of offline and online marketing coming together and can be executed with Urchin Tracking Module (UTM), Social WiFi and email.
According to eMarketer measuring Return On Investment (ROI) is still the top struggle for social marketers and with data from Autopilot, 63% of marketers feel they have the data analytics needed to track results. However, tracking key indicators of ROI like website traffic, leads and conversions is made simple with the use of UTM. A UTM tag is a simple code that you can attach to a custom URL to track a source. This tells you where searchers came from as well as which platform had directed them to you. UTM tags are also an excellent way to see the results of your offline marketing efforts in directing them online.
With Social WiFi systems like Sugar WiFi, allow for retail wifi marketing. A seamless social login such as Facebook captures valuable customer information, such as email, demographics, and preferences. Allowing any business to leverage this information to market directly towards consumers.
Know your customers and what they like
To effectively reach out to your audience and merge the online and offline worlds, you need to understand who they are and what they want as individuals. According to Usabilla, 56% of customers are more likely to buy with a personalized experience.
It is common for in-store consumers turn to their smartphone while brick and mortar shopping to check reviews, to look for additional sizes and stock, and to browse products. Brands can tap on this to understand what customers are looking for and place ads tailored for them with the help of Facebook Pixel.
The Facebook pixel analytics tool that allows you to ensure your ads are being shown to the right people. Since Sugar WiFi requires a login with customers Facebook accounts, a pixel is embedded into the URL page. This allows you to have customised ads placed on their Facebook page according to what they searched for on their smartphones while they were shopping in-store. You can also monitor how they interact with your ecommerce website afterwards.
Remarketing is an important aspect to reap maximum benefits from utilizing Facebook pixel. According to Digital Information World, retargeted ads have the potential to increase branded search exposure by more than 1,000%. After a consumer has left an item in their shopping cart on your online store, it is likely that they have forgotten about it. You can remind them by placing targeted ads of that item to entice them into completing their purchase online or to get it in-store. Digital Information World also informs that 72 percent of online shoppers are likely to abandon their shopping carts and without retargeted ads, only 8% of these customers will return to complete the transaction.
Hence, it is important to know what consumers are interested in to nudge them into purchasing it.
Topshop has effectively blurred the line between real-world and online happenings with their 2017 ‘Retail to Runway’ initiative in collaboration with London Fashion Week. They provided free WiFi in-stores and urged fashion-forward fans towards their mobile app to attain unprecedented access to behind-the-scenes footage and exclusive peeks into the lives of designers and models. This garnered millions of views across their online platforms as well as sales on their online store.
Deliver timely and relevant information to the right audience
After gathering information about your customers, it is crucial to push appropriate products to suit the customer at the right time. 73% of consumers prefer to do business with brands that use personal information to make their shopping experiences more relevant as stated by Digital Trends.
With F&B establishments as an example, it would be fitting to provide existing online wine promotions to female customers having a meal in-store or to send push notifications on the available coffee beans available online to coffee drinkers grabbing a quick bite.
As reported in a research conducted by SmartFocus, personalization’s like these can lead to 67% transaction value, 300% conversion rate, and 7% annual revenue increase.
Starbucks was the first store to widely offer free Wi-Fi in stores and leveraged that by using location-based app notifications and by driving seasonal specialities and offers to rewards members via email and social media.
Based on the demographics you have gathered from in-store customers who log into Social WiFi, you can deliver ads to drive online sales from various types of customers based on their gender, age group, or prior in-store purchases.
Wrap Up
With the undisputed prevalence of online shopping, it is important for brands to fuse offline and online marketing. This can be done by making use of UTM tags, Facebook pixel, and Social WiFi to create targeted ads and to influence in-store consumers on their purchase behaviors online.
Want to start bridging the offline to online marketing gap? Get in touch with us at hello@sugarwifi.com or https://sugarwifi.com/contact-us/
Want to learn more about Social WiFi Marketing? Download the FREE guide today.
Sources
- https://www.gsmaintelligence.com/
- https://www.gartner.com/doc/3154117/cmo-spend-survey–digital
- https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Measuring-ROI-Still-Top-Struggle-Social-Marketers/1014196
- http://www2.autopilothq.com/customer-journey-marketing-2016
- https://www.launchdigitalmarketing.com/what-are-utm-codes/
- https://sugarwifi.com/
- http://blog.usabilla.com/16-digital-marketing-stats-you-need-to-know-for-2016/
- https://www.facebook.com/business/learn/facebook-ads-pixel
- https://www.facebook.com/business/help/952192354843755
- https://blog.hootsuite.com/facebook-pixel/
- https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2014/09/infographic-retargeting-advertising-statistics.html
- https://www.wgsn.com/blogs/topshop-introduces-runway-to-retail-london-fashion-week/
- https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/why-consumers-are-increasingly-willing-to-trade-data-for-personalization/?utm_source=datafloq&utm_medium=ref&utm_campaign=datafloq#ixzz2g8dgrqko
- http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/News/News-Feature/How-to-Realize-ROI-From-Personalization-109358.htm
- https://econsultancy.com/blog/68326-three-brands-succeeding-in-connecting-online-and-offline-experiences
