Hotel cancellation rates have been steadily rising for years, in part fueled by a culture of ‘book now, pay later’ created by OTA giants. Covid did not create cancellation habits – it will perpetuate them, though. As a hotelier, it’s important for you to be aware of the patterns because it will help you to determine how to combat the issue. Back in 2019, D-Edge Hospitality Solutions reported that the global cancellation rate of hotel reservations reached 40% (with the direct website channel keeping the lowest cancellation rate).

There are ways to combat cancellations – including having a solid, smart tech stack that integrates well together, a confident marketing strategy, and a real understanding of the new guests post-Covid that will require you to develop new guest personas, (doing this will also help you identify who is cancelling) to name but a few – more practical ways on how to combat cancellations later. It’s imperative as a hotelier that you do not ignore this growing behaviour, it’s crucial you use all the tools at your disposal to minimise the upset to your revenue.

What patterns have we seen ourselves since 2017?

Photo: Net Affinity

While the cancellation rates we are seeing are increasing year on year, on par with the global trend, they are still some of the lowest in the industry. There are a myriad of reasons for this. We service the majority of our clients with the full suite of our products, including booking engine, website and marketing. The connection between all of these elements can create more harmonious conditions throughout the booking process, which can help to establish loyalty between guest and hotel. Loyalty is such an important factor! You can try to start deepening loyalty between you and your guests by looking into the likes of personalisation, your social media presence, your marketing strategy and email strategy.

In 2017, the cancellation rates analysed across our clients were coming in at 11.2% on average. That figure moved up to 12.8% in 2018 and to 12.3% in 2019. Cancellation rates may never be this low again due to significant and notable changes in people’s booking habits. It is widely recognised in the hospitality industry globally that understanding your guest and their new behaviour & expectations will be key to your success as you compete against other hotels. Post pandemic, it will be crucial to make sure your website has favourable cancellation terms, which will help to drive more direct bookings, and also manage your cancellation rates, as those booking direct, with a direct relationship with the property are less likely to cancel.

Photo: Net Affinity

When it comes to average cancellation lead times, in 2017 this figure came in at 27.4 days, moving up to 29.5 days in 2018 and to 30.8 days in 2019.

Cancellation rates affected by Covid-19

As we all know, 2020 and 2021 so far have been heavily affected by the pandemic, so they sit in their own category in terms of trends and behaviours.

Photo: Net Affinity

The cancellation rate in 2020 came in at around 35.9% on average, and is currently sitting at around 31.9% so far in 2021.

Photo: Net Affinity

Considering cancellation lead time, on average we saw it come in at around 28.1 days in 2020, and saw it shoot up to around 50.4 days on average so far in 2021.

In regards to May 2021, we can see that the majority of cancellations were made by people due to arrive at hotels this month (June). This is mainly due to the fact that there were a significant higher number of bookings made for June than May. The cancellation lead time in May sat at an average of 82 nights. This number will drop massively when we analyse June in a few weeks, as guests tend to cancel bookings in the month for the month.

What other booking trends did we see in May 2021?

Photo: Net Affinity

As was to be expected, we saw a nice spike in bookings on the 29th April for ROI properties once the reopening date was announced (following in the footsteps of cities who reopened before us). Booking numbers levelled off after a couple of days, but remained steady throughout May.

We noted the natural peaks and troughs throughout the month (bookings are normally a little quieter on Friday and Saturdays), however the monthly booking volume was 27% higher compared to the same period in May 2019. Looking at the North of Ireland, bookings were up a whopping 112% compared to May 2019.

Photo: Net Affinity

Website traffic in May saw a return to 2019 levels following the announcements of hotel reopenings (with normal peaks & troughs highlighting slightly slower weekend traffic). This is positive when we consider the growth in bookings – people seem to have a strong intent to book when they arrive on a hotel’s website, and the patterns show that marketing campaigns are driving targeted traffic to hotel’s websites.

What can you do to combat the number of cancellations you inevitably face?

Booking deposits

Putting a booking deposit requirement in place is the most effective tool to reduce cancellations – however, keep in mind reduced bookings are also a side effect of booking deposits for many hotels.

You will need to consider a number of factors when it comes to the impact of a booking deposit on your property including:

• Past cancellation terms
• Demand for location
• Demand for your property
• Current occupancy levels

If you’re confident that your property can charge a booking deposit without it negatively effecting your revenue optimization, then it’s most likely a good strategy for your hotel. While it may work for some, we generally encourage hotels not to put a booking deposit in place as we have seen it reduce bookings in some instances.

Give your guests a call

We talked recently about the growing importance of personalisation when it comes to increasing your revenue – one of the most effective things you can do without having a booking deposit in place is to give your guests a call.

This establishes a sense of personal attention, while also giving your guest the opportunity to cancel if they need to. It also gives you another way of giving them handy information they might need like your restaurant opening hours, dinner reservations, leisure centre policies, etc. Use the call to let guests know you’re looking forward to welcoming them to the hotel. If they’ve booked another hotel in the meantime, this personal touch could potentially be a deciding factor in their decision to stick with you.

Establish a solid email strategy

Perhaps you don’t have the manpower necessary to call all your guests! Email is another incredibly effective way of making contact, and you can personalise them too.

Use email to give guests the opportunity to cancel, but also to communicate your excitement about being open and for their upcoming visit.

If you normally send your pre-stay email 3 days in advance, maybe look at sending it 1-2 weeks in advance so you’re giving more time to allow for cancellations.

Here at Net Affinity, we provide our clients with the option to customize their pre and post-stay emails, see here for more details.

If you’re a Net Affinity booking engine client, you can also add a message to your ‘Pre-cancellation’ section which appears on the page your guests visit when they are cancelling their booking. This message can be tailored by your hotel to encourage guests to rebook another time.

You can also add a ‘Post-cancellation’ message which appears on the cancellation confirmation screen and on the cancellation email. This is an opportunity for you to use the space to encourage guests to sign up to your newsletter or to buy a voucher.

Increase the cancellation period

While many hotels have a 24 hour free cancellation policy, some have a 48 hour policy, or even up to 7 days depending on the property type.

Some properties will have more favourable terms on their own website such as 24 hours, and then they might increase it on third party sites which can benefit them by helping to drive more direct bookings. Have a think about the benefits of increasing your cancellation period and decide if it’s right for you.

Overbooking

It is a well known strategy for hotels to utilize ‘overbooking’, which allows them to maximise their revenue and reduce unsold inventory.

If you normally have a certain threshold for overbooking, then you might need to discuss increasing it. It may be necessary to include front office, the reservations team, the Financial Controller, the Revenue Manager and the General Manager in this discussion so that everyone has the chance to buy into the decision. It’s something we advise you keep reviewing and discussing as part of your regular internal catch ups.

Keep reviewing the data and your strategy

It will be important to keep on top of the trends that manifest themselves over the coming months so you can continue to make smart decisions when it comes to your strategy. We are holding a market insights session next week, in which Helena Rowe Bradley will talk you through everything we’re seeing in relation to booking and cancellation data. If you’re a Net Affinity client, you can sign up for free.

If you’re interested in learning more about cancellation trends, send us an email at [email protected]

Originally Appeared Here

As part of the launch of MarTech’s Email Marketing Periodic Table, we are highlighting key chapters of the report. If you would like to check your own email strategy against the elements of good email optimization and deliverability, download the full periodic table today.

Emails don’t just get sent on their own. In fact, there is a robust list of elements you need to consider in order to have an effective email marketing infrastructure.

For starters, there’s the Domain Name System (Dn), known as the phonebook of the internet. The DNS maps a domain name to the IP (Ip) address hosting the website and the IP sending mail for a particular entity with a different domain name.

A Mail Transfer Agent (Mt) is the software that transfers electronic messages from one user to another by using a SMTP server (Ss) which enables outbound email. A Mail User Agent (UA) is the software that enables emails to be sent and received. These two separate pieces are key to getting emails through to your customers and prospects.

Everything you need to know about sending emails that your customers want and that inboxes won’t block. Get MarTech’s Email Marketing Periodic Table.

Click here to download!

A Sender Policy Framework (Sf) is also required as an email authentication method which detects forged sender addresses during the delivery of your email. On the other end, the user’s inbox uses a POP3 Server (P3). When subscribers complain, Feedback Loops (Fl) ensure that these complaints are routed to the sender so they can be acted upon.

Typically, your IP address will be associated with a domain name or a subdomain through the Domain Name System. Subdomains (Sd) help your customers recognize your brand’s name through the top- level domain; this prevents phishing attempts.

If you are considering adding BIMI (see the Experimental section in the full report), two critical steps come first. Logo Trademark Ownership (Lt) is a key element that is necessary for implementing BIMI. You also need to apply for a Verified Mark Certificate (Vc). Lastly, for the brand’s logo to be displayed, the email must pass DMARC (Dm) authentication checks, ensuring that the organization’s domain has not been impersonated.

About The Author

Henry Powderly is vice president of content for Third Door Media, publishers of Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. With more than a decade in editorial leadership positions, he is responsible for content strategy and event programming for the organization.

Originally Appeared Here

To succeed, every startup needs to find and keep more users, but our attention spans get shorter every year. Eventually, your company will hire someone who’s up to speed with the latest problems and solutions in growth.

In the meantime, TechCrunch is here to help.

We’re asking founders to share a brief recommendation for talented growth marketers who have made a difference for them. We’ll use your responses to feature the best growth experts to our audience through our articles, events, and soon, a free database list.

Whether you worked with a great individual or an agency, we want to know who helped you figure out great solutions in SEO, social media, content marketing, analytics and other growth mechanisms.

There are a million marketers out there, most of whom have never worked with serious startups before. The types of people we want to spotlight will be proven experts in using product management, engineering, data and marketing techniques specifically for ambitious companies like yours.

If you are a growth marketer, we encourage you to share this survey with your clients (but completely discourage self-recommendations).

Founders and other startup leaders, please fill out this nomination form, and be on the lookout for more from top marketers in the next few weeks (with a few more things in store). If you had filled out our email marketing survey from a few weeks ago, thank you! We’re putting your responses to work as part of this project already.

Have any questions? Email ec_editors@techcrunch.com.

Originally Appeared Here

NickyLloyd / Getty Images

You’ve probably heard blogging is a way you could make money anywhere, but you might not be sure how to get started.

Making money blogging takes a plan, just like starting a business. If you can develop an interesting blog niche, monetize your site to make profits and strategize to continuously build an audience, you can make money blogging in 2021 from anywhere. Keep reading to learn how.

Is a Blog a Business?

In many senses, yes. A blog is a business where you sell both your creative content and advertising space for other businesses. When thinking about how to make money blogging in 2021, approach it like you would starting a business.

First, you must estimate how long you can afford to blog without profiting. Like any new business, there’s a startup period in the red that must be expected with blogging. For many, it only takes about six months to start seeing a profit from blogging. Some need up to a year.

Average Start-Up Costs

When making a plan to monetize your blog, don’t forget to also factor in startup costs. This includes hosting, domain registration and opportunity costs of putting in currently unpaid work. You do need to pay for hosting to be able to monetize your blog, as free blogs may not offer integrated ads.

If you are tech-savvy, it will cost less, but if you need to hire experts to build your site or create content, your costs will increase. Estimate around $60 in start-up for a completely DIY blog, between paying for a domain name and web hosting. If you decide to have professionals handle any part of your blog, though, expect costs to rise quickly.

How To Monetize a Blog: 5 Key Methods

Once you get your blog set up, adding elements to monetize it is essential to make money blogging.

Think of your blog profits as coming from two distinct revenue streams: content you create and content other people create.

You get paid for content that you create when you sell downloadables, teach courses or offer memberships to more exclusive content. You get paid for other people’s content when you host ads or post affiliate links.

1. Downloadables

One of the best ways for bloggers to make money is to offer downloadable content. This can be a variety of items, but each should have an affordable price tag so that their audience is willing to pay for these extras outside of the blog.

Examples include an organizational blog providing a printable cleaning schedule, or a home decor blog offering printable labels for decoupage canisters. These are items that your audience would not typically have access to and are exclusive to your creative line.

You could start out by offering free downloadables. This is not a “something for nothing” strategy, because you can build a contact list with it. Simply restrict the download to be available only after the user enters their contact information.

List-building is valuable to digital content creators. Once you have a way to get in front of people’s eyes, you have a variety of marketing avenues you can explore.

2. Courses

If your blog is in a niche that lends itself to educational content, you are primed for creating a paid course for your readers. Many bloggers turn readers into students when they offer paid courses.

Bloggers can use sites like Skillshare, Udemy and Kajabi to make and post courses. Online courses vary in profits, but there are courses that have brought in millions. You should establish your blog and social media following before investing heavily into a course. Otherwise, you will be offering your content without enough potential students to make you a profit.

Good To Know

Creating a regular posting schedule is important. It lets your readers know what to expect from you. By tracking your site’s analytics, you can find the best time to post on your blog and any social media to get the most attention and traffic.

3. Premium Content

You can also produce premium content that your readers subscribe to. This could be content that gets an earlier release for subscribers or special video content.

By integrating a membership subscription, you open a new channel of income for your established readers. Adding membership service software to your blog elevates this premium content for paying subscribers.

4. Hosting Ads

One of the best ways for bloggers to make money is to host ads on their monetized blogs. These may appear on sidebars, banners, or between paragraphs of their articles.

Many bloggers start by hosting pay-per-click ads. You can use Google AdSense to incorporate relevant ads into your blog.

This means AdSense will pay you for every time a reader watches or clicks on your ad. One click can pay you anywhere between $0.50 and $5, so it will take a certain level of traffic to start making a lot of money like this.

5. Sponsorships and Affiliate Links

Finally, getting sponsorships and affiliate links for your blog content is an excellent way to get paid.

For a sponsorship, a brand will pay you to promote their product on your blog. The way you promote it could vary, although the brand will likely ask you to endorse it so your readers will be interested in the product.

Affiliate marketing is very similar. Brands send you affiliate links to place in your blogs that direct readers to their products. For instance, in a gardening blog, a seed company may send you affiliate links for your next article about planting. Each time a reader clicks on that link and makes a purchase, the seed company will pay you.

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Every day, get fresh ideas on how to save and make money and achieve your financial goals.

How To Attract Readers: 3 Marketing Ideas

As noted, you need to have a lot of viewers per month to make a profit on basic PPC clicks. Here’s how to make sure your audience is wide enough to earn:

1. Search Engine Optimization

SEO is the applied strategy of making your blog “findable” by search engines and potential readers looking for content like yours.

Most blog platforms have some built-in SEO tools, but you can also work with SEO professionals to integrate ranking keywords throughout your blog and show up higher in search results.

2. Social Media

Interacting with readers on social media is both fun and strategic, driving more traffic to your blog. Especially when you start out, it’s important to spread your blog on social media to catch a wide net of readers.

3. Email Marketing

Email marketing allows you direct access to your readers’ inboxes. Collect emails when you offer content like downloadables and get consent to contact your readers. Use this contact information later to send out newsletters, promotions, coupons and more.

Essential Tips for Making Money Blogging

The most essential tip for how to start a blog and make money is to treat it like a business. Make a plan, make a marketing strategy and secure several potential income channels.

When you combine excellent content with high-volume traffic that attracts advertisers, you can grow a profitable blog over time and make money anywhere. Blog on something you are already passionate about to create a profitable, engaging blog.

Blogging and Making Money FAQ

Here are the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about making money as a blogger.

• Can you make money blogging?
  • Yes, you can make money blogging, but not everyone will make the same amount. Some make pocket change while others can make a very satisfying full-time salary from blogging.
• How much can I make as a blogger?
  • Bloggers conceivably can make millions per month from blogging and associated digital content like courses on high-demand topics.
• Who is the highest-paid blogger?
  • Although there is a relative carousel of top bloggers on the web these days, the standouts in 2021 are diversified business people who attract an audience with their blog but also offer other premium content in the form of courses.A prime example is gossip blogger Perez Hilton, who makes over $3 million per month.
• Is blogging worth it in 2021?
  • It is worth blogging in 2021 if you treat it like a business and go into it with a strategy to exploit multiple avenues of revenue. A monetized blog does require some start-up costs, so you need to have a business plan that details how you will earn that back and then begin making a profit.
• What are the pros and cons of blogging?
  • Bloggers get to make money anywhere, creating content about something they are interested in. This can open many doors for travel, connecting with other industry experts and managing their own time for personal recreation. However, the cons of blogging as a career include many of the same issues as being a brick-and-mortar business owner. You must budget for your own benefits, such as health insurance and time off. There’s no one to cover you on a sick day, and you must wear the hats of content creator, web admin and accountant.

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About the Author

Emily Cahill is a writer with over three years of experience creating digital content. Previous to that, she worked as a freelancer in publishing while attending Trinity College for English/Rhetoric.

She specializes in SEO-driven content that highlights the unique properties of a product or service while making them digitally “findable,” particularly for the finance, geek culture, and lifestyle niches.

Originally Appeared Here

The return of workers to their office may be picking up now that more people have received a COVID-19 vaccination shot, but there remains a sizable share of employees who say they would rather not return.

A study from Flex Jobs, a job search site, asked 2,100 people about their desire to continue working remotely and 65 percent of them said would like to continue their full-time work from schedule. And 56 percent of respondents said they would quit their jobs if employers forced them to return to the office.

The COVID-19 pandemic made it clear to many companies and their workers that many staffers can work from almost any location they want, provided they have a solid internet connection.

Allison Wolf, a content creator and TikTok vlogger from Seattle, has garnered millions of views of her videos that have documented her remote-life experience of traveling the world. Her videos show her doing activities – while still working – in Alaska, Asia, and here in the Pacific Northwest.

When asked how people can confidently transition to working remotely full time, her biggest advice is to slowly ease into it.

“Maybe stay at home first [and] do a test period in your own time zone and in your comfort zone,” Wolf said. “Make sure you have a simple WiFi connection, and definitely test it out at home before you book a ticket to Greece or Mexico.”

Some of Wolf’s jobs include managing social media, email marketing and teaching English. She says people can learn most new skills with a simple internet search.

“I think a lot of us are told growing up you have to graduate, and this is what work-life has to look like, and you’re only going to get two weeks of vacation,” Wolf said. “I think this year showed us there are ways to have a better work life balance.”

Not every industry, however, has the flexibility to allow their employees to work from home.

Frank Fiorille, a vice president at Paychex, said employees who work with larger companies, like Amazon, have more resources to do this.

“I think remote working-only environments help bigger businesses,” he said. “I think they are more able to do that than small businesses. It may hurt them initially.”

For those who never want to return to the office, Wolf warns that it does come with challenges, like keeping a disciplined schedule and dealing with technology failures.

You can download her free e-book, “7 Remote Jobs You Can Do From Anywhere In The World,” as a start guide on how to follow her path.

Originally Appeared Here

Get caught up on the latest technology and startup news from the past week. Here are the most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of May 30, 2021.

Sign up to receive these updates every Sunday in your inbox by subscribing to our GeekWire Weekly email newsletter.

Most popular stories on GeekWire

Rajeev Rajan first came to the Seattle area as a Microsoft intern in 1994, and ended up staying with the company for 23 years. … Read More

The plywood is coming down, restaurants that survived are adding hours and vehicle traffic in Seattle is growing from the ghost-town levels of one year ago. … Read More

At Amazon’s annual shareholders meeting last week, the company’s shareholders overwhelmingly shot down more than a dozen proposals aimed, proponents said, at making the company a more transparent and responsible corporate citizen. … Read More

TerraPower, PacifiCorp and Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon announced plans on Wednesday to build a next-generation nuclear power plant on the site of one of the state’s retiring coal plants. … Read More

Humans produce more than 6 billion tons of plastic every year, and its accumulation in landfills and oceans is considered by many to be an environmental crisis. … Read More

New funding: Electric Era, a Seattle startup that is designing and building battery systems for electric vehicle charging stations, has raised a $3 million seed round led by REMUS Capital. … Read More

Outreach just landed $200 million in venture capital that the 10-year-old software company will use to help more sales professionals close deals, track leads and boost engagement with customers. … Read More

Construction giant Katerra, which has raised more than $2 billion in venture capital, is shutting down, according to a report from The Information. … Read More

SEO software startup Moz has been acquired by email marketing company iContact, a subsidiary of J2 Global. … Read More

The gift I best remember from my high school graduation was a pale blue stuffed whale. … Read More

Originally Appeared Here

NORTHAMPTON — A digital marketing platform, called northampton.live is getting a $75,000 boost to draw visitors to the city and promote local music, dining and entertainment businesses. 

The money is coming from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MSG), which has granted money to the city since 2017 to mitigate the financial impacts of casino gaming in the region. Since 2015, the MSG has issued nearly $23 million to various communities to offset the impact costs of casino gaming on local tourism industries. 

City officials said that the marketing platform — particularly during the pandemic — has proven to be an “invaluable resource” that reaches thousands of viewers near and far through social media campaigns. 

“We are really pleased the Gaming Commission saw the value, especially coming out of the pandemic, of ensuring we can rebuild our local economy and these local businesses that were pushed to the brink during COVID-19,” Narkewicz said in an interview Friday. “We will continue to get the word out through digital marketing that Northampton is back and open and to come enjoy the Northampton that people have enjoyed for so many years.” 

The online platform was conceived in 2018 by a mayoral advisory committee led by city employees and made up of marketing experts who researched how to offset the potential impacts of the arrival of the MGM Springfield casino, which has the potential to draw entertainment and dining business away from Northampton. 

“The site is incredibly valuable and it’s been very well received by businesses, retailers and the arts community,” Narkewicz said. “Now we are trying to pivot back to post-COVID-19 time, and we think people really are judging by all the people coming downtown to enjoy the Strong Avenue, ‘Summer on Strong,’ project. I just walked through there a couple nights ago, and there was a jazz band playing, tables were full, Progression was serving beers, and it was a really happening and vibrant scene.” 

The marketing platform is designed and maintained by Rhyme Digital, which is based in Easthampton. 

Blair Winans, president of Rhyme Digital, said the underlining premise for northampton.live is about portraying the city authentically. 

“We want to give a real on-the-ground perspective of shops and what makes Northampton great and everything it has to offer,” he said.

The digital marketing platform is more than just the website, Blair noted, saying that a combination of social media, email marketing, search engine optimization, and digital advertising are “all wrapped up into marketing outreach.” 

A lot of outreach goes towards drawing people from large metropolitan areas such as Boston, Hartford and New York, according to Winans. The site regularly gets around 5,000 to 6,000 regular visitors each month, he said. When the pandemic hit, there was a surge of over 11,000 visitors who were trying to figure out what businesses were open. 

The grant funding will allow Rhyme Digital the opportunity to implement new ideas. Winans said the website will build out a section dedicated for places that offer outdoor dining in the city and keeping an up-to-date events page. 

An important aspect of nothampton.live has always been telling individual stories of Northampton businesses and their owners. “Whatever we can do to introduce new businesses or reinforce existing ones,” he said. 

Luis Fieldman can be reached at lfieldman@gazettenet.com 

Originally Appeared Here

New York, New York–(Newsfile Corp. – June 4, 2021) – Email marketing is one of the most effective mechanisms to drive the audience to any business. According to a study, Email marketing is proven to be the most effective technique in terms of ROI. Sending personalized emails to the targeted audience increases Email campaign open rates drastically.

MailVeteran recently launched free Mail merge for Gmail. It presents a suite of tools for marketing and tracking emails to help a business flourish in competitor’s markets and brings a highly optimized interface and a bag of powerful features.

Features of Mail Merge

Easy to Use Design: MailVeteran Gmail mail merge presents the most straightforward system to send mass personalized emails to capture the audience. Its user-friendly and lightning-fast interface allows the customers to launch mass emails in a breeze.

Customizable: Mailveteran allows to personalize mass email campaigns using column header variables from recipient’s data in Gsheets. The Email campaign can be customized with first name, last name, Company, links, images, attachments anywhere in subject lines or email body.

Tracking through Mail Merge Google Sheets: With Mailveteran mail merge for Gmail, users can track the clicks, opens, responses, and unsubscribes from the targeted audience in real-time for an effective email marketing campaign.

Configure Auto-send: Mail Veteran makes email marketing simple and convenient. By giving access to features like Mail scheduling, Mailveteran Gmail mail merge presents the auto-sending facility. Users can select the right time to auto-send the bulk mails to increase the open rate.

Mailveteran is an entirely free mail merge for Gmail to send batch personalized emails. According to Moz, a leader in search engine optimization technology and recently acquired by J2 Global Inc. “80% of marketers say that email is the strongest performing media buy.” Mailveteran mail merge allows sending bulk emails with sending limits applied by Gmail itself and with built-in advanced analytics, track seamlessly, email opens, bounces & clicks rates.

Media Details
Company: Mailveteran
Email: contact@mailveteran.com
Website: https://mailveteran.com/

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/86583

Originally Appeared Here

Text messaging can be among the productive retail marketing channels, provided the workflows are automated and the performance is tracked.

Entrepreneur Jordan West, the owner of an ecommerce agency, Mindful Marketing, and an online apparel company, The Kindred Studio, uses text-message marketing to drive customer engagement and sales. He believes text messages are among his best marketing channels.

Don’t Invite Everyone

“Have you ever heard of the term ‘spray and pray’ marketing?” asked West. “Don’t do this. Don’t treat all customers the same. Each customer has a unique relationship with your brand. Don’t disrespect them by treating them all the same.

“Think about it like this. If you meet someone…[the relationship] starts small, asking for small things. You’re not asking someone for her phone number immediately. That’s a big thing with SMS. Don’t try and get everybody on your list.”

Rather, focus text-message marketing on those customer segments most likely to respond to text campaigns.

West recommends segmenting customers by what he calls “traffic level.” The idea is to create segments around the depth of customer relationships. Purchasers are a different segment than first-time visitors.

West has developed a framework to segment shoppers based on their relationship to the company. The framework moves prospects from cool to warm leads.

For your business, identify levels of customer connectedness, if you will. West has a numbered scale for this. Other marketers might use the recency, frequency, monetary value (RFM) model to identify the proper spot in a relationship to ask a customer if you can send promotional text messages.

Automate

One of the key benefits of digital marketing is automation. A business can set up programmatic workflows that encourage and move customers and prospects along the purchase process and into a deeper level of engagement.

West, for example, uses automation to achieve strong SMS results. In this way, his approach to SMS was similar to the way many successful commerce businesses use email marketing or even social media marketing. Those businesses segment, target, and personalize messages.

The key, however, is to employ automation in moderation.

Measure

Text-message marketing is trackable and measurable. While West was quick to point out that attribution is not always clear with SMS, he also took pains to explain how to measure it.

“Look at this click-through rate: 43% percent. And a 10% conversion rate after that. So $4.11 per message,” said West as he was sharing some of his own company’s SMS marketing data during a live event for the CommerceCo by Practical Ecommerce community.

 

“So that message is costing me one penny, and I’m getting $4.11 in revenue per message. That’s astounding,” West said of his company’s welcome series SMS automation. “The abandoned cart [SMS automation] is even bigger, $10.26 per message.”

As with nearly any marketing channel, the metrics your business tracks should be related to the goals for that campaign. West wants sales, so click-through rate, conversion rate, and revenue-per-message are all critical.

List Size

One metric you may not want to measure, especially when you’re just beginning with text-message marketing, is the number of subscribers.

“This list was barely 2,000 subscribers at this point, but I wanted to show you how incredibly effective SMS marketing is even when you are starting,” said West as he displayed results from five SMS marketing campaigns that had generated more than $25,000 in sales.

Instead, focus on results — advancing consumer relationships and generating sales.

Originally Appeared Here

–       Role advertised: Marketing Manager

–       Company: Australian Brandenburg Orchestra

–       Sector: Marketing / Media / Arts

–       Role type: Full-time, permanent

–       Salary: commensurate with experience

–       Location: Mascot, Sydney

–       Applications close: 20 June 2021

 

JOB TITLE 

Marketing Manager

REPORTS TO

Head of Marketing and Customer Relations

 THE ORGANISATION

Led by its charismatic Artistic Director, Paul Dyer AO, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra is Australia’s flagship Baroque orchestra. Since the beginning in 1989, we’ve become a leading voice in the Australian cultural landscape. We’ve won five ARIA awards for Best Classical Album collaborated with some of the world’s leading artists. We perform in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and have established a regular touring program in regional New South Wales.

In 2020 we launched our inventive new digital stage, Brandenburg One. Featuring full-length digital concerts, short performances, solo Bach and more, Brandenburg One lets audiences the world over enjoy the thrills of the concert hall at home. 

The Marketing Manager will join a high performing and passionate team who are on a mission to deliver Baroque music to all Australians.

PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

The Marketing Manager manages the subscription season and single ticket marketing campaigns for the Brandenburg’s live and digital concerts.

This important role performs a hands-on function in a dynamic marketing, content and communications team. You will be comfortable managing a busy and complex marketing schedule and will thrive in a high-performing, fast-paced environment. You will bring to the team a strong work ethic, exceptional interpersonal skills and significant campaign management and marketing experience.

 WHAT YOU’LL NEED TO SUCCEED

–       5+ years’ experience in marketing, digital marketing, and campaign management or content production.

–       2+ years’ experience in a team leader or people management role.

–       Experience in campaign management and success in hitting revenue targets.

–       Experience in copywriting and email marketing.

–       A passion for customer relationship management and driving engagement and loyalty.

–       Strong analytical skills with proven ability to draw actionable insights from data.

–       Experience planning omni-channel campaigns and managing budgets.

–       A methodical mind with a sharp eye for visual, textual and numerical detail.  

–       A proven ability and run the day-to-day the marketing schedule. 

–       Outstanding communication skills, you’re a natural collaborator.

–       The ability to remain calm and work effectively in high pressure environments.

–       A love of technology and continuous improvement. 

–       Knowledge of Tessitura and Wordfly highly desirable

–       Familiarity with Photoshop and other Adobe products is desirable.

–       Bachelor or higher degree in marketing, business or related field.

–       A love of music and willingness to learn all about Baroque!

 ROLE GOALS

–       Live concert subscription and single ticket revenue and attendance targets are met or exceeded.

–       Digital concert revenue and audience targets are met or exceeded.

–       All marketing programs and campaigns are executed on time and within budget.

–       The Company maintains a professional and engaging image to customers and key stakeholders through exceptional artwork, messaging and marketing content. 

 ROLE OBJECTIVES

–       To develop and execute marketing plans and programs which support company goals, with a particular emphasis on developing and reaching wider audiences and increasing customer loyalty.

–       To inform Company decision making with actionable marketing insights.

–       To motivate and mentor marketing staff.

REPORTS TO

Head of Marketing and Customer Relations.

SUPERVISES

Marketing Executive, Marketing Casuals, Box Office team members working on marketing projects. 

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

Digital Content Producer, Customer Relations Manager, Business Systems Analyst, Head of Artistic Operations, Head of Development, Performance Venues, Creative Agency, Media Agency, Publicity Agency, Media, Mailing House, Musicians and all Australian Brandenburg Orchestra staff.

APPLICATION

Please submit your resume with a cover letter addressing the selection criteria to:

Tom Morgan

Head of Marketing and Customer Relations

TomMorgan@brandenburg.com.au

Originally Appeared Here