Intro
The eCommerce industry has been around since the 1960s and has grown in popularity immensely over the years. More and more people are transitioning to online shopping because it’s much more convenient and less time-consuming, which leaves brick-and-mortar stores in the past.
However, precisely due to its immense popularity, the world of eCommerce has a lot of competition. It can be quite difficult to start and grow your eCommerce store when you have to think about eCommerce giants such as Amazon and eBay, but also countless other stores. Still, that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible.
With a good eCommerce marketing strategy, businesses of all niches and sizes can see substantial growth and an increase in profit. Of course, there are many different strategies out there, each one claiming to be better than the previous one, but that’s something you can’t know until you try it out yourself.
Since you can’t figure out all the secrets of marketing and growth by yourself, there’s no better source of information than the professionals who have started and grown their own eCommerce business or helped other businesses grow.
That is why we have interviewed a group of experts and created a roundup which covers the topic of securing growth for your eCommerce business. All of them have had different experiences but still managed to achieve great success.
One thing you should never forget is that in today’s digital economy, there’s nothing more powerful and essential for business survival and expansion is practical knowledge. But don’t take it from us, take it from the experts.
All of the people we talked to for this roundup had tried and failed before they found the perfect solution and now they’re ready to divulge their secrets. If you care about your business’ growth, you’ll pay close attention to what they have to say.
JJ Virgin
Founder @ Mindshare Collaborative
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
We did a Multiple Streams of Income for Health Care Professionals 5 Day Challenge to lead into our Mindshare Leadership Summit. We created it to introduce HCPs to us so that they would buy tickets for the Summit. What surprised us was that we sold over $250,000 in training programs through the challenge when we weren’t even planning to offer them.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
We are craving connections now more than ever – creating amazing experiences online where people can learn, play and grow is our focus for 2021.
Deepak Chauhan
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
It may surprise a lot of people, with what I’m going to share. We ran a successful campaign and brought good ROI and built a pipeline for our Immigration consultant client. The pandemic that saw Immigration and travel businesses shutting down, made us think differently. It was a time when people were re-thinking their career paths, while locked in (mostly). It was needed more than ever to stay afloat and stay connected for our Immigration client.
We launched a specialized IELTS program for the prospects and signed them up in good numbers as they showed more interest. This was the result of running several experiments and analyzing the results. This not only helped generate sales but also built a pipeline for future business, all in a fraction of the budget.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
Targeted content is the key. Identifying and delivering the right content is going to be the winner. 2020 has seen a plethora of courses almost for anything. Every niche, whether it’s marketing, immigration, manufacturing, or consulting, saw better engagement and conversion via courses. This trend is going to rule in 2021.
It doesn’t have to be only for academics. Marketers need to help serious businesses identify and creatively design the right content for easy consumption ( not necessarily in the form of paid courses). It does not have to be the route to generate direct sales, but to build a pipeline.
Andrew Zhao
Founder CEO @ Throwlights
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
Suffice it to say, 2020 has been a crazy year filled with obstacles. However, through some creativity and a lot of hard work by our talented team, Throwlights has had some marketing successes. Here’s one of them:
We have always had a promoter program – lightshow artists who go out and spread the word about Throwlights on social media. The way it works is they get a discount code and when they make posts with gloving or lightshow content, they put their code into the description. However, promoters never earned a commission when their code was used.
In May 2020, we changed that. Throwlights implemented an affiliate program that would pay back promoters 10% of the revenue from their code usages. We had 100+ affliates join in the first week and that month our sales grew by 100%.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
We are currently focused on expanding our target market. For much of our business’ lifetime we’ve been selling to a very niche audience of core lightshow enthusiasts.
We took a look at our business and we said, “Why are we limiting our reach?”
2021 will be about building scalable products and marketing campaigns to reach a larger audience. That means standardizing and commercializing our product – building beautiful packaging, creating short advertisements that pop, and casting a wider distribution net by increasing our presence on third-party marketplaces and social media platforms.
Jeff Neal
Engagement Officer @ Cricket Depot
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
Our best marketing campaign on 2020 was content marketing (see link to screenshot). We sell live crickets to reptile owners. Owning reptiles can be a complicated process to ensure that bearded dragons and leopard geckos live their fullest lives. So we hired an in-house zoologist to compose care guides on popular reptiles. Bearded dragons are the most popular reptile, and our thought process was that if people are searching for good content on proper bearded dragon care, and they are more likely to purchase live crickets from you. So we published articles on bearded dragon care, and that article yielded a 12% conversion rate. Here is a screenshot:
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
We believe content marketing will continue to be a viable marketing strategy. However, we want to produce viable videos that compliment that content. Our belief is that if we supplement our well performing reptile care guides with informative videos, the time-on-site, and the conversion rate will compound, which will indirectly lead to a stronger position in search engines. So video marketing to supplement our content marketing is our focus for 2021.
Charlie Worrall
Digital Marketing Exec @ Imaginaire
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
We were able to take a brand-new eCommerce website from nothing to clearing £200,000 in a month. Our focus was digital marketing, we took to the world of SEO to ensure sustainable growth of leads in the first few months and paired that with a fantastic Google Ads shopping campaign for an immediate customer base.
Pairing both SEO and PPC strategies into one campaign is one of the most effective ways to move the needle and the results speak for themselves. Our aim was to develop a customer base right off the bat with an investment in the paid shopping ads on Google. While this meant that the client was essentially buying leads, we were actually working towards creating a loyal set of customers who would keep coming back to purchase products. While this continued to run, we also made immediate inroads into the client’s SEO strategy. This meant planning content, building links, on-page tweaks and technical upgrades to stay in line with The Google Core Web Vitals. In doing this, we had more of a chance to rank well on a SERP. We started to pull the top rankings for some big phrases, gain more customers and watch the revenue grow with the company!
After a while, the organic sales started to match the paid sales. As time goes on we can roll back the Google Ads spend and continue to focus on SEO and organic traffic.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
For consumer brands and eCommerce sites, I think that we might see a shift into the Google Discover space. After looking at how they’ve integrated the Google Discover data into the Search Console and the way in which the Discover works, we could be seeing a free form of remarketing.
Google Discover works by reading previous search history, interests and more in order to prescribe and show users content that they might be like. This is often new, or something related to current events but can often extend to the likes of information articles and ‘how-to’ guides.
So, on-page content marketing could see an upswing in popularity. This is most likely to be though the form of blog posts, newsjacking and other like this because they’re the focus of Google Discover at the moment. This could change and it could instead start to push visual content too.
Cody Murphy
Founder @ Visual Oak
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
Businesses who started Black Friday earlier – and extended those deals longer – saw the needle move most this year. Every eCommerce team was relying on this period more than ever before due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This also meant that consumers were seeing more ads than ever before. Those who saw this coming, and started deals early and extended them longer, reaped the benefits of consumer’s inevitable marketing fatigue.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
eCommerce teams need to create compelling campaigns for Q1 and Q2 as we’re going to see a natural dip in eCommerce sales this summer due to an urge for consumers to travel propelled by the widespread availability of the COVID-19 vaccine. The time to make an impact for your eCommerce sales in 2021 is now.
Alex Willen
Founder @ Cooper’s Treats
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
My most successful marketing tactic this year has been including my own story in my marketing. I started my company this year during the pandemic (after Covid forced my last company to shut down at a substantial loss), and any time I talked about why I started the business in email marketing, those emails received well above-average click rates. After an interview about my story was published in Thrive Global (https://thriveglobal.com/stories/alex-willen/), I decided to include it in my welcome email sequence. Before adding it, I had solid open rates but low click and purchase rates. I inserted it as the second email, and not only does it consistently have the highest open rate of anything I send (hovering around 40%), it also has an order rate of about 2%. Further, it has pushed open, click and order rate on the two following emails in the sequence as well. It just goes to show that these days, people really want to connect with the companies they’re buying from.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
The most important thing about marketing in 2021 will be adapting to the mood of the nation. For the beginning of the year, we’re still going to be stuck inside and will probably be seeing large numbers of infections and deaths. For that period, my marketing messages will be focused on how my products (make-at-home dog treat mixes) allow you to have fun and do something nice for your dog while you’re stuck at home – really painting a picture of a happy activity in an otherwise bad situation. Once large numbers of people are vaccinated and the country opens back up, I anticipate changing to a much more upbeat message. It’ll be all about how your dog is your best friend, and our treat mixes are the perfect way to make her happy. The visuals will change as well, from pictures of people being cozy inside to ones of them enjoying life in the sun.
Colin Little
Owner & Digital Marketing Consultant @ Social Launch Marketing
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
The most effective campaign we ran was a post purchase thank you video for one of my eCommerce brands. Basically, we had a bubbly customer support rep shoot a 30 second thank you video expressing just how happy the brand was that the 1st time customer placed their trust in their brand. They thank them profusely and offer their email and phone number in case the 1st time customer has any questions.
We placed that video in FB ads targeting first time purchasers directly after the initial sale, and we placed it in the 1st purchase email that goes out immediately.
This thank you video email, when paired with an offer has generated over $105,000 in 2020 alone. Their LTV has increased as well due to a better bond being created immediately after the first order. Many brands aren’t taking the steps necessary to build better relationships with their customers, so this video really stands out!
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
Anything that does more to build better relationships with customers. With a huge increase in online spending due to COVID-19, brand’s must focus on loyalty. The more you can develop relationships with customers, the more you will earn in eCommerce in 2021. Another thing that has worked well for that client is the creation of a private FB group of customers that have left 5 star reviews.
Having your most devoted fans in a FB group is a great way to get feedback on new products, as well as getting reviews on new products. By launching just to this group before the actual release, they’re able to stack up a great amount of 5 star reviews!
Chris Beaudin
Head of Marketing @ ATLATL Software
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
2020 accelerated every emerging digital trend, companies who had resisted or were slow to change were thrust into making decisions to go digital for means of operational survivability. Most buyers were already online first, 2020 brought online only. Those that adapted quickly, provided the most frictionless process, and that added a sense of hope or joy to their customers were winners in 2020. This will not cease on 2021, in fact, it will only intensify. We predict that buyers will be even more selective on which online experiences the patron. With so many options, buyers are looking for things they can trust, that make it easy, and add confidence to their lives.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
This is why we are looking to partner with as many product sellers as possible, to help them provide the best buying experience possible for their customers. Product visualization helps buyers view at their preference, visual configuration helps them make products their own with confidence, and augmented reality allows them to preview and share before they buy. This visual buyers journey is the path to the best online product experience, and will help determine who wins in 2021.
Valentine Okoronkwo
Digital Marketing Manager @ PassiveSecrets
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
In order to grow your eCommerce business and drive more sales – you need to go the extra mile to stand out from your crowd, as there are so many new eCommerce brands entering the market on a daily basis.
So as opposed to going the store route like every other eCommerce brand – create a single product sale funnel that eliminates all forms of distractions for your visitors. Rather than sending your visitors to a product page that has numerous product listings, they’ll be taken to a page that has only one product with a powerful sales copy description about it.
Additionally, having upsells at the backend is another extraordinary strategy to increase your average cart value and generate more revenue. You can create your single product page with the upsell pages using a drag-and-drop sales funnel builder.
Then at the end of the funnel which is supposed to be your thank you page – redirect them to your Shopify store to browse around.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
Put a phone number on your website and pick up the phone! Talking directly to your customers (and not hiding behind your laptop is one of the biggest point of leverage for ecommerce owners.
Stacy Caprio
Marketing @ Renuw Skincare
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
Creating a social Facebook group community has been the most successful marketing campaign run by me in 2020. I created a tight-knit group around skincare and promoted it by posting in related groups, and then fostered the group to create a community feel and sales from group updates.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
I think creating a small intimate community before asking for sales will work best in 2021, especially as people continue to become overwhelmed by ads they end up tuning out, bu more involved with small communities in their interests.
Lewis T May
Pres/CEO @ HammerSport Marketing
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
The most defining campaign of 2020 isn’t or wasn’t really a campaign and certainly wasn’t a hack. It was an implementation of the fundamentals of brand development.
If you don’t have a brand in place then it could be considered a campaign when developing and implementing it.
Regardless of the semantics, this revelation is too important not to share. It is the fundamental marketing concept of brand development.
There are two different experiences we had as a company this year that solidified this as imperative that showed us how imperative this is and solidified it as a fundamental.
The first was our implementation of a brand development strategy during an Ecom website redesign and development.
As I lead our team through our design process of intention, goals, strategy, flow and copy into the wireframing… I.e. what I call the information architecture.
I Realized that we didn’t have anything to say other than descriptions of features and benefits of the product. We didn’t have a guideline for the fundamentals of building a brand.
I redirected our entire strategy, we created what is now our proprietary brand development formula and we implemented it.
After a month of video conference calls and behind the scenes transcriptions and research we went back to the information architecture. The entire process was quite easy as we had numerous statements, phrases, and ideas that describe the brand available to us. We were able to identify multiple goals, (sell product and build the brand), that this website would be able to accomplish. The process of laying out the copy and wireframe was seamless.
After the project I analyzed some of my colleagues’ classroom notes about web design. My theory was confirmed that many practitioners in digital marketing use mini Branding cheats but fail to recognize or ever build a comprehensive brand.
The second realization is relatively simple. We laid out our own company’s purpose and values, (the first stage of brand building). Then we distributed it consistently on social media.
Our intern hiring process now allows us to repeatedly attract the brightest and the best personalities.
Our conclusion of this entire experience has brought us to a deep understanding and definition of what a brand is and a foundation on how to build one. Brand development is like building a franchise. It is work that must be done on the business, not in it.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
What works in 2021 is the same thing that has always worked, when you stay dedicated to it. Building a well developed brand.
Our agency is all-in on branding and brand development. We understand that having a well developed brand is the difference between a company and a legacy. This will continue all through time as long as humans have emotional needs, this includes 2021.
There are a couple reasons that you may not believe me. Brand development is a long term play and will not solve your immediate problems or need for cash flow. But, if you implement it into your online sales strategy, it can have immediate positive effects.
Inversely, It does take time and testing to make sure your brand strategy theories are having a positive impact.
That is why it is an ongoing process to build a brand.
You don’t stop your sales efforts to do it.
If you consistently allocate some resources to developing your brand you will always be learning new effective branding communications to insert into your marketing.
These statements, phrases, and ideas or your well-developed brand will give your team new ways to attract attention and get more sales.
Norman Farrar
Podcaster, Entrepreneur, and Expert Brand Strategist
@ Lunch with Norm
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
Our most successful marketing campaign came as a surprise. Over the last year, we worked with FB messenger to achieve incredible results for our Amazon sales.
We created a system that targets real customers in your niche to buy your product. It not only allowed us to launch profitably but we have been able to convert customers into influencers.
Since the beginning of the year, we have sent 6,000 images and videos of user-generated content. Our customers have become influencers/brand ambassadors.
Amazon announced that they wanted to build brand communities and the user-generated content was a perfect marketing tool for Amazon Posts and Amazon Live. The brand also picked up many best seller badges and can easily be found on Google because of all the content that was written about the brand.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars in free marketing.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
I believe content will rule again. High-quality blog articles, images, and videos will help any brand grow. Articles must be at least 1,500 words long and well written. People want to see lifestyle images and social proof. The brands that get the word out and repurpose their content will win.
With so many people coming online, companies need to provide the best customer experience available. Many online companies never buy their own products. It’s so important to see how your customers will receive the product. Brands that have a high perceived value combined with exceptional customer service will win in 2021.
David McKean
CEO @ Sherpa Chai
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
2020 has been a disaster of a year for most of the economy but we took a huge hit to our sales efforts. Approximately 45% of our total sales year-over-year were generated by our sales to retail coffee shops, which have dropped to less than 10% of our total sales this year. As a result, we made the decision in the spring that we needed to be far more proactive on the eCommerce side of sales. We began by building a new website and online store. We added much better photography and updated our online pricing. Then we began trying social media ads and boosting ads, all of which did increase our online sales from about $700 a month to between $1,200 to $1,500. In addition, we hired a social media person in September to run and manage our online efforts. Her first big idea was to use the week of Black Friday through Cyber Monday to drive online sales. So, we created discount offers and tracking codes. We offered the codes on different days of the week to better track our responses and we followed this up with email blasts on Black Friday, the following Wednesday, and again on Cyber Monday. The results were outstanding. Our online sales for the week jumped up to $12,000, which is ten times our usual monthly total in only one week.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
As a result of our success with Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we have decided we had to make this a priority in 2021. To that end, we are creating video and still imagery for each of the online platforms: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Tok-tok. Our social media team is also planning one online flash sale per month in 2021 starting the first week of January with our promo titled: “It’s Not 2020“ Sale. We will use discount codes on all of our social media sites along with email blasts to drive awareness. We are also in the process of rebuilding our Amazon presence with new product shots and customized video ads. By expanding to multiple social media platforms, I hope to drive our online views and grow our brand awareness. Our goal in 2021 is to achieve $20,000 a month in online sales. As for “what will work best,” at this point it is likely too early to tell. Our goal is to try many different things and when we have results, move and pivot to capitalize on that success.
Hosea Chang
Chief Operating Office of Hayden Los Angeles @ Hayden Girls
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
For us, what was incredibly successful and helped us a lot was working with influencers. You wouldn’t believe what a huge difference it makes with marketing. You send someone your products or you sponsor a post on Instagram and in a matter of hours, you’re exposed to all this audience that didn’t know you before. We got traffic, we got followers, we got sales – and that was just from a couple of posts. I know brands that are in ongoing contracts for constant, regular posts. Rest assured, they’re making a killing.
The best part for me is that it’s a win-win arrangement. We get to work with someone who represents our brand, our aesthetic, and our ideals and who fits perfectly within the Hayden Girls branding, and we get to benefit from the reach of the influencer. They get to work with a brand, expand their profile and their portfolio, they get paid, they get free product, and they’re typically working on cool, creative content that attracts attention, likes, and followers either way. They don’t have to compromise on the type of content they create.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
If 2020 has been any indication, 2021 is going to be the year when short video format is going to blow up and go absolutely wild for marketing. TikTok has grown tremendously in popularity, video marketing was already the trend to look out for. This has only accelerated that. Mark my word, in 2021, every company will be making content for TikTok or will be desperate to work with TikTok influencers.
Instagram has already responded by creating Reels to compete with the TikTok phenomenon, and we fully plan on incorporating it into our marketing efforts for 2021. We’re working on a campaign right now, I think that as a company aimed at tween girls, we’re the perfect brand to come out with TikTok content and harness the power that this type of marketing content possesses. We’re excited to debut this campaign in early 2021, after all the winter sales are over and we’re properly into the next season. After 2020, 2021 is going to be a better year from every point of view.
Sarah Melton
Vice President of eCommerce @ SuppliesOutlet
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
I don’t think it was any particular campaign but more like the ability to pivot, be adaptive and stay nimble was the key to staying successful in 2020. At the beginning of the pandemic, online sales were a roller coaster. One day you would be selling more than you do in December, the next you had a only few orders trickle in. The ads and marketing messages you had been using suddenly stopped working. It was time to try new things and get creative. The cadence of business has gotten more stable but with another big wave of Covid underway it’s still the time to stay nimble.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
I don’t think the key to success for 2021 will be much different from 2020. Business still ebbs and flows with the rise and fall of Covid cases. I don’t think it’s time to get comfortable yet, the turbulence is likely to stick around until Q3 of next year or later. My plan is to stay nimble and to keep testing and trying new things. Another key thing will be to try new marketing channels, with so many companies having gone online in the last year it’s created more competition. Facebook is now saturated and over priced. Google is headed in the same direction. If you haven’t tried offline marketing channels yet, now could be the time to try.
Daniel Snow
CEO and founder @ The Snow Agency
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
The marketing hack that really moved the needle this year was the businesses selling on Amazon. There are a few sellers that offer subscriptions to their products so that people never have to run out. As a seller if you have a good amount of subscribers this reduces the need for you to compete with other sellers as you already have your competitions clients. This is a genius hack, as business don’t have to spend so much money on advertising and can use the money to support other areas in their business and stay afloat during the pandemic.
Betty O Starr
Marketing Manager @ Cymatics.fm
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
The most successful marketing campaign in 2020 is: monitoring competitors. Although this may seem like a despicable method, the real marketing operation must always pay attention to competitors. Especially for e-commerce, in a market segment, the categories of the two niche brand stores are not much different, and the target audience is fixed. There is great competition between the two brands. We must understand the marketing methods, product pricing, and sales strategies of competitors. In all competitive marketing strategies, we need to focus on the advertising of competitors, such as Facebook advertising, we can use Facebook Ad Library, BigSpy and other tools to research their advertising materials, audiences, landing pages, etc. Pay attention to advertising research, because in the segmented field, a certain hot-selling advertisement of a competitor may break through barriers and completely change the market structure. Therefore, we must always pay attention to changes in the advertising landscape.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
In 2021, the most effective marketing method is still competitor analysis. Especially in the outbreak of the 2020 epidemic, online e-commerce has become a new development trend, and users’ shopping methods have been rewritten, resulting in fiercer competition in the e-commerce market. At this critical moment, if we slightly lag behind our competitors, then our brand market will be quickly captured, leading to completely behind our competitors. Therefore, I think that in this period of change, competitor advertising and marketing analysis is very important.
Adam Rowles
CEO @ Inbound Marketing Agency
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
In 2020, Burger King announced that they are not using artificial preservatives, colors, and flavors from their Whopper anymore. To let the world know about it, Burger King launched the Whooper campaign. It was a clever campaign that not only built up the confidence of customers but also reminded the rivals that will also have to do this someday.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
Campaigns that are related to health and safety will work best in 2021. When we say that the Covid vaccine is up, it will still take some time for everyone to receive that vaccine. Also, we need to understand that even if the Covid ends, the mindset of people won’t. Because of Covid, we are now used to extreme practices of hygiene and cleanliness. This won’t go away easily. So people will connect to health and safety-focused campaigns.
Domantas Gudeliauskas
Marketing Manager @ Zyro
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
Effective content marketing was king in 2020, and I predict it will stay the same in 2021.
Thanks to the pandemic, there was a massive shift in search volumes and difficulty on different keywords. By understanding your audience’s needs, you can prepare high-quality articles, tutorials, or other content at a fairly low price compared to other avenues. Meanwhile, the ROI can be massive, assuming you do a good job of nurturing your leads and making sure that organic traffic doesn’t go to waste.
On top of that, Google’s NLP addition equalizes the field, deemphasizing things like keyword density, effectively helping content that truly answers the search intent rise to the top, making it easier to rank if your content is quality.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
The three keys here are: First, understand the search intent and make sure you know what a visitor wants to know. Second, make your site’s user experience above average. That will reduce bounce rates, help you rank higher, and generally improve your content marketing campaign’s reliability. Third, use content pillaring techniques. This will help increase dwell time, reduce bounce, and establish you as a reliable source on a subject.
Paige Arnof Fenn
Founder & CEO @ Mavens & Moguls
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
The holiday shopping season started earlier than ever this year, retailers began rolling out their big discounts in mid-October instead of waiting for Black Friday to compete with Amazon¹s two-day Prime Day event. Retailers need to connect with shoppers online now and think about how they engage with those online shoppers who are more likely to buy from brands that create an emotional connection with them. Brands need to think strategically that the person you¹re engaging is more than an email address or a phone number or an online profile and create personalized messages. Consumers today want to buy from brands that make them feel comforted and supported and that make their lives better.
Omnichannel is only growing in importance by creating a seamless experience for customers regardless of channel or device. Consumers now engage with a company in a brick and mortar store, online or mobile app, by catalog, or via social media. They can access products and services by calling a company on the phone, by using an app on their mobile smartphone, or with a tablet, a laptop, or a desktop computer. Every piece of the consumer¹s experience should be consistent and complementary. For me content and messaging are the key. If a customer has previously engaged or purchased your product or service your marketing should reflect that. If a customer has put something into a cart, but hasn¹t yet purchased, use your content to reference that intent. People use multiple devices during a single transaction process. Make sure that you are able to listen and respond to these interactions. E-commerce retailers should preserve items in a shopping cart across devices so if you add an item to your mobile shopping cart, it should still be in your shopping cart when you access the site on your desktop too for example. If you recently bought a pair of pants they can recommend a great shirt or sweater to go with it. The goal is provide better service to your customers which should drive more sales.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
BOPIS (buy online pick up in store) and curbside pick-up was a non-existent service pre-Covid and now is key. This precipitated both systematic and physical changes, and with many locations in shopping malls and strip centers, there were challenges. Some will say BOPIS and curbside services are table stakes in retail today and they¹d be right. Any general merchandise retailer not offering these services for their customers to buy is going to be in serious trouble even after the pandemic. Consumers have new purchasing patterns, which may shift but are not going away.
Using SEO and SEM together is ideal now as main search engines are constantly changing their algorithms for rankings so stop thinking of SEO and SEM as rival forces. When used together they are complementary services that help boost your marketing strategy and increase brand exposure. The key is to build brand awareness and trust in your brand or business which begins by getting your business name to appear in prospect¹s searches. Seeing your brand name appear twice, both on organic and on paid results, creates more brand awareness and intensifies your businesses¹ trustworthiness. Research shows that if there are two brands that have apparently the same products, people will be more likely to choose the one they are familiar with. When a brand is shown in organic results alone it only gets 60% of clicks, whereas a brand that appeared in both organic and paid search results, attracts 92% of total clicks. When paid listings are shown beside organic, the click-through rate of paid ads increases. This means that clicks increase for both organic and paid listings when they are both featured and do not detract from each other.
Bobbianne Stambaugh
CEO @ Bobbianne’s Flowers
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
The most successful 2020 marketing campaign has been email-marketing by creating an authentic newsletter. However, I do not recommend sending customers typical emails in today’s stressful times. People always respond to authenticity and stories. Be authentic in your email. Let people know how you have changed your business to meet the customers’ needs to stay safe in the pandemic. Tell people about how you have changed processes to keep them and employees safe. Also, do not focus on the negative. It has been a hard year for everyone. We are a socially responsible company, so we focus on how we have been helping others this year. Great marketing reaches people where they are and then helps them go to where they want to go.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
As for 2021, the pandemic most likely will still be present. Hence, my recommendation is to make sure all your marketing is authentic and is meeting people where they are at. Focus on the light at the end of the tunnel.
Dana Humphrey
Public Relations @ Bow Wow Labs, Inc.
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
For ecommerce – we use shopify.
Q1 for our website to Q3 – 69% increase.
Q1 for amazon to Q3 – December of 2019 is when we started on Amazon
155% increase over Q1, which is about 2.5x.
We have had optimization challenges to keep this happening. Amazon is fulfilled by Amazon, it’s advantageous for PRIME, so if you are shopping and you can go through prime, you get a more prominent position. In March/April when COVID became a full lockdown, amazon would show up as shipping in 30 days, they were no longer offering overnight shipping.
Then we introduced fill be merchant to preserve our Amazon business. This was a 4-6 week time period, we had to react and optimize during that bump in the road. (we can get more depth on this if you would like)
Another issue, is due to the increase and managing inventory and keeping it up to date and adding more pressure. Success has it’s own challenges! Supply chains are impacted – it’s a complex set of what ifs. We have stayed on top of it.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
Focus on the customer needs with improved service and giving back to pets in need.
Eric Wu
Co-founder and COO @ Gainful
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
Video marketing was extremely successful in 2020 and I don’t predict it will be going anywhere post pandemic. With this year’s explosion of TikTok and Instagram’s creation of Reels as an attempt to stay relevant in the social media market, video is becoming more relevant day by day. Also, the current state of the world under a global pandemic is contributing to video marketing increasing in popularity. Consumers are spending more time online than ever before. Furthermore, we are noticing a shift in the type of video content audiences are searching for and consuming. Quick, educational, and attention-grabbing content is far outperforming the visually stimulating and aspirational content that was favored in previous years. People don’t want to feel that they are wasting time on these platforms. They want to be entertained while simultaneously learning tips and tricks on how to improve their lives. Business owners should not shy away from video marketing as it can bring high rewards. While it does require some thought and creativity, it is not as costly as most would think. Additionally, I have a lot of conviction that influencer marketing is going to play a huge role for consumer brands, but that it won’t look or feel quite like what you think of when you think of influencer marketing today. Influencer marketing will be less pay-to-play and more like earned media, on the obvious Youtube and Instagram but also on other community-driven platforms whether visual, audio, or written.
Kelsey Chan
a growth marketer and co-founder @ CocoSign
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
2020 has been an unprecedented year for marketing firms and how they reach potential customers. Companies had to make drastic changes in their marketing campaigns when their customers were glued to screens, locked in their homes. We saw very successful and not so good marketing campaigns.
Let’s talk about them –
● Sentimental Marketing is a new trend. Today companies have realized how it is important to touch customer pain points and direct their marketing campaigns towards them.
● Content marketing has risen two-fold. Stats that when customers spend most of their time on devices, content marketing has played a crucial role in reaching potential customers and drive results.
● When everything was upheaved, and people were struggling emotionally, companies diverted their marketing campaigns to storytelling. Instead of sending sales targeted mails, companies believe that storytelling has helped evoke emotions.
● Video Marketing is the future. Algorithms favor websites and social media handles that use videos to educate their customers.
● Based on the trend and analytics, one can assume that campaigns like storytelling and video marketing are here to stay, and companies should adopt them soon to stay abreast.
Lewis Keegan
Founder @ SkillScouter
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
The year 2020 redefined the use and importance of social media platforms as conduits for the expansion of business due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This has caused the avid use of advertisements to expand the reach of their brands. I believe that social media marketing has remained the most effective marketing campaign in 2020.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
For the coming year, there does not seem to be new methods of e-commerce marketing being groomed for the public yet. Therefore, social media advertising will still remain the best marketing strategy for 2021. The distinction then will rely on who uses a better advertising strategy or writes a better copy.
Samiksha S Rawool
Founder @ Yummy Tummy Recipes
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
My tips on improving the e-commerce conversions are as follows. I implemented these steps on my website landing pages and it worked wonders for me.
– Using countdown clock on my landing page (caused 11% increase in conversions)
– Using exit pop-ups. (I used Hello Bar to do this)
– Running dynamic remarketing ads (it got me 23% increase in conversions)
Running dynamic remarketing ads has been most effective for me because firstly, setting them up is very easy on Google Ads platform. Secondly, through dynamic remarketing ads, I could target my audience (shopping cart abandoners) with highly personalized messages (ads had images of products that customers added into their shopping cart but did not end up buying).
Brian Robben
CEO @ Robben Media
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
Search engine optimization has moved the needle the most for the ecommerce
stores we market. By ranking first for the product keywords users in buy-now mode search, the conversion rate is higher than paid ads. Plus, with the rising cost of ads, our clients who invested in organic traffic are going to see this payoff not only in the short term, but in the long run as it’s more cost effective.
Marcus Miller
Head of SEO & Digital Marketing @ Agency Bowler Hat
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
I think the campaign for the BBC Dracula show takes some beating this year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIEr1Pcu03Y Just very creative and something that got people talking – if you can do that, and get people talking about your advert then that is a huge win. In an environment where there is just so much choice now, a creative campaign like this ensures your show gets the attention it deserves.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
This is a difficult question as what works well for one business or campaign won’t work for another. We would not run a creative billboard for a local business for instance. That said, what works well is what has always worked well and that is to have a clear plan and then consistent execution of that plan.
Define your audience. Clarify your messaging so you stand out and your customers will listen. Ensure you advertise or are visible in the right places – that is where your customers are.
Then make sure you carefully capture leads, nurture those leads where needed and have a solid sales conversion strategy to help get those leads over the line.
Most importantly of all ensure you deliver a world-class service, ensure you drive for subsequent sales to maximise lifetime value from each customer and always, always, always create a referral strategy to get more work from contacts of your happiest customers.
This does not have to be difficult and often this kind of plan can be clearly defined on a single sheet of A4 paper – complexity is the enemy here.
The difficult most often is just knowing what to do – get a plan together and then follow it and you will see results!
Ken Fortney
Credentialed technical writer @ GRIN.co
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
From our vantage point (serving DTC eCommerce brands), *Micro influencer marketing campaigns using Shoppable Ads on Instagram* is easily the most lucrative approach this year. These influencers often work on product seeding alone, keeping campaign costs to a minimum (plus you know that they love your product). See more information here and here and here.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
We are closely watching both Instagram and TikTok. Instagram is killing it on updates and creator options for both influencers and brands. TikTok adoption is growing at record rates. Brands have yet to harness this channel, but heavy DTC eCommerce marketing is coming to TikTok soon. See more here and here
Nicolas Tranchant
CEO @ Vivalatina Jewelry Brand
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
In 2020 I have generated a 30% (and still growing) growth compared to 2019, here is the process I followed:
Back in January 2019, my goal was to increase my sales of generic jewelry proposed on our online boutique (we make half of our revenues with custom-made jewelry and the other half from generic products sold online).
My goal was to double the number of generic products proposed online from our boutique, as I have some skills in SEO, my simple goal was to double the odds to be selling any product.
Back then in January 2020, I had 250 products in my boutique, I wanted to reach 500 products available online by the end of the year.
First, I made a Pareto analysis of my sales from the previous years 2018, 2017, and 2016 (and discovered I should have made this sooner). I discovered that 75% of my sales counted for only 30% of my revenues and that 25% of my sales of jewelry (above $500) counted for 70% of my revenues.
So I decided to add 250 products to my boutique, ranging from $400 to $2500, focusing on jewelry above $500 in price.
During all the year 2020, I have selected jewelry keywords with these particularities:
* Average monthly volume superior to 100
* The average price of competitors jewelry for this keyword superior of $500
* possibility to offer a genuine design that stands out from my competitors
* If I could offer a better product, genuine, cheaper while above $500, that would be a sure winner, and I found some.
Coupling sales analysis through Pareto rules with SEO marketing on high-end product has given me great results for 2020.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
In my opinion, SEO will be the most effective marketing strategy to focus on in 2021. Maybe that’s a bias because I am already experienced with this marketing channel.
SEO is long-lasting and very efficient when you offer products or services that fit consumers’ needs. Coupled with great customer reviews, this is an effective way to attract leads and convert them into customers. As a jewelry business owner, I sell $800 average price jewelry online from Mexico to France and the US and I could measure the effectiveness of SEO to grow sales..
I organize my SEO strategy with one main goal: attract leads and give them the best and more useful information available with a personalized twist. I want them to know that before being a business, I am a human being and available for them for more information if they do have queries.
To do so, I publish evergreen content on my blog, 500 words product descriptions on my boutique, and from any page, readers can drop me a line to ask for more information and reach me in person.
Setting up this process for 2021, I plan 30% growth for 2021.
Nik Sharma
CEO @ Sharma Brands
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
Influencer marketing has definitely skyrocketed with the transition into quarantine. Not only is everyone at home, but influencer culture seems to be one of the most lucrative careers of this generation garnering millions of revenue for brands all over. It only makes sense as influencers are literally walking advertisements.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
I believe influencer marketing will remain the heavyweight champ especially as more lockdowns are returning. Platforms like Instagram and Youtube are evergreen platforms for brands yet they do not take up much space in their day to day. Influencers do the work for them by simply posting a product haul on their channel or IGTV.
Kim Chappell
Head of Marketing and Communications @ Bobbie
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
The most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle for us in 2020 was participating in the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Virtual National Conference and Exhibition. As an exhibitor, we had the opportunity to share our compelling story through visual media. In addition, we provided print resources including “Meet Bobbie Infant Formula” and “Parent’s Top Infant Feeding Questions” that are viewed by professionals and customers.
Over 15,000 professionals attended this national conference providing us the opportunity to showcase our product to prospective clients and build relationships with key individuals in our industry.
This also served as a marketing campaign in that it helped us to gain visibility on social media. In addition, we continue to gain connections through links on the AAP website. Exhibiting at this highly regarded conference also shows clients and prospective customers that our company is strong and reaffirms their confidence in us.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
In 2021, I believe that continuing to build strong relationships with others in our industry and gaining visibility through social media will help us continue to develop and grow.
Swati Chalumuri
a personal finance blogger, freelancer, and a
millennial mommy entrepreneur @ HearMeFolks.com
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
2020 saw record number of people taking up challenges across most social media platforms. The key selling point is that these campaigns came with funny angle. This made it easy for people to like and share the generated media files across their accounts. Most importantly, the corporate world took up the trend, giving the challenges a wider audience. The insistence on tagging your friends as part of the participation also ensured that the gimmick spread fast and worldwide.
The success of these campaigns can be traced back to the now classics such as the Ice bucket challenge that showed everyday joy and big personalities act goofy on camera. It’s no wonder that new social platforms, such as TikTok have build huge followings on the back of the trends. For example, actor Dallas Cameron, better known for his #thepushupchallenge, has gone viral from the challenge and garnered more following than he ever did from his efforts on the screen. The beauty of these trend is that all it took was a less than 60 seconds long self video doing an everyday activity.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
Going forward, 2021 is bound to take the trend to newer heights. Already, brand such as Samsung, BMW, Guess, and Ralph Lauren have ran with the trend and reached millions of new potential customers in a matter of weeks. Next, expect to see brands contracting influencers to not just promote products remotely but to be involve in onsite production of viral marketing challenges.
Brandon Monaghan
Co-Founder @ Miracle Brand
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
In the last year at Miracle, we mainly focused our marketing strategies on Facebook and Instagram. They have the best ad platform and despite relatively high ad costs, when you dial in the right creatives you can scale to the moon. Both platforms are all about the creatives. You need to figure out what resonates most with your audience, keep testing new angels, and continuously scale your working creatives. Social listening was a huge part of our work on these platforms especially in the time of a global pandemic. Through engaging with our audience we were able to garner ideas to create future content that performs even better because it is derived from real and authentic consumer responses. By cultivating a community of consumers, we build trust and longevity for our products. Additionally, we also focused on email effectiveness and translating that to engagement on our social media platforms. We look at open rates, click rates, and conversions to determine the effectiveness of our email marketing. In terms of what looks good/effective, there are benchmarks per industry we work towards taking into account the size of the store, size/quality of audience, and opportunity for repeat purchases. Outside of this, we ultimately look for continued improvement over time. In the coming year, I predict we will further develop these marketing strategies to continue to spread our reach.
Andrew Maule
Digital Marketing Manager @ The SSL Store
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
Our main needle mover has been re-optimizing content & website speed to help increase our rankings in Google and maintain our growing organic traffic.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
This will likely be very important going into 2021 as Google is planning on releasing an update that takes site speed and user experience into account when gauging a websites rankings. SEO specifics we’ve seen help move the needle include increasing page load speed, optimizing page meta titles for better click through rate & re-publishing or updating older content.
Darren Litt
Co-Founder @ Hiya Health
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
In 2020, the trend of personalization continues to be a driving force in marketing strategy. Consumers have come to expect personalized experiences across channels, and brands must continue to implement data-driven personalization into their communications strategy at every level. Brands like Amazon, Starbucks, and Netflix get the most from consumer data by creating a customer experience built around the unique personality of each user.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
The quest in 2021 continues to be finding innovative ways to merge personalization with segmentation both on a granular level and at scale
while addressing a growing concern for consumer privacy. Keeping up with shifts in messaging delivery is another challenge, and machine learning software may be the key to fine-tuning relevancy for targeted personalized B2C campaigns.
Campaigns that hone in on what really matters to your customer base will continue to build that priceless loyalty needed to maintain a competitive edge. To master personalized messaging you have the power to speak to each unique customer with one process aided by automation.
Ashwin Sokke
Co-Founder @ WOW Skin Science
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
Due to customer buying behavior changes that have occured since the pandemic and lockdown in 2020, influencer marketing on social medias has been at the top of marketing strategies. At WOW, our influencer outreach team uses insense.pro and carro to gather influencers to give us UGC (user-generated content). Most of the time we give them free products in exchange for a video testimonial/usage and recommendation. We also have a collaboration program, where we get access to influencers’ Facebook page/Instagram page to advertise their generated content, it makes it more personalized and gives our brand more reach. Depending on the influencer we give $100/month base pay for getting access to their FB page. We also give them a 5% rev share to all sales that they generate through their links when I say links we use Everflow platform to set up the offers they push. Our media buying team works with their FB pages to promote any products they pushed using UGC ads. These strategies have proven to be the most successful in driving traffic and growth for our business.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
We plan to continue building on these strategies in the coming year but please consider each industry is distinct and the fast changing climate of the world can have a major effect on our future decisions.
Jason Akatiff
Co-Founder @ Boundery
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
This year marketing through social media communities, for example, Facebook groups has been hugely effective. Organically engaging and formulating relationships within Facebook groups allows businesses to genuinely market their products/services to thousands of members. Especially in this time of a global pandemic, when people are spending so much of their time online. It is important to never underestimate the power and need for human connection. People are lonelier than ever and with the virus cases still on the rise, we will be stuck inside our homes going into next year, not able to socialize in person or enjoy typical activities such as restaurants, bars, concerts, museums, etc. Many of us are resorting to spending that time connecting online in forums, chats, and Facebook groups. This type of marketing requires time commitment, patience, and strategy but ultimately delivers high rewards.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
Based on the current status of the world, I predict marketing through community engagement will only expand in 2021.
Oliver Walsh
Co-Founder @ ASYSTEM
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
The most successful “growth hack” we’ve used in 2020 was market research. Once the data was collected we then allowed it to drive us in a direction. Split testing or A/B testing the data after it’s collected is the next step to see what works in what market and which audience responds best. This has made all the difference. 2020 was a challenge for a lot of companies and their audience so being able to use data derived from the people we serve was helpful to say the least.
Of course, the research does not stop there. Once the product is available, we continue to use data and deeper market research to continue to guide our marketing. It goes without saying that you can not have a successful business without proper marketing and in order to get there you must conduct detailed research with your consumers.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
In my opinion, Chatbots are the way to go in 2021. It’s the mystical customer service automation tool that everyone should be using. There are also significantly higher open rates with Chatbots since the consumer does not have to think of a question. They are guided through a list of possible questions and answers that allow them to seamlessly work through your Facebook page. There is research that shows that Facebook Ads with Chatbots have conversion rates 3x to 5x higher than Ads without Chatbots. It’s totally mobile friendly and once you have the consumers information, you can message them back through Facebook Messenger.
Chatbots have an open rate of 80%-90%. Compared to email open rates, well, it doesn’t compare. Things are changing and businesses must look to find new ways to generate leads. The consumer doesn’t have forms to fill out, there’s no spam, and it’s totally customizable.
Calloway Cook
President @ Illuminate Labs
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
We ran Amazon Sponsored Products campaigns using keywords of competitor brands. We targeted high-value brands, since we retail towards the top of the market in terms of price. We were able to siphon away a decent amount of their revenue by running Amazon ads and outranking them for their own brand name. We also ran Amazon ads for our own brand name, to prevent competitors from using the same strategy back on us.
Most companies that advertise on Amazon just run ads for relevant keywords, which is a strategy that can work fine but is oversaturated. If you run ads for competitor keywords or product ads on competitor listing pages, you get a much lower ad cost, because there is less demand for these types of ads.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
The best strategy for eCommerce brands in 2021 will be to run Amazon display and video ads, as these convert even higher than standard Sponsored Products campaigns. There is a higher barrier to entry to run these ad types, because your brand must be Amazon Brand Registered, which requires a trademark.
Consumers on Amazon are already bombarded with standard Sponsored Products ads, so to stand out you need a striking visual display or engaging video content. We hired an animation studio to put together an explainer video that converts very well, as it’s engaging and makes the science behind our brand fun. There still will be an early adopter opportunity for both display and video ads on Amazon in 2021, so I recommend other eCommerce brands jump in the market while the return on investment is still so high.
Alex Keyan
CEO and Founder @ goPure Beauty
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
on Facebook, and they are our biggest fans. We offer discounts through there, and people get to share the amazing results from using our products. During these times, we have noticed that uncertainty due to the pandemic that is highly engaged with our audience drives better results as they see us a regular people and a brand that focuses on sales.”}” data-sheets-userformat=”{“2″:771,”3”:{“1″:0},”4”:{“1″:2,”2″:9684093},”11″:4,”12″:0}”>The most successful marketing campaign for the year 2020 for us was to be more proactive and engaged with our audience. We have a goPure VIP community on Facebook, and they are our biggest fans. We offer discounts through there, and people get to share the amazing results from using our products. During these times, we have noticed that uncertainty due to the pandemic that is highly engaged with our audience drives better results as they see us a regular people and a brand that focuses on sales.
James Chandler
CEO @ Laundry On Demand
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
The most successful growth hack for us in 2020 was the implementation of referral marketing program. It was more valuable than any paid advertising we did. We offered unbelievable deals for shout outs on Facebook and saw 1000% return on those investments. It provided our brand with immediate authority and good will. In addition, the customers who were giving the shout outs became more invested in the company and felt responsible for our success. It was a win-win for everyone.
What, in your opinion, will work best in the upcoming 2021?
For 2021 I see the most successful companies tying a social cause to their underlying mission. Companies that are able generate buzz around a social mission and integrate offline attention as well as online will see the greatest returns. 2021 will be full of some of the greatest opportunities we have ever seen. There will be a different political climate, we should see covid wind down, and wallets should open back up. It is up to us to make the most of it.
Josh Brooks
@ OnBuy
What was the most successful marketing campaign that moved the needle in 2020 run by you or someone else (provide evidence if possible)?
For Q4, OnBuy invested £5 million into an intensive marketing ramp up, which saw us launching a variety of different advertising campaigns nationwide. This started with our exclusive ITV television campaign in November, which included a bespoke advert exclusively for our Black Friday price crash event. As such, our sales skyrocketed around this period, most notably on Black Friday, where we reported a record-breaking total of almost £2.5 million in one day alone – a massive hike on what was an already impressive sales day the year before. Further to this, OnBuy featured on a variety of billboards at prime locations around the country and supported massive global sports fixtures, including the T20 cricket series and the British Basketball League. These marketing campaigns were implemented with the intention of driving more sales for our sellers and solidifying our position as a household name, and our incredible Q4 period serves as testament to their success.
