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1 Minute Advice: Brand Loyalty Matters

It's tougher than ever to elicit brand loyalty from customers today. A multitude of competitive choices, user-driven reviews, and low entry barriers make switching brands very easy. So how does a brand marketer get customers to remain loyal?

One method is a brand loyalty program. According to Bond Brand Loyalty's new 2015 Loyalty Report, enrollment in brand loyalty programs is up and views of loyalty programs are positive. On average, a consumer participates in more than 13 loyalty programs. Over three-quarters (76 percent) of respondents believe loyalty programs "are part of their relationships with brands," and 34 percent say if it weren't for a loyalty program, they would not be loyal to a brand. Almost half (43 percent) of loyalty program participants are very satisfied with loyalty programs, and 49 percent agree they spend more with a brand now than before joining a program.

While consumers are generally positive about such programs, their active engagement is slipping -- of the 13 programs they belong to, consumers are, on average, active in less than 7 of them. Interestingly, while visits to loyalty program websites declined in the last year, 48 percent of respondents say they would like to engage with loyalty programs via a mobile device.

Most loyalty programs depend on discounts or other point-driven incentives. Bond Brand Loyalty's believes, however, "The challenge for brands is that discounts are not sustainably differentiating, and many brands cannot simply continue to one-up or out-discount the competition while still expecting to remain profitable." Instead, "marketers (and customers) will be well served to ensure the program is designed to authentically meet customers' needs, in ways that go beyond a focus on discounts and the dividends issued per $1 spent, while also enabling an experience that is both easy and enjoyable."

Gain access to the report here.

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1 Minute Advice: McKinsey's 5 Key Marketing Elements

Global consulting firm McKinsey focuses on the increasing sophistication of marketing in Issue Number 1 of the McKinsey Quarterly for 2015.

McKinsey is bullish on marketing, suggesting that "we are, in fact, on the cusp of a new golden age for marketing. At the core of the new era are five elements that are simultaneously familiar and fast changing." The elements identified by McKinsey are:

1. Science    
   "Advances in data, modeling, and analysis allow precise measurement and management of customer decisions and more targeted spending."
2. Substance
   "Marketers can directly shape the business by evolving the customer experience and the development of products and services."
3. Story
   "The ways to tell a story are morphing continually, drawing on richer digital interactions and more powerful communications tools."
4. Speed
   "Consumer preferences, market dynamics, and product life cycles change with stunning velocity in a digital economy."
5. Simplicity
   "Complexity is the enemy of speed and leading marketers are seeking greater simplicity."

Read this special section of the McKinsey Quarterly which includes interviews with executives from Google and Mercedes.

1 Minute Advice: Assessing Your Digital Marketing

Marketers are likely to unanimously agree that digital marketing is pervasive and that the online world has dramatically impacted basic marketing strategies. Silverpop, an IBM company, reminds marketers that, just as with traditional marketing programs, digital marketing efforts need to be reviewed and evaluated.

Silverpop's free “Ultimate Guide to Assessing Your Digital Marketing Program” is a great tool to assess your use of digital marketing. The guide recommends periodic assessments in these 7 key areas:

• Target Market
• Pipeline
• Content
• Engagement
• Technology and Skills
• Mobile Marketing
• Social Media

The guide offers detailed information on each of these seven areas, as well as worksheets and related tools to help you do a thorough evaluation.

1 Minute Advice: What Marketers Need to Know about the Future of Retail

The retail world is in a state of significant change, large due to online shopping. A recent study by Walker Sands Communications, based on responses from more than 1,400 U.S. consumers, indicates that 68 percent of respondents shop online at least once per month. Over one-quarter of them (28 percent) make online purchases at least once per week.

Clearly, a majority of shoppers becoming more comfortable with online shopping is just another signal that the digital world is increasingly important to consumers. Their desire to stay connected, whenever they want and wherever they are, is an undeniable factor for every marketer.

Just how comfortable consumers are with online shopping is demonstrated in this additional statistic: 76 percent of consumers say they would spend more than $100 on a product purchased online even if they didn't see it first. In fact, almost half (49 percent) of respondents have already spent between $101 and $500 on a product they didn't see first. This challenges the widely accepted notion that there is a price barrier for online shopping.

As for emerging technologies, mobile payments are set to surge in the next several years, thanks in part to the introduction of Apple Pay. According to the study, 40 percent of consumers used some kind of mobile payment application in 2014, an extraordinary jump from just 8 percent in the prior year's study. And all that buzz you hear about drone delivery? Apparently consumers believe it will happen: 66 percent of them think they will receive an ordered item by drone in the next five years, and 80 percent say they would pay for drone delivery if they could receive their order in an hour.

Marketers would do well to factor some of this data into future program strategies.