Interview with James MacDonald, Digital Marketing Manager at Homechoice
Interview with James MacDonald, Digital Marketing Manager at Homechoice Describe yourself in 3 wordsGeeky, stubborn & relaxed. Tell us a bit about your journey the past few years working in the digital team at Homechoice? It has been an incredible journey of rapid learning, both personally and for the business. We had to adapt at a rapid rate when lockdown was announced, but we managed to pivot to serve our customers via digital channels quite successfully. Talk about a steep learning curve, but we are really proud of the digital transformation and how quickly we could accelerate our timeline. Digital transformation seems to be the buzz word these days – what does it mean for you in your current role? I used it above before reading this question! Most people just think it is about transforming a sales channel to be digitally enabled. At homechoice we rather use the term to mean how can we put technology first to service our customers through a truly omnichannel experience. Technology is rooted in that and how can we transform our systems to provide longevity as the rate of technological acceleration continues at a rapid pace. How do you and your team stay up to date with the ever-changing technology available to digital marketers nowadays? Fortunately, we have a great relationship with both Google & Meta who offer incredible resources and learning sessions to the broader community, but there are also a few special goodies that get shared with priority businesses like ours. There are also loads of great resources out on the internet, with a lot of them being free. It is remarkable how one can build skillsets across a range of verticals in the digital space without having to attend formal education. What sets Homechoice apart from other online homeware retailers? We really do provide a full offering that is customer focused. The last few years have been tough financially for many but our blend of truly quality products on our range of payment terms mean that we can help you create the home you love without breaking the bank. Everyone thinks a blanket is just a blanket until you touch our faux mink blankets – then you realize what luxury and warmth REALLY is. What were the biggest challenges Homechoice faced in going from a catalogue service to an online retailer? I think it was changing our mindset and adapting rapidly to the changing needs of our consumers. Customers loved receiving their catalogue every month and ordering via either calling in to the call centre, walking in to a showroom, or purchasing through our digital channels. Lockdown suddenly stripped those options away from them and we had to adapt just like our customers. Support used to largely be handled by a call as that was the easiest way for the customer to communicate a range of questions, but during the pandemic, we had to give them the same personalized attention, just through digital channels. This was new to the customers and ahead of our digital transformation roadmap, but we were really chuffed how quickly we could adapt and continue to serve our customers when we were one of the few businesses that could trade during level 5 lockdown to bring them their essentials like bedding & blankets during winter. Which digital channels have you found to be most effective in attracting new customers and building brand awareness? I can’t share all of our secrets, but I would advise digging into marketing automation through product feeds, email campaigns and dynamic remarketing. With digital, there are numerous new channels that help you reach certain audiences. The trick is to ensure that you have the correct objective per channel and have sufficient reporting to help you understand whether that channel is meeting your objectives or not. Sounds easy, but can be really challenging with privacy concerns, different attribution methods and ever-changing platform tweaks such as Performance Max from Google, and reduced audience segmentation from Facebook. You recently spoke at the Meta VC Acceleration program webinar. Can you tell us a bit about that? It was really fun to showcase some of the results that we have achieved working with Meta as an In-Market client. This means that we are one of their priority customers and work very closely with a very talented team to help us succeed on the various Meta platforms. It was nice to show new businesses that they can succeed if they find the right partners. Your favourite thing to do in Cape Town when you are not working? When you live in a beautiful city like Cape Town, it feels criminal not to take advantage of the incredible views on offer and if you can through in some exercise at the same time then even better. My favourite is to unwind on the weekend with a round of golf – have you seen how many picturesque courses we have in the Mother City? If only my golf was as good as the views… Follow Homechoice! Shop online: https://www.homechoice.co.za On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/homechoice On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homechoice.co.za/?hl=en All CEO's Thoughts Interviews and Insights Industry News Interviews and Insights Why Black Friday 2022 will differ from before 26 Oct 2022 Why Black Friday 2022 will differ from before Despite current downturns in the economy, evidence shows that the e-commerce industry is picking up and going back to pre-pandemic… Read More CEO's Thoughts Never stop marketing 26 Oct 2022 Never stop marketing There’s a LOT going on in the world right now. This is not a political piece, yet it is diffiult to ignore the world-shaping events… Read More Interviews and Insights Interview with Sandra Jardim, Blogger/Founder of MammaBearLove 26 Oct 2022 Interview with Sandra Jardim, Blogger/Founder of MammaBearLove Our October profile is Sandra Jardim, mom to twins Gisela and Alaia and blogger/owner of MammaBearLove. She uses her blog as… Read More Prev123Next
Privacy please!
Privacy please! The world of Martech (marketing technology) is developing at a breakneck pace. Marketers can bearly keep up with the rate at which new technologies and solutions are coming into the market. From video & audio to AI, the Metaverse, Web3 (crypto) and the rise of marketing fortresses (think Amazon, FB, Tiktok, Instagram), competition for eyeballs and consumer dollars is stiff indeed. But the word that is likely to rise to the top of the priority pyramid in 2022 is undoubtedly Privacy. Whether you are an advertiser or a consumer, we’ve all been there. We’ve signed up for a newsletter with a company we like/trust or want to buy from, and the next day we get emails from companies we’ve never even heard of, using personal information we never gave them. We don’t like it. Or you want to buy some coffee pods for your morning cuppa, but in turn, the sales lady needs your cell number, ID etc. WHAT?? That’s too much information. We don’t like it. Each year we grow more and more suspicious, and every time we hear about a data leak or a hack, our trust goes down even further. Because of the way data has been treated in the past, consumers have become angry, confused and suspicious. We want a personalised experience without personal infringement. This will be the biggest challenge for marketers in 2022. Marketers need to be or become mini data scientists in today’s tech-driven world. They must be prepared to invest and get the right tech in place to develop its first-party data (the data a customer shares with you directly). Customers want brands to have this data and want them to use it to personalize experiences. They don’t want brands to share it with others. Of course, there will always be those who won’t share data at all. For that, mass personalization is still a viable strategy: tailoring experiences, content, ads, and products to known segments of consumers. That delivers a “personalized” experience feeling without requiring the data that true personalization requires. Delivering it successfully demands new skills, however. There is no doubt that marketers have their work cut out for them. The focus will need to shift towards building their own audiences and communities and embracing new types of data using intent-based solutions. As we head towards more privacy-focused advertising, contextual targeting has become one of the main viable ways to reach a target audience, and thanks to technological advancements, the solution has become much more scalable. Those who do the best job at integrating these contextual tools with the entire programmatic ecosystem will ultimately be the most successful. Happy selling! The Publisher Management Team All Interviews and Insights Industry News CEO's Thoughts Interviews and Insights Why Black Friday 2022 will differ from before 26 Oct 2022 Why Black Friday 2022 will differ from before Despite current downturns in the economy, evidence shows that the e-commerce industry is picking up and going back to pre-pandemic… Read More CEO's Thoughts Never stop marketing 26 Oct 2022 Never stop marketing There’s a LOT going on in the world right now. This is not a political piece, yet it is diffiult to ignore the world-shaping events… Read More Interviews and Insights Interview with Sandra Jardim, Blogger/Founder of MammaBearLove 26 Oct 2022 Interview with Sandra Jardim, Blogger/Founder of MammaBearLove Our October profile is Sandra Jardim, mom to twins Gisela and Alaia and blogger/owner of MammaBearLove. She uses her blog as… Read More Prev123Next
Digital trends 2020 – what everyone is talking about
Welcome back! I hope you are rested and ready to take on the new year like we are. 2020 is bound to bring on a fair amount of challenges and opportunities for the digital industry. Whether it’s the fact that Google recently decided to phase out third party cookies, or US politicians pushing to break up ‘Big Tech’ firms like Facebook and Amazon, our landscape is ever-changing and the best thing we can do is to be prepared, look ahead, adapt and keep an ear on the ground. According to the World Advertising and Research Center, in 2020 Digital Advertising will for the first time ever make up more than half of the total global ad spend at $336 billion, with Google’s share of the global ad market being 23%, ahead of Facebook’s 13% and Amazon’s 2.5%. But what does that mean for you as a publisher or an advertiser? Below are some of the big trends in digital that you will need to keep an eye on: Companies relying on Google Analytics will get beaten by their competitors – Not that there’s anything wrong with Google Analytics, but things are changing. New channels are being introduced constantly, such as voice search, and transactions are no longer as simple as someone coming and buying from you. On top of that, there are so many different ways you can generate revenue for your online business, such as partnerships, affiliate marketing, and even webinars. In 2020, you will see more companies adopting business intelligence solutions. A central place where you can tie in all of your data and make better-informed decisions so you can optimize for your lifetime value instead of your short-term income. Conversational marketing – this is thought by many to be the most exciting trend in marketing today, bringing together rapid consumer adoption of smart speakers and innovation in search query processing, conversational interfaces and messaging. However, many of these technologies aren’t expected to become mainstream for another 5 to 10 years. Of those forecast to hit the mainstream within the next 2 to 5 years, the three most significant for marketers to consider are personification, real-time and conversational marketing. Consumer privacy – Repeated privacy faux-pas by Facebook, Google and security breaches at other brands leading to the release of customer details have highlighted to consumers that their data isn’t as safe with online brands as they may have once thought. Privacy regulations like GDPR have been enacted to improve data privacy with increased fines. This also means that the days of the cookie (and particularly third-party cookies) and digital fingerprinting may be numbered. Therefore businesses should be considering other alternatives if they aren’t already. Martech – These days, Marketing Technology presents a bewildering choice of software services for businesses looking to improve their management of digital media, experiences and supporting data. If your business and your agencies adopt the right blend of Martech, it can help give you an edge against competitors, but if not, you may be missing out on the insights and automation processes they are using. The only way to map, store, analyze and act on the complete end-to-end customer journey is having all the data in one place using a Customer Data Platform. But it is up to each company to decide which system (or combinations of systems) is the best fit for their business. It’s quite a lot to think about, but AdMarula is on this journey with you, as your partner in Digital. Upwards and onwards! Daniel Gross – CEO
