CASE STUDY #1: AMAZON

•  Amazon's digital marketing strategy is handled by its in-house creative agency, D1.
• In 2018, D1 conducted its first digital marketing campaign for Amazon, where the agency handled everything from the scripts through to the creative direction of the campaign. 
• Amazon opted for an in-house creative agency because the organization believes "there are key benefits to having an in-house creative agency, with the team able to fully understand the brand and its customers."
• In an effort to determine whether Amazon uses Google Ads (formerly Google Adwords), an analysis of Amazon's web technology stack was done on Crunchbase.
• However, even though Amazon uses Google Analytics and Google Adsense, evidence that pointed to the use of Google Ads was not available.

Best Practices in Handling Digital Marketing Strategy In-house

•  Hiring experts — after establishing its in-house creative agency, Amazon took time to hire people that have expertise in fields that are relevant to digital marketing such as video creation as the organization was looking to expand beyond online work and banner ads.
•  Creation of geographical teams — Amazon's in-house creative agency consists of teams spread out in various countries like the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, India, and China. These teams enable Amazon to easily create digital marketing campaigns in various countries using the invaluable local experience of its teams.
•  Putting customers first — Amazon's decision to establish an in-house creative agency was driven by the company's focus on customers. By creating creative and marketing teams that know the brand, Amazon is able to stay focused on delivering relevant content to its customers.

CASE STUDY #2: BEST BUY

• In 2017, Best Buy consolidated its marketing functions and a year after this consolidation, the company decided to increase the size of its in-house creative team.
• In an effort to boost its in-house creative team, Best Buy added a number of marketing experts into its creative team. A key figure in this addition was Bruce Bildsten, a marketing expert that has a long history working with marketing agencies that include Brew and Fallon. 
• Best Buy was still in the process of adding more members to its creative team in May 2018.
• Despite operating in the same market as Amazon, Best Buy continues to hold its market share because of its customer-experience-focused strategy.
• Through this strategy, the company positions physical stores as showrooms, an undertaking that gives it a competitive advantage over Amazon.
• To determine whether Best Buy uses Google Ads, an analysis of the company's web technology stack was done on Crunchbase.
• However, even though Best Buy uses Google products for analytics, evidence that pointed to the use of Google Ads was not available.

Best Practices in Handling Digital Marketing Strategy In-house

• Creation of an extensive internal creative team — this practice is very important because it facilitates capacity building within the organization resulting in a team that can conceive, develop, and produce effective digital marketing campaigns.
•  Diversification in digital marketing strategies — Best Buy has a diversified in-house creative team that is capable of creating marketing campaigns for a variety of channels that include social media, TV, and in-store.
•  Seasonal marketing campaigns — the company creates special campaigns that target special groups during recurring seasons like the holiday season and back-to-school shopping seasons.  
•  Personalized customer experience — Best Buy also focuses on delivering digital marketing campaigns that offer a personalized and memorable experience to customers and potential customers.

RESEARCH STRATEGY:

CASE STUDY #1: TARGET

• In May 2019, Target unveiled its newly revamped in-house creative agency and media network, Roundel which was formerly known as Target Media Network.
• Target's repositioning and rebranding of its internal creative agency from Target Media Network to Roundel was necessary to ensure the brand clearly communicated its business focus that was beyond display ads on Target's official website. The company's focus would also involve social, video and TV campaigns.
• Roundel's main objective at launch was to "create campaigns and content for clients — namely, brands and agencies, including brands that are not sold within Target stores."
• To determine whether Target uses Google Ads (formerly Google Adwords), an analysis of the company's web technology stack was done on Crunchbase.
• This analysis led to the conclusion that although Target uses Google tools like Google Cloud and Google Analytics, there was no evidence that pointed to the company's use of Google Ads.

Best Practices in Handling Digital Marketing Strategy In-house

• Use of available data to inform digital campaigns — Target makes use of the available consumer data to create efficient campaigns and robust content for the brands that the company sells in its store.
•  Targeting multiple channels for a wider focus — Target's creative agency, was rebranded for this purpose. By changing the agency's name to Roundel, Target was able to emphasize the agency's focus to other digital platforms like TV, social media, and video.
• Measurement and reporting of performance metrics — another best practice is in-depth reporting after measurement. This is because this type of reporting quantifies results, leads to the understanding of marketing outcomes and identifies the next strategic steps.

CASE STUDY #2: EBAY

• EBay's in-house creative agency is called eBay Advertising.
• EBay Advertising offers a variety of digital marketing solutions to brands across various sectors. The main solutions on offer from eBay's in-house creative agency include ad solutions, data solutions, and insights.
• The above-mentioned solutions "provide unique opportunities for brands to laser focus their marketing efforts, and more effectively influence buyer behavior, anywhere anytime."
• It is worth noting that the marketing solutions on offer from eBay Advertising are used by some of "the world's largest auto, consumer electronics, fashion, health & beauty and home & garden brands."
• Some major capabilities of the eBay Advertising platform include driving brand awareness, converting audiences, providing actionable insights to brands, and the personalization of digital campaigns using data.
• To determine whether eBay uses Google Ads (formerly Google Adwords), an analysis of the company's web technology stack was done on Crunchbase.
• The findings of this analysis led to the conclusion that although eBay uses Google tools like Google Analytics, there was no evidence that pointed to the company's use of Google Ads.

Best Practices in Handling Digital Marketing Strategy In-house

• Use of deep customer insights in the creation of ad solutions — eBay Analytics leverages available consumer insights to offer brands some of the "most sophisticated ad solutions that drive sales lift, and increase market share."
•  Forging meaningful relationships with brands — in the case of eBay Analytics, developing meaningful relationships creates a smoother path that can be used to quickly move from ads to sales across all platforms.
•  Leveraging available data in digital marketing campaigns — today's e-commerce landscape depends on data for a majority of business functions. Consequently, eBay Analytics facilitates the use of data in creating smarter campaigns that can be used to help brands drive business on the core eBay Marketplace.

RESEARCH STRATEGY:

USE OF SPECIAL TOOLS TO MONITOR BUSINESS AND KEY PERFORMANCE METRICS

• In business, a metric is "a quantifiable measure that is used to track and assess the status of a specific business process."
• All areas of business have specific performance metrics that can be tracked and monitored. For example, marketing personnel track marketing metrics and sales teams track sales performance metrics like leads and new opportunities.
• A key strategic insight into how companies in the e-commerce and retail sectors track their metrics is in the use of special analytical tools to monitor business and key performance metrics.
• Companies can decide to use complex applications like Klipfio, Tableau, and Zoho Reports or simple spreadsheet programs like Microsoft Excel and Google Spreadsheets to monitor key metrics in order to determine business performance.

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT AND CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

• Another insight into how e-commerce and retail companies can track their business performance metrics is through the use of inventory management and customer relationship management systems.  
• Inventory management systems allow companies to easily generate sales reports and purchase order records, which in turn can be used to analyze the performance of specific products and identify in demand products. This ability comes in handy when preparing to meet customer needs and in tracking sales of specific products.
• Examples of popular inventory management systems include Zoho Inventory, Quickbooks, and NetSuite ERP. 
• On the other hand, customer relationship management systems can also be used by e-commerce and retail companies to track key customer-centered metrics. These metrics include conversion rate, repurchase rate, retention rate, reactivation rate, and win-back rate.
• The above mentioned metrics are critical because they dictate how an organization manages its interactions with current and potential customers in a way that will be profitable.
• Examples of popular customer relationship management systems include Salesforce, Zoho, Netsuite, Bitrix24, and Microsoft Dynamics.

USING COMPETITIVE PRICING MODELS

• Pricing plays a key role in dictating whether an e-commerce or retail company will sell its products and whether many customers will be interested in the products.
• Consequently, a key strategic insight on how companies sell certain products is the use of competitive pricing models to lure in customers and encourage them to make purchase decisions.
• However, competitive pricing does not necessarily mean making prices lower or at the same level as competitors.
• Pricing models should be informed by the prices on offer from competitors. Consequently, organizations can have higher prices, but should ensure they communicate the value in paying more for their product offerings.
• Additionally, e-commerce and retail companies can integrate value-added benefits to their pricing models to ensure they offer more value to customers with every product purchase.
• Examples of value added-benefits include extended warranty, free shipping, 1-day shipping, lifetime guarantees, exceptional customer service, and high quality product offerings.

DISCOUNTS AND OFFERS ON CERTAIN PRODUCTS

• Another strategic insight on how companies push the sale of certain products is the use of time-limited discounts and offers on specific products.
• This strategy is extremely common across numerous e-commerce and retail platforms and it should be managed appropriately to ensure it is effective and profitable for such organizations.
• If this strategy is not managed properly, it can end up resulting in reduced profits and attraction of only prize-driven customers.
• In addition to driving sales, discounts and offers on products also "help increase customer acquisition and drive customer loyalty."
• Examples of instances where using discounts and offers on products as part of an e-commerce strategy can help increase product sales include when rewarding customer loyalty, in referral campaigns, in cases where consumers abandon their carts, and when promoting a new product to potential customers.

REFERRAL MARKETING FROM EXISTING CUSTOMERS

• Lastly, another strategic insight on how e-commerce and retail companies push product sale is through the use of referral marketing.
• Repeat customers are a valuable asset to organizations. This value can be harnessed by a business to help it grow and build its reputation through referral marketing.
• Referral programs build on the customer base of an organization by encouraging existing customers to bring in new customers in exchange of discounts, coupons, and other benefits.
• Referral marketing is usually very effective in driving the sale of products because there is nothing as powerful as a product recommendation from a trusted source.
• Another advantage of referral marketing is that it happens organically i.e. it happens regardless of the involvement of marketers in the process. This is because humans are social in nature resulting in the sharing of good and bad experiences.
• The effectiveness of referral marketing can be seen in a Nielsen report, which noted that 92% of consumers trust recommendations from people they know.
• Another research study that was published in the AMA Journal of Marketing noted that "referred customers are more loyal, and bring higher profit margins that are as high as 25%."
• Examples of companies that reached millions of dollars in revenue as a result of referral marketing are the Dollar Shave Club and Dropbox.

ANALYTICAL TOOLS

• Marketing campaigns guide an organization's advertising, public relations, promotions, and all other selling efforts based on the available sales strategies within the organization.
• After a marketing campaign has been set up, it is important to manage the campaign throughout its lifecycle in order to see how it is working and adjust as necessary.
•  Analytical tools are a very important type of marketing tools that can be used by e-commerce and retail organizations to manage marketing campaigns from start to finish.
• Good analytical tools give marketing personnel all the data and metrics on running marketing campaigns, enabling them to monitor the all-round performance of such campaigns.
• Additionally, analytical tools can also be used to gain valuable insight into the behaviour patterns of customers. 
• Examples of key analytical tools that can be used by organizations to monitor ongoing marketing campaigns are Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Kissmetrics, and social media analytics tools.

SURVEY TOOLS

• After the introduction of new products and marketing campaigns, it is important to collect data from customers and potential customers so as to understand their reaction to the marketing efforts.  
• A time-proven tool that can be used by e-commerce and retail companies to achieve the above purpose is the use of digital surveys that are targeted at a section of customers and potential customers.
• Depending on an organization, surveys can be conducted using different methods. Key methods include the use of online survey programs, telephone surveys, and website contests that give small prizes such as coupons and discounts.
• Examples of specially designed tools that are commonly used by organizations to conduct surveys include Survey Monkey, Typeform, and Google Forms.
• Depending on organizational needs and the targeted customers, social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook can also be used to conduct targeted surveys.
•  Surveys are tactical tools that can be used at any point during the lifecycle of a marketing campaign to collect data and understand the reaction of customers so as to draw conclusions on the performance and effectiveness of a particular campaign.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION TOOLS

• In the case of e-commerce and retail companies that have an online presence, SEO tools form a very important part in making marketing campaigns a success.
• SEO tools are primarily used to help improve and guide an organization's SEO tasks so as to improve search rankings within popular search engines like Google and boost exposure.
• To create fully streamlined SEO such "companies need to take into consideration all aspects of SEO and have the right tools in place to efficiently optimize and target customers."
• There are different types of SEO tools that are used to perform different types of tasks in marketing campaigns.
• Examples of the main types of SEO tools include:

•  Keyword analysis tools — Google Keyword Planner, Google Trends, and SEMrush.
•  Rank checking tools — Google Search Console and Advanced Web Tracking.
•  Site crawling tools — Yoast and Screamingfrog.
•  Backlink analysis tools — Buzzsumo and Majestic Backlink History Checker.

ANALYSIS OF WEBSITE STATISTICS

• Most digital marketing campaigns are conducted with the aim of increasing traffic to an organization's website especially in the case of large e-commerce and retail companies that use web technologies to sell products and services to customers and potential customers.
• Consequently, a key type of analysis that should be conducted at different points during the lifecycle of marketing campaigns is an analysis of website statistics.
• Marketing campaigns are expected to "increase traffic to a target website, including specific pages that contain information, products or services that are being promoted."
• It is therefore important to conduct an analysis of website statistics using analytical tools like Google Analytics, Webtrends, Similar Web, Adobe Analytics, Google Marketing Platform, Kissmetrics, Yahoo Web Analytics, and Alexa.  
• The importance of website statistical analysis is evident in the existence of numerous online tools that have been created for the purpose of analyzing the performance of marketing campaigns based on website traffic.

ANALYSIS OF SALES REPORTS

• An analysis of sales reports is another type of analysis that should be performed by e-commerce and retail companies as a marketing campaign progresses.
• However, tracking sales using sales reports "means more than just looking at increases or decreases in product or service sales."
• A comprehensive analysis of sales reports that can be used to manage marketing campaigns includes an in-depth look at sales by location, product or service type, date, and additional metrics that can be used to determine how a particular ad, promotion or other digital marketing effort is affecting an organization's sales. 
• Long term comparisons such as an analysis of year-to-year sales data can be used to look at the effects of overall marketing campaigns.
• Additionally, a targeted analysis can also be used to analyze how specific marketing efforts performed in influencing sales within a given period.
• Examples of tools that can be used to analyze sales reports include Microsoft Excel, Google Spreadsheets, and Shopify in the case of e-commerce and retail companies that have deployed its proprietary e-commerce platform.

BEST PRACTICE: PUTTING IN PLACE A COMPREHENSIVE MARKETING CAMPAIGN ANALYSIS AND MONITORING FRAMEWORK

• Marketing campaigns are not only important in exposing more and more customers to a company's products or services, but also in making companies memorable.
• This is because marketing campaigns "promote a focused effort that guides consumers towards a desired action and give brands identity, personality, and emotion."
• Therefore, it is important for e-commerce and retail organizations to put in place a clear and comprehensive marketing campaign framework that can be used iteratively to provide a clear and concise approach to all marketing campaigns.
• Within such a marketing campaign framework, an organization should define clear campaign analysis requirements that will be used to analyze the performance of different marketing campaigns regardless of channel.
• The metrics that should be monitored and analyzed depending on the marketing channel used include:

•  Email metrics — click-through rate, bounce rate, and conversion rate.
•  Social media paid metrics — click-through rate, conversion rate, cost per click, and cost per-conversion.
•  Social media organic metrics — passive engagements (likes and shares), active engagements (comments), follows, and click-through rate.
•  Lead magnet/content offer metrics — opt-in rate, cost per opt-in, follow-up email open rate, and opt-in conversion rate.
•  Display ads/paid media metrics — cost per thousand impressions, click-through rate, conversion rate, and cost per conversion.
•  Direct mail metrics — response rate, cost per conversion, and average revenue per conversion.
•  Content/SEO metrics — click-through rate, bounce rate, time on page, page scroll depth, and conversion rate.

CONSIDER SKILL AND EXPERIENCE LEVEL

• A key organizational insight on the right candidate to hire as a marketing manager is the skill and experience level of such managers.
• Examples of the skills that marketing managers need to perform their marketing duties well include analytical skills, communication skills, creativity, decision-making skills, interpersonal skills, and organizational skills.
• These skills are an important consideration because they enable marketing managers to perform a variety of work related tasks such as choosing competing advertising and marketing strategies (decision-making), develop promotional strategies (creativity), and work with different personality types inside and outside the organization (interpersonal skills).
• Additionally, organizations must also consider the work experience level of potential marketing managers because good managers need to have "work experience in advertising, marketing, promotions, or sales."
• For example, good marketing managers can have work experience as former sales representatives, buyers or purchasing agents, or public relations specialists.

TIME AND BUDGET MANAGEMENT ABILITY

• Another important organizational consideration that companies must consider when hiring marketing managers is an innate ability in the management of time and budget allocation.
• This is because the majority of marketing managers operate under strict standards when it comes to budget because either the budget is determined and set by other personnel or because they are working with a limited amount of capital.
• According to research by Gartner, on average, companies spend approximately 12% of their annual revenues on marketing.
• The above statistics points to the availability of only a limited amount of capital for marketing managers to spend on one of the most critical business function of any business i.e. marketing and advertising.
• Time and budget management ability is part of the organizational skills that marketing managers must have in order to efficiently perform their work related duties.
• Consequently, time and budget management ability is a key organizational insight to consider in order to hire the right kind of marketing manager.

CONSIDER EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS

• When considering candidates for a marketing manager position, another insight that organizations must consider is the education and qualifications of potential candidates.
• This is a key consideration because good marketing managers should have specific educational and background qualifications.
• Typically, good marketing managers should have at least a bachelor’s degree in courses like business law, management, economics, accounting, finance, math, and statistics.
• For the marketing managers that work in specialized and technical sectors like IT, electronics, and other technical industries, a bachelors degree in engineering or science plus a masters in business administration is a more common educational combination.
• Additionally, a majority of marketing managers also hold "internships while in graduate school and spend two to three years in sales so as to gain experience in customer interaction."
• By putting an emphasis on the education and qualifications of candidates when hiring marketing managers, organizations will have a better chance of hiring the right kind of marketing managers.

ABILITY TO STUDY BUSINESS USING AVAILABLE DATA AND METRICS

• Marketing managers "measure demand for goods or services, and oversee development of plans to increase interest in those products."
• From the above job description, it can be concluded that a good marketing manager should have a proper understanding of his/her organization's business model so as to be able to develop marketing strategies that will increase the interest of products and services on offer.
• In reference to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a key duty of marketing managers is to initiate market research studies and analyze findings to understand customer and market opportunities for businesses.
• To perform this duty properly, marketing managers must have the ability to use available data and metrics to study a business and make key marketing decisions.
• These metrics include return on marketing investment, cost per lead, SEO traffic, social visits and leads, social traffic and conversion, Google analytics landing page performance for optimization, and traffic by device.  
• By using business data and metrics, marketing managers can create marketing campaigns that are well-placed to succeed and result in positive results for their organizations.
• Therefore, the ability to study business using available data and metrics is also a key organizational insight that organizations must use when selecting the right kind of marketing manager to hire.

INSIGHT ON ORGANIZATION CHART FOR COMPANIES THAT HAVE MARKETING MANAGERS

Departmental Organizational Chart

• The organizational charts for companies that have marketing managers and those that plan to hire marketing managers should be in the form of a departmental organizational chart.
• A departmental organizational chart is effective for the above mentioned organizations because it enables the segmentation of the organizations into departments resulting in the existence of a marketing department.  
• With a marketing department in place, "marketing employees and other employees of a company will be able to easily understand what the role of each person is in the organization and in the marketing department."
• Examples of employees under a marketing departmental organizational chart include vice presidents of marketing, marketing managers, marketing directors, market researchers, public relations employees, and designers and creative service employees.
• Consequently, the organizational charts of companies that have robust marketing functions should be in the form of departmental organizational charts.