Mediaboss Marketing

Word-of-mouth has always been a driving force behind advertising. It is one sure-shot method of driving sales and increasing traffic. When it comes to marketing, small businesses and startups often do not have a budget similar to large corporations. Hence, having a huge budget for marketing is out of the question. Despite this, there are ways for such businesses to market their product or services to the relevant audience.

Digital marketing is one of the ways that can help small businesses and startups get in touch with potential customers and clients. There are different techniques involved in digital marketing. These include content Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising, Website Development, Content Writing, Social Media Marketing, and others.

These techniques are valid and essential to drive sales and increase traffic to a companys website. However, social media marketing plays a vital role in increasing brand recognition.

If you own a small business or startup, here are a few reasons why you should invest time and effort in social media marketing.

Social media users are increasing day by day.

Statista reports that in 2020, there were around 3.6 billion people active on social media. By 2025, these numbers will be 4.41 billion, according to estimates. With more people on these platforms, the more potential customers you will find. However, you require a marketing strategy in place to find your audience.

Almost every type of business, including small- and large-scale, have a social media presence. The reason being that they can find their customers on these platforms. A lot of businesses get traffic to their website from social media platforms.

Social media users are spending more time than ever.

On average, social media users spend over two hours on the platform. With more users spending time on the platform, businesses have more opportunities to reach customers. However, it also means that there is competition. There are social media marketing agencies that help startups reach out to their customers. Social media marketing agency Melbourne, First Page, is one such digital marketing company that specializes in this,

Social media users search for products on the platform.

About 54% of social media browsing is for research regarding a product, according to GlobalWebIndex. Users are not only researching a product but also engaging with a brand. Hence, businesses can leverage the power of social media to increase brand awareness among people. People tend to follow brands that are in line with their own beliefs. Moreover, brands that are active and engage actively with their followers are bound to get more traction.

Social media sponsored posts to get hits

Many brands tend to hire influencers on social media platforms to promote their product. Influencers and bloggers on social media, such as Instagram, are quite popular. They can sway the opinion of their followers in checking out a brand and its product.

Conclusion

Social media is an important tool for marketers and businesses. It not only provides a platform for small businesses and startups to showcase their product, but it also helps them communicate with their customers directly.

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Why Is Social Media Marketing Important For Small Businesses and Startups? - FinSMEs

A central marketing story of last decade was the rise of the ankle bitersstartup brands collectively feasting on slow moving consumer brands despite their well-fed media budgets. Direct-to-consumer sales fueled by digital and social media were part of the story, but the endless digital shelf and low cost of entry at Amazon also played a major role.

But among the many changes wrought by the pandemic has been a reversalof fortunes for smaller competitors, which are increasingly losing share and getting outspent by bigger players at Amazon. The e-commerce giant is also drawing more older buyers, a demographic shift that is favoring bigger, established brands. Making matters worse, smaller brands that traditionally relied on cookie-based digital ad targeting and re-targeting to drive direct-to-consumer sales more than bigger ones will see that capability go away over the next year and need to rely even more on Amazon.

Whats happening on Amazon is in many ways a replay of what happened on Facebook last decade, as Sarah Hofstetter, president of e-commerce analytics firm Profitero, sees it. Ten years ago, organic social media helped upstart brands thrive, but then bigger brands began outspending them on Facebook, bidding up ad costs and making it harder for new brands to break through, Hofstetter says.

Focus has shifted in recent years to a growing number of new products invented largely to be sold on Amazon. But the surge of e-commerce caused by the pandemic led big companies to shift huge amounts of media dollars to Amazon. The result has been to hike costs that smaller players have trouble paying and pushing smaller brands down search result rankings in many categories, Hofstetter says.

For that matter, Amazon is becoming a bit more like traditional retail, where small brands never had much chance at high-visibility endcap displays. Amazon was different, often giving them more visibility, Hofstetter says. Now theyre starting to get nudged out because of the money.

Nowhere is the change more noticeable than in the beauty business, which is among the segments of packaged goods affected most by the influx of startups over the past decade. Last year, the share shift from big brands to small lurched into reverse, with Amazon playing a key role, according to research by Evercore ISI based on Numerator data.

While it was a tough year for makeup brands generally, as people going out less needed less makeup, it was a lot harder for smaller players. Niche brands with online shares below 0.5% saw their collective share of U.S. makeup sales fall five points to 31% last year, according to Evercore. Big established mass brands gained the most, particularly LOreal USA brands Maybelline and LOreal Paris, based in part on their strong Amazon presence. Cotys Cover Girl and Rimmel also gained thanks largely to their strong presence on Amazon, according to Evercore.

Skincare fared much better than makeup in overall sales last year, but the category is even more fragmented online than makeup, with niche brands (each having under 0.5% market share) controlling 57% of the market last year. Here too big brands were the winners, gaining 2.1 share points collectively last year, according to Evercore.

In fragrance, niche brands did better, gaining share, but the middle brands were the losers, and the top 10 brands collectively picked up 10 share points. And in haircare, big brands including Procter & Gamble Co.s Pantene and Head & Shoulders and LOreals namesake brand alongside salon staples Redken and Matrix all gained share online while niche brands collectively shed 7 share points.

Looking broadly across health and beauty categoriesalso encompassing deodorant, vitamins and oral carethe top three brands in each category actually gained share collectively in total retail, including brick and mortar. The leading brands' shares indexed at 104 in 2020 vs.100 in 2018, according to Evercore. But the big brands gains were actually faster in more fragmented e-commerce channels, indexing 45 in 2020, up seven points from 38 in 2018.

At least part of the tougher environment for startup brands and more favorable results for big established ones on Amazon owes to where the influx of e-commerce buying came during the pandemic. Boomers and Generation X accounted for most of the increased online shopping and brought with them preferences for older established brands, Evercore notes.

The shift to older Amazon clientele continues this year. According to Numerator, Amazons share of overall CPG sales is up 1.4% among Generation X and 1.5% among Boomers so far in 2021 to 3.8% and 3.2% respectively. Amazons CPG share among Gen Z shoppers has actually declined this year, 0.6 points to 4.3%.

Worth noting is that Amazons share is much higher in some corners of packaged-goods, accounting for more than 10% of diaper sales. Overall, e-commerce has become a huge business in beauty, accounting for more than 30% of sales last year in the U.S., per Evercore.

Certainly, Amazon still offers plenty of opportunity for challenger brands. For example, the retailer has an Internet Famous section highlighting the latest social-media product sensations, such as U.K. cleaner import The Pink Stuff, propelled to fame by TikTok testimonial videos generating millions of views.

Then again, The Pink Stuff isnt a new product in the U.K. Its 20 years old. And many of Amazons other Internet Famous items arent exactly startups either. One currently on the list is a hydrating cleanser from CeraVe, which happens to be owned by LOreal, the biggest beauty marketer on earth. CeraVe became LOrealsstar of the pandemic last year, generating 89% sales growth. And if anything, CeraVe is a testament to beauty brands from big companies growing robustly on Amazon and beyond because theyre getting much better digital and social marketing support.

CeraVe for most of its 15 years on the market was marketed mainly via dermatologist recommendations and didnt even have an Instagram account when LOreal bought the brand in 2017, says Penelope Giraud, global general manager for the LOreal brand. Turning the usual social-fueled insurgent narrative on its head, the acquisition by LOreal actually helped improve CeraVes social media strategy and execution, which has included growing endorsements by skinfluencers, a strong presence on Twitter, and most recently TikTok videos developed under the guidance of S4 Capitals MediaMonks, Giraud says.

The Amazon shifts comeas smaller brands, which have relied more than bigger ones on digital ad targeting and re-targeting, face the impending loss of personal identifying cookies by next year something that will make retail data and advertising through retailers, including Amazon, even more crucial for them, Hofstetter says.

Weve noticed things have gotten a lot more expensive and frankly hyper-competitive from an advertising standpoint [on Amazon] as a challenger brand to some of the bigger brands, says Halee Patel Newton, VP of e-commerce for Califia Farms, a marketer of oat milk, almond milk, cold brew coffees and juices.

Hostetter says her company recently launched Profitero Pro, an analytics tool aimed at helping smaller brands even the score by managing their e-commerce distribution and marketing effort more efficiently. Newton says the tool is helping Califia identify and eliminate out-of-stocks, which, besides hurting sales can also hurt brands search rankings, as well as identifying keywords it should be buying ads against and tracking how its products are faring against those keywords in searches. Profitero Pro also helps Califia track its sales and competitive share across e-commerce retailers and spot where it needs to direct spending, she says.

The rest is here:
On Amazon big brands are beating small ones in pandemic - AdAge.com

Five UK and Ireland agencies, including two in the North West, have joined forces to create a new marketing super agency with a combined headcount of 65 professionals.

The business is the brainchild of Darren Low, founder of Cheltenham-based Liquorice, which is one of the agencies involved in the new venture.

London and Carlisle digital agency Upbeat Productions, Warrington brand communications agency Bugler Smith, Birminghams JC Social Media and Belfasts premier UX agency Fathom, which also has an office in Dublin, are the other four.

Collectively, the new agency will be known as Low&Behold, with Darren as CEO and founders of some of the other agencies taking positions on the board.

Low&Behold will provide a comprehensive range of services including marketing and strategy, UX and development, creative, paid, earned and owned digital media, PR, events and internal communications.

Each individual agency will retain its identity during an adjustment period, while some owners will form the groups board of directors.

Clients will include Cheshire-based Pets at Home, Just Eat, Which?, Yodel, SLG Beauty, Alliance Pharmaceuticals, Haynes, Tesco Mobile and permanent tsb.

Darren said: Its fantastic to finally be able to reveal the new business and officially welcome staff from all the agencies to Low&Behold

Ive long believed theres a way to bring the best of niche independent expert agencies and the strength and stability of the larger holding company model together, forming a highly capable, agile agency model that can wrap the right expert arms around any client.

He added: Low&Behold is this and Im confident we can execute any brief in a workmanlike manner, but with the engaged and invested service delivery that is in the DNA of all the agencies we have acquired.

We created the agency to bring together talent from a wide range of disciplines, enabling clients to receive a vast array of services from one place. It also means were able to collectively compete against medium and large sized agencies, but still provide the hands-on personal service to clients, something each agency has always prided itself on delivering.

The client roster and experience of all teams is exceptional, but were hoping to continue growing through both organic and further M&A in 2021 and beyond.

He said existing clients will continue to be serviced by the same teams, ensuring continuity, while also affording them with new solutions from within the group.

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Marketing, digital and social agencies join forces to form new 'super' agency | TheBusinessDesk.com - The Business Desk

LinkedIn has shared some new insights into the evolving marketing employment landscape, and the key skills in demand among brands looking for new marketing and advertising staff.

And interestingly, LinkedIn's data shows that,despite the pandemic, marketing roles have been increasingly in-demand.

"On LinkedIn, weve seen a 63% increase in marketing jobs over the past six months. In total, more than 380,000 marketing job listings were posted over the past year."

Despite the varying challenges of the COVID experience, brands still need to maximize outreach and awareness, and there are significant opportunities for those in the sector, based on these stats.

In addition to this, LinkedIn also notes that:

That last point will be of specific interest to digital marketers, as will the fact that one in every two of the top marketing jobs posted on LinkedIn related to the digital or media space.

As per The Drum:

"By volume of job postings on LinkedIn, the most desired marketing job is a digital marketing specialist. Among other highly in-demand roles are digital account executives, social media managers, digital marketing managers, copywriters and digital strategists."

Some positive news for the SMT audience, and we'll continue to work to keep you up to date on the latest trends to help maximize your opportunities for such.

Check out the infographic below for more insight.

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LinkedIn Shares New Insight into the Most In-Demand Marketing Roles and Skills [Infographic] - Social Media Today

Sally AllainHead of JLABS @ Washington, DC, Johnson & Johnson Innovation

Having started her research career in biotech startups, Sally Allain has a deep understanding of the needs of healthcare entrepreneurs. That background has enriched her work at JLABS @ Washington, DC, J&Js external R&D incubator throughout the greater metro region, where she sets the strategic direction and oversees all operational activities. In this role, shes evaluated and selected a strong portfolio of innovators for her location and fostered strategic partnerships with corporate, academic, government and industry organizations in the region.

Hillary BergmanAccount supervisor, Wunderman Thompson Health

Since joining Wunderman Thompson Health in 2018, Hillary Bergman has served as the day-to-day lead on multiple Pfizer businesses across internal medicine (Chantix), oncology (Xalkori, Lorbrena, Vizimpro), vaccines (Prevnar and Trumenba) and rare disease (launching a GTx for DMD). Her focus is mainly on the consumer side of the pediatrics business, where she feels she can have the greatest impact through helping patients and caregivers become their own advocates and making them aware of available life-saving treatments.

Jessica BottingDirector, social media, Klick Health

The global upheavals of 2020 made it a tumultuous year for pharma social media marketers. But Jessica Botting went above and beyond to guide Klick and her clients through it. Bottings consistent prioritization of education for internal and external stakeholders, such as new-to-social clients, review teams, science and regulatory, and creative, has helped the Klick team grow and drive success for the brand marketers that work with her.

Alexandra CharlesVP, account group supervisor, The Lynx Group

Alexandra Charles has demonstrated her complete vision of how clients can most effectively reach oncology patients with two recent high-profile launches: the Pfizer Oncology Patient Navigation in Cancer Care 2.0 Toolkit and the launch of Mylan Canadas Oncology Biosimilars Without Border unbranded disease state education, which was well-received by oncologists after its rollout across the major provinces. She has worked in a wide range of therapeutic areas including cardiology, oncology, CNS, womens health and rare disease throughout all drug life cycles during her more than 15-year career.

Amber ChenevertGroup director, strategy and insights; Culture Studio lead, VMLY&R

With her mix of academic and agency experience, Amber Chenevert inspires clients to embrace new ways of reaching consumers. As the director of the LifeScan account leading global brand strategy and research formalizing data mining capabilities for their OneTouch portfolio of products and partner brands she helped grow the business from $1 million to $10 million. As director of the Culture Studio at VMLY&R, she helps brands uncover new market opportunities, while supporting inclusion by expanding and integrating capabilities that give marginalized groups greater access to the industry.

Lindsay DanylakVP, Spectrum Science

In 2020, Lindsay Danylak led AstraZeneca spinoff Viela Bio through the companys first product approval and launch. She also helped the team pivot during the pandemic, moving to virtual ad boards and adapting communications plans and materials to address the growing concerns of neurologists and patients surrounding COVID-19, among other initiatives. And, in just under three years, shes brought in more than $7 million in new business and organic growth.

Genevieve DesmondDirector of brand experience and product marketing, Akili Interactive

Genevieve Desmonds strategic mind and ability to execute were on full display last spring when the FDA released special COVID-19 guidance allowing treatments that hadnt received FDA clearance to be made available without prescription. As Akili jumped to make EndeavorRx available to patients in need, Desmond helped soft-launch the product in just five days, taking the lead in mapping out caregiver and patient journeys, creating email communications for engaging caregivers throughout and writing materials for the Akili Assist patient support group.

Michelle EdwardsViP, human resources and operations, Heartbeat

During her 11-year tenure in human resources at Heartbeat, Michelle Edwards has created a culture that earned four straight Best Places to Work awards from AdAge. Equitable career development is a major focus for Edwards. In 2020, the agencys VP and above promotions reflected a strong commitment to diversifying senior ranks, with 43% going to women of color and 71% going to women overall.

Erin FitzgeraldVP, group director, account management, Digitas Health

Erin Fitzgerald oversees the womens cancer franchise at Digitas Health, and in the last three years has grown the practice from less than $1 million to $3.5 million in revenue annually. Shes worked on some of the largest oncology brands in the industry and is currently part of the account leadership for Mercks Keytruda business. She simultaneously launched the disease state education breast cancer campaign and two back-to-back indications in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), which disproportionately affects Black and Hispanic/Latino individuals.

Katrina Sergeev GaryDirector of patient marketing and engagement, Argenx

In her two years at Argenx, Katrina Sergeev Gary has led several innovative and successful campaigns focused on the myasthenia gravis (MG) community. Her work includes the launch of the digital platform MG United; My MG Sole, a storytelling project that used the tenets of art therapy to inspire the MG community to connect virtually; and A Mystery to Me, the first-ever documentary film series about myasthenia gravis, which was honored with a selection in the 2020 Chicago International Film Festival and was nominated for a 2021 MM+M Brand Film Award.

Abby HayesPractice leader, DE&I engagement, Real Chemistry

As COVID-19 exacerbated existing racial inequities and the murder of George Floyd and killing of Breonna Taylor spurred a national movement, Abby Hayes led the response of Real Chemistry and many of its large clients as the head of the firms diversity, equity and inclusion engagement practice. She provided real-time crisis counseling for more than 15 clients, all of whom took action, including a $100 million commitment by one large client to promote health equity in the U.S. Under her leadership, DE&I client programming is tracking to grow by 300%-400% in 2021.

Dr. Alison LeafSenior program manager, Seven Bridges

Since joining Seven Bridges in 2017, Dr. Alison Leaf has developed and executed a winning proposal to the NIH Data Commons Pilot and led a program with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institutes BioData Catalyst project that provides researchers with a cloud-based ecosystem to explore and analyze high-value genomics datasets. The COVID-19 pandemic has only underscored the importance of this system, as the comparative analysis of host genomics, medical imaging and health outcomes will be critical in managing the long-term health of millions of affected patients.

Elizabeth McSheaDirector, social media, CMI Media Group

During her three-year tenure at CMI Media Group, Elizabeth McShea has excelled in demonstrating the value of a best-in-class social listening and research arm. Her work has led clients to invest in social research programs, advancing the team from 16 deliverables in 2018 to 121 and growing in 2020. Shes also the go-to on the social team for new business pitches and opportunities. Known as one of the best presenters at the agency, she has led more than 10 pitches since joining the firm.

Lauren MurphyDirector, consumer marketing, Biohaven Pharmaceuticals

Not long after Lauren Murphy joined Biohaven, she was challenged with leading communications, consumer marketing and patient engagement for the companys first commercial product launch in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. She successfully headed up the first-to-market and fastest in pharma DTC launch for Nurtec ODT, which included first-in-pharma activations with digital partners including Google and Twitter, meeting patients where they are. Throughout the pandemic, she has continued to gracefully lead the development and execution of brand DTC, celebrity partnership activations and more.

Katie RamirezVP, digital, GCI Health

With her hybrid skill set in client service and technical acumen, Katie Ramirez has made herself an indispensable part of the GCI Health team, counseling some of the agencys most important clients on digital and social strategy. Currently, she leads digital and social media strategy for the award-winning Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) cancer advocacy initiative Survivorship Today, which offers cancer survivors resources for life after active treatment. Under her leadership, the campaigns social posts have passed industry benchmarks on all measures.

Kristi Reeves-PenningtonTrelegy consumer marketing director, COPD and asthma, GSK

Throughout her 20-year career, Kristi Reeves-Pennington has excelled at building brands through empathy and deeper understanding. Working in the COPD and asthma area of GSKs Respiratory Division, she led a shift in the marketing strategy for Trelegy based on insight-backed authenticity, which resonated strongly with patients who often felt misrepresented. This was demonstrated in the launch of Trelegys New Day campaign in November 2020, which led to significant increases in organic and paid search.

Kara ReheisVP, marketing, Daiichi Sankyo

Kara Reheis has been at the forefront of several monumental shifts at Daiichi Sankyo, including as one of the primary commercial leads in finalizing a multibillion-dollar co-commercialization agreement with a major pharmaceutical collaborator. Most recently, her 42-person commercial training and development team earned the Life Sciences Trainers and Educators Network Excellence Award for its training curriculum in support of the launch of a metastatic breast cancer therapy.

Nikki SidiVP, global strategic marketing, surgical, Johnson & Johnson Vision

As the leader in worldwide marketing strategy for J&Js ophthalmology portfolio, Nikki Sidi heads a global team that drives business and pipeline strategy, as well as new product introductions. She has reorganized the global marketing function and, last year, achieved intraocular lens (IOL) share gains in every region. In 2021, she and her team are preparing the first-ever global campaign to celebrate the 20th anniversary of J&Js vision legacy TECNIS platform, relaunching the TECNIS masterbrand and introducing a series of new products that will broaden J&Js IOL portfolio.

Takae TakahashiSVP, associate creative director, Havas Health & You/Havas Health Plus

With a background in illustration and graphic design, Takae Takahashi has applied her creativity to the world of pharma with impressive results. Her array of awards includes five Clios and four Cannes Lions, and she was the first winner of the Innovation Health Hackathon at Cannes for her Parkinsounds Project for Teva Pharmaceuticals, which leveraged the power of music to treat Parkinsons patients. At Havas, her outside-the-box thinking has increased revenue and profit by more than 30% and brand awareness by more than 40%.

From the July 01, 2021 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media

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Women to Watch 2021 - Hall of Femme - MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media - Medical Marketing and Media