BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT& ONLINE MARKETING

WHY AM I SPEAKING TODAY? Apart from the fact Richard asked me?

James Abbott

QMU Graduate 2005 BA Degree Retail Business

2005 – 2010 Business Development for family businessSpecialised in online product design & development

2010 – currentDigital Marketing & Development ManagerPrimarily focused on digital marketing & eCommerce development

A HUME COUNTRY CLOTHING

• Established in 1929

• 3rd Generation family owned & managed business

• Originally a gentlemen's tailors

• Now a lifestyle country clothing retailer

• 2007 eCommerce website launched

• Ambitious & Award winning business

• 2010 Winner of Scottish Borders Business Excellence Awards: Independent retailer of year & growth business of the year

• 2012 Winner of Scottish Border Business Excellence Awards: Retailer & Town Centre Business

• 2012 Winner of The Herald Scottish Family Business Awards: SM Family Business of the Year & SM Fastest Growing Business

WHAT I WANT TO COVER

• The Internet – the positives, the threats

• The challenges that online businesses face

• Ways to manage some of the challenges

• What does the future look like online?

• Some useful sites

THE INTERNET & DOING BUSINESS ONLINE

Some of The Positives

• Always open

• Available anywhere

• Can operate from anywhere

As it grows

• You don’t have to do it all yourself

• Outsourcing

• Staff can work remotely

THE INTERNET & DOING BUSINESS ONLINE

Some of Threats

• Continually changing

• Costly

• Online Trust & Reputation

• Your fate is in the hands of others

SOME OF THE KEY CHALLENGES

• Managing Expectations

• Competition

• Online Trust

• Google

• Continually evolving

• Keeping up to date

8 seconds is all you’ve got

MANAGING SOME OF THE KEY CHALLENGES

• Managing Expectations

• Competition

• Online Trust

• Google

• Continually evolving

• Keeping up to date

MANAGING SOME OF THE KEY CHALLENGES

• Managing Expectations

• Competition

• Online Trust

• Google

• Continually evolving

• Keeping up to date

Different Generations Behave Differently

MANAGING SOME OF THE KEY CHALLENGES

• Managing Expectations

• Competition

• Online Trust

• Google

• Continually evolving

• Keeping up to date

• Always Growing

• Ebay

• Amazon

MANAGING SOME OF THE KEY CHALLENGES

• Managing Expectations

• Competition

• Online Trust

• Google

• Continually evolving

• Keeping up to date

• People have to have trust the site

• Visual appearance

• Contact methods

• Trust can be helped through recognition

• Trust icons & Customer reviews

MANAGING SOME OF THE KEY CHALLENGES

• Managing Expectations

• Competition

• Online Trust

• Google

• Continually evolving

• Keeping up to date

• Largest search engine on the planet

• Become it’s own brand “I’ll just Google it”

• Writes the rules for Search

• Largest driver of PPC (pay-per-click) traffic

But Google is also known for these:

MANAGING SOME OF THE KEY CHALLENGES

• Managing Expectations

• Competition

• Online Trust

• Google

• Continually evolving

• Keeping up to date

MANAGING SOME OF THE KEY CHALLENGES

• Managing Expectations

• Competition

• Online Trust

• Google

• Continually evolving

• Keeping up to date

Online marketing is heavily impacted by Google so a lot has changed over the last 2 ½ years

• Online marketing is now multi-faceted

• It is about pull (inbound), not push

• It is about the user and their experience

• It is about reputation & trust

• The rise of T-shaped marketing

MANAGING SOME OF THE KEY CHALLENGES

• Managing Expectations

• Competition

• Online Trust

• Google

• Continually evolving

• Keeping up to date

• Web design continues to evolve

• What was cutting edge becomes norm

• In 2006 Facebook arrived in the UK

• In 2006 Twitter launched online

• In 2007 the first iPhone was released

• In 2010 the first iPad was released

• In 2010 Pinterest launched Beta

MANAGING SOME OF THE KEY CHALLENGES

• Managing Expectations

• Competition

• Online Trust

• Google

• Continually evolving

• Keeping up to date

So website design changes, technology changes so you have adapt & evolve, but how?

• Google Analytics

• Visitor Tracking

• Split Testing

• Focus Groups

• Process of continual evaluation and development

MANAGING SOME OF THE KEY CHALLENGES

• Managing Expectations

• Competition

• Online Trust

• Google

• Continually evolving

• Keeping up to date

• Industry Events

• Websites

• Blogs

• eBooks

• Networking

• Social Media

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE?

To be honest, nobody knows but it could involve:

• No more desktop computers

• Continued rise in mobile device usage

• Continued development of personalised content

• Live information streaming to your glasses

• Browse the internet whilst your car drives you to work

• Computers scanning you to obtain your measurements

• Using movement to navigate product pages

• Thumbprint scanning for purchase

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE?

But here’s what is already commercially possible (the one’s in red not there, yet):

• No more desktop computers

• Continued rise in mobile device usage

• Continued development of personalised content

• Live information streaming to your glasses

• Browse the internet whilst your car drives you to work

• Computers scanning you to obtain your measurements

• Using movement to navigate product pages

• Thumbprint scanning for purchase

SOME USEFUL SITES, COMPANIES & BODIES

Moz

Mashable

Hubspot

Kissmetrics

Smart Insights

eConsultancy

Smashing Magazine

UX Mag

Attacat Brain

I.D.M

C.I.M

Digital Mind Map

THANK YOU & ANY QUESTIONS

And, if you think of any questions later

Twitter: @modernapproach

LinkedIn: jamesmabbott