Marketing Dojo #50: ⚠️Think Before You Send 📧
Market-Based Asset Theory Of Growth, Google & Yahoo's Changes For Bulk e-Mails, Peloton & TikTok's partnership & More.
Hello,
Welcome to the 50th issue of Marketing Dojo!
In three weeks, emails will become a dangerous business for brands. Google & Yahoo will start implementing changes to bulk emails. I will cover a bit more about this development in today’s edition.
To our new subscribers: a warm welcome to the community! I'm excited for you to join us on this journey. And to those who have been with us for a while, thank you for your ongoing support and encouragement.
In today's edition, we're unpacking some thought-provoking topics:
📈 A Fresh(er) Theory for Brand Growth
📧 Email Marketing's Existential Crisis
🤝 Partnerships Are In The Air
😂 Meme Re-run: A Very Expensive Band-Aid
And there's lots more to discover inside.
Before we jump in, I'd like to recommend Michelle Troutman's newsletter, "5-Minute Business Writing Tips."Packed with actionable tips, resources, and checklists, it's a goldmine for anyone looking to sharpen their writing skills. Plus, Michelle is venturing into video content creation this year – a journey worth supporting! Sign up here.
Brand Growth For Realists.
Why do some brands experience growth while others stagnate, and why do customers often pay more for certain products despite the availability of cheaper, similar alternatives?
For years, the key to unlocking brand growth was believed to lie in effective segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP). The idea was simple: identify a unique segment and position your brand so compellingly that it becomes irresistible to target customers.
Yet, the reality of brand growth is often more complex than a well-crafted STP strategy. The recent paper from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, titled "The Market-Based Assets Theory of Brand Competition," presents a compelling, data-driven alternative to the traditional STP model.
Here's a TL;DR:
Duplication of Purchase Law:
Consumers often patronize multiple brands within the same category, resulting in shared customer bases among competitors. This overlap is usually in proportion to the competitors' market shares.
For instance, a McDonald's customer might also frequent Taco Bell or Dunkin' Donuts, with the overlap reflecting their market presence.
Consumer Brand Polygamy:
Loyalty to a single brand within a category is more an anomaly than a norm. Consumers tend to be multi-brand purchasers.
Marketers should, therefore, focus on attracting customers who also engage with competitors.
Double Jeopardy Law: A brand's size often dictates its loyalty base; larger brands typically have more loyal customers.
Mental & Physical Availability: Brands compete not just in product quality but also in mental and physical availability.
Mental Availability: This is about becoming the first brand that comes to mind in various situations. For example, when you are thirsty, how quickly does Coca-Cola or Pepsi come to mind? If these brands pop into your head immediately, they have high mental Availability for you in that context.
Physical Availability: This refers to the ease with which consumers can purchase a brand, encompassing factors like in-store presence, online visibility, and accessibility.
According to this theory, the core marketing objective should be enhancing mental and physical availability.
Brands that are more frequently recalled (mental availability) by more people and are more widely accessible (physical availability) tend to be purchased more often.
These findings might resonate with those acquainted with the works of Byron Sharp and the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute.
However, with the growing body of data supporting this market-based asset theory, it's time for marketing teams to realign their activities towards bolstering physical and mental availability, marking a strategic shift in the approach to brand growth.
Meme Rerun: How To Fix All The Marketing Troubles.
I've hit one of those creative dry spells – you know, the kind where the Meme Gods seem to be on a coffee break. While waiting for that lightning bolt of inspiration to strike, I thought it'd be fun to share the first meme I created for Marketing Dojo.
It's still incredibly relevant, and to be honest, I've often found myself exactly where this meme points. (Guilty as charged)
Coming Soon: Email Marketing’s Watershed Moment.
Google is all set to turn 2024 into an obstacle race for marketers.
First, the cookies are crumbling, directly affecting ad performance; Google search generative experience will negatively impact website traffic. Now, the new bulk-email rules from Google & Yahoo are all coming for email marketing.
Starting February 1, Google and Yahoo will begin rolling out new rules for bulk email senders (>5000 receivers). Here's what you need to know:
Email Sender Authentication: Using authenticated email protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC is crucial. These help verify your legitimacy as a sender, reducing the risks of spoofing or phishing. If you're using a standard email service provider, MailChimp or Eloqua, they'll handle most of this.
1-Click Unsubscribe: Previously a best practice, this is now a rule. Ensure your emails include an easy, one-click unsubscribe option.
Spam Thresholds: Pay attention to your spam reports. If over 0.3% of recipients mark your email as spam, Google & Yahoo will throttle your future email deliverability. That means if 3 people out of 1000 who received your mail mark the email as spam, the deliverability of all your future mails across the mailing list will be affected!
B2B marketers focusing on work emails might feel some relief. For Google, these rules primarily apply to personal email addresses ending in @google.com or @googlemail.com.
But it will be best to prepare; I assume these changes will quickly turn into industry norms as AI-generated content leads to increased email content creation.
Email marketing remains a cost-effective channel, but these new rules could significantly impact its efficacy. To adapt, consider the following strategies:
List Hygiene: Regularly update your email lists to remove inactive subscribers.
Feedback Loops: Set up systems to learn from instances where your email is marked as spam, enabling continuous improvement.
Consistent Sending Schedules: Avoid sporadic bulk emails that might trigger spam filters.
Engagement Monitoring: Monitor metrics like bounce rates, open rates, and unsubscribe rates. Use this data to refine your approach.
Overall, Google & Yahoo's new rules to combat spam come with the right intention. Despite all the improvements, our inboxes are choked with spam.
But it is time for marketers who depend on emails as a primary source of customer engagement to reassess existing practices & tech stack.
Creative Excellence: Can A Bad Review Make A Good Ad?
Judging by these tongue-in-cheek examples, the answer seems to be a resounding yes!
Partnerships Are In the Air: Fitness, Food & Social Networks.
Last week, Peloton & TikTok announced an exclusive partnership. Peloton's workout content library will now be available on TikTok.
Peloton, a leading connected fitness platform, has created a dedicated hub on TikTok, labelled #TikTokFitness Powered by Peloton. This hub will feature content, including live Peloton classes, original series from Peloton instructors, and celebrity collaborations, all accessible through the #TikTokFitness hashtag on TikTok. The content will be available in the US, UK & Canada.
This is the first time Peloton's content will be available on any platform outside its website & apps.
Peloton has had a rocky couple of years with dwindling demand, manufacturing & financial challenges. The move by Peloton will help them drive customer acquisition and open up doors to content as a revenue source.
For TikTok, this partnership is more than adding another category to its already diverse content universe. The fitness segment, especially popular among the Gen-Z audience, has steadily risen on the platform. The partnership will solidify TikTok's foothold in the fitness space.
A perfect win-win for both.
On the subject of partnership, here's one which is less strategic but high on engagement. The fitness-tracking social network Strava and Mexican quick-serve restaurant Chipotle have tied up for a delicious partnership.
To participate, Strava users need to run on predefined segments; the runners with the most runs get a year-long supply of Chipotle bowls.
This partnership taps into two common New Year resolutions: eating well and improving health. By combining these aspirations, Chipotle and Strava are making it easier – and tastier – for their users to stick to their goals.
A novel way to keep users engaged, motivated and fit!
Short Stuff:
Disney has lost the copyright to Mickey Mouse (Best of Luck in the Wild Mickey).
The boycott of X by advertisers has led to increased demand for LinkedIn ads. (LinkedIn ad prices soar)
TikTok Shop has hiked its commission charges and removed the subsidies (The holiday season is over).
Benedict Evans has been analysing and writing about tech for about 2 decades. He released his annual presentation for 2024 - Its about AI & Everything Else.
That’s a wrap on this week. Thank you for your time and attention. If you liked this week’s newsletter or found something interesting - please give me a like or drop a comment. Your support helps drive the discoverability of the newsletter.
Once again, thank you for your time. See you in your inbox next Wednesday.
Regards,
P.S. Morning Brew is killing it with their short-form video content. Here’s a short but brilliant video on the absurdity of Google killing cookies on Chrome. Watch it for some laughs and knowledge.
