Fashion Retail and You.

To all my friends at IDM,
Launching my brand new blog. A collection of professional experiences, retail industry insights,marketing and advertising insights and more.

They say go back to basics. So here is my first blog, just about the basics of fashion retail.As we progress more will come to the fore.Till then like,comment,share and yeah keep supporting.Thank you! hashtag#professional hashtag#insights hashtag#marketingandadvertising hashtag#industryinsights hashtag#fashionretail https://lnkd.in/fyJtG27

Say yes to AI and Video

AI and video without the hype

Digital Marketers cannot deny the fact that AI has a huge impact on several marketing strategies. This is prevalent all over the world today. 

Whether it is a startup or multinational billion dollar company.AI plays a vital role in video creation as well as for promotion. By using AI tools and techniques marketers can gauge their targeted customers very specifically. Hence brand marketers, as well as companies, create videos which are viewed by their targeted groups in a short span of time. This is absolutely essential in today’s digital world.

We must know that building a brand that sells is still our primary goal! Marketing a business becomes confusing on many occasions when we look out to find the best way to build a brand for us. This is why it is important that we understand the digital domain and its pattern.

We live in a DIGITAL world today. We must realise that the very nature of this world is fragile.  Changes and upgradation are part of this world so it becomes a part of our survival mechanism that we stay updated with the digital trends. If is was survival of the fittest earlier, it is now survival of the digitally enabled in this fast evolving world. 

The burden of bringing customers to your business and building roads to your brand is often a difficult task. We have worked with hundreds and thousands of business owners in our various training programs. In this, we have found that over 91% business owners find it very difficult to generate regular leads for their business.

Therefore, many are struggling to grow or in most cases even sustain their business. For this, we must understand AI.

Few of us today interact with bipedal robots or take a ride in a driverless car, but our daily lives are increasingly affected by AI systems. These can recognise speech or images. Further, they can also analyse patterns of online behaviour (to detect credit card fraud or serve up appropriate adverts, for example).

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been seen in super-smart humanoid robot form.  The fact is that it is now more commonly implemented as behind-the-scenes algorithms that can process 'big' data. This accomplishes a range of relatively mundane tasks far more efficiently than humans can. All of us need to understand how to use this efficiently.

Little wonder that the recent boom in this kind of AI is being spearheaded by internet giants like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, Baidu and others.

Our attention spans are short as adults. In fact, a research done has shown it’s even shorter than gold fish because we have many more going on. In fact, Microsoft found that since the year 2000, the average attention span dropped from 12 seconds to eight seconds. 

This is why we need to explore AI. Listed below are some reasons why AI is used in video marketing as well as for promotion.

Personalization to targeted customers:

By using AI in video creation marketers can create a video to send a specific personalized message to his targeted group. This is easily possible when we understand the entire digital world. This creates a bond with customers which will in turn help and nurture their product or service and increase ROI as well. 

Real-time updates:

While viewing a particular video if viewers leave or click away then video creators can reduce the length of the video which will keep viewers engage perhaps they will view the full video and understand what message company is trying to convey them and they also simultaneously get engaged in it by taking required action for same.

Flawless blending of audio and video
Initially, the traditional practice of audio insertion was quite tedious because it was not possible simultaneously inserting audio along with the video which was being created or edited, But the use of AI  this method is also possible which saves large span time for a video being ready and published.

There are innumerable reasons why AI is used in video marketing. Because it posses some outstanding software involved in it which can create an amazing video which has a great knock-on human mind hence triggering their emotional quotient level. Some of the  tools enlisted below are

Magisto

This is one of the best ai enabled video marketing tool in which by mere uploading content it can edit video on the runtime basis which increases users involvement in a video for a longer span of time which gradually increase their engagement.

Rawshorts

By using AI technology,  this scans script and generates video which is ready for publishing this is the speed and by using drag and drop editor editing is also possible. This is the power AI has.

Adobe Premiere Pro CC

By using machine learning platform it is capable to match the skin tone of characters and surrounding through which a unique video can be created. For smooth functioning of video, it can automatically background music as well. 

We are now very well aware that the use of AI in video creation and promotion is very important as well as necessary to grow our venture to the level ahead. It is the pilot point where AI  involvement in video strategies yet there are many innovations and upgradations research level going on to enhance video creation and make the best use of the human  creative  mind to generate best videos which will be fruitful for organization as well as respective targeted groups which will give  huge benefits for  both organization and customers involved.

For this, we have incorporated all aspects of AI in our courses where we teach all about the importance of video in marketing.

Video
We show a video from - https://www.edureka.com that shows us this and a video from Siraj Patel that shows us this. Click on the linka below to see this -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jmsHaJ7xEA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYMjXD3G__Y

Do join us to become part of the digital world.

Click below of some of our courses that you could explore

Edupreneurship

Digipreneur

References:
1.  https://youplus.com/2019/01/22/how-ai-and-video-are-changing-the-world-of-digital-marketing/
2.       https://www.creadits.com/blog/3-ways-up-video-marketing-game-ai/
3.       https://www.chiefmarketer.com/using-ai-to-inform-your-video-marketing-strategy/
4.       https://theblog.adobe.com/how-ai-is-enabling-video-marketing-at-scale/
5.       https://emerj.com/ai-sector-overviews/artificial-intelligence-for-video-marketing-emotion-recognition-video-generation-and-more/
6.       https://www.smartdatacollective.com/fascinating-ways-ai-intersecting-video-marketing/
7.       https://www.analyticsindiamag.com/top-5-ai-powered-video-editing-tools/

Image Sources:www.google.com

  

Steps in Digitisation

Why really is digitisation ?

We need to understand digitalisation to make it thrive. This is the new world and we must know how to capitalise it.

Image Source :dubaiwebsitedesign.ae

The steps taken are very simple. Click here to see how we can easily make our business grow using the digital route. These are through various channels.

We just need to know it well to master it. This is not that simple unless we make a serious effort to understand this new world completely.

Is digital marketing necessary ?

Digital marketing is very similar to regular marketing. In traditional marketing: we have aa product that we need to sell, and we are looking to ways to engage with customers to build brand awareness and then take it to completion. Marketing always requires effort and engagement with the target customer.

Democratic system

Digital marketing encompasses more roles and skills than regular marketing but it is flexible, and versatile. This is the thing that makes it very fascinating. It is also very democratic as a person sitting at home can market to someone all over the world. It also costs much lesser.

Digital Strategy
A convincing marketing strategy you can use to sell your service or product is by telling true, credible stories. This is completely free in the online world. Earlier, it needed a physical book publisher, editing, distribution and so on but in the online world, all this is completely free. This needs to include awesome facts and incidents involving the product we are involved in. We can give specific and practical examples of what you have accomplished for clients. Stories could be written using real-life examples of projects we completed, specific problems we solved or successes we achieved. If our business is a start-up, create a realistic scenario about how we would help your ideal client overcome a typical challenge. This could be related through articles, blog posts, public speaking or by publishing a special report. There are many such options in the online world.

Skills to master

Essentially, some general areas that a digital marketing professional will need to work on in his/her career are given below

• Video/audio production

One would need to make it trendy to reach to a global audience and not just the local one

·      Mobile marketing

Everyone has mobiles nowadays. We must ensure our content is truly mobile friendly.

·      Search engine optimization (SEO)

One must study the words that people are likely to type when they look for the kind of products you are trying to sell. This is extremely essential to call the eyeballs of both current and potential clients.

·      Search engine marketing (SEM)

One must understand the language and type of mechanisms that search engines use to capitalize on them too. The time invested definitely adds value.

·      Social media

Here, we just need to use social media such as  Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Instagram.

·      E-commerce

When a customer is interested, we must use their interest to capitalize on this interest and immediately take them to a user friendly ecommerce platform to make things happen

·      Email marketing

One need not go to the post office at all. As soon as potential customers are known, we should store their email addresses and do our marketing through these.

·      Marketing automation

If emails can be automated and sent regularly, this surely adds a lot of value to the marketing endeavour. Other than products, greetings such as new year wishes and personalized messages where a person’s birthday and anniversary is also noted and remembered surely adds value here.

·      Content management

Content should e clear and specific so one would need to manage it well.

·      Web development

The web is your marketing space. Websites would need to be developed well with a good web design, copywriting and editing

·   

•       Analytics

We would need to analyse who are the people visiting our site so that we can talk in their language.

•    Business/marketing strategy

Once the above factors are well known, we can indeed formulate a complete digital marketing plan with no divides at all. This is certainly a challenge but an interesting one for sure. Further in digital marketing, the potential customers are immense.

We indeed need to work on

• Social Networking
• Social Media.
• Online PR.
• Display advertising.
• Email marketing.
• Search marketing.
• Game advertising.
• Affiliate marketing.
• Video advertising

Do click on  video advertising above to know more about this important strategy.

All this is not at all difficult. We just need to use social media such as Facebook,  Instagram, Twitter, Instagram, email channels, SMSes and videos are just a few of the ways we can indeed capitalize on this huge potential. We must essentially build our identity online.

Building an identity online

Essentially, we should understand that we need to build an identity in the digital world. This is no longer an option but a necessity for all of us.

On a social web we are defined by content. This is the bottom line.The image one shares on Instagram, the video on Facebook or the in-depth post that displays thought leadership are all about completing the online jigsaw puzzle. One piece at a time - our image, our influence and essentially, our online identity emerges. The more excited we are about the potential of content, the more effective it will be.

Every piece of content leaves a perception, a trail and becomes our virtual identity.The power of online content is such that once we release it and let it free, it moves about the web and into dimensions of cyberspace. After this, it is crawled and indexed by search engines and is shared on social networks and then emerges on search results.Many people are daunted by creating online. The fear of being judged and criticism fear holds many people back. We must know that unless we are open, we shall never grow.

Perhaps the first video, media and even writing may not be perfect. Still, they will evolve. After all, even diamonds start out a little rough.

We all know content rules, but what kind of content should we use? We should always use relevant and related content the reader can use. This approach should be able to attract users whom you wish to attract. After this, you must position you and your business as an expert in those areas. These needs to be thought about with imagination and creativity. For instance, if we are selling children’s toys, write about parenting tips. The content area should utilize the product if possible, but mostly it should have related content that attracts parents to your site. This is the way our brand would become popular and well visited.

This can also be seen on this video released by Manipal Prolearn.

Do join us to become part of the digital world.

Click below of some of our courses that you could explore

Edupreneurship 

Digipreneur

Exponential Growth by video-marketing

Leveraging video marketing for the best results.

Image source: hubspot.com

Brand and videos

According to a report from Hubspot research claims that 54% of consumers want to see videos for their brand. It absolutely acts as a catalyst in our marketing strategy. 

According to Forester research, 60sec video is equal to about 1.8 million words. The message conveyed through video has a massive impact on a targeted audience rather than infographics or images. Several crucial aspects of marketing like branding, lead generation, promotion of our product or service can be attained if video marketing used very precisely. In the coming future, it will have undue importance since it is one of the best tools to trigger target audience emotionally. A  recent survey claims that to seize audience attention marketers only have 2.7 secs (MARKETING MAG), so it is the time where you attract your audience. 

(ANIMOTO) claims that 46% of consumers watch more video on social media on than on television so this itself speaks how important is to include video marketing in our marketing funnel. A recent survey by (CISCO) claims overall 80% of all traffic will comprise video by 2021 on the web. A small list states some important reasons to have video marketing in our marketing strategy.

a) Generate Better ROI

Even video production is not very economical but it pays off big time but nowadays editing tools are quite affordable and are up to reach of every marketer. So if one makes the best use of video marketing strategy he is bound to get better ROI.

b)Video builds trust

Trust is the strongest pillar in the marketing strategy. Video plays a crucial role in building trust with your customers. Sometimes customers are slightly skeptical about online purchaser because of online scams. But if effective and smart video marketing strategy is implemented definitely there is a good scope of conversion from four targeted audience group.

c) Strengthens emotional connection with the audience

The only tool to trigger human emotions is because it offers a stack of attributes beyond traditional marketing medium. As a result, marketers can convey their message to a targeted audience. The best feature of video marketing is that it can explain all aspects of our product and service in a single step ie (Single Video)Hence entrepreneurs mainly have e explanatory video on their homepage of their websites.

Video marketing on social media pages gives good traffic reach to our content. As a result, there is a good engagement  which gives a marketer a good scope of conversion Hence video marketing is the most powerful strategy practice nowadays.

d) B2B and B2C sales

Video marketing also plays a key role in B2B & B2C sales.  Research by(GOOGLE) claims 70%  of B2B  customers prefer video on their track of purchase. If a marketer is in position to close B2B sales online, then he is hitting customers through multiple channels like a blog, email, etc.

It is rightly said that 'Content is a king'. Through video marketing this can be definitely proved by adding and generating relevant content to our video.

As stated earlier it's not  very costly to have a video marketing strategy in our marketing funnel small investment can generate outstanding results only fragrance required is creativity which will have a good scope of delighting customers  through fine quality content having in it, Hence we cannot deny the fact video marketing is very powerful and robust strategy of marketing. The only step required is to produce relevant content and keep engaging with our targeted group and mould our strategies as per customers requirements. which will, in turn, give good results.

e)Better engagement

With video becoming the language that reaches out to everyone, we must add video for better engagement.

f) Virtual identity 

These create our virtual identity. In fact, identities around a digital hub are now big business. For instance, just recently the LinkedIn “Digital Hub” was sold to Microsoft for $26.2 billion after being established only 14 years ago.

Today, we must be visible online everywhere. It is no longer a choice. This we must do to survive in the new digital world.

In sum : Invest in the future

We need to know that change is necessary in the fast paced world of today. 

After all, we live in a DIGITAL world and the very nature of this world is fragile. Changes and upgradation form the basic properties of this world. Hence, it needs to be part of our survival mechanism that we stay updated in the digital world.

Essentially, it is all about changing one’s mindset. Our mindset on this must be one of investing in the future and not as a painful expense to be tolerated. The return from this digital machine will definitely surprise us when it is done well.

Do see the following video that also tells us this

https://frozenfire.com/video-marketing/

Reference : 
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/video-marketing
https://biteable.com/blog/tips/video-marketing-statistics/
https://www.wyzowl.com/video-marketing-statistics-2019/
https://www.lemonlight.com/blog/67-video-marketing-stats-you-need-to-know-for-2019/

I'm lovin' it !! - McDonalds digital strategy

An example of great digital innovation can easily been seen at the ubiquitous mcdonalds. This has not happened overnight. They have made it happen and we can too, if we learn lessons from them.

Image source : McDonalds website

Bold Societal Impact

McDonald’s is growing fast. Its Velocity Growth Plan is an aggressive one. Its goal is to create value for stakeholders by serving more customers more often. It aims to retain customers by fortifying strengths, with focuses on breakfast and family occasions. It also plans to regain lost customers by improving food taste and quality, and offering more convenience and value. McDonald’s also wants to convert customers from consumers of burgers and fries to those who buy coffee and snacks.

Digital innovation

These innovations usually take years to deliver, especially when rolled out across several geographies, but McDonald’s is building an application network that uses the Anypoint Platform. 

This application network connects e-commerce systems and other back-end databases, creating reusable APIs (application program interface) for customers, locations, orders, offers, and nutrition. Disparate systems can be integrated to create customer-facing applications for web, mobile, social, and restaurant kiosks.

McDonald’s has successfully launched these new disruptions to streamline the menu and the ordering process and has introduced effective initiatives that have changed customers’ perception of the brand and value. Customers see that an elevated customer journey makes their food taste better.

It is a game-changer in the fast-food industry, offering a different level of convenience to its millions of customers in the US, and worldwide.

Digital innovation

With the kiosk, the ordering process shifts from the cashier to the customer. In-store customers place their orders on a giant touchscreen menu, the same way they would when ordering online through the app. The digital kiosk allows customers to view the whole menu and customize their orders, and pay via credit card. Customers paying cash can proceed to the cashier. Customers then receive a claim card, sit down, and wait for the food to be delivered to their table.

McDonald’s Velocity Growth Plan

Golden Arches' This has ingrained so much in the customer's minds that when you travel on the highway and you are really hungggrrryy!!! you just look out for the BIG M, isn't it? Not to forget the other brand elements i.e the packaging, the trays, the fries holder etc.they just don't let you slip their name out of your mind. Boy, you are hooked!! This is a departure from the traditional ordering method, which relied on the cashier to process orders and payments. McDonald’s believes this shift to automation personalizes and elevates the ordering experience of customers.

Sounds familiar to your ears? You guessed it right, that's McDonald's. It is the leading global food service retailer in the world with 37,000 locations across 120 countries. Whew!! that's huge. It's amazing to see how this brand has been there for decades and has constantly innovated itself and been on top of mind of its customers, be it the die-hard daily ones, frequent or occasional ones.

They know our attention spans are short as adults and a research done has shown it’s even shorter than gold fish because we have many more going on. In fact, Microsoft found that since the year 2000 (or about when the mobile revolution began) the average attention span dropped from 12 seconds to eight seconds. 

In essence, we only have about 5 to 10 seconds to really throw a pitch at customers, and if you don’t get them interested in that length of time then they’re on to something else.

Knowing this, they have designed a lovely elevator pitch, “I’m loving it”

What better way to connect with the millennials and first-time voters who love  McDonald's, social media it is!! The video has been doing the rounds on social media and has gone viral on Whatsapp,FB Twitter.Not only did the brand talk to them about their responsibility but also gave them the assurance that they would get what they want only if they exercise their right first. And I am sure that the customers will enter a McDonald's beaming with pride after they have voted and order their favorite and biggest BigMac!!

They even have a video for it... like given below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBlD2N_AwgI

Let us know what do you think about this piece of communication. 

We will be back with more brands like these with innovative communication soon. Till then, remember the tagline I’m lovin it !''

Begin now. Join us to get guided to enter the digital world todayExplore our referral linkshttp://digitalmarketing.ac.in/course/edupreneurship/ http://digitalmarketing.ac.in/course/digipreneur

Your critical comments are welcome or write to me at sumkul@gmail.com.