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Yesterday I had the privilege to look at the preliminary data from the Marketing portion of our upcoming State of Retailing Online Report. This is going to be released and made available to our members to correspond with our upcoming 2009 Marketing Workshop in Arizona which is only a week away. One point that struck me, (but did not necessarily surprise me) was the amount of retailers who are re-examining their marketing spend across the different channels, especially with a close eye on paid search.
Discussing similar issues with one of our members, she mentioned that it feels like she is forced to walk a “spend and grow tightrope.” In this economy everyone is asked to go over their marketing spend with a fine toothed comb, but the need to grow, innovate, and succeed is as much of a priority as ever. In other words, our members are being asked to do more with less. No matter how much you look at the large amount of data which is widely available for retailers, questions arise about whether there is still MORE you can do to make your marketing channels more efficient, streamlined, and optimized.
We are taking this optimization theme through all of our Shop.org events this year, and we will be addressing it from a variety of perspectives throughout the two days of our Marketing Workshop. John Thompson, SVP and GM of BestBuy.com will discuss how they “sweated their assets” to success. We have an exciting panel on “Measuring What Matters” where will get retailer perspectives on attribution and incrementality. Can you can really have an optimized marketing program if the data you are examining is based on faulty assumptions?
Finally, the Marketing Workshop will close with top ranked Shop.org speaker and NetConcepts Founder Stephan Spencer showing first hand how to improve your SEO program and he promises “90 Minutes of Pure ROI”. Knowing Stephan, he will deliver what he promises. When you come to this session, bring your laptop computer and prepare to work, not just listen. You will be able to follow along with Stephan and make changes to your site in real-time that will improve your program. If paid search ROI is a priority, this might be the most valuable 90 minutes you spend at an industry event this year.
As a Shop.org member, I invite you to use your free pass and attend our Marketing Workshop. You will be in a unique environment to share, learn, network, and grow. When people ask how they can get involved in the Shop.org community there are many ways, but the one thing for sure is the more you put into it, the more you will get out of it. Looking forward to seeing everyone in Scottsdale!
Larry Joseloff
VP, Content
joseloffl@shop.org
