Month: May 2014
Integrated Marketing Campaigns, Multimedia Communications & Tory Burch
What is needed to create a successful integrated marketing campaign? How do you best reach out to your audience using multimedia communication techniques? Ask Tory Burch—this company seems to have all the answers.
According to the Tory Burch Facebook page, “Tory Burch is an American lifestyle brand that embodies the personal style and sensibility of its CEO and designer Tory Burch”. Founded in 2004, this brand is known for its colorful prints, cutting edge designs, and luxury materials. Tory Burch’s target market consists of “social media savvy women ages 20-40” (A Social Business Plan for the Tory Burch Foundation, 2012). Keeping the target audience in mind, Tory Burch’s marketing strategy consists of various multimedia communication channels including Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Google+, and Tumblr), The Tory Blog, The Tory Burch App (in which 80% of users return to on a regular basis), and weekly e-blasts (Miller, 2013). Traditional communications mediums, such as commercials and print advertising, are rarely used by the brand. In an interview with Miki Berardelli, CMO of Tory Burch, he mentioned that the Tory Burch brand has, in the past, not had a very large marketing budget. They have needed to think strategically and create an integrated marketing plan that allowed them to achieve their goals while spending far less money than their competitors (Indvik, 2011).
Another way that Tory Burch is utilizing multimedia communications to reach customers is through cross promoting their brand with Fit Bit: “The fusion of fashion into technology will be an important part of the widespread adoption of wearable technologies, like Fitbit products” (Fitbit Partners with Tory Burch to Develop Fitbit Flex Accessories Collection, 2014). Tory Burch is creating a line of accessories centered on the Fitbit activity tracker. I think this a very strategic move for Tory Burch. Social media savvy women ages 20-40 that are interested in Tory Burch fashion may also be very interested in physical fitness. Also, if this group of women is able to spend $250 on a pair of shoes, they are most likely able to afford the Fitbit, which retails at around $100. Tory Burch is expanding their reach into the market and will be able to utilize Fitbit’s multimedia communications channels in addition to their own.
As Tory Burch continues to create integrated marketing strategies that incorporate various multimedia communication channels, I believe that the target audience will become further engaged with the brand. As a member of their specified target audience, I feel that their marketing strategy is very successful. I want to buy a new pair of shoes every time I see their e-blast or social media post!
Resources:
A Social Business Plan for the Tory Burch Foundation. (2012, May 03). Retrieved May 28, 2014, from Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/SeraMichael/team-tory-presentation2
Fitbit Partners with Tory Burch to Develop Fitbit Flex Accessories Collection. (2014, Janruary 07). Retrieved May 27, 2014, from Business Wire: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140107005701/en/Fitbit-Partners-Tory-Burch-Develop-Fitbit-Flex#.U4Ybn3JdV8E
Indvik, L. (2011, November 26). How Digital Marketing Fueled Fashion Label Tory Burch’s Global Expansion. Retrieved May 28, 2014, from Mashable: http://mashable.com/2011/11/26/tory-burch-cmo-miki-berardelli/
Miller, G. (2013, October 18). Tory Burch’s Not-So-Secret Secret Weapon: The Customer Experience (and Technology). Retrieved May 28, 2014, from Upstream Commerce: http://upstreamcommerce.com/blog/2013/10/18/tory-burchs-not-so-secret-secret-weapon-customer-experience-and-technology
Not Your Grandma’s Marketing
So I have a cool job. A really cool job actually. I get paid good money to be on Facebook and Twitter all day. I’m a social media manager and, in my opinion, have the best job in the world. Ten years ago, job’s like mine didn’t exist. Most people didn’t even really know what social media was. Today, we can’t live without it. How many times do you think that you check your social media accounts per day? How many times do you actually check them? Tomorrow, keep a running tally of your social media account usage. I think you’ll be really surprised.
Over just the past ten years, social media has not only changed how we communicate in our everyday lives, but has also drastically changed the dynamic of corporate marketing. Just when researching how marketing has changed since the appearance of social media, the University of Florida’s social media program ad popped up on top of my screen! That just happens to be the master’s degree program that I am currently enrolled in. How convenient that a marketer can target you based on what you’re already searching for online. Can the more traditional advertising mediums target people with such precision? Absolutely not.
One of the biggest differences between social media marketing and traditional marketing is the ability to communicate with customers on an entirely new level. According to the infographic below, customer interaction was “well considered and reviewed” in traditional marketing. When you had 30 days to carefully construct an advertising campaign for a magazine, you were able to get buy-in for corporate stakeholders as well as from the legal and PR teams. Since social media has become a prominent marketing medium, “well considered and carefully reviewed” happens on the fly. Companies now have to put more trust and responsibility in the hands of the social marketing team.
In contrast with the typical customer complaints associated with traditional marketing, when a social media manager responds to the customer, both the complaint and response are available for anyone to see. Customer service exhibited by the social media manager has to be impeccable. Not only will the customer in which you are responding to see it, but other customers, potential customers, and your competitors will see it as well. It is more important than ever to not only have great customer service, but respond in a timely manner. Thanks to social media, this is now a marketer’s job. How great would you feel about a company if it took them three days to respond to your post? Not great.
Which leads me to another key difference in traditional marketing versus social media marketing—availability. If a customer starts a rant on social media on a Saturday night, it’s the social media manager’s job to respond to the customer and try to keep the situation from escalating. Customers don’t care if it’s outside of normal business hours; they want to be listened to and get an answer. This was not the case in traditional marketing. If a customer calls and leaves a voicemail on a corporate customer service hotline on a Saturday night, they don’t really expect to receive a return call until Monday morning. Even if they do expect to get an immediate response, other current and potential customers don’t know that. They can’t see a call log or voicemail. Social media changes that customer service dynamic and establishes the need for availability on part of the social media manager.
Increased two-way communication and the readiness to react are just two of the many differences that we’ve seen between traditional marketing and social media marketing. As technology continues to advance and as people become more and more dependent on social media, I believe that the differences between the two will continue to increase and develop. Ten years ago, marketers didn’t see any other way of doing marketing aside from commercials, print ads, and tradeshows. Looking ten years into the future, I’m sure there will be entirely new marketing mediums and new job titles to go along with them. Who would have ever thought that “Social Media Manager” jobs would exist?
What are your thoughts on the evolution of marketing? Do you think social media will continue to evolve? I’d love to know your thoughts!
Hi, I’m Whitney!
As a new semester begins, I am looking forward to spending more time here on my blog. Summer to me always means playing in the pool, soaking up the sun, taking my dogs to the park, and getting to spend some much needed time on the pottery wheel, experimenting with new ideas. Although I will be very busy with school work, I will still make time to enjoy life this summer.
If this is your first time visiting my blog, “Welcome”. Stay awhile and leave a comment. I’d love to know that you stopped by!
A few things about me that I think you should know about me:
• Graduate student at the University of Florida. Go Gators!
• Georgia State University Alumni (marketing)
• Digital Marketing Coordinator at Southwire Company
• Love playing in the mud… on the pottery wheel!
• Coupon Mom doesn’t have anything on me (trust me, ask my family!)
• Two dogs: Maggie (Boxador) and Dixie (Pit Bull)
• Huge Baseball fan! Go Braves!!
• Passionate about Anthropology
“Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game!” -Babe Ruth
The Social Potter 