My Biggest Digital Marketing Surprise…

Going into this class, I felt like I didn’t know much about the digital side of marketing. I’ve been in marketing for 10 years, but it’s always been focused on the traditional side of things. As I went through each learning plan, however, I realized that I knew way more than I thought! It’s interesting to me that I’ve been somewhat afraid of the big scary world of digital marketing, but it was only a self-limiting belief.

Even though I already had a solid base, I still learned so much. A lot of what I learned had to do with looking at things in different ways. For example, in one of the expert sessions, the expert said that email is the one universal app that everyone with a smartphone has. It was something I already “knew,” but I didn’t really know it until thinking of it that way.

I’ve already started to implement some of the things I’ve learned in this class in my two marketing jobs. I’ve started creating marketing plans for each organization, and I’ve been able to branch out from just Facebook where their efforts were solely focused previously. Probably the biggest thing that I’ll take away from this class, however, is the information on paid search marketing and Google Ads. That’s always been an area that I was a little fuzzy on, but now I feel like I know enough about it that I can start to dive into it.

Speaking of marketing plans, below is the marketing plan I came up with for the hottest new clothing boutique, It’s the Knit.

It’s the Knit

It’s the Knit is a small clothing boutique that specializes in handmade, ethically-sourced knit goods. They already have a cult following on social media, but they haven’t done any targeted marketing, relying solely on word-of-mouth. They’re looking to expand their reach beyond their cult following and hope to open a new boutique in a neighboring city.

It’s the Knit sells handmade, ethically-sourced goods.

Customer Influence Efforts

Because they are an existing boutique with a cult following that is looking to expand, they already have an interested customer base and don’t need to focus much on demand generation. Instead they will focus most of their efforts on demand harvesting. They also have some customers that shop at their boutique in the neighboring city, so their secondary focus is on loyalty building to turn those customers into regular, long-term customers.

Since their niche is a younger, more-environmentally conscious group, most of their marketing spend will be digital with very little spent on traditional forms of marketing.

Channels and Tactics

Word-of-mouth has already brought success for It’s the Knit’s original boutique, so social media will play the largest role in their demand harvesting. Their brand is a little quirky and doesn’t take itself too seriously, so they will reshare a lot of existing content with their own spin. Memes and jokes that can be tied into their product lines are usually a hit. Because of the cult following for their products and brand, they also rely on a lot of user generated content to showcase their products in the real world and let their customers do the selling for them.

The top social media platforms It’s the Knit is on are Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. In addition to their page, they also have a group where loyal customers convene and discuss the brand and relevant stories around it. They will continue to use this platform as their demand grows. Because the brand is built on its story, they utilize Instagram to show the products’ back stories. When the owner sources new products, she builds a story around the place and the people who make them. This kind of engagement is what draws their loyal following. They will continue to grow this channel heavily.

The linkbacks from their social media buzz gives It’s the Knit a solid SEO ranking. They are not going to spend much on paid search marketing either since they already have a large following and the customers they’re targeting are already aware of them and are interested in their products.

It’s the Knit has been collecting its customers’ email addresses since the beginning of their operations. They are building customer loyalty by sending offers to their customers and informing them about new exciting products. What really builds their customer loyalty, however, is their newsletters that build the story of their brand.

Ongoing Implementation

As their brand continues to grow, It’s the Knit will move to online sales. While their website currently serves as more of a storytelling and branding site, they will invest in the infrastructure needed to turn it into a secure sales platform as well.

Once they have entered the online sales arena, they will focus more of their marketing spend on demand harvesting. They have an excellent local following with very loyal customers, but they’ll be expanding globally and will be gathering new customers who have never heard of them before.

They will continue to use their website as a storytelling and brand building platform in addition to their sales platform. Because of this, they will build interest and gain new emails for their list. Their newsletter will continue to keep customers informed and build their customer loyalty.

It’s the Knit will need to expand its staff to accommodate its growth.

As the brand continues to grow, they will also hire more staff to focus solely on their marketing efforts. What began as a small clothing boutique will gain worldwide notoriety in their niche. Originally the marketing team consisted of the owner and the outside firm she contracted to help with the marketing efforts. Now that the brand is so large, there is value in bringing the operations in-house.

In Conclusion

“Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.”

J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

I really enjoyed this class. I was surprised by how much I actually knew, but at the same time, the technology and best practices has evolved quite a bit. It was a nice reminder that we are never really done learning. To stay on top of the game and be effective marketers, we have to keep growing.