Ecommerce Competition…
Not for the Faint of Heart!
2017 will be an industry changing year in many aspects. So says numerous industry professionals who identify marketplace trends for major digital marketing companies.
Large, well-known “brick & mortar” retailers are actively working to develop significant traction in the digital marketplace as consumers are increasingly transitioning to online shopping. When you add to that, the sheer number of new startups that are launching every week to gain a foothold in ecommerce, it is obvious that digital competition for retail sales will be unparalleled in 2017.
As competition continues to build for digital retail consumer business, it is apparent that digital marketing effectiveness will need to increase conversion efficiencies in as many ways as possible. Such efforts will result in a competitive edge that is the difference between market growth or contraction for individual marketplace sellers.
More Marketing Effort for the Same Buyers…
As the New Year kicks off in the digital marketplace, there are certain accepted data sets that need to be adjusted for. Three main ones are:
- More competition for essentially a similar number of potential digital customers.
- Marketing content production is expected to increase exponentially through the year 2020.
- Current marketing content consumption is expected to plateau within the next 24 months.
Mark Schaefer, a leading digital marketing developer, refers to the above data as “content shock.” This is when the competition for eyeballs over the web will increasingly heat up, to the point that a company repeating the same marketing efforts in 2017, which they used in 2016, will result in far less sales conversions.
According to him and many others, effective ecommerce marketers (sellers) will need to produce exceptional digital content in order to stand out in 2017! If this effort is beyond their capabilities, then they will need to focus on other marketing and advertising tactics to drive their content to the forefront of their target market.
70:20:10 Model
Both Schaefer and others like Scott Brinker believe that one of the key’s to ensuring your digital sales targets are hit for 2017 is securing the best talent you can afford when it comes to writing your marketing content for the products and services you are selling. You cannot afford to scrimp on hiring the best wordsmiths and website developers to represent your company in the digital marketplace for 2017. Ignoring this fact could be a commitment to disaster.
They also believe you need to employ a model which allows for innovative and refreshingly new types of content. They suggest using the 70:20:10 model to structure your content and marketing strategy so that you are spending 70% of your companies time on content you KNOW to be effective, 20% on innovative and new types of content that MOST LIKELY will drive sales and 10% of your resources (time/effort) on riskier efforts that COULD drive sales for major advances.
Not for the Faint of Heart!
In short, attract excellent content development talent. Contract with the best content development teams you can afford. Invest in the 70:20:10 model, and be prepared to battle with other marketplace sellers who will be following the same rules…and won’t be faint of heart in doing so!
