M&S Restructures Digital Marketing Team to Focus on Value Customers Can Trust
M&S has a new focus on value that customers can trust. It has revamped its marketing campaigns to reflect this strategy.
One of their strategies involves leveraging photo-sharing social network TikTok. In 2022, M&S partnered with TikTok creators to create fun and creative video content.
Another strategy involves breaking down data silos to combine online and in-store customer data. This allows for a more unified customer profile and delivers hyper-personalized experiences.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
M&S has restructured its digital marketing team to build on the retail giant’s omnichannel momentum. Chief digital officer Katie Bickerstaffe has “reset” the team to focus on building a compelling customer ecosystem. The new strategy aims to attract and retain customers by creating a more relevant, targeted, and integrated experience.
The company has also reworked its website to make it more shoppable, with a clear product structure and new navigation. It has also refocused its social media presence, with a clearer image and a more focused approach to multichannel.
It has also worked to streamline its processes by introducing automation and digitization, and it has made additional cost cuts to fund further digital investments. It has also tapped into viral trends on platforms like TikTok to fuel organic content, such as food hauls and reviews. Moreover, the firm has also encouraged its employees to stay with the organization through monetary and non-monetary rewards, flexible working hours, learning and development facilities, effective diversity management etc.
Email Marketing
Emails are a great way to nurture your subscribers, build loyalty, and drive conversions. To maximize their effectiveness, make sure your email subject lines and call-to-actions are friendly, approachable, and conversational. Also, make sure your links are spaced out and far away from each other to prevent your subscriber from accidentally clicking the wrong one.
M&S has a strong focus on SEO to help its online customers find what they’re looking for. Their SEO strategy includes keyword research, ad copy optimization, and landing page optimization. They also use targeted search ads and remarketing to increase visibility and conversions. M&S also uses a social media marketing strategy to reach new customers. They have a number of different platforms that they use to promote their products, including Instagram and Style Finder. The company has also experimented with virtual influencers to connect with a younger audience.
Social Media Marketing
M&S’s digital marketing strategy focuses on using social media platforms to attract and convert new customers. It uses paid social ads and search engine optimization (SEO) to increase visibility and promote products to the right audiences at the best times.
Previously, the company’s marketing efforts were focused on traditional channels, but in 2022, it changed its approach to create a fresh image and seek out new audiences. It partnered with popular TikTok creators to generate fun and relevant content, and it also tapped into viral trends like food haul videos to drive engagement and interest in local stores.
The brand’s Must-Haves campaign celebrates M&S clothing and home products that offer high value, great quality and versatility. The campaign is supported by Facebook and Instagram ads as well as in-store displays, window takeovers and M&S.com homepage banners. The campaign also leverages the unified customer profile to deliver hyper-personalised experiences. The campaign is a result of the M&S restructure that shifted the focus of the marketing team to be more seasonally relevant, inspirational and agile in utilising digital channels.
Mobile Marketing
The M&S team aims to make mobile a key part of every element of the Clothing and Home business. The team is using digital channels to achieve the business’s targets, including driving one third of sales online and increasing customer share with busy mums and dads.
They are aiming to reach new audiences through Instagram and Style Finder, a visual search tool. They are also experimenting with geo-targeted ads that show what is available at a nearby store. This is a great way to get people in the door and then show them what you have to offer, and it’s also measurable.
They are merging online customer data with data from their Sparks loyalty program and data from Ocado to create unified customer profiles. This allows them to hyper-personalize customer communications and improve online product recommendations. For example, switching from generic messages to personalized recommendations on a website carousel increased click-through rates by 80% and add-to-cart rates by 56%.