There were a lot of Buzzwords being ‘pinged’ about at the OMS last Tuesday: customer involvement, optimised content, social media marketing, Twitter, SEO, iPhone applications and the usual ‘Ws’ to name a few. What I found most interesting however was ‘test and learn’. After a week at Glastonbury this seminar was enough to keep me entertained (which as you can imagine is a hard act to follow).
The mantra of LastMinute.com’s communication team, ‘test and learn’ seems like the sensible, straightforward and rather common sense approach to a strategy. So why are so many organisations still struggling to get it right?
Firstly, the company aim is simple – thinking of better ways to make your free time go even further. Last Minute.com then trim their communication objectives down to four and ensure each action meets all or a combination of them:
- Time-related
- Personalised
- Relevant
- Location-based
From my perspective, this case study demonstrates how easy it is to bring traditional communications online – a concern for many businesses looking to embrace new techniques.
Most significantly for Last minute.com, developing iPhone applications such as nearu and fonefood (both are downloads to search the local area for activities) have enabled them to address all objectives together – a task which is traditionally difficult to achieve. Incorporating Twitter into the marketing mix has also enhanced newer initiatives of the business like the Reviews section and increased traffic remarkably. When Tweeting, they research 1-on-1 conversations about Last Minute.com and what’s being Re-tweeted as well.
It wasn’t just their clear strategy that impressed me either. Their dedication to customer and market-related research is phenomenal, as are the monitoring and evaluation sectors of the business – something I will be discussing in my next blog posts. Knowing what’s working and what’s not on demand is one of the best elements of online marketing and I’ll continue to bang-on about it!
Overall, it was a great event and I hope everyone else found it useful.
Look out for me and the rest of the Webformula team at next years event.
* Test and learn – attract and retain consumers in this ever-changing market with Simon Thompson, European Managing Director
Have a great weekend! I’m off to Bristol to check out the Banksy exhibition.
Lauren
Unreal Online PR and Marketing 