Performance specialists make inroads into marketing

At Feldschlösschen, too, traditional and online measures are increasingly merging.FROM GREGOR WASERThe MK survey of digitally agile and active companies Feldschlösschen, Ikea, Travel.ch, Qualipet, Rivella and Alliance makes it clear: Marketing departments are being realigned, provided with online expertise. Because the number and variety of Internet marketing channels has increased significantly.Online provider as pioneerThe real pioneers when it comes to digital-savvy marketing teams are naturally the online providers. 90 percent of Travel.ch's sales are generated via the Internet. Accordingly, the online travel agency's marketing department has a large number of specialists with many years of experience with digital channels. Inka Nobel, CEO at Travel.ch, has divided her marketing crew into two areas: "The first area is performance marketing. Here we have a specialist specifically to deal with search engine advertising and affiliate marketing, and to manage the delivery of banner campaigns." In addition to lead generation, the performance specialist's main task is to ensure good conversions via relevant traffic. Inka Nobel cites campaign management and content as the second area: "Campaign management controls both online and offline marketing campaigns. The colleagues take over the interface management internally and externally and, of course, also have a creative assignment." In addition to the campaign topic, the content topics are in the foreground, he said. "These include the content design of the newsletters as well as the planning and implementation of social media topics and all online texts such as advertorials, which also help to create individual content and thus also generate advantages in the area of SEO," explains the Travel.ch boss.Digital campaigns on the riseAnother person takes care of design and e-shop at Travel.ch, delivers the design orders for campaigns and homepage and is an important interface to the e-shop team in IT. Harry H. Meier, Senior Spokesperson at Allianz Suisse, says: "Digitization and digital campaigns are also becoming increasingly important in the insurance industry. Allianz Suisse has therefore built up a small, powerful digital marketing team. The team works strongly across departments, as services and customer interaction cannot be separated. More resources are emerging from this collaboration." The team is divided into the areas of digital marketing, social media and content management, he said.Traditional measures are accompanied onlineThe supplier of pet food and accessories, Qualipet, also has a strong online foothold. Managing director Peter Rothenbühler has a marketing team that focuses on online channels and is divided into the areas of SEO/SEA, display (including affiliate), social media/newsletters, and offline measures (display, mailings, radio, TV). "Most traditional measures are accompanied online, and a large part of all online activities are linked to offline, if possible," explains Rothenbühler. "Larger campaigns are generally carried out across all channels, but in some cases only individual channels are used for communication.Integrate all channelsVirginia Calisi, PR Manager IKEA Switzerland, explains the personnel organization at the furniture manufacturer as follows: "We have a web team that mainly takes care of our website, the mobile site and the Ikea apps." In addition, he says, Ikea has a social media team that takes care of all social media platforms. "The web team is attached to the marketing department, and the social media team is attached to the PR department," Virginia Calisi explains. And when asked to what extent the traditional marketing measures have merged with the online measures, she says: "In designing all our marketing measures, we take an integrated approach that includes all channels. Starting with our own channels such as the catalog, Ikea.ch, social media, and Ikea Family channels, and extending to paid media such as TV, posters, and digital, a campaign concept is implemented in a way that is appropriate for the media. "The fact that traditional and online measures are increasingly merging is also confirmed by Bettina Sutter, spokeswoman at Feldschlösschen: "In view of an integrative marketing approach, it makes sense and is necessary to merge these areas. Switzerland is one of the countries with the highest smartphone/tablet penetration in the world and media is increasingly consumed via mobile devices - in the future, online channels will be counted among the classic communication channels." Feldschlösschen has specifically hired two specialists in its marketing department to deal purely with digital issues. Feldschlösschen counts on the help of external agencies to create online promotions on Facebook, book online advertising space, and create and customize web domains.Impart knowledgeAt Allianz Insurance Company, working with external agencies is just as much a matter of course. Harry H. Meier says: "Powerful campaigns are hardly conceivable without the support of specialized agencies. Monika Christener, Head of Corporate Communications at Rivella, describes the situation for the marketing department as follows: "As an SME with 270 employees, we do not have a team that deals exclusively with online channels. Rather, everyone in our marketing department is familiar with the new media. However, two product managers deal with it in depth and also have the broadest knowledge, which they then pass on internally." The communications product manager is responsible for all communication channels in traditional communications. She also places banner ads and video ads.Customer loyalty programs of great importance"Another product manager is mainly dedicated to below-the-line measures. This includes the social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube. Rivella counts on external help in the areas of social media and search engine marketing," says Christener. Customer loyalty programs - with Rivella code entry at www.rivella.ch/win -, search engine marketing, newsletters and communication via Facebook are of great importance to us," says Monika Christener, listing the most important disciplines. "An agency for the management of SEA campaigns is a must," says Inka Nobel of Travel.ch, "even if the performance specialist in our case comes from this area, it is important to have an agency on board here to ensure daily optimization." Travel.ch also works with agencies at times when it comes to online media campaigns. At present, Inka Nobel attaches the greatest importance to the discipline of performance marketing - "on the other hand," she says, "without branding, there is no marketing awareness.SEA for new customersQualitpet works with external agencies on traditional marketing measures, SEA, advertising production, and affiliate marketing. Qualipet CEO Peter Rothenbühler considers SEA and affiliate for new customers, as well as newsletters for existing customers, to be the most important disciplines at present. For Feldschlösschen, on the other hand, it is currently the social media platforms where the music plays. Bettina Sutter says: "Facebook is certainly an important channel for consumer-brand interaction, but channels like Twitter will also grow in Switzerland. "In terms of the number of Facebook likes, the companies surveyed have a fan community of varying strength. The leader is Rivella with 53302 likes, followed by Ikea with 50638, Travel.ch with 21526 likes, Feldschlösschen with 11340, Allianz Switzerland with 7187 and Qualipet with 4497 likes.Download the PDF of the article: 08_Digital_Marketing_ok