american apparel internet marketing plan
TRANSCRIPT
American Apparel Internet Marketing Plan
By: Isabel Balla, Lindsay Behar, Sarah Lombard, Lauren
Ryan & Carter Smalley
MKTG 49100 02
Fall 2015
Introduction
American Apparel is known for their controversial outerwear attire. Most of their
advertisements are racy, provocative, inappropriate and objectifying. The founder of
American Apparel and previous CEO, Dov Charney, was accused of treating employees
poorly, charged with sexual assault and was criticized for implementing sexualized
advertisements featuring young women into the campaign strategy. On October 15th,
2015, American Apparel filed for bankruptcy under their newest CEO, Paula Schneider.
Schneider had a plan to revamp American Apparel’s campaign strategy and get the
company out of debt. American Apparel’s primary target market consists of males and
females who are 13-18 years old who enjoy high energy environments such as concerts,
festivals and clubs. They wear bright colored and revealing clothing. The secondary
target market are males and females who are 19-35 years old who are looking for more
basic and neutral clothing to wear casually.
Audit on American Apparel’s Existing Strategies
App
Currently, American Apparel does not have an application in the Apple App
Store. What does come up is “American Apparel Halloween Costume Contest”.
However, this appears after five other major competitors: Topshop US, Urban Outfitters,
Dote Shopping, AEO | Aerie and Stylekick (see Appendix E). This app was last updated
in 2009 and was used as a tactic to get customers to submit Halloween costumes created
from their clothing.
American Apparel sends out a high frequency of emails to its subscribers who
sign up to be on the list via the brand’s website (see Appendix F). The call to action is
small and there is not much incentive to click-through as the sense of urgency is in small
print and it is unclear to the reader of what is clickable (see Appendix G). In one
particular email, a promotional offer is available, and when customers click on this
promotion, they are redirected to a microsite specific to that promotion. The email system
does honor the CAN SPAM Act by providing addresses, unsubscribe options and valid
senders. In many senses, the email campaign sacrifices design for ethics as the emails do
not stand out in one’s inbox.
American Apparel’s Instagram handle is @americanapparelusa. There is much
more interaction on Instagram versus their other social media platforms (their Instagram
account has 1.5 million followers). In the bio of the Instagram there is a link to a “shop
the feed” feature (see Appendix C). This link takes users to a separate website
(http://like2b.uy/americanapparelusa) where, ideally, they can click on each post and
shop the item(s) that are featured in the post. However, this feature shows major
inconsistency. For example, if a user clicks on some posts, they are taken to a microsite
of related items, like a post on “the little black dress” would take users to a microsite of
curated black dresses. Some posts take users directly to the featured item on American
Apparel’s website, and when others are clicked, a lightbox appears of the items that are
featured in the post on the like2b.uy website. This inconsistency creates a conflict in the
customer journey because they are not redirected to the website in the same way each
time.
567,000 users follow the brand on Twitter. There is minimal interaction with
followers, and most of the posts are simply the posts the brand makes on Instagram. The
brand’s posts are mostly provocative which creates the sense of scandal and might steer
potential customers away. It is clear that the social media coordinator for American
Apparel uses Hootsuite since there is a great use of shortened links via ow.ly, which
direct users to the brand’s landing pages and microsites (see Appendix B).
Website
The website URL for the brand is americanapparel.net, but the company also owns
americanapparel.com and redirects users to the .net site if they type in the .com URL.
According to Compete.com, American Apparel’s website has seen a 21.02% decline in
visitors from August to September of 2015 (see Appendix J). Most of the visitors come
from Google (See Appendix P). There is a 21% bounce rate which shows customers are
not that engaged with the website (See Appendix Q). The current keyword analysis
shows a lack of diverse keywords (Appendix R). Much of the content on the website’s
homepage is below the fold and there are no prominent calls to action on the landing
page. When reviewing the website’s page source, we found that the company uses beacon
technology, lightboxes via FancyBox, monetized ads, Google analytics and javascript.
Lightbeam enabled us to view the third party add-ons that American Apparel’s website
uses. We found the company uses a number of third party hosts to manage retargeting,
optimize bid traffic, create display ad formats, email marketing, customer engagement
platforms, sponsored ad, analytics, and performance data (see Appendix M).
Key Recommendations Introduction
After analyzing the current situation of American Apparel, we are suggesting a
few key recommendations to improve functionality of web services as well as increase
customer interaction to create a seamless customer journey. We suggest the company
makes some tweaks to the website to secure a proper vanity URL as well as follow above
the fold tactics in order to create better calls to action. We believe there are some changes
to the website functionality that could be made in order to increase customer engagement
and feedback. This will create better customer journeys as well as build customer
relationships. There is also an opportunity for American Apparel to revamp its social
media platforms, as well as to introduce a blog that would further improve customer
interaction. Mobile is a huge opportunity for American Apparel as well. American
Apparel, as mentioned before, does not currently have an app, however its competitors
do. We believe this is an area that would create major attraction for the brand. Overall,
our recommendations serve to improve web functionality and create a seamless customer
journey while resolving issues of poor brand image.
Budget
After doing extensive research on American Apparel, we found that the brand has
a significantly large media budget. Advertising Age sees American Apparel “as one of
the top-growth retail brands.” Marketing spending is also up, even as major retailers cut.
In 2009, American Apparel spent $16 million on measured media, quadrupling the $4
million it spent in 2007, according to TNS Media Intelligence (Zmuda). Based on these
numbers, we are choosing to utilize a portion of this $16 million for the digital media
budget. According to Ad Age, the media budget accounts for over 50% of spend and
digital marketing accounts for a third of marketing spend. As a team, we’ve decided to
allocate $5.5 million to the total digital media budget to account for the rapid growth of
digital.
App
We have allocated $1,000,000 for the development, production, testing and labor
for the app. We expect the app to be fully customized to help facilitate sales for the
brand. Integrating e-commerce features could be the most expensive element in
developing the American Apparel App.
Social Media
For social media, we have set aside $2,500,000 for promoted and sponsored posts
on Facebook and Instagram. For sponsored posts on Instagram, we have allocated
$1,000,000 of our media budget to gain 50,000 impressions. According to Ad Age, the
running rate for a sponsored photo on Instagram is $20 for a thousand impressions. We’re
also going to invest $750,000 into promoted posts on Facebook to specifically retarget
purchasers of American Apparel. Also, we have decided to move American Apparel in a
new direction. According to AdWeek, “$750,000: The amount Snapchat demands per
“Brand Story” ad (Advertising Age).” We are investing $750,000 in Snapchat to add a
brand story. The brand story will be generated by the team at American Apparel with
assistance from brand influencers.
Website
For one of the largest website updates, we will be changing the name of American
Apparel’s website. The name will change from www.americanapparel.net to
www.americanapparel.com. We will be allocating $250,000 to update and change the
website. We have also allocated an additional $250,000 for website maintenance and
additional enhancements.
Paid Search
In paid search, we’ve allocated $1,000,000 to launch a stronger search engine
marketing initiative. We intend to use Google AdWords to purchase critical keywords
that are related to the American Apparel brand. We intend to continue American
Apparel’s use of enhanced campaigns via Google AdWords. Instead of using exact match
campaigns, we are proposing using broad match campaigns to increase traffic.
Email Marketing
American Apparel’s email marketing functions are very minimal and could
benefit from some enhancements. In an effort to help raise consumer engagement over
email, we are investing $500,000 for email optimization. This will be used to create
stronger visuals, copy and calls-to-action. We will continue use a third-party host, Scene7
Adobe to enhance emails and maximize brand recall.
To see the full budget, please see Appendix N.
Detailed Recommendations for American Apparel Social Media
There are many areas to improve upon through the social media landscape for
American Apparel. For example, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter need to be revamped
in order to attract more consumers. Overall, there needs to be more brand engagement
with consumers through each platform via comments and feedback. On Instagram, we
advise that there should only be photographs of articles of clothing that is available on the
American Apparel website. Additionally, there should be a wider range of content aside
from standard photographs. If there were a video clip under ten seconds showing off a
few products, whether it is styled or new products, it will set American Apparel apart
from their competitors. Another strategy that could be implemented on Instagram is
setting up contests for their followers. Contests could include a gift card, styling session,
or a social media takeover. This would be beneficial for American Apparel, as it would
excite and show value towards their customers. Additionally, we were utilize native
advertising by using sponsored content via Instagram to help catch the eyes of
consumers.
Content that is produced from American Apparel on both Facebook and Twitter
are the same (see Appendix B and D). This is not necessarily problematic, however, the
engagement with consumers is nonexistent. It appears as if they are solely promoting
their products and are scheduled posts. It seems as if it is a robot rather than a human on
both of these platforms. The voice here needs to be changed to more active and
humanized. The content on these platforms needs to be more enticing for their followers.
Styling tips and trends would be satisfying consumers needs since Facebook and Twitter
are more content oriented.
American Apparel is constantly reminding customers that they exist by sending
numerous emails a week. However, their call to action isn’t strong enough. It needs to be
larger and more prominent on the page, as well as before the fold since consumers have
such a short attention span. This will guide viewers directly to a landing page on the
American Apparel site, creating a seamless customer journey. By implementing this
strategy, we strive for higher click through rates, opt ins and open rates. Consumers will
look forward to receiving emails from American Apparel, as opposed to automatically
deleting them prior to opening and reading the content.
Another platform that American Apparel should delve into is creating a blog.
Since American Apparel is a retail store, it would assist its customers with styling,
industry trends, celebrity takeovers, etc. This is a great visual platform for those
customers who need assistance on how to style a certain top or have an interest in a
specific trend. There could also be celebrity takeovers, which can help generate more
traffic, increase engagement and drive interest.
All of these recommendations for social media platforms, blogging and email will
help strengthen American Apparel’s consumer and brand relationship, allowing the
customer to easily navigate their way through these platforms without any confusion or
challenges. There will be increased likes, comments and shares if these strategies are
implemented.
Website Functionality
In order to obtain ratings and reviews from American Apparel consumers, we are
recommending the implementation of Bazaarvoice into their website
functionality. Bazaarvoice offers companies a software that collects ratings and reviews
from consumers and publishes the information on a website. Not only does this help the
consumer, but it also will help American Apparel because they will be able to monitor
and observe what is being said about the brand. Bazaarvoice is a tool that helps brands
engage with consumers to help foster purchase conversions as well as brand
loyalty. American Apparel is notorious for stirring up controversial conversation,
whether it be in their advertisements, clothing, promotional campaigns or management
style and we want there to be a website to help the company manage their
reputation. When we took a closer look at Bazaarvoice, we discovered case studies on
retail brands similar to American Apparel. In these case studies, we noticed companies
are providing incentives to their consumers who participate in reviewing their products
on Bazaarvoice. For American Apparel, we recommend they implement a similar loyalty
program for their consumers because it will help optimize the overall use of Bazaarvoice
for the company as well as let consumers know with a benefit that the company
appreciates their efforts to review their brand.
Many companies mobile sites can often be temperamental when consumers access
them on their iPhone or tablet. We believe purchasing Opinion Lab for American
Apparel’s mobile site is a great way to help the business stay in tune with issues that can
complicate consumer purchase and engagement. Opinion Lab would specifically benefit
the company in terms of mobile feedback. Consumers can write to Opinions Lab alerting
American Apparel if something is working badly or if they just aren’t seamlessly
accessing all of the features. Their mobile comment cards could help capture insights
from consumers without hindering their smartphone user experience or overstepping
privacy boundaries. Through Opinion Lab services, American Apparel could obtain
geolocation and real time feedback in digital forms such as video and photo. We think
this will help boost customer conversion, satisfaction and retention on the American
Apparel mobile site.
We recommend American Apparel become a retailer on
ShopRunner. ShopRunner is a website similar to Amazon Prime that delivers free 2-day
shipping. The website serves as a huge incentive to consumers because shipping can be
very expensive, like American Apparel’s shipping rates (see Appendix I). With brands
similar to American Apparel such as American Eagle and Adidas as retailers on the site,
we think this could optimize purchase intent for American Apparel
consumers. ShopRunner connects top retailers and brands to high value shoppers.
ShopRunner's exclusive member benefits and targeted marketing helps retailers acquire
customers and maximize consumer purchases and spending.
Website Features
Aside from the functionality of American Apparel’s website, there are many
changes that need to be made to the website. First, the URL for American Apparel is
store.americanapparel.net. We are advising that American Apparel adopt a vanity URL,
which would be americanapparel.com. Next, we believe that American Apparel should
include a stronger call to action to sign up for their email list. Looking at their
competitors, namely Topshop, when you go to their homepage, you are greeted with a
message that not only asks if the consumer wants to sign up for their email list, but it also
details benefits of signing up for the email list which include access to 350 new products
every week, free shipping and returns, a 10% discount all year round for students and
regular personalized edits from your Topshop wardrobe (see Appendix K). On American
Apparel’s site, the consumer is not prompted to sign up for the email list, but instead, you
have to search through the entire home page to find the opt-in for the email list on the
very bottom of the page. Lastly, similar to having to locate after much navigation a way
to opt-in to emails, the links to American Apparel’s social media accounts are at the very
bottom of the homepage (see Appendix O). Competitors of American Apparel like
Topshop and Urban Outfitters made the social media aspect of their brand very prevalent
on their websites (see Appendix L), and we believe that American Apparel should do the
same.
We believe that every American Apparel consumer should have a seamless
customer journey, and a large part of that would be enhancing in their website.
Additionally, implementing these recommendations will solve many problems. Due to
the fact that vanity URL is directly associated with the identity of the brand, changing
their current URL could enhance their SEO and make it much easier for consumers to
locate their website. By adding a strong call to action on their homepage to opt-in to their
email list, they will be able to gain more interested consumers as well as increase brand
and product awareness. Lastly, through enhancing the appearance of American Apparel’s
social media accounts on their website, it will not only work to continue the seamless
customer journey, but it will give consumers a sense of importance knowing that their
voice is heard.
In order to assess the success of these website implementations, we can use
sources such as Alexa and Compete to track how many consumers are visiting their
website. Additionally, using Google Analytics, we will be able to tell how many more
consumers are opting-in to American Apparel’s email list. Lastly, we believe that the
engagement on social media will help us gauge if giving American Apparel’s social
media accounts a more prevalent space on their website is effective in driving
engagement up.
App
American Apparel is missing out on the opportunity to have a smartphone app. We
recommend they create an app that features tabs to shop, explore social media, check out
store locations, and browse the latest promotions, sales and exclusives. Bottle Rocket is a
company that creates apps for large brands. They construct custom apps in-house to help
companies create a better relationship with their consumers. Since American Apparel
uses unique advertising tactics, we think this could make for a very eye catching unique
application for an iPhone or tablet. We will look at the number of application downloads
for the new American Apparel app, record the number of opt ins, monitor the amount of
logins from American Apparel account holders and measure page views as our key
performance indicators.
Analysis Plan
Through this plan we are presenting goals to measure against. We propose to
increase unique web visitors by 50% by switching from an exact keyword match strategy
to a more broad match strategy on Google Adwords. This will be measured by the third
party site Compete.com. Our goal is to have micro conversions such as application
downloads and email opt-ins rise by 100,000 downloads within three months of the app
launch and increase email opt ins by 15%. On a larger scale, our macro conversion goals
are to increase annual revenue by 20% and increase assist click by 10% to decrease cost
per click. Based on our budget, we allocated a million dollars towards paid search.
Through the strategy that we have implemented, we predict to deliver continuous
results of quality and value through the digital marketing pipeline. We would assess the
success by tracking metrics from the deployment of the plan until we maintain
performance stability. Because customer experience is one of our biggest concerns, we
will track clicks, usage, happiness and preferences to ensure our tactics are successful.
Ultimately, the use of these metrics would enable us to collect big data that would be
integrated into our digital marketing plan interacting with the entire business growth.
Appendix Appendix A SWOT Analysis
Appendix B American Apparel Twitter
Appendix C American Apparel Instagram
Appendix D American Apparel Facebook
Appendix E
American Apparel App Search Results
Appendix F American Apparel Emails
Appendix G American Apparel Email Call to Action
Appendix H American Apparel Email Subject Line
Appendix I
American Apparel Shipping Costs
Appendix J Compete.com Results
Appendix K Topshop Website Examples
Appendix L
Urban Outfitters Website Examples
Appendix M
Lightbeam Third Party Hosts Information
Third Party
dotomi.com Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
rubiconproject.com Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 3
Third Party
veinteractive.com Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 0
Visited
americanapparel.net Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 26
Third Party
affiliatetechnology.com Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
rfihub.com Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
scene7.com Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
chango.com Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
needle.com Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
igodigital.com Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
doubleclick.net Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
adnxs.com Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
yahoo.com Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
adtechus.com Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
invitemedia.com Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
casalemedia.com Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
pubmatic.com Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
openx.net Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
contextweb.com Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
df7xs8p1yjitw.cloudfront.net Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
google.com Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
adobedtm.com Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
newrelic.com Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
adroll.com Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
nr-data.net Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
facebook.com Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
rlcdn.com Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
bidswitch.net Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
akamai.net Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Third Party
twitter.com Nov 18, 2015 Nov 18, 2015 1
Appendix N Media Budget Breakdown
Appendix O American Apparel Email List and Social Media Call to Action
Appendix P Sites Visited Before American Apparel
Appendix Q
Engagement on American Apparel’s wesbite
Appendix R American Apparel Search Traffic and Top Keywords
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