American Apparel Internet Marketing Plan by Sarah Lombard

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. Email 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. Instagram 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. Twitter 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, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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 Apparelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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 Apparelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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 isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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 Apparelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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 Apparelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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 arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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 Apparelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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 Apparelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s email list. Lastly, we believe that the engagement on social media will help us gauge if giving American Apparelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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 Third Party Third Party Visited Third Party Third Party Third Party Third Party Third Party Third Party Third Party Third Party Third Party Third Party Third Party Third Party Third Party Third Party Third Party Third Party Third Party

dotomi.com rubiconproject.com veinteractive.com americanapparel.net affiliatetechnology.com rfihub.com scene7.com chango.com needle.com igodigital.com doubleclick.net adnxs.com yahoo.com adtechus.com invitemedia.com casalemedia.com pubmatic.com openx.net contextweb.com df7xs8p1yjitw.cloudfront.net google.com

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1 3 0 26 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Third Party Third Party Third Party Third Party Third Party Third Party Third Party Third Party Third Party

adobedtm.com newrelic.com adroll.com nr-data.net facebook.com rlcdn.com bidswitch.net akamai.net twitter.com

Appendix N Media Budget Breakdown

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Appendix O American Apparel Email List and Social Media Call to Action

Appendix P Sites Visited Before American Apparel

Appendix Q Engagement on American Apparelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wesbite

Appendix R American Apparel Search Traffic and Top Keywords

Works Cited

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