Web Analytics and SEO... Just Do It!


Just Do It

Nike, as you probably already know, is one of the top athletic wear brands in the world. They produce athletic footwear, athletic apparel, as well as sports equipment and accessories. A significant portion of their success can be attributed to their high-performance marketing strategies. Their effective marketing tactics enhance brand image, brand recognition, and brand equity. To prove their marketing efforts are effective, as I write this, I am currently wearing a matching Nike “dri-fit” set. Nike’s marketing strategy consists of carefully positioning products, inspirational digital storytelling, tactical social media marketing, and ensuring a seamless customer experience both online and in-store (Summer, 2022). 

In addition to these tactics, Nike is extremely efficient when it comes to their use of web analytics and SEO to deliver a quality, personalized experience for consumers. Nike’s customer-centric digital marketing and SEO strategies developed through their use of web analytics significantly contribute to their worldwide direct-to-consumer revenues, which amounted to approximately 16.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, an increase of more than 30% compared to 12.4 billion in 2020 (Tighe, 2021). In order to collect the necessary data, Nike utilizes predictive data analytics companies Zodiac and Celect as well as information from their website and array of mobile apps (Mixon, 2020). Their integrated analytics framework is also a key aspect of their success. According to Mixon, “Their analytics systems are fully integrated so they can easily connect predictive variables ranging from social media behavior to purchase patterns to better understand and anticipate customer behavior. Secondly, Nike has also successfully deployed self-service capabilities so that every member of its senior leadership team has access to a fully customized analytics dashboard that is tailored to their decision making needs” (2020). This proves that Nike truly understands the power of data-centric marketing strategies.


The Power of Nike App Data

Although the main purpose of Nike’s mobile apps is to create a quality customer experience, they are extremely valuable for collecting important consumer data and information. According to Mixson, “Nike Fit app uses a combination of computer vision, data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence to cultivate a digital foot morphology based on 13 data points. Not only does this help the app make more informed product recommendations, Nike can also use this data to design better fitting shoes down the line” (2020). This use of data is clearly a win-win situation. 

Nike’s De Lo Mio Air Force 1 shoes are another prime example of how Nike collects data through their mobile apps to provide a high quality, data-centric customer experience. Nike noticed many highly engaged users on their SNKRS app in New York were Dominican, so Nike utilized consumer data collected through their mobile app in addition to conversations with app users living in Dominican New York neighbourhoods to create a sneaker specifically designed to target the Dominican community named De Lo Mio Air Force 1 (McKinnon, 2020).



Nike’s Use of Web Analytics and SEO

The Nike Plus membership program is the key to Nike’s web analytics. When Nike Plus members log in on Nike.com, it is much easier to collect the necessary data for web analytics. Through tracking Nike Plus member behavior on Nike.com as well as other Nike platforms, Nike captures, processes, and uses data collected in order to guide consumer decisions in an innovative way through tactics such as product recommendations, special offers, and personalized content; these members ultimately spend three times more than regular guests on Nike.com (Boyd, 2019). Dave Vinson, the Business Intelligence and Data Analytics Lead for Nike, provides valuable insight into Nike’s future based in data-driven strategies. 

(Sourced from Biswas, 2019).

Nike optimizes their SEO strategies based on specific geographies to appeal to consumers in different countries with different needs (Ly, n.d.). Nike integrates various tactics within their overall SEO strategy to propel their growth including changing their site architecture, adding unique product landing pages, and refined targeting for generic keywords (Indig, 2020). In order to draw in consumers to make a purchase, they optimized their site architecture by migrating their store from store.nike.com to nike.com. By using unique product landing pages, not only does Nike acquire more “search real estate”, but they also get consumers excited about products. A great example of their unique landing pages is https://www.nike.com/air-force-1. On their website, they also offer a list of “featured items” that take users who click on the products to these unique landing pages.

Interestingly enough, although Nike dominates organic search for branded keywords such as “nike shoes”, they still invest in paid search for branded keywords so that the top organic and paid search results are both results for Nike (Sem, 2018). This is an extremely fascinating strategy to keep high-value traffic away from potential competitors as a way to optimize ROI. According to Semrush, Nike spent approximately $39.1 billion on paid search in 2020, ranking 11th among top PPC spenders for Fortune 100 companies (Pavlovskaya, 2021). 


Conclusion

Nike’s developed their Triple Double Strategy, “2x Innovation, 2x Speed and 2x Direct connections with consumers”, with the goal of better serving its consumers personally and at scale by embracing data analytics and technology to create value for customers (Biswas, 2020). This strategy is prevalent within their web analytics and SEO tactics. Through data analytics platforms such as Zodiac and Celect as well as their collection of apps to collect and analyze consumer data, Nike is able to develop innovative marketing strategies in order to develop connections with consumers and deliver a high-quality, data-centric customer experience. Through their strategic use of SEO, Nike can limit the success of their competitors on search engine results, both paid and organic, as well as effectively target consumers based on their needs. Nike has grown to be one of the most influential brands worldwide thanks to their superior marketing efforts across multiple channels. Clearly, their data analytics and SEO strategies have propelled this success significantly. Nike must continue to invest in SEO and analytics to sustain their market dominance. 


References

Biswas, S. (2020, April 18). Big Data & Analytics - the wave of the future for Nike [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz5v_6jiJzQ&t=12s

Biswas, S. (2020, April 18). Nike - Just Do It with Data Science and Demand Sensing. Harvard Business School. https://digital.hbs.edu/platform-digit/submission/nike-just-do-it-with-data-science-and-demand-sensing/ 

Boyd, C. (2019, September 19). How Nike Uses Predictive Analytics. Medium. https://medium.com/swlh/how-nike-uses-predictive-analytics-821907a90187 

Indig, K. (2020, November 6). Nike’s explosive online growth. Kevin Indig. https://www.kevin-indig.com/nikes-explosive-online-growth/ 

McKinnon, T. (2020, January 14). How Nike is Using Mobile Apps to Significantly Increase Sales. Indigo 9 Digital.  https://www.indigo9digital.com/blog/how-nike-is-turning-your-smart-phone-into-a-digital-shopping-assistant 

Mixon, E. (2020, November 23). A Look into Nike’s Formula for Growth. AI, Data, and Analytics Network. https://www.aidataanalytics.network/business-analytics/articles/ai-data-and-predictive-analytics-a-look-into-nikes-formula-for-growth 

Ly, O. (n.d.). Why SEO Services Are Needed Monthly to Become the Leader in Your Market. Profitworks. https://profitworks.ca/small-business-sales-and-marketing-resources/blog/marketing-strategy/538-why-seo-services-are-needed-monthly-to-become-the-leader-in-your-market.html 

Pavlovskaya, E. (2021, October 5). The Fortune 100 Companies That Spend the Most on Paid Search. Semrush. https://www.semrush.com/blog/companies-spend-most-on-paid-search/ 

Sem, E. (2018, June 5). Should You Bid on Branded Keywords? Tinuti. https://tinuiti.com/blog/paid-search/should-you-bid-on-branded-keywords/ 

Summer. (2022, April 1). Nike Marketing Strategy: Why is Nike a Marketing Leader? MagePlaza. https://www.mageplaza.com/blog/nike-marketing-strategy.html 

Tighe, D. (2021, December 6). Nike brand’s D2C revenue worldwide 2021. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/294512/nike-s-dtc-revenue-worldwide/






Comments

  1. Mark TietbohlApril 11, 2022 at 10:23 AM

    Nice video! It is interesting that they are currently focusing on the supply chain. Do they use it for anything else at this point in time?

    ReplyDelete

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