Tag: Online Marketing

Small Business Driving Growth With Online Platforms

A new Citibank survey has verified that online and social media platforms are becoming a key driver to marketing success. Over 70% of small businesses report using online campaigns through their company website to grow their customer-base. Around 60% have used email ads to spread the word about their services, and just over 40% say they use social media platforms to promote the company.

This trend shouldn’t be surprising, the internet and social media spots like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook are some of the most heavily traveled areas on the web and there are endless networks of people who may be interested in your products and services. If you aren’t taking advantage of these social utilities to promote customer awareness, your business is never going to reach its fullest potential.

Maria Veltre, Managing Director of Small Business Marketing & Customer Experience at Citibank comments on the trend:

“Although small business owners have been slower to adopt online marketing channels, they are clearly warming up to using these tools to target customers,”

“They are seeing that social media platforms can be an efficient and cost effective means to increase awareness of their business, engage with customers and, ultimately, to drive growth.”

The survey reveals most business owners plan to capitalize on the trend even more in the coming months of 2012. A significant amount say they plan to increase marketing activity on their own websites (60%), and many (40%) also plan to utilize social networking to get the word out about their company.

Tracey Weber, Managing Director of Internet and Mobile for North America Consumer Banking at Citibank also adds her commentary on the findings:

“Today, the web is the first place consumers go for information on products and services,”

“The perception is that these channels are expensive and time-consuming, but the reality is there are simple ways to reach current and prospective customers online. Small businesses have a great opportunity to leverage online tools and social media to market their businesses and to help drive growth.”

The bottom line is, if you’re a business owner and you aren’t exploring these online avenues to promote your services, you’re missing the boat! If you’re not tech savvy or aren’t comfortable with social networking, find someone who is and hire them today! The cost will be worth the return.

The easiest way to access services is through the web. If people can’t find you through a simple search, then most likely they wont find you at all. Make the investment, reap the rewards. It doesn’t matter if you’re old fashioned, your client-base doesn’t have to be.

March 23, 2012
Why Digital Marketing Challenges Everyone

Sometimes I can see it in their eyes. During a speaking appearance, I’ll look out at the audience and see fear. Not the "Big F" kind of "Run for your lives, citizens!" terror that you see in a B-movie. No, I am talking about the kind of fear that makes you stop and check things out just one more time before trying something. The fear that causes you to wait for someone else to make the first move. I see it all the time in digital marketing. It’s totally understandable. It’s human nature. I am extremely sympathetic to everyone who experiences it. But, we have to get rid of it.

A few years ago, I’d see that fear in the eyes of veteran marketing and PR people—the ones who went into marketing as a refuge from math. They would literaly cower when I explained the principles of direct marketing. They no more wanted to calculate a conversion rate than balance their checkbooks. They were "message people." They had "soft skills" and knew how to promote brand image in the minds of consumers. They were truly afraid of being held responsible for whether conversion rates ticked up or down a tenth of a point last month. They knew exactly what they were good at, and this wasn’t it.

So in came the quants—math geeks who knew how to juice the clickthroughs and didn’t worry about optimizing pages for SEO. They were analytical and they were good. They tuned up Web sites and made them persuasive, but they had their own Achilles’s heel. They had gone into math and technology to avoid ever having to speak or write. When social media came along, they were aghast that marketing was becoming squishy again. I know so many of these new marketers now fearful about their lack of communications skills.

The truth is that marketing is at once a powerful communications tool and one that must ring the cash register. Digital marketing forces us to analyze and optimize in ways that we never did before, because we can measure the results and adjust what we do. But we can’t only analyze and optimize. At some point, we need to actually say something, to stand for something, and to move people.

Brand marketers who believe that they can’t succeed because of their sparse analytical skills have something in common with direct marketers who feel they come up shy in creativity: they are both right. Both kinds of marketers need the other and the sooner they realize it, the sooner their companies will use digital marketing at a new level.

Originally published on Biznolog y

February 22, 2011
Super Bowl Advertising On the Web

As the Super Bowl approaches, so do the time-honored ads that will accompany it. Advertisers aren’t just turning to the game itself to capitalize, however. Many are turning to the web to get some mileage out of the event. The History Channel, for example, has turned to Yahoo, and will be running ads for a new Larry the Cable Guy show on Yahoo Sports to capitalize on the inevitable Super Bowl fan traffic.

We conducted a Q&A on the subject with Mitch Spolan, Yahoo VP of North American Field Sales. "The Super Bowl is such a unique situation," he tells WebProNews. "It’s the one time a year where consumers plan to watch the commercials as much as they watch the game. As consumers, we expect great advertising during the Super Bowl, and companies are rewarded and penalized based on their creativity."

"Online allows advertisers to compliment their broadcast investment with campaigns that continue to live on well beyond the 30 seconds," he adds. "While the Super Bowl is powerful for its tremendous audience reach, advertisers have the ability to reach the SAME super-sized audience every day online with marquee creative. There no longer is the need to wait for one day a year to have massive audience. Advertisers control when and how they interact with their Super Bowl audience everyday online."

Super Bowl commercials have something of a following on their own. I know people who don’t even care about the game, but like to see the new ads. How can a brand capture this kind of enthusiasm for advertising online?

"At Yahoo!, we’re constantly innovating new advertising formats that open up the creative canvas to our advertising partners’ imaginations," Spolan tells us. "For example, when you come to one of the Yahoo! Sports properties during the Super Bowl, you’re going to find an ad that captures your attention with a narrative that’s as or even more compelling and engaging than those on TV. Online advertising also opens up other possibilities such as interactive and social sharing capabilities that can extend the brand’s message even further than a TV spot. Brands that combine creativity with smart use of the Web’s inherent advantages are the ones that enhance their storytelling ability and build experiences that stay with the consumer."

If you’re wondering what your own starting point should be if you’re considering your own Super Bowl-related advertising, Spolan has some thoughts on that.

"First, anytime a brand is looking to capitalize on the excitement of big event like the Super Bowl, it should choose to work with a site that will be a destination for consumers well before and even after the event," he says. "The campaign that HISTORY channel is running for "Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy" on Yahoo! Sports is a good model for this. The network’s campaign begins to run on February 3, when excitement for all things Super Bowl will be at a fever pitch, and runs through February 11.

"The Super Bowl, like other culturally significant events on the calendar, is among Yahoo!’s biggest traffic drivers, and accordingly, consumers will be eager for post-game analysis from all angles," he says. "There’s great value to reaching the significant audience that will visit Yahoo! Sports, which is still the #1 sports destination online, for that coverage."

The example would appear to illustrate a useful tactic for capitalizing on physical world events by reaching those interested online in the places they are likely to go. It doesn’t have to be on the scale of the Super Bowl or have the reach of Yahoo Sports to be a potentially successful strategy.

February 2, 2011
Adobe Acquires Data Management Platform Company Demdex

Adobe has acquired data management platform company Demdex, which it says will help it "bring audience optimization to $109 billion global online ad market. The company will add it to its Adobe Online Marketing Suite, powered by Omniture.

The company says, "The online ad market is undergoing fundamental changes as advertisers increasingly shift from buying content-driven placements to buying specific audiences. This helps advertisers more efficiently spend ad dollars and avoid advertising to audiences that don’t meet their criteria. Publishers are increasingly seeking to provide audience data to match advertisers’ requirements so they can deliver ad inventory at premium rates. This shift to buying and selling audience segments requires advertisers and publishers to gather, consolidate and more easily share anonymous audience data. This has created a highly fragmented and complex ad buying and selling process."

"Our customers rank among the world’s largest advertisers and publishers and they have been asking us to help them optimize how they buy and sell online ads," said Brad Rencher, VP and general manager of Adobe’s Omniture Business Unit. "With the addition of Demdex, the Adobe Online Marketing Suite will enable advertisers to be smarter with their advertising spend and publishers to leverage their audience data to generate more revenue. With audience optimization, Adobe is literally changing how online ads are bought and sold."

"Adding our technology to the capabilities and vision of Adobe is a powerful combination for advertisers and publishers,” said Demdex CEO Randy Nicolau. "We will continue to evolve our technology as part of the Adobe Online Marketing Suite to help customers stay ahead of the rapidly evolving online ad market."

With the acquisition of Demdex, Adobe is partnering with Evidon (formerly Better Advertising) and becomes part of Evidon’s Open Data Partnership (ODP).

January 18, 2011
Four Simple Steps For Better Online Marketing
2011 is being touted as the year of the website, so the start of the New Year is the time to get your online marketing campaign started.

The key is to plan your strategy so you don’t become overwhelmed or fork out too much money.

I have outlined below some areas to consider when creating your plan:

1. Know Your Customer

Its no use starting an online marketing campaign without knowing who your ultimate customers is. They are the ones you want to target your advertising at, after all. Some questions to ask yourself in order to define your ultimate customer are:
- What is the net household income of my customer? Can they afford my products/services?
- Where does my customer look for my product/service? Both online and in physical locations?
- Does my customer work out of the home or in the home?
- What is the job profile of my customer – an executive, manager, worker, entrepreneur, stay-at-home parent, etc.
Defining your ultimate customer will give you a good idea on where to advertise/market your business and how to write and what to include in your message copy.

2. Know Your Marketing Options

Step 1 will have given you an idea on which areas to target your marketing. A coordinated effort across several sites and avenues used by your customers will be the most effective. Don’t underestimate the value of repetition – If your business is seen across sites numerous times, your message will be remembered by the site visitors (your potential customers).

When considering how to market your business there are a number of options – PPC advertising, Local business listing in websites and directories, newsletter advertising, display advertising on other website or social media – the possibilities are endless.

3. Budget

Set a budget level that you are not willing to exceed. By doing so, you will limit the areas that you can concentrate your marketing efforts on. For example, PPC advertising can be expensive if you are targeting a popular keyword, whereas a local business listing can be very cheap or cost nothing at all (expect for your time).

Another consideration when setting your budget is whether you are going to outsource your marketing efforts to an expert or do-it-yourself. There are pro’s and con’s to each. Obviously by outsourcing you will pay more than doing the work yourself. However the time it takes y

ou to setup a PPC campaign (for example), write ad copy and maintain the campaign could be better spent concentrating on other aspects of your business, so the cost to let someone else take care of all that could actually save you. Also, by leaving the work to experts you have the peace of mind that your campaign is in safe hands.

4. Measure what matters

Develop key metrics for the marketing plan – gross sales revenue, (marketing) cost per sale, and ROI by each marketing campaign. Also, don’t under estimate the value of customer feedback, even if it’s informally via forums or blogs.

Online marketing campaigns are within the reach of any business, no matter what your budget. The key is to commit to a marketing plan and see it through to the end. Good luck!

Originally published on ineedhits.com
January 12, 2011
Big Name Internet Marketers Join Forces for BlueGlass

Some big names in Internet marketing have gotten together and started up BlueGlass Interactive, described as a "new agency concept that combines proven online marketing strategies and resutls with a suite of proprietary technologies."

Here’s the management line-up: Chris Winfield – Chief Marketing Officer, Dave Snyder – SVP of Search, Brent Csutoras – SVP of Viral Marketing, Jordan Kasteler – SVP of Content, Loren Baker – SVP of Online PR, Tony Wang – CTO, and Danielle Winfield – VP of Operations.

"BlueGlass started organically approximately 5 years ago," says Winfield. "Our partners started running into each other in strategic meetings, then as speakers at the big marketing conferences. As the industry evolved, each of us built thriving companies, and we formed a tight business referral network because we realized that there were very few agencies that could actually deliver all of the results that clients deserve time after time. The obvious next step in our evolution was to bring it all together under one roof, so we could create more efficiencies and even greater scale that we simply could not achieve in aggregate."

"One of the lessons each of the BlueGlass partners learned over the years is that human capital can only be extended so far, especially in online marketing services," says Wang. "By necessity, we have built one of the most powerful suites of campaign software. The main benefits to our customers are is infinite scalability, our ability to stay on top of dynamic industry changes, and the ability to deliver the best return on investment in the industry."

BlueGlass has 40 employees and claims the combined annual billings of $10 million. They count Viacom, Thomson Reuters, NBC Universal, Intuit, Yahoo, Comcast, New York University and the NFL among their clients.

June 23, 2010
More Marketing Dollars Shifting from Offline to Online

Econsultancy and Exact Target have released a report based on joint research, polling over 1,000 marketers about their brand reputation strategies. The research found that marketers are slashing their budgets for radio, TV, and print, while looking online to build their brand reputation. The firms say the research indicates there will be a 17% surge in digital marketing spending this year.

"The shift from offline to online is in full swing as marketers look to measure direct increases in top-line sales, site traffic and improve overall marketing return on investment," says Morgan Stewart, ExactTarget’s director of research and strategy and co-author of the report. "Interestingly, brand reputation is becoming a more significant driver of the migration to digital marketing, particularly when it comes to social media."

Over 70% of respondents to the survey say they are increasing budgets for off-site social media marketing through sites like Facebook and Twitter, while about 65% are planning on increasing their budget for on-site social media.

Additional findings:

– 28% of marketers are shifting marketing budgets from traditional to digital channel

– Two-thirds of marketers are planning to increase investments in social media even though less than one-fifth can effectively measure ROI.

– 64% of companies plan to increase budgets in search engine optimization.

– 56% plan to increase budgets for mobile marketing.

– 54% plan to increase budgets for email marketing.

– 51% plan to increase budgets for paid search.

– 42% of marketers plan to keep budgets the same as 2009 and 13% plan to decrease their overall marketing budget.

– 41% of marketers plan to decrease spending on print and radio marketing in 2010.

"The research shows a healthy outlook for the digital marketing industry with the majority of responding companies increasing their budgets for most digital channels," says Linus Gregoriadis, research director at Econsultancy. "Social media marketing is the area where companies are most likely to be spending more money during 2010, but areas such as search engine marketing and email marketing will remain buoyant."

A summary of the report, titled More Money, More Channels: Marketing Budgets for 2010, can be found here.

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February 3, 2010