Archives
To Blog or Not To Blog?
I haven’t done a search search but this is a question A LOT of companies and individuals have been asking of the past decade or so. This is followed up with, “Do I/we have the time?” or “If it is not updated or relevant, will it hurt my brand?” “Will having another online outlet weaken my online efforts to maximize my marketing punch?” These are all good questions, the one you need to ask is; “Is it worth it?” The answer to that is a resounding YES and it is no coincidence that corporate blogging is on the rise.
Getting Closer To Your Customers
Participating in a blog allows your customers to get a more intimate relationship with your brand because they are getting a personality to connect with. Research has shown that an emotional attachment is one of the primary reasons for maintaining and expanding existing business relationships. We are not saying you need to share family photos or personal health issues to make that connection either. Simply share deeper thoughts on directions, decisions and insight into your company and/or brand. Everyone likes to be an insider.
Can’t Be Easier
There are tools out there, such as WordPress , that make setting up a blog on any existing website a breeze. Within minutes you can be sharing your thoughts and ideas with your soon to be adoring public. Don’t let the vast array of choices keep you from getting your message out. In addition, blogs make an easy platform for connecting and communicating via social marketing channels. More on that in a later post!
Mobile Wallets—Peek into the Future
Make that the near future. Mobile payment technology is making huge inroads into the consumer marketplace and it is expect to explode even more as more and more users get comfortable with the security and applications making their way into their smartphones. Starbucks has taken the trend head on and are seeing greater usage than they could have expected.
Can’t Just Phone It In
Although getting rid of your credit cards for a mobile app is not going to happen overnight, you can expect to see more and more users adding that payment method to their purchase behavior very soon. Companies that are serious about integrating this technology into their purchase cycle need to get started now. Those that are slow to act may get left holding the bag.
How Effective Were the Super Bowl Ads?
Forbes and Peter Daboll of Ace Metrics have done analysis after the last few Super Bowls to provide a quick glimpse of the winners and losers of advertising competition. Using research that touches a cross section of US demographics, They have come up with the top 10 and lowest 10 ads for the night. It is an interesting read and doesn’t always turn out how you might expect.
The findings provides some insight into the minds of consumers. Key takeaways; Animals continue to work--The success of the Budweiser and Doritos ads reinforce that adage(along with babies), Longer ads are a challenge to different demographics, younger viewers just don't have the patience, and Social Media integration isn’t quite ready to compete with the big boys. The experiment was tried and didn't work according to viewers.
The Benefits of New Year’s Resolutions
We make them every year. Vow to do better with our eating or exercise, or fix that nagging house project. The numbers of resolutions are counted in the collective billions. What’s more, regardless of how many of those resolutions stick, businesses count the profits in just as many billions…something close to $5.6 billion in 2013.
It is no surprise that the biggest industry winners include: Fitness (Club Memberships and Products), the Diet industry, Dating/relationship providers and finally Financial Services. So if you seem to notice a spike in the number of media exposures you see in these particular industries just after the holidays, now you know why.
Pepsi Making a Move to Crowd-Source Advertising
PepsiCo is Launching a campaign to kick off an ad. Pepsi, a mainstay in the highly touted Super Bowl ad wars, is reaching out to consumers to send in photos and videos of them doing specific things to allow them to incorporate that media into one of those pricy TV spots. The ad will feature Beyonce and is supposed to be aired just as the halftime show begins.
This innovative idea is tackling the growing power of social media AND heightened personal involvement with their customers to strengthen the brands emotional appeal. This marketing approach is breaking new ground and should be applauded. Will be interesting to see how it plays out. Love the idea of engaging the audience and making the commercial an event of its own…on TVs biggest advertising stage.
Registered Domain Names Approaching 250MM
Verisign released it’s quarterly report on the domain name industry today and registrations continue to rise. The Domain Name Industry Brief shows a decent increase year over year for the same quarter and a total number of 246MM names now accounted for.
As expected, ccTLDs (Country Specific) domains are gaining some market share but .com dominates with over 100 registrations in that extension alone. One thing of note is the rise of little know .tk, the ccTLD from the New Zealand territory of Tokelau. Their strategy of giving free registrations seems to be lifting them way up the ladder. Check out the link for a PDF download of the report.
Secrets of the Search Golden Triangle
The Golden Triangle is the worst kept secret in online marketing. It refers to the most popular and prolific areas on a search engines results page. Study after study has show that the top left corner (or Triangle) is the most important spot on the page. Results drop significantly when links and information are outside that area.
Facebook Puts It's Privacy Policy to a Vote
Facebook has decided to put implementation of their newest privacy policies up for a vote. The primary concerns center around the company's collection of usage data to put consumer profiles together for advertisers. If you want to vote though, you have to act fast. The polling is expected to close by mid December.