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SOCIAL MEDIA: Out With the New, In With the Older.
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments
While social media may have been launched and nurtured by young adults, today’s social media audiences are decidedly older — and more female — than ever before. So social media marketers, take note of these important trends as reported by Pew Research in a study of engagement habits over the past two years:
1. Twice As Nice. Today, almost one of two persons in the United States (47%) interacts daily with a social media site — nearly double the number in late 2008, when the last study was undertaken. And for whatever it’s worth, folks who participate in social media sites are more politically engaged than other adults, and more likely to trust others.
2. Aging Gracefully. At the same time, the most significant growth in social media is occurring among older adults — with the average age of the social media user climbing to 38 years old (five years older than just two years ago).
3. Girl Talk. Additionally, the U.S. social media audience continues to grow more feminine, with 56% of today’s users women (versus 53% two years ago).
Need to reach intelligent, trusting, motivated females who are likely involved in families with children, with a higher than average disposable income? Now you know a little more about where to find ‘em.
SOURCE: NOISE, MarketingProfs, Pew Research
INTEGRATED MARKETING: How to Really Involve Your Customers With Video.
Sunday, August 9th, 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Okay, so let’s assume you’re an innovative marketer who’s just created a social video for your product or service — and now you’re ready to hand it over to web programming.
Stop.
Online social video is perhaps the coolest, most effective new way to engage your customers, involve them (intellectually and emotionally) in your brand experience, and motivate them to action. But to paraphrase a certain movie cliche, it’s not like you can just edit it and they will come.
At NOISE, we’re building integrated marketing programs for our clients that leverage the power of online video across the gamut of marketing channels. Here are a few must-dos, as we see ‘em:
1. CONSIDER THE POSSIBILITIES. Social video isn’t like the old corporate video that packs everything you ever wanted to say in a five to seven minute novel. Social videos are your brand’s short stories — editorial, entertaining, fun, offbeat, quirky, informative, whatever you want them to be in ideally 120 or so seconds — but focused on a single element or experience of your brand. So inventory all your brand can offer a consumer, and you’ll have an idea of just how many interesting titles your online video library could contain.
2. YOU SHOOT, YOU SCORE. Assuming you’ve got the skill set in-house, or you’ve contracted with an expert social video producer (like QwickClick VideoTours) to create some really cool content, you’ll want to make sure you capitalize on all the ways video can drive traffic to your website by syndicating it throughout the world wide web. Sites like YouTube are obvious, but there are many more opportunities to put your video in front of potential consumers (from social media networks to industry-related websites and blogs). Asterisk: another advantage of utilizing a company like QwickClick for syndication is their ability to keyword tag your video for search engine optimization, and to provide important traffic data on your efforts.
3. HAPPY LANDINGS. Want to really create an integrated experience? Create unique landing pages (or microsites) for each social video. If you’re a hospital, that could be service offerings. If you’re a resort, that could be recreational opportunities. If you’re a retailer, that could be your sales, service or customer satisfaction divisions. If you’re a real estate company, that could be every listing. And with unique landing pages, you can track traffic specific to that page, thereby allowing you to better measure your efforts.
4. HERE A VIDEO, THERE A VIDEO. Now, examine your current marketing channels for opportunities to promote viewership of your online video. Print advertising? Direct mail? E-marketing (like the ‘Tween Waters Inn Island Resort example here)? Social media? Public relations? The possibilities are endless. The potential to excite consumers to clickthrough to your site is enormous.
So remember: for truly successful online video marketing, “the end” is just the beginning.
SOURCE: NOISE
SOURCE: NOISE
MARKETING: Reslicing Your Budget Pie.
Monday, August 3rd, 2009 | Uncategorized | 2 Comments
How are marketers investing their very valuable budgets today? According to a newly-released report from Forrester Research that studies First Quarter 2009 marketing budget allocations to First Quarter 2008, the pie is being sliced up quite differently than just a year ago. How does your budget compare?
Overall, the report noted that marketers have quickly and emphatically re-prioritized dollars toward strategies and tactics deemed most valuable to maintaining a competitive advantage. In simple speak, that basically means: adios traditional media, hola new media. Here’s a look at how the budget pie is being resliced:
- Social Media: 47% have increased budget
- Web Development: 44% have increased budget
- Online Advertising: 40% have increased budget
- E-Marketing: 38% have increased budget
- Marketing Technology: 27% have increased budget
- Loyalty Programs: 14% have increased budget
- Branding and Advertising: 11% have increased budget
- Direct Mail: 7% have increased budget
- Staff and Training: 5% have increased spending
- Traditional Media (TV, Radio, Print, Magazine): 4% have increased spending
Clearly, the trend would suggest that smart marketers will build their brand best by investing in areas that best enhance their customer’s brand experience — you know, marketing tactics that are interactive, directly communicative, social and measurable. To us at NOISE, that sounds like a smart strategy in any economic climate.
SOURCE: American Marketing Association, Forrester Research, NOISE
E-MARKETING: Nine Costly Mistakes (Are You Making Any of ‘Em?).
Saturday, August 1st, 2009 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment
As we all know, e-marketing can be an extremely effective and cost efficient sales strategy. As we all also know, consumers and technology are also becoming more e-savvy, meaning smart e-marketers should consistently review their campaigns — tracking opens, clickthroughs, opt-outs and spam reports — for any negative trends.
Should you come across any downward spirals, MarketingProfs presents nine ways you can screw up, and how you can fix ‘em:
1. USER AUTHENTICATION. Does the domain server you use for e-marketing support Sender ID and Sender Policy Framework (SPF)? If not, recipient ISPs may be blacklisting your emails as spam and not even delivering them. Ask.
2. CAN-SPAM. Are you CAN-SPAM compliant with a legit from line, accurate subject line, valid postal address and easy opt out? If not, get on it — every violation you would get nailed for will cost you $11,000.
3. OPT IN? HELLO? If you’re still incorrectly collecting e-data or using suspect e-lists, well, don’t bother reading on.
4. NO PLACE LIKE HOME. Does your e-blast or e-newsletter simply click back to one page (generally your home page) of your website? If so, you’re wasting opportunities to drive consumers directly to specific landing pages that can improve your sales (and ability to measure results).
5. SEE THE BIG PICTURE. If you’re using images, don’t make your offer entirely or predominantly image — 50% or more of all recipients won’t see the image, due to software suppression. Make sure you combine image with text.
6. KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID. The argument that brief, simple copy makes more effective e-marketing isn’t necessarily true. Studies show that if the subject is relevant to the consumer, longer copy works just as effectively.
7. THROWAWAY SUBJECT LINES. If you’re not investing brain cells in crafting an on-target subject line, you’re missing your biggest op to improve open rates.
8. IS YOUR EMAIL ON AN ISLAND? Like everything else, e-marketing should be integrated into a strategic marketing plan — and branded consistently to reflect your brand story and message. If not, shame on you.
9. TESTING, SHMESTING. How often do you test different subject lines, offers, graphic treatments of other e-marketing variables? If you haven’t yet, devise a campaign and put it to a variety of tests. Odds are, you’ll learn more about what makes your consumers tick and click.
SOURCE: Marketing Profs, NOISE
SOCIAL MEDIA: QwickClick More Customers to Your Web.
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment
It’s been well documented here, there and virtually everywhere how the Internet has become the number one medium in the United States for video viewership — and how “social” or “web” videos, editorial in style and soft on sell, can dramatically drive awareness, buzz, traffic and sales in almost any industry.
Well, along comes a company to help innovative marketers everywhere sieze the moment and the opportunity.
It’s called QwickClick VideoTours, a creative group of video, post production, on-camera, Internet and social media marketing professionals. Serving clients throughout the U.S., QwickClick VideoTours — launched earlier this spring — works directly with clients or in association with their advertising agencies to create two- to four-minute “social videos” that can be embedded in the marketer’s website, search engine optimized, propagated throughout the Internet video world and otherwise alchemied, like gold, to a marketer’s overall web strategy.
The beauties of QwickClick are many and, unlike your sales manager wielding a home videocam, include: experienced, award-winning professional video production and edit teams working in High-Definition format; professional on-camera talent to open, close and “narrate” the video; rights to professional music underscores; complete on-location videography that follows a client-approved storyboard and script outline; and delivery of project for embedding into your website within three weeks of shoot date (all for an extremely cost-effective rate). Additional for-charge services include web programming, search engine optimization, e-marketing and other strategies and tactics, as well as location still photography.
Virtually any business-to-consumer, and most business-to-business marketers, would benefit with QwickClick VideoTours — particularly travel, hospitality, health care, real estate, entertainment and other industries where multiple stories will combine to weave a comprehensive brand story and brand experience.
Wanna learn and see more? Just QwickClick here.
SOURCE: NOISE
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