2009 brought with it a flurry of activity to the search landscape.  With the release of Google Caffeine, the launch of Bing, the announcement of a Bing/Yahoo! merger, and the ubiquitous nature of Twitter, search changed tremendously in 2009.  As for 2010, it should prove to be when the integration of multiple content sources will finally come together for a greater search experience.  Below are the top trends to be aware of in 2010.

Google Caffeine
Google wants to show more content in a shorter amount of time.  For site owners, this means that sites must load faster, providing the content sooner.  This will have implications on the creative elements delivered on a page.  Site owners will need to consider the creative elements and how this affects the site’s load time while still capturing the end user.

Live Search
Google’s Live Search is real-time news, Tweets, blog posts, and status updates fed through the search engines.  Live Search is supposed to create a “buzz” around search topics, thus turning search results into instantaneous news outlets.  This will put more emphasis on the collaboration between search and social.
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Consumers are everywhere, and brands can direct their marketing messages to them in a variety of effective ways.  The online marketplace is a great way to reach these consumers but offline efforts, from print ads to signage to TV and radio spots, still can help a brand reach its intended audience.  Whether to use offline or online to reach a brand’s intended audience, however, is not an either/or proposition.  It needs to be an “and” one.

A successful marketing campaign cannot live solely in an offline or online marketing neighborhood.  These two marketing venues should not be gated communities.  Consumers should be able to connect the marketing dots between a brand’s offline and online efforts.  Not establishing this marketing integration leaves a brand vulnerable to lost conversions, from lead generation to outright sales.

A consumer should be able to move between offline and online marketing.  There should be no dead ends.  For example, any print ads or TV and radio spots should also drive consumers online so they need to include the URL for the brand’s website or any microsite set up for a specific campaign.  Online content, especially websites, need to enable consumers who might not want to make online purchases to be able to find any of the brand’s brick and mortar locations.  Properly integrated marketing campaigns will enable consumers to reach from one sphere to another with the minimum amount of effort. (more…)

After seeing the recent Motorola DROID smartphone commercials over the past few weeks, I have been remembering the days in 1977 when Star Wars first came to the theaters.  This film represented not only a new era of special effects but also a story and characters that people, real people, could relate to in their everyday lives.  Luke’s old Landspeeder was like the muscle cars that continue to be driven in whatever condition because they give the owner a sense of personal freedom and driving them provides a visceral feeling of power.  Even though they break down on occasion, suck a lot of gas, and cause you to spend much more time with them than your loved ones understand, they bring you joy.  Joy in the everyday act of driving.  Technology and art united to elicit human emotion.

A Droid is not a muscle car.  The Droid marketing looks at technology through a lens that portrays the technology taking over you.  In fact, many technology engineers would prefer total technology domination in a world driven by a rigidity that places logic over emotion and function over form.  These engineers treat their everyday world as if the technology itself is more important than the life that it supports.  Apple, on the other hand, understands how technology fits into your life.  OK.  We’re already there.  It isn’t some mythical future where you carry around a multifunctional device in your pocket.  It is today.  And guess what?  Having more technology to handle the regular routines of life leaves more space and energy for creative and open thoughts, ideas, and actions. (more…)

I talked in a previous blog about how e-mail marketing is something that every brand needs to consider including in its interactive marketing mix.  And while it is possible to run an e-mail campaign on your own, it is often a much better approach to work with an agency like LeapFrog Interactive because you can tap into the expertise and resources that make your e-mail marketing efforts as effective as possible.

With an agency managing your e-mail marketing, all aspects of your campaign, from the building and sending of your e-mails to all of the little nuances that ensure these sends are successful, can be handled by individuals who are experts in their field.  An agency’s e-mail team can provide a brand with the insight needed for a successful send.  They can provide reporting and advise a brand on how to optimize its sends based on their findings.  An agency is also fluent in all of the best e-mail practices, including spam compliance, how to place links, what elements work, and much more. (more…)