On Sunday, millions of people, including me, will gather together to watch the Super Bowl…commercials. Advertisers pay top dollar to get their messages out to millions of people during this monumental game. But in this world full of distractions such as Smartphones, iPads, and social media, how do advertisers ensure they capture the attention of all of those people? Well it’s like the old saying, “If ya can’t beat em, join em,” which is exactly what Chevy is doing.

Instead of fighting the distractions, Chevy decided to become one and engage the Super Bowl audience with the Chevy “Game Time” app. It creates an interactive environment for fans to answer trivia, talk about the game, and win prizes like a new Chevy Camaro. Every person that downloads the app gets a unique virtual license plate, and if it matches one in a Chevy commercial during the Super Bowl they are a winner. Chevy’s audience now has a reason to watch and (more importantly) pay attention to Chevy’s commercials during the Super Bowl. If you ask me, Chevy may very well come out of this year’s Super Bowl as the MVA (most valuable advertiser).

Engaging customers is more important than ever and Chevy has found a way to do it on the biggest stage, but you don’t have to have millions of dollars to achieve the same effect. Let Leapfrog Interactive help you create an interactive marketing plan that will work for your business.

[Contributed by Sean Slattery, marketing account coordinator]

 

 

I love extreme sports! I have since I learned to watch television. So, naturally, when I hear it is the time of year for the X Games, I pencil in a couple hours of sitting on the couch. The athletes in this year’s games were more outstanding than ever and, then again, so were the sponsors. According to Sports Business Daily, the X Games staff went with fewer sponsors this year having only four signed as “Official Partners.”  In an attempt to form deeper relationships, marketing rights were offered across several types of media. The sponsors were not shy about using these well-earned media spots, but one of them truly stood out above the rest, Red Bull.

Red Bull took the marketing rights that came with the sponsorship and ran with it, launching an impressive integrated marketing campaign across the social media, digital marketing, print, television and radio channels. Red Bull delivered a strong and consistent message to their young male target market, “Red Bull gives you wings,” while reinforcing it with clips of their newly sponsored Louie Vito flying high above the superpipe. I’ve let their aggressive branding slip into my mind and I have a feeling that I’m not the only one. In fact, their messaging has been so strong and consistent over the last few years that I’ve begun to associate it with any type of extreme sport. I can hardly spend an entire day on the slopes without one!

If you were at all interested in the X Games, you would have certainly come across the Red Bull message. Whether you were looking up information on ESPN, Facebook, Twitter, or just watching it, you know what Red Bull is all about. Like all successful integrated marketing strategies, they were consistent, they knew their target market, and they approached their audience through numerous channels. Out of all the advertising competitors I’d have to give them the gold. 

I am often asked why a particular Google AdGroup is performing better or worse than other AdGroups in a campaign. In response during these discussions, peers and colleagues of mine have chosen to place all of their segmentation into Campaigns. Allowing them to see performance data and budget comparisons among their keyword groups. However, I am firm believer in campaigns with a strict hierarchy and I reserve Campaigns for times when targeting is necessary to achieve desired results.  Therefore, I have been limited in my answers as to why specifically one AdGroup is performing in a particular way.

In looking at the AdGroups-Level data Google recently released within AdWords, more data is accessible than what was previously available at that level. The new AdGroups-Level data definitely provides insights into the overall performance of the campaign in greater micro detail. The intelligence gained will allow better ease of testing different strategies among AdGroups. Kudos to Google for taking this step forward and improving the data available. 

I hope Google will continue to upgrade the offerings within AdWords. The more offerings and detail we, as a digital marketing agency, can provide to clients and prospects, the more value paid search has as a marketing channel.

Tim Tebow. If you don’t know who he is or haven’t heard his name, you literally were born yesterday or have been living under a rock (excuse the cliché’s). His talent on the field had football fans tuning into “Tebow Time” anticipating what Tebow was going to do that week. I think we forgot he plays for the Denver Broncos…he’s not the only one out there. Call me “hater” if you want, but I have been ignoring the Tebow craze at every cost not only because I cheer for a different team, but also because I don’t understand why everyone is so obsessed. From a football stance, I could care less about Tebow, but from a branding standpoint…he’s got my attention.

Whether he realizes it or not, Tim Tebow has created his own brand and done an impeccable job of promoting and positioning it. So, how does someone create a brand without even trying? Consistency. Tebow has managed to do something in a few years that companies have been struggling to do for decades, establish a strong brand message. His signature move has been turned into a verb, “Tebowing” and even has its own website. Beyond creating his own verb, he has been the subject of endless YouTube videos, SNL skits, Internet memes, dolls, shirts, and holds the number two spot for most tweets per second. Even though it is usually the pun of all these media sensations, his faith is another defining factor of the “Tebow Brand.” After putting the Bible verse “John 3:16” on his eye blacks during a game, it then became the most searched keyphrase on Google.

If this man can cause such a buzz on YouTube, Google, Twitter and Facebook I think it’s safe to say we can all learn a little something from him. Is your brand’s message strong enough that your consumers could make a YouTube parody of it? Or create a verb from it? Having a defined brand message is the foundation a strong branding strategy. Contact LFI and we’ll be happy to help your company start a brand strategy worth “Tebowing” over.

I couldn’t resist…this one was my favorite. Enjoy.

I was recently interviewing/chatting with a young designer, when she asked me a very simple question that kind of caught me off guard.

“Where do you get your inspiration from when you’re working on a creative project?”

The answer used to be very simple. Awards books and TV. Lots, and lots of TV.

As I sat there staring off into the distance (giving the impression that I was in some sort of deep thought) trying to come up with a simple answer for her question, it dawned on me that the list has gotten exponentially larger over the last few years.

Blogs

Cool Websites

TV

Industry Awards Sites

Video Games

Books

Social Networks

Apps

Movies

My Children

And the list goes on….

It was a simple enough question, but for some reason it really stuck with me after she left. As I’ve grown up (debatable) in the marketing business I realized that seeking out inspiration isn’t as much of a task as it is an ingrained part of my daily routine that I don’t even think about anymore.

Thumbing through old awards books was easy. At the end of the book, you moved on to work. TV was simple. Just watch commercials and remember what stood out to you. Now, with an endless amount of inspiration at our fingertips, you’re able to actively or subconsciously search out inspiration at a mind-numbing pace. In most cases you don’t even realize you’re doing it.

Inspiration is everywhere. It’s on your computer. It’s on the digital boards you drive past in the morning. It’s on the game of Words With Friends you just played. It’s on the side of your tube of toothpaste (seriously saw a QR code on the side of my toothpaste).

So the next time someone asks me where I draw my creative inspiration from, I’ll have a very short answer. I’m inspired every time I wake up in the morning.

When it comes to marketing research, survey says…it works! As much as creativity and innovation are valued in today’s hyper-competitive world, both are of little help if the idea is not needed. The main reason why new products or ideas flop, isn’t because they aren’t “good enough”, it’s because they don’t fulfill any type of consumer need.  Much like idea behind my blog on Creating Smart Email Marketing, sometimes it’s not enough to be sexy…you have to be smart too.

Marketing research gets a bad rep in my opinion. Most marketers feel it’s the “boring” side of marketing. Who likes to deal with surveys and numbers anyway? Well the fact of the matter is marketing research is the backbone of any good integrated marketing campaign. It’s the beginning, middle, and end. Marketing research starts in the planning phase, is executed during the campaign, and helps to review it once the campaign over. So if think marketing research is “boring”, you better get excited pronto! Thanks to the new technology of social media, mobile apps, interactive website design, and DOOH projects, marketing research isn’t as “boring” as it used to be. Consumers are able to give feed back on a product or service in surveys disguised as games, quizzes, and polls. In a press release from Cint, it was reported that 62% of consumers said they were more likely to buy a product or service if they were asked their opinion. A whopping 91% of consumers prefer to participate in marketing research via Smartphone, web, and SMS. This means companies need a strong interactive presence in order to receive the best insights and consumer analysis.

To ensure your creative ideas and strategies don’t go to waste, make sure your have the research to back them up. Companies who know their consumer better, can better serve them. So instead of relying on “a little bird” to tell you about your consumers, let a real bird (Twitter) and other digital media do it for you.

Recently, we introduced a new analytics tool at LFI to help better measure search marketing analytics for our clients. Over the past few months, I have been using SEMRush more and more for competitive research and client analytics and reporting. SEMRush offers a variety of metrics and while I have used many, I have not had the opportunity to use all of them to date. However, there is one metric I would like to highlight for you that I use quite a bit when developing LFI client reports – the organic keyword report and positioning.

When you click on the organic keyword report you get a nice list of all of the keywords that produce a listing of your website in the top 20 organic search results on Google. For each of those keywords you have a whole host of metrics at your disposal. The metric I am highlighting is position. 

Position tells you the place of the listing in the search results. In other words, the keyword list could produce a listing of your website in 1^st place (position) of the search results or 19^th place (position). This information is incredibly helpful in assessing the site’s performance for keywords. Obviously, the higher ranked your listing, the better. If your listing is in one of the top 10 positions (1^st place through 10^th place), then your website has made the first page of search results on Google! 

Over time you can monitor the position of the listings for your keywords and help measure the success of your SEO efforts. In a digital marketing agency, SEMRush provides many great tools to help with SEO analysis for client reporting and development of strategic marketing plans. 

Social Search has been a term around for a couple of years in an attempt to understand and capitalize on the nature of social media and volume of search activity that occurs on those sites. The struggle has been Twitter and Facebook, the two leaders in the space, have walled-off most of their content from being searched by the major search engines.

Google has tried to rectify the issues around social search with Search Plus Your World.  Search Plus Your World is intended to pull content from social sites – including Google+ and Picasa – to show you the content you most want to see in the search engine results pages. Google has been expanding their search results to move beyond blue text links for several years now (originally called Universal Search). However, this is one of Google’s biggest forays into altering the search landscape by using the power of social media.

How does this impact your SEO campaigns? Over the last 8 months, we have seen a noticeable change in how the search engines rank your pages. Our clients who have incorporated a Search + Social Optimization (SSO) strategy have seen much larger gains of organic and referral traffic to their website than those using traditional SEO practices. I wrote an article about the need to combine your SEO and Social Media back in August.

We highly recommend a coordinated, concerted effort between both your Search and Social campaigns. Does this mean the Social Media campaigns you are embarking on are for naught? No, but when you are speaking in Social Media, you need to have a key eye on the how you are saying it (with keywords) and where are you directing engagement (back to the website). Clients who have tried to separate the Search and Social functions (For example, the agency performs the SEO and an in-house team performs Social Media) do not see the same gains when a strategic plan coordinating the two elements live under the same roof.

As we begin 2012, make sure to tweak your existing strategies to accommodate Search Plus Your World and the other updates, Panda and Freshness, which have helped propel the combination of Search and Social to the forefront in digital marketing strategies. 

For more information on Search Plus World and Social Search see more links to articles below.

 

The End of Link Building as We’ve Known and Loved It by Search Engine Watch

Search Plus: Five Changes You Need to Make to Your SEO Campaigns by eConsultancy Blog

”Search Plus Your World” Indexing Content Faster? by Web Pro News

How Google’s Social Search Shift Will Impact Your Brand’s SEO by Mashable

Google’s Results Get More Personal with “Search Plus Your World” by Search Engine Land

 

What happens in Vegas…doesn’t always stay in Vegas. No, I’m not talking about blurry nights that end up on Facebook, I’m talking about the International Consumer Electronics Show, better known as CES. This event sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), broke records and inspired dreams. With an astounding 3100 exhibitors, 1.86 million square feet of space, and 153,00 attendees this showcase was hard to keep under wraps. One has to wonder, with all of that technology…how in the world do you set yourself apart? Some critics say that the show was over populated with 3D TVs, smart-phones, solar power, and tablets. Be that as it may, that does not discredit any of the technology or talent present. One presence that surprised many of the attendees was the automotive industry. Not a usually a front-runner, this industry caused quite the scene…on your dashboard, that is.

Mercedes-Benz showed off their newest technology that creates an augmented reality using icons and pictures similar to holograms. With the simple and natural gesture of pointing at a business or landmark, drivers will be able to receive more information. This could range from the history of a bridge to the table availability at a restaurant.  Users will be able to make reservations and view venue details without ever leaving their car. Other players such as Ford, are developing technology that will benefits drivers in a more holistic approach by monitoring the health of their users. Kia is also testing a product that uses infrared LED cameras to determine driver alertness.

 

These types of new technology now make a consumer’s car a new place to get information. This could mean serious competition for smart-phones and in-dash platforms (let’s hope people aren’t using their tablets in the car). This could also mean potential for innovative advertisers to find a way into this space once the general public accepts the technology. Who knows, maybe we’ll never see a real billboard ever again, just augmented heliographic ones in our windshields. Welcome to the new age of auto-mobile marketing.

[Contributed by Kara DeLost, Marketing Specialist]

According to Responsys Inc, retailers sent a record number of promotional emails during 2011. Retailers averaged 177 emails per subscriber in 2011 up 16% from 2010 and up 51% from 2008. The report also found December is the highest month for email campaigns; Cyber Monday is the busiest email marketing day of the year and Friday is the busiest retail marketing day of the week.

 

This is great news for email marketers and the channel as a whole. We get asked a lot if email marketing is worth the investment and the above numbers prove the value. If the top 100 retailers did not find value in the medium, it would not have experienced such aggressive growth.

 

If you are interested in pursuing an email marketing campaign, here are some things to think about.

 

1. Commitment to consistent publication of content – Understand your audience and business cycle and commit to producing content on a regular basis. We recommend no less than one email a month. Developing an editorial calendar for your emails sends will help you stick to your goal.

2. Don’t over think the content – Content can come from a variety of sources: industry news, company news, legislation, promotions, new product development, sales material and so forth.  Your internal teams may believe your customers know everything there is to know about your business and brand. However that is an extremely myopic view. Utilizing the editorial calendar mentioned above to map out informational topics will allow your team to better distribute valuable company information to your consumers.

3. In creating content, make sure it optimized for mobile – The number one activity on a Smartphone is checking email. However, many businesses that use email marketing do not optimize their sends for mobile browsing. By taking the time to optimize your emails for mobile, increases the chances of your message being read.

4. Collect emails at every opportunity – Your website, sales calls, clients and so on are great opportunities to ask for an email address to begin marketing/remarketing to them.  An email address is a low cost investment for many individuals who may be reluctant to give out a phone number. You can utilize that to your advantage via email marketing.

The goal of most digital marketing efforts it to drive visitors to a website who then take a call to action that indicates purchase intent. Super active website visitors are exciting for lead generators, but we have to be careful not to jump the gun. Sending all over-active leads to the sales team can be hazardous to your relationship with them. Some leads aren’t ready to be contacted, some may just be browsing, and some may be doing research for other reasons than purchasing your product or service.

Scoring

You know your product and most likely understand the things that people typically try to find out before making a purchase. If you don’t, then have a meeting with the sales team and work out the most prominent online buying signals. This is where lead scoring comes in. Once you’ve figured out favorable vs. unfavorable online actions, assign either positive or negative points to each identifiable action (making sure to take into account the job title, industry and other important qualifiers for B2B leads).

Grading System

Developing a grading system is the next step. The most important point that I can make here is to not think of it like a sport such as golf or basketball. The lowest score won’t always win and neither will the highest. What will, is the visitor who has taken the right combination of steps to be considered an “A” lead. As I mentioned earlier, overactive leads may be nothing more than a researcher (or competition) and not a potential customer. This can be incredibly complex and should be unique to your company and position in the market place. It will need to be monitored and adjusted especially in the early implementation stage, but will serve you and your sales team well. The grading system below represents a two part scoring system, and does a fine job of displaying how high scores in certain areas may not mean a high quality lead.

 

Source: Demandgen.com/blog

 

Our mission at LeapFrog Interactive (LFI) when supporting lead generation clients, is to develop this process and then follow through on those leads identified as “A” quality, while employing lead nurturing techniques for lower quality leads until they reach the best grades. Understanding each client’s individual lead generation needs and having a plan of action to contact those leads benefits both the customer and our lead generation team. If you’re looking for new ways to help generate qualified leads for your business, LFI’s lead generation team can help you get the most out of your website and marketing efforts to drive “A” leads to your sales team.

 

[Contributed by Sean Matthis, marketing coordinator-lead generation]

The best way to explain balancing your company’s relationship with Facebook is…”it’s complicated”. When it comes to looking for advice about Facebook ratings, there seems to be just as many opinions as YouTube has likes (which is 48 million, by the way). With so many opinions and do’s and don’ts, they can’t all possibly be correct, right? Well, to make matters more complicated the answer is yes…and no.

 

Despite the abundance of opinions on company branding and marketing with Facebook, experts and bloggers alike come to agreement on a few of the same big ideas. The main one being the measurement of your brand’s impact on Facebook. The number of ‘likes’ now has less importance when evaluating your social media presence. As Neff mentions in his article, “More Than Just Numbers: The Brands With the Top Relationship Quality on Facebook” the amount of engagement relates closer to a high score on the Fathom Analytics Relationship Quality Index than ‘likes’ alone. This score like others such as EdgeRank mentioned in Smith’s “How to Virally Grow Your Facebook Fan Page”, are based on a combination of criteria such as user affinity, status weight, freshness, momentum, engagement, and emotional quality.

 

Multiple other opinions also believe that things such a language, time of day, and frequency should meet a certain requirement. Some say, be personal. Some say, be professional. Nine AM, no two PM. Once a day, no twice a day…etc. To add to the opinions, here’s mine - ”it’s complicated”. No one expert or blogger can definitively decide these factors. It depends on your audience and industry. What works for one brand will not always be the case for another in the world of social media marketing. It is much like a real relationship, you have to try different things to find the right mix.

 

So go ahead, take the plunge and tie the knot on your “complicated” relationship with Facebook and live happily ever after! Need help? Contact LeapFrog Interactive and our digital marketing team will help counsel your brand in a healthy social media relationship.

 

 

[Contributed by Kara DeLost, Marketing Specialist]

In a recent e-Marketer article, pre-roll and mobile ads are expected to top the list of digital video ads for 2012. Advertising decision makers appear to be sticking with pre-roll video ads – up 1% as 63% plan to place pre-roll ads in 2012. With the exception of in-banner video ads, other top video ad formats are expected to increase in 2012 as well.

 

E-Marketer also reported in addition to increasing video ads, advertising decision makers are not abandoning non-video display ads, but instead running the two ad types in tandem with one another along with TV ads, search marketing and print/outdoor advertising mediums. Once again showcasing the need to expand a brand’s integrated marketing efforts.

 

The final element of the e-Marketer report focused on what pricing models digital marketers are using to purchase online video ads and which pricing models advertising decision makers prefer to use. Not surprisingly, 21% of decision makers prefer a cost per acquisition pricing model, followed closely by cost per engagement (19%). While the traditional pricing models of cost per thousand and cost per click remained at 18% and 16%, digital marketers are beginning to look for “metrics which hold sellers more accountable for consumer-advertiser engagement.”

 

As many areas of digital marketing and digital media continue to grow and expand in 2012, the shift of display advertising more focused on video ads will be an interesting trend to watch.

 

How is your company, brand or agency using digital video ads? What are your preferred types? Are you finding changing in the pricing models for these ads? Let us know in the comments below or share with us on Facebook or Twitter.

When most Americans think “Super Bowl” several images come to mind: crazy fans, great football and some of the best TV commercials of the year. This year, one more feather can be added to the Super Bowl cap – mobile streaming video. Thanks to a partnership with NCB and Verizon select post-season NFL games, including Super Bowl XLVI will be available on Verizon’s NFL mobile. The Super Bowl will also be available via online live streaming video on NBC and NFL.com.

The obvious benefits of this new streaming service are for the fans – having more access to games increases the opportunity for increase viewership and more ways for fans to watch their favorite games. As a digital marketer, I’m wondering to myself what doors this will open up for the future of mobile streaming and mobile marketing. Will the commercials seen on TV during the Super Bowl be the same on your mobile streaming video OR will there be other/additional online and in-app advertising. Either way, imagine the increase audience for an ad. Every advertiser would not only be reaching the millions of viewers watching on TV and streaming online…but those additional viewers choosing to watch the game on their select Verizon mobile device. And if there is additional in-app advertising, the doors are again opening for mobile marketers to reach mobile video streamers.

Two additional questions came to mind as a football fan and a digital marketer:

(1) Would I really want to watch the Super Bowl on my mobile phone? I must admit, my husband, an avid Baltimore Ravens fan, did watch a live streaming Ravens game earlier this year on our way to Florida thanks to the DirectTV app…the picture wasn’t half bad, but the lag time did leave something to be desired. With that said, I’m not 100%. In theory it seems like a great idea to reach those who are unable to watch their favorite team play in the biggest football game of the season, but I wonder about and bandwidth and lag time for the network to keep up with the number of people using the app to watch the game.

(2) I wonder how (or if) the iPad and other mobile tablets play into this? Of course watching it streaming “online” on a mobile tablet is one option, but I wonder, did the NFL consider creating a mobile tablet version of NFL Mobile as well for Verizon tablets? Will the tablet app be the future of mobile streaming for Super Bowl XLVII or for any future major sporting events - perhaps the London Olympics will look to the NFL for guidance on streaming mobile video for their events. Or even online live streaming video for anyone around the world to be able to watch any event on any day.

What are your thoughts? Would you watch the Super Bowl (or any postseason NFL game) on your mobile phone? Do you think this is just the beginning for mobile streaming video of major sporting events? Share with us on Facebook or Twitter.

On behalf of everyone at LeapFrog Interactive, we wish you a very happy holiday season! Whichever holiday you may celebrating or wherever you may be spending it we hope it is full of happiness and success. Best wishes in 2012!

 

Our offices will be closed beginning on Saturday, December 24, 2011 through Sunday, January 1, 2012. We will re-open Monday, January 2, 2012 at 8:00am.

 

If you need immediate assistance our IT Staff will be available Monday-Friday 8:00am-5:00pm during our close. Please call 502.212.1365 if you are in need of any assistance.

 

Thank you to everyone who has helped make 2011 an amazing year for LFI. We look forward to continuing our growth in the New Year. See you in 2012!

As we wind down another year, we have much to be grateful for in the SEO world. More and more companies understand the importance of SEO and the search engines are capturing more content than ever before. The next year will undoubtedly bring more changes to the search engines. Here is a list of the top 5 things to watch for in 2012.

1. Convergence of SEO and Social – Ever increasingly, the search engines have shown you must marry both onsite optimization with socially distributed content. This works great if you manage both channels for your clients. However, if you do not, then you will need to work ever more closely with your client to ensure both your SEO and Social Media programs are working together.
2. Panda, Panda, Panda – Google stated this week there will not be any more updates in 2011 (Whew!). But they also said they would start back up in 2012. Most of us have been impacted by the multitude of Panda updates this year and will, of course, be impacted further.
3. Fresh content – In the middle of Q4 2011, Google updated their algorithm to give more weight to content, which was more relevant or ‘fresh’ – thus the ‘Freshness Update’. Companies will need to find ways to make their content more relevant, in regards to timeliness, in 2012.
4. Google+ Business Pages – Does your company have a Google+ business page? If not, take a few minutes and create a page. Then figure out what content you to distribute through Google+. Google+ pages become another asset to optimize and be found in search.
5. Search and Congress – The search engines are under extreme pressure to divulge their algorithms and make public how pages are found. I am not for sure what the outcome of this will be but, as search marketers, we need to be conscious of pending legislation.

Happy New Year!

The Creative staff is always pushing the envelope when it comes to creating PPC landing pages. I agree with them. You must continually make a landing page engaging and compelling for users to convert. At the same time, there are some basic truths that have been tested time and again, which should be adhered to when designing a landing page.

1. Headline – A clear, concise headline must quickly grab the users attention and compel them to read further.
2. CTA’s – These should be placed prominently on the page so users understand the desired action you want them to take.
3. Copy – Copy helps reinforce the message you want to get across. Also, it creates relevancy for the ad to help improve your Quality Score.
4. Main Points Above the Fold – All of the main points, headlines and CTA’s should be above the fold so users do not have to scroll to get the main objective of the ad.
5. Lead Form – Placing a lead form right on the landing page becomes a great way to collect information and pre-qualify leads.
6. Minimal Navigation – If a user has clicked on a page, you want them to quickly take an action. By reducing the number of navigation and links on a page, you minimize the opportunities for users to click off a page and not convert.
7. Fast Load Time – Landing pages should load quickly so a user will not have the tendency to click off the page before converting. Minimize any graphics and elements that are not necessary for the conversion and increase the load time of the page.
8. Keywords – Incorporate keywords throughout the copy to reinforce the product and service you are offering as well as appear relevant to AdWords and AdCenter for a lower cost on spend.

If you need an example, HubSpot has a great example of a PPC landing page in a wireframe format.

When great creative and PPC best practices come together, it makes for a winning landing page combination.

Email may be less sexy than social media but… who wants to only be sexy when you can be sexy and smart? The fact of the matter is, even though new digital marketing channels such as social media and mobile are cutting edge and dare I say, SEXY, email is still a smart variable in your integrated marketing strategy.

Many businesses may think that email advertising is outdated and can be a nuisance to their target audience. While there may some truth in those assumptions, there is no denying the sheer number of people using Email. One of the most important aspects of any good campaign is reach, and the bigger the better! In Christy Belden’s presentation on 2012 Digital Marketing Trends, she mentions there are nearly 3 times as many email accounts as there are Facebook and Twitter accounts COMBINED. That means if you want to be where your consumers are, you are going to need to pop-up in their inboxes.

Who’s to say this pop-up has to be a nuisance? It’s not about removing email from your marketing campaign but about improving how you communicate through this medium. After all it’s not always about what you say, but how you say it. Small adjustments in graphics, text, and layout can make the difference between an opened envelope and the dreaded trash icon. Using new technology like Toutapp can also help track outgoing emails, save templates, and update CRM software to make your email campaigns more successful.

Email is a necessity in any great digital marketing strategy as long as it is done correctly. Contact us to help ensure your consumers get excited to hear “you’ve got mail”.

 

[Contributed by Kara DeLost, marketing coordinator]

Engagement. Discussion. Branding. Three words many companies, and digital marketers alike, use to describe reasons they are using social media or recommend their clients join the social media conversation. As a digital agency, we are often asked why a company should create a social media presence and why it is important to stay engaged with consumers on social media platforms. There are many reasons we provide as to why a business should become engaged with consumers or other businesses online via social media channels. Three of those key reasons include (1) brand perception, (2) customer service, and (3) market/brand research.

Brand perception is the obvious big reason to engage in social media conversations and social media marketing. Presenting your business in the best light possible not only leads to increased brand awareness, but also to the possibility of changing a consumer’s perception of the brand. Brand perception and brand awareness is a key step in increasing sales, new leads and new customers.

Consumers love good customer service – on the phone, via email and on social media. Developing a solid social media plan that involves customer service will benefit the company and the consumer. The consumer sees that the company is paying attention to its customers, which then leads to an improved brand perception. Personally, there are brands and companies I am more likely to Tweet if I have a problem with their product or service than others given their likelihood to respond and solve the problem. Positive interaction with consumers, even those with negative comments or concerns, benefits your business to be seen as a “helpful brand” and that message has the potential to spread virally via your consumers’ social media channels. Take for example Twitter. You have a consumer who has a problem with a product and tweets to you. Rather than ignoring your consumer, your customer service team quickly tweets a reply and asks to help. The conversation continues resulting in the problem being resolved. Not only is you consumer happier, but also then tweets how great the customer service is and thus recommends your brand or product to all their followers – potentially creating many new customers.

Monitoring social properties not only to improve customer-company relations, but also to conduct social market research with fans and followers creates a more integrated experience. Where else can a business receive unbiased, real-time opinions of products services and marketing campaigns? Brand feedback, negative or positive, sets the stage for any business to improve products, services or processes and develop new products, services or marketing campaigns based on consumer feedback. This monitoring helps brands understand their consumer better and as a result produce better user-oriented products and services.

As you probably noticed, these three reasons are intertwined and should be recognized together to produce a successful social media campaign. Development of a social media campaign should include many additional elements, but these three key reasons provide a solid ground for a business’ social media engagement to grow on.