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Posts Tagged ‘Online Marketing’

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Survival of the Fittest?

22
October
2009

In times of economic crisis, being flexible and adapting to changing environments and customer expectations is the key to survival.

Christine Pepin
Media Coordinator

Throughout this difficult market, we have been ever more vigilant to the changing needs of our clients and understanding shifts within the marketplace as a whole.  In doing so, it has remained very important to recognize new consumer expectations, as they are the audiences in which our clients serve.  By understanding their constomers, we are better equipped to recommend strategies and consult on the best ways to reach them.  MarketingProfs has presented several considerations worth noting, especially for consultants looking to better identify with clients who are eagerly seeking the attention of their target audiences.

1.)     Transparency over spectacle

Due to the ease in which information is accessed, consumers are privy to a range of content about an organizations they support.  In turn, your reputation is ever more at risk as your audience can find the conversation about you.  So, focus on trust and gain it through transparency.

2.)    Dialogue over monologue

Broadcasting a message that elicits no response is a failed strategy and a way of the past.  Engage your customers by asking questions and focus on tactics that are pull strategies, not push.

3.)    “Fans” not customers

Treat customers as fans.  Give them a reason to share their experience with friends and advocate your brand.

4.)     Cultural value and immediate gratification

Organizations with cultural values similar to those of their fan base are bound to gain support.  But, the value that the fans seek is desired immediately and at a reasonable price.  So, identify both a sustaining cultural and economic value that can rival that of the competition.

5.)    New opportunities

When income decreases, consumers will be more financially conscious.  By the same token, marketers also have increasingly tight budgets and should explore powerful but affordable mediums to communicate.  Those that succeed will not only offer a product or service, but instead offer a solution to the consumer in our times of crisis. 

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Online Marketing Campaigns Still Facing High Click Fraud Rates

12
August
2009

While click fraud rates have slightly decreased, advertisers must continue to be aware of this ongoing issue.

Stefanie Berliant
Media Coordinator

Many of my previous posts have sung the praises of display advertising.  Banner advertising is great for branding, driving search, and supporting online conversion goals, but there is one major caveat to these programs: Click Fraud.  Many marketers define click fraud as any method of artificially inflating clicks or page impressions.  Some define it solely for Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns, however this is just as common with other campaign models such as Cost-Per-Thousand impressions (CPM).  You may ask yourself ‘Why would ad networks want to generate false clicks?’ Well, if the program is on a CPC model, then the advertising network garners revenue based on how many clicks are received. If a campaign is running on a CPM model, click fraud would help make an ad campaign appear more effective. Ad networks are not always the culprit either. Individual publishers within networks can also engage in this internet crime in order to increase their cut of the revenue generated. Direct competitors can also be the fraudsters, “spending” your money quickly in order to decrease your share of voice.    

While recent studies have shown that click fraud rates have decreased slightly in 2009, it still continues to be a major concern for online marketers as these bad clicks are increasingly coming from automated scripts.  There are companies who provide auditing services to combat click fraud, but they are not always going to be able to detect these malicious clicks 100% of the time as these scripts continue to become more sophisticated.  

Online advertisers must be aware of this problem and know the signs of when it is happening. Having a reliable analytics tool is the best step advertisers can take to not fall victim to this crime. Most analytics packages allow you to see geographically where most of these clicks are being generated or if specific keywords are receiving a surge in traffic. Advertisers must monitor and trend these metrics s to detect fraudulent clicks and making sure marketing budgets are being spent wisely.

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My Summer with EyeTraffic Media

3
August
2009

Principal Manager’s NOTE: I thought that our online audiences would enjoy a new perspective on EyeTraffic Media – and our recent growth. Therefore, I asked our summer intern to reflect back on the ten weeks he spent with our company. Enjoy! – George A.

Chris Cohen
Staff Assistant

Since June 1, I’ve had the pleasure of interning at EyeTraffic Media for a third consecutive summer. While I was looking forward to another opportunity of serving as the Principal Manager’s assistant, I was in for a pleasant surprise when Media Coordinator Ryan Moss asked me to help build the SEO/PPC campaign for the JumpReach product (powered by EyeTraffic Media). After two summers of having responsibilities primarily concerned with office management, I was thrilled to be given the chance to directly work with a member of a rising interactive marketing firm.

I remember when Mr. Assimakopoulos (who reminds me of Ari Gold from Entourage), to make sure if I was remotely capable of assisting with such a task, asked me what a search engine was and advised me: “Don’t say Google.” I guess I gave him a satisfactory answer because he gave the nod to Ryan.

Although I had the most basic prior knowledge of SEO & PPC advertising, I had absolutely no idea of how much work went into constructing an effective campaign. From keyword research, to Ad Copies, to Negatives, I felt like a deer in headlights with all of these new concepts. With guidance from the other members like Keith Vera, Robin Dvorak, Christine Pepin, and Stefanie Berliant, Ryan and I were able to build what we hope will prove to be a very effective SEO and PPC campaigns for JumpReach.

While that was probably the most demanding of my responsibilities, I was also asked to maintain the Wiki, upload additional contacts, and attend to office management needs. Quick shout out to the Office Manager, Surrae Holloway, for staying on top of me, but really making my time here enjoyable. Man she is tough!

It’s interesting to see how EyeTraffic evolves year after year. With our country’s recent economic struggles, during my time here I wanted to make an effort to observe how a small business remains afloat and survives. EyeTraffic has been able to do so with its dedicated team.  Mr. Assimakopoulos continues to motivate and seek new opportunities all across the nation. Account Manager Keith Vera stays on top of his game day in and day out, and Media Coordinators Stefanie Berliant, Ryan Moss, and Christine Pepin are outstanding team players. Congratulations to Ryan for winning the most recent D.E.L.T.A. achievement award for his hard work and dedication over the recent months with the new JumpReach program.

Robin Dvorak is another member of the EyeTraffic team who has been invaluable in her assistance. With a lot of experience under her belt, her ideas and instincts are and will be continue to be essential to the development of the company.

This summer I’ve also had to share the internship spotlight with Blake Bowyer. He has been a pleasure to work with as well, and has done an excellent job managing the company Twitter account and assisting with the day-to-day activities.

Each summer when I intern with EyeTraffic I really try to get something out of it. Yes, I do enjoy the relaxed environment, good food, and comfortable office, but I try to take something that I can use when I go back to school and eventually become part of the “real world.” By learning real interactive marketing tactics and observing day-to-day business interactions, there is no doubt that my time here has been well spent, and I will take lessons with me that will do nothing but help me down the road.

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Week 2: Armchair Marketing and the Perceived Metrics Oxymoron

22
June
2009

Understanding a Modern Marketer’s Plight

Blake Bowyer
Media Program Analyst

One of the constraints of being in marketing: everyone thinks they know, but very few do. Seth Godin recently wrote in his blog that marketing is at its best when treated as both an art and a science. However, I’d expect that not many would consider marketing an art, much less a science. To most, marketing means advertising and advertising means Nike’s “Just Do It” and the Geico gecko – both disgustingly obvious, simple, and hardly worth the millions of dollars they cost.

However, that is the essence of marketing: it is the art of bringing social science to the public. No other discipline so frequently interacts with crowds – from the huddled masses to the small groups of the long tail – to communicate a message. Accounting, engineering, programming, and countless others happen behind the scenes with their own lingos and secret handshakes. Conversely, marketing’s primary objective is to interpret, relate, and measure messages and shake the hand of every person in the target audience (and even a few outside it).

Getting my M.S. in Marketing, this is a plea I make regularly. Even my title here at EyeTraffic Media – Media Program Analyst – isn’t one that spurs top-of-mind awareness from non-marketers. First off, it doesn’t have “marketing” or “communications” anywhere in it! Counterintuitive, right? Not exactly. As mobile, electronic, and other emerging media approach the forefront, marketers are given a stronger set of tools that reach out beyond the creative space. These tools are marketing metrics and they empower smart agencies by combining a stronger sense of ROI and performance with a much-needed level of accountability.

At EyeTraffic, we eat, sleep, and breathe metrics and encourage our clients to do the same. Though, that doesn’t mean we strip out all the fun stuff typically associated with marketing. The slogans, taglines, mascots, and jingles are still here, but we’re leveraging great tactics to make sure great creative doesn’t fall on deaf ears (or blind eyes). So, while it may seem like “marketing metrics” should fall under another department’s lexicon, they’re actually the boon of 21st century marketing agencies; and, most importantly, their clients.

After two weeks of telling people I work at a marketing firm and being asked what I think of the new, hilarious Whopper Jr. TV ads, I answer, “They’re funny, but they’re not positively impacting Burger King’s share of stores, share of sales, or recent sales growth.” The typical reply is, “Yeah, but they’re funny, right?” Yeah, they are funny and, just like marketing, humor is an art.  But, marketing’s also a science and humor alone won’t get results. Just ask the Pets.com sock puppet.

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Benefits of Display Advertising

21
May
2009

Banner ads effectiveness ensures future use of this format.

Stefanie Berliant
Media Coordinator

To all the haters who say that banner ads are an ineffective form of online marketing or to not invest as much into this format of online advertising: you better check yourself.

After attending AdTech San Francisco last month and listening to the dialog from industry thought leaders, my own thoughts regarding online media buying were reaffirmed. Banner ads are to online marketing as posters, flyers, billboards, print ads, etc. are to traditional marketing. These tactics are an integral part of marketing, creating a holistic approach to grabbing the attention of a specific audience. Furthermore, the results of running an online advertising campaign are better tracked and measured than traditional advertising methods.

My opinion of display advertising was further codified by the recent report released by iProspect.  A third of internet users surveyed reported that they clicked on display ads. But wait! It doesn’t end there: 27% reported that they did an online search for the product, brand or company, and 21% directly entered the company Web address. Nine percent used social media tools to gather more information as well.

Surprised? You shouldn’t be.  As stated in my previous blog, display ads drive emotion which manifests into people searching online as well as offline. Again, the creativity of the display ads are a huge component of what drives emotion, so I must give kudos to Apple’s "Get a Mac" banner ads.  Apple’s creative team has taken banner advertising to the next level, making it interactive, entertaining but not intrusive. These 30 second rich media ads have the Mac and PC characters interacting in the leaderboard and large rectangle ads. The ad currently running on the NY Times homepage even includes commentary from a fake hair growth ad in the ad space on the opposite side of the webpage. Brilliant AND hilarious!

Online media buys are still well worth the investment, just make sure to run A/B tests with good creative and track the metrics the campaign. So don’t worry about the future of display advertising, it’s far from dead- more like alive and kicking. 

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Plans for New Online Privacy Bill in Effect

24
April
2009

House members meet to discuss the draft of a new online bill that addresses privacy implications on ad targeting technology.

Christine Pepin
Media Coordinator

Yesterday afternoon, members from the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet met to confront privacy concerns of behavioral ad targeting technologies.  Joining them were several Internet freedom advocacy groups who question the integrity of an ad network’s ability to track a user’s every move online.  Members present affirmed their willingness to propose legislation relating to not only behavioral targeting but perhaps to all online targeting. 

In 2002, a bill written by Republican Cliff Stearns of Florida was introduced that would have required firms to notify customers about their data collection and usage.  The bill was never passed, however members of the House indicate that it “will be the starting point and the foundation of our privacy bill this year.”  Marketers, search engines and ad networks would be hugely affected should a bill like this one ever passed.  Therefore, members of the House and privacy advocators are thoroughly analyzing the effects of tightened restrictions on these businesses.

A joint hearing on this subject is expected for this summer where further analysis by Congress will occur.

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Twitter Introduces Monitter.com

13
April
2009

Consumer demand drives Twitter to release a simple dialog-monitoring tool to watch tweets anywhere…anytime.

George Assimakopoulos
Principal Manager

If you’re curious about people who may be tweeting about you, your products or your services on Twitter – now you can monitor this dialog in real-time.  Check out Twitter’s new keyword watch-tool:  Monitter.com. This simple tool lets you monitor the twitter world for a set of keywords and watch what people are saying ("tweeting").  All you need to do is type in a few keywords into the provided search boxes and within seconds you’ll start seeing relevant tweets streaming live.

You may wonder why this is a valuable tool.  One specific benefit to Monitter is that it allows users to narrow their search within a 10 mile radius of the users location.  Now imagine if you are a home improvement contractor searching for people who may be tweeting on do-it-yourself topics.  I actually know of an independent contractor who recently used Monitter and entered the keyword phrase:  "painting rooms".  Within the Washington DC area he immediately found four tweets of people who had indicated  that they were at home "painting rooms this weekend".  The contractor replied to those tweets right for Monitter and offered his advice.  He eventually got one of those painting projects as a job.  Pretty cool, huh?

Monitter.com can have some other very cool application benefits:  politicians can use it to target possible voters tweeting about some top-of-mind issue; associations can use it to target new audiences who may be interested in their cause-driven organization’s focus; even cooks could use this to invite audiences to their restaurants as people tweet about their food cravings.  Try it for yourself – go to http://www.monitter.com/ and enter in "eating sushi".  I never realized how many people tweet about what they are eating for dinner.

This is just another example for how Twitter is truly growing their toolsets to build a business model for their social network.

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Viral Marketing Tactics for .ORGs

23
March
2009

EyeTraffic Media is offering a free webinar to educate .ORGS on viral marketing.

Stefanie Berliant
Media Coordinator

On March 25, 2009 from 3-4 PM EST, EyeTrafffic Media will host a free informational webinar tailored exclusively to .ORGs and associations.  This webinar will focus on identifying viral marketing tactics to help associations and non-profits increase traffic to their website, as well as promote awareness for their causes and events.  Viral marketing enables and motivates consumers to share content within their network while interacting with a .ORGs brand to achieve a desired marketing objective.  In this seminar, you will learn how to identify and build a network of influencers that will continue to spread their support for your organization’s cause and other viral marketing best practices. 

This webinar is the fourth of a series intended to educate cause-driven organizations on how to successfully apply online marketing strategies. The goal of these sessions is to help associations and non-profits to build stronger relationships with their customers and prospects at a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing methods.

For more information and to register for this event, please visit http://www.eyetraffic.com/Webinar.php

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How CMO’s Are Dealing With The Economy

18
March
2009

A recent survey was conducted to find out how top marketing executives are altering their strategies to coincide with the current economy.

Ryan Moss
Media Coordinator

With the current state of the economy, marketing budgets are dwindling in many companies, thereby making the job of a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) even more difficult. To help determine how these top marketing executives are responding to the tough times, Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and the American Marketing Association (AMA) surveyed about 600 U.S. marketing executives during February 2009 for the "CMO Survey". The poll generated some very interesting findings, including the following.

  • 59% of marketers said they were less optimistic about the economy then they were during the previous quarter
  • The most important customer priorities during the next 12 months according to marketers are Price, Service, Product Quality and Relationship
  • Marketers expect a 7% decrease in traditional advertising spending, but a 10% increase in Internet Marketing and new product introductions
  • Marketers named Apple, Procter & Gamble and Coca-Cola as the companies with the best marketing programs
  • "Achieving measurable ROI on my marketing efforts" was classified as the most important priority for marketers in 2009 with "developing marketing programs that integrate online and traditional media" being second

For more information about the results of the survey see the links below.

 

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comScore releases their 2008 Digital Year In Review

27
February
2009

The comScore 2008 Digital Year in Review offers a view of the overarching trends in digital marketing

George Assimakopoulos
Principal Manager

I recently read the report from comScore on the 2008 Digital Year In Review.  I found that it was very useful with data points that all marketers and advertisers would value. As comScore states in their report, in order for digital marketers to best equip themselves for the year ahead, it’s important to reflect on what happened in the past year and how the prevailing trends have set the stage for 2009.

  • What consumer trends dominated the landscape in 2008?Which technologies are capturing the attention of the marketplace?
  • How are people spending their digital media consumption time?
  • Where are digital advertising dollars flowing?
  • How can digital marketing be better used to achieve business objectives?

To download the entire report from comScore – CLICK HERE

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