Our society loves mobile technology. We love iPods, laptops, and cell phones, particularly Blackberries. We are addicted to texting, e-mailing, instant messaging, and talking on the phone. And though we “feel” connected through all of this technology, we have actually isolated ourselves from physical interaction with people. So now, more than ever, consumers are craving an authentic experience…not just another electronic ad that pops up on their computer screen or a commercial that they fast-forward through using their TiVo.
A recent survey* shows that 9 out of 10 consumers say they would purchase a product if they could first try it and were satisfied with it. Furthermore, 6 out of 10 consumers say that if a brand wanted to convince them to buy a product, then experiencing it first-hand would be the most effective way of getting them to make a purchase.
Our mobile society has presented a challenge for marketers. How do you get consumers to try your product in an authentic way? Product Sampling is not the answer because by standing in a retail store handing out a sample of your product, you are not creating an authentic experience- a place where your consumer really would try your product.
In order to create an authentic experience for their consumers to try their product, marketers for Tylenol put Tylenol PM Samples on 1 million beds at resorts and hotels throughout the US. Along with this sample was a note saying, “We know how long you’ve waited for this vacation, and we know how mush you want to catch up on your sleep. Enjoy.” Tylenol’s goal was to place their samples in the physical location where their product would be used…a bed.
This method of reaching your consumers by getting them to try your product in an authentic experience has been termed “advertrying” or “tryvertising,” and its catching on. Car companies are packaging a free rental of their more luxury models with a stay at certain hotels. Targeting men and women on business trips who would normally need a rental car during their stay, these car companies are creating an authentic experience for their target market to try their product.
With all the new ways to reach your target market, it may be time to evaluate your marketing dollars and see if there are ways to allocate your budget to better reach your target market. In a mobile, technology-dependent society, marketers need to find a way to connect with their consumers and get them to try their products in an authentic way.
*February 2007 consumer-package-goods marketer survey from the Product Sampling Council of the Promotion Marketing Association.
Information presented based on the article, “Give it a Try: Put Brands in Consumers’ Hands (Literally) by Brian F. Martin, in the October 22, 2007 edition of Advertising Age.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Kids!
Kids! We’ve got to know about kids today!
Kids!I don't know what's wrong with these kids today!
Kids!Who can understand anything they say?
Kids! They are just impossible to control!
Kids! With their awful clothes and their rock an' roll!
What's the matter with kids today!
You may be familiar with these witty lyrics from the song, Kids! featured in the hit musical, Bye Bye Birdie. Actually, you may be more than familiar with them, you may relate to them. It seems that there always exists a barrier to understanding “kids” (in this case, ages 18-24). But in the marketing industry, it is essential to break that barrier.
The Importance of Understanding Kids!
It’s more than just trying to be hip, or young and fresh. It’s even more than trying to find a common ground to stand on or bridging the generation gap. It’s the fact that the 18-24 year old age group is one of the most influential age groups in the market, and THAT is why it’s so important to understand Kids! Not only do most of them still possess great influence on their parent’s money (think college tuition, senior trips, weddings and graduations), but more and more kids in this age group have their own money to spend as well. And with our society’s obsession with “being younger” and looking to this more youthful generation, it shouldn’t shock you that the marketing industry is turning there also.
So What’s Important to Kids?
That may be the million dollar question. Social networking is very popular among the 18-24 set. Names like Facebook and MySpace should sound very familiar to you by now. These two popular websites have many different advertising outlets on them and get thousands of viewers daily. This age group also loves iPod from Apple, which is why Podcasts have become so popular—they are a great way to get a message across on the most used (and most popular) mp3 media device by this age set. The 18-24 age group also watches the ever popular tv shows, Grey’s Anatomy and The Office more than any other tv shows.
These may just seem like trends or fads, and true, as the generations change, so will their likes and dislikes. However, it is important to know to what this age group pays most of their attention and who gets most of their money if you want to effectively market to them. Keep in mind which TV shows they watch when purchasing media for advertisements. Be creative in your approach to advertising on the internet. Engage this young age group in your websites by adding podcasts, streaming video, interactive Blogs. You may even get brave and tackle the social networking giants, Facebook and MySpace.
However you decide to do it, do not ignore the influence that the 18-24 set possesses. And remember, whatever is “wrong with these kids today,” it’s a necessity to reach this age group.
Kids!I don't know what's wrong with these kids today!
Kids!Who can understand anything they say?
Kids! They are just impossible to control!
Kids! With their awful clothes and their rock an' roll!
What's the matter with kids today!
You may be familiar with these witty lyrics from the song, Kids! featured in the hit musical, Bye Bye Birdie. Actually, you may be more than familiar with them, you may relate to them. It seems that there always exists a barrier to understanding “kids” (in this case, ages 18-24). But in the marketing industry, it is essential to break that barrier.
The Importance of Understanding Kids!
It’s more than just trying to be hip, or young and fresh. It’s even more than trying to find a common ground to stand on or bridging the generation gap. It’s the fact that the 18-24 year old age group is one of the most influential age groups in the market, and THAT is why it’s so important to understand Kids! Not only do most of them still possess great influence on their parent’s money (think college tuition, senior trips, weddings and graduations), but more and more kids in this age group have their own money to spend as well. And with our society’s obsession with “being younger” and looking to this more youthful generation, it shouldn’t shock you that the marketing industry is turning there also.
So What’s Important to Kids?
That may be the million dollar question. Social networking is very popular among the 18-24 set. Names like Facebook and MySpace should sound very familiar to you by now. These two popular websites have many different advertising outlets on them and get thousands of viewers daily. This age group also loves iPod from Apple, which is why Podcasts have become so popular—they are a great way to get a message across on the most used (and most popular) mp3 media device by this age set. The 18-24 age group also watches the ever popular tv shows, Grey’s Anatomy and The Office more than any other tv shows.
These may just seem like trends or fads, and true, as the generations change, so will their likes and dislikes. However, it is important to know to what this age group pays most of their attention and who gets most of their money if you want to effectively market to them. Keep in mind which TV shows they watch when purchasing media for advertisements. Be creative in your approach to advertising on the internet. Engage this young age group in your websites by adding podcasts, streaming video, interactive Blogs. You may even get brave and tackle the social networking giants, Facebook and MySpace.
However you decide to do it, do not ignore the influence that the 18-24 set possesses. And remember, whatever is “wrong with these kids today,” it’s a necessity to reach this age group.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Mobile Web for a Mobile Generation
Building Web Sites for a Mobile World
Stand on any elevator, eat at any restaurant, go to any shopping mall, and you’ll see people talking on their phones…or more specifically their smart phone, pocket PCs, PDAs, or BlackBerries. What do all of these things have in common? They are all web enabled devices that can access the same web as traditional computers. There exists, however, some limitations to the use of the web on such devices. Often, you will hear the term “mobile web” which refers to the shortcomings of the web on mobile devices.
Device Dependent vs. Device Independence
Because so many people are accessing the web through mobile devices, it is important that your website is device-independent, simply meaning that is can be used on any device-- traditional computer, BlackBerry, or game console. Instead of making one, device-independent website, there are some companies that are creating a separate website intended specifically for mobile devices. This works, but you can expect to pay more money for it. Creating one website that is compatible with any device, will keep overhead costs low and as an added bonus, you can benefit from the value of the existing site.
Building for Device Independence
To build a mobile device/ traditional device- friendly website, you can develop your site using XHTML. XHTML has rigid accessibility standards and provides the best opportunity for your site to render correctly. It is crucial to remember that with mobile devices, there is limited bandwidth and slow download speed, so it is important that your site is easy to navigate. Therefore, have a site map and make sure that all pages are no more than three clicks away from the homepage.
Keep in mind also that people who are visiting your site from a mobile device are not likely surfing the web. The have purposefully come to your site, so make it usable by being as intuitive as possible in the design/development. It’s not a bad idea to promote your mobile-friendly site through ads and press releases. One easy way to do so would be to add a tagline to the end of your ads that says something like, “Visit us on the web at http://www.yourbusinesswebsite.com/ from your computer or mobile device.”
We are a mobile society, and we want to be able to access the web any where we go. Help your company benefit by ensuring that your website is device-independent.
Information in this post found in the August 2007 edition of WebsiteMagazine.com, from the article, “Site Mobility: The Mobile Web and Beyond,” by Cindy Krum.
If you would like help with your website so that it too is device- independent, please to hesitate to contact us. We are happy to help!
Stand on any elevator, eat at any restaurant, go to any shopping mall, and you’ll see people talking on their phones…or more specifically their smart phone, pocket PCs, PDAs, or BlackBerries. What do all of these things have in common? They are all web enabled devices that can access the same web as traditional computers. There exists, however, some limitations to the use of the web on such devices. Often, you will hear the term “mobile web” which refers to the shortcomings of the web on mobile devices.
Device Dependent vs. Device Independence
Because so many people are accessing the web through mobile devices, it is important that your website is device-independent, simply meaning that is can be used on any device-- traditional computer, BlackBerry, or game console. Instead of making one, device-independent website, there are some companies that are creating a separate website intended specifically for mobile devices. This works, but you can expect to pay more money for it. Creating one website that is compatible with any device, will keep overhead costs low and as an added bonus, you can benefit from the value of the existing site.
Building for Device Independence
To build a mobile device/ traditional device- friendly website, you can develop your site using XHTML. XHTML has rigid accessibility standards and provides the best opportunity for your site to render correctly. It is crucial to remember that with mobile devices, there is limited bandwidth and slow download speed, so it is important that your site is easy to navigate. Therefore, have a site map and make sure that all pages are no more than three clicks away from the homepage.
Keep in mind also that people who are visiting your site from a mobile device are not likely surfing the web. The have purposefully come to your site, so make it usable by being as intuitive as possible in the design/development. It’s not a bad idea to promote your mobile-friendly site through ads and press releases. One easy way to do so would be to add a tagline to the end of your ads that says something like, “Visit us on the web at http://www.yourbusinesswebsite.com/ from your computer or mobile device.”
We are a mobile society, and we want to be able to access the web any where we go. Help your company benefit by ensuring that your website is device-independent.
Information in this post found in the August 2007 edition of WebsiteMagazine.com, from the article, “Site Mobility: The Mobile Web and Beyond,” by Cindy Krum.
If you would like help with your website so that it too is device- independent, please to hesitate to contact us. We are happy to help!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
What Does Universal Search Mean for Me?
Are You Gearing up for Google’s Universal Search?
With Google’s launch of Universal Search, it is no longer an option, but a requirement to include optimized images, videos, news, local maps or blogs into your Search Engine Marketing (SEM) strategy.
Haven’t heard of Universal Search?
Universal Search combines all of Google’s various databases (Google Blog Search, Google Maps, Google Video, Google Image Search, Google Books and Google News) into one index to serve a single set of search results. Basically, take all of Google’s databases, and put them into one and you have Universal Search. Google won’t be the only search engine heading towards a universal search technology. Other search engines will also combine their various databases into one “blended” search engine.
Here’s an example of Universal (or blended) Search in action. If you search ‘Ford Cars’ in Google Search, your first non-sponsored ad (no paid for) is a news article relating to Ford Cars, rather than the Ford Vehicles website.
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GFRD,GFRD:2007-39,GFRD:en&q=ford+cars
How to get ready for Universal Search
In anticipation of Universal Search and as a business owner or someone who receives business via the Internet, you have to find the best tactics for optimizing your web-pages to keep rankings high. And how do you do that? By integrating blogs, videos, and local maps into your website in a way that is relevant to the site, is consistent with the content, and contains good internal keyword links. Through combining these various things into your Search Engine Marketing strategy, you will be able to keep and even boost the rankings of your website.
Also, adding a blog is a great way to not only enhance your rankings in search results, it is also a great way to keep your customers and viewers informed of changes within your company and within your industry.
If you have any questions about how we can help you prepare for Universal Search, please feel free to contact us. We want to help all of our clients find the most effective way to market themselves on the internet, and we’d be happy to help you.
With Google’s launch of Universal Search, it is no longer an option, but a requirement to include optimized images, videos, news, local maps or blogs into your Search Engine Marketing (SEM) strategy.
Haven’t heard of Universal Search?
Universal Search combines all of Google’s various databases (Google Blog Search, Google Maps, Google Video, Google Image Search, Google Books and Google News) into one index to serve a single set of search results. Basically, take all of Google’s databases, and put them into one and you have Universal Search. Google won’t be the only search engine heading towards a universal search technology. Other search engines will also combine their various databases into one “blended” search engine.
Here’s an example of Universal (or blended) Search in action. If you search ‘Ford Cars’ in Google Search, your first non-sponsored ad (no paid for) is a news article relating to Ford Cars, rather than the Ford Vehicles website.
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GFRD,GFRD:2007-39,GFRD:en&q=ford+cars
How to get ready for Universal Search
In anticipation of Universal Search and as a business owner or someone who receives business via the Internet, you have to find the best tactics for optimizing your web-pages to keep rankings high. And how do you do that? By integrating blogs, videos, and local maps into your website in a way that is relevant to the site, is consistent with the content, and contains good internal keyword links. Through combining these various things into your Search Engine Marketing strategy, you will be able to keep and even boost the rankings of your website.
Also, adding a blog is a great way to not only enhance your rankings in search results, it is also a great way to keep your customers and viewers informed of changes within your company and within your industry.
If you have any questions about how we can help you prepare for Universal Search, please feel free to contact us. We want to help all of our clients find the most effective way to market themselves on the internet, and we’d be happy to help you.
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