Posts Tagged ‘Marketers’

What Performance Should You Expect from In App Ads?

Mobile is on everyone’s minds these days. Whether you are talking about iOS v. Android devices or wondering just how many people have smartphones these days, there is plenty to discuss.

As marketers we are most interested in who has them and if they respond well to advertising. eMarketer points out some data around the performance of in app ads that is, well, not exactly awe-inspiring. First, there is a look at some data from a Lab42 study about just how many in app ads users click on.

Of course, I can only speak from a personal perspective but I don’t know if I have clicked on more than 10 ads anywhere in my life so to see that even some 30% have clicked on 6 or more in app ads is interesting to me. Of course, the other 70 percent is at 5 or less clicks with 20% of those surveyed never clicking on an in app ad.

The article then looks at another angle of the mobile advertising space which is the in app ad that asks the user to get another app so they can receive an incentive. People like incentives but the apps they download to get them don’t get the same love as this chart from a Pontiflex study shows.

With only 3% of the respondents using the new app often and 37% uninstalling the app and the rest of the respondents being pretty indifferent to the app this makes for an interesting discussion. If someone has downloaded your app for an incentive, received the incentive then ditched the app is that a success? What we need to know is if those incentives are redeemed and turn into business. The staying power of this method of advertising is questionable, though, at least based on these findings.

Part of the problem is that there is simply too much noise. The winners in anything in the Internet space will be those that are able to keep it simple while cutting through the excess crap that clutters up the Internet like a side street bazaar.

In 2012 how do you plan to fight the noise in the online space? Is there a way to get it done consistently or is this simply an exercise in hoping you can do enough that some messages rise above the din to be a success?

Inbound Marketers Win With Respect

In marketing, practitioners are tasked with taking a company’s message (usually in the form of a product) and putting it in front of the right people (their defined target market) in the right place (where they may be more likely to buy), at the right time (when they are ready to buy) so the target prospect has the best chance to become a lead which grows up to be a paying customer.

That’s how it has been done for quite some time. It’s marketing’s equivalent of a fishing expedition done without the aid of radar. In other words, you go where you think the fish are, drop your line or nets and hope for the best. Often you come up empty but sometimes you catch a few. Do this enough times and you might make a living. Might.

Why do we settle for this process? First, is because that’s the way it has always been done. Of course, that is a really bad answer. Since the days of “Ogilvy on Advertising” it’s been about getting the message in front of people.

Here’s the trouble. People don’t act like they used to. While David Ogilvy was considered the grandfather of the modern advertising world his form of the modern world was nothing like it is today.

His techniques and ideas were predicated on a dumb consumer. One that needed to be led around by the nose and told where to go to meet their perceived needs. The consumer of old didn’t have many options to find out information about products and services. There were so few outlets to get information and they were all controlled by, you guessed it, the marketer that they stood little chance of finding something that may have actually solved a problem but instead settled for the solution they were presented.

To be blunt, those days are over. The Internet has blown the doors off the old model. Even online models that were held in high regard a few short years ago are quickly falling by the wayside. Why? Because consumers, whether they are consuming personally or for a business, are much more intelligent. They are armed with information and they hate being sold. They demand respect.

So what solves the marketers’ need to connect with the modern consumer? An inbound marketing approach predicated on respect of the consumer. Here’s a few quick points to show how inbound marketing can get that respect needed to earn business in today’s marketplace.

Inbound marketers credit the consumer with having a brain – By marketing to the actual individual needs of a customer or prospective customer there is much greater chance of building a relationship. Ever heard the old adage of “People buy from people not companies”? That’s never been more true than today. Inbound marketers get that their prospects are people just like them and they have their own ways of coming to decisions. As a result, they meet the consumer on their turf which evens the playing field and helps the consumer to make decisions based on the right criteria: theirs.

Inbound marketers understand the sales process – While obtaining a well qualified lead at the top of a sales funnel is a good start it truly is nothing more than that. Many well-qualified leads are left to rot on the vine by marketers who don’t understand that sales are made in the middle of the sales funnel not at the top. By understanding what is needed to nurture a qualified prospect through your sales process (or more importantly through their buying process) inbound marketers gain a distinct advantage over their competition simply by taking the time to help someone make a decision rather than manipulating them to. If you have to sell too hard it’s likely to end up being bad business.

Inbound marketers are patient – We are all under pressure to perform and in a tough economy the pressures for performance can be intense. That’s why inbound marketers win by being patient. That’s not to say that you can sit around forever to wait for someone to actually buy from you. Rather you learn to put as many people in your sales process as possible at any given time thus letting the law of large numbers take place. Modern marketers call this creating community and it is an essential step of the inbound marketing success plan. People don’t like to be pushed. They buy when they are ready. Communities allow for marketers to be patient because you always have larger groups of people at the various stage in that middle of the funnel process thus allowing for a more consistent close rate.

Inbound marketers have systems – The haphazard nature of how many companies and individuals do business can be astonishing. We are all guilty of flying by the seat of our pants at times but to do it all the time is a business death wish. By having a systematic methodology to work people through their buying process, inbound marketers win brand advocates rather than simply close sales. The idea of systems sounds dry and unimaginative but that couldn’t be further from the truth. People like boundaries especially those they make. Systems help people understand where they fit and gets them familiar with what they are doing.

Inbound marketers are people – In the end, people do buy from people, even in the online world. Inbound marketers understand the importance of moving from the dehumanized world of push marketing to the customer centric world of what we’ll called “guided marketing”. Pulling someone through a system sounds like there needs to be some coercion to make it happen. People don’t like to be pushed or pulled but they are fine with being guided through a process that builds comfort as it goes.
In the end, every one of these points are about a marketer earning the respect of their prospect or customer. We live in a world where respect can be hard to come by.

Would you like to look different with your marketing? How about earning someone’s business rather than acing like you deserve it? Inbound marketers do this every day and there is little denying that this is what success looks like for the foreseeable future.

Do you agree?

The Secrets to Successful Multilingual Social Media

Love it or hate it, social media has changed the way we interact, advertise and engage with our target markets. Even the chances that you made it to this article through social media are high – a recent study found almost 9 in 10 businesses use social media for marketing purposes.

And why not? It’s free, it’s effective and you can reach people all over the world in a few simple clicks.

But to truly reach global markets, you need to speak their language, and there are a few essential tricks you need to know to make it in the heady world of multilingual social media.

Think like a local
To appeal to locals you’ve got to act like a local. Unfortunately this doesn’t mean swanning off round the world for many vacations (though that would be nice). What you will need to take into account is exactly where people are hanging out on the internet. You may have spent a lot of time and effort on smartening up your Facebook page, but consider that potential customers in a country like China (where Facebook is banned by their infamous censorship regime) won’t even be able to see it, even if you take the time to translate and localize it.

Instead of poking and liking each other, in China, QZone is home to 480 million Chinese-speaking members, while over in Brazil, orkut (incidentally owned by Google) is the favored social network for around 66 million active users. Portuguese use online has grown by 990% in the last eleven years, and can partly attribute its success to ever-increasing user numbers in Brazil—an emerging market that is proving popular with marketers world-wide.

Talk the lingo
While it’s a given that you need to speak to those overseas in their own language, sometimes this is easier said than done. The first step that many will take is to head straight to online free software like Google Translate or Babelfish. If you’re planning on doing this, do it with the knowledge that machine translation is rarely without errors. While it’s sophisticated technology indeed, it’s just not clever enough to be able to interpret slang, idioms or subtle linguistic nuances that come with, well, not being a machine. Many years ago Pepsi had a famous (and highly embarrassing) mistranslation when its ‘Come alive with the Pepsi generation!’ slogan allegedly translated in Chinese as ‘Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead!‘. Hiring a professional translator will eliminate any potential red-faced moments, as well as being able to help you localize.

Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.

Keep your messages relevant
Speaking of localization, if you’re going to broadcast your message across numerous languages to many different countries, you’re going to have to make sure your message is tailored to your audience and their locale. Nothing makes people reach for the ‘Unfollow’ button faster than having to read messages that just don’t apply to them. Remember that they’re reading your updates because they think you have something interesting to say, so keep them local! Follow their local news, keep up-to-date with industry gossip in your target language and avoid any cultural references (like celebrities, national holidays, TV shows etc) that might mean nothing in other countries—remember that while you sit down to a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, the rest of the world are in the office!

Management is Key
With so many different languages across social networks, it’s important you find a way to manage them all effectively. The first thing is to establish different accounts for different languages, as broadcasting your message in a dozen languages from the same feed is guaranteed to alienate your audience. Just take a look at any major corporation and see how they do it. Air France, for example has at least 13 different multilingual Twitter feeds (Here’s an interesting French fact: you’re not allowed to mention Twitter on the TV in France).

Remember time zones too—while you might have that Friday feeling, it’s already Saturday in Japan. There are some great tools like Hootsuite that allow you to schedule Tweets to be sent whenever you choose, so you can target the right people at the right times.

Talk back
Once you’ve got going, you need to keep up the momentum. Don’t be daunted when your followers/fans/customers start talking to you in a language you don’t understand. If it helps, you can use machine translation to get the gist of what they’re saying, and respond in an appropriate manner, using the same method you do to translate your social network updates in the first place. If you’ve got the resources, it can really be an advantage here to have a native-speaking staff member on your books, as they can respond in a timely (and accurate!) manner.

Taking your social media multilingual can be a scary thought, but with a little planning and expertise, it can really open up a world of opportunity for you and your business… and we certainly all ‘like’ that.

About the author

Christian Arno is the founder of Lingo24, providers of professional translation services and multilingual SEO. Launched in 2001, Lingo24 now has over 150 employees spanning three continents and clients in over sixty countries. In the past twelve months, they have translated over sixty million words for businesses in every industry sector. Follow Christian (@l24ca) and Lingo24 (@Lingo24) on Twitter.

Image credit MrGarry / Shutterstock

Study Says Twitter Influences More Purchases Than Facebook

Facebook ads. Facebook brand pages. Facebook e-commerce. The forces are working hard to make the Face the place for marketers, but according to a new study by Kantar Media Compete, Twitter has them beat.

The numbers come from the quarterly “Online Shopper Intelligence Study” which looks at cross-channel shopping behavior. The survey was given to 2,574 online purchasers who shopped between July 14 and August 8, 2011 and here’s what they found out.

35% of respondents said that Twitter feeds had an influence on their purchase decisions. Only 23.5% had the same thing to say about Facebook.

Why do you think that is? Frankly, even though I’m a huge Twitter fan, I’m at a loss to explain this one. It’s certainly true of my personal behavior. Each week, the WBArchives tweets about their latest DVD releases and I’ve often clicked through to buy. I also follow them on Facebook but have never clicked through from there. No particular reason, I just don’t.

Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.

Maybe it’s because Twitter feeds move faster than the average Facebook feed, giving you many more opportunities to see something you like. Or maybe it’s that people are more apt to discuss products they like on Twitter. On any given Twitter day, I’ll see people tweeting about movies, music, tech items and even foods they enjoyed. On Facebook, not so much.

The study also found that email is going strong. 89% of respondents said they click through to a retail site. Retail text messaging though, is barely on the radar.

Saving Grace

72.6% of the survey respondents said they wait for items to go on sale before buying. And forget brand loyalty as 60% said they’d buy a store brand over the name brand if it was cheaper.

37% said they use coupons most of the time and 60% said they wouldn’t have made their last purchase without a coupon code. That’s also a box I would have checked, so maybe I am a typical online shopper.

What would get consumers to spend more online? Free shipping was the number one answer, followed by free returns, faster shipping and in-store pickup options.

Want to learn more? Download the full report at Kantar Media.

Mobile Evolving as After Click Actions Increase

The mobile Internet continues to grow which means that marketers are going to have more and more to keep pace with on a daily basis. It’s not as if there wasn’t enough already for marketers to pay attention to, learn and apply but if you are not used to this pace by now you never will be.

Millennial Media has published their 2nd quarter S.M.A.R.T. report which is made more interesting by the fact that this is their 50th edition which implies some chance for depth regarding this evolving space.

Now keep in mind, Millennial is a mobile advertising platform. Their customers are the basis of these results. Just keep this all in mind. First they look at mobile by region.

No surprise that Asia leads the way. They have been ahead of the rest of the world with mobile device use for quite some time.
The next bit of data from the report shows just how people are using smartphones both on the go and around the house.

I find that I use my Android device around the house more and more because it’s convenient. Notice I didn’t say easier. Sometimes my frustration with not being able to easily do something on the small screen makes me go to the laptop but, for the most part, that phone is on my person and being used.

Lastly, and for marketers most important, is a look at what people do after they click on a mobile ad.

Compare these numbers to what happened just 2 short years ago and one can see the evolution of the space.

But is it evolving quick enough? While getting someone to click on an ad is a victory of sorts it’s simply the first step toward what everyone is looking for; the conversion. When the clickthrough doesn’t result in a sale of some sort marketers then go into the branding, exposure, “there really is value there, honest!” defense which is fun to watch. The end game is sales and anything else is seen as a hollow victory.

So where are you with mobile as a marketer? What are the most important areas you are discovering as places for success and those with difficulties? How much time, effort and your resources are you putting toward this growing space?

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New Study Shows Twitter Buzz is Mostly a Bust

Twitter needs a new mascot. Instead of cheery bird, they should use a happy bee, because a new study shows that Twitter has more buzz than Tweets.

Polaris Marketing Research Inc. surveyed 1,000 American consumers this past July and asked them about their Twitter usage.

Only 18% said they had sent a Tweet in the last sixty days, which is not surprising. We know that the majority of the Tweets come from a small number of users. What is surprising is that only 22% said they read a Tweet in the past 60 days.

Polaris President Jan Carlson says,

“In spite of all of the buzz about Twitter, our results show that individuals who are active on Twitter are in the minority of the general U.S. population.”

Ouch. That really stings.

Now if you’re more of a cup half-full kind of person, you could say that almost one quarter of the population read at least one Tweet in the past two months. That does make the stat sound better, doesn’t it? But no matter how you phrase it, if they’ve got this right, then a whole lot of marketers aren’t getting through on this social media channel.

Who is getting the message? Here’s what Polaris found out:

• Younger respondents (under age 34) were significantly more likely to tweet and to review tweets on Twitter.
• Hispanic respondents were significantly more likely to tweet or review tweets.
• Respondents’ income levels were not related to their likelihood to use Twitter.
• Respondents in the East were most likely to tweet while respondents in the South were most likely to review tweets on Twitter

Really not much to hang your campaign hat on, is it?

Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.

I’m a huge fan of Twitter. It’s my number one source of news be it breaking stories or hot coupons. It’s also a constant source of entertainment, a quick bite here and there as I go through my day. I review a lot of Tweets, I Tweet more than most, RT occasionally and often click through to see photos and read articles. Apparently, I’m not a typical user and that’s a shame. I want to see Twitter succeed and I don’t own any stock in the company. But is 22% usage enough to sustain them? At what point does it become mainstream? 50% usage?

The question you need to ask yourself is, does it matter? I’d guess not. Even knowing that only 22% of Americans are seeing your Tweet, probably won’t stop you from doing it, because 22% is still better than 0% and as marketers, we’ll take what we can get.

Do these stats make you want to reconsider your Twitter marketing efforts? Or is it full-steam ahead?

Facebook Thinks of Opening the News Feed Flood Gates

For marketers, the news is too good to be true. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Facebook is thinking about removing the filters on user news feeds. So, instead of Facebook deciding what information a user sees, the user will decide. How radical is that?

This change would mean an open line of communication between a brand or business and every person who “liked” their page. You post a message and everyone who follows your fan page sees it in real time in their news feed.

I hear you saying, isn’t that how it’s supposed to work? Supposed to, but that’s not how it does work.

Currently, Facebook’s algorithms sort through all the data that flows through a page and delivers it in a way it thinks is best for you. The assumption is that posts from people you communicate with most often belong at the top of your list. But what if your mother only posts once a month? Should she be less important than a passing acquaintance who likes to challenge you with trivia every day? I think not.

Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.

In addition, Facebook is also looking into expanding the “like” button to allow for a wider variety of choices. The article isn’t very specific on this, but it sounds like a developer could make a “Wish List” button or a “Love” button. Imagine the possibilities!

What’s truly amazing about these ideas is that it would mean Facebook is loosening their hold on content. Kind of like the parent handing the teen the keys to the car for the first time. It’s scary and you gotta trust, but in the long run it’s something Facebook simply has to do if they want to keep growing and evolving.

Fantasy Inbound Marketing

OK, we are getting close to football season. I know there is a threat of losing some precious NFL season as the millionaires v billionaires lameness carries on but let’s put that aside for now. Let’s imagine everything is right with the world.

If real football is around the corner then so is fantasy football. It’s the place where every NFL fan who ever said “I can do a better job putting together a team than that general manager!” gets to try to do just that on some level. Of course it’s limited but it’s fantasy so we just play along.

As the general manager of your own team you are faced with the dreaded salary cap that prevents you from grabbing every top player in the draft. You have to deal with competition. You have to learn how to talk some serious trash and to negotiate as if this stuff really matters. Of course, in some leagues the buy in and payout make it more real than you can imagine but we’ll stop there .

So here we go with the first Marketing Pilgrim fantasy inbound marketing, uhhh, let’s call it a draft.

The following list covers many important areas of inbound marketing. It is not being promoted as a beginning and end all list. What it will be though, is a starting point for conversation amongst our dedicated Internet marketing readers. Your job is to pick the most potent lineup for inbound marketing success while dealing with the thing that is the marketers’ equivalent to a salary cap: a budget.

OK, now imagine your budget only allows for you to do any combination of the elements below for $100k total annually. Now, I realize that many smaller guys are thinking “Geesh, if I only had that kind of budget I would be rockin’ it!”. Remember this is fantasy inbound marketing so just play along and fantasize what it would be like to have real money to spend. Here are your ‘players’ and their associated cost against your total budget number.

1. Facebook – $40k
2. SEO – $30k
3. Twitter – $ 30k
4. Content Marketing – $25k
5. Community Building – $25k
6. Customer Service – $20k
7. LinkedIn – $20k
8. Landing Pages – $15k
9. Blogging – $15k
10. Local (Google Places, Yelp etc) – $15k
11. Google+ – $15k
12. Mobile marketing – $ 15k
13. Offline Marketing – $10k
14. Social Media Monitoring – $10k
15. Employee training – $5k

Now here’s where you come in. You get to play Marketing Director and decide just how you will divvy up this limited fantasy inbound marketing pie. Remember your $100k salary cap (budget). Imagine your company as being the framework for your choices.

In the comments, tell us what your lineup would look like and why. I’ll get it started with my team, The Inbounders.

1. Community Building – $25k
2. Blogging – $15k
3. Mobile Marketing – $15k
4. Local – $15k
5. Social Media Monitoring – $10k
6. Offline Marketing – $10k
7. Employee training – $5k

Total – $95k

Why did I go the route that I did? It’s because I don’t want to put too many eggs in one huge basket (i.e. spending significant portions of resources on Facebook and Twitter where everyone is likely to be). I am also looking for bargains. I look for things that don’t cost much but could have huge benefits. Take social media monitoring for instance. Relative to other activities it’s low cost but it still touches all the other areas and gives insights into how I may even want to restructure the team later on in the season.

I like to get into areas that can create very real conversations because they are more targeted for niche audiences. When you dive into the deep end with all the sharks fighting for the same piece of the pie it can get ugly real fast.

So you get the drift. You’re probably wondering why I would even put the effort into something like this post. It’s pretty simple. All of the talk and chatter from experts sounds very much the same and very preachy. There is little room for true innovation in the online marketing realm when you are limited by the opinions of those who claim some kind of expertise.

The real world doesn’t work in a “10 Most Important Factors for (Fill In The Blank) Success” manner. There are restrictions and harsh realities of what can and cannot be done and it is very hard to sit back and wonder what it would be like if I could only actually do everything that the experts say.

Of course, this system is far from perfect and you can feel free to pick it apart or add to it in the comments. I just thought it might be a good idea to actually think about something and try to apply it rather than spending another day in the pew being preached to.

Game on!

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Google+ Puts Businesses on Hold

Google+ took another step backwards this week when they asked businesses to hold off creating accounts in their new social network. They say it’s for your own good, because the current system is designed strictly for personal profiles.

Google+ blogger Christian Oestlien had this to say:

We’ve seen some really great companies get involved. But frankly we know our product as it stands is not optimally suited to their needs. In fact, it was kind of an awkward moment for us when we asked Ford for his (or was it her?) gender!

How users communicate with each other is different from how they communicate with brands, and we want to create an optimal experience for both. We have a great team of engineers actively building an amazing Google+ experience for businesses, and we will have something to show the world later this year.

While all of this is true, it does make you wonder why they didn’t think this thing through before launching. Surely, they knew that marketers would jump at the chance to get in on the next big thing. At this point, they’re asking that “non-user” entities sign up for a test program but that sounds rather slow and ominous, doesn’t it? Then there are all the small businesses who pay to use Google Apps. Doesn’t it make sense to roll those people right into the program? Same for Google Places users.

The advantage Google has over other social networks is that it already has a large collection of supporting sites and tools that should make it easy to connect and without a lot of effort on the part of the user.

If Google+ can loop in Blogger, Adsense, Google Checkout, maps, places, search, photos etc, it could be the most powerful social network out there, especially for businesses.

In the meantime, Google has said that they will shut down non-user profiles, which could include early adopter Ford who already had events scheduled inside the network.

Yes, Mr. Oestlien, awkward, indeed.

Online Video Ads Expected to See Largest Increase in Spend

Advertising on television is far out of the reach of most small businesses, but advertising on online video is very dooable and may be just as effective in the near future. It’s become so accessible, that the respondents on “BrightRoll’s new survey chose it as the category likely to see the biggest spend increase in 2011.

65% of the respondents said they would be shifting money from TV advertising to online advertising. 30% said they felt that online video was equally as effective as TV and that’s likely to swing upward as more people move away from TV and on to some form of computer.

When asked about the factors that influenced their decision to buy online video ads, 91% said it was all about the targeting. When it comes to the type of targeting, there is no clear winner. The largest bite, with 27%, was for behavioral targeting.  24% chose contextual and demographics got 21% of the vote.

As for what’s stopping most people from buying video ads, it comes down to money, data and education. A clear system for gauging success was seen as an issue for a third of the respondents. A quarter felt that video ads were still too expensive, though it’s possible that they’d change their mind if they were presented with well-documented data.

96% said that research into areas such as TV vs Video, brand lift and impact on offline behavior were important, only 35% of companies said they did this kind of testing themselves.

What is clear from this mass of percentages and bar charts, is that slowly, but surely, online video advertising is taking hold. As more people come to understand the ROI and video companies are able to offer more precise targeting, it’s likely to become a common channel for marketers.