Integrating email and search marketing programs

Integrating email marketing and search marketing programs can yield big results, but many companies aren't yet taking advantage of this powerful combination.

“Integration is one of ... the most effective strategies,” said George DiGuido, VP-email marketing at digital marketing services agency Zeta Interactive. “While the two channels are talked about extensively as silos, we rarely hear clients talk about the two as integrated channels.”

Those marketers looking to more intimately link search and email marketing can get started with the following four tips, DiGuido said.

Customize search landing pages. Paid search results very often link to a customized landing page, DiGuido said, but more often than not there's just a form that captures information for the sales team while overlooking the email marketing opportunities.

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Online Marketing Tools Get Savvier for Global SMBs

On the internet no one can tell if you are dog, as the iconic New Yorker ad goes - they also are unclear how big or small or globally-oriented your firm may truly be. Consider for example, Jonathan Defoy, the founder and CEO of BizTree, a Montreal-based business that sells templates for everyday business transactions. Using search in various markets around the world, he has expanded into a a 40-person shop, offering products in eight different languages, the Globe and Mail reports.

More and more, small businesses are able to expand their scope and reach across borders using online tools that magnify their resources. Marketing is just one category of these tools - a category that is growing daily.

What Google Offers

Chief among these is Google Ads for Global Advertisers, which Google launched in December 2010. It functions as a central hub for Google's tools and tips for businesses looking to expand to foreign markets. This website offers resources to help businesses find the right market for their products and services, translate websites and ad text, find new customers with relevant online ads, and understand options for international payment, shipping and customer service.

It also introduced Global Market Finder, a new free tool to help businesses identify markets with high demand for their products or services. The Global Market Finder automatically translates a keyword - Google gives the example of business suit - into 56 languages and then uses Google search trends data to see where in the world people search for the product or service.

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10 marketing lessons from the Royal Wedding

The big day is almost upon us. Tomorrow, billions of televisions around the world will be tuned into the wedding of the future King of England, Price William of Wales, to his fiancée Kate Middleton.

Regardless of what you think of the Royals (or marriage for that matter) there is no mistaking that this is a likely to be one of the biggest events of the year. And big events with big audiences mean big opportunities for smart marketers.

With this in mind, here are 10 marketing lessons from the Royal Wedding – it's not too late to use some in your business.
Become an expert

With the media desperate for any sort of content in the lead-up to the wedding, an army of business people – from fashion designers right down to humble bridal shop managers – have emerged to pontificate on everything from bridal dresses, wedding cars, wedding cakes and even cutlery. In most cases, these people aren't privy to the actual details of the wedding, but that doesn't matter – they are "experts" in their field and therefore have a platform.
Back it up with social media

Any event with a big television audience is almost guaranteed to create huge social media traffic and the royal wedding is no different. With this is mind, any promotion or marketing must be supported by an appropriate social media campaign – something the Royal Family itself is doing well with a steady stream of Tweets from its account @ClarenceHouse.

One of the best examples of a specific social media campaign comes from Schweppes, which is itself an official supplier to the Royal Family. The company, which is selling a special range of Royal Wedding-branded bottles, has created a virtual giant wedding card on Facebook for users to sign.

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Online Marketing Mindset

Many small businesses are on the Web these days, which means, out of necessity, that online marketing must be part of the small business owner’s strategy. Though certainly no small business owners should be under the illusion that simply throwing up a Website is sufficient to launch their business on the Web, few may have fully considered what marketing online really entails. Do you have a blog, a social media presence on Facebook and Twitter, a YouTube or other video channel, etc.? You get the idea! Do you know what you’re up against? Here’s just a sample of the things you need to consider on your way to an online marketing mindset.

Commenting is great, but don’t overdo it. Paul Wolfe looks at the comment, the basic weapon in the social media arsenal of all online marketers and asks, have we gone too far? Commenting can be a great part of your marketing strategy, but what happens if it degenerates into a “comment love-in?” Want to know how to avoid this social media marketing trap? Read on. One Spoon at a Time

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Online marketing for hotels and tourism

In recent years, the tourism industry has been moving forwards and the introduction of many new hotel chains, independent lodging facilities and travel agencies has broadened opportunities for travellers.
Tourists are also finding that popular online channels are helpful for investigating availability and rates for multiple reservations, such as lodging, ticketing, airlines and car rentals, via the Internet. For suppliers, the same online channels can reduce supply-chain costs, improve services and enable new distribution technologies.

Online channels for the tourist industry are now growing faster than offline channels, as a greater proportion of the population goes online and begins to use the Internet more intensively. The number of people turning to the Internet for vacation and travel planning has increased dramatically. There seems to be millions of vacation-planning websites out there!

The best example is TripAdvisor, which provides reviews and photos, along with advice on hotels, attractions and restaurants for people scheduling their next trip. This is why most travel providers are now increasing their marketing budgets for online tools. Travel is the most frequently sold thing on the Internet and the trend is accelerating.

Getting Internet users to visit your website will surely increase your revenue opportunities, as long as your website is effective - that is, informative, competitive, usable and creditable.

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Race for Selectmen moves from door-to-door to online marketing

The battle for Board of Selectmen is usually carried out through lawn signs and meet-and-greets. This year, Grafton's candidates are taking their campaigns to a whole new arena: online.

With five men competing for two open Selectmen seats in the May 2 election, each candidate is attempting to get the message out in whatever format is available. This marks a first for Grafton: in previous races, only Mary Ann Cotton used a website to campaign.

"You have to go with what's happening now," said Bob Lewis, who said his children urged him to create a site. "I had to learn to text to keep up with my kids, and now I have a website for the campaign. You can't stand still -- you get run over."

The sites, like the candidates, vary in personality. Dan Pogorzelski said he wanted to keep his as simple as possible -- that's why it's only one page.

"I didn't want to make it complicated and there's something that's missing from my page that's intentional: there's no 'click to donate here,'" Pogorzelski said. "Asking for donations just doesn't sit well with me. If someone wants to give me a donation, I'll accept it, but what I really want is a vote -- and that, I'll ask for."

John Dowling said a website is a way to respond to the town's shifting demographic.

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The Great Online Offers Social Media Marketing Package

Highlands Ranch, CO (WiredPRNews.com) Online marketing firm The Great Online launched its latest online marketing package called Social Media Digital Drip. The offering will allow companies to outsource marketing their products or services over social media sites including Facebook and Twitter.
The Great Online’s customer base is increasingly requesting help with social media marketing.

The demand is not surprising given that in a recent survey performed by the Pew Research Center for its Internet and American Life Project, 88 percent of respondents see social media marketing generating increased business exposure, and 72 percent said it improved search rankings.

“It’s no wonder the popularity of social media marketing is growing: it offers a much lower cost per lead than more traditional marketing strategies like direct mail and brochures, and is fairly easy to implement,” said Jim Mueller, co-founder of The Great Online. “However, social media marketing is more than just posting consistent information online. We show our clients how to make that content more engaging so they can better interact with and grow their customer base.”

The Great Online’s Social Media Drip package follows a five-step program to launch an ongoing social media marketing campaign:

• Setup and optimize Facebook business page and Twitter profile
• Create “vanity” website addresses for more memorable identification (i.e. www.facebook.com/thegreatonline and www.twitter.com/thegreatonline)
• Provide customized Facebook and Twitter pages that match the company’s online brand
• Create, distribute, and manage engaging, consistent content that builds the company’s follower base
• Analyze users’ engagement on each medium to identify what is and isn’t working

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Retailers dominate online marketing spend

Online marketing budgets are highest for the retail sector - and are likely to stay that way for some time to come.

Figures published by eMarketer put the industry's combined allowance for online marketing campaigns at $5.73 billion (£3.52 billion) in 2011.

This represents a total increase of 26.5 per cent compared with 2009, in a period when web marketing budgets in general grew by a slightly smaller 25.8 per cent.

Retail seems set to dominate spending until at least 2015, rising almost to the 11-figure mark in dollar terms.

By the middle of the decade, the sector's combined budget is forecasted by eMarketer to hit $9.36 billion, up by 63.4 per cent.

That compares with total growth across all industries of a predicted 56.1 per cent, to reach $44.5 billion.

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Blog marketing impacts purchase decisions

BlogHer's 2011 Social Media Matters report reveals that social media and blog marketing are increasingly important in influencing purchase decisions – especially among women.

The report found that both blog readership and social media use are rising in the United States. This year, 87 percent of online Americans surveyed said they use Facebook (up from 80 percent in 2010). This almost matches the number of consumers who watch offline television (93 percent).

Additionally, more than half of internet-using consumers (55 percent) read online news – supporting suggestions at the recent ad:tech SF conference that custom news marketing's moment is here. BlogHer also found that 40 percent of online Americans read blogs (up from 37 percent in 2010) and 22 percent use Twitter (up from 16 percent last year).

When asked about the impact blogs have on their online shopping, 53 percent of respondents (88 percent of active blog readers) indicated that they trust the information in blogs they visit regularly. Nearly one-quarter of the U.S. population (24 percent) said they make purchases based on blogs – that's 53 percent of active blog readers.

BlogHer also found that Facebook and blogs represent a high-use, high-passion media pair. Female respondents cited both the social giant and blogs as two forms of media they consume regularly and are “passionate” about.

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Small Business News: Online Business Brief

Whether your business or functions basically online or off, today the Web probably plays a role of some kind. Whether it’s simply to be sure your business is found when potential customers search for products and services you provide in your region or to make sales from a business that is completely online with no real physical place of business doesn’t matter. The need to understand online business is critical for most small business success these days. How important is online business to you?
Policy

Will defeat of net neutrality really hurt small business? The jury is still out. While proponents of ‘Net Neutrality” insist that without it small business Websites may be harder to access, other insist these predictions of doom and gloom for small businesses are exaggerated. What are your thoughts? Will changes in the “Net Neutrality” regulations have an impact on your business? USA Today
SEO

Why your business must worry about Search Engine Marketing. You don’t need to have a Web-only business to use search engine marketing. In fact, in the era that has seen the decline of phone books and even newspapers as a means for getting local information, the need for sharing your business with an online audience becomes ever more critical. Search Engine Tutorials

How to create “authority” for your business online. When we talk about “authority” online, we are usually talking about how search engines perceive your Website. The way search engines perceive your blog may impact the kind of business you get and the kind of brand you created for your business. Knowing the best will help you improve how your business is being perceived. SEODesignSolutions.com

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U.S. Postal Service to aid small business marketing efforts

While today's small business may be adopting social media and online business promotion technologies at a more rapid rate - often at the expense of traditional print techniques - the United States Postal Service has launched a new effort to show entrepreneurs that direct mail should still be a part of their marketing mix.

The USPS is hosting more than 1,300 "Grow Your Business" days across the country to introduce its new program, called Every Door Direct Mail, Post & Parcel reports.

The program was devised after receiving feedback from small business owners who said that certain permit and mailing fees as well as mailing list requirements were proving to be financial barriers to companies that wanted to use direct mail services such as saturation mailing.

And already, the program appears to be popular. Despite only being open for registration since last week, approximately 500 small businesses have already signed up, David Mastevich, manager of catalogs, periodicals and saturation mail for the USPS, told the source.

"We're getting very, very good stories from businesses across the country, that this is fitting with exactly what they are looking for," he added.

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Blue Archer Introduces Integrated Online Marketing Services

Blue Archer, Inc. recently expanded its service offerings to provide an integrated approach to online marketing. Tailored to fit the needs of each client, an integrated online marketing plan may include a combination of the following services: website design and development, online marketing strategy, identity and branding, search engine optimization, social media marketing, mobile applications, and custom software solutions.

"Our new integrated online marketing plan is designed to deliver maximum results," said Al Polanec, Blue Archer Principal. "We first consult with clients on an overall marketing strategy, then use our findings to establish a comprehensive marketing plan."

Blue Archer's new integrated approach to online marketing features an initial marketing strategy consultation, which is followed by the development of an integrated online marketing plan structured to best achieve the client's online goals. Blue Archer's creative approach to online marketing converts established businesses into digital identities with websites equipped with a blend of online marketing tactics.

"Choosing Blue Archer over the competition is even easier now that our integrated online marketing plan incorporates a wide variety of services," said Robert Faletti, Blue Archer Principal. "We are able to help clients develop a clear marketing strategy, market themselves online and represent their brand with a professionally-designed website."

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Maruti logs into Google for online marketing drive

What does a car company have in common with an internet search engine brand? Actually a lot. Auto market leader Maruti Suzuki is looking to tie up with Google among other domain specialists for a more focused foray into the digital marketing space. The company, which is already "working closely" with the search engine biggie, will also forge similar tie-ups with other "specialists," said a senior Maruti Suzuki executive.

"The digital media is changing fast and we feel we require a specialist because we don't have the expertise needed for it," said Shashank Srivastava, chief general manager (marketing), Maruti Suzuki. "So we need to engage specialists for the job and these will be specialists who have domain knowledge about a particular area."

Maruti and Google, he said, have been working closely on "search engine optimization and online reputation management" initiatives. In other words, Google helps Maruti track any traffic that uses words that are relevant to the company. "The search engine helps to catch relevant words online so Maruti can track and even take action if need be," said Srivastava. It means that if you have posted something about Maruti's service or products on Facebook or Twitter, the search engine will alert the company which can then address your grievance if any.

Maruti is also working closely with other domain specialists like the Singapore-based company Affle for sms/mobile marketing.

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Most local merchants stick to traditional online marketing

Local merchants are increasingly using simple, low-cost online marketing methods, including Facebook and other social media, in addition to search and email marketing, according to California-based MerchantCircle, an online network of local business owners.

And while new marketing services — such as mobile marketing and group buying — are generating buzz, most local merchants have yet to tap the marketing methods, MerchantCircle found in its quarterly Merchant Confidence Index survey of more than 8,500 U.S. small and local business owners.

Other survey highlights:

* Local businesses have little time or budget to devote to marketing.
* Social media is now the top marketing strategy for local businesses.
* Traditional online methods trump new, unproven approaches.
* Use of traditional offline marketing methods continues to decline.
* Online marketing services companies are aggressively targeting local businesses.

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Online video tips to help improve marketing success

Social Media Monday is a weekly feature that helps businesses and consumers understand how to use social media tools to their best advantage. This week, Mark Shapiro, a San Diego PR consultant, looks at ways online video can help business marketing. Find him on Twitter @SRSTechPR or on the Web at www.srs-techpr.com.

Online video is one of today’s most engaging and powerful social-media marketing mediums.

It’s a wonderful tool for showing what your company does, explaining how your products work and spotlighting customer testimonials. Many businesses want to use video to help them market their products and services but don’t know how to do it well.

To be effective, a Web video has to look good, sound clean, and be short.

You don’t have to hire a professional video producer to shoot your online videos. You can do it yourself if you just remember a few basics.

Keep it simple. A plain background behind a talking head or a product demonstration is very effective — the viewer’s attention stays on the subject. Also, video with a plain background compresses better for streaming versus a background with lots of details and colors.

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Facebook is driving online marketing, says internet specialist

Social media marketing in general and Facebook in particular are the most important drivers in online direct marketing, according to one UK-based internet specialist.
Ben Hatton, who runs a digital media agency in Liverpool, told the Liverpool Daily Post that businesses needed to embrace Facebook and social media marketing if they wanted to be successful online.

He dispensed his advice following the announcement by the Internet Advertising Bureau that internet marketing has now tipped the £4 billion mark - £500,000 above the spend for TV advertising last year.

Mr Hatton said: "The growth of the mobile and social media world is only going to continue, and advertisers will increasingly head online as technological advancements bring new ways to reach consumers."

Facebook's model for marketing has been considered to be so successful that other social networking sites are considering taking it on

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Local Internet Marketing Company in Phoenix Caters To Small Business

Local GoldMine a Local Internet Marketing company announces Local SEO for the little guy! In today's struggling economy many small business owners are looking into the benefits of local Internet Marketing. Unfortunately, many small business owners are also falling prey to unscrupulous Local Internet marketing consultants that do not have their best interests at heart. The truth is, local search is so new that many local SEO companies are new to the industry and do not have the skills or knowledge to take their local business to the top of Google.

Another major problem for the really small businesses is that many local Internet marketing companies are not interested in taking on clients that do not have huge marketing budgets, leaving most small businesses with no where to turn. The fact is, most local businesses do not need to pay thousands of dollars for SEO to rank high in a local market for the right keywords.

Phoenix based Local Internet Marketing company Local GoldMine is filling that void nicely. With over 15 years of search engine marketing experience they have a solid knowledge of what it takes to achieve top Google rankings in local markets and want the really small businesses turned down or over priced by SEO companies to receive the same quality SEO the big guys are getting.

Local Goldmine Founder and 15 year search engine marketing specialist Jeffrey Taylor explains, "We talk with small business owners everyday, and it seems that if they don't have a huge budget, nobody wants to help them. This is a shame because in most cases they do not need a lot of local SEO to reach page 1 of the Google local results. It is usually as simple as redesigning their website, optimizing their local business listings, and building a solid local presence in their market area."

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Overstock to stop marketing in N.C

Overstock.com Inc. says that even though it's stopping its marketing efforts in North Carolina, it hopes to keep its best customers in the state by offering them a reward for their loyalty.

Overstock said Monday that it will give its top 40,000 N.C. customers a free Club O account — which the company values at $20 — and $10 as a loyalty reward. The offer also applies in Illinois, New York and Rhode Island.

The four states have passed laws requiring Internet companies with affiliates within its borders to collect taxes on sales to their customers. The states' goal is to gain new revenue as they try to lessen budget shortfalls.

There could be billions of dollars in potential online sales tax at stake.

For example, lawyers for the N.C. Revenue Department say either Amazon or its customers owe North Carolina $50 million in sales and use taxes on Internet purchases over several years before the state law was changed in 2009.

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How government should do online marketing

The Central Office Of Information (COI) is being scrapped in a multimillion pound cost saving redevelopment, being replaced by the new Government Communications Centre (GCC).

The COI always had benefit in the past because it could collectively buy media in bulk at a preferential rate, giving Government departments net savings when advertising. However, that doesn't work in a digital environment as bulk offerings rarely offer additional savings. So what can the new GCC do to add value to the digital operations?

There are many organisations that have gone through the process of redistribution of offline to online recently. As organisations have struggled to cope with this process, it has resulted in many offline marketers being made redundant, whilst those that convert to online marketing tend to do much better.

Online marketing tends to be a little cheaper than offline and is much more measurable. The Government is going to have to move through this process too.

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