If you’re running a geo-specific AdWords campaign you may have wondered why you sometimes receive, and thus pay, for clicks outside of the area you are targeting. For example, you may be running a campaign for a local business in downtown Chicago. And to make sure that your ads only reach local searchers, you’ve indicated exactly which ZIP codes you want associated with your ads. However, when you sift through the analytics, you see that some of the users that…
Building From the Inside Out
Many brand-building efforts begin with development of the strategy and then proceed directly to an external launch. The most important step is ignored — communicating the essence and relevance of the brand among all internal stakeholders — making it the fabric of the organization. The most successful organizations understand that if employees are aligned with the brand strategy, including the brand promise, they will deliver a consistent expression of the brand to its customers. Powerhouse brands such as Mayo Clinic…
Hosting videos on your Site vs. YouTube
Many marketers are already aware of the benefit of using video in B2B marketing. But once you’ve decided on this strategy, you still have to decide where you’d like to host the videos – your own Web site or YouTube. There are pros and cons to each, which I explain below. The benefits of hosting videos on your site are that the user will be spending time on your domain and that links to the video will empower your domain…
B2B Customer Loyalty
Brand loyalty is often associated with B2C companies, although it can be argued that customer retention is just as important (if not more) in the B2B realm. In the past, we’ve discussed some of the differences between B2B and B2C in the buying cycle. More often than not, a B2B purchase is much more involved because of technical aspects of the product, higher price and multiple people involved in the decision process. Consider this and that the market for B2B…
B2B Videos for Search are More Important than Ever
Image courtesy of Search Engine Land As search engines and social media continue to evolve, it has become more important than ever for B2B companies to use videos for search. What does this have to do with search engines? In today’s world, which is heavily influenced by social media, search engines return results that include Web pages, blogs, products, images, videos, maps, local businesses and more. It’s called social, universal or blended search. Because of this, it’s important for companies…
Just because your email was not opened does not mean it was not effective
For years now, many of us e-marketers have worked under the assumption that an unopened email means your subscriber is disengaged and uninterested– until now. A recent study by Alchemy Worx has revealed that unopened email communications have measurable impact on brand awareness and can lead to increased conversion activity (sales) across other communication channels. How you ask? Through the “Nudge Effect.” What is the Nudge Effect and how does it work? The Nudge Effect is a way of influencing…
Nonprofit social media marketing on Facebook
Because of the valiant deeds that many non-profits perform, it’s no surprise that people can have a strong emotional bond with a particular organization that may have helped one of their friends or family members in the past. Because of this affinity, it’s reasonable to believe that a non-profit can successfully find friends to follow them on Facebook. Just think about the number of people involved with a non-profit organization. It’s very likely that many of them have Facebook accounts,…
A brand roundtable discussion for Amazon Basics
Image courtesy of FastCompany Our branding guru, Kevin Randall, recently assembled a roundtable of branding experts to share thoughts on Amazon's newest venture – Amazon Basics. Kevin's colleagues included professors from Stanford, Harvard, MIT and Northwestern, along with strategists from Interbrand. The full list is below: Jennifer Aaker – Professor of Marketing at Stanford's Graduate School of Business David Martin – President of Interbrand New York John Quelch – Professor of Marketing at Harvard Business School Mark Ritson – Associate…
Integrated search engine marketing campaigns
Pay-per-click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) marketing can benefit from each other when integrated. If you are currently running campaigns in both channels, or considering doing so, it is important to know how the two can feed off of each other to create a successful integrated search engine marketing campaign. SEO is a process, just like PPC. One difference, however, is that PPC campaigns generally draw traffic to your site immediately, whereas an SEO effort can take some time….
Customer service monitoring online
image courtesy of Patrick Thibodeau Online discussions have revolutionized how businesses must serve their current and potential customers. Through savvy tools, companies can monitor what people are saying about their brand, which puts them in a position to have customer service representatives react. One such tool is a product from Salesforce appropritately named Salesforce for Twitter. An interesting function of this program allows you to automatically turn Twitter mentions (@ replies that include your Twitter handle) into customer service tickets….