Check mate on social media consumers with innovative marketing strategy

A September 2009 survey of 5,000 moms conducted by The Parenting Group reveals that while 60% of moms have used social media in the last 24 hours, they are four times more likely to purchase through direct referrals, than proposals through social networks.“When it comes to influencing brand perception and purchase decisions, the data shows that social media still has a long way to go,” said Stephanie Molnar, Work Place Media. “Most of our meaningful recommendations continue to be old-fashioned, word of mouth recommendations from friends, co-workers, and/or family.”

While consumer analysis seems to challenge the effectiveness of social media in internet marketing, businesses continue to invest in this tool, reporting significant gains.

In April, Ford loaned 100 top bloggers their new Fiesta for six months, on one condition – they wrote about their experience driving the car. Comcast, the cable company, has invested in Twitter marketing for the last year, using this social media bigwig to supply their 28K+ consumer base with news updates, while collecting feedback & analyzing their behavior trends. Social media marketing has also been a success for Dell, which reported $3 million+ revenue from consumers who clicked through Dell’s Tweets, funneling purchases.

While only a few businesses have demonstrated a clear ROI on their social media marketing efforts, it would be silly for most to ignore this latest trend -Facebook has 250+ million website users, while Twitter is up to 40 million consumers. As we approach 2010, social media marketing has proved to be a tremendous asset to businesses who utilize offline promotions to offset internet marketing campaigns, engage consumer audience through service expectations, and create strong business strategy that delivers immediate consumer purchases.

By Kimberly Stanley

Small Business owners weigh in on ROI in Banner Ads

In 2010, small businesses will use fewer banner ads in their internet marketing campaigns according to a survey conducted by Vertical Response. The survey, that talked to 831 small business owners (632 with a staff less than 10), indicates that 54.2% do not plan to use internet marketing budgets for banner advertising. However, 68.4% do plan to increase social media marketing efforts, and a whopping 96.2% plan to use e-mail marketing. Nearly one quarter (23.8%) felt that Internet Marketing “…was the tool most needed for small business to succeed in 2010.”

Small Businesses can only model themselves after the extensive2009 internet marketing campaigns & consumer purchasing data conducted by the bigger names.

The Daily Beast, news reporting website has started to integrate banner ads within the website content.”Banners are small and standard, and have been in exactly the same place for so many years it’s an easy user behavior to ignore them,” said Caroline Marks, GM, “We felt the need to challenge the existing product set and look for new products to help advertisers leverage the benefits of interactivity.”

Digg, ratings website, now permits consumers the ability to “digg” banner ads in the same way they “digg” other website content. Chas Edwards, the chief revenue officer says, “We need to find ways for brands to borrow the grammar of the user experience.”

Meebo, the chat website, uses custom banner ads – the ads start out as the traditional 728 x 90 size, but then expand to 900 x 400 when a user clicks on it. “With the Web awash in ad impressions, there’s a need to stand out in the market,” said Martin Green, CIO.

Despite the belied by small business owners that banner ads are ineffective, website consumers seem to disagree. A May 2009 survey of 1575 users, commissioned by iProspect, showed that a significant number DO notice banner ads, even if they do not click them. Almost half of them (49%) said that they eventually search for a product or service that they saw advertised, and 38% go to a related website after performing the search. Reports like this show that small businesses need to put more thought into their banner ads. It is imperative that getting creative with banner location within website content, using more appealing graphics, and a thorough analysis of consumer trends will clearly optimize banner ad investments.

By Kimberly Stanley

Is SPAM the ultimate rejection in e-mail marketing?

Email marketing, commonly associated with “SPAM” has a less than stellar reputation. We’re all used to cleaning out our spam/ junk mail folders, while skimming through computer-generated promotions for products we aren’t particularly interested in.

But the reason that email marketing still thrives, is that bulk email blasts cost little to nothing to produce and send. Promotional productions avoid the likes of direct mail costs, such as packaging, printing, postage, and affiliated manpower. So, if only one out of ten-thousand consumers buy the “Deluxe Rolex Watch – CHEAP!!”, the promotion is profitable. Businesses are now introduced to an inexpensive means to mint money from good strategy.

A clear incentive in email marketing is the ability to create a legitimate consumer audience (address book), engage them through strategized promotions, and expand network through automated referrals. Tracking of bounced emails & adherence to SPAM laws maintain a genuine network of interested consumers, with very little expense. Promotions can be strategized in advance, tested for efficacy (focus groups), and successful campaigns can be promoted to out of network consumers by means of incorporating a “Forward to Friend” feature within each campaign. Additionally, the Social Media surge (facebook, myspace, twitter, etc.) has amended the tradition structure of an email promotion to include posts to consumer profiles with a single click.

Email marketing’s most exciting attribute is in accumulating brilliant market research on target audience & consumer trends. Businesses can acquire demographic details during consumer registration, allowing them to construct segmented email lists, and devise targeted promotions for specific consumer groups. Male & female recipients can now view the same Rolex promotion with imagery that compliments their personal style. Additionally, with the advent of embedded tracking cookies, campaign strategists can ascertain the success of individual promotions, creating priceless market research.

While 92% of emails are considered SPAM, recent consumer surveys indicate that majority of people (62%) prefer to receive marketing promotions via email, than direct mail. In fact, three-quarters of consumers report they’ve bought something as a direct result of e-mail marketing. Don’t be mistaken, the email marketing strategy will create record buyer rejections, but don’t take it personally. Always, remember that a few hot minutes can alter the tide of your sales and proper analysis of each promotion will create an encyclopedia of effective sales pitches.

By Ben Jacoby