SPAMs Skyrocket as Businesses Crash

A sobering find: Spam devours corporate resources, clogging up to 50% of a network’s assets. Clearly spam remains a major force to contend with, underlining the importance of good combat readiness.

Facebook recently brought spam back into the headlines with a $711M judgment against infamous social media spammer Sanford Wallace under a law known as the CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act). Lawmakers passed this act in 2003 fully intending to take a bite out of internet marketing spam. Unfortunately a number of anti spam advocates expressed concern that the act did not go far enough. And they may have a point: since 2003 the number of junk mail messages has increased ten-fold, leaping from 45% of all emails to above 90%.

Consider this: in June the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) shut down an Internet Service Provider suspected of harboring malware programs and other tools hackers use to carry out web activities related to email spam and identify theft. In another case, the FTC doled out a $2.9 million fine to advertiser ValueClick, Inc. for deceptive advertising through emails, banner ads, and pop-ups.

Here are a few steps to make sure you protect your business:

• Start with a spam filter to protect your business on the front lines, although keep in mind that a variety of anti spam solutions exist, so shop around and find an offer attuned to your company’s needs.
• Introduce your network security team to the spam blacklist.
• Educate your employees: get them to understand what spam is, how to identify it, and how to overcome it.
• On public web pages, use a technique like a response form to protect company addresses from a spammer’s prying eyes. Make sure to add a “captcha” for authentication.
• On the customer end, ensure your network security protocols are robust and updated, and have a notification policy to keep customers informed.
• For internet marketing, consider that many consumers’ previous experience with spam makes them wary of unexpected messages. Encourage your business to use an “opt-in” policy when developing internet marketing campaigns, and follow the terms of CAN-SPAM as a guideline in identifying what differentiates email spam from honest selling. Make sure your tactics avoid landing your business on a damaging spam blacklist.

You do not need to pay expensive per-email pricing in order to participate in Internet & Email Marketing campaigns. DPS’ Technologies recently launched their “Smart Flyer Software” which includes a powerful network & campaign management center (within your website), allowing you to control multiple campaigns, and a comprehensive email list. The software purchase includes a registration form compliant with SPAM laws.

By Joe Unander

Google’s stepchild, YouTube, has the most social media marketing potential… experts say

Businesses & consumers have begun to embrace online videos in recent months more than ever before, with viewers reaching 168 million in September. And with the online video surge, arrives a distinct business investment splurge on video advertising. The research firm e-Marketer projects a 35 to 45% growth in online video advertising for each of the next five years.

YouTube, the renowned media marketing giant, acquired by the mega-marketing internet search engine, Google, has contributed much to this evolution. How?

• Posting a YouTube video incurs a $0 investment. As a business marketer, you can align your promotion with your company marketing budget to create the appropriate video advertisement. Some techniques include: infomercials, presentations, trainings, testimonials, property tours, and video blogs.
• YouTube’s “feedback analysis” tools persistently co-developed by the technical brilliance of Google, allows automated consumer behavioral analysis for businesses to target their internet marketing investments. YouTube & Google technicians are also testing the ability to add video captions to all online videos, allowing businesses to search engine optimize their video posts using the familiar techniques utilized by businesses to attract users to their online portfolio(s) & network(s).
• YouTube accounts for 40% of all online video views. It is essential for businesses to identify their target consumer, grab their attention, elicit reaction, and escort them to take action. And unlike TV advertising, this does not necessarily call for professional production(s).

Internet Marketing specialist, Rohit Barman President of DPS America boldly claims that, “YouTube is the stepchild of social media marketing, with significantly more marketing potential than his sister social media networks”.

By Bruce Lacey

“A 2.5 hour interactive training, Digital Promotions Strategy, beginning in January and based in New York City, is the first of its kind to incorporate the entire spectrum of creating, engaging & expanding a business’ online network. Extracted from online scientific principles, the live seminar will provide business professionals the knowledge, structure, and tools to track consumer behavior & campaign effectiveness – an internet marketing strategy that will give attendees the confidence to manage their online marketing in-house.

The seminar follows the life cycle of creating a convincing online presence, while identifying the key components of branding, drawing an audience to a firm’s online portal, engaging an established network through viral promotions, and expanding consumer base through extensive internet marketing campaigns.”

A simple strategy for creating profit friendly Tweets

Supreme search engine, Google, announced they will be showing tweets in their search results, recognizing social media giant, Twitter, for its overwhelming consumer interest. Twitter’s explosive growth (surpassing 27 million in October ’09) indicates that businesses need to get acquainted with yet another powerful internet marketing channel. So how do you leverage Twitter to improve your business ROI (return of investment), website visibility, and traffic?

In layman’s terms, Twitter is much like other Social Media websites. You create a profile, affiliate with like consumers, and communicate (tweet) by listing short posts (less than 140 characters). If other Twitter consumers like your message, they can “follow” you, and re-post your tweets, exposing you to their followers. The ability to effectively create a large consumer audience will eventually draw more traffic to your social media page, and business website. So, where do you start?

Step 1- Define your Social Media Personality by defining the following (in order):

• Consumer Demographics – age, sex, race, socio-economic status, location, etc.
• Common interests – Create assumptions about your target audience; their purchasing trends, likes and dislikes, affiliations, associations, etc. If you aren’t sure, run a focus group comprising of actual consumers.
• Once you create a consumer profile, design your social media personality. Whether you are the well versed educator, the comedic entertainer, or the gifted scientist, stick with your decision be consistent.

Step 2 – Like most internet marketing material, successful Twitter campaigns rely on technically establishing authority through consistent research of effective keywords and links. Your Twitter profile and content is indexed by Google, and will enhance your visibility. Optimize your 140 character tweet with as many keywords associated with your business and consumer needs. Incorporating links that compliment your social media personality tweets will increase traffic to your twitter profile & company website.

Step 3 – Engage in social media networking. Create tweets that followers will re-post, known as “re-tweeting”, exposing your social media personality to more consumers. Follow non competing twitter personalities (a twitter link exchange), and strategize each tweet.

To effectively market your online business, you need to create a balance between using keywords, and creating attractive tweets. If you are too aggressive, you’ll lose credibility. With utmost patience, construct your social media personality, technically optimize your tweets, and deliver messages that demand consumer interest. Happy tweeting!

By Ben Jacoby

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