Public Relations gets outsourced for increased Brand Awareness

It has long been understood that the objective of a PR (Public Relations) firm was to represent a business in their brand creation, target audience engagement, and brand awareness/ distribution. The digital age has brought an increased investment to public relations & campaign management, and more and more businesses are looking to create strategy that has a strong ROI.
The foremost of these changes for PR firms is in the utilization of BPO/ Business Process outsourcing. Already, the trend of outsourcing has found its way into major media outlets including Reuters, The Boston Globe, The Financial Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, and the Associated Press. Brand Consultant & BPO specialist, Rohit Barman, president of DPS America suggests that American businesses must “look to implement campaign design & distribution off-shore, while keeping the Art Direction in-house”. The additional capital saved can also be allocated for hiring strong Art Directors, engaging in paid press releases, organizing live marketing events, & other face to face interactions that must occur on-shore.

One possible site to take a cue from would be PitchEngine. The concept of this site is user generated Social Media Releases. These SMR’s take advantage of the popularity of Social Media sites like Facebook and Twitter and allow the client to put together a pitch that reaches these sites. A BPO team is a strong solution for the distribution of such campaigns, as they can cost-effectively take ONE campaign & submit it to various internet feeds, social networks, media outlets, and other online distribution resources. Rohit Barman adds that, “the race to the top of the search engines requires a strong emphasis on distribution, and this equation can only be done with increased manpower”

By Kevin Haggerty

Generating Votes & Election Support through Smart Internet Campaigns

We live in a Democracy, where “every vote counts”. So, it seems obvious that with 250 + million internet users, politicians would be utilizing the plethora of internet marketing tools in their campaign management, and expansion of loyal voter base. If you are a politician, or a campaign manager, here are some simple steps you need to consider, prior to your next election:

• Create a website, as your online campaign headquarters.
• Generate an online support network (voters) through registration:
• Conduct offline campaigns directing consumers to your website, to receive updates on campaign specific interest(s).
• Create & distribute ad campaigns, linking ads to your registration page.
• Set up an affiliate network (online partners) to co-campaign/advertise for you. Groups that are stationed within your campaign area, have a local/ geo-targeted consumer base, and have similar political interests would be ideal. These campaign affiliates are extremely important as they will play an integral role in acquiring votes for future elections. Distribute your ads through your affiliates’ online websites. You can even target specific consumer groups depending on the affiliate specifics.
• With the eventual goal of creating targeted voter email campaigns, ask your supporters about their individual political interests (through a brief survey)…

… What topic interests you the most?

• Local/ National Economy
• State/ Federal Unemployment
• International Business Relations
• Immigration laws
• Gay Rights & Marriage Equality

… Get basic demographic information – age, sex, ethnic origin (make this optional).

• Optimize your website content through composing & incorporating a list of “geo-targeted keywords” (content incorporating your consumer bases’ political interests & location for better visibility)
• Utilize a mass emailing software; segment your voters and campaign affiliates into separate address books in order to run aggressive personalized campaigns.
• Set up pages on major Social Networks (Facebook, Myspace, Twitter) and keep fans involved in the issues that majority of your registered network appreciates.
• Create a YouTube page, and run advertising campaigns through YouTube. Optimize your YouTube videos with rich geo-targeted keyword content.

Begin Campaigning!, but don’t forget to utilize the valuable consumer data you have collected.
Internet Marketing specialist, Rohit Barman, president of DPS America insists that “political officers and campaign managers MUST get acquainted with internet marketing, as it allows them to acquire valuable data on voter interests, segment it seamlessly with the help of automated email registration software(s), and run aggressive campaigns targeting voters with interests that effect them the most. Tapping a voter’s core nerve will create enough excitement to get them out on Election Day.”

By Kevin Haggerty

“DPS’ 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 an online network. Extracted from the internet’s scientific principles, the live seminar(s) will provide celebrity agents the knowledge, structure, and tools to track consumer/ fan behavior & campaign effectiveness – an internet marketing strategy that will give agents the confidence to manage their public relations campaigns more effectively than ever before.”

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.”

Video Advertising cuts her own umbilical cord to hit Jackpot

It is the child of television and internet marketing, but surpasses either parent in ways that are sometimes surprising. Welcome to Video Advertising.

According to Comscore, 140 + American consumers tuned to “online videos” in 2009, multiplying the consumer base by 700 %. Average monthly consumption rose from 6 to10 hours, with more than 26 billion views on a given month. The facts about growing usage actually understate the promise of online video advertising.

	Television Advertising	Online Video Advertising
Brand Awareness	54% brand awareness	82 % brand awareness
Brand Recall	19 % brand recall	77 % brand recall
Consumer Purchase Intent	Consumers fast-forward advertisement (DVR) or go on snack/ restroom break.	40 – 55% consumers watch complete video promotion

So, what does this mean for Businesses & Internet Marketing?
According to video marketing expert, Bob Clarke, “it is very difficult to establish trust through written words. People will trust you more if they have a face and voice to associate with your name.” While this new marketing channel shows greater promise for consumer purchase, what unique attributes does online video advertising reveal?

• Online video ads are short and mandatory. Some videos allow fast-forwarding promotions post 10 seconds, allowing a business to create a basic brand imprint within the consumer’s brain.
• Video advertising allows immediate, “call to action” such as “click here to receive 20% off your next purchase”.
• The advent of internet marketing has created a whole new realm of targeted consumer behavior analysis & advertising, which allows businesses the ability capture demographic data and cater their promotions to specific consumer groups.
• Social Media Marketing in tangent with Video Advertising takes brand exposure to a whole new level. The “click here to post video on profile” transformed the traditional “word of mouth” in ways that words cannot express.

Research firm e-Marketer projects 35 to 45 percent growth for online video advertising for each of the next five years. This simply means that businesses have a brand new internet marketing channel that they must consider in their upcoming budgets.

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.”

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