marketing

Can’t put it past AT&T to be responsible for this spot, but still, it has the Apple name on it. Wake me when it’s insanely great. I get practical. I get useful. I understand straightforward. I just hate too cute or too sappy.

Word to the G on the yo, yo.

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Recently I got back in touch with a close friend whose hobby is to tune up his cars and “pimp them out” like that famous MTV show.
One important part of his hobby is to look for car accessories and truck accessories that add a distinctive touch.
He spends a lot of time looking online for custom grilles, spoilers, wheels, car floor mats, body kits, tail lights, and all things automotive that unveil beauty and style to his rides.
Talking with him about his online searches for car parts, reminded me a lot of a previous article where I discussed how to attract fashionistas online.
We started talking about his experience in several websites and what made his search easier and what didn’t.  Here’s a review of what I learned about the user experience of a car enthusiast visiting websites for car parts: what turns him off and what engages him.
What Turns Online Car Enthusiasts Off
1. “They’re not only forcing you to see their ads, but they’re all out there being pushy”.
At the top of his list are the ads with a small animation that have a “teeny tiny x close  thingy” that you can never find. These ads bother him a lot because they get in his way.  “They’re not only forcing you to see them…but they’re all out there being pushy”, he said. “I understand that websites like to generate some revenue selling ad space but I prefer that they stick to listing brands or making smart use of logos or recognizable brand images”.
2. Lack of Redundancy
“This might sound counter-intuitive but I prefer to have at least 3 different ways to find what I am looking for. One day I like checking out long lists of names. Another day I might like to check only images. The next day I might give a query tool a try.”
Conclusion: intrusive ads and lack of variety in ways of navigating the website diminish the user experience.

What Engages Car Enthusiasts Online
1.  Continous Live Online Support
“Nothing is more annoying than seeing a button for LIVE online support and then finding out that the schedules are very restricted. If you put out there that you have a live chat feature, then you should invest in making it as continuous as possible. If you cannot afford it, then you’re better off providing an e-mail address or contact form.”
2.Recognizable colors, trademarks or patterns around the website
“I am very brand loyal.” If you invest so much in developing a brand and trademarking logos, patterns and slogans, make savvy use of them online. Use them around your website. Do some A/B testing to find out what makes your links/images more actionable to your website visitors.
3. Girls, girls, girls
“This may sound like a no-brainer, but it is so hard to do. Car tuning is a very macho-like hobby, so of course I am going to look into your website if you have cute girls. However, just like live chat, you need to be consistent and keep up the section. Nothing is more disappointing than seeing the same set of pictures for 3 months in a row. If you have a section with pictures, keep it up to date!”
Conclusion:  car enthusiasts require a reliable and continuous live chat feature, smart use of recognizable brands and trademarks, and a picture section that is updated on a regular basis.

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William Darrell “Billy” Mays, Jr. was a TV direct response advertisement salesperson most notable for promoting OxiClean, Orange Glo, and other cleaning, home based, and maintenance products.
His distinctive beard and impassioned sales pitches made him a recognized television presence all around North America.
Billy Mays understood that nothing convinces a customer to buy a product than actual demonstrations of the product.
Video demonstrations are a savvy strategy for online retailers and wholesalers (e.g. bulk material handling)  because the number of online video viewed has been steadily growing, as reported by eMarketer, and has a high click-through rate when compared to its alternatives.
What is an online video demonstration?
An online video demonstration can be anything that is demonstrated on video ranging from software applications to cooking tutorials to applications of heady duty trucks.
Why does your website need a video demonstration?
Take a cue from another master TV salesperson, Vince Offer, the man behind the ShamWow absorbent chamois cloth. Propelled by Offer’s goofy charm and funny one-liners (“You followin’ me, camera guy?”), the ShamWow ad has become a cultural sensation and YouTube favorite. Since it first aired in the fall of 2007 to April 2009, over five million sets of the absorbent cloths have been sold.
Why would customers be interested in online video demonstrations?
Online video ads and demonstrations are a form of entertainment and people are willing to be entertained.  An IBM study reveals that almost 60% of its study respondents said they were willing to provide to advertisers some personal information about themselves in exchange for something of value, such as access to high-quality music videos, store discounts or airline frequent-flyer points.
The success of online video ads and demonstrations lies in the law of reciprocity.
Conclusion
A well put together video demonstration should create more interest in your product, boost traffic to your website if it is viral and embeddable on sites such as YouTube, and in the end, create more sales.

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Robert Pattinson.
Kristen Stewart.
Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart Dating!
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You may or may not have an opinion about this.
However, if you’re in the online marketing business you should definitely start paying more attention to the celebrity entertainment industry.
Celebrity Style news  are a strong  source of Internet traffic.
Let’s review the impact of using keywords related to the celebrity entertainment industry.
Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart Dating
Using Google Trends, here is the Search Volume Index of the keywords  “robert pattinson” (in blue) and “kristen stewart” (in red):

The numbers you see on the vertical axis of the Search Volume Index (graph above) aren’t absolute search traffic numbers. Instead, Google Trends scales the first term you’ve entered so that its average search traffic in the chosen time period is 1.0; subsequent terms are then scaled relative to the first term.
In plain English:  the graph above is ranked by “kristen stewart”, meaning that “robert pattinson” is searched about twice as much as “kristen stewart” from late 2008 to early 2010. This means that websites in the celebrity entertainment industry should have focused their online articles more on Robert Pattison than on Kristen Stewart because Robert is a more frequently searched term.
However, notice that towards the end of 2009 and beginning of 2010, the gap between the number of searches is closing between the names of the 2 celebrities. This would mean that using Kristen Stewart is becoming as effective as using Robert Pattinson on an online article.
Location, Location, Location
This business maxim applies to the world of  online celebrity entertainment as well.
Here are the top 10 subregions (states) in the United States that generate the most search queries of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart on Google:
To rank the top regions, Google Trends first looks at a sample of all Google searches to determine the areas from which it receives the most searches for your first term.
Robert Pattinson, in blue, generates about double the number of searches as Kristen Stewart, in red, throughout the United States.
Hawaii, Virginia, and Nevada are prime candidates to target a Google Adwords or other type of online advertising campaign.
Conclusion
If you’re in the online entertainment industry, you should take a look at the current trends in keyword searches when deciding what articles to write.

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Unless of course they can’t spell, then, by all means. The March 18 Movement honors Omid Reza Mirsayafi, who became the first blogger to die in prison (March 18, 2009). Hugo might not be celebrating that day, but you can! On Twitter and Facebook.

“Ironside—taking of the loved ones who took care of you.”

I think. New & Improved contest for GoDaddy has them giving away $100K, $50K and $25K for three ads that anyone can do. EVEN MAD AVE PROFESSIONALS. EVEN MAD AVE CRITICS FEATURED IN THE VIDEO. Ya’ hear? The client judges? Danica Patrick & CEO Bob Parsons. You’ve seen the spots, you know the bar. You got this! Details can be found here. Enter by April 23.

Drew's Note: 
As I try to do on many a Friday, I'm pleased to bring you a guest
post.  Meet a thought leader who shares her insights every day. So
without further ado...Denise Cautela. Again,
enjoy! Father Knows Best: Online Marketing Best Practices from a Small Business Owner An entrepreneur, my father owned and managed two local retail chains in the 1980s and 1990s.  I grew up in the family business and credit my father with teaching me important customer service, business ethic and product quality values that extend into my current role helping companies manage their online marketing programs.Even then, my father’s business practices were considered “old school.” He demanded we count change back directly to customers instead of relying on the cash register; he would not close the store until the very last customer was ready to leave (even if it was well past closing time); and he insisted that we manually count inventory monthly because computers were not foolproof and the numbers in the dot matrix printed reports could be wrong. While these business practices may seem a little “dated,” the underlying philosophy was an important life lesson and provided the foundation for my own best practices for online marketing today:Be loyal to your customers and they will be loyal to you
My father always made a point of building a strong connection with the local customer base.  In today’s market, we have a variety of inexpensive and easy-to-use Web 2.0 tools at our fingertips to spark and maintain a dialogue—and strengthen bonds with customers.  Tap Social media vehicles like Facebook Fan Pages to build connections and stay ahead of new trends by listening to what your customers have to say and what they want.
Be honest on your website, landing pages and email campaigns.  Clearly explain your business, what you offer and the value your product or service provides customers. Same goes for information you provide for any blogs or RSS feeds. Full transparency and honesty builds a level of trust with existing and prospective customers that can result in up sell opportunities and referrals, and of course, keep your customers coming back.

Make it easy for your customers to find you
Smart Pay-per-Click (PPC) campaigns put your product or service directly in front of those looking for you. It is the most direct, cost effective way to advertise on the Internet today.
List your business in as many online directories as possible. These directories are like signs pointing to your website in front of people driving by.
Search engine optimization (SEO) done right can indirectly pull people into your website and help improve where your business appears on search engine result pages.

You have one chance to make a good first impression
Each one of my Dad’s stores had a distinct look and feel, and products strategically placed for easy access. How your website or landing page look, and the ease of use/navigation is critical. You may only have one chance to make that good first impression—make sure it counts.

Denise Cautela, VP of Marketing at ClickFuel, has nearly 15 years of experience in a wide range of strategic marketing and communication roles. A multiple award winning marketer, Denise is responsible for building out the ClickFuel brand, generating new business and strategically supporting the channel and direct sales efforts. Before joining ClickFuel, Denise was with Monster Worldwide for more than five years in a variety of leadership roles, most recently Sr. Director of Marketing, Emerging Markets.

Related articles by ZemantaClickFuel provides internet tools to small businesses (venturebeat.com)
ClickFuel.com - Market Your Company Online (killerstartups.com)

March 12, 2010, Seattle, WA - Ian Lurie, CEO of Portent Interactive B-list SEO geek, has catapulted himself into the limelight by suing every business using words that contain 'ian'.

The lawyer-turned-marketer wants all businesses using words containing 'ian' to request permission, first. According to documents leaked to the media, Ian's lawsuit claims he's had his reputation unfairly smeared by publications such as Wikipedia:

Law scholar Febrile Ezureis stated this suit could have far-reaching implications. "Never mind the Lindsay Lohan suit against E-Trade. This could mean marketing copywriters everywhere will have to buy a thesaurus. Imagine if you can't use the word 'allegiant' in any of your marking copy? Ian could be about to change the English language, forever. The implications are brilliant. Oh, dammit, now he's going to sue me." Febrile went on, "And zoos! Don't get me started. 'Avian'. 'Amphibian'."

Comedian Eddie Murphy is also concerned. "That @#$)(*@#$ son of a @#)(*@#$ better not go through with it. I'm not renaming my self a 'funny man'. I'll kick his @#)($* @#$@#$."

Indeed, this could be the beginning of a utopian period for attorneys, who can look forward to suing anyone who uses any name in a word.

Ian justifies his stance. "Every time someone uses the word 'vaudevillian', they connect me with stuff that's ridiculous and silly. I'm sick of it. Plus, this is a great income stream."

He then handed us a summons to appear in court for several uses of 'ian' in this article.

I'd like to thank Lindsay Lohan and her moronic attorneys for inspiring this idea. And a shoutout to Todd Mintz.

What do you think of these ads from Dallas-based MetroPCS? According to CNET some people say the ads are racist and they're offended by them. Which is weird, since the brand's tagline is "Wireless for All."

"It is not our wish to offend anyone who sees our commercials. In fact, our business model is set up to allow for anyone, regardless of credit scores, income level, or ethnicity, to have the convenience of a mobile phone," says Bob Fant, vice president of advertising and brand development at the mobile carrier.

In related news, Chiqui Cartagena, senior VP of multicultural marketing at Story Worldwide, believes:

We need to stop using old, stereotypical definitions of groups -- such as "general market" and, yes, "multicultural market" (neither of which mean anything, really) -- and start thinking about consumers and treating them as real people going through real life stages whose cross-cultural identity affects the way they consume products or services, communicate and behave.

When you look at your consumers for who they really are, the color of their skin or their ethnicity has very little to do with their ability or desire to buy, use or promote your product. But if you use simplistic brand messaging that really doesn't tell the story of your brand in culturally relevant ways, then you could easily turn them off as potential buyers.

[via Adfreak]

Of late, French actress Marion Cotillard is working hard for the money. She appeared in three films in 2009 alone in addition to serving as the full-time muse for Christian Dior, which most recently set its sights on making her a rock star. But Cotillard still took a little bit of time out of her day to show us she's no diva. In this Funny or Die exclusive, she stars in a spoof ad for Forehead Tittaes: the French woman's secret to making men look them (roughly) in the eyes. Forehead Tittaes w/ Marion Cotillard from Marion Cotillard
In addition to catalyzing the uncomfortable chills we seek out rigorously on the internet, "Forehead Tittaes" roasts ethnocentric lifestyle brands like French Women Don't Get Fat and miracle products named after megastars who, having made their money, now hope to peddle their brand equity into something they probably know nothing about, usually because they are neither chefs nor chemists not perfumiers. We like an icon who can laugh at herself and the way her culture has managed to leverage itself in the media. Well-played, Ms. Cotillard, well-played.
Sources: Influencia.net