The search engines are looking to discover ways that people try to manipulate their rankings, and traditionally, one of them has been keyword-rich anchor text. Search engines discovered that a strong indicator of unnatural link building is the inclusion of the same keyword phrase in each link.
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Reprinted from the South Florida Business Journal
Marketers are learning that the impact of what you tell your customers about your brand or company is strongly influenced by when you tell it to them.
The television commercial that interrupts a favorite evening program or sporting event might not be nearly as well received as the drive-time radio spot that entertains in transit.
For many years, advertisers blasted away at audiences, with features or benefits of the offering, with the main goal of firing at and hitting the target as many times as possible.
Today, the concentration has shifted from “hitting” to “embracing” the target audience at moments in their daily experience when they will welcome the message. Likewise, the tone and content of the messaging must match the time and place it is delivered.
Among the most welcomed times to “embrace” potential customers is when they are traveling from place to place, waiting for something to happen and shopping in stores or online.
The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau’s winter “Good Bye Chilly, Hello Sunny Lauderdale Tour” deployed a successful example of a welcomed message encounter with its beachmobile, sporting a clear view into a glass trailer, as it drove along major thoroughfares. The trailer was filled with sand, palm trees and bikini-clad models promoting the area’s tropical destination. The CVB just completed this year’s winter tours in New York City’s Rockefeller Center, London’s Canary Wharf and Chicago’s Tribune Plaza (also known as Pioneer Court) on Michigan Avenue, creating millions of impressions and social engagements.
Led by President and CEO Nicki Grossman, the CVB team rocked these venues with the new “Hello Sunny” campaign to delight downtown audiences. Frigid commuters and shoppers were suddenly warmed by thoughts of sandy beaches.
In Chicago, a live webcam of Fort Lauderdale’s beach was projected onto a giant screen. Thousands of walkers stopped, danced to live beach music on Tribune Plaza, and got their pictures taken with bikinis frozen in ice blocks – pictures that soon flooded their friends’ Facebook news streams. The Chicago Blackhawks’ Ice Crew Girls and mascot Tommy Hawk added to the fun. And, Hockey Hall of Famer Denis Savard signed his autograph on Greater Fort Lauderdale Vacation Planner brochures. For a quick video of the event, go to http://tinyurl.com/bzg4zf9. These types of tours have garnered up to 2,000 times return on investment for the CVB.
Another example of embracing customers with the messaging they want at the most appropriate time is happening daily in grocery stores on mobile phones. Studies have shown that consumers value messaging on their phones that is either entertaining or helping to accomplish something.
Everyone has seen the chefs’ stands in grocery stores that offer a “little taste” to push a new product or brand. Obviously effective, the mobile phones extend this experience with the quick scan of a video that shows a recipe being made, and ends with a button to click to add all ingredients to your shopping list. The new ingredients list will tell you which items currently carry a coupon, and identify the brand of ingredient offering this incredible convenience to you exactly at the time that you need it. If you want to share the recipe with a friend, you can click another button to post on your Facebook page.
This combination of technology and messaging at the right time for the right functionality delights and embraces potential customers, leaving them with a fun and helpful experience, rather than an unnecessary interruption.
What’s more, the Facebook posts and tweeting opportunities presented by both of the examples above are brand-building impressions that create loyalty, and help garner even more customers who are friends and followers.
John Lennon sang “All You Need is Love,” and today’s marketers are just adding the right timing to a little love from the brand to build business.
Organizations and brands should maximize their own social media channels to engage with their patrons and customers. However, detractors intent on criticizing, attacking or being downright disruptive can create a number of challenges for companies striving to maintain a positive narrative.
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On March 5th, Starmark hosted talks by top Google thought-leaders, live from the Googleplex. We enjoyed 90 minutes of great content, food, and discussions with Google and Starmark clients.
The Agenda included:
John Nicoletti, Director of Agency Development, Google
Fort Lauderdale based integrated marketing agency Starmark received more than a dozen honors at the Advertising Federation of Greater Fort Lauderdale’s ADDY Awards this past weekend. (more…)
A well-designed logo, compelling mission statement, and a personality to match can play a big role in how you are perceived in the social media spheres; and ultimately launch your organization into the global arena. With the introduction of new social media channels practically everyday, it’s important to create a compelling first impression with your fans, followers, circles, etc., and then incite them to engage with you. Equally important is weaving together your brand across all social media platforms so there is a consistent message regardless of where your customers engage with you.
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Reprinted from South Florida Business Journal
If your organization is like many, you probably prepared and approved your marketing and media program for 2013 a couple of months ago. Retailers review the program at least monthly, but for other types of organizations, the program often goes on autopilot with a quarterly review, even if you get a weekly spreadsheet with results.
For businesses in the professional and service industries, quarterly used to be enough. We all know that isn’t so today, but how do busy senior managers make time to monitor their tactical communications performance, particularly with the advent of social media? (more…)
With our friends SeaWorld Orlando in the promotion of Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin
Happy holidays to all our friends, and here’s to a prosperous 2013!
Mobile commerce shattered record sales on Black Friday with an increase of 221% over prior year. In addition, transactions via mobile devices accounted for 22% of total record-setting Cyber Monday sales. With staggering statistics like these, it’s hard to ignore that “MCommerce” has finally arrived. If you haven’t considered adding mobile technology to your eCommerce site, you’re already behind the curve!
Primarily, there are three Mobile Commerce categories that generate incremental sales:
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Reprinted from South Florida Business Journal
Every businessperson would invest in advertising and media if they could know the return in advance of the spend. In the case of businesses with established brand equity, the effort and expense to bring reasonable returns will most likely be more predictable and less costly than a new brand introduction. However, market conditions and message delivery systems are constantly changing, and even established businesses feel out of control when faced with the question of “where to spend” their media budgets. (more…)
You’ve probably heard the buzz about Klout, but what does it all mean? Klout measures your online “social influence” based on your ability to drive interaction action across the social web. Your Klout score falls on a scale between 1-100 and rates your ability to engage and influence your friends and followers in a variety of social interactions. If you have a Twitter account, then you have a Klout score. Do you know yours?
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