Mainly Melissa!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/10/16/florence.henderson.flohclub/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn

So you have seen the success that many retailers and companies have had through their social networking and you think it's finally time for you to get on the social network bandwagon. So now that you have registered for an account and you have a profile page what are you going to do?

1. Promote your page.
Get people to join your network. Direct your consumers to your profile page via various mediums as company website, e-mail campaigns or in store promotion.

2. Add Value to your page
Give your viewers a reason to come back or follow you. Bring value to your page by releasing exclusive information, special contests/events, or updates to the people who are following you. Remember to stay true to your brand. If you are a retailer who is known for having the latest styles then update people on the latest fashion trends and keep them up to date with what is going on in the store (ie. New shipments, sales, new designers…) Remember it is also important to redirect people either back to your website to learn more or to your location to make a purchase.

Interesting Reads:
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007294
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007333
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007322

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/business/smallbusiness/15adwords.html?_r=1&partner=MOREOVERNEWS&ei=5040

Having graduated as a marketing student in a very challenging time has been extremely difficult; however as they say "when there is a will there is a way." After reading an article in the Financial Post earlier this week I had a lot to think about. Several companies have been forced to make several cutbacks in order to survive; nevertheless skimping too much on your marketing/pr budget may be tremendously detrimental to your company’s future wellbeing. Obviously times are tough and budget cutbacks must be made, this is no doubt unavoidable.

Traditional media is expensive and the results of its effectiveness are hard to measure. Unless the money is there I would not suggest this path. Non-traditional media which includes such tactics as social media marketing has almost zero cost and can be very effective depending on your audience. There are also other options such as experiential marketing which can also be extremely attractive.

Before we can even start thinking about how to promote we must think about the other 3 p’s (product, price and place). Is the current product meeting consumer needs? What are the current pricing options? Is bundling an option? Where are the products currently available? Where else should the product be available? After we can answer all of these we can now move onto promotions.

We currently live in the ever popular Web 2.0 world. It’s time for more companies to take advantage of this. Skittles and Doritos are great examples of companies which have utilized social media and crowd sourcing to their advantage. Currently Skittles website has been taken over by Twitter,Facebook, and YouTube; giving followers/friends of the website full ability to add their own videos, pictures, and comments to the website. This is a great way to create buzz and keep your brand interactive with your consumers. Doritos’ Crash the Super Bowl contest encouraged its consumers to create their own commercial and submit it to the Doritos’ for the chance to havea their commercial shown during the Super Bowl. Creating a contest such as this will help promote the brand more than having Doritos' creative team create an ad.

Network! Network! Network! Another way to promote yourself via networking events. Word of Mouth can be a very powerful tool. Being active in your local business community can really pay off. There are several networking opportunities available for those apart of the community. These events usually attract important decision makers, and key business people in the community so its a great place to go to spread the word about your company.

The limited budgets that marketers are now facing is forcing them to become more creative and innovative. This is a very interesting time and several companies are seeking experiential markeing/advertising firms who are ready and willing to break the mold.

Shortly After Obama's national call for service Starbucks announced that it was launching a new campaigning that will entice people to contribute to their community. The "I'm In" campaign encourages Starbucks drinkers to commit 5 hours of community service in exchange for a free tall coffee.

Starbucks, not unlike many other companies, have hoped onto the Obama train. Since Obama the beginning of his campaign Obama has started several marketing trends which other political leaders and companies have adopted.

Whereas many companies will align themselves to a cause merely to just increase public appeal; Starbucks' "I'm In" campaign lacks the gimmicky feel that many campaigns can give off.

I would be interested to see more Vancouver companies take part in campaigns similar to this. At this moment in time i am unaware of any similar campaign in Vancouver, however I could be wrong.

Traffic and parking appear to be a real issue in Vancouver. With the new investments that the government has put into public transportation companies should encourage their employees to use public transportation. Currently there are such programs as "Ride your Bike to Work Week" however these programs lack the incentive which would entice people to actually ride their bike to work... In addition to this unless you lived fairly near to your work place riding your bike is not feasable. Introducing a public transit campaign and providing people with a proper incentive would help encourage more users to use public transit. As a result of this more people will be using transit which would encourage the government to spend more in public transit and extend lines to other areas.

The campaign can even be called "Linked" and can have some social media aspects to it. A Translink Facebook app. telling people your bus route and who you saw on the bus and who your buddies on the bus are. Futhermore, people on Twitter can tweet if buses are late, on time, or jam packed.

I'm already loving the idea of this campaign!

you can go here http://pledge5.starbucks.com to find out more about the Starbucks' I'm In campaign.

This week the Vancouver Sun reports that Rogers has announced the pricing for the new iphone and generated a buzz surrounding the new gadget. To release this information Rogers enlisted their very own social media guru, Keith McArthur, to handle the details of this release. McArthur chose to release this information via Twitter.

Utilizing Twitter in this instance was fantastic. The following on Twitter and the targeted iphone user overlap therefore McArthur was able to successfully reach his audience. However if McArthur was releasing a press release for fixodent, twitter may not be as effective. The majority of users who use fixodent fall in the category of unactive on the Forrestors "technographic scale", therefore it would be unlikely that they would have a twitter account. However that is not to say that silver seniors are not present online. There is a portion of seniors who actively online and are creators or critics. The only way to find this out where these seniors are is to do research.

I thought that this was an interesting read found on eMarketer.

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007122

This week Marketing Sherpa discusses how to make video ads more effective. According to the results by making an add more interactive the effectiveness of the ad will increase significantly.

During the Super Bowl Crest aired a 3d ad and created a micro site based on the ad. I felt that the campaign was extremely interactive both online and offline. Offline the characters interacted with the viewers at home. Online users were able to pick what type of kisses they would like to receive. Unfortunately the site is down now so you can't visit the site, however you can read more about the website here http://www.bizzia.com/behindthebuzz/crest-whitestrips-kiss-me-in-3d/. This add was different than the normal whitening ad that is usually seen by most consumers and the fact that I can still recall this add after 4 months should emphasizes the originality and the effectiveness of this advert.

I have recently just started reading Martin Lindstrom's book Buyology. The book discusses a topic which I found exceedingly interesting. Product placements have been extremely popular in movies and television shows for several years now. In the past one or two brands were featured in movies. Today movies are jam packed with product placements; many of which most people don't even notice. For example in the hit movie, “He’s Just Not that Into You”, I did not know or even care that the fruit on the display were products from Dole. Lindstrom goes further and says that in order for a brand to penetrate the viewer’s brain the brand must be integrated into the storyline.

“We have no memory of brands that don’t play an integral part in the storyline of a program. They become white noise, easily and instantaneously forgotten... Products that play an integral part in the narrative of a program are not only memorably, they appear to have a double barrelled effect... They not only increase our memory of the product, but they actually weaken our ability to remember the other brands.” –Martin Lindstrom, Buyology

Companies are spending millions of dollars to feature their products in movies and television shows, however most of this money is gone to waste. Why are companies spending millions of dollars to have their products appear subtly in the background of various television shows/movies? Technology advances such as PVR & TIVO which allows viewers to skip commercials have forced advertisers to get you to notice their product during the television show.

If product placements in movies and television shows are not paying off where should companies invest their advertising budget? Online advertising, commercials before movies, or product placements in video games may be the answer for some companies.

I think it would be very interesting to see the effectiveness between brands which are integrated into the storyline in movies/television vs. brands which are integrated into the storylines of books. Almost every kid can name you the various types candy from the Harry Potter books and what kind of broom Harry rides. Because you are actively seeing the brand spelt out in words when you are reading, I have a feeling that product placement in books maybe far more effective than in movies/television.

Happy May Long Weekend!!!

I thought this may be some fun links for the weekend :)

http://www.beautifullife.info/advertisment/history-of-coca-cola-in-ads/

http://speckyboy.com/2009/05/11/33-creative-and-humorous-guinness-print-advertising/

http://speckyboy.com/2009/05/11/33-creative-and-humorous-guinness-print-advertising/

Enjoy your weekends :)

Cheers

http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/

Visit the website to view the lastes get a mac ads by Apple :).

On March 23rd over 200 performers ambushed the Central Station of Antwerp to promote a Belguim television series.

This week's chart on Marketing Sherpa helps marketers determine how much they should spend when producing a viral video. The success of a viral video can be determined by the frequency that the video has been passed. Researchers at Marketing Sherpa discovered that lower budget videos were more successful than those that had larger budgets. (However the lower budgets were typically more than DIY viral video costs).

This is a great opportunity for several small business and companies with smaller marketing budgets.

Affluence.org is the new social networking targeted to the world's wealthiest people. In order to join the network you must have a net worth of $3 million or have an income of $300,000 a year. The site claims to provide the following to its members:

	Interact with other affluent people from around the world
	Receive free access to a dedicated Affluence Concierge
	Attend the most exclusive parties and events in the world
	Receive priority access to the world's most exclusive nightclubs, hotels, and restaurants
	Find other millionaires, billionaires, and socially elite people to network with.

There is currently 30,000 people on the website of which reside in the US. The majority of the users are male and are 49 years old.

Advertising is available on the website therefore marketers are able to directly target the upper crust of society. This could be an interesting test market market researchers for certain luxury products and services. The website guarantees its advertisers a 100% ROI. More information on advertising on this site can be found at http://affluence.org/content.php?page=advertising

I have recently just finished conducting a Google Adwords campaign. This was my first experience with Google Adwords and I had no real knowledge or instruction on how to use it. Through the duration of the campaign I was constantly concerned about the campaign's extremely low CTR (it started out at 0.23% and ended with a CTR of 0.54%). I honestly believed that the campaign was a failure however after seeing an article on eMarketer I see that the campaign didn't do that bad at all.

eMarketer reports that according to ADTECH the average CTR varies from 0.11% to 0.19% during the year (with a tendency for higher clicks towards the end of year because of holiday shopping). In addition the article also states that CTR has been declining steadily since 2004.

Why are CTR so low and why are they declining?
CTR's may be low because there are just so many ads that are on the Internet and a large majority of them are be garbage. The ads may also not be properly targeted or it may not be in view of the online user. (Google Eye Tracking Map demonstrates how eyes' of the online viewer travel across the page.)
The declining CTR's may be attributed to many factors however I believe that the following reasons are the most prominent reason why I believe ads are no longer being clicked as much.

• People are hesitant to click on pop-op-ads, banner ads, or any type of ad because of the fear that they will be lead to an inappropriate site
• People may be hesitant about clicking on ads because they are afraid that their computer will be infected by a virus.
  
• Pop-up software being developed to block several ads
• Sites like Google may be selling too many ad spaces. As seen in the above diagram only the sponsored ads that receive the the top 6 spots will most likely be viewed by the user. With this in mind is there really a point to sell ad space below the halfway page mark?

A current trend for online ads is the use of video ads. At the moment video ads recieve a higher average CTR. Video ads are much more expensive to produce and to place than display ads therefore there is a larger barrier for companies to utilize video ads. However eMarketer warns that once the novelty of video ads has worn off video ads may recieved the same fate as display ads.

Link to eMarketer article http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006969

This week Marketing Sherpa's chart featured why a large majority of people are unsubscribing to E-newsletters. This got me thinking about my own inbox. I regularly get Newsletters from eteamz and I'm not to sure how I got onto the e-mail list for eteamz. I suspect it was when I was in high school and experimented with making a team website for the cheer team I was on. It has been almost 5 years since I've last been involved in cheer, however I still get these e-mails informing me of the upcoming football season happening in Kentucky. Which actually I don't understand because I don't think I've ever expressed an interest in football. This mail usually goes into my spam box however once in a while it weasels its way into my inbox and I just automatically delete it. I can't even be bothered to open it and select unsubcribed because that just sounds like more work. To me this is junk mail. However, after reading the Marketing Sherpa case study on the use of 0E-Newsletters I see that the eteamz newsletters is not necessarily junk its just not very relevant to me. As the table shows another reason why people are deleting themselves of e-mail lists is because the company is sending them too many newsletters. I believe that Nordstroms is guilty of sending their customers too many updates on sales/new items/ trends. I get atleast 3 e-mails from Nordstrom each week informing me of different sales.

So what does this mean for businesses?
It doesn't mean that you should stop sending out E-Newsletters. In fact I believe E-Newsletters is something that can help small businesses create community and create some form of communication with its users. What it means that who you send your e-mails to has to be more narrowed down and limit the quanity of e-mails that are sent. When asking your users to opt in to recieve news letters perhaps create a forum that they can fill out which asks them who they are, where they are, what they would like to hear about, and how often they'd like to hear from you. (ex. weekly deals, or just monthly updates on season trends and upcoming events) This will help you customize your newsletter to fit with the user.

In additon to this if people are opting out of your newsletter perhaps it would be a good idea to ask why they are. It may be beacuse their situation has changed and they no longer need the newsletter. In this case perhaps asking them to give a suggestion as to who they currently know would benefit from the newsletters.

Marketing Sherpa Also suggests that to improve your E-Newsletters you should:

• Create a template for newsletter content - utilizing a table contents to
  
• creating multimedia which matches the theme of the newsletter in order to be able to go more into depth on certain subjects
• Test and experiment new ideas to see what works
  

Visit http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=31118&?9750 for more information on this subject.

Recently I have become aware of a new trend in the online marketplace. Ads created by amateur advertisers, students, and average joes are now being bought by business via various mediums such as AdHack.com and XlntAds.com.

What is interesting about this phenomenon is that it takes the "listening" and "talking" themes from Groundswell a step further. Creators who typically voice their opinions through blogs, and websites are now able to transfer their thoughts into a creative sort of media and sell it to companies who will use it for various marketing campaigns. In addition to this another effect of this is that companies are also able to obtain free media coverages on these websites.

Who can benefit from this?
Small businesses and new businesses who may not be able to afford to produce their own media. Cheap way to raise awareness of your brand and gain an ad.

What can companies do take advantage of this?
Encourage their users to create creative media to voice their opinions. An example of this would be Doritos make your own commercial campaign, or Skittles YouTube application on their website.

Recently Skittles has changed its website to one which embraces the social networking/media.

What is skittles doing?
I believe that Skittles is trying to join the "Groundswell" and connect to its users in the most basic way (ie. YouTube, Facebook and Twitter)

My thoughts:
I believe that what Skittles is doing is a great move into the direction of utilizing social networking and UGM. I do see the benefits of having a skittles fan page, and the twitter page however I do not see these pages as being very beneficial for Skittles. The Twitter page is littered with redundant posts of people announcing that they are either eating skittles or wanting to eat skittles. The Facebook fanpage really has no content either. People are just posting that they love skittles. I believe that its fun to look at the first time but I'd probably wouldn't return to the visit either sites. Its not very engaging or interesting. On the other hand the YouTube portion of this website is rather interesting. It is engaging, and interesting to watch. Skittles can benefit from the YouTube application because basically they are getting free commercials made by their users. I have noticed that the wikipedia skittles page is no longer on the site. And I am not too sure the reason for this. Perhaps it was too risky to have the company information so easily modified by random people.

All in all I think that Skittles should think about redesigning their page to incorporate design and the social networking/media pages. At the moment the website does not look like a quality website that you'd expect from a company like Skittles.

check the site out :)
http://skittles.com/default.htm

Britney Spears is not the only one with a new look. The Pop Diva unveiled a new website in mid 2008 which features an innovative and personal experience for her fans. The website level of community and communication is unlike anything I have ever seen on a celebrity homepage. The community allows fans who have attended concerts to upload photos and videos from the tour. In addition the blog that is featured on the website keeps you up to date with what is going on in Britney Spears life.

I believe that the website's content is extremely exceptional. Britney followers thrive on pictures and news of what the star is doing and the website allows fans to hear first hand what is going on with Britney instead of seeing it in US Weekly magazine. Britney Spears has had a lot of bad press past years. The personal blog allows people to see her working hard at rehearsal, interacting with her children and spending time with her family. This window into Britney's life allows people to take heart and forgive and forget her crazy past. The website is great move for Britney's career.

Hollywood's glamourest night is coming up and everyone is excited to see who and what the stars are wearing. Unfortunately ABC is unable to profit from this annual event as it has in the past. This can be attributed to the failing economy coupled with the lack of quality amongst this year's nominations. This has forced ABC to change its advertising rules and allow movie studios to promote films and reduce ad spot prices.

My sources at Fortune magazine have informed me that banner ads are on the decline. Consumers are not likely to click on banner ads or even really process them. Consumers appear to trust in-text advertising more and companies have seen more results with them.

Why may this work?
Online users don't go online to look at ads. Many people have a visual block on the panel where ads appear. In-text advertising places ads in the line of site of online viewers. In addition as viewers read/scan through text online they usually follow their reading using their mouse which would thereby go over the in-text ad.

My Personal Thoughts:

I personally ignore a lot of the advertising online. I feel like a lot of the advertising online are scams or gimmicks. But to each his own :)

After dragging my boyfriend to watch Bride Wars with me and seeing how crazy some brides can be I was inspired to do some research on the wedding industry. In my research I found that the wedding industry in the US is worth approximately $270 billion. Where does the $270 billion come from? Well there are the essentials that every wedding must have: flowers, venue, dresses, transportation, catering, tux rentals, jewellery, hair, makeup, spa appointment, gym memberships... Moreover, according to one article brides are more likely to spend on home furnishings, cars, electronics, silverware, and insurance than non-brides. So long story short, brides spend a lot of money.

Going back to the days when I took macroeconomics I do recall that the only way for an economy to get out of a recession is to increase spending and one way to increase spending is to increase consumer consumption. That being said, brides may be able to pull our country out of its economic slump! Not only are brides spending but it forces their family and friends to spend as well! Guests of the wedding will have to buy an outfit and a gifts. Out of town guests will have to purchase plane tickets, hotel rooms and make restaurant reservation while they are in town; this would result with an increase in tourism! At the wedding you may meet someone special and you begin dating him/her as a result you increase your expenses on leisure activities and entertainment. You are now happy and in love a bomb could explode and you wouldn't care because you are in love. He/she proposes to you. Now you are the high spending bride, thus the cycle repeats. Weddings also cause several side effects which can also benefit society. Typically news of someone you know getting married will makes you feel happier and everyone knows that happier people are more likely to socialize and spend! With this all in mind encourage your friends to get married!!!!

Read more about brides :) http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4021/is_2001_May_1/ai_74303105/pg_1

Oh No! Michael Phelps America's golden boy has been caught doing something naughty AGAIN! I guess now that the Olympics are over Michael is trying to be a normal college student and going to parties and getting the occasional DUI. Unfortunately punishments aren't the same when you're a world class swimmer. Michael Phelps has been barred from competitive swimming for 3 months and has lost his financial support from USA Swimming. In addition to all of this Kellogs has also decided to end their relationship with Phelps. But that's okay because well there are as long as he still has the Guitar Hero account its all good. In all honesty I don't think Michael Phelps is stupid. I do believe Michael Phelps is most likely taking a break from swimming which is why he has been seen painting the town red. I think we should all just say 'boys will be boys' and hope that Michael will set another world record in 2012.

for more information http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/05/kellogg.phelps/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Five years ago no one new who Mark Zuckerberg was or what Facebook was. Today there are over 150 million users actively on Facebook.

How has Facebook helped me.

Before Facebook I was not actively involved in the social networking community online. I did have myspace and Friendster accounts but i didn't actualy use it or even know what to do with it. Facebook is just a lot easier to use and an easier way to connect with your friends. In addition I would say that before Facebook I did not spend as much time on the internet. Before Facebook I used the internet for e-mail, checking the weather, sometimes school work, and instant messaging and spent my idle time watching tv or outside. Since joining the Facebook community I find myself spending almost all of my idle time at the computer on Facebook. Maybe its just my personality or my boredom that I find it fascinating to sit and look through my friends pictures and see what their status is. In either case I find myself constantly checking to see if someone has posted on my wall or commented on a photo. I also find myself 'facebooking' my employers or interviewers just to see who they really are. haha :D All in all I'd say Facebook has helped me communicate to people, feel less bored, and 'facebook' stalk certain people. haha :D

Anyways enough about how facebook has changed my life, how has it changed yours?

Staffordshire woman, Sarah Richardson, was killed May 12, 2008 by her husband becuase her Facebook relationship status said that she was single.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/staffordshire/7845946.stm

This is social networking taken to the extreme. Crazy! Although a friend of mine was able to determine that her boyfriend was cheating on her and who he was cheating on he with simply by his facebook status.

After watching the news today I learned that a creative realtor has become extremely crafty. He has decided to host a 72 hour open house online. Viewers will be able to chat with the realtor and ask questions regarding the loft.

For more information and to view the house please go to the following links:
http://www.kyegrace.com/LiveFeed.ubr
http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090123/BC_online_agent_090123/20090123/?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

I decided to be a little more proactive on my New Year’s Resolution so I went to the gym today. In order to get to the gym I had to take the bus, as a result I walked to the bus loop and got onto the #44 bus. I was one of the last people on the bus and because of the lack of seating options I sat in one of the courtesy seats. As the bus began to move I noticed that the majority of the courtesy seats were being occupied by young men. As the bus reached its first stop an old woman with a walking cane got on the bus. Not one of the young men got up and offered to offer their seat to the old woman so I got up and offered my seat to the woman. She thanked me promptly and told me that chivalry was dead.

I was absolutely appalled by this. After I came back from the gym I googled etiquette and a number of sites appeared. I selected a site and was intrigued with the website.
http://www.etiquettehell.com/index.shtml .

The website has several different features but what I thought was most interesting was the discussion forum. Users were able to create a message on the forum asking an etiquette question and people were able to critique and answer the question. The counter showing how many people had viewed each post revealed that there was actual a large amount of spectators that visited the discussion forum.

I also found an interesting article about The Urban Ettiquette at http://nymag.com/guides/etiquette/17332/index6.html

The amount of information and websites that I was able to find about etiquette proves that people are aware of the rules of etiquette however it’s just not being practiced.

Not only will Obama be making history being the first African American President, but he will also be the first president to have his inauguration to be broadcasted on YouTube. An event such as this being broadcasted over the internet and reaching out to billions of people all over the world I believe demonstrates the changes in how people are able to gain access to information.
http://www.youtube.com/inauguration

The internet has been a great campaign tool for Obama, who has set up a social networking site and a blog on his webpage www.mybarakobama.com. The site allows its members to join an online community, connect and interact with each other. The campaign manager for Obama has obviously done his homework on how to effectively advertise online.