Wondering Why You Can’t Pre-Order an iPad? It Isn’t Legal Yet | Epicenter | Wired.com.

WepProNews tells us “Email is not dying because of social media. “Email is still a key tool in social communication,” says Daniels. “Understanding audience engagement  is key.”

Email portability adoption is increasing. For example, just this week Google launched email syncing for Gmail to smartphones (meaning iPhone users can get their gmail accounts synced between their iPhone and their PC). This will make it easier for iPhone users to keep up with their accounts on the go.

Daniels suggests using SMS (text messaging) as an opt-in point for email subscriptions, as well as rendering and supporting the call to action.”

read the entire article here…

• 100% of Best-in-Class companies have improved year-over-year performance in customer profitability by 8% on average.
• 87% of Best-in-Class companies have improved year-over-year customer retention rates by 8% on average.
• 82% of Best-in-Class companies have experienced a 5% decrease on average in year-over-year customer acquisition costs.

from Mobile Marketing Association – Aberdeen Group Report

I have read a variety of claims on ROI for email marketing campaigns, keeping in mind there are variables with any program. First and foremost the quality of the information that you start with is going to affect the end result, case in point…the old saying “garbage in…garbage out”.  Conversely, starting with good information will yeild fantastic results and ROI! So lets make the assumtion that you have quality information to start with, then the numbers are very promising!

Hands down working with customers that already like your product and service and “inviting, asking and rewarding” them to come visit you more often is a smart practice to increase your bottom line. In a down economy it makes fiscal sense for small businesses to stay in touch with current and potential customers in a cost-effective way.  “E-mail marketing has one of the highest return on investment across all advertising mediums – $15.50 return on every $1 spent,” said the chief executive officer of one of the largest national providers.

I agree and think e-mail marketing is one important tool for your marketing toolbox, what do you think?

Experts estimate that it takes an average of seven different contacts (“touches”) before your customer makes his/her first purchase.

Here’s where it gets more interesting – and more profitable – for you and your business. The fact is, repeat sales are the secret to a successful business. Harvard Business Review notes that it’s 6 to 7 times more expensive to gain a new customer than to keep the one you have. Returning customers spend more - as much as 67 percent more – than first-timers. And they tell friends. After 10 purchases, a customer has already referred up to seven other people to your business (source:Bain & Company).

After you’ve invested your time and money to get that customer – the most valuable asset in your business – what are you doing to keep that customer? Keep them coming back regularly? Keep them from defecting to competitors? Keep them happy?

How do you get your customers to become regular customers?

Reward them and invite them back!

Here are a few great ways to do that:

• Email Marketing is a widely used and key component to accomplishing  just that! It has been used for years by every industry and every size business to reach out to their customer base. Highly effective and low cost.
• There are a variety of Loyalty/Frequency programs, some are low cost while others are complicated and costly. Make sure to understand the benefits when looking at these type programs. I have and still work with a few of the low cost providers,  both have a proven track record and impressive client list. No matter the size of your business there are Loyalty programs offered inside your budget. Each program can track your customers spending habits and encourage more frequent visits. Highly effective and low or no cost to set up.
• One of the newest and cutting edge methods is text messaging (sms) that can give your customer a “call to action” with reward attached and all they need to do is show you their cell phone. We work with a few companies that offer a variety of services. These can be a very cost effective and targeted way to reach your consumer and invite them in.  Highly targeted and low to med cost.
• I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Local Search as a way to reach out to your consumer as well.  There are even more low cost options in this realm and many of them have a FREE option to get started. Moderately effective but can be no investment to get started.

I will cover more on these “touch” methods in following posts.

According to emarketer on Sept 8th,  online advertising revenues will creep upward in 2009 only to drop in 2010 before recovering, predicts the Yankee Group in its “2009 Advertising Forecast: Getting the Consumer’s Attention.”

The research firm pegs 2009 online ad revenues at $23.63 billion, a 1.8% year-over-year increase. In 2013 revenues will surpass $31 billion.

eMarketer’s US mobile ad spending forecast is significantly higher, predicting $760 million in spending this year, rising to more than $3.3 billion in 2013. However, different research firms have widely varying estimates of mobile ad spending, unsurprising in a nascent market that is still difficult to measure. Figures for 2009 spending range from Yankee Group’s low of $184 million to the more than $2.2 billion in spending predicted by JPMorgan in January 2009. read entire article here…

We are a collaborative team of marketing specialists. We have a proven track record of success in our individual fields of expertise. Our tool box is chocked full of new ideas and trend setting programs available to fit any Small Business Owners budget! Ready to “get your local on”? 919.844.1774

Be sure to include geographical information like your real world address on your pages. Your information should be included in HTML so the spiders can read it. A whole new breed of spiders is looking for area codes, zip codes and city names, to assist searchers in finding stores and services near their location.

Doing so will allow you to come up ahead of the competition when someone searches for your business… in Orlando or a specific geographical region.Geo

Tweets will soon come with a dateline…AND…a  geo-target location?

From The New York Times “Twitter will first offer the location feature to developers, who can create applications using Twitter. Later, it will add the feature to Twitter’s main site for all users.

Some Twitter application developers have already been using location of individual Twitter users, though they have been using the locations that people fill out as part of their profiles, in which people can write anything.”

Read the entire article here…

Complete product overview for ZipUpUrMarket using LocalAdLink to target your local market

If targeting local and mobile search advertising is the future growth drivers for search advertising providers, then Google and its Adwords geo-targeting features are in the driver’s seat when compared to its three closest search advertising rivals Yahoo, Microsoft and Ask.com.

Below I outline each providers’ offerings not according to their search advertising market share but instead according to their level of geotargeted advertising product development.

Google’s advertising product and its geo-targeting capabilities have one distinct yet obvious feature the other’s lack:

An actual map for geo-targeting the location of your ads and where they will be shown!

Google Search Advertising Country Geotargeting

With Google Adwords, advertisers can target their ads one country at a time through Google’s Country Geotargeting tab, or choose to bundle their ads for display in multiple countries at once with Adwords Bundle Geotargeting feature.

Google Search Advertising Bundle Geotargeting

Google Search Advertising Bundle Geotargeting

Google Search Advertising Metro Geotargeting

Google Adwords advertisers who advertise in specific markets nationally or regionally can target their ads by metropolitan area or by city.

Although not referenced, Google’s metropolitan area targeting looks slightly similar to the Designated Market Area system developed by Nielsen Media Research which incorporates Nielsen’s broadcast media markets and distribution scheme.

For its City geotargeting option, Google surrounds the target city with a square.

Google Search Advertising Custom Geotargeting

Google custom geotargeting by far provides the highest level of geotargeting available from any search advertising provider.

Custom geotargeting lets advertisers create their own custom advertising distribution area within any market.

Google search advertisers can simply point and click three or more points on their advertising map and Google does the rest for them – creating a custom advertising distribution area through latitude and longitude coordinates.

How do the other search advertising providers’ geo-targeting features stack up compared with Google’s?

Yahoo and Ask both offer advertising geo-targeting options but both to a lesser degree.

Yahoo Search Advertising Geotargeting

Yahoo offers geotargeting to it advertisers by account market area and specific regions. Account market area is established by the advertising account holder when the open their account. Both account market area and specific region areas are organized by country, state, province or territory.

The Yahoo specific region feature geotargets its advertising through the Designated Market Areas system licensed from Nielsen Media Research.

Yahoo Search Advertising Geotargeting Mapview

Where is the Yahoo Search Advertising Geotargeting Map?

Yahoo offers a Map View tab of specific regions geotargeted by its advertisers yet I haven’t ever been able to view an actual Yahoo map showing where my advertising has been geo-targeted and placed.

I can’t imagine why Yahoo search marketing would place a “Map View” tab in their Campaign settings geo-targeting page yet not actually provide a map view.

Ask Search Advertising Geotargeting

Ask provides its advertisers with Location targeting which is also based on Nielsen’s Designated Market Area system.

Ask doesn’t provide a map showing advertisers locations of their geo-targeted advertising.

However, and to its credit – Ask does provide a geotargeting feature direct marketers like myself would like to see from other search advertising providers like Google Adwords – Postal Code targeting.

Postal Code Targeting or Zip Code targeting here in the US would allow direct marketers and brands alike another level of advertising targeting, delivery and thus control.
At this point you may be wondering why I chose to cover Microsoft’s adCenter search advertising geotargeting product last even though it has a larger share of the search market than Ask.

Why have I listed Microsoft’s advertising geotargeting product development last?

Because Microsoft’s search advertising product does not offer its advertisers geotargeting options let alone any other kind of geographic ad targeting.

Microsoft Search Advertising Geotargeting

Will Microsoft ever offer advertising geo-targeting features to its advertisers?

If not, why?