Archive for the ‘online marketing’ tag
Online Marketing New Year’s Resolutions
photo credit: Sirsnapsalot
With out Christmas List to Santa safely in the post, let’s take a look ahead to 2012, with a couple of New Year’s resolutions aimed at ensuring online marketing success over the next 12 months:
Improving your online marketing profile via social media has to be a big component of the New Year – if not the biggest. Get those fan pages up and running on Facebook and your account ready to roll on Twitter, along with messages urging customers to “Like” or “Follow” your brand.
Try to look up customers who were once frequent sights on your email listings but who have gone quiet in 2011. Many may be pleased to hear from you and as long as you are not seen to be pestering them, re-engagement efforts can improve your internet marketing successes.
As with all New Year’s resolutions, too many will cause you to lose your focus and willpower – so just bear these in mind for now, and OMD will keep suggesting other routes to online marketing success during the Christmas period – and beyond!
Online Marketing Needs to Focus More on Mobile Devices
The ever-increasing importance of mobile devices in online marketing was hammered home this week after a new survey revealed that 33 per cent of smartphone users had ordered a product with their device – and another 26 per cent had ordered a product or service online using a mobile app.
The research, carried out by EPiServer, showed that e-commerce via mobile devices is becoming a key part of UK retail, with online marketing efforts increasingly geared towards such shopping habits. With 59 per cent of British consumers now owning some form of smartphone and 18 per cent owning tablet devices, this is a sensible move.
However, the survey also discovered that some online marketing professionals are not making their sites mobile-friendly enough, with 32 per cent of smartphone users finding websites hard to navigate. Another 35 per cent said that they gave up on sites that were too difficult to find one’s way around.
But only 20 per cent of online marketing workers surveyed said that their site was optimised for mobile devices, and only 18 per cent had a specific mobile app. The good news is that 76 per cent said that they had a mobile strategy in place with 26 per cent due to launch a site optimised for smartphones and tablets in the next year.
Chinese Online Marketing Firm Drops Acquisition Plans in Hong Kong
photo credit: Very Quiet
The instability in the financial markets even seems to be giving the Chinese online marketing sector pause for thought at the moment, after AIM-listed internet marketing firm Geong International blamed the situation today for its decision to shelve plans to snap up Hong Kong-based online marketing rival Adbeyond.
Geong provides online marketing assistance for Chinese businesses operating in the financial, telecoms, manufacturing and carmaking sectors and was looking to raise $8 million towards the acquisition via a convertible secured loan stock after announcing its intentions towards the Hong Kong operation, which trades as ‘Guru Online’, in July.
Adbeyond specialises in internet advertising and social media marketing, with sales this financial year totalling £3.1 million.
In a statement, Geong said: “The board will continue to seek suitable targets which will support its organic growth strategy, remaining aware, however, that the funding will remain difficult whilst the equity and financial markets remain as they are.”
Online Marketing Campaigns Prepare for Christmas
The run-up to Christmas has now begun in earnest, and online marketing professionals are gearing up for the seasonal campaigns. One expert urged anyone in the retail sector considering an internet marketing campaign to focus their efforts on providing clear and useful information about their products and services.
Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) director of marketing and communications Sophia Haynes said that businesses planning online marketing offensives over the Christmas period need to focus on carrying out just a few strategies as well as possible.
“The main thing is providing really useful information,” she said, such as “clear information about your opening times and delivery times in the run-up to Christmas.”
Ms Haynes also urged businesses to consider giving customers loyalty rewards, which provides them with a “thank you” as well as increasing their engagement with the brand.
The recent How Britain will Shop for Christmas 2011 report by Verdict and SAS predicted that online sales will do very well over the festive season.
EU Cookies Directive Threatens Effectiveness of Online Marketing
photo credit: Veganbaking.net
Online marketing professionals have warned that a forthcoming European Union directive could hamper the effectiveness of internet advertising campaigns, due to the restrictions it will place on the use of web cookies.
Although the directive does not ban the use of cookies, it requires brands and marketing companies to obtain consumers informed consent before they can use them on their websites or for online advertising.
In a survey by affilinet, just 12 per cent of marketing professionals thought that they could successfully engage their customer base without tracking web site visits through the use of cookies on mobile devices and computers. Last year, this believe was shared by 35 per cent of respondents – showing how many have woken up to the invaluable online marketing role played by cookies.
Researchers warned that the cookie directive, which comes into effect next May, could lead to companies spending less money on internet advertising because its restrictions make it harder to measure their adverts’ effectiveness.
Customer Research is Key to Online Marketing Success
photo credit: Sean MacEntee
An marketing expert insisted this week that to conduct a truly successful internet marketing campaign businesses need to carry out adequate research and acquire customer knowledge.
Chartered Institute of Marketing head of marketing and communications Ray Jones said that firms must get to know their target audience as well as the products and services they are most likely to buy – possibly by focusing their research “on existing customers – who they are and what they buy most of.”
He added that online marketing campaigns which concentrate on their company’s most popular products could see the highest success rates.
Mr Jones went on to stress the vital importance of social media in the world of internet marketing, especially when it comes to customer feedback.
“Through social media, your customers and potential customers are taking serious buying advice from total strangers, so you had better address any feedback quickly,” he said.
Iran Announces 2nd Online Marketing Conference
photo credit: matthew_carson
Proof of the onward march of the online marketing sector can surely be found in this week’s announcement of Iran’s second International Online Marketing Conference, to take place in Tehran on 2-3 February 2012.
Hosted by Kaspid Ltd and the Business Golden Way Holding Corporation, the conference is taking place at the IRIB International Conference Center (IICC), with internet marketing experts and business leaders from around the world scheduled to speak.
“In this conference, the world’s senior online marketing professors will share their newest, relevant achievements with the other participants of the conference,” said Hubert Sepidnam, director of Kaspid Ltd.
Delegates are promised up to date seminars on the latest developments concerning the localisation of online marketing strategies, web-based business models, internet direct marketing, the role of social media and its effect on brand recognition, online marketing analysis tools, search engine optimisation (SEO), and content optimisation.
Even seemingly closed societies such as Iran are no match for the immense value and efficiency of online marketing, it would seem.
