Upwardly Mobile

The numbers do speak volumes.
Mobiles phones are a huge, gathering force in the media platform web, and they're decreasingly being used to do any talking at all.

According to a couple of media research outfits;
32% of new phones are smartphones.
- so why would that be? Palm-sized computers? The greatest use of these devices are respectively - social media, web browsing, research.

62% of carrier data traffic is ... iPhone usage.
- iPhones account for only about 1% of mobile devices. Think about that - provide usability, a desirable product and marketplace, and uptake hits the roof.

4.1 billion handsets.
- OMG, as the texters would say. SMS texting is doubling yearly, and the number of messages outnumber phone conversations more than 10 to 1.

The first webpage was created in August 1994.
The first SMS message was sent in December 1995.

The conversation is changing - there is a widely divergent pattern of use of mobile devices.

Stattaco stream-of-consciousness (SMS, Twitter) and rich media experiences (web applications, gaming).

Both are opportunities, neither are the web we knew, and the pace of change is exciting and disruptive for models built on scarcity and inertia.

Tweets or Twits?

Buzz is what people are paying attention to -
and the buzz in online marketing is social media.

If we take the leaders, like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, you get a cross-section of the concern - is this social or is it media? Mixing the two is an exercise in discretion, inclusion and public relations. Who says business and pleasure don't mix? Well, social media are the playground where you can work out the mix.

Social Media are largely unbound by convention - and that's not such a bad thing. Advertising with long hair - well, not advertising exactly, but promotion. If you ever wondered what the 'voice' of your brand is, now is the time to work it out. Test it out. You will probably get lots of feedback (or worse, none, a message in itself).

MySpace tends to the younger demographic, and lean towards music and lifestyle. Our client Tritickets is an obvious match.

Facebook is the more middle-of-the-road community- half the size of MySpace's, but very lively and online-saavy. This is core audience for which an event tickets blog would be an ideal diversion.

Twitter, the micro-blogging tool - now that's a way of harnessing the power of PR and making it personable. 'Tweets' done well are informative and convey your voice. Done less well, they can occur as annoying chatter that will get people hitting that dreaded 'unfollow' button.

User-generated content - i.e. the feedback from your social marketing - can form a crucial part of your strategy. Bring your business case. Be prepared to be responsive and adaptive. And welcome to permission marketing.

Landing pages: people aren't stupid.

I'm reviewing the results from a recent Marketing Experiments on-line 'diagnostic clinic' of some submitted test websites. They talk about a formula that encompasses visitor 'friction', 'anxiety', propositions ... all well and good.

What really stands out is the potential upside of paying attention to where you have people land on your website. And what they see when they arrive - 'Landing pages'

So there's the diligent research into keywords, phrases, categories and segments (right?), then the up-front come-on of the PPC ads, tailored to those categories ..... then .... pphhhht (that's the sound of those deflated expectations).

People aren't stupid. They expect the promise (ad) to deliver - with content that is not only relevant, but engaging to *them*. Not configuring landing pages to dovetail with the finely tuned visitor categories ... well, that's just silly. And wasteful of marketing dollars.

So really, how do you implement a landing page strategy?
What if you are using a CMS? Problem?
Who can best create / publish / test / the pages so they can be weeded out, just like an Adwords ad?

Stay tuned. We have some on-the-ground experience to pass on...

Search Engine Strategies 2008

I'm at the Toronto edition of SES 2008 and there is no question: there are a lot of companies in this space. Search marketing has become a multi-billion dollar business, almost overnight.

Why so popular? Well, it's hard to match the targeting, agility and return on your investment, as measured by business results.

Yet search marketing, as with most online marketing, can struggle to connect the dots when it comes to off-line actions. If you don't sell online, you have to be creative in terms of how you measure success - what actions exist (or can you put in place) to measure or indicate adoption, an engaged audience, and a message that 'sticks'?

There are a lot of promising secondary technologies on show; call forwarding, chat ... and many facilitative technologies, like profile matching. At Warren Huska Associates, we've been exposed to many of these, and deploy them when we determine they might serve a customer. Like anything else, we test (and negotiate for a free trial if one is not on offer!) - and measure results, so you can be assured that any given tool or technique is workin' for ya.
- - - - - - -
I still love the Yellow Pages tagline: "The Find Engine". Good for them.

Case Study - Segments

Distinguishing segments (sources, campaigns, keywords)

National Renovation Brand

We validated their conventional ad agency consumer segments - quite a nifty trick given the expense of the agency effort, and even added additional new categories to target revealed with online marketing research.

An additional benefit - demonstrated returns on investment (or not) of specific pre-existing external marketing campaigns, effectively auditing the performance of POS, print and media buys. Our client was able to lay out powerful decision support tools to measure strategic results.

The Drill-Down #1: What? / Why? (Traffic)

1) Website traffic:

Are you merely a showboat?

Just getting people to your website is easy – but it can be very costly, and spectacularly ineffective.

Any number of schemes can flood your site with viewers – but what are you paying for? Can you tell what is happening? Are there hidden penalties?

‘Relevant traffic’ means visitors are already interested in what you have to offer. Relevance is determined by proper research and filtering – creating a storehouse of market research you can use everywhere. We keep you relevant – and your name off blacklists and spamlists.

‘Just traffic’ is overrated and misunderstood.

The Drill-down #2: What? / Why? (Analysis)

2) Site Traffic Analysis:

Which way to downtown?

Measurement is critical – do you want only visitors from Bay Street? Do you want visitors who patronize financial publications, but only those who have a higher historical probability of interest in investments?

What traffic is relevant? Measure it. Test it. Modify it in real time.

The Drill-Down #3: What? / Why? (Conversions)

3) Conversion Analysis:

That was fun – um, did we make any money?

And this is the big secret. With traffic, with analysis, - it is all assumptions until you can measure against your business goals. Are you getting referrals, leads? Do these convert to sales? Or just increase your costs?
Only then can you work back to determine what sources of traffic are worth paying for: most relevant, most cost-effective, and able to generate continued growth.

Hold your online results to business standards.

Our Process: a step-by-step

You can take away 'Our Process' as homework: what do you know, or think you know, about your online marketplace?

A typical engagement starts with:

Business Research Interview
Your viewpoint on your markets:

• what makes you unique, distinctive,
• what are the major drivers in your industry,
• who do you feel are your main and indirect competition,
• what are known and assumed audience influencers,
• and what are the audience segments you are currently aware of

Business Web Marketplace Profile
Obtain all the information that will allow you to craft winning messages:

• Unique propositions,
• distinctive characteristics,
• industry influences and trends,
• who is really the competition,
• revealed audience factors and segments

Campaign
Put all this good stuff on the road and monitor, test, and refine:

• Campaign design - use existing website as baseline
• Campaign launch
• Campaign monitoring and adjustment
• Campaign review (1,2,3 week, 1 per month)
• Website campaign modifications - high-value indicated modifications to organization, features and content
• Website search profile improvement - fold in learning from campaigns, monitor and adjust to seasonality