Your Online Ads Are Creeping Out Your Customers | Business News Daily

May 14, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

If your business is using online advertisements that are targeted to consumers based on their Internet browsing history and personal information, you may want to reconsider that marketing tactic, new research finds.

According to a new study from Ithaca College, many online users find tailored ads to be “creepy,” and thus are less likely to buy the products and services being promoted.

“My experience was that consumers’ reactions to it were not good,” Lisa Barnard, the study’s author and an assistant professor of integrated marketing communications at Ithaca College, said in a statement. “They found it to be really creepy.”

Want Leads? Use YouTube Remarketing | Small Biz Trends

May 12, 2015May 11, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Remarketing on YouTube has become almost as commonplace as remarketing on the Web. YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine with over 1 billion active users each month. Perfecting your marketing strategy for such a large platform can have huge benefits for companies, and what many are realizing is that the remarketing aspect of YouTube has huge potential.

It’s ultimately a great way to get a viewer — whether they clicked on your video, subscribed to your channel, unsubscribed from your channel, viewed your in-stream ads, etc. — coming back to your channel as you upload new videos. In the end, this is a great way to generate more quality leads to help you drive your business growth forward.

What Is Generation Z, And What Does It Want? | Co.Exist

May 7, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ 1 Comment

Poor Generation Z. The oldest members of this cohort are barely 18 and they’re already getting a bad rap. Media and market research companies have labeled them “screen addicts” with the attention span of a gnat. And the pressure: They only have the weight of saving the world and fixing our past mistakes on their small shoulders.

Really?

While generational research is an inherently messy process—older generations study “the kids” to figure them out—much of the recent research is awash in normative preconceptions, biases, and stereotypes. Gen Z deserves a fairer shake, and the rest of us need a more nuanced conversation: This group makes up a quarter of the U.S. population and by 2020 will account for 40% of all consumers. Understanding them will be critical to companies wanting to succeed in the next decade and beyond.

My firm Altitude set out to dig below the surface to understand not only what Gen Z were doing but why—in their own words. We worked with over a dozen 16- to 18-year-olds with diverse backgrounds from across the country through a series of in-depth discussions, video diaries, and daily interactive exercises designed to provide a glimpse into their lives. Our goal was to view the world through their eyes.

What we learned was surprising.

4 Steps to Creating a Killer Marketing Plan Today | Small Biz Trends

April 20, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Marketing is one of the most critical components of your business’s success. You may have a fantastic product or service, but if customers are not aware it exists, there’s no point in continuing the line of work.

In order to make sure your product is exposed to your target customers, you need to develop a robust, killer marketing plan. Once you’ve spent time identifying the four Ps, start adding some elements and details to your strategy. Let’s look at the areas you should focus on when developing your marketing plan.

3 ways small businesses can use video marketing | Mashable

April 9, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

In an age of ubiquitous viral photos and videos, 2015 is the veritable heyday of self-promotion.

Generation Y has become so adept at personal marketing — managing their personal brands everywhere from Twitter and Facebook to Instagram and YouTube — that they have turned the field into a form of entertainment and even surpassed small businesses in their ability to create a personal brand.

Despite brands’ ability to connect directly with consumers on Twitter or other social media platforms, only 22% of companies see the value of creating a personality for their brand marketing.

So why are young people so much better than brands and businesses at connecting with people online? The answer is simple: Individuals have learned to live and breathe their personal brands, whereas many professional marketers still view growing a brand as, well, a job.

3 Ways To Market Yourself Without Sounding Like A Late-Night Infomercial | Forbes

March 9, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

My husband hates marketing. He thinks that it’s generally hype and BS, cynically calculated to manipulate you into acting, vs. an honest communication of value.

He’s not completely wrong. Most of us are pretty skeptical about the marketing messages we’re subjected to in the media, because so much marketing focuses on convincing us that product X is the answer to all our prayers (think Ginzu knives or Sham-wow), or on trying to terrify us into buying product Y in order to avoid some horrible consequence (home security systems and life insurance tend to rely on this approach).

But there’s another side to all of this. Many of my clients are well-intentioned, high-integrity branding and marketing folks who are honestly trying to figure out how to let people know, in a compelling way, that they have something great to offer. And my colleagues and I spend a good deal of time thinking and talking about how to communicate Proteus’ value in a way that’s both meaningful and true.

Make Your Advertising Dollars Work Harder: 5 Critical Steps | Forbes

February 16, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Whether you have a million-dollar marketing budget or are just launching your startup, making your advertising dollar work harder for you can make or break your growth. Following these five steps will help ensure that you get the results you need.

Identify Your Audience

You may have heard someone say, “She is such a good sales person. She could sell ice to an eskimo.” While that skill can come in handy, persuading prospects to go against their natural inclinations can result in higher acquisition costs for new customers. Instead, start with an understanding of who is currently buying your product or service. To do this, look at past sales data for demographic indicators: Where do they live? Are they primarily families? What is their gender?

You don’t want your potential audience to become so narrow that it is impossible to reach them, but these types of answers can give you a great jumping-off point for structuring your campaign.

5 Steps to Maintaining a Successful Company Blog | BusinessTips.com

January 27, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Today, when you start a business, you are also starting an online presence for your business. With that presence usually comes Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and often, a company blog. Though a blog arguably requires the most work out of the social networks your business partakes in, it also can reap the most rewards.

A blog truly is the voice of your business; it gives your otherwise faceless business a tone and personality unique only to itself. A blog is great for showcasing products, answering customer questions, and informing the masses on matters close to your particular industry, thereby labeling your CEO as an industry expert.

So how do you get started on the right foot and maintain a level of consistent success?

What First Graders Know About Getting Millions of Clicks on Your Site | Page19

January 23, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The Optimizely founders show you how to improve conversion on your website with a communications tactic that even elementary-schoolers know.

Observe them at play and you’ll find that the average eight-year-old has no compunction about telling others exactly what he wants. Kids don’t circumnavigate, nor are they strategic enough to see belaboring the point through fancy constructions as a benefit to anybody.

As we grow older, however, we learn to talk like grown ups, defaulting to subtler ways of directing others’ behavior. “Come here now!” becomes “Do you have a moment to help me with this?” and “Give me that cable!” becomes, “Might I borrow your iPhone charger for a moment?”

Gen X as a Target Customer – Part Two | Lydia Mehit

October 27, 2014January 22, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Continuing our discussion of Generation X as our target consumer, we have gathered a variety of facts about our subjects and now need to use those facts to answer the following questions.

Why do they buy?
How do they buy?
What do they buy?
Where do they buy?
Where do you find them?
How do you reach them?

Let’s answer the questions using the information we’ve learned about Generation X.

Why do they buy?

We know Generation X women are motivated by price when it comes to fashion. We also know they spend more than the national average on apparel for children under 16. We could conclude they are willing to spend more money on their children than themselves, at least in terms of fashionable clothing.

They also spend more then average on housing, furniture, major appliances, cars and trucks. We might conclude that when it involves their family they are willing to spend more money.

Continue reading “Gen X as a Target Customer – Part Two | Lydia Mehit” →