The high-lights and low-lights of 5 Foursquare campaigns - ClickZ

Value: [rating=4] Our commentary: Since launching 18 months ago, Foursquare has emerged as a popular marketing platform for small businesses such as restaurants, bars, wine shops, and retailers - in this article ClickZ interviewed 5 such marketers to see what had worked and what hadn't. It's both sobering and encouraging reading so make sure you check it out. Without much surprise the pertinent take-away: think first and commit to executing well - why? When you're reliant on people "checking in" to help increase your brand awareness it really boils down to "why would I?" and "don't make it my problem to remember!" Marketing implications: Foursquare campaigns are, well, campaigns. So you need to be committed and not expect magical results that last forever without you making it happen. It has to be a part of the bricks-and-mortar operations since otherwise (as one interviewee states) "...this is…

Forrester's research highlights that social behaviours are changing to content consumption over creation

Value: [rating=4] Our commentary: Forrester share more insights from their regular research into online social behaviour. They note that for years we"€™ve seen increases in more complex, interactive social behaviors such as 'Creators'"€”those who generate social content including YouTube videos and blog posts. But for the first time, we"€™re seeing a change in the growth trend towards 'Joiners'"€”those who maintain a social networking profile. If you haven't seen the Forrester Social Technographics Ladder we reference the latest version below and you can use the interactive consumer or business social profiling tool. It's essential technique to think through your engagement and content strategies for social media. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="573" caption="Social Technographics Ladder Source: Forrester Groundswell Blog"][/caption] Marketing implications: There's not a single answer to this - other than ensure you factor this…

Google Issue New SEO Starter Guide

Value: [rating=5] Our commentary: In the past some people would have likely killed to get some insights about Google, from Google. Over the years and especially in 2010 Google has started to engage with its market / audience making it easier for webmasters, online marketers and the likes to be kept up-to-date (blogs) find information easily and ask questions to "experts". Google have recently launched their updated starter guide to SEO covering everything from structuring your website through to promoting & analysing. Marketing implications: As with all starter guides there is a tendency if you already work in the industry to gloss over it or assume you already know it. Personally, I think this is always the wrong move but especially so when Google of all people issue such a guide. Whatever stage you are at with your SEO skills, whether its launching your very first website or…

Targeting competitive keyterms with links to specific pages - Distilled

Value: [rating=5] Our commentary: Creating links from related sites with specific anchor text to a relevant page on your website feels like one of the most obvious parts of SEO, but there are some great tips here to refine it. However, it's hard to resource, so due to the extra effort required it is overlooked. While this article focuses on why link building to targeted pages will help you on your competitive terms, do not forget the long tail. You will not need anywhere near the number of links to each of the tail term pages to secure top spots. Marketing implications: Having read the article have a think about the following best practices: Current back link analysis Is your anchor text specific or is it all my brand & "click here"? Are your links targeting specific pages on your website or do they mostly point to…

A whitepaper on good practice

Value: [rating=4] Our commentary : Best practice for Enewsletters and promotional emails are discussed a lot; See, for example, our posts on Enewsletter Best Practice. But how to make the most of emails accompany sales and service transactions are covered less often, eventhough these are important by volume and context - they probably get more attention from recipients than other types of emails (75% are opened according to the report)

This whitepaper by Sally Lowery of ESP Bronto does a fine job of summarising the issues to be reviewed. Marketing implications : It's important to remember the main aim of transactional emails is as a service email, but there other opportunities for brand-building and increasing awareness about available product categories. It's also worth noting that from a data protection point of view service emails are classed differently. Good…

Back to basics: Conversion optimisation. Where should we start?

So many pages to improve, so little time! With more site owners turning to tools like Google Analytics and the Google Website Optimiser to review and improve pages, the obvious question is...where do I start?

Thinking beyond your home page

Last week we asked which types of web pages you thought were the best to look at first to optimise performance. This update shows how you voted  and at the end, outlines a 6 step website optimisation process to assess which page types are most in need of improvement.

Alternative customer journeys

This diagram of different user journeys is aimed at helping site owners think through the options of where to best spend your time initially. Working on which pages will help you improve leads and sales the most for the least effort? Where are you most likely to find the quick wins? The poll results below…

Sharing a usability technique for reviewing content effectiveness

Value: [rating=4] Our commentary: This is a great illustration of a standard usability technique applied to measure the effectiveness of a Content Strategy. (Sorry about the low fidelity - I was limited by the resolution within the Slideshare deck - see Slide 28 below). This usability technique is often used as part of a focus group, but can be administered remotely by survey also. Marketing implications: As well as reviewing copy or content quality, this is good technique to use for different page template designs, competitor benchmarking - I've seen cScape use this for comparing a site to out-of-sector companies too. View on Slideshare: Measuring the effectiveness of content strategy…

2010 DMA National Client Email Marketing Report

Value: [rating=4] Our commentary : I recently wrote the conclusion for the 2010 Annual Client Email report for the UK Direct Marketing Association. Here I share what I took from the report and highlight some of the key findings through charts (click twice to read) which show the importance of email marketing and the most popular techniques. You can see that despite some of the mispronouncements that Email Marketing is Dead, Email is a key part of communications strategy for many organisations but given the competition in the inbox from rise of social media and prioritised inboxes it needs to evolve to continue to cut-through. Marketing implications : For me, the rate of innovation within digital marketing is one of its greatest appeals. Whether it"€™s the introduction of new technologies, marketing approaches or resulting changes in consumer behaviour, change is a constant challenge. The annual UK…

Know your audience!

Value: [rating=4] Our commentary: Marketing Minute's Drew McLellan of the blog offers some advice: "As you are crafting a new campaign that you hope will go viral" always ask yourself, is the juice worth the squeeze for my audience?". Drew analyzes this playful, interactive campaign from his local pizzeria Ciro's that plays on the Flat Stanley project (where players mail flat "guests" to each other and share pictures of their adventures). On the top of the pizzeria's delivery box includes a large cartoon image of its Ciro character tossing a pizza, and comes with instructions to cut out the character and take pictures of the character that you email in to Ciro's. The best photo's earn a wall of fame spot and a free pizza. Marketing implications: McLellan comments: "For a poor college student, this is probably just the thing to do on a Friday night. Especially after a couple beers. God only…

Lighten the load and increase the impact

Value: [rating=3] Our commentary: The CMI (Content Marketing Institute) have posted a case study that we can all likely take something from. The company, OpenView Venture Partners, have more than tripled visitor traffic to their blog by getting everyone in the business to post on the company blog at least once per week. The company has shared their seven steps to how they did it - and not surprisingly, step 1 was about getting over all of the eye-rolling from across the business. Marketing implications: There are some real gems from the post, assuming a corporate blog is something that's relevant to you. Lessons 5, 6 and 7 are more widely relevant and understood in regard to writing for personas, optimizing for search and of course marketing the blog content. The way that OpenView created the internal process and motivation is what is a little different. It's worth reading, beyond…