Kriti Adlakha

Marketing to Target Multi-Screen Consumers

May 14, 2013 Leave a comment

Most consumers today don’t limit themselves to a single device to check out deals, compare competing offers and get reviews from family and friends. They use a combination of phones, tablets, computers and TVs to consume and share digital content.

While each of these has a significant role in our consumption today, the important objective for marketers is to harness the power of how the devices are used together—in combination. Ninety percent of all of our media consumption, or 4.4 hours per day, is happening across all four (which doesn’t leave much room for paper-based books and publications or for radio). This not only has implications for how content is designed, but also for how companies like Google will continue to hedge their bets across all four screens.

This infographic by Google depicts the multi-screen media consumption pattern:

With simultaneous usage, around 77% of viewers watch TV with another device in hand. In many cases, people search on their devices, inspired by what they see on TV. This means cross-media campaigns can help you make the most of consumers’ simultaneous usage across screens.

As marketers, we need to understand both the multi-screening patterns to be able to plan our brand communication strategy. In a study conducted by Microsoft Advertising with Flamingo Research and Ipsos, consumers are combining devices in new ways to multi-task, amplify experiences, connect with others and get things done. The new research shows four common multi-screen pathways and consumer needs that drive each:

Content Grazing

This is one of the most common tendencies, with 68 percent of consumers having multiple responsibilities and using two or more screens simultaneously to access unrelated content. For example, I usually watch a show on TV while checking emails on my PC and sharing tweets with my mobile phone.

Investigative Spider-Webbing

As the second most common multi-screening pathway, 57 percent of consumers use this approach. It involves consumers investigating on multiple devices at the same time, either to gather more information or to explore. While watching movies on TV, many of us look up the other movies in which the lead actors have appeared on our tablets or PCs.

Quantum Journey

The research indicated that 46 percent of consumers fall in the quantum category. In this case, productivity and efficiency are paramount as consumers are trying to accomplish tasks. Each screen separately and additively takes them closer to achieving their goals. In other words, you snap a picture of a pair of shoes on your mobile that you see for sale while shopping and then look up reviews about the shoes on your PC at home before purchasing.

Social Spider-Webbing

This is the least common multi-screening pathway with only 39 percent consumers engaging this way. These consumers are extroverted. They are focused on sharing content and connecting with others across devices. One example could be that you beat your friend’s high score for a game on your Xbox and then use Skype or social media to brag about your win to friends.

How can we as marketers make use of this knowledge and integrate it in our marketing? Here are a few steps that could improve our customers’ experiences and brand engagement as they consume content on multiple screens:

Be available on multiple technology formats

This not only involves making your content available on multiple screens but also requires you to format the content for each platform.

- Provide content appropriate to the device. Think where your potential customers use the device and the tasks usually performed by them. People usually access a restaurant website through their mobile phones when they are in the vicinity, looking for directions and interested in specials of the day to make up their mind which restaurants to visit. Therefore, it is a good idea to have directions, specials menus and click-to-call numbers to reserve tables on the home page of your restaurant’s mobile website.

- Allow the entire experience to occur on multiple forms of technology, such as providing podcasts for webinars on your website.

- Develop targeted content to engage audience on different platforms, especially mobile. To illustrate, Canadian retailers offer specific mobile apps to help customers locate the nearest stores that support their favorite programs and check for in-store offers to boost their reward totals.

- Enable social sharing, commenting and reviews on all formats.

Encourage simultaneous media consumption

Share product information and offers in multiple formats and platforms. Adding social layers on top of core content helps you to deepen your relationship with your audience, enhancing the experience of engaging with your brand and extending the opportunity for further interaction.

A travel infographic published by Monetate indicates that 61% of those shopping for a hotel room refer to traveler-submitted reviews when booking their rooms. This shows that majority of hotel bookings are, in some way, influenced by hotels’ online presence and reputations. Therefore, when hotels focus on becoming known presences on social media through engaging content, offers and contests; it makes readers feel comfortable with their properties. This trust translates into increased association with the hotels.

These tips could help you keep audiences engaged while accessing your brand through different platforms:

- Engage users on social media platforms with social sharing.

- Provide (extra) entertainment with behind-the-scenes looks and/or extensions of content.

- Allow for other forms of interaction such as gaming and comments.

Go beyond using your primary media platform

Think of other platforms to offer related information about your products. The goal is to provide information to support your main content to give your audiences a reason to further engage with your brand. Can you extend the users’ experience across platforms? Think about making distinct variations of your content:

- Allow users to participate with comments, ratings and/or other forms of content such as photos and videos.

- Provide updates on new products and services on SlideShare.

- Feature related information, such as how-to advice and training manuals on specific tools.

Consumers are connected for nearly all their waking hours, so you need to be careful that your audience does not get tired of your content. Therefore, it becomes that much more important to make your content stand out by tailoring it for the platform and users’ needs at various points in time.

Do you target multi-screen users? If so, how does it improve your brand’s engagement with your customers? And how do you adapt your messaging to work with different channels of digital interaction?

Filed under online advertising, retail marketing, SMB marketing Tagged with multi-screen consumers, multi-screen users, multiscreen marketing, online marketing

Happy Mother’s Day

May 12, 2013 Leave a comment

Affinity Express wishes all moms a very Happy Mother’s Day!

Filed under advertising, online advertising Tagged with Happy Mother's Day, Mother

Proven Marketing Practices to Nurture Leads

May 7, 2013 Leave a comment

We all have our eye on the prize: increased sales and revenue. But before we can close deals, we have to acquire leads and follow up with them over time in an appropriate way to ensure that they convert. Lead nurturing is a critical stage in the sales funnel that keeps contacts interested and engaged. It is a powerful tool that helps to establish a preference among buyers for your solutions over the competitors’, while helping you assess time-frames for decision making.

Lead nurturing is about having consistent and meaningful dialogs with prospects at all stages of the sales cycle. It means building trusted relationships with the right people. It is not salespeople calling every few weeks to find out if prospects are “ready to buy yet.”

The four main goals of a lead nurturing process are:

Seek permission to connect with prospects:

This is one of the most important goals of lead nurturing, as without it, the achievement of any other goals is impossible.

Keep the discussions informative and interesting:

If your potential customers lose interest in your interactions or do not see any value, they will disconnect, start ignoring your messages or unsubscribe from your email campaigns.

Plan content by establishing important ideas:

Lead nurturing is gradual, as you need to attract the attention of your audiences through regular interaction. Your potential buyers may not enter a decision-making process for a long time. Therefore, the interim needs to be filled with content that educates them about problems and solutions. Marketers, who are able to do this well can better position their companies so potential customers become actual buyers.
Watch for signs of progress through the buying cycle:

As you nurture potential buyers, track their behavior to understand if they are ready to engage with sales. There are 2 indicators that you can track for lead scoring:

Fit score is based on attributes that tell you how well the prospect compares against your ideal buyer profile – things like job title or role, industry, and company size. In other words, how attractive is this potential lead to me.

Interest score is based on the prospect’s engagement with your campaigns and content. This can include things like reading the blog, attending webinars, downloading papers, and even social behaviors such as sharing your content on their networks. Interest score tells you how attractive you are to the potential customer.

To successfully nurture leads, your marketing programs need to deliver content that is of sufficient value and interest to prospects so you earn permission to stay in contact. However, any organizations use “long-term nurturing” as a label for leads that do not respond to their product/service offers. So the contacts are sent random emails every once in a while. But this approach does not have any pre-set goals, messaging strategy or action parameters to recognize when any of these dormant leads become “sales-ready” and require action.
IBM recognizes one of the toughest business challenges is to generate highly-qualified, sales-ready leads. Most marketers try to do so using a mix of disconnected technologies and manual processes. The result is ineffective marketing, inadequate sales coordination, uninterested prospects and missed revenue. The IBM lead management solution offers capabilities for generating leads and converting them into loyal customers.
Some of the steps that the IBM approach uses to improve the lead management process are:

1. Generate new leads by executing targeted, personalized and integrated campaigns to improve close rates and increase revenue

2. Deliver personalized, relevant marketing messages across all touch points

3. Engage customers and prospects with timely email and mobile messages

4. Give marketing users the power of predictive analytics in reports with clearly defined metrics like lead generation ROI and responses

5. Determine the optimal contact strategy over time for customers

Hubspot has lead nurturing practices such as drip email, marketing automation, conversational marketing, etc. Here is there advice for lead nurturing:

1. Build sufficient inbound lead volumes: Getting a steady stream of inbound leads to nurture is the hardest part of the equation. This requires constant cleansing and updating of data lists. Industry research shows that the average marketing database expires at the rate of 25 percent per year as people switch jobs, change email addresses, unsubscribe, etc. Secondly, you need to keep tabs on all those who have expressed an interest in your content by signing up for your newsletter and blog updates or following you on Twitter, LinkedIn or other social media. These aren’t necessarily leads, but they’re at least connected to you and this could act as a trigger for your nurturing campaign.

2. Create useful, valuable, “lovable” content: Buyers now come to the table much more informed than before. If you really want efforts to show results, you need to shift away from self-centered marketing and toward more informative, useful content that people actually want to see in their inbox. This might take longer and require more creative skills, but the results are well worth the effort.

3. Segment, segment, segment: A more granular segmentation of your database and campaigns can generate better returns. At Hubspot, leads are divided according to two characteristics: persona and lifecycle stage. When you categorize leads in this way, it becomes easier to employ a strategy that with content, language and other nuances that are most likely to resonate with the contacts.
Eloqua, a marketing automation Software as a Service (SaaS) company, shares six different types of lead nurturing programs based on their marketing research:

Welcome campaign: Welcomes the new subscribers by introducing the brand, reinforcing subscription benefits and spelling out the next steps in the transactions with customers.
Education campaign: Engages prospects to get more detail for better profiling and defines the value proposition to get them ready to talk to the sales team.
Why us campaign: Establishes the brand and differentiates it from competitors by providing customer experiences, testimonials and case studies.
Accelerate campaign: Removes any roadblocks from the decision-making process and provides tools to speed up the buying process.
New customer on-boarding campaign: Welcomes new customers, thanks them and identifies next steps.
Customer retention/loyalty campaign: Seeks customer feedback to further develop relationships and retain them; features tips/ tricks to get the most out of the products.

The trick is to find a balance between process automation and meaningful and personalized communication with prospects. Only when you achieve excellence in both aspects, can you hope to create improved relationships with qualified potential customers and go a long way in creating an ever expanding database of prospective buyers.

As we continue to focus on trends in lead nurturing, tell us which tools and tactics have helped you engage and convert leads for your business.

Filed under advertising, SMB marketing Tagged with lead management, marketing leads, nurture leads, nurturing leads, sales leads

Happy Cinco de Mayo

May 5, 2013 Leave a comment

Affinity Express wishes everyone a very happy Cinco de Mayo.

Filed under Uncategorized Tagged with cinco de mayo

What Makes Ads Successful?

April 29, 2013 4 Comments

When designing advertising campaigns, we often look for hooks that will attract our target audiences and drive home our messages. But today, consumers are inundated with the constant noise of commercial messages. As a result, they start filtering information by ignoring anything ordinary or unremarkable. With that in mind, how do you design your messages to get noticed? Our efforts to reach audiences are wasted unless our ads break through the clutter. Here are some important tips that will make a difference in the performance of your ads.

Simple messages:

Save the speeches for industry events, as potential customers have short attention spans. The first step in your ad designs is to stick to clear, concise headlines—the shorter, the better! Here are some ads that use brief and crisp headlines to get immediate attention and deliver the messages effectively.

Choose the right ad styles:

The right styles can prevent your ads from being skipped by your potential consumers. One of the most successful design techniques is contrast. This occurs when two elements in a design are different. Our brains are trained to categorize everything. That’s why we notice when “one of these things is not like the others.” For example, it could be different colors for the text and the background color. Or it could be a difference in font styles, between a large graphic and a small graphic or between a rough against a smooth texture. The main idea behind this approach is that our eye like contrast.

iPod ads use contrast effectively to focus the viewers’ attention on the music player. The iPod and earphones appear in white and stand out clearly against the silhouettes and colored backgrounds.

Offer incentives:

The next step in developing great ads is to offer incentives. Admit it, we all love and have fallen for them. A study by KN Dimestore and SocialVibe notes that incentivized advertising works to drive active attention to brand messages and significantly improved brand perception and purchase intent. According to the study, more than 90 percent of people pay attention to brand messages when interacting with incentivized engagements and brand perceptions rise to an average of 38 percent after completing engagements.

For example, regular football nights could become even better with pitchers of beer and snacks as offered in this ad:

A survey conducted by Luth Research confirmed that this tactic works in mobile ad formats as well. As a result, hitting consumers with offers that cater to their interests and for which they’ve opted in are far more effective than trying to find magical formulas for targeting them with unsolicited messages at the right place and time.

This Expedia ad presents an enticing price offer for travelers planning a trip to New York:

Use images as weapons:

Powerful images can add quite a punch to your ads by making them come alive. The right images create immediate impressions and generate connections to your company. Design with the aim of telling your story with images that reduce the need to explain in words. Images should work together with the headlines to provide clear understanding to prospective buyers about the kind of deal they are getting.

The image in this ad illustrates the extreme comfort experienced by those who wear Nike Air Socks such that they forget they are wearing any shoes at all.

AT&T has done a series of advertisements using interesting images of painted human hands to promote their brand in different countries.

Build curiosity:

Most of our actions are governed by the urge to learn more. When your ads provoke questions, they definitely engage the brain receptors of readers who want to know more. The tactic brings novelty into play as well. And, frankly, the more playful energy ads have, the more connection and involvement they can generate.

This ad by The Economist captures the essence of staying young by being curious:

Issue clear calls-to-action:

All the fun, action and drama would be a waste if your ads do not state clear calls to action for readers. If you are not showing a channel for the interested audience to reach you, then what is the point of interacting? Even if they are brand ads, never forget to provide your contact details or your website address. Be clear on your goals and make it obvious for readers how to reap maximum results from your ad campaigns.

This outdoor ad by Denver Water delivers the message with a simple design.

Here is another ad which playfully adds a sense of urgency among the readers.

Think big:

When you take risks, you are going to come closer to fresh perspectives or breakthrough ideas. You can always scale back a really big idea but it’s next to impossible to scale up a small idea. Many marketers who think of crazy concepts end up with some of the greatest ads!

Here is a clever way to find out how Hoover’s vacuum cleaners really work.

The Danish AIDS charity chose this campaign to use an air bubble to make society think about the prejudice toward people affected with AIDS and social isolation being one of the worst effects of this disease.

Megastar Media emphasized how a smaller screen can spoil your movie experience:

Do you think curiosity is the first step towards building interest and encouraging interaction that will finally result in sales? How do you design your campaigns to draw maximum attention and engagement? We’d love to see some of your favorite ads and designs.

Filed under advertising, retail marketing Tagged with advertising, designing ads, ad campaigns, ad designs

Tips to Market Your Events Online

April 23, 2013 5 Comments

Events and conferences are one of the best marketing and networking tools for companies operating in the B2B segment because they can help companies find potential new customers and build relationships with existing ones. With online marketing, we can share information more quickly and have deeper conversations with customers. As a result, we get increased awareness and, ultimately, more sales inquiries before, during and after the events.

Here are seven steps to promote your events and transform them into “mega events!”

1. Create listings on the events page of your website:

Dedicated events pages help you share information about all upcoming events and highlights of the previous ones with your website visitors. Key things to share on this page include event overviews, brief bios of speakers/attendees, and locations and registration details. On the Boeing company website, the page has an added feature that lets you add an event to your calendar with the click of a button and set a reminder.

2. Use calls-to-action on all high traffic pages of your website:

When planning events, it is important to use every channel of communication possible to promote them. Share the details on all pages that get high numbers of visits to direct traffic to your events pages. For example, place banners promoting events on the home page, products/ services pages, contact us page and more. If you have a blog, it’s a good idea to use a promotional banner on the home page. If you have developed an event microsite, including links on your website pages makes it easier for visitors to get more details and register.

3. Publicize the event with listings:

There are many listing websites that can promote your event instantly to a huge network online. While press releases are still used by marketers, dedicated event websites are becoming more prominent on Google. With some you can submit your event information and it will be listed on the site, as well as anywhere else that syndicates content from these sites. The best example of this type of website is Zvents.

Yelp is a review community with a section that lists local events on community calendars. Members can register to attend and submit reviews after events take place. It works well for companies in the B2C space.

4. Send event-related emails to your database:

There are three steps to this activity.

Design:

develop emails to provide glimpses of upcoming events, making them look interesting while communicating their tone and character.

Content:

Write headlines to pique curiosity. Share brief introductions about the speakers along with the agendas and important take-aways. Include the event location and hotel details. It is also a good idea to share pictures from past events, testimonials, discounts for early registrations and contact details.

Custom mailing list:

Carefully build the mailing list to target those who are most likely to attend and benefit from this event.

5. Promote the event in your company blog:

Your blog could be the best place to talk about events because you can cover aspects that don’t work in press releases and other advertising formats. For example, discuss the inspiration for events and include experiences of past attendees. Interview excerpts make the event much more appealing in the eyes of first-timers. Think about a series of posts in which you have an introductory article followed by blog posts by some of the speakers. Cover the location and discuss attractions that can be enjoyed in the city. If you have organized some additional activities at the event or conference hotel like golf, live entertainment or gala dinners, they could also be covered in a post.

6. Use social media to provide updates:

Tweet and create Facebook updates about events. Upload collages of pictures from the previous events on your Facebook page to show the scale, turnout and social gatherings. Tweets could begin a month prior to events and include info about the event, the agenda, testimonials from attendees of past events and notice of early bird discounts. LinkedIn Company Pages and LinkedIn Groups are great vehicles to contact industry associates and peers who may be interested in attending, since networking is high on the agenda of active users. Regular social media updates will help your network build business cases for attending the events. Don’t forget to add links to registration pages.

7. Use mobile apps from planning to follow-up stage:

Attendees now expect instant access to important event information—in the palm of their hands. That’s why marketers are developing mobile apps to share event updates with audiences while they are on the move. The apps have become an essential part of planning and networking for events and can help you do the following:

Build relationships and interact with attendees through real-time messaging
Help attendees plan their schedules, navigate the events, and easily find exhibitors/break-out sessions
Enable attendees to contact product managers to discuss specific queries
Capture leads and grow partnerships

How do you plan and promote your events? How has this changed to incorporate online tactics and social media? How do you think the expectations of potential attendees have changed in the past five years or so?

Filed under advertising, online advertising, SMB marketing, social media Tagged with corporate events, event marketing, events, marketing for events, online marketing

Earth Day 2013

April 19, 2013 1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized Tagged with earth day, earth day 2013, world earth day

Businesses Betting Big on Engagement through Gaming

April 16, 2013 Leave a comment

As the gaming industry continues to grow and diversify, there is a great opportunity for businesses to advance their branding in new and innovative ways.

According to some recent statistics researched by Software Entertainment Association:

The average gamer is 30 years old and has been playing for 12 years. Sixty-eight percent of gamers are 18 years of age or older.
Forty-seven percent of all players are women and women over 18 years of age are one of the industry’s fastest growing demographics.
As the video game playing population expands and diversifies, in-game advertisements and advergames are increasing as well. Massive, Inc., a creator of dynamic video game advertisements, estimates the in-game advertising market could grow to $1 billion globally by 2014.

A report by Newzoo indicates that the total number of Americans that play games on their smartphones, tablets or iPod Touches has now surpassed the 100 million mark, a year-over-year increase of 35 percent. In Europe, there has been a growth of 15 percent, for a total of 70 million gamers across seven key territories. Men slightly outnumber women in the U.S. (52 percent), as well as in key European countries (55 percent). Furthermore, the share of in-game spending continues to rise to 90 percent in the U.S. and 79 percent in Europe.

As marketing costs increase, it is becoming ever more important to be judicious about the types of audiences you attract and how you retain them. The more they interact with games, the more opportunities there are for in-game advertising or other engagement methods. Here are some ways companies are using gaming to “click” with their audiences.

Advertising in real-time with games.

From dedicated consoles to mobile devices and browsers, games are a multi-platform stage for brands to get in front of consumers. According to a research done by Forrester,almost 40% of Europeans ages 45 to 54 who are online are playing PC games at least weekly. And across mobile devices, more than 50% of U.S. adults ages 18 to 44 who are online, engage in game playing. Advertisers are tapping into this segment by placing their ads alongside browser-based games to integrate in-game advertising on consoles. Many of today’s in-game ad campaigns use dynamic advertising which, unlike static advertising, can be altered remotely by advertising agencies. Firms can tailor these ads to geographical locations or times of day, allowing more flexibility for time-sensitive campaigns, such as movie or product launches. Because dynamic ads do not have to be hard-coded into the games by programmers, advertisers no longer need to formulate and insert their messages months in advance.

Dynamic advertising also allows companies to track and receive information from players’ consoles about the performance of advertisements. Advertisers can record data, such as time spent looking at the ads, the most-viewed ads and the viewing angles, to determine the most successful ads and provide valuable insights for future campaigns.

Attracting potential customers through “advergaming”.

The term “advergaming” refers to organizations that develop video games to promote products or services. Companies are providing interactive games on their websites in the hope that potential customers will be drawn to the games and spend more time on the sites or simply become more product-aware. In recent years, advergames have proliferated, often becoming the most visited areas of websites and helping to reinforce brands in the minds of potential customers. Users registering to be eligible for prizes help marketers by sharing valuable personal details for their databases. Gamers may also invite their friends to participate, which further promotes brands through word of mouth. Some examples of early adopters of this technique are Taco Bell, Reebok, Coca Cola and Chex Quest.

Using games to motivate customers.

As the generation that grew up with video games enters and assumes leadership positions in the work place, computer and video games increasingly play a role in business operations. Major companies from automobile manufacturers to beverage producers use video games to find and train employees and increase sales among their younger, tech-savvy customers. A gaming environment rewards people for their interest and engagement. Chances to play games and win prizes are much stronger calls to action than simple invitations to click through to websites because the incentives are greater. According to a Gameasure/Interpret study, consumers actively engaged in contests and games online are 22 percent more likely than the general population to seek information about new products and 36 percent more likely to switch brands.

Improving employee satisfaction and productivity.

Combining work and play might sound counterintuitive, but companies that do so have noticed measurable results. Samsung, for instance, mixed frivolity with serious business initiatives when it created the social loyalty program Samsung Nation through the behavior platform Badgeville. The purpose? To grow its user-generated content and traffic on its global website. Fueling competition, the game lets users level up, unlock badges and gain subsequent rewards and recognition. Samsung, in return, saw 66 percent more users submitting 447 percent more product answers on its global website.

Companies could use rewards and competition commonly found in the gaming world to make tasks such as management training, data entry and brainstorming seem less like work. You might let your team members receive points or badges for completing jobs or meeting deadlines for assignments. You could also use leaderboards to let team players view each other’s scores, to encourage friendly competition and to motivate performance.

Providing excellent learning environments.

In addition to being great ways to keep students engaged, researchers have found that video games have real potential as next-generation learning tools. Games use new technologies to incorporate principles crucial to human cognitive learning. As Dr. Jeffrey Taekman, the director of Duke University’s Human Simulation and Patient Safety Center noted, “serious games and virtual environments are the future of education.” Many companies have realized this potential and are using it to continuously challenge and develop their employees. Global consulting firm Deloitte employs digital games for its Deloitte Leadership Academy, an executive education program it uses to train clients and its own consultants. Users receive virtual badges after completing training courses and “unlock” more complex training courses when basic levels are completed.

An IBM report entitled “Virtual Worlds, Real Leaders” comments “Leadership happens quickly and easily in online games, often by otherwise reserved players, who surprise even themselves with their capabilities.” Online games such as World of Warcraft can involve an overriding goal for a team of players. For example, there are a series of raids or missions that make up the journey, each of which requires leadership of player groups of varying sizes. This gives many players the opportunity to “try on” leadership roles. The study asserts that there is no reason to think that the same cannot be done in corporate settings of various sizes, missions and markets.

Given universal broadband communications and ever-faster computers and mobile devices, online gaming could revolutionize the business environment.

Have you used games to make your communication more fun or your marketing more engaging? How do you plan to excite your customers and colleagues by gamifying your interaction?

Filed under online advertising, retail marketing, SMB marketing Tagged with gaming, online advertising, online marketing

2013: The Year of Digital Brands

April 2, 2013 Leave a comment

Sometimes I ask myself if “Digital” is a type of media or is it a congruence of all media. In the past, we would paint on canvases, shoot and store photos on film and listen to music on records. Now “digital” brings all these capabilities together and merges them to appeal to all senses. It allows you to see videos, read case studies and watch product demos, listen to songs, informative webinars and podcasts as well as touch to explore, interact and share your views across the globe. And as far as the customers are concerned, when they want something, they want it personalized, and they want it right away. Only the online environment can meet these kinds of demands.

Many of us realized the importance and started exploring the full potential of digital. While Standard Media Index (SMI) recorded a rise of 4% in U.S. ad spending during the first two months of 2013 versus the same period in 2012, digital spending (including online display, video, search, social, mobile, email, etc.), accounts for the second-biggest share of media spending, representing more than a fifth (21.7%) of the buys made by the major agencies. As a category, digital media buys expanded 16% during the first two months, led by a 12% increase in premium display, a 6% gain in search and a 23% surge on ad networks.

Marketers are increasingly investing a greater chunk of their marketing budget in digital because it includes better metrics, targeted outreach and the ability to connect with consumers in their comfort zone. But another factor is also working in digital’s favor: savings.

As overall marketing budgets increase by an average of 6%, as researched by Gartner, much of the increase in digital spending will come from marketers reinvesting cost savings. When asked how they were funding their digital marketing programs, 41% answered that they were saving money by replacing traditional tactics with digital tactics and that this savings was funding further investment. Another 28% responded that they decreased traditional marketing budgets to free up funds for digital.

However, an even more intriguing trend is the role brands are playing online by investing in building and nurturing their digital identities to have a much wider reach in the virtual world than the physical world. Here are some important steps being taken:

Creating and sharing great content: Companies are building digital content that becomes the driver of audience engagement and eventually revenue opportunities. Successful online marketers begin by understanding what can capture their target customers’ attention and then weaving in good stories and content that viewers will want to share. Red Bull is one of the brands that used this tactic successfully with their “death defying jump.”

Great content also has a spin-off effect. Successful content marketing experts use COPE: Create Once, Publish Everywhere. While this suggests content should be pushed out on multiple platforms, it also means that content which might not be valuable to one audience in its current form, such as a press release about a senior member joining a company, can be spun into an interesting blog post, which shares the person’s vision, experiences and take on industry trends that many readers may find informative.

Using social media to extend brand reach: Another big step for brands is going all out and embracing social media to extend their reach. This is a wonderful vehicle that helps in spreading news, creating awareness and providing an environment for meaningful two-way dialogues with target audiences.

A good example was this year’s London Fashion Week, which used digital technology and social media to reach out to the growing segment of shoppers. More than 21 shows at the fashion event were broadcast live on the LFW YouTube channel, of which 60% were live-streamed to the LFW website. Brands, publications and designers used social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to share their experiences of fashion week. Participants on Pinterest created a photographic diary of brands and fashion magazines, designers and celebrities; giving the equivalent of “VIP” access to the shows. Twitter trends enabled fashionistas to not only get the opinions of fashion leaders and celebrities, but to also give their own feedback—that is what social media is all about.

Using visuals for more engaging stories: In their digital journey, brands are slowly but surely evolving to build visual montages that feature everything from their daily accomplishments to major victories. They are using image-driven networks such as Pinterest and Instagram and making compelling visual updates to customer-centric platforms such as Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn. It is a great opportunity for brands to go beyond traditional “push” marketing tactics and to create videos that address multiple audiences and a variety of consumer needs. A great example is Best Buy that uses its YouTube channel cleverly by using the logo and corporate color palette perfectly for branding.

Visitors are greeted with six videos to choose from and can easily scroll through a variety of video content with a blue slider beneath the featured videos. The channel also shares links to the Best Buy website and social media profiles and highlights their Daily Deals.

It is no wonder why marketers are scrambling to get their brands on a media that offers a vast array of sensory experiences. As business leaders want each dollar spent on marketing to be linked back to sales figures, the need for accountability has accelerated the speed of going digital as this medium allows every activity to be measured, in real time, down to a single click.

So, have you gone ahead with marketing and positioning your organization on digital platforms? How have these efforts affected your brand reach? Share the ups and downs of your digital journey with us.

Filed under interactive, online advertising, SMB marketing, social media Tagged with digital, digital marketing, internet marketing, online marketing, retail marketing, SMB marketing

Advertising in Fashion

March 26, 2013 Leave a comment

Successful ads for fashion and accessories avoid visual clutter. They convey a strong brand message by using powerful images and minimal but impactful content that work together to grab the attention of the target audience.

Ads targeting women—such as those for garments, accessories or jewelry—tend to feature soft feminine background colors and flowery fonts. On the other hand, ads that are designed for professional men typically have no-nonsense creative with minimal copy and masculine colors that suggest power and control. Another category of fashion ads targets youth. They come in a range of colors with playful fonts and models in action to convey energy.

Here are some designs created by our team that reflect the latest trends in fashion advertising:

The ad here uses a pale background with models showing two different outfits. As the ad targets women, we see flowery fonts. Content is kept to a minimum to let the outfits get most of the attention. The design uses space to create a balance between the two visuals and inspire women to consider the trendy and casual outfits.

The ad here for Paul Puncher makes a statement with a powerful visual. It does not use any words to distract the audience and lets the clothing, the body language of the model and the facial expression do the talking: stylish, high-quality, business attire that makes the buyer look successful. Read more of this post

Filed under advertising, print advertising, retail marketing Tagged with ads on fashion, fashion ads, fashion advertisements, online advertising, print advertising

Mobile Marketing Adoption by SMBs

March 19, 2013 1 Comment

As the world around us goes mobile, businesses face a new challenge of adopting this channel to reach and interact with their target audience. While SMBs have a hard time grasping the hows and whys with their limited means and resources, many believe this could be a blessing in disguise for them.

xAd and Telmetrics recently released a Mobile Path-To-Purchase study, conducted by Nielsen, which explored the growing importance of local mobile search. The study determined the top 3 reasons that consumers have for engaging with local mobile ads:

Locally relevant: the ad is for a business that is nearby and easy to access
Local offers coupons/promotions: presented with multiple business options, the ad presents a deal that the consumer can’t get with the others
Features a known brand: like any type of advertising, consumers are often drawn to businesses they know and trust

According to a report from Borrell Associates, “2013 Local Advertising Outlook: Get Ready for the Rebound,”U.S. local digital advertising will reach $24.5 billion in 2013, to take a 25% share of total local ad budgets.

Of those who have used mobile advertising, a solid 83% said they were at least somewhat likely to use it again in 2013.

Broken out from online spending, 25% of SMBs planned to increase mobile budgets this year.

A continuous wave of new statistics are illustrating that consumers are increasingly turning to their mobile devices for local information. This was also confirmed by Google in one of its announcements that as much as 50 percent of mobile search via its platforms is for local information.

Mobile is where today’s consumers already are, but local businesses are not. So, what do the local businesses need to do to integrate mobile in their marketing communication strategies? I took inputs from my colleague Adam Burnham, vice president of interactive services, to understand the path forward for mobile.

Which mobile ad features produce the best responses for advertisers today?

Just like most advertising, clean and simple campaigns with clear calls to action will produce the best results. And mobile allows great levels of targeting to get messages to the right audiences.

Which mobile marketing tactics have the highest adoption rates among the advertisers?

There are three products within the mobile platform where I see the best tactical adoption and execution. Those are mobile banner display, mobile banner interstitials and mobile sites. All three work well together and complement a diverse media buy.

Marketers have been targeting local buyers for years with publishing news about deals and store openings and expansions in local newspapers. The next step is mobile banner advertising that provides targeted reach and interactive messages tailored to suit individual tastes and preferences. Just make sure to design ads that clearly state the offers, give clear directions for interested buyers and have decent analytics installed to analyze campaign reports to help you get instant feedback and act quickly.

Which business sectors are using mobile marketing effectively? Which types of businesses can benefit the most from mobile marketing?

This is what is so great with mobile. Many think you need to be in a specific business or serve a certain type of customer for mobile advertising to be effective. The reality is that it will work for pretty much anyone. You should absolutely make sure you have a mobile-optimized site where you are driving traffic through mobile search and mobile display options. The mobile platform is growing faster than anything we’ve seen before, which means more people will access it.

How does mobile marketing help publishers target the local SMB advertisers?

Local publishers have a leg up just as they do on the web, as they are delivering a content-rich experience for their audiences. People are already visiting their mobile sites to access the content they want, when they want it. That gives them immediate leverage and opportunity to serve the local marketplace through display advertising options. They can then build from there to offer additional mobile products including landing pages, mobile sites and search.

How can publishers integrate mobile into their multimedia services offering?

Leveraging the mobile platform as part of complete offerings is very necessary. Publishers have to look beyond strictly web-based sales opportunities. And they have to accept that their audiences will be migrating to mobile devices. You can’t fight that. Publishers need to embrace it and build the right offerings to serve the needs of their advertisers. Mobile aligns very well with print, web and social.

Though many studies show people on the go engage with mobile ads and convert into customers at high rates, many local business owners still have skepticism about mobile as the latest “next big thing.” So I tried to understand from our technical expert, Ray Sheerer, about some key tips that SMBs could use before going live with mobile marketing.

What should an advertiser keep in mind before starting to use mobile advertising?

Before the mobile campaign begins, geographic location is usually considered the most important piece of targeting criteria for a small- to medium-sized business. Next, the advertiser needs to choose an ad serving platform either through a publisher or on their own. The ad serving platform delivers these mobile ads to mobile websites, microsites and apps that are part of the ad network. The ad networks extend the reach of the mobile ads and allow the SMB to specially geo-target the ad delivery. The advertiser should also request reports that display daily metrics about impressions, clicks and conversion rates. These reports are essential to measure the performance of the mobile advertising.

Does the call-to-action of a mobile ad need to be different from an online ad?

The call to action of a mobile ad needs to be more clear and concise due to the smaller ad size and reduced space for text and graphics. More important than the mobile ad is the mobile landing page that corresponds with the overall campaign promotion/message. A clear call to action with a click-to-call or a simple lead generation form could highly increase the ad ROI.

Mobile ads can use some innovative ideas to improve engagement. One example is to run click-to-call campaign that initiates the mobile phone’s call function after the user clicks on the banner ad. There is also a click-to-SMS functionality that can be combined with a number of techniques, including the ability to SMS back to the user a mobile web link. These actions reduce the time to reach the seller and share your query. Click-to-download is another mobile-specific choice that is popular for app download campaigns. This call to action takes the user directly to the app store where they can download the advertised app onto their mobile device. Another example of a mobile call to action would be the use of QR codes.

Which mobile features are being utilized by marketers most effectively today?

SMS opt-in is becoming one of the most effective mobile marketing tools. The messages are delivered to the consumer because they requested them and are typically not viewed as being annoying and unsolicited. QR codes are also being utilized to drive traffic to mobile websites and mobile landing pages. The consumer scans the QR code and is automatically directed to a URL without having to type. The use of call to action buttons for calling, SMS, mapping and emailing is also effective because these are one touch functions to allow the consumer to contact or find the advertiser.

As the main purpose of adopting any technology is to better achieve your organization goals, mobile fulfills those criteria by reaching out to your customers in their comfort zone and initiating interactions that have high chances of resulting into business transactions.

How do you foresee integrating your advertising efforts with mobile technology?

Filed under interactive, mobile marketing, SMB marketing Tagged with business advertisers, design mobile ads, mobile ads, mobile advertise, mobile advertisements, mobile advertising, mobile coupons, mobile marketing, Mobile Marketing Adoption, mobile search

Technologies and Trends to Rock the Future of Mobile Marketing

March 12, 2013 4 Comments

Is your mobile phone becoming your new email inbox? Are the lines between between static e-mails, real-time tweets and instant brand messages going to blur further in future? Kevin McNulty, President and CEO of NetWeave Social Networking says, “There’s no doubt that the proliferation of smartphones and tablets will continue in the future, making the mobile experience more important. For some, their mobile device has largely replaced their laptop or desktop for browsing experiences. If you as a business are not addressing this trend, you risk being left behind completely as web marketing goes mobile.”

How will this impact the retail scene? Deloitte predicts that within three years “mobile influence” will be directly determining 19%, or $689 billion, of U.S. retail sales. So we decided to take a closer look to see which technologies will prove to be game-changers in the near future and how will they impact small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) trying to engage their target customers.

Location-based mobile advertising (LBA): This integrates with location-based services and the technology pinpoints consumers’ whereabouts to provide location-specific advertisements on their mobile devices. LBA is the most personal and direct marketing channel today that allows marketers to reach a specific target audience by creating campaigns aimed at age, gender, income and lifestyle segments. Celtra’s Q3 2012 Rich Media Monitor Report last December found that, in Q3, the average rich media mobile ad engagement rate was 13.7 percent, nearly a one percent increase over Q2. Location-based features have overtaken branding and presentation with an 18.8 percent engagement rate. Matevz Klanjsek, co-promoter and Chief Product Officer of Celtra said, “Gaming, location-based and social media features in the mobile ads engage consumers in a meaningful way, providing an essential and often missing link between typically overcrowded upper and lower funnels.” Mobile location data reveals the behavioral insights of audiences based on actual consumer activity. As a result, store owners or restaurateurs can find out where users shop and eat by using both real-time and historical data. They can use this information to design and share their promotional offers. Such targeted activity translates into real customer results.
Near Field Communication: Another trending mobile technology is known as Near Field Communication (NFC) and is a form of contact-less communication between devices like smartphones or tablets, which allows users to wave their smartphones over NFC compatible devices to send information without needing to touch devices together or go through multiple steps setting up connections. Mobile users can use this technology to integrate credit cards, subway tickets and paper coupons all into one device so they can board trains, pay for groceries, redeem coupons or store loyalty points. They can even exchange contact information with the wave of their smartphones. It helps retailers by tying offline shopping with the online experience and drives people who tap on products in their stores to additional collateral on their websites. This increases loyalty and conversion, as faster transaction times mean less waiting in line and happier customers.
Mobile Visual Search: Mobile phones have evolved into powerful image and video processing devices equipped with high-resolution cameras, color displays and hardware-accelerated graphics. Read more of this post

Filed under interactive, retail marketing, SMB marketing Tagged with Future Marketing technology, Location based mobile advertising, mobile advertising, mobile commerce, mobile coupons, Mobile Marketing Technologies, Mobile Ticketing, mobile tickets, Mobile Visual Search, Near Field Communication, Trends Mobile Marketing

Advertising with a Spring Theme

March 5, 2013 Leave a comment

After a long, drab spell of winter, we welcome spring with excitement and a craving for colors. Rainbows overtake shop windows, grocery stores, boutiques and other retail locations. And it is no surprise that the ads for the season are just as vibrant, with a wide variety of advertisers building on the theme.

This ad for spring activities in the town of Scugog includes pictures of people enjoying the outdoors. The bright colors invite readers into the ad. The photos encourage parents to sign up their kids and kids will look forward to all the fun they will have at these parks. Flowers and butterflies are recurring images in ads of the season.

Along with blossoming buds and warmer temperatures, spring is when families can start spending time together outside without their coats, hats and gloves. Read more of this post

Filed under advertising, print advertising Tagged with advertising, marketing, print ads, spring ads

Designing Landing Pages that Convert

February 26, 2013 2 Comments

Landing pages are made with the purpose of making the page visitors perform a specific action that gets them into the sales funnel. The action can vary from downloading information to completing contact forms to making actual purchases. Regardless of the desired type of engagement, landing pages play a pivotal role in digital advertising. You can have the most eye-catching ads that drive tons of traffic but if the associated landing pages are confusing and vague there isn’t much chance to convert those visitors into leads.

Here are the 7 must-dos while designing landing pages.

1. Put your best foot forward: Curiosity is one of the main factors that bring in visitors to a landing page but they are probably wary of going further and must be convinced. That’s why landing pages should be built to gently unveil the best deals with the visitors, extend their stay by showing glimpses of your coolest inventory and coaxing them to buy or at least leave their contact details so your team can follow up.

2. Ensure consistent messaging: Landing pages need to be designed to integrate with the content of campaigns. If visitors are lured by your communications and then see different offers, they will feel disoriented at best and cheated at worse. In fact, this could turn people off your brand completely. You should also keep in mind that sharing too little information can be dangerous. Include all the relevant facts.

3. Write clear and concise headlines: The headlines are the first thing noticed by the visitors to landing pages. Read more of this post

Filed under advertising, interactive, retail marketing Tagged with landing page design, mobile landing page, mobile marketing, online advertising, online marketing

27th EDSA Revolution Anniversary

February 25, 2013 Leave a comment

Affinity Express celebrates people’s power on the 27th EDSA Revolution Anniversary.

Filed under announcements Tagged with EDSA, EDSA Revolution, Revolution anniversary

The Changing Face of Retail in 2013

February 19, 2013 2 Comments

Amazon, Crocs, Kohl’s, Lululemon were recognized by the National Retail Federation Board as innovators and leaders in retail industry because they successfully distinguished themselves as pioneers through the use of new, innovative or imaginative techniques, formats or services that are sustainable and can evolve with the industry. These awards celebrate individuals/businesses who have achieved international recognition for excellence in their native country and internationally.

Following the lead of these star performers, the retail industry strives to respond to consumers as they begin to get back their shopping appetite. Marketers look for newer, better ways to grow their brands and take advantage of marketing opportunities to better compete. Here’s a countdown of the top six trends that will drive the retail industry this year:

1. Social commerce: Where are people spending majority of their time online? Social media. Retailers have recognized this and integrated social media and e-commerce. A recent survey from social media curation platform provider Mass Relevance revealed some interesting facts:

59 percent of respondents reported they are more likely to trust brands that integrate social media.
75 percent of social networkers talk about brands; for 18-34 year-olds it is 91 percent.
62 percent are more likely to engage with social brands.
60 percent are more likely to share the messages of brands that integrate social experiences into their own digital properties, such as a brand websites or mobile apps.
Where social commerce is concerned, nearly two-thirds (64 percent) have already made a purchase based on social content; that was true of 76 percent of 18-34 year-olds.

Retail websites are using the power of social media to drive sales. The model is designed in a way where shoppers browse through the shopping website, share their favorite products with friends and family through a social media plug-in like Facebook, Pinterest, etc., and get reviews that help them decide whether to buy or not. Consumers pay more attention to brands that create social media experiences and spend more time on websites when social media is integrated.

2. Using mobile to research and buy: Mobile has invaded retail sector at a mind-boggling speed. In a short time, QR codes, mobile coupons, mTickets, and in-store guide apps have become the norm of retailing. The technology has transferred the power into customers’ hands with the ability to search for product information, post reviews, look up store locations and make actual purchases. A recent Shop.org survey found that nearly half of retailers have an optimized mobile sites or smartphone apps, with 16 percent planning to increase their investment in mobile technology.

Here are some facts from digby.com on how mobile is influencing today’s retail industry:

80 percent of smartphone owners want more mobile-optimized product information while they’re shopping in stores.
68 percent of men are likely to make purchases thanks to mobile ads, whereas 58 percent of women are likely to make a purchase. Further, men are more likely than women to redeem mobile coupons (35 percent versus 27 percent).
Mobile coupons are most popular at grocery stores (41 percent of mobile shoppers said they used coupons there), department stores (41 percent), and clothing stores (39 percent). At electronics stores, the majority (read reviews (73 percent), compare prices (71 percent), and scan QR codes (57 percent).
80 percent of mobile users prefer locally-relevant advertising and 75 percent are more likely to take an action after seeing a location-specific message.

3. Expansion to newer markets: As shoppers in mature markets continue to be hesitant buyers post-recession, they need to be lured with discount offers, coupons and ability to comparison shop both online and offline to help build the trust of this extremely value-driven market. Moving into emerging markets is an amazing growth opportunity, as such markets offer less competition along with customers who are curious and have a relatively high spending power. “Global expansion is no longer a ‘nice to have’ but a ‘must’ to overcome slowing growth in core markets,” said Hana Ben-Shabat, a partner at A.T. Kearney, and co-leader of their study. All the infrastructure-building activity has played a role in helping to drive a growing middle-class economy. With more disposable income and a young population that is concentrated in urban areas, the conditions are ripe for retailers. Some of the most promising new markets for high growth include countries such as Botswana, Georgia, Oman, Mongolia and Azerbaijan.

4. Increased video use: As Matt Lawrence, creative director of Studio at Huge says, “Companies need to realize that video has become the primary channel for consuming content online. Quality video content balances information and entertainment that viewers can relate to their daily lives, on a visceral level. The word of the year for 2013 is story.” Many of us are concerned about adding videos to our marketing because it slows down the customer experience. But this concern is slowly vanishing with internet connectivity becoming better and faster across the world. Retailers are much less restricted by broadband rates and have the freedom to use richer media content than ever before.

The biggest discussion that marketing teams across the globe are having is “how to make videos engaging”. A great example is the e-commerce video released by Barneys New York for their women’s and men’s spring 2012 collections. The twist in the video comes with models telling funny life stories, dancing and singing, all while wearing the latest looks. Interactive product thumbnails of the items being worn pop up throughout the video allowing shoppers to buy the clothes the models are wearing straight from the video. Video commerce solutions provider Liveclicker was used to create this interactive shopping experience.

5. New Google algorithm: With updates in Google’s Panda and Penguin releases, websites with decent content, well-developed platforms and authentic social media engagement can now hold their own and don’t necessarily have to rely on the work of good link-builders. This makes the industry more of a level playing field. SEO doesn’t just map the website content but also takes into account social media activity, including actions of Facebook fans, level of engagement on blog posts and responses received on LinkedIn discussions. This is a major reason why having a balance between SEO and social is so important.

6. The rise of responsive design to target multiple device users: With research indicating that 58 percent of the UK’s population now own a smartphone and 19 percent own tablets; responsive design has become ever more essential when we’re building websites. Responsive web design is a methodology that takes advantage of a fluid grid to allow optimal viewing experiences, regardless of the device websites are viewed on. With the tablet market rapidly increasing, it really is imperative that websites are now built using responsive web design, so that the user experience is never compromised.

As the evolution of technology sparks seismic shifts in the retail industry, what other trends you think are shaping up the retail sector to make it more customer-friendly and interactive?

Filed under advertising, interactive, retail marketing Tagged with e-commerce, internet marketing, mobile commerce, retail marketing

Happy Presidents Day

February 18, 2013 Leave a comment

Affinity Express celebrates Presidents Day with all its clients, associates and team members. We salute the sense of duty and commitment towards the community of these former leaders.

Filed under Uncategorized Tagged with holiday, presidents day, washington's birthday

Happy Valentine’s Day

February 14, 2013 1 Comment

We at Affinity Express wish all our clients and associates a very Happy Valentine’s Day!

Filed under announcements Tagged with happy valentine's day

Valentine’s Day: Special Advertising for a Special Occasion

February 12, 2013 Leave a comment

Valentine’s Day is around the corner and is a great opportunity for retailers. Rated as one of the major spending holidays for U.S. consumers, people of all ages and communities participate in the tradition of expressing their love (and spending their dollars). Retailers from a wide variety of categories bend over backwards to tie their product offerings, messaging and designs to the occasion. We looked at quite a few that were created by our designers to see how advertisers connect with their love-struck audiences!

Red and pink have always warmed peoples’ hearts on Valentine’s Day. This ad has the classic look with the colors and lots of hearts.

Valentine’s Day is the second busiest of the year for florists after Mother’s Day. In 2012, 224 million roses were sold for the holiday, according to U.S. florists’ sales statistics, and 42 percent of them were red. Advertisers rely on this strong association and many of them—especially florists—use this symbol in their designs.

Restaurants are another big advertising segment for this holiday. In fact, the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association says 34 percent of couples visit restaurants to celebrate Valentine’s Day. The ad below features all the special touches needed to lure couples into making reservations for candlelit dinner dates.

This ad design with a heart-shaped pizza effectively delivers the Valentine’s Day message even if you don’t speak French. Regardless of whether potential customers can understand every word of the message, they quickly get what kind of store it is, what they sell and what the tie-in is with Valentine’s Day.

Gift options for this year’s Valentine’s Day are diverse as retailers in all categories try to drive sales. We’ve seen everything from gift certificates to nail spas to ultra-luxurious massage chairs. A chair doesn’t immediately come to mind as a romantic gift but this approach can be effective depending on the target audience, whether that is working women or mature couples.

Occasions like Valentine’s Day provide a wonderful opportunity for small- and medium-sized businesses to attract local audiences and sell products and services to meet or even create market demand during this special day.

What have you planned to market during this Valentine’s Day and how will you promote the offer to your target audience? What are some of the best Valentine’s Day promotions you’ve seen?

Filed under advertising, print advertising, retail marketing Tagged with gift certificates, retail marketing, valentine day sales, Valentine's ads

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