Archive for the ‘Online Marketing’ Category

This year just continues to get even better with recognition for my first year of work. I must admit, the first 18 months of Ashford Davis have been nothing short of stressful and exciting at the same time. When I first launched my company I was convinced I’d lost my mind – an upstart in the middle of a recession? To add to that, my sister came to me to help her launch Maihar Design – two upstarts in the middle of a recession.

Last night I was announced the winner of the San Antonio chapter of the American Marketing Association’s Marketing Excellence Award for the ‘Under $25,000′ category. My entry was the work I’ve completed for Maihar Design during the course of the first year of operations.

Having been selected a finalist was really all the honor I expected – and I was thrilled with that recognition. To have my name called, though, in a room full of incredible marketing professionals was out-of-this-world exciting.

Thanks so much to the judges who encourage me with the honor, and for all the professionals from whom I continue to learn. The local community and online community is gracious and always willing to share ideas and experiences. It’s from these groups that I continue to educate myself and push forward with achievements.

Here’s to many more years!

If you haven’t noticed by now, I’m sort of a sucker for email marketing. Let me rephrase – I’m a sucker for email marketing that’s done right. Perhaps it’s the marketer in me, but I really love an email marketing program that effectively mines the data in the company’s system to speak effectively to current customers.

Gaining a customer takes time and energy. However, once you have that customer, speaking to them effectively with valuable messages can mean a phenomenal return on your investment. The hard part is over – you won them! So why not keep those customers by offering them incentives and value that appeals to their personal interests?

Case in point: I am a new convert to RedBox. For one reason or another, my husband and I rarely make it to the movies. Personally, I prefer watching at home with a bottle of wine, the absence of a backseat neighbor kicking my chair and the ability to pause the movie on my way to the restroom. Consequently, we have missed quite a few movies as they’ve headed from the theatre to DVD.

For the past few weekends, we have now been making our Friday night a “RedBox” night with a two-movie marathon. Quick reservation on the computer, followed by a short 2-minute drive to the RedBox and our movie date night is set.

After registering my RedBox account and agreeing to receive promotional offers, I received my first email from RedBox and was overjoyed at their datamining ability; this email came a few days after I’d rented Sherlock Holmes:

Clearly RedBox has partnered with Warner Brothers to offer discounts to valued customers – genius! This is not only an example of phenomenal email marketing, but a prime example of synergy that can be created through strategic partnerships.

Of course, this partnership did come after a heated lawsuit in which Warner Brothers successfully passed restrictions prohibiting RedBox from releasing movies in their kiosks the same day the DVDs became available for purchase. While RedBox dropped the lawsuit, I believe they have won with the partnership for discounted DVD purchases.

At the end of the day, customers want value. RedBox continues to offer conveniently located kiosks and valuable discounts on the movies customers love.

Pet owners are notorious for spoiling their four-legged children. I am no exception to that rule – my little kitties follow me everywhere and keep me company in the office all day. PetSmart understands the owner-pet bond, and capitalizes on this relationship with seasonal events such as Halloween costume contests and photos with the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.

The seasonal timeliness even extends to birthdays….yes, pets have birthdays, too! Imagine my excitement when I opened an email today with the following:

Now, little Elena has no clue it’s her birthday and she surely wouldn’t be upset if she didn’t get a gift this year. However, PetSmart knows I am a responsible pet owner, and surely I need more cat food, litter, litter deodorizer or hairball paste. Ellie’s birthday is simply one more opportunity for PetSmart to reach out to me and to get me in the store.

PetSmart understands the power of communication and the power of customer databases. They regularly distribute promotional coupons and incentives to encourage repeat customer purchases. It’s these databases that allow them to target customers based on historical purchase patterns.

How are you talking to your customers? How could you be using your database more effectively? Are you capturing data via your website, or only relying on traditional forms of communication? It might be a good opportunity to re-evaluate your current communication strategy in favor of a more efficient means of reaching out to your consumers.

I am always thrilled when I have the opportunity to speak to people about what I do, and how the Internet plays a critical role in the services I offer my clients.

Today I will be speaking to Dr. Utecht’s Advertising students at the University of Texas at San Antonio. The lecture will be a 30,000 foot view of online marketing and advertising. While I won’t be able to delve into the nitty-gritty, I will provide a lot of information that is unfamiliar territory for most students. With the rate at which online marketing opportunities evolve, it’s nearly impossible for academia to stay up to date with the latest tools and technologies.

While the online environment is exciting and cutting-edge, marketing does have important fundamentals and advertisers should by no means drop everything they are doing in favor of the “next big online trend.” Different mediums work for different clients, and your budget will dictate what you can and cannot do.

There are numerous online resources that provide much more detail than time will afford me today. I’ve included various online marketing resources as well as my lecture slides.

Online Sales Promotion Lecture Slides (PDF)

Snapshot of my RSS Reader
Search Engine Land
Search Engine Watch
Social Media Today
PR Squared
Web Marketing Today
HubSpot’s Inbound Internet Marketing Blog
Understanding Google Maps & Local Search

Students: Additional questions or comments about today’s lecture are more than welcome. I anticipate time to run short, so if I was unable to get to you, don’t hesitate to post a comment. Your feedback helps me to tailor my future lectures.

The Internet seems to always be buzzing about something Google has launched or modified. This week, however, is a very interesting step for the way in which search engines index information. According to Google fellow Amit Singhal, updates every minute are not enough – Google must begin indexing every second to keep up with the pace at which new data is published on the Internet.

Over the course of this week, you will begin to slowly see new feeds – both news and Twitter results – filtering into your search results. The example given was a search for “Obama.” Within your typical static search results is a scrolling bar which features the latest, real time news about the subject of interest.

Google already has a partnership with Twitter to include indexed Tweets from users, and is expected to develop similar agreements for Facebook and MySpace.

So what does this mean for the savvy Internet user, or the occasional user? Ultimately, it means to most timely information at the tip of your fingertips. Google’s goal is to always offer the most comprehensive, relevant and timely data possible. This “latest results” section will include more than just microblogging and social media updates; it will also include new websites as they are created real time – offering an opportunity for broader exposure and rapid indexing for websites across the board.

© Copyright Ashford Davis. All Rights Reserved.