Marketing Momentum

List of Public Website Stats

2006-10-16T12:47:00.000-04:00

SEOmoz compiled a list of websites providing data for public access - very useful for the marketer. The list includes:

Technical Data
Ownership/Hosting Data
Statistics/Popularity Data
Search Engine Indexing Data
Link Data
Social Tagging Data
Third-Party Trust Metrics
Important Directory & Site Listings
Press & Media Mentions

Ten Tips for Monitoring Your Company Online

2006-10-08T11:02:00.000-04:00

If you're not monitoring your company online, you should. With the rise in usage of blogs, podcasts, and social networking sites like MySpace, monitoring your company online as well as off-line is becoming more crucial than ever.

With the web, it's easy for a disgruntled customer's negative comments or an employee's insight on confidential information to spread instantaneously reaching mass groups of people. By actively monitoring, you're able to defuse those situations, just as fast as they went up by setting the record straight - online. And, while you're doing so, you may likely find supporters speaking out for your company.

Some companies have actually implemented a policy outlining what can't be said about the company on an employees personal web site.

Monitoring these sites also provides an understanding on what your customers and potential customers like about your company, it's products, and the industry, and a better understanding on what to change, what not to change, and what to innovate.

Read Pronet Advertising's post on 10 things you should be monitoring.

Filed In: Company Monitoring Blog

Apple Seeks to Restrict Use of "Podcast"

2006-10-01T10:02:00.000-04:00

Are you confused when terms like "Podcast Ready" and "myPodder" aren't associated with Apple Computer? Well Apple Computer seems to feel so and as such they've slapped Podcast Ready with a "cease and desist" letter. Although it has a trademark on "iPod," Apple has been cracking down on use of "pod" by all sorts of parties.

Podcast Ready CEO Russel Holliman is willing to consider dropping the name myPodder, but seems skeptical about dropping "Podcast Ready." If "Podcast Ready" infringement, Apple is claiming that it owns the word "podcast," which is seen as a general term for downloadable audio shows that aren't affiliated with Apple.

Seems like an aggressive move on Apple's part. But I do find confusion among people who don't understand the technology - they don't realize that you don't need an iPod to download podcasts. I just wonder how many of these "cease and desist" letters Apple's got out there.

Filed In: Apple Podcast Trademark Podcast Ready

Free Coffee

2006-09-21T20:12:00.000-04:00

Hurry up and get your free coffee courtesy of Yahoo.

As a promotional gift to its TV, radio, and movie theater blitz, Yahoo will offer coupons for a free cup of coffee at Dunkin' Donuts to anyone who sets Yahoo.com as their home page by tomorrow.

The multimillion dollar campaign is to reinforce its strong cutting edge technology with improvements like its home page makeover, an e-mail upgrade and a service that enables users to tap into their collective knowledge to find answers to tough questions.

Yahoo has been struggling to catch up with Google in the online search market, and it's also battling perceptions that startups such as MySpace.com have become hipper places to hang out.
Meanwhile, Microsoft and Time Warner's AOL are spending heavily to lure traffic away from Yahoo.

I've seen the changes at Yahoo, and I'm seriously considering making my Yahoo my primary personal email service and homepage. Right now I have a hotmail account, that I've had for years, and a My MSN homepage. Both don't seem to offer near the services that Yahoo offers.

For now, I'll at least enjoy a free cup of coffee.

Photo by ttaulli.

Categories: Yahoo Homepage Media Blitz Free Dunkin' Donuts Coffee

Gamers: More Attentive to Ads

2006-09-20T06:53:00.000-04:00

Well it looks like playing video games can be a good thing after all - at least for marketers. According to MediaPostPublications, gamers, who account for approximately 17% of the adult population, consume an above-average amount of media and tend to be well-disposed toward product placement in movies and TV.

Characteristics of the adult gamer:

Spend an average of 2 hours a week online more than the average adult.
Spend an hour more than average watching DVDs each week - many of them probably subscribing to NetFlix.
More receptive to celebrity spokespeople and product placement.
More likely to think of themselves as trendsetters.
More likely to remember the name of the last brand.

Filed In: Gamer Marketing Advertising Brand Product Placement

What's Next...Reality Commercials

2006-09-15T21:06:00.000-04:00

Well it looks like we've moved into the next phase of "what's next." You've heard of reality TV, but have you heard of reality commercials?

I just saw an TV commercial for a reality commercial, the Brawny Academy, sponsored by Brawny paper towels.

The Brawny Academy features eight men that have been sent there, by their wives, for the host, Brawny, to make them more thoughtful, helpful and romantic. The men live together, compete against one another, and even share their bad habits with one another at a burning recliner ceremony all while wearing their Brawny t-shirts.

The TV commercial refers the public to its web site. In addition to watching the eight episodes, the site also offers "Woodsy Wisdom" on such subjects like:

Staying manly
Wife appreciation
Staying positive
Hygiene
Getting along
Respecting nature
Home protection
Mental strength
Just listening
Wooing

As eye rolling the concept maybe, at least the creators made it humorous. Seriously though, I'd be real interested in learning about the success of this new initiative.

Filed In: Reality TV Commercial Brawny Academy Advertising

View an Ad, Get Free Music

2006-08-30T19:09:00.000-04:00

SpiralFrog recently announced its plans to provide an online service that allows users free ad-supported downloads of music and videos from the catalog of Universal Music--which includes Sheryl Crow, Fall Out Boy, 50 Cent, U2 and Kanye West.

Before downloading from SpiralFrog's collection, users will need to spend approximately 90 seconds per track, or two minutes per video, navigating through pages that display ads next to content. The service provides more than just music with material including concert information, artist bios and more.

Lance Ford, the company's chief sales and marketing officer, anticipates the service will especially appeal to the teens and 20-somethings that grew up with the peer-to-peer services that enabled free music downloads. As such, SprialFrog intends to pursue ads targeted to that age group. Users will need to provide basic demographic information in addition to their email address.

Perry Ellis and Benetton are two companies that have already signed up for ad space.

It will be real interesting to see how successful they'll be with this plan. Personally, I wouldn't want to be bothered with having to maneuver my way through ads just to get a free music download, but I'm not part of their target market. However, I do remember what it was like being a poor high school and college student, and in that case, I might have very well been willing to use a service like SpiralFrog - that is if I could have afforded a computer.

On another note, I never thought of Perry Ellis as appealing to teens and 20 somethings.

Filed In: SpiralFrog Advertising Perry Ellis Benetton Music Downloads

Sports Illustrated Offers Desktop Application

2006-08-22T18:33:00.000-04:00

Next week, Sports Illustrated will launch mySI. The downloadable application includes a sports news ticker, stats, standings and other features that fans can use to track their favorite teams.
Although the introductory application will only focus on pro football news and information, SI plans to add other sports, including baseball, basketball and various other college sports, next year.

SI is kicking off the new service in conjunction with it's NFL preview issue, and has lined up Comcast, Miller Lite, Nissan, and Radio Shack as sponsors of the new mySI application. Different sponsors will be featured for baseball and other sports next year.

This is not SI's first attempt at utilizing new technology. Previously, it created a special Web site for its annual swimsuit issue and made videos featuring models available via iTunes and mobile phones.

I'm not much of a sports fan, but this sounds really cool. Read the full article at MediaPost Publications.

Filed In: Sports Illustrated mySI Technology NFL Online Marketing

Ford Makes Huge Ad Buy on Blogs

2006-08-16T21:22:00.000-04:00

Ford Motor Company recently purchased ad space on 400 blogs running BlogAds ad boxes. The ads are appearing on urban-hipster sites like Gothamist, as well as environmental-themed sites like Treehugger.

The ad copy reads:
The Future of Fuel, The Future of Ford

With one of the worst fuel efficiency records of any car company, Ford is trying to "go
green." As another oiled crisis looms on the horizon, can they turn talk into action?

The ad then provides a like to "Read More."

The owner of BlogAds was so excited over the deal that he sent an email to all 400 webmasters, receiving the ad, expressing his excitement. And, just as everything is reproducible in this information age, you can read the email on Jalopnik.

I think it's pretty cool that Ford, a major company, is looking at new advertising options. They're willingness to advertise on blogs is a step in recognizing the power potential of blogs and the target audiences that use them.

On another note, I was quite surprised by their ad copy. If I hadn't known it was from Ford, I would have never guessed it. The copy appears as though a third party wrote an article about Ford. Given the news and opinion nature of blogs, I guess ad copy had to appear more news and less fluff like. I also think it's pretty bold of Ford to acknowledge themselves as having "one of the worst fuel efficiency records of any car company."

Filed In: Ford Motor Company BlogAds Blog Advertising Media Buying

Perspective on Blogging & Search Engines

2006-08-14T20:36:00.000-04:00

Recognizing that bloggers within search engines are becoming an important human voice and point of contact for the public, competitors, and SEOs, what did top three executives have to say about themselves as search engine bloggers ?

Melanie Colburn shares that information from a recent Search Engine Strategies conference. The conference provided a discussion panel with Matt Cutts from Google, Jeremy Zawodny from Yahoo!, Niall Kennedy from MSN, and Gary Price from Ask.

Key Highlights:

Keeping perspective
Company bloggers in the news
Are they PR Guys?
Syndication
Vlog & Podcasts

Filed In: Corporate Blogging Search Engine

A Doh! Moment for AOL

2006-08-10T14:21:00.000-04:00

In posting its report of 20 million search queries, AOL neglected to remove sensitive information of the 650,000 subscribers performing those queries like users' real names, social security numbers and various other personal information.

And if that wasn't enough, the report also detailed searches for specific people, addresses, telephone numbers, illegal drugs and more - making it easy for law enforcement, employers or friends to identify these people.

AOL posted the 440-meg downloadable file called "500Kusers.tgz" on its research web site, research.aol.com. After several blogs started linking to it, the company took it down.

AOL spokesman Andrew Weinstein told the Associated Press, "It was an innocent enough attempt to reach out to the academic community with new research tools, but it was obviously not appropriately vetted. If it had been, it would have been stopped in an instant."

Gosh, after learning this, I don't feel so bad about my goofs.

Read the full article at TechCrunch.

Filed In: AOL Search Report Subscribers Public Relations

Moneyless Monopoly

2006-08-06T10:06:00.000-04:00

I was just reading where Hasbro is coming out with a debit card version of its famous Monopoly game. Instead of playing with the fake paper money we all associate with the game, players use debit cards and an electronic debit card reader. The role of banker is pretty much eliminated as the reader keeps track of players' cash balance.

But for those who prefer the old fashion version, don't worry, it will still be available.

Are we going a little too far with using technology for fun? After all, it's a board game that's been popular for many years without such technological devices. I suppose if Grandma and Grandpa want to play a fun game of Monopoly with the grandkids, the kids will now have to teach Grandma & Grandpa how to play.

Filed In: Monopoly Hasbro Game Kids Technology Debit Card Product Development

Podcasting & Blogging: Two Top Marketing Tools

2006-07-31T20:04:00.000-04:00

Podcasting and blogging have been sited by technology marketing executives as being two of the most effective tools for generating sales leads in the technology industry.

Podcasting News reports the information from Marketing Sherpa's annual survey of business technology marketing executives, which consisted of approximately 1,900 respondents.

Top 5 Tools For Generating Sales Leads

Free Trials - 54% of software marketers ranked free trials very effective.
Webcast - At 41% webcasts were another favorite for software marketers, but technology services and related hardware firms also ranked webinars at 33% and 31% respectively.
White paper - All business technology marketers rated white papers fairly evenly at 31-36% 'very effective.'
Blog - 35% of software and ASP marketers rated their blog as very effective, as did 33% of technology services firms. Unfortunately only 19% of hardware companies felt that a corporate blog was effective. This may be a result of general business executives being more likely to read a blog, while IT staffers may not.
Podcast - Barely a new marketing concept last year, but by June 2006, 22% of software marketers who'd given a podcast called them 'very effective'. Seems IT professionals may be more likely to be in an early adopter community for this activity.

Filed In: Podcasting Blogging Sales Leads Technology Software Businesses Marketing

Webinar on Corporate Blogging

2006-07-26T19:01:00.000-04:00

I participated in Porter Novelli and Cymfony's webinar on Corporate Blog Learnings yesterday. The session focused on findings from a survey they conducted with their clients.

Key Highlights

Writing & Frequency of Posts

CEO's and Marketing tend to be the authors. There's little to no use of ghost writers.
Sixty-six percent stated they post once a day or several times a week.
Posts should focus more on the industry and issues and less on the company's products. A blog is not another place to post press releases.

Oversight

Fifty-seven percent reported they do not have blogging guidelines, but of those that do most were larger companies.
Ninety-six percent stated their posts do not go through legal review.
Over 70% indicated they have received an increase in media attention.

Monitoring

There are more companies (92%) monitoring blogs than have blogs.
Ninety-one percent monitor blogs once a day or several times a week.
Companies are monitoring blogs for developing trends, competitive insight, tracking posts on their company, and consumer understanding.
Monitoring tends to be a more manual process with using search engines.

Best Practices

Be professional.
Provide similar access to information as you would with other members of the media.

General Findings

Strong majority believe blogs will become more important in 2008.
Most companies created their blog to better communicate with customers.
Two major reasons for companies not blogging: resources and management buy-in. Creating a blog is not very costly in terms of infrastructure, but is very costly in terms of time because to have a successful blog, posting must be done frequently. Blogs may be thought of as breeding grounds for disgruntled customers, which may happen, but it's part of a conversation and not the focus of the blog. When/if that does occur, companies have an opportunity to address the issue, and it's likely that supports will participate in the conversation.

On a personal note, this was my first webinar and the experience was pretty cool. It provided good information, lasted for only an hour, conducted at an ideal time (during lunch), free, and involved two presenters making the presentation more conversational than dictating. Plus, it was a very creative tactic to promote both companies.

Filed In: Corporate Blog Posts Frequency Writers Authors Monitoring Legal Webinar

College Students Prefer iPod Over Beer?

2006-07-21T15:15:00.000-04:00

Who would have thought that the iPod would be more popular than beer among college students?

According to 360View's recent podcast interview with Rob Walch of Podcast411, Walch stated that a study was done among college students on their preferred activities and the iPod outranked beer.

The podcast provides a lot of other good pieces of information including:

What is a podcast vs. an audio file - it needs to have a RSS feed to be a podcast
Growth trends - approx. 5 million listeners
Uses of podcasting - self promotion
Dedication - time and money involved

Filed In: College Students Beer iPod Podcast

The Power of Business Blogging

2006-07-21T15:05:00.000-04:00

What do you do when your company's reputation is attacked by a major newspaper? You set the record straight through your blog. That's just what GM did when New York Times columnist, James Friedman, described the major automotive manufacturer as a "crack dealer" feeding Americans' addictions to SUVs and accused it of being "more dangerous to America's future" than any other company.

According to BtoB, GM's responses totaled more than 2,800 words - more than three times the length of the original Friedman column and 14 times the space GM says the Times offered for a rebuttal. By utilizing it's Fastlane blog, the company has generated more buzz and awareness for its fuel-economy efforts than it ever would have created in print, and has done so with reaching targeted audiences.

As a result, hundreds of people have posted comments on GM's corporate blog, and BlogPulse and Technorati count approximately 100 posts from bloggers on their own sites.

GM's case should be a wake-up call to businesses that are not taking advantage of the blogosphere. Blogging and social networking are experiencing tremendous growth and, as demonstrated in the case of GM, provide much word of mouth power.

Filed In: GM Blog New York Times PR Marketing Technorati BlogPulse

Wal-Mart Launches Social Networking

2006-07-18T20:52:00.000-04:00

In an attempt at winning over teens for the apparel dollars they spend at Target, Wal-Mart has created a social networking site for teens - The Hub. Over the last year, Wal-Mart has been receiving increasingly bad feedback from teen girls, in contrast to Target, on its lack of cleanliness, messy layout and lack of stylish attire.

Ad Age compares the quasi-social-networking site as Wal-Mart's MySpace for teens. It's a place where teens can "express their individuality" by creating their own page for all to see and a chance to win prizes including their video appearing in a Wal-Mart TV commercial.

However, the site tells parents their kids have joined, forbids users to e-mail one another, and screens all content. Wal-Mart's policy on eliminating any video with "materials that are profane, disruptive, unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, vulgar, obscene, hateful, or racially or ethnically-motivated, or otherwise objectionable" is why "pending approval" notes dominate pages already created and limits content to a headline, a fashion quiz and a favorite song.

Seems much more restraining than the MySpace dominator, but what do you expect from a retail company that's looking to avoid any possibility of a lawsuit or image tarnishing. I think Tim Stock's, a researcher with New York-based Scenario DNA, assessment is a valid one.

"The second you try to create boundaries and draw a line around content and put a box around content, it becomes something else. Teens aren't searching for what a company deems relevant, but what they deem relevant. You can't own it. When anyone tries to own it too much, then it becomes a problem. That's the impression I get on this site."

Filed In: Wal-Mart Social Networking MySpace Teens

Magazine Uses Mobile Marketing Toward College Women

2006-07-11T09:19:00.000-04:00

In a recent post, Media & The Millennials, I described Mediaweek's findings on the tremendous amount of electronic media time this generation uses. Well, it looks like magazines and their advertisers, targeting this segment, are realizing it as well.

According to GenDigital, Lucky Magazine, the 12th most read magazine by college women, will be integrating call-to-action mobile elements in its upcoming September issue. Maxim magazine, the #2 mag among college men, ran a similar program about a month a half ago.

Lucky's "Live Buy It, " uses PayPal's Mobile Text2Buy to offer readers products from 18 marketers and retailers. Readers text their specific purchases using their mobile phone.

Filed In: Lucky Magazine Millennials Pay Pal Mobile Media Text Messaging Advertising

Free Press Release Distribution

2006-07-06T22:04:00.000-04:00

If you're looking for additional exposure for your press releases for no additional cost, Public Relations India identifies 10 free press release distribution sites. These service providers distribute press releases to news search engines, journalists and other websites.

The blog does offer a note of caution. It recommends that you study the sites and checkout a couple press releases that they have distributed and discuss the services with colleagues and clients before using the services - good idea.

The 10 free press release distribution sites include:
PR Free
Press Zoom
Press Base
Express Press Release Distribution
Press World
Open PR
Free Press Release
Free News Release
I Newswire
Newswire Today

Filed In: Public Relations Press Release Media Free Distribution PR

Digg for Marketers: Marktd

2006-07-04T08:37:00.000-04:00

I stumbled on to this cool web site: marktd. It's similar to Digg, in that articles are submitted and voted on by the viewers/readers. With marktd, submitted articles focusing on marketing issues.

Filed In: marktd Digg Marketing

Corporate Blogging to Grow

2006-06-27T20:31:00.000-04:00

Looks like corporate blogging is expected to grow. Given the recent trends in blogging sites, I'm not surprised.

Jupiterresearch's "Corporate Weblogs: Deployment, Promotion, and Measurement" report finds that 35% of large companies plan to initiate corporate blogs this year. That will make for nearly 70% of large companies operating a corporate blog when combined with the existing 34% already maintaining a blog.

Jupiterresearch also reports that only 32% of marketing executives said they use corporate blogs to generate word-of-mouth around their company's products or services - an underutilized activity given the nature of the blogosphere.

For more details you can purchase the report and a 30 minute discussion with the analyst from Jupiterresearch, but thankfully MediaBuyerPlanner provides a free synopsis.

Filed In: Jupiterresearch MediaBuyPlanner Corporate Blog Word of Mouth

Media & The Millennials

2006-06-23T13:08:00.000-04:00

I first read brandUNITY's post, which then motivated me to read the actual article from Mediaweek regarding the Millennial Generation's (ages 9-28) impact on media businesses over the next 10 years.

At 79 million, one million larger than the Baby Boomer Generation, the Millennials have grown up using multiple media platforms at the same time consuming 20 hours of media a day all within 7 hours of clock time.

Much of this group gets its information from word-of-mouth especially as social networking sites become increasingly popular. According to Brent Magrid, president & CEO of Frank M. Magrid, 18 million 13-28 year-olds use social networking sites each day.

However, promotional messages from TV stations and networks still remain as important method, but crafting messages for this group need to be more cutting edge than traditional.

With their need to multi-task using multiple media platforms, marketing to Millennials further enforces the importance for integrated advertising campaigns.

On another note, with the Millennial Generation being larger than the Baby Boomer Generation I wonder what the state of certain government (i.e. Social security, Medicare, & Medicaid) and private health care services will be like as this group grows older? We're already seeing a growth in demand for health care services and retirement communities as Baby Boomers retire. Yet, those same services will likely suffer as the Baby Bust Generation retires and the Baby Boomers naturally move on only to have the need increase again with the Millennials. I suppose everything is cyclical.

Filed In: Millennial Baby Boomer Marketing Word of Mouth Advertising Campaign Messages Health Care Retire

More Tools for Search Advertisers

2006-06-22T13:27:00.000-04:00

According to MediaPost Publications, Microsoft is launching a Web site, Adlab.microsoft.com, that provides search advertisers with more services to manage their online campaigns. The site is a joint effort between MSN's adCenter and Microsoft's Research, which monitors all of MSN's properties with ad sales.

Specifically, Microsoft is offering:

A variety of analytics for strategizing keyword buys.
Keyword categorization engine
Data on 10,000 keywords with that number growing to 10 million in the next several months.

Just goes to show that as the demand for online advertising continues to grow, the process continues to become more refined.

Filed In: Microsoft MSN AdLab Keyword Search Advertising

Newspapers Competing with Blogs?

2006-06-04T09:42:00.000-04:00

Although newspapers have the largest overall audience, blogs are quickly making an impact. Forrester Research found that blogs and newspaper web sites have the same audience share, about 17 percent, among Internet users between the ages of 18 and 24.

Given this latest trend, CNET reports that newspapers are seeking opportunities to get involved in the blogosphere.

The Associated Press recently signed a cross-marketing deal with Technorati, a search-engine for blog postings. Technorati will scan for blogs that include links to AP stories, and the search will then create a web page where it will display the blogs in addition to original AP stories.
BlogBurst, a blog syndication service, provides newspapers with the ability to publish to any of its more than 1,500 blogs.
The American Statesman, newspaper in Austin, TX, offers tools for people to create their own blogs, which can be posted on the newspaper's web site.

However, being a news agency and getting involved in the blogosphere comes with its share of challenges.

The Washington Post had to deal with plagiarism issues when it hired a former Bush administration aide to write a blog.
The Los Angeles Times recently announced it was discontinuing the column and Internet blog of a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, because he posted comments on his blog and other online sites under assumed names - a violation of the Times' policy.
Boring content - managing editor of the Dallas Observer, says that too often newspaper blogs are filled with leftovers from stories too long to fit in the paper that day.

For more information on newspaper readership view Newspaper Circulation Down.

Filed In: Newspaper Blog Burst Blogosphere Associated Press Washington Post Los Angeles Times Technorati

Understanding Web Site Performance

2006-05-29T13:06:00.000-04:00

Internet Retailer's article, What Your Web Site Can Tell You, provides 10 important points to watch when measuring your site's effectiveness.

Study Site Search Results and Non-Results
Optimize the Home Sweet Home Page
Know What Works on Landing Pages
Use the Shopping Cart for More than Just Checkout
Look at the Look-to-Book Ratio
Understand How Shoppers View Cookies
Know Affiliate and Search Engine Marketing ROI
Use Analytics to Make E-mail Marketing More Effective
Manage Customer Category Movement
Find Out Why Shoppers Are Not Checking Out

I found this to be a good source of information. It definitely gave a lot to think about.

Filed In: Internet Web Site Search Shopping Cart Cookies Marketing ROI Email