Digital Advertising Review India:

Welcome to India, Google Shopping!

2018-12-14T16:20:00.000+05:30

Google Searchers in India woke up to a new tab this morning...Shopping!

Google Shopping for India, which now lives as a tab on Google Search, a dedicated Shopping homepage, and in Google Lens, places products, as opposed to websites, at the forefront of things. Shopping comes complete with some helpful filters to sort products - which is perhaps the largest deviation from a typical search engine results page.

It's no surprise to see Google expanding its footprint in India's booming ecommerce market. After all:

Shopping Ads campaign spend is growing by at least 40% YoY
Shopping Ads account for over 60% of paid search clicks for online retailers
The Google vs Amazon fight is heating up faster than ever in India, with the two giants fundamentally competing to be the doorway to ecommerce in addition to competing home devices, payment wallets, cloud storage solutions, and more.

Google Shopping is still developing in India, but here is what we know:

First, for clarity:

Google Shopping Ads (used to be called "Product Listing Ads" or "PLAs") have been around for years in India now. These are a type of ad that appear in Google Search results which showcase a product image, name/title, price, and website.

Sample Google Search with Shopping Ads result for "Buy kanchipuram silk saree online":

Google Shopping Ads are sold via Google Ads on a CPC (cost per click) model across markets.

Google Shopping is different. Instead of an ad that appears in the regular SERP (search engine results page), Shopping has dedicated listings as well as a Shopping homepage for users. As of writing, Google Shopping for India is available in both English and Hindi.

The Google Shopping for India homepage is quite nice and represents a big deviation from what Google Search users may be accustomed to. The page includes:

Recently viewed products
Picks for you: select products likely served based on browsing and search history)
Finds from Google: Googley products like Chromecasts and Google Home devices. Note these listings do not click out to the Google Store, but rather to 3rd party sellers (primarily Tata Cliq and Flipkart).
Curated themed sections with subsections for "Popular on Google" and "Top Deals"
Departments, such as Electronics, to browse by category

Google Shopping Homepage

According to CNN, India is the first country to get the separate Shopping homepage. From the Shopping homepage users can search, browse by category, or click a product detail pop out. It does appear that the homepage is heavily personalized, with the rankings of categories changing based on usage.

The Shopping SERP is where Shopping really comes alive. It offers some ecommerce specific features not found on regular Search, the most useful of which is a whole host of ecommerce specific filters including:

By price point
By brand
By new or used (note at the time of writing no used items were spotted)
By category specific filters. For example, when looking at phones there are filters for network, storage, OS, camera specs, screen size, and more.

Google Shopping category page

For unique products the sellers website is listed, whereas products sold by multiple sites show "from X+ shops" labels. The Pixel 3 is not at the top of the results, which suggests Google is going the extra mile to manage anti-competitive concerns.

Once I found the Pixel 3, on click, a detail page pops out. This page features details including a product description, photo gallery, some specs, and prices from different sellers. Interestingly, the (to borrow Amazon terminology) Buy Box was occupied by...Amazon India! Additional sellers were listed to the right of the Buy Box, with one even having a lower price than Amazon India.

Google Shopping product detail pop out

In many markets, the Shopping results are paid ads run by advertisers using Google Ads Shopping campaigns, however as per Google:

In India, Google Shopping functions differently. Google is not compensated for clicks on shopping search results in this region, and ranking is based solely on relevance to search queries with some influence of advertising data to improve quality.

As of now, Google Shopping appears to be driven by Google Merchant Center. Google Merchant Center is a free Google product typically used to create a structured feed for ecommerce sites to supply Google with formatted product data for Shopping Ads. However, we know that Google doesn't settle for one signal, so we can assume a lot of web development and SEO best practices will come into play such as:

Quality, mobile friendly, fast loading pages
Unique, fresh, and authoritative content
The use of Schema or other structured data
On page SEO basics (effective use of H1s, meta titles, image alts, etc...)
Off page activity such as link building, social mentions, and citations

It's unclear how or when Google will look to monetize Shopping for India. One would assume that this will eventually become a mix of paid and organic listings, with the paid ones powered by Google Ads Shopping Ads. For now, it looks like Google Shopping for India is within the wheelhouse of SEOs, with paid ads analysts needing to wait their turn to get in.

Need help getting more out of your ecommerce initiatives? Contact O3M, Tamil Nadu's leading digital marketing agency.

Happy Shopping!

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Author's note: Google Shopping for India launched today, so our understanding of it is still developing. Expect edits.

So you know your audience...now what?!

2018-12-10T18:33:00.000+05:30

Note: This article was written as part of the SEMrush Big Blogging Contest

"5 minutes from..." is a ubiquitous part of real estate advertising in India real. Travel on any main road in the nation and you'll see never-ending hoardings hawking the proximity of the latest, greatest project to the city's leading school, hospital, entertainment district, IT park, temple, church, mass transit hub, flower market, tea stall, bazaar, lake, amusement park, etc...

The dirty secret of these hoardings? They rarely resonate with most people who view them. In fact, in many cases they can even turn off potential buyers. Grandma will not be amused to learn that her new condo is near the city's wildest pub. Invincible twenty-something techies don't care that their potential new home is 5 minutes from the leading hospital.

However, get it right and this method can work wonders. An "if you lived here, you'd be home by now" message will resonate with a daily commuter stuck in gridlock. A "5 minutes from Chennai's leading play-school" ad may be the deciding factor for stressed out new parents searching for their new nest. It takes not only marketing acumen, but a bit of luck to deliver the right message to the right audience in the offline world.

Digital works differently.

Digital marketers have a much greater ability and opportunity to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time. As potential consumers browse the web, they are creating a trail of touchpoints which reveal their interests, demographics, and behavior. Savvy marketers can leverage this to improve upon the results they may see from more broadly targeted campaigns. A few sources of data which help digital marketers understand their audience include:

Demographics and interest reporting in Google Analytics
Facebook Audience Insights
LinkedIn Website Demographics
SEMRush's Social Media Tool and Traffic Analytics reports
Your email marketing open and click data
Website and email surveys
CRM data
Good ol' fashioned conversations with your existing customers

As digital marketing continues to mature there are more opportunities than ever to leverage this data. A few newer ways marketers will use their audience data in 2019 and beyond include:

Google Ads Responsive Search Ads

Consider an iPhone X. Many people may buy one based on look and feel while others look towards the specifications and yet others based on brand loyalty to Apple. It is difficult, if not impossible, for a single Search ad to speak to each of these motivators. Enter Responsive Search Ads. With RSAs, advertisers enter up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions for each ad. Then, Google Ads works to show the right ad copy combination to the right searcher based on not only the query, but also based on its understanding of what will best motivate the user.

With RSAs, ad copy can now account for the many intents and audiences of a single search term.

Google Ads Custom Affinity and Custom Intent Audiences

If there is one platform which deserves credit for increasing the value and functionality of its audience targeting options in the past few years it is the Google Display Network. From working to exclude non-brand safe placements (and low-quality placements in general), to Analytics based remarketing, to maturing out of just keyword and topic targeting into audience targeting, GDN has grown by leaps and bounds.
Now, a performing GDN initiative typically consists of a mix of topic/keyword, placement, remarketing, in-market, and affinity audience targeting. Not happy with the existing audience targeting options? Create your own with Custom Affinity and Intent Audiences! Custom audiences are created using a blend of:

Interests (entered as keywords)
Search patterns
URLs used to create interest categories based on content and visitor behavior
Types of sites, apps, and videos which the user spends time on

The benefits of creating custom audiences are twofold. First, you can target a narrow group of users who may be interested in your product or service. Next, you can create spin off audiences which can be used to deliver ad creative that they may respond well to. For example, suppose your target audience is athletes within 20 KMs of Chennai. You can now create two spin-off audiences: Athletes within 20 KMs of Chennai who like dogs and athletes within 20 KMs of Chennai who are parents. Then, you can create two ads - one showing a runner with a cute puppy and the other showing a runner joined by her children. This should increase the ad's relevance, lift CTR, and overall deliver a more meaningful, personalized experience.

Facebook and Facebook Ads

It almost goes without saying that the more you know about your audience the more effective Facebook campaigns you can run. When you are able to gather deeper audience insights you can create deeper connections. As Facebook organic reach continues to decline it's more important than ever to create content that will deeply resonate with your audience. If you don't quickly earn likes, comments, and shares then the reach your posts see will be painfully limited. By understanding your audience you'll be able to create meaningful content that should see higher than usual engagement, thus getting the Facebook algo to work with you.

Knowing your audience is effective on the Facebook Ads side as well; for example, by enabling you to create spin off audiences that deliver more unique messaging then you could with a general audience. Many b2b brands are even successfully doing this with Facebook live videos by not only considering their user base, but the whole ecosystem such as investors, potential brand ambassadors, the media, and more.

Customer Match and Lookalike audiences (any channel)

Perhaps simultaneously the most effective and obtrusive targeting method discussed is Customer Match/Custom Audience targeting. Essentially this extends the awesome abilities of remarketing ads to people who haven't even visited your website.

Customer Match audience targeting on platforms such as Google Ads and Facebook Ads allow you to directly upload your own (email and phone) data and target these users. Lookalike audiences are an extension of this; instead of targeting these users directly you are targeting people deemed similar to them. For clarity:

Customer Match: Upload 10,000 newsletter subscribers and target them with ads on YouTube. This is fantastic for delivering a cross channel presence on a budget.
Lookalike Audience: Upload 1,000 existing customers and target people who fit a similar profile to these customers on YouTube. This enables you to hand over the prospecting keys to Google's machine learning to do the dirty work of finding the next likely to convert customer.

This is particularly effective for SMBs. Businesses with smaller marketing budgets will typically struggle to reach their core audience in a cross-channel manner. If they want to reach the same prospects via search, display, YouTube, and social via a "spray and pray" geo-targeted approach they simply won't have the budget for it. However, by directly targeting this audience via customer match, the SMB can deliver a 360 advertising campaign to this smaller set of users without a large budget.

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Overall, knowing thy audience is not the end of effective marketing, but rather the beginning of it. With a deep understanding of your audience, you can improve your digital marketing by:

Crafting creative that will resonate with them by delivering more targeted, precise messaging
Targeting potential customers not based on who they are, but what they want and where they are in the sales funnel
Saving on your marketing budget by targeting only those most likely to convert

Looking for an awesome audience targeted digital advertising campaign? Contact O3M, Chennai's digital marketing leaders to learn more.

Questions to ask before you begin ecommerce marketing

2018-03-15T14:26:00.000+05:30

{Editor's note: Please check back for updates and additions to this list. Effective ecommerce is a never ending journey with infinite questions. However, we hope these initial questions get you started on the right path.}

Not all ecommerce sites are created alike. Some give the appearance of a fly-by-night untrustworthy scammer while others provide a content rich, enjoyable experience which engages visitors and compels them to purchase.

O3M Directional Marketing, Tamil Nadu’s leading Internet advertising agency, has marketed countless ecommerce sites. From small, niche sites targeting only the local market to large international campaigns with top brands, great ecommerce sites have many things in common.

Please see below for some questions O3M Analysts suggest you ask yourself during your ecommerce site development process. Thinking these things through should inspire effective future digital marketing efforts.

When Selecting Your Platform:

Does it have an available theme that you love or are you prepared for custom theme development?
Does it offer the front end functionality you need?
Does it offer the back end (i.e. shipping, invoicing, reports, etc) that you need?
Are marketing automation efforts (i.e. abandoned cart emails) possible?
What plugins or custom coding will you need to achieve the functionality you desire?
Can you create the offers, coupons, and promotions that you will need to?
Can you easily sync or export your products for use on Google Shopping, Amazon, and Facebook Ads?
Can you easily place conversion tracking and analytics codes that you may need?

When Creating Your Ecommerce Site:

Does the homepage effectively blend text, image, and video?
Is trust built?
Overall, is the homepage attractive and welcoming?
Does the homepage steer the user into product pages?
Do you have the necessary terms and conditions, returns, and privacy policy pages?
Have you included trust building logos?
Does the site have SSL on all pages?
Is the site mobile friendly?
Is social media taken into account?
Does the site have a robust search option?
Are you effectively using cross-sell and upsell opportunities?
Is the checkout process streamlined?
Are customer service details clearly visible?
Can products be logically filtered and sorted?
Is the site fast to load?
Does the site feature guest checkout?
Does text content use proper grammar?
Is there a user friendly 404 page?
Can you include Schema markup?
Does the site feature breadcrumb navigation?

When Creating Your Product Pages:

Have you included unique and compelling descriptions for each product?
Are product page URLs keyrich?
Are your core search terms mentioned in the product title and description?
Are you calling your products the same thing that your customers call them?
Is text broken up with the use of bullet points and paragraphs?
Does every product have a unique, meaningful product name?
Are all relevant product details included?
Does each product include at least two great images?
Have you highlighted each product’s unique selling propositions?
Are your products organized in a logical manner?
Are related products listed as cross sells and upsells?
Do all images include keyword rich alts?
Does each page have unique meta titles and descriptions?
Is the H1 tag being used effectively?
Will the sitemap be automatically updated?

Looking for support developing or marketing your site? O3M is proud to be a Shopify Expert Agency, Google Premier Partner, and Amazon Seller Partner Network Agency.

Contact O3M for a free ecommerce strategy consultation in Chennai or Coimbatore.

Tourism Marketing Goes Digital at the 2018 TTF Chennai

2018-02-28T14:32:00.000+05:30

O3M's Rob Peck greeting the Indian Ministry of Tourism's Regional Director (South) and other dignitaries during their visit to the O3M stall.

O3M, a Google Premier Partner, is proud to have been part of 2018's Chennai Tourism and Travel Fair. This year's event saw 1,500+ trade visitors and 6,000+ walk in visitors over the 3 day affair.

Attendees enjoyed one on one consultations with O3M Analysts

O3M was there to showcase the power of digital marketing within the travel industry. Highlights of the data points O3M discussed include:

New age travellers determine where they want to go, what they want to do, and where to book based on a series of “micro moments.” Marketers need to be present during these moments to win the booking.

India has the highest expected growth rate for leisure travel between 2016 to 2026. This presents a tremendous opportunity for Indian and global players as well as nearby countries.

Mobile (smartphone) success is critical! Globally, a full 33% of travel bookings are done via mobile. Additionally, mobile enables you to capture “Let’s explore it!” moments once guests have arrived at your destination.

O3M's opening day presentation, "How Digital is Shaping The Travel Industry" saw an overwhelming response from attendees.

Audience reception was well above par. From one-on-one sessions with attendees, O3M learned:

The tours and travel ecosystem is hungry for more insights, best practices, and methods to succeed in using digital to target the new age traveler.

Traditional networking and offline bookings are giving way to online discovery.

Many, if not most, attendees are seeing initial success in digital, but are eager to scale and improve performance.

O3M team members were on hand to give direct answers to digital marketing questions.

The Deccan Chronicle summed it up well, stating "Digital platform can assist in scaling up business and enhance visibility to digital consumers at the key moments of their purchase decision. There is a paradigm shift in the behaviour of new age travellers and how they increasingly prefer online over other traditional mediums to plan and book their travel."

O3M is delighted for the opportunity to become their growth partner in their digital marketing journeys.

Interested in digital marketing for your travel business? Contact O3M today.

The Two Leaves of Digital Marketing : Paid and Organic

2017-11-24T17:45:00.000+05:30

Duality, or “an instance of opposition or contrast between two concepts or two aspects of something” is all around us, particularly in Chennai. Praying for rains while drowning in floods. Preserving ancient culture while building a startup ecosystem. “Arranging” “love” marriages. As the drumbeat of progress quickens it can create a high level of cognitive dissonance between the tried and tested ways of yesterday and the opportunities of tomorrow. This is evident in the digital marketing space as well. One of the first decisions in creating a marketing mix is between paid advertising and organic marketing.

Paid digital advertising mediums such as Google AdWords or Facebook Ads provide a rapid way to drive targeted users to your website or business. However, it comes at an ongoing cost as the advertiser is charged per click or per thousand impressions. Think of PPC as a gas stove - instantly you are cooking at full heat, but as soon the gas is switched off you are again at room temperature. As long as the food tastes great (campaigns are ROI positive or otherwise achieving your business goals) you should continue cooking with as much heat (budget) as possible. Paid digital advertising is also very measurable, with clear conversion, cost, and traffic metrics available on demand.

Organic digital marketing, which includes tactics such as SEO (search engine optimization) and social media marketing, can be more likened to an electric stove. Here, it takes time for things to heat up, but the element remains hot for some time after you cut the current. Organic marketing is generally less measurable than paid. SEO rankings can not only vary by the user, but by the day, and social media marketing generally reports on engagement, which then has to translated into conversion metrics. However, once great search engine rankings or a strong social media presence is built, businesses will continue seeing results even after the campaign ends. However, those gains won’t last forever, as competitors are also marketing, so these campaigns should run for the long term.

So what works best? A blended and cohesive campaign that leverages the benefits of both paid advertising and organic marketing to build a profitable, long term, scalable, and sustainable approach. Neither method should operate in isolation, instead they should work together for the benefit of both. And these channels work together well. Very well. Search ads can be used for rapid testing of potential SEO keywords. A Facebook contest can drive traffic to a contest landing page that can build remarketing lists for your paid campaigns. A new customer that came through a display ad can proudly share their purchase on Facebook. The list goes on. Breaking the mentality of a single “owner” of each lead is important. Make sure to dive into Google’s attribution model comparison tool to understand the role each channel plays, uncover hidden value of marketing methods, and see how different channels come together to drive customer acquisition. Ultimately, both paid advertising and organic marketing should play a critical role in your marketing plan.

Will content and paid advertising teams conflict, or will content provide the messaging needed for effective paid campaigns? Will SEO and PPC teams fight over keyword targeting or will they work together to drive incremental visitors to your site? Will your Facebook manager only what videos posted on Facebook and not YouTube, or will they drive subscriptions to your YouTube channel? Cooperation and cohesion across channels, teams, and tactics will drive much more marketing value than any single tactic alone.

As these worlds converge, how will you turn the two leaves of marketing your business online into a single blossoming plant? As is marketing. As is life. Together we stand. Divided we fall.

How do you leverage digital advertising for real estate promotion?

2017-11-23T17:29:00.000+05:30

Brick by brick, click by click. Discover how O3M converts curious searchers into coveted customers!

O3M, as one of India’s top digital marketing agencies, successfully promotes real estate projects for builders, developers, brokers, and architects across India and the globe. O3M’s performance oriented advertising campaigns enable clients to achieve their digital marketing for real estate goals in a cost effective and scalable manner. Take an inside look at how digital advertising can be leveraged to drive real results.

What makes for real estate marketing success?

First and foremost, client education is critical. Clients must understand the marketing channels being used, what results to expect, and how to understand performance reports. Only once this is achieved can effective and efficient collaboration between client and agency take place. This collaboration is important - while digital marketers can measure leads, cost per lead, and conversion rate, ultimately only the client’s sales force can offer final input on lead quality. Open sharing of lead quality then enables the agency to optimize not just towards lead volume and cost, but also quality. Ultimately, quality leads are what convert into buyers. Go beyond lead volume when optimizing, and work together to focus on sales.

After client education, what typically goes into a quality lead generation campaign?

First and foremost comes a clear brand voice and vision. This answers questions such as:

What takeaways should prospective buyers get from marketing materials?
Who is the audience?
What does the brand represent?
Why should a customer buy from you and not a competitor?

With a clear voice and vision, only then can marketing materials be developed. One of the most important for web marketing is, of course, the landing page. A typical successful real estate landing page includes such best practices such as including multiple clear calls to action, showing quality property images, stating pricing up front, and including a map and driving distance details. It’s even better if the page can also include a time sensitive special offer. Of course the page should be mobile friendly and look great across devices. Don’t forget your RERA details and a privacy policy!

With a great landing page developed, ads (both image and text) can then be created. These ads should closely echo the features, benefits, and value propositions found on the landing page. This will lead to higher Quality Scores in AdWords as well as a clear and unified marketing message.

Now that I have a great landing page and ads, how do I market online?

This is where O3M kicks into overdrive -- managing and optimizing performance oriented digital advertising campaigns for real estate players of all sizes. First a pilot campaign is launched to determine best messaging and audiences, establish benchmark performance, and build healthy advertising accounts. Then, O3M’s trained and certified Analysts continually optimize the campaign to show continual improvement in conversion rate and cost per lead while focusing on quality.

A typical medium budget real estate paid advertising campaign consists of:

Google Search Ads:

Customers are connected with your brand when they search on Google via PPC ads. From specific terms such as “2BHK for 80 lakh in Nandanam” to broader terms such as “Best luxury villas in Chennai” your ads will be displayed for terms that relate to your property.
Google Search - Call Only ads are hot for real estate marketers right now. These ads are similar to regular search ads, but only appear on smartphones and on click, instead of going to the website or landing page, the client’s phone number is opened in the phone dialer.

Google Display Ads:

Google AdWords enables banner ads to be displayed across thousands (millions?) of websites around the web. Better yet, while your full creative is shown, you are only paying for actual engagement (clicks).
Targeting is flexible with Google Display. From audience (affinity and in-market categories) to broad topic targeting to bidding on selected placements manually, AdWords campaigns managed by O3M offer a wide variety of targeting options.

Gmail Sponsored Ads:

Email marketing for 2017 and beyond. Gmail Sponsored Promotions showcases your property’s message in the “Promotions” tab of free Gmail accounts. On click, a full email creative is opened. Targeting is similiar to display campaigns, offering topic, keyword, and audience targeting options.

YouTube Ads:

Be it skippable TrueView Ads or 6 second non-skippable Bumper Ads, YouTube advertising is a great way to place video content in front of prospective buyers. Better yet, extend the lifetime value of existing TVCs by expanding your reach to YouTube.

Facebook Ads:

Do you have an ideal buyer persona in mind? Then leverage the powerful demographic targeting of YouTube to get your marketing message in front of them while they engage on Facebook.

Content marketing

Do you have a story to tell? Then turn to content marketing. Content marketing using platforms such as Times of India’s Colombia Sponsored Content network places your content around the web as “related articles” on news sites. This is a great way to build credibility and tell a longer story as the prospective customers are actively reading, as opposed to browsing.

Outside of paid marketing, there are a range of techniques used to drive customers. These include social media marketing, local SEO, and national SEO.

How should I determine if my agency is “good”?

Of course “good” is a very relative term. Performance can vary across projects, pricing, and locations. However, there are a few key things to watch out for:

Do they understand your audience?

You know your buyers. Does your agency? From running NRI targeted campaigns to connect with potentially higher value overseas prospects to creating ads that speak to your audience, your agency’s understanding needs to be inline with yours.

Do you have account access?

All advertisers should have direct access to their advertising accounts. While we don’t expect you to become an Analyst, having account access ensures transparency and that you are only be billed for advertising that is actually happening.

Do their reports include the metrics that matter?

Different clients often want different metrics. Agency reports should reflect this by understanding your business goals and then including the metrics that matter to you in reports.

Looking for a real estate digital marketing campaign for your property? Contact Chennai's O3M, leaders in digital real estate advertising, for a free one-hour strategy session. O3M has the tools, training, experience, and best practices needed to make your real estate marketing a success.

Already have a Google AdWords campaign running? Contact O3M for a free audit.

Is Shopify Gold Expensive?

2017-11-06T17:26:00.000+05:30

With a quick look at the numbers, eCommerce in India is clearly booming, and the trend is expected to continue for a long time to come. The opportunity is certainly there, with eye-popping stats such as:

Morgan Stanley forecasting 1,200% growth in online retail, with revenue reaching over Rs. 13 lakh crore by 2026.
650 million+ Indians online by 2020.
50%+ of India’s internet growth coming from rural areas.
122 million people entering the workforce in the next 10 years, unlocking serious additional buying power.
Online buyers spending 2X compared to their offline peers.

With this in mind, the time to sell online is now. So how do you start? Well, assuming you have a great product that is competitively priced and has a unique selling proposition compared to competitors (easy, right?) the next step is to create an online store. After that, connect a payment gateway, promote the store, and start taking orders. This is where the fun begins.

The first decision is whether to choose a SaaS model or a hosted solution. SaaS models (i.e. Shopify) are great for the ease of use, support, and ongoing updates that they generally offer. An open source solution (i.e. Magento Community Edition) offers unlimited customization and the ability to host on your own server.

Considering the leading SaaS eCommerce solution, Shopify, the benefits include:

A wide range of supported themes, templates, and plugins to choose from.
Direct support from Shopify or from Shopify Expert Agencies
No worries about backups, downtime, or viruses as the platform is hosted by Shopify, not by you.

With Magento you get:

Direct access to the source code, enabling custom programming for your site.
A lively community of Magento users
A free, open-source solution (more on that later)

With regards to Magento, is free truly free? Unless you are a coder and designer who already has a server the answer is a loud “NO!”

Interestingly, as Magento is pushed as a free offering, Shopify has added Shopify Gold to its Indian product offering, which comes with an, on the surface, high price tag. But is it really expensive?

Shopify Gold offers features including:

A fully hosted solution with unlimited bandwidth
Local account management with 24X7 phone support
Easily expand your sales by selling across countries and currencies
Direct API access enabling your store to move faster and smarter than the competition
Up to 200 TB of storage

Compared to the “free” of Magento, Shopify’s charge of 0.4% of monthly sales (From Rs. 65,000, capped at Rs. 1.3 lakh) may seem expensive, but is it?

Let’s take a look at the costs associated with a site relaunch of a typical medium-high volume online seller who sees 3,750 orders per month with an average order value of Rs. 5,000

	Magento average price	Shopify average price
Installation, Design, and Development	Rs. 1,300,000	Rs. 65,000
Monthly SaaS Fee	Rs. 0	Rs. 65,000 (variable)
Monthly Enterprise Web hosting	Rs. 4,000/month	Rs. 0
Monthly Developer Upkeep and Updates	Rs. 75,000 (25 hours at Rs. 3,000/hour)	Rs. 0 with free phone support, ongoing updates, and easy to use admin panel.

Comparing the expenses in a table format showcases that “free” Magento is often much more expensive than the SaaS model of Shopify.

Given the value Shopify provides, are you on Magento and interested in saying goodbye to:

Needing your developer and designer for every last change?
Worrying about hosting, updates, and security?
Posting urgent support questions in the community forum and hoping for an answer?

If so, give Shopify Gold a chance and enjoy the industry leading support, functionality, and security that Shopify provides. Contact a Shopify Expert agency to get started.

Digital Marketing Ghosts To Avoid

2017-10-27T13:29:00.000+05:30

Halloween is just around the corner. While costume ideas dance around our heads we couldn’t help but think about how the scariest day of the year relates to the digital marketing industry. Besides an increase in candy sales and costume idea searches, All Hallows Eve got us thinking about ghosts. Scary, scary ghosts. AdWords ghosts. Facebook ghosts. Domain ghosts. For online marketers, these are the most terrifying ghosts of all.

What’s a digital marketing ghost? These are things that have happened in the past that can sandbag a campaign if you don’t understand their impact and adjust for it. Some of the top digital marketing spectres include:

The Ghost of Expired Domains:

Many SEOs purchase expired domains and either redirect them to their website or put up a page or two on the domain with an abundance of links pointing to their money site. The goal in doing so is to take the domain authority of the purchased domain and pass it along to their primary site.

This makes sense, but can lead to rankings penalties or even deindexing altogether. Essentially you are building a PBN (private blog network), which we know Google hates. If you are going this route make sure to:

Review the domain in Search Console and check for any penalties or manual actions
Make sure the current pages on the domain are indexed and appearing in the SERPs
Check the link profile of the domain. If it has excessive spammy links pointing to it this could lead to penalties.
Visit archive.org and check what the old site looked like. If it’s a quality site then maaaaaybe consider it, but if it was spammy at all it’s a better to pass on buying it altogether.

The Ghost of Low Quality Score:

Yes, we understand that Google does not recognize the concept of account level quality score, but just about everyone else does. With this in mind, it’s important to manage your QualityScore not only on a keyword, ad, and landing page level but also account wide.

If your account is full of keywords with poor quality scores this may very well sandbag the rest of your keywords and ads that could otherwise be strong performers.

Make sure to remove keywords that have low quality score unless you really need to be bidding on them. If the account is in really bad shape with poor performance history, consider starting fresh with a new account.

The Ghost of “Accept Recommendations”:

That cute little alarm bell at the top right of Google AdWords can be helpful. Budget notifications, bid suggestions, and error notifications can save Analysts precious time. However, sometimes what is suggested may not be best for the advertiser. Often times, the keywords suggested are too broad or targeting recommendations may not be inline with advertiser goals.

Several times we’ve seen Analysts optimizing campaigns and then all of a sudden things have gone haywire and performance has tanked. Looking into the change history, the client has rapidly added lots of keywords. Upon follow up, it turns out the client saw Google was suggesting something and “accepted” it without any analysis.

With this in mind, particularly if several people have access to an account, make sure to vet recommendations before accepting them and keep an eye on change history.

The Ghost of Bad Reviews:

A great manager or employee can reinvent a business. Restaurants turn around when a great new chef enters the picture and otherwise boring offices are reinvented into lively places when a cheery new employee joins the company. However, sometimes the ghosts of company past can linger and damage the new momentum.

In the digital space, this often happens in the form of bad reviews. TripAdvisor isn’t going to scrub that one star rating because you higher a new cleaning staff. Yelp isn’t going to bump you up to 5 stars because the new menu tastes great. You’ll be found wanting if you call Mark Zuckerberg and tell him the business has really turned around thus those hate posts and one stars should be deleted.

When people search they will encounter these reviews and they will likely be a major part of their decision process on whether to buy. Given that, make sure you are proactively responding to the negative reviews and trying to make things right and also running initiatives inside your company to get positive reviews from your happy customer base.

Make sure to stay away from these digital marketing ghosts so you don’t have a terrifying campaign! Happy Halloween from Chennai’s leading online marketing agency.

- RP and NS

Digital Marketing Ideas for Diwali: Reach, Connect, Celebrate

2017-10-17T21:32:00.000+05:30

India is a land with a diverse population of people from different races, communities, religions and beliefs. With so many cultures in play, India has even more festivals! So much so, it wears the crown of being “The Land of Festivals.” Amongst them all, Diwali holds a special place in our hearts and is the most widely celebrated. Diwali is a festival of joy, hope and celebration. Pujas, events, feasts, sweets, and firecrackers all play a part in the celebration. And shopping. Oh, the shopping. With such a rush to stores, offline and online, it’s critical to take a look at some of the digital marketing techniques that can drive sales for your business during the Diwali shopping rush.

The joy of reaching people & the best time to connect with your customers

On Diwali, every corner of cities, towns and villages lights up. The major attractions of Diwali celebrations include firecrackers, sweets, snacks, the exchange of gifts, new clothes, colorful candles and decorating the home and neighborhood. Homes beam with bright and colourful rangoli patterns while diyas and lamps light up the night and turn dark into light. With such a colorful festival, Diwali marketing promotions typically revolve around lights, crackers, happiness, and sharing. However, innovation and creativity must set your Diwali promotions apart as shoppers are flooded with ads. You don't just need another cracker background; you need to turn that sparkler into a rocket. How you differentiate your marketing campaign is key. What will you do so your marketing message stands out from the clutter?

The time to buy is now

Promotion year round is important, but during Diwali it is critical. Diwali is considered an auspicious time for making high value purchases. Brands make the most of this time of year with discounts, deals, special offers, new products, exchange offers, EMI schemes and much more. The competition is so intense that smart buyers save big. Purchasing power is high this time of year and your Diwali marketing idea should revolve around both your high price but low volume and low price but high volume products. Careful product selection and the proper balance of high and low ticket size items should be given extra care when gearing up for Diwali promotions.

Online shopping is far more convenient for buyers, bringing Diwali gifts to their doorsteps and enabling them to skip the crowded markets and malls. With ease of purchase, a seemingly unlimited selection of products, and great offers, eCommerce in India is growing fast. These buyers can be targeted with digital advertising. Online shoppers can be targeted a variety of ways – from what they search for, to what sites they are on and what videos they are watching, to demographic criteria based on their Facebook likes. Consider mapping out what you know about your customer, working to understand their browsing and purchase patters, and then run a targeted campaign accordingly.

Besides fun and enjoyment, there are other Diwali memories which leaves an impact on our minds. Those are the Diwali commercials we see every year. Brands come up with catchy messages that hope to create an emotional connection between Diwali and their products. Smart brands are extending their commercials on YouTube, which offers better targeting, smarter budgeting, and more reporting compared to traditional TVCs.

With buying products or launching new ventures considered auspicious during Diwali, the time is now to promote your brand. In doing so, think digital.

Go Digital This Diwali

During festivals like Diwali work to develop an innovative campaign. Consider highlighting your product as part of festival celebrations. Cadbury, for example, positioned their chocolates as a substitute for traditional Diwali sweets. Once you have a powerful story to tell, promote your brand across platforms to reach your targeted customers wherever they are.

The pieces of a Diwali marketing campaign:

Diwali themed landing pages

Dress up your website or landing page for festival season. Use an attractive Diwali themed banner that relating to exclusive Diwali offers.

Get social

Give your pages a Diwali makeover with themed banners, logos, and content.

Tell stories about seasonal products and work to create an emotional connection.

Share pictures of your company Diwali celebrations.

Consider unexpected announcements of sales or discounts for a limited period of time.

Run social media ads to push customer engagement to new highs.

Go Google AdWords

For most businesses, prospective customers are searching on Google, which makes AdWords a great way to market your products and services. Google AdWords is an incredibly powerful tool for advertising your business. With professional optimization by a trained employee or leading Indian digital marketing agency, AdWords can provide excellent ROI and generate serious sales for your business. AdWords isn’t just search either, the full marketing mix has grown to include:

Search Ads:

Google AdWords Search Ads enable you to capture demand, showcasing your offerings at the exact moment when customers are searching for them. Introduce Diwali themes into your ads, but always focus on high relevance between the search term, ad text, and landing page.

Display Ads:

Reach out to people with compelling, Diwali themed display (banner) ads based on the site they are currently visiting or who they are (demographic targeting) wherever they are on the web.

Call Only Ads:

Do you sell better than your website does? Consider call only ads for search. Here, instead of clicking to visit your website, mobile searches open your phone number in their smartphone.

Remarketing for Search and Display:

Target “the one that got away” with remarketing. Here you target your ads to people who have already visited your website. Consider a special offer to give that extra push needed for them to click “add to cart.”

YouTube Ads:

Create an attractive video campaign exclusively for Diwali. Consider including subtitles or even different languages to broaden your audience. Can you tell your brand story in six seconds? Give bumper ads a try! The CPMs are great and they are non skippable.

With so many powerful advertising possibilities, online selling during the festival season requires the right mix of creativity, campaign execution ability, and ongoing, data driven optimization. Don’t want to manage the details? Contact a leading digital marketing company in Chennai to do it for and guide you every step of the way.

O3M wins Google Premier Partner Award for Growing Business Online

2017-08-16T12:08:00.000+05:30

Chennai – 16 August 2017

O3M Directional Marketing , a Chennai based Google Premier Partner focused on maximizing value for clients through ongoing performance oriented marketing, is the winner of the Growing Business Online Award at Google Premier Partner Awards 2017, India.

The Premier Partner Awards program, which launched globally this year, is designed to reward and recognize top-performing Premier Google Partners for their contributions to digital marketing, product innovation and client growth in 6 categories: Search, Display, Mobile, Shopping, Video and Growing Businesses Online. Over 100 companies entered the competition in Asia-Pacific.

O3M, which offers digital marketing and advertising services to growing companies in both India and globally, based its award submission around it’s blended search, display and TrueView campaign for Johnson Lifts. Johnson Lifts was looking to enhance its brand awareness and drive leads from newer audiences and turned to O3M for help. O3M delivered a campaign which derived these objectives and more. Results include over 500 enquiries/month, a Search CTR of over 8%, over 100,000 video views with a view thru rate of 20%+ on long form videos.

“The AdWords Campaign has helped refresh the 50-years old identity of Johnson Lifts to one that meets the technology and aesthetic requirements by giving our potential customers comprehensive information about Johnson Lifts and its services at the click of a button”, explained Yohan John, Director, Johnson Lifts

“It’s been exciting to see the submissions from digital marketing leaders across the India region. We’re delighted to celebrate the Premier Google Partners who have made it to the winner list for Awards,” said Sam Singh, Director - India Agencies, Google India.

O3M is part of a select group of digital specialists called Premier Google Partners. This is a program set up by Google specifically to help small– to medium–sized businesses (SMBs) get online and find new customers.

Three-peat! O3M is the Recipient of Google India's Premier SMB Partner Award for Highest Customer Satisfaction For The Third Consecutive Year

2016-01-25T15:12:00.000+05:30

Chennai’s own O3M Directional Marketing is pleased to, yet again, announce that they are the winners of the Google India Premier SMB Partner Award for Highest Customer Satisfaction. This marks the third consecutive year in which O3M has been on the dais for this most sought after award. The award is based on actual customer feedback from a large-scale survey issued by Google earlier this year.

According to Renjith Rajan, Founder of O3M, this is the most special year yet. “This year, it is a very meaningful award for us. We have been focusing our efforts on scaling the business while continuing to have the most delighted clients in the industry and it appears we are succeeding in this mission.”

Rob Peck, Director of Client Services, echoes this thought, saying, “Keeping our fundamental base of ethics, transparency, and performance intact, we have been able to grow the business, but in a manner which continues to treat all clients as extremely valuable. Growth without satisfaction is not enough, and it is always most welcome to receive this kind of confirmation of our customers’ happiness with the work we provide.”

The Highest Customer Satisfaction Award is based on client responses to survey criteria and largely based on the answer to the question “Overall, how satisfied are you with the support you receive?” O3M believes the award is not “just” a testament to happy customers, but also a signal that team members’ dedication, hard work, and passion for client success is paying off.

Through 2016 and beyond, O3M is excited to continue it’s vision of connecting clients with their customers in the most affordable, ethical, and performance oriented manner possible.

About O3M Directional Marketing

O3M, one of India's leading online advertising agencies, is a full service digital advertising agency with a track record of success. Our 100+ years of global experience, combined with our insight into the domestic Indian market, allows us to not only deliver superior results at an affordable cost, but also offer cutting-edge online marketing solutions including PPC, SEO, and SMO.

We are the digital arm of your businesses which connect you with prospective customers online. Our Google AdWords certified analysts educate clients on the performance of your online advertising campaign at every turn, even providing direct campaign access for full and transparent reporting.

About the Google AdWords Premier SMB Partner Program

The Google AdWords Premier SMB Partner Program (PSP) connects Google’s trusted and experienced AdWords partners with small- and medium-sized businesses that want expert help in creating, managing and optimizing their online advertising campaigns. In addition to in-depth AdWords expertise, PSP partners provide full-service campaign management, detailed reporting, one-on-one customer support, and broad marketing guidance to help advertisers make the most of their campaigns. P remier SMB Partners meet Google’s highest standards and criteria for qualification, transparency, and customer service, which includes completing extensive Google product and account management training. This ensures they can provide small businesses with the most effective AdWords advertising solutions.

For press enquiries please email info@o3mdm.com.

HTTPS: More Important Than "Just" Being In Google Search Results

2015-12-22T16:33:00.002+05:30

Hypertext Transfer Protocol, better known as HTTP, is the application protocol which enables us to access, browse, and interact with our favorite websites. The foundation of data communication on the web, HTTP is, essentially, the request-response (client-server) model that makes a link and link, and let's your web browser access data on a server. It's nothing new, with "hypertext" being coined in 1965 and a fully document HTTP version released in 1991.

As the web grew in utility, developers quickly released they needed a secure protocol. From classified company secrets to private chats with a spouse to eCommerce transactions, data in transit needs to be secure. Enter HTTPS. HTTPS is the secure version of HTTP. Using key based encryption (Transport Layer Security), HTTPS achieves two goals: authenticating websites and servers and encrypting data in transit, which prevents man in the middle attacks from intercepting raw data such as chats, credit card numbers, and passwords.

HTTPS is growing more important than ever, largely due to:

Growth in eCommerce transactions and online banking
Social media making the web the 1 communication platform
Growing use of unknown, public, or unsecured WiFi networks.

It's already in use in your browser and your business doesn't collect confidential information, so why should you care now? Because Google does!

In the past week, Google announced that HTTPS pages will now be indexed (crawled by Google so they appear in the search results) by default. Using HTTPS sites more will increase users safety on the web by preventing eavesdropping (from hackers, and government, and government hackers), man in the middle attacks, data modification, and phishing. Going HTTPS by default should make the web a safer place.

Google's interest in HTTPS is nothing new. Last year Google announced that HTTPS is a ranking signal for the search results. HTTP is certainly not the most important ranking signal (great content that people love will always be #1), but a ranking signal nonetheless.

So why should you move to HTTPS?

HTTPS builds trust in the eyes of your customers. They know your site is secure, and even more so, know that you have their privacy and security on your mind.
HTTPS builds trust in the eyes of the search engines. Every little bit counts in SEO, and HTTPS is certainly no exception.
HTTPS, as part of your wider security setup, prevents cyber attacks which can lead to costly downtown and even actual financial losses.

Questions? Let us know in the comments or contact our SysAdmin or Web Dev teams for more details. We'd love to hear from you!

How Do Your Customers Define Value?

2015-06-29T12:47:00.000+05:30

How do your customers define value? Is it simply the cost of what you are selling them? The cost of the next best alternative? The utility your product brings them? Or is something much deeper?

Merriam Webster tells us value is, simply, "the amount of money that something is worth." However, that "worth" is often subjective. As VC money flies around India at a quickening pace, this word "value" becomes even cloudier. Is Uber truly worth $50B today, or is Uber valued at that because the future worth is expected to increase? A seatbelt costs $50 or so. If it saves the life of your child in an accident is that same seatbelt really still valued at only $50?

As we can see, value is a very dynamic principle, changing it's worth and definition based on the perception of the product, the buyer, the seller, and perhaps a little marketing creativity.

Is music worth what it was to you ten years ago? Then why are you paying so much less now?

A great example of changing value based on the psychological shifts, supply and demand changes, and simply changing tastes and behaviors is evident in the lobster market. What was once prison food has become a luxury dish. Our friends at VoucherCloud put together a wonderful infographic which covers this and more:

Perception of Value - An infographic by the team at vouchercloud

As you can see value changes rapidly. With the growth of digital, understanding value in the minds of your customers is more important then ever. They are researching, deciding, discovering and buying online more than ever. It is the responsibility of smart marketers to stay current on changing psychological, environmental, competitor, and consumer trends, come up with a serious value proposition, and deliver on it, for them to success in the digital era. Looking for someone to do this for you? Contact South India's leading digital marketing agency to discover how effective digital marketing enables you to showcase your brand's value to clients.

Embed Perception of Value on Your Site: Copy and Paste the Code Below

DIGITAL ADVERTISING EXPO IN NAMMA CHENNAI

2015-05-28T15:10:00.003+05:30

Join thought leaders from Google India, O3M Directional Marketing, and fellow successful business owners and marketers for a one-day action packed seminar. You’ll learn what the breaking trends and strategies are for online success, and how top marketers are using them to make their businesses grow.

MAKING THE MOST OF THE WEB – HOW NAMMA CHENNAI BRINGS OFFLINE SUCCESS ONLINE

ACTIONABLE AND EDUCATIONAL CONTENT:

Learn from industry leaders, including senior members of Google India and O3M as they discuss digital marketing opportunities over 5 sessions. With the right mix of practical and theoretical, these sessions will help you grow your revenue online.

GROW YOUR COMPANY:

Understand why you need to “Go Digital.” Understand the incredible opportunities to bring your existing sales methods online or branch out and understand how online can achieve all your goals – brand awareness, credibility, visibility, and sales!

EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE:

Understand what is actually working online for seasoned online marketers and business owners in Chennai. Sharing their knowledge will help you craft your own digital marketing strategy. Please join us on June 4th for an exclusive opportunity to connect with digital marketing thought leaders, including representatives from Google India and O3M.

Source: http://www.o3mdm.com/digital-advertising-event/index.html

Alpha Tested: Google Webmaster Tools Search Impact Report

2015-02-13T17:15:00.002+05:30

One of the joys of being a Google India Premier SME Partner is getting the chance to work hands on with new Google AdWords tools and technologies before most advertisers. The most recent tool we took a look at is the Google Webmaster Tools "Search Impact Report."

This report, currently in alpha, is accessed as a new link under the "Search Traffic" section of Google Webmaster Tools.

Search Impact is essentially the old "Search Query Report" on steroids. With Search Impact users can slice and dice our familiar search metrics in a variety of ways. Clicks, Impressions, CTR, and Avg. Position can be plotted against date ranges, individual search queries, pages, countries, and devices.

Some of the more interesting views include:

An interesting look at local (query based) search position vs. device type.

Easily track metrics over time. Great for SEO recovery projects. Note data is limited to 3 months.

A great look into the relationship between impressions and average position.

Be careful with the number of filters and metrics you use. Graphs get busy quickly!

Overall, Search Impact is a most welcome update to Webmaster Tools and should give marketers a better understanding of how query types, landing pages, geo targeting, and devices correlate with website performance on the SERPS.

Google is aggressively seeking feedback, so let us know in the comments what features you want to see and we'll be sure to pass it along!

A friendly reply -- 7 reasons why you should use Google AdWords

2015-02-06T11:32:00.000+05:30

We were surprised to see a Google AdWords hate post making the way around one of our favorite Facebook (Sorry G+ Team!) groups. Most folks in the digital marketing industry have settled on the fact that AdWords is a great marketing tool for a wide variety of businesses. While not the perfect fit for every industry under the sun; the tools, platform, and reach that Google AdWords provides makes it impossible to ignore. Furthermore, our extremely happy clients continue to see their sales, brands, and reach flourish due in no small part to their Google AdWords campaigns.

4 years ago called...they want their interface back.

In the post, the author listed 7 reasons why he feels "you" (whoever you are), should not be using Google AdWords.

Claim 1: "Users trust organic search."

I would certainly agree with this, but this does not mean that they distrust paid search. In fact, countless studies show that a hybrid approach of a great PPC campaign coupled with strong organic results pays off big time. A rising tide indeed does lift all boats in the digital advertising world.

Claim 2: "Clicks are increasingly expensive."

This is either a) based on misinformation or b) based on a very limited data set. With the growth of mobile, more searches are happening than ever which is driving CPCs down. The decline in ave. CPC is clearly spelled out in Google's earnings.

Claim 3: "Text ads are possibly the worst kind of advertising format."

This is opinion, thus there is nothing really to disprove. We would disagree however, as we have seen text ads (particularly in search) drive a high volume of leads for advertisers at a reasonable cost per lead.

We would like to mention that there are appears to be some confusion regarding what Google AdWords is. It isn't just text ads. Our Google AdWords advertisers enjoy:

Gmail Sponsored Promotions -- Full page creative targeted to hit the inboxes of carefully selected users.
Google Shopping (PLA) ads -- by syncing their online store with Google Merchant Center, advertisers can easily and cleanly display their products on the Google SERP.
YouTube Ads -- The full power of sight and sound on YouTube. Further, with TrueView bidding if a user skips the advertiser doesn't pay.
Google Display Network -- Don't like text ads? Great! Serve up some image ads.

Claim 4: "Mistakes can cost you dearly"

This is certainly true, but isn't it true of any advertising format? At least with AdWords if you make a mistake you can correct it in near real time. Certainly it is easier to correct your mistakes than on traditional mediums such as print or billboards. Further, the one time we had a sizable whoopsie Google worked with us on it.

Claim 5: "Google maybe charging you for traffic which it shouldn’t be charging for."

I know firsthand, just how much technology, effort, and energy Googlers put into minimizing fraudulent or otherwise bad clicks. It is critical for their business model that advertisers trust the platform, and Google works to build that trust. Another claim, "The worrying trend is, while Google detects such fraud, it does not provide a mechanism to not charge the advertiser or refund the advertiser." is particularly alarming. This is, of course, false, as evidenced by the click quality rebates advertisers see in their invoices:

Lookie here! A mechanism to refund the advertiser...

If that's not enough, there is a user friendly troubleshooting form to alert them to any suspicious activity in your account.

Claim 6: " Google runs a monopoly in advertising that leads to high ad prices"

Google is definitely a giant; but it's up to courts, not dissatisfied advertisers, to make the monopoly claim.

" Lack of transparency means only one thing, continued climb of cost per clicks and increased cost per acquisition costs" is perhaps easier to counter. Again, CPCs are down QoQ, so there goes that argument. As far as transparency...next time you run a classified ad, ask the paper for exact details on how many people saw your ad and circled or cut out (offline version of click) your ad to follow up. Do you think they will provide it? Perhaps the TV networks will not charge advertisers when watchers get up to make a snack? Doubt it...

Claim 7: "Studies say that Google Ads are useless."

The author sites a single item -- eBay pulling their search ads. Guess what...they are back:

Think it's time for a new study from eBay?

Overall, we believe it's great for advertisers to carefully review all available options, test them where possible, and continue with the ones that have the most powerful effect on their business. While we are digital evangelists, we refer clients to offline agencies all the time if we feel they can help their business.

It's odd to see marketers make such a blanket statement that an entire advertising medium should not be used. Perhaps there was some issue with account setup? We'd be happy to have one of our Analysts dive into the blog author's campaigns and send over a free campaign audit.

Till next time.

-RP

O3M is the Winner of Google India Premier SMB Partner Award for Highest Customer Satisfaction

2015-02-03T14:31:00.001+05:30

Chennai-based O3M Directional Marketing, a leading provider of digital advertising services globally, is pleased to announce that they are the winners of the Google India Premier SMB Partner Award for highest customer satisfaction. This is the second consecutive year in which O3M has won this distinction, which is based on actual small business client feedback.

O3M prides itself on making its clients of all sizes productive online; working with advertisers to determine their digital goals and then tirelessly persevering to achieve them. According to Renjith Rajan, Founder of O3M,

“ We are grateful that Google has again recognized our hard work to keep our clients happy. The O3M team believes that educating the client in the early stages, to develop shared objectives and understand the tools we are using to achieve them, is critical to satisfied customers.”

Rob Peck, Director of Client Services, seconds that, “We are fiercely passionate about getting local business of all sizes online, and it’s always reassuring to see that the hard work of the team is noticed by the clients we service.” Google also recognizes the importance of agencies in the SMB space.

“The Google AdWords Premier SMB Partner Program is a great way for small businesses to connect with companies who can help them make the most of their online advertising,” says James Sanders, head of Google’s APAC channel sales partnerships. “Guided by the expertise of our trusted partners like O3M, small- and medium-sized businesses can maximize the value and performance of their campaigns.”

O3M team receiving their award from Rajan Anandan, Head of Google India

Looking to 2015 and beyond, O3M is eager to grow through connecting clients with customers online in a performance oriented, ethical, and affordable manner.

About O3M Directional Marketing
O3M, one of India's leading online advertising agencies, is a full service digital advertising agency with a track record of success. Our 100+ years of global experience, combined with our insight into the domestic Indian market, allows us to not only deliver superior results at an affordable cost, but also offer cutting-edge online marketing solutions including PPC, SEO, and SMO.
We are the digital arm of your businesses which connect you with prospective customers online. Our Google AdWords certified analysts educate clients on the performance of your online advertising campaign at every turn, even providing direct campaign access for full and transparent reporting.

About the Google AdWords Premier SMB Partner Program T he Google AdWords Premier SMB Partner Program (PSP) connects Google’s trusted and experienced AdWords partners with small- and medium-sized businesses that want expert help in creating, managing and optimizing their online advertising campaigns. In addition to in-depth AdWords expertise, PSP partners provide full-service campaign management, detailed reporting, one-on-one customer support, and broad marketing guidance to help advertisers make the most of their campaigns. P remier SMB Partners meet Google’s highest standards and criteria for qualification, transparency, and customer service, which includes completing extensive Google product and account management training. This ensures they can provide small businesses with the most effective AdWords advertising solutions. F or more information about the Google AdWords Premier SMB Partner program, visit: https://www.google.co.in/intl/en/ads/premiersmbpartner/index.html  

For press enquiries please email info@o3mdm.com.

O3M is hiring! If you would like to join the team, please send your resume and cover letter to admin@o3mdm.com

Feeling Saucy? Stop By The Great Marrybrown Chicken Festival before Jan. 15th.

2015-01-13T19:38:00.003+05:30

From Hollywood’s Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles to Madurai’s ubiquitous chicken 65 stalls, the love of chicken is global. Whatever the flavor, or flare may be, fresh chicken cooked to perfect golden brown with the right spices is a must. Marrybrown delivers a taste of chicken the world over, and then some, with their “The Great Marrybrown Chicken Festival.”

Part anniversary celebration, part slogan contest, and part just great eating, The Great Marrybrown Chicken Festival serves up a double dose of chicken with some great, limited time, rubs and sauces.

For the contest lovers, Marrybrown is certainly worth a visit. Simply completing the statement “I love Marrybrown because…” enters you into the festival contest. First prize, sponsored in part by Tourism Malaysia, wins you a couples stay at a five-star hotel in Malaysia. The first and second runner-ups bag a free trip along with stay at a renowned three-star hotel in Malaysia. 10 couples will also win runner up prizes with a stay at the lovely MGM Coonoor Resort in Ooty.

Now on to the food! The highlight of the Festival is the range of rubs and sauces being offered. Flavors on deck include “Brazilian & Cuban Sauce” and Peri Peri Sauce along with choices of Manhattan and Caribbean seasonings. All are worth a try, but South India palates will likely opt for the spicy tang of the Peri Peri sauce, perhaps along with the Caribbean seasoning. The Manhattan seasoning bears a striking resemblance to traditional Malabar seasoning, so the Keralites in the crowd should give it a try.

Certainly mix and match as some very unique flavors can be created by combining the sauces and seasonings. No need for the veg crowd to worry, all are available in their fairly impressive range of vegetarian options.

The anniversary celebration is an achievement in and off itself. Founded in 1981, Marrybrown entered India in 2000. Since that time they have expanded into 48 outlets in India, with an impressive 450+ outlets globally.

If you are looking for a fast, affordable meal with a unique selection of spices visit Marrybrown before January 15th for a taste of their Great Chicken Festival.

PPC Cartoons

2014-10-06T10:53:00.000+05:30

...

Facebook Business Manager and Facebook Go Support for Agencies in India

2014-09-23T15:44:00.003+05:30

"When will Facebook give agencies an MCC style set-up?" -- every agency ever.

Our Facebook rep gave us some exciting information today -- we are being transitioned to a new management model with two updates which appear to both help us more effectively manage a large number of Facebook Ads client accounts (Business Manager) and a new way of requesting support (Facebook Go).

Facebook Business Manager

According to Facebook, Business Manager is "a tool to help agencies and businesses manage their ad accounts, Pages, and employee permissions all in one place." This will be most helpful. Currently a large number of Facebook accounts are generally managed in one of two ways:

1. Shared account for all clients: With this approach, multiple ads campaigns are difficult to manage, reporting is very complex, and you are unable to share access with clients as they could see all accounts.

2. "Grey accounts" created by agencies. These shared login accounts address most of the above issues, but require you to juggle more usernames and passwords and use a manual signup process which requires manual approval from Facebook.

The timeline is rapid too. According to Facebook:

October 1, 2014: we will no longer be creating new 'shared logins' or 'gray accounts'. All new ad accounts must be created in Business Manager.
January 31, 2015: all 'shared logins' or 'gray accounts' will need to be transitioned to Business Manager. You will only be able to log-in to your gray accounts to pause your active campaigns, but all other functionality will be disabled. It appears Facebook is addressing two core needs here: helping companies with multiple pages (or clients) effectively manage pages, and bring at least some level of aggregate reporting and management to Facebook Ads without requiring a 3rd party tool or API usage.

Confused? Facebook shared this handy picture with us:

I personally haven't gotten hands on with Facebook Business Manager just yet, but will certainly report back when I do.

Facebook Go

This one is much simpler to explain...instead of calling or SENDING FRANTIC ALL CAPS TEXT MESSAGES to our Facebook rep we will be using an online tool.

Overall, it's wonderful to see Facebook keeping agencies in mind when developing their platform. Lower the threshold on credit lines and we are 100% sold!

Blogging in India: Where Do We Stand?

2014-08-21T12:10:00.000+05:30

The blogging wizards over at IndiBlogger released the results of their "The Indian Blogosphere 2014" survey and the results suggest it is a great time to be a blogger in India. The sample size is certainly large enough to deliver meaningful insight, with 1059 questionnaire respondents pulled from their membership of 35,464 authenticated blogs.

 Highlights include:

 Blogs are the fastest growing medium on the web, with comScore reporting 48% YoY growth (2012-2013) to an astounding 35,900,000 blogs in 2013.
 Indian bloggers are currently 75% male.
Indian blogs are 88% in English, with हिन्दी in second place at 5%, and தமிழ் rounding out the top 3 at 3%.
The "health" category is the fastest growing, with 90% YoY growth (2012-2013)
Indian bloggers appear to be more influential than their counterparts around the globe, with 56% influencing purchasing decisions compared to 31% globally.

State of the Indian Blogosphere 2014 from IndiBlogger.in

Apart from the hard stats, IndiBlogger made some very compelling arguments for the importance of bloggers in Indian marketing. This includes,  "Bloggers are the source of the majority of the content available on the internet today." (Great. But I wouldn't mind seeing a source for this.) Additionally they make the case that blogs can be used to "create digital excitement," "provide detailed analysis with multi media," and even "integrate well into existing marketing models."

The monetization methods are varied depending on the topic and platform. The majority of monetized blogs in India are earning through Google AdSense, but Amazon affiliate links, additional ad options (both direct and publisher networks) as well as engagement by agencies are growing in both importance and prevalence.

It's such a pleasure to see this sort of growth in blogging. I remember meeting my first professional blogger in India 3 years ago. My first question to him was, "Wait?! You guys exist here?" Now questions center around monetization methods, platforms and technologies, and high level strategies. What a difference a few years makes.

In any event, I would ask three questions of aspiring bloggers:

What is the goal of your blog? Are you hoping to generate supplemental income, emerge as a thought leader in your industry, build a full time career out of blogging, or perhaps you just want to unleash your thoughts onto the world? Whatever your goal is it's important to define it and work towards it.
What does success look like? This is a very personal questions and will differ for everyone, but bloggers need a clear vision if they hope to succeed.
Do you need to build a team? Bloggers, much like start-ups, are eager to take the world on by themselves. While this can work, often a team approach can lead to everyone doing the tasks they are most effective at and allowing your blog to scale.

Happy Bloggin'!

How To Merge Google+ & Google Maps Business Pages?

2014-06-04T16:30:00.002+05:30

As the most rocking Google AdWords Premier SME Partner in Tamil Nadu we enjoy a direct line of communication and heads up on product updates from Google. Even with this additional information we must admit that the multiple iterations of Google Maps/Google Places/Google Places for Business/Google+/Google+ Local/Google+ for Business/location extensions can sometimes make our heads spin. This has led to having both a Google+ page and a Google Maps listing for our business.

Fortunately for us, Google released a help page detailing how to merge your G+ page for business with your Google Maps page.

With our Google+ page we can:

Post status updates
Engage in meaningful conversations with customers, prospects, partners, and competitors.
Promote our brand on Google’s social network.

Our Google Maps page, perhaps more important the business:

Helps customers find our office.
Allows happy (and not so happy!) customers to leave reviews.
Protects our real estate on the SERPs for brand searches.

However, when they are not merged visitors may not be seeing all the information we would like them to. For instance on our G+ page they can't see reviews and on our GMaps page they can't see our status updates.

Here we detail merging your pages in a few easy steps:

1. Log in to Google+ and navigate to the "Pages" drop down on the left hand side of the page.

2. Navigate to the Local Page you would like to merge and click "Manage this page"

(Note this may look the same as your G+ page. To identify the Maps/Local page look for the "Verified Local Business" shield next to the page name.)

3. Now you are acting as your Local page. Navigate to "Settings" under the top left drop down menu.

4. Scroll down to the "Profile" section near the bottom of the page and click "Connect to a different page"

5. Select the page you would like to connect to and click "Next."

6. Review the message on the following page and click "Confirm" if everything is in order.

7. You are now connected!

See below for a few important notes we have seen around the web and on the Google help page as users merge pages. Of course we are not responsible for any issues you may face merging your pages. But certainly if something buggy happens let us know in the comments!

Make sure to check the “location extensions” in your AdWords campaigns. Some users are reporting that they are disconnecting.
Owner Reponses to user comments may be deleted (either temporarily or permanently)
Some reviews may take several hours to (hopefully) populate on your new page.

(For a client) Creating Your Google Plus Page for Local Business

2014-01-24T16:49:00.000+05:30

Per the request of one of our amazing clients, this week we detail how to create a Google Plus Page for your business.

Local search is growing in importance, particularly in "phone first" markets such as India. Having an effective and accurate local search presence is critical to enabling your customers to find you online.

Compare a potential customer trying to find O3M vs. a competitor with a "brand name + city" search. In this case the search is "company name + Chennai," which suggests we are about to receive a warm lead.

Competitor:

O3M:

Clearly having an accurate and updated Local listing is a critical part of any local search strategy.

How to create your companies Google local listing:

1. Login to the GMail ID which will "own" the listing. Note multiple admins (i.e. branch managers) can be added later.

2. Head over to Google Places for Business and click "Get started for free."

3. Now you will see any existing listings you already control or you can click the "Add a listing" button to create a new one. If you have 10+ locations you can do this via a spreadsheet upload, but note that you must be approved for bulk uploads, which can take some time.

4. Once you click "Add a listing" a Map search will open up. Search for your business (name + location). If you find it you can claim your listing, if not click "No, these are not my businesses, let me create my business."

5. Now you will be able to enter essential business information. Of course, make sure everything is accurate and up to date.

6. Depending on your NAP (name, address, phone) consistency across the internet you will then be able to verify your listing with a PIN received either by phone (faster, preferred) or by postcard.

7. Once your listing is created you can click "edit information" to add additional pictures, text, links, and categories (include everything you do, but DONT CATEGORY SPAM.)

8. Once you have saved you will be brought back to your home screen. From there click "Google+ page" and add your details to finish up your dive into local search!

9. Next, make sure to solicit reviews from your happy customers.

Confused, don't want to create on your own, or looking for a comprehensive local search strategy? Contact O3M, Chennai's top digital advertising agency.

How Does IIHT Vadapalani Prepare Students For The Future?

2013-11-05T12:33:00.001+05:30

Founded in 1992, IIHT Vadapalani is a pioneer in the development of IT and IMS training in India. Their growth story is largely a testament to the importance of key alliances, keeping up with international best practices, and, most importantly, by offering students a valuable and affordable IT education.

Being the first Indian institution to become a member of CompTia, the leading IT industry association, enables IIHT to develop course material that is not only interesting, but also high in demand in the industry. Since that time, meaningful relationships have continued to blossom, with IIHT Vadapalani building meaningful associations with IT leaders including Microsoft, HP, and Redhat. This sort of international exposure benefits future graduates in that they will be experienced in all facets of the IT industry — from customer care, to technical expertise, to value added services. Being able to fix something without being able to effectively communicate it to the client is essentially meaningless — thus IIHT takes the 360 approach of giving its students a balanced, complete education.

Having reviewed, and worked with many of, the leading technical institutes in India, IIHT continues to impress us with the knowledge of their staff and their desire to innovate. Both IIHT’s short term and career courses are perfect for those in need of a high quality IT-IMS education at an affordable price.

A meaningful and lasting career in the IT-IMS space does not come easy. The industry is loaded with eager, intelligent graduates looking to make their mark on the world. With this in mind, IIHT understands that a quality post-graduation placement is critical, and offers it’s graduates a 100% career guarantee.

There are lots of quality institutions in the IT-IMS space here in India. We encourage prospective students to make a balance,d carefully researched decision when deciding where to enroll. Prospective students looking for more about IIHT Vadapalani’s programs can learn more here.

Guest Blog: What Is The Danger of Using A Shared Password Across Accounts?

2013-10-25T11:58:00.001+05:30

Our friends at RJP Infotek, Chennai's network security and training leader sheds light on the dangers of using a single password across accounts. If you are using the same password across the web all it takes is a hacker compromising one of those sites and your whole online identity is at risk.

SQL Injection is one of the most common security vulnerabilities on the web and is successful only when the web application is not sufficiently secured.

Recently a hacking Group named 'TeamBerserk' claimed on Twitter that, they have stolen $100,000 by leveraging user names and passwords taken from aCalifornia ISP Sebastian (Sebastiancorp.com)to access victims' bank accounts.

A video proof was uploaded on the Internet, shows that how hackers used a SQL injection attack against the California ISP Sebastian to access their customers' database includes e-mail addresses, user names and clear text passwords and then using the same data to steal money from those customers.

Let's see what SQL Injection is and how serious an attack like this actually can be.

SQL Injection is a type of web application vulnerability in which the attacker adds Structured Query Language (SQL) code to web inputs to gain access to an organization's resources. Using this technique, hackers can determine the structure and location of key databases and can download the database or compromise the database server.

Hackers took just 15 minutes to hack into the website using SQLmap (Automated SQL Injection Tool) -- stole customers' database and then immediately accesses the victim's Gmail account, linked PayPal accounts and Bank accounts also.

It's so hard to remember multiple passwords, some people just use the same one over and over. Is your Facebook password the same as your Twitter password? How about the password for your bank's website?

Now the hack explains that this us why it's extremely dangerous to use the same password on more than one Web site. In the POC video, hacker randomly chooses one Sebastian username and his relative password against Paypal, Gmail and even Citibank account logins and seriously that actually worked, because the victim is using the same passwords for all websites.

Now that you've control of the situation, don't let this happen again! If you have a bank account, a few credit cards, and several other important sensitive accounts, conduct a thorough security audit on them. Be sure that you know when you last logged in. Be sure to keep using different and Strong passwords for each website.