Firm Launches e-Marketing Website for Nigerian Schools

Managing Director of Mytcodes, Mr. Oluwayomi Ojo

Sandra Ukele

Mytcodes, an indigenous software development firm, has launched Schools Compass, a unique website that serves as the ideal e-marketing platform for primary and secondary schools in the country. The platform is designed to enable students showcase their facilities, promote their brands andvalues to keen parents.

Speaking at a press conference in Lagos recently, the Managing Director of Mytcodes, Mr. Oluwayomi Ojo, shared the numerous benefits of the application to school owners, parents and members of the press.

He pointed out that www.schoolscompass.com.ng remained a one-stop shop for parents shopping for schools using defined criteria such as location, facilities, tuition fee range, among others. He stated that with schools compass, parents can download schools admission forms, read reviews from fellow parents about any school of their interest, compare schools in tabular form, and even recommend schools to one another.

Ojo informed the excited audience that the goal was to make it easy for parents searching for schools for their wards to do so conveniently by visiting a user friendly platform that enables the school owners be more explicit about what they have to offer with defined criteria that guides the parent into making well informed decisions regarding choice of school.

"Today, we have over 250 schools registered, over 50,000 parents registered with over 1,500 visiting our site daily,'' he stated.

Schools Compass' Project Manager, Mr. Famakinwa Babajide, informed the audience that the site is already one of the top ranking sites in Nigeria and it allows parents with a click and a view, to compare many schools in terms of set criteria of value.

Testimonial experiences were shared by parents who had benefitted tremendously from the Schools Compass website. One of such parents, Mrs. Nkechi Edet, informed the audience that relocating to Nigeria had posed a serious threat to the education of her children.

"First we were concerned about getting the right quality to match our budget. We realised that this would mean going from one school to another which would be extremely stressful. Fortunately, somebody told us about schoolscompass.com.ng and it was such a huge relief. From the comfort of our home, we were able to go through the profiles of different schools and we carefully arrived at our choice. With the platform, our three kids are now registered into schools without any hassles," she explained.

Another parent, Mrs. Mary Oyakhire, explained that she had also benefited from the schools compass site and advised parents to register as it only took her two minutes to do so.

Commending the initiative, the Lead Business Consultant of Fibresol Nigeria Limited, an ICT Abuja based firm Mr. Otuya Okecha, informed the audience that the Schools Compass application was a well thought out initiative that has come at a time the government is seeking ways to stimulate job creation in key sectors.

Okecha stated that only two months ago, the Presidency in pursuit of its job creation agenda, brought private and public stakeholders together to brainstorm and strategize on how best to create jobs in key sectors for which ICT was one.

He added that in September, 2015, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) reported that Nigeria had up to 97.21 million internet subscribers.

''This shows that everyone is gradually getting online to do business,'' he said.

Okecha informed the audience that Fibresol is collaborating with Mytcodes to ensure that Schools Compass is utilised by more schools and parents nationwide.

Source: Firm Launches e-Marketing Website for Nigerian Schools

4 Simple Reasons Your Website Isn't Converting Visitors Into Sales

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You are attracting website visitors through social media marketing, email marketing, search engine optimization and pay-per-click marketing. Your traffic is highly targeted; and let's assume you are selling the exact product or service that your visitors want. You also have the lowest price online, yet you still aren't converting sales.

So, what's the problem?

Related: 10 Questions to Ask When Optimizing Your Website for Mobile Users

Sometimes a simple website problem will drastically hinder your sales. Here are four reasons why your website might not be converting as well as you would like.

1. Your website provides a horrible mobile experience.

You have to have a mobile-friendly website -- there is no way around it. It's very easy to check to see if your website passes Google's mobile-friendly test, but a passing grade doesn't necessarily guarantee that your website is going to provide a pleasant experience for your users.

There are many things to consider when optimizing a landing page for mobile traffic. Using text that's large and easy to read, having just a single call-to-action, avoiding large paragraphs of text and ensuring that a visitor can access every feature using just one finger are a few things to consider.

Invite feedback from actual users -- friends, family and customers -- and watch them run through every page of your website on a mobile device. Take notes based on their feedback in real time to determine what works and what still needs to be addressed, to give your visitors a hassle-free experience on their mobile devices.

2. Customers are required to create an account to complete the checkout process.

I won't purchase from a website that requires me to create an account before checking out, and I promise I'm not the only one that shares this stance. Consumers demand speed, efficiency and convenience. Requiring someone to create an account not only adds time-consuming steps to the checkout process, but also acts as a repellant, pushing away consumers who are sensitive about putting personal information online. 

You don't need to completely eliminate the ability to create an account; some consumers, especially repeat visitors, like the convenience of stored information, such as a preferred payment method and shipping address. Just make sure you offer a "guest" checkout option, as well, allowing someone to quickly make a purchase and be done.

Related: The 3 Biggest Ecommerce Trends to Keep Your Eye On

3. You don't offer any visible discounts, special offers or free shipping.

We all like to feel that we are saving money or receiving a special perk. Make sure that all of your special offers, even standard ones, are highly visible.

Here's an example of how a simple change can make a difference: An ecommerce website I consulted for was offering free shipping on all orders. When the company implemented a two-step exit offer to let visitors leaving the site claim free shipping, its conversion rates went through the roof. We also strategically placed the offer throughout the website. Without adjusting anything else, the company's revenue numbers grew much stronger.

The message? Work current special offers and discounts into your website design, and include them in areas that are clicked and viewed often (Tip: Use a heat-map tool like Crazy Egg to see where your visitors are scrolling and clicking.) Also, build exit offers that include these special offers, enticing the visitor to stick around and complete a purchase. 

4. Your website speed and load time are painfully slow.

What happens when you land on a website and it doesn't load immediately? You leave. I leave. Everyone leaves. Your website visitors aren't any different.

Related: An Expert's Guide to Psychological Tricks to Boost Purchases (Infographic)

If someone leaves your website because it loads slowly, I have news for you -- not only did you just lose a possible sale, but you lost all future sales from that person, as well, since he or she will never return. There are several free tests you can run to audit your website speed and load time. In addition to making the changes those tests suggest, you should use quality website hosting, utilize caching and consider signing up for a content delivery network (CDN) to improve your website performance.

Source: 4 Simple Reasons Your Website Isn't Converting Visitors Into Sales

10 Marketing Trends Banking Can’t Ignore

Here are the top 10 trends that will impact the future success of your financial services marketing in 2016 and beyond.

By Jim Marous, Co-Publisher of The Financial Brand and Publisher of the Digital Banking Report

The most important objective for any successful financial marketer is to focus on improving the customer experience across channels and with every communication. Touchpoints such as mobile, video and social media continue to grow in importance, with the underlying need for improved data analytics being paramount.

No longer will poorly targeted marketing communications be tolerated by the ever-demanding consumer. The consumer knows the value of their personal information, and they expect their financial institution to know them, look out for them and reward them at all steps of their shopping and purchase journey.

The marketing communications bar is being set by other industries and by tech kings such as Google, Amazon and Apple. If consumers' experience expectations are not met, they will ignore or block your communications, or abandon the relationship with your bank or credit union altogether.

Improving the marketing communications process — from the consumer's perspective — will drive growth, loyalty and profitability. Managing the marketing process without taking advantage of the technology tools available is becoming more and more difficult.

Below are the most important marketing industry trends that can't be ignored by financial marketers in 2016 and beyond. Unfortunately, according to the 2016 State of Financial Marketing Report, sponsored by Deluxe, many financial services marketers are not embracing or effectively prioritizing these trends.

Financial marketers must embrace these trends within all objectives, strategies and tactics. Doing so will become a key differentiator in the future.

1. Embracing Insight-Driven Marketing

The importance of consumer insight and data for financial marketers will be more important than ever in 2016. In the past, the vast majority of financial marketers were more talk than action around "big data" because they lacked the skills and budget to make an impact. New tools and technologies make advanced analytics available for all sized organizations, while digital channels and the desire for personalized offers make the investment in data analytics mandatory for success.

Most industries are far ahead of financial services with insight-driven marketing. This is surprising, since banks and credit unions have access to more transactional, behavioral and demographic data on consumers than any other industry.

Unfortunately, while the need to leverage advanced analytics for insight-driven marketing is arguably the most important trend for 2016, it ranks very low on priorities according to the 2016 State of Financial Marketing Report (chart from report below). This lack of attention was reinforced in research conducted by Computer Services Inc. and covered in our article, What Are the Big Threats and Priorities in Banking for 2016?

2. Integration of Mobile

Including mobile as part of a bank's or credit union's marketing plan is no longer optional as consumers do a significant proportion of their researching, shopping and buying on their smartphones. "At a minimum, this means a mobile optimized and responsive website, and may include custom apps and mobile targeted campaigns," states Daniel Newman from Forbes. Leading organizations in the retail and other industries are already leveraging the mobile device for location-based offers and sales messaging. As consumers migrate even further onto online and mobile banking channels, marketing budgets must do the same.

3. Increasing Focus on ROI

It should go without saying that marketing campaigns should be measured to gauge success. The ability to measure results has never been greater, as advanced tools can now look at the customer purchase journey to determine what blend of channels were used in the decision process.

Unfortunately, most financial institutions rank "Measuring performance and/or proving results (ROI)" as a top 5 challenge. With costs being cut across most organizations, the importance of validating the return on marketing investment has never been more important. Being able to tie specific revenue outcomes to marketing initiatives can "close the loop" for financial marketers. These same marketers must now shift where they spend their budgets to reflect this potential.

4. Awareness of the Customer Journey

Mapping your customer's financial product purchase journey is key to knowing where, when, and how to market to them. The traditional marketing funnel is dead. Great experiences with other brands – not just other brands in financial services – but from completely different industry verticals are informing the opinion of your customers on what to expect from you.

It is therefore important to understand how your customers are thinking and feeling, as well as what they are doing when something triggers the need or desire for financial services. Unfortunately, there are many barriers to revealing the truth around the purchase journey. One of the most significant is the structure of incentives that reward branch-based personnel for "restarting" online or mobile purchases to ensure rewards are provided to the branch channel as opposed to a digital alternative.

5. Customization and Personalization

Given the focus on an improved consumer experience and the potential of advanced data analytics in banking, personalized communication must get a higher priority in 2016. The benefits of personalization include higher response and conversion rates, brand loyalty and repeat customers, amplified reach and increased relevance.

Consumers indicate a desire for custom solutions based on their personal situation … in real time. The tolerance for personalization has limits however, when banks and credit unions are dealing with hoards of potentially powerful, yet private, insights.

"In 2016, consumers will expect emails to have more relevant content and will also expect brands to know more about them in the course of social interactions," says John Arnold, vice president of marketing at FullContact. "Consumers will have less tolerance for online and mobile advertising that is too highly personalized — which may be seen by them as creepy."

6. Optichannel Marketing

Beyond multichannel or omnichannel, the concept of optichannel in marketing refers to being able to communicate and support a consumer's shopping and buying process using the channel that is best for them given the consumer's overall objective. The goal is to support a smooth transition between digital and physical delivery channels as well as between digital and mass media communication channels for the best possible experience.

Financial marketers need to move beyond single channel silos of marketing, where there is a disconnect between the ways a consumer absorbs marketing and how banks and credit unions deliver messages.

7. Expanding Use of Content Marketing

There is a continuing decrease in the effectiveness of interruptive tactics in marketing overall, and especially in financial services marketing, as consumers are increasingly bombarded by poorly targeted and ill conceived campaigns. As a result, there is a greater need for relevant and interactive content marketing that can be delivered using the right channels at the right time (contextual).

Content marketing plans should include interactive assessments, calculators, training and games to keep people clicking, pressing, swiping and sharing information that can be used in sales processes. Some banks and credit unions are testing these interactive tools, yet many are buried within a website or online design.

8. Moving Social Media Mainstream

While not reflected in this year's bank and credit union marketing survey, social media marketing is becoming mainstream in most industries since 65% of adults used social media in 2015. Of all the social networks, Facebook is the most popular for marketers, since the network is the largest and because the network has built a top-notch ad system. Facebook's data and targeting tools allow marketers to personalize their social campaigns at scale.

Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat are also becoming more popular with certain segments of the population. An ongoing challenge for financial marketers is in linking social media campaigns to sales. This challenge is what is holding most marketers back from increasing investments in social marketing.

9. Continuing Battle with Ad Blocking

Consumers are using ad blocking tools to push back on any organization using digital marketing carelessly. When product sales strategies take precedence over delivering an improved user experience, all marketers can end up losing.

Ironically, the more press that ad blocking technology receives, the more users it amasses. Ad blocking also made its way into mobile devices thanks largely to Apple's iOS 9 update that included ad blocking capabilities. The solution to ad blocking will come from those organizations that provide relevant content that provides value in exchange for accessibility to the consumer. The customer ad experience must become a priority.

10. Introduction of New Channels

While augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) may not be mainstream marketing channels yet, financial marketers should become familiar with these advanced digital options as developers work on monetizing these channels. Initial uses may revolve around advertising within apps such as a branch or ATM finder or even be a standalone app like the home finder/buyer app from Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

In the not so distant future, some financial organizations may even provide a complete 360-degree buying experience that doesn't require a special VR headset or device. These immersive experiences can give consumers reasons to interact with their bank or credit unions without visiting physical facilities.

Download The Report

The 2016 State of Financial Marketing Report, sponsored by Deluxe, provides the most comprehensive guide of bank and credit union marketing trends and spending. The report is based on a survey of close to 300 financial services marketers and includes 62 pages of analysis and 40 charts.

You can download an executive summary of this Digital Banking Report by clicking here. Subscribers to The Digital Banking Report and those wishing to purchase the complete report can access it immediately by clicking here.

Jim Marous is co-publisher of The Financial Brand and publisher of the Digital Banking Report, a subscription-based publication that provides deep insights into the digitization of banking, with over 150 reports in the digital archive available to subscribers. You can follow Jim on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Source: 10 Marketing Trends Banking Can't Ignore

Foxtail Marketing Named Best Search Engine Optimization Agency by topseos.com for February 2016

NAPLES, FL --(Marketwired - February 28, 2016) -  topseos.com has reported the rankings of the 100 best search engine optimization agencies for February 2016. Foxtail Marketing has been named the best company due to their remarkable performance during the topseos.com in-depth evaluation process. The recommendations are released each month to assist clients of search engine marketing services in selecting reputable agencies.

The process for analyzing and listing the top companies offering search engine optimization solutions involves a thorough analysis of their essential strengths. The five areas of evaluation associated with successful search engine optimization campaigns include on page optimization, off page optimization, needs analysis, keyword analysis, and reporting methods. The results of this process are used to establish which companies to include within the ratings each month. The ratings are updated monthly to account for the latest developments within the industry.

The recommendations are updated each month based on the assumption that the online marketing industry changes over time. Services are evaluated based on the most recent trends and developments most important to buyers. Often times the research team at topseos.com spends time connecting with customers of competing services for a more thorough look.

Clients of internet marketing solutions often turn to topseos.com when searching for dependable search engine optimization services. The independent research team has named Foxtail Marketing as the top service based on the results of the evaluation process. topseos.com strongly believes in Foxtail Marketing's continued dedication towards excellence.

About topseos.com

topseos.com is a well-known independent authority on internet marketing solutions. The central goal of topseos.com is to identify and publish those individuals or agencies producing the best search marketing solutions all over the world. A specialized team of researchers examine thousands of applicants each month who are seeking to be ranked as a top search marketing product or service by the independent authority.

Those interested in applying for the rankings can visit:

http://www.topseos.com/apply-for-rankings-research/

Contact InformationMarc Stephens800-874-24589045 Strada Stell Ct.Naples, FL 34109

Source: Foxtail Marketing Named Best Search Engine Optimization Agency by topseos.com for February 2016

Career as an Internet marketing specialist

So I have a marketing management degree and I am working as a consultant in private education (Selling private education... I hate it)

I want to move into the digital space.What do digital marketing companies want you to have. I have no skills in SEOs, PPC, Adwords, analytics or anything.

What does a company expect for you to know? can anyone give me a list of skills I can set out to develop?

Where do I start?

Source: Career as an Internet marketing specialist

Web.com Group Inc (WEB) Downgraded by Zacks Investment Research

Web.com Group Inc (WEB) Downgraded by Zacks Investment Research February 27th, 2016 - 0 comments - Filed Under - by Kyle Jackson Tweet  

Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Web.com Group Inc (NYSE:WEB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning, Market Beat.com reports.

According to Zacks, "WEB.COM GROUP, INC. is a leading provider of online marketing for small businesses. Web.com offers a full range of online services, including Internet marketing and advertising, local search, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, lead generation, home contractor specific leads, website design and publishing, logo and brand development, and eCommerce solutions, meeting the needs of small businesses anywhere along their lifecycle. "

Shares of Web.com Group (NYSE:WEB) traded up 2.73% during trading on Friday, reaching $18.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 439,513 shares. The stock has a market cap of $898.35 million and a P/E ratio of 10.51. Web.com Group has a 12-month low of $17.76 and a 12-month high of $18.23. The stock's 50-day moving average is $0.00 and its 200-day moving average is $0.00.

Web.com Group (NYSE:WEB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 11th. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Zacks' consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. The firm earned $138.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $139.47 million. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.57 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Web.com Group will post $2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on WEB. B. Riley reissued a buy rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Web.com Group in a research report on Monday, December 21st. SunTrust reduced their price target on Web.com Group from $26.00 to $23.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 30th. Piper Jaffray reiterated an overweight rating and issued a $31.00 price target on shares of Web.com Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 5th. Craig Hallum upgraded Web.com Group from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 19th. Finally, RBC Capital reiterated a sector perform rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of Web.com Group in a research report on Monday, February 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. The company presently has an average rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $23.83.

In related news, CFO Kevin M. Carney sold 50,000 shares of Web.com Group stock in a transaction on Monday, December 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.82, for a total transaction of $1,141,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 166,655 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,803,067.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

An institutional investor recently bought a new position in Web.com Group stock. Boston Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Web.com Group Inc (NYSE:WEB) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 24,865 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $498,000.

Web.com Group, Inc (NYSE:WEB) provides a range of Internet services to small businesses. The Company offers Domain Name Registration and Services, Do-It-For-Me Web Solutions, Do-It-Yourself Web Solutions and Online Marketing Services.

Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on Web.com Group (WEB)

For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

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Source: Web.com Group Inc (WEB) Downgraded by Zacks Investment Research

Leeds Digital Marketing Agency Solutions UK Launches Cheap Web Design Promotion

A new offer has been launched for startups or small businesses looking for an attractive, affordable and results-driven website to catapult their online presence to the next level.

Leeds, UK (PRWEB UK) 27 February 2016

Leeds Digital Marketing Agency Solutions has launched a new promotion for clients who are interested in expanding their businesses through websites in the online web world.

The company is also planning on launching High End Online Reputation Management and Online Brand Building services. The company's state-of-the-art technology and trained O.R.M consultants, having 10-plus years of experience in Online Reputation Management, are here to resolve a variety of online reputation issues and provide clients with the results they need.

The company's new offer includes cheap website designing services in London, Birmingham, Manchester & Leeds and other major cities of the United Kingdom. The promotion is only available for a limited time and is offered to those who are interested in launching their brand online at cheap rates in the next 3 months.

Responsive web designing is a new trend that allows a business to penetrate the ever-increasing mobile Internet user base. An incredibly large number of users carry Internet-enabled smartphones and access websites on their devices. A responsive design makes sure that the website appears properly on all devices, despite their screen size and or the browsers used.

Website design plays a major role in the popularity of a website, and a well-designed website stands a better chance of attracting customers than one that has been poorly designed. Colorful designs, user-friendly navigation and meaningful content, pictures and videos all add up to a good-looking website that will force a visitor to stay online and spend some time on its pages. A dull website, on the other hand, may repel customers at a fast rate, as its static web pages and irrelevant content would offer them nothing of interest. The result can be disastrous for such websites and any businesses whose websites fall into that category should consult Leeds Digital Marketing Agency Solutions, who, with their innovative web design team, will turn them into some of the most desirable websites on the web.

Leeds Digital Marketing Agency Solutions, the West Yorkshire-based website design team, creates search engine optimisation based websites capable of achieving a higher customer flow to their web pages. A large amount of time is dedicated by this company to designing beautiful web pages, and its team has the expertise, skills and background research needed to come up with eye-catching web designs that will attract both customers and search engines.

Websites with active web pages make for convenient and easy browsing for customers so that they are more likely to spend more time on such websites. The more time a visitor spends on its pages, the higher chance there is of him or her buying the products that are displayed there. Contact Leeds Digital Marketing Agency Solutions today, or visit its website to find out more about its web design service.

Leeds Digital Marketing Agency Solutions has a great reputation for making successful website designs that have achieved higher rankings in Google search results for previous clients. A similar experience awaits anyone willing to work with the company. Call us now at 0113 2494109.

About Leeds Digital Marketing Agency Solutions:

Leeds Digital Marketing Agency Solutions provides a one-stop solution and all end-to-end support for parties wishing to set up a business online, launch and publicize on the Internet and promote online for profitable commerce, including SEO. The company is offering all sorts of technical services and IT consultancy services that serve the right purpose for every online business hoping to achieve the right target and achievements. By understanding a business' basic needs and budget concerns, they assure clients very affordable and reasonable rates that are worthy of commercializing a business online.

For more information, contact:

Ross Martin                        

New Business Director                                            

Tel: 0113 2494109

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/LeedsWebdesignDevelopment/SEO_Digital_Marketing_Age/prweb13237480.htm

Source: Leeds Digital Marketing Agency Solutions UK Launches Cheap Web Design Promotion

I-Wellness Marketing Group Launches New Website

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA--(Marketwired - Feb 26, 2016) - I-Wellness Marketing Group Inc. (OTCQB:IWMG) is pleased to announce the launch of the new website for 60K, a health and fitness app currently under development for iPhone, Android, tablets and desktop computers.

As announced last month, I-Wellness Marketing Group acquired the worldwide marketing rights to the 60K app and the new website is a critical step in the marketing plan for the app.

The new website can be found at www.60k.io.

Andrey Smirnov, a member of the company's Board of Directors, stated, "We are very excited about 60K and this website is a major step in showcasing it and sharing our excitement with the world. Our website developers have done an incredible job in launching the site so quickly and I encourage our potential customers to visit it regularly for updates on the release of our app."

Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements," as that term is defined in Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Statements in this press release, which are not purely historical, are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with intellectual property protection, marketing and sale, manufacturing and distribution and difficulties associated with obtaining financing on acceptable terms. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking st atements. Although we believe that the beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all of the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in our most recent annual report for our last fiscal year, our quarterly reports, and other periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Source: I-Wellness Marketing Group Launches New Website

How Much Of Your Content Marketing Is Effective?

The white paper or webinar content described below has been produced by one of our sponsors.

Brands are spending the time and money to publish more content, but that begs a crucial question: How effective is it?

Contently partnered with Adweek and surveyed 745 marketers to find out.

In this free report, "How Much of Your Content Marketing Is Effective?," Contently uses the results from their original study to investigate how marketers measure success and track what resources they allocate for content creation and to take a look at marketers' most significant day-to-day challenges.

Visit Digital Marketing Depot to get your copy.

About The Author Digital Marketing Depot is a resource center for digital marketing strategies and tactics. We feature hosted white papers and E-Books, original research, and webcasts on digital marketing topics -- from advertising to analytics, SEO and PPC campaign management tools to social media management software, e-commerce to e-mail marketing, and much more about internet marketing. Digital Marketing Depot is a division of Third Door Media, publisher of Search Engine Land and Marketing Land, and producer of the conference series Search Marketing Expo and MarTech. Visit us at http://digitalmarketingdepot.com. (Some images used under license from Shutterstock.com.)
Source: How Much Of Your Content Marketing Is Effective?

Visual Marketing Resources Introduces New Website

2/25/2016Visual Marketing Resources (VMR), a designer and fabricator of creative, cost effective, custom, modular and portable trade show exhibits has announced the launch of its new website. Viewers will find the user-friendly and easy to navigate site at www.vmr-inc.com.

The new website provides quick and intuitive access to the company's multi-faceted product lines, as well as extensive resources for customers challenged by the task of creating eye catching exhibits, to optimize traffic to their trade show booth. The new website is part of a larger rebranding campaign for VMR which also includes a new tagline and marketing focus designed to create an accurate depiction of the company that is not only direct and informative, but also inviting and e ngaging.

The main goal in designing the website was to help current and prospective clients get to know the company better and understand what products and services it has to offer, and the value provided. Additionally the website is more interactive and easier to navigate quickly and efficiently, significantly enhancing the user experience. Key website features include:

Studio presentation of the company's work in the "Client Portfolio" section

Intuitive access to the product portfolio and services offered including on-line ordering

A multitude of resources for current and prospective clients

Easy viewing of the company's nationwide service footprint

View the website at www.vmr-inc.com. Please provide feedback! Leave a comment in the "Contact" section of the website to let the company know your thoughts.

About Visual Marketing Resources (VMR)Headquartered in Holmes, PA minutes from Philadelphia, Visual Marketing Resources is a designer and fabricator of custom, modular and portable trade show exhibits. Additionally The Company also provides complete show services on a total program management or a la carte basis making it a "one stop shop" from exhibit design to execution on the trade show floor. Show Services include pre and post show reviews, installation and dismantle labor, management of show services, logistical planning and more. Visual Marketing Resources is also a member of the Octanorm Service Partners International Network (OSPI), a select global network of exhibit builders that can plan exhibition projects in your local country and implement them all over the world. For more information go to www.vmr-inc.com.

Contact:tmlodzianowski@vmr-inc.com

More information about Visual Marketing Resources Inc....

Source: Visual Marketing Resources Introduces New Website

Marketing, the bedrock of commerce, needs protection

Wikipedia offers the following definition of marketing.

The American Marketing Association most recently defined Marketing as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large."

It is obvious those engaged in marketing are the key players in market-capitalism. Without them goods could not find markets. Without prospect of making vendible goods and services there would be no incentive to invest capital. Thus, there could be no return on capital and everything would grind to a halt. The only attempts to make markets would be by stallholders shouting their wares in traditional town centre market places.

Thus, society at large owes much to those marketing wares on behalf of others. They should be recognised as members of a learned profession and given due respect.

Two key aspects of marketing are market research and advertising. The latter depends upon the former if it is to be successful. Anything impeding these processes must be detrimental to market-capitalism and thus the well-being of all.

Until recent decades marketing, despite being intellectually challenging, was straightforward. Principal media for advertising were the traditional billboard (now jazzed up by digital technology), newspapers and magazines, together with radio and television. Always ingenious, marketing professionals exploited new opportunities as they arose e.g. telephone-marketing, advertisement on VHS video films and later, with great perspicacity, the unskipable 'ads' on commercially produced DVDs and streaming media.

Marketing was highly successful and in no need of outside assistance. It was a competitive and lucrative handmaiden of market-capitalism. Advertising campaigns, one way or another, reached almost every member of the population. The preferences people showed for particular media outlets/products were good indicators of socio-economic status (taste and spending power) and special interests (e.g. messing about in boats). Thus, in addition to scatter-gun advertising it was practicable to target niche markets.

Mass take-up of the Internet was seemingly leading to a marketing bonanza: El Dorado for the taking. Opportunities arose for mass and personalised targeting. Initially these were exploited on web pages e.g. 'The Pirate Bay' shows advertisement for the services of 'loose women' based on geographical information gleaned from the user's web browser. Now it has crept into applications ('apps') used on mobile phones and pads.

So far so good. However, the cloud to which the silver lining was attached became evident. For little capital outlay Uncle Tom Cobley and all could set up companies offering those providing Internet-based services revenue from advertisements. These agents and the sites signed up to them earned revenue from those promoting products and services based on the popularity of sites and, in particular, the number of 'clicks' on an advertisement. This business model led to development of 'tracking' technologies to keep an eye on the interests/preferences of individuals. So, alongside visible advertisements there is huge hidden Internet traffic that properly must be called market-research though some Luddites refer to it as 'snooping'.

These developments have led to emergence of vast 'consumer-tracking-based' companies like Google and 'ad-revenue-based' companies like Twitter. The ecosystem supports a plethora of other companies great and small.

Unfortunately, this marketing business model has given rise to innovative means of fraud. One such, is arranging for false 'clicks' on advertisements in order to garner extra income from the advertisement's owner. Doubtless, by international agreement, such as mediated via TTIP, law enforcement resources shall be set to catching these market-capitalism damaging criminals and the judiciary shall have draconian measure at their disposal.

Business models involving payment for 'clicks' are fascinating departure from traditional means. For example, it would not have been possible for a billboard provider to charge according to the number of people glancing at an advertisement; the nearest proxy is human traffic density in the area. Moreover, with traditional advertising campaigns it was relatively easy for producers of goods and services to determine whether expenditure on the services of those in marketing was bearing fruit. Maybe, Internet-based marketing is too diffuse for similar calculation to be made i.e. more 'faith' determined than ever.

Thus far we have discussed some of the consequences for marketing from the Internet. It is clear that exciting possibilities have emerged. Yet, balanced against these is a potential 'downside' from fragmentation of the marketing/tracking industry. New opportunities for fraud, as we have seen, may be cut short by determined government action.

In market-capitalism one expects 'players' to adapt or go under as circumstances change. That must apply to the marketing industry along with everything else. The business of marketing shall reconfigure. However, even the staunchest supporters of laissez-faire market-capitalism acknowledge need to prevent circumstances damaging to market-capitalism as a whole. Monopoly and monopsony are two such. Also taken as dangerous, and recognised thus in legislation, is market-rigging.

A new danger, hitherto thought impossible (if conceived of at all), has emerged. It threatens the existence of market-capitalism. Left unchallenged it will bring about collapse of world economies. There shall be return to poverty and brutality. This disaster shall not arise from overt malice. It shall arise from selfish behaviour by individuals and some businesses. It stems from turning off the tap from which allegedly unwanted information flows.

The matter of concern is wrongful interference with the flow of information on the Internet between commercial enterprises, and that between them and potential consumers. Law relating to Internet use is developing apace. It is clear, in most jurisdictions, that digitally encoded information is not anybody's for the taking or manipulating. For instance, it, entirely properly, is illegal to propagate without authorisation copies of a work owned under copyright law by another. Also, it is illegal to break (reverse engineer) digital rights management (DRM) protection of copyrighted works. It is an offence to 'hack' into somebody else's online sever; two allegedly errant UK teenagers may learn this to their cost. That is all sensible. Enforcement of law in these matters is improving on a daily basis. For instance, the UK National Crime Agency, brainchild of the brilliant Mrs May, is striving with ever greater success to contain, then eradicate, Internet-related crime; the only thing lacking is empowerment of  judiciary to hand down truly exemplary sentences. For example, copyright infringement is at present treated more leniently than, say, grievous bodily harm (GBH); that is short-sighted; it does not recognise that GBH affects but one individual, often someone not much more morally worthy than the perpetrator, whereas copyright infringements put at risk entire creative industries with their numerous workforce and shareholders.

Unfortunately, the problem alluded to here pertaining to marketing does not ,on the face of it, carry the gravity of copyright infringement, 'cracking' DRM, or viewing illegal pornography. In reality it is far more serious than any of those heinous crimes: it threatens our economic existence at the deepest level.

Interference with the flow of commercial information relating to marketing appears a 'victimless crime'. It may be claimed that unwanted information is foisted on consumers. It may be said that much of this information is annoying. Some may  whine over how this 'unwanted' information takes up their 'bandwidth'; this last may be dealt with immediately: it is a temporary problem, if any, because bandwidth is always increasing and at lesser cost than before.

We don't wish to encourage moral turpitude; turpitude soon to be a major infraction of law we hope. Yet, we must mention avenues toward that because we cannot proceed otherwise. There are three major dangers.

1. Advertisement blocking software available, legally at present, to the consumer. Have you considered that by installing this software you might also become prey to ingenious malware such as snoops on your banking details?

2. Software, related to the above, controlling the activity of scripts' embedded in HTML code. At present there are 32 'scripts' associated with the front-page of the online Telegraph. People objecting to this don't grasp that each is there for a purpose. It's there to improve the consumers' experience. It gives access to wonderful facilities like Facebook and Twitter. It allows thrilling video spontaneously to spew forth; don't complain because some advertising videos are crass and annoying; the technology is in early days so advertisers will polish their offerings to make them truly enthralling despite one not being interested in the particular product; bear with it, eschew selfish use of blocking software.

3. Commercial enterprises offering ISPs and mobile phone operators opportunity to block advertisements. The selling points are freeing consumers from annoyance and liberating bandwidth for other purposes. This is the best candidate for immediate and enforceable legislation.

We don't believe piecemeal legislation a productive approach to controlling the 'Wild West' of the Internet.. What's required is a coherent and overarching solution. Sort out anti-capitalist 'add blocking', copyright infringement, access to evil misinformation on 'wikileaks", access to extremist opinion on 'Russia Today', access to the Darknet (e.g.TOR), and immoral viewing of fifteen year old girl 'selfies' uploaded to social media in one legislative go. Think draconian, the world shall be a better place.

To save you the bother of working out suitable measures from first principles we offer the link below to get you started. In personal communication Mrs May stated she was much taken with it.

Internet unrestricted use must no longer be permitted

——————–

Bitcoin contributions to:

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Source: Marketing, the bedrock of commerce, needs protection

LocalVox Named One of Marketing Tech Insights’ “Top 10 SEO Solution Providers” for 2016

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Source: LocalVox Named One of Marketing Tech Insights' "Top 10 SEO Solution Providers" for 2016

Marketing the TNW Way #8: Google Tag Manager, we’re in love!

In this series of blog posts, I've enjoyed shedding some light on how we approach marketing at The Next Web through Web analytics, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), social media and more. This piece focuses on how and why we're working with Google Tag Manager and how it helped us so far in improving our Web analytics.

The status of our Google Tag Manager (GTM) account as of mid-February 2016 – and using GTM for over a year – is four containers and in total with 443 Versions, 80 Tags, 85 Triggers, 100 Variables. and the result of us using GTM for just over a year.

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What did we learn in the past year about Google Tag Manager? Why did we fall in love with it in the first place and the reason why we moved to it? And finally, what kind of stuff can you find amongst the 80 tags that are in there are just some of the questions we'll address in this post. 

Why we decided to start using Google Tag Manager

Last year, when we just hired our Web analyst, we decided that it was time to not only update our Web analytics integrations (with GA) but also to make sure it was even more flexible. It could have been worse, at the time the marketing team was already able to access all the codebases that we use at The Next Web and make changes to it. But even better, they could actually deploy to it!

As things got more complicated and having the development team using more repositories to store the code for different projects it was getting hard to keep up with changes that needed to be made across the board. On top of that, it's just not a ton of fun if you have to change the same thing across five plus codebases. That's why we very quickly decided to move most of the stuff to a tag manager. This made it possible to deploy changes directly across the board and only took one change to implement the GTM container snippet on all the properties.

How do we manage our Google Tag Manager Account?

Let me answer a couple of questions on what the structure looks like in working with GTM:

Why four containers?

Easy answer, we're running four different sites/projects: thenextweb.com, Index.co, X.Works and TNW Earlybird (our new ticket sales platform).

Who has access?

Five people from the marketing team have access, of which only three have the power to publish the tags. In addition to that the senior developers on all projects have access to GTM in case they need to jump in (this only happened twice in the last year, besides this they tend not to use it).

Do we document our releases and the implementation?

Not always, which is a bad habit, we know.

I did a quick check and found that around 40 percent of our versions don't have a name. If we give them a name it will usually include a certain change that we made. Just as with normal version control in coding, we tend not to make too many changes to a container before publishing it but rather having publishing more versions on a given day.

For more questions, tweet me @MartijnSch and I'll include your questions later on in this blogpost!

Moving Google Analytics to Google Tag Manager

In the previous post in this series I wrote about our Web analytics setup through Google Analytics Premium.

While we were in the process of deciding what to do with updating our GA integrations we got advised to move our tracking set ups to Google Tag Manager – it would allow us to implement tracking even faster and also use more features through the dataLayer or on Window Load making our setups better.

That's why in the first week of January we sat down with the planning that we already had laid out and decided to move all tracking (in one week!).

Looking back it was relatively easy. Our implementation works with both primary and secondary Google Analytics accounts so different teams can track their own projects but also the data for all projects will be gathered in our primary/main property.

Our love relationship with the dataLayer

The dataLayer is currently supporting most of the custom dimensions that we are sending to Google Analytics, which is still our primary use for GTM. It's currently supporting around 30-35 data elements. From the date and time that this post was published to the author or the number of words.

In general the dataLayer consists of a couple of elements:

Location: We'd like to know what region and country you're in so we won't have to annoy you with irrelevant information.

Page: Information about the article or page that you're visiting, example: tags, keywords, author names, published date and time.

User: Something we're working on currently, how many articles have you shared on The Next Web and with what kind of networks. Information that might influence later on how you interact with us.

Ads: In most cases you'll see a canvas ad in the background, is it commercial or not. What is the name of the canvas, and how many ads do you see and from what sponsor. Data we'd like to know in GTM to send to GA but also in order to see if we can launch pop-ups (for example). 

What kind of tags, triggers & variables do we have?

An overview of all our tags on Google Tag Manager

With over 80 tags in total we have quite a lot of stuff implemented. Since it flows and is sent through dataLayer (most of it), it saves some of the use of tags as it makes things a lot more structured. 

In general our tags are segmented into a couple of categories: Facebook tracking, Google Analytics tracking, A/B Testing, Twitter tracking and some random JS implementations that power other tracking purposes.

Triggers

Within our triggers we can make sure that we only target specific areas of the site.

The triggers are, as you might know, used to fire the tags. We use the build-in variable for simple straight forward triggers – and some more advanced ones that use dataLayer events and dataLayer variables. For instance, for specific Google Analytics and Facebook events that we track.

Examples: HTTP/HTTPS, Mobile/Desktop, Article/Homepage.

Variables

As our tags send most of the data, the purpose of variables is so that we can clean or set up the data from our dataLayer directly.

Currently we have dozens of dataLayer variables and also a lot of custom 'Custom JavaScript' and URL variables (fragments, queries, parameters).

What's next?

As The Next Web is getting more complex and we're working on making your experiences very personal, we'll be storing even more data on the engagement in the dataLayer and making it easily available to use for triggers and variables.

Currently we still send a lot of Google Analytics events directly to GA instead of doing it via GTM. In some codebases to two different GA properties.

We are in the process of moving all GA events to dataLayer events making it easier to maintain event tracking on the website. And we'll have just one event on a element instead of up to four (2x GA, 1x dataLayer, FB). In GTM we can send it all to the specific trackers with just two tags (GA & FB).

dataLayer:

Our dataLayer is getting more complex and will provide even more information for us to leverage.

AMP:

AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages. It is an open source project by Google with the goal to improve the (reading) experience for users on mobile.

One of the reasons we moved to GTM was that it would be easier and quicker for us to maintain tracking on all the different codebases. Unfortunately AMP is making things difficult for us again, because it doesn't support GTM.

We have to setup a custom GA implementation to track user behavior on AMP pages. Currently it works with the measurement protocol. AMP released a new version for GA tracking which allows us to track a bit more than the measurement protocol and we will soon update our tracking on the AMP pages.

I'm afraid this will happen often with other platforms as well such as Apple News and Facebook Instant Articles.

In the next blogpost I'll talk more about how we're using another Google product: Google Search Console.

I'll show how we hack our way around it to make sure that we can retrieve more data through 855+ properties (and counting).

If you missed the previous posts in this series, don't forget to check them out: #1: Heat maps , #2: Deep dive on A/B testing and #3: Learnings from our A/B tests, #4: From Marketing Manager to Recruiter, #5 Running ScreamingFrog in the Cloud and #6 What tools do we use?, #7 We track everything!

This is a #TNWLife article, a look into the lives of those that work at The Next Web.

Source: Marketing the TNW Way #8: Google Tag Manager, we're in love!

Syntelex Offers Specialized Website Design For Healthcare Businesses

February 23, 2016 --

Syntelex is a leading digital solutions company that provides local and international businesses a comprehensive list of services including custom web design, web development and digital marketing solutions that are created to fulfill the needs of their clients. The company has developed specialized web design solutions for different industries such as real estate, non-profit, hospitality and healthcare website design.

The Web Design in NYC company understands that a one size fit all solution is not the answer for the needs of different industries. Our service stretches out to various industries, and our team ensures a mutual beneficial relationship with yields great results. Syntelex spokesperson said of their specialized web design services.

Like most businesses, healthcare business websites need to be simple, easy to use, effective and engaging. The streamlined Small Business Website design style allows businesses to direct the focus on to the most important elements of the clients business: the businesss products or services, by removing and minimizing any distraction the design team ensures that the website users are able to get the precise information that has a major impact on their purchase decisions. The company spokesperson further added: We specialize in helping healthcare providers and facilities develop a model that meets the requirements of digital healthcare, and ensure proper communication between patients and physicians in the New York City Metropolitan Area. Clinics that are yet to establish an online presence would get good real estate in the digital market, with enough boost to get their online presence off the ground. This can boost efficiency in operation, cost reduction, improved patien t member care, and enhance customer experience.

The Web Development in NYC have employed the best web developers and online marketers, to provide clients complete digital web solutions, also their aim is to maintain an exceptionally high customer satisfaction rate. Syntelex also offers Mobile App Development and social networking solutions for all types of businesses.

About: Syntelex is a quality web design and marketing agency helping small to large scale businesses achieve long term success on the web. Since our official launch in 2014, we have never failed with providing our clients with quality, affordable, and reliable online solutions. We keep up to our standards, and provide effective and efficient website development solution at honest prices. This is the reason why we are considered as the best partner that you could have when it comes to maximizing the potential of your website. For more information, please visit: http://www.syntelex.com/

Media ContactCompany Name: SyntelexContact Person: Media RelationsEmail: info@syntelex.comPhone: 212-882-1096Country: United StatesWebsite: http://www.syntelex.com/

Source: ABNewswire

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Source:Copyright (c) AB Digital, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Source: Syntelex Offers Specialized Website Design For Healthcare Businesses

Zebra Technologies appoints Jeff Schmitz as Chief Marketing Officer

NEW DELHI: Nasdaq-listed Zebra Technologies has appointed Jeff Schmitz as senior vice president and chief marketing officer, effective immediately. Schmitz assumes responsibility for marketing strategy, program development and tools needed to create awareness, consideration and preference of the Zebra brand globally. He replaces Juliann Larimer who is now vice president of North America Sales for Zebra.

He will be responsible for elevating customer centricity throughout the organization, using analytics and insights to deliver superior customer experiences and measurable business results. Since 2009, Schmitz served in growing levels of responsibility for Spirent Communications including general manager of Networks & Applications, chief marketing officer and most recently, executive vice president. In these roles, he helped Spirent successfully navigate key industry changes including cloud computing, big data analytics and the Internet of Things.

While at Spirent, Schmitz also drove multiple acquisitions and integrations that strengthened Spirent's offerings related to mobile device management, automation and cyber security and helped to enhance the customer experience.

Prior to Spirent, Schmitz served as senior vice president of Sales and Marketing at Rivulet Communications, a medical imaging company; vice president of Marketing & Product Management at Visual Networks, an enterprise software company; and Tellabs, where he concluded his 16 years of service as senior vice president of Global Marketing.

Schmitz holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Marquette University and a Master of Science in Computer Science from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.

Source: Zebra Technologies appoints Jeff Schmitz as Chief Marketing Officer

Forget Internet marketing, many dealers still prefer traditional media

DIGITAL-SCHMIGITAL

Jeff Lee, co-owner of the dealer ad agency Instant Events, designs a printed direct-mail flier for a Toyota dealership.

Woody Folsom knows what keeps customers coming into his auto dealerships in southern Georgia, and it isn't the Internet.

"I'm not going to use Facebook," declares Folsom, who last year sold about 1,500 new Chevrolets and other GM vehicles, 1,200 new Fords and almost 1,000 new Chryslers -- all through the power of radio advertising around his home base in Baxley, Ga., population 4,400.

"I'm not going to put my customer's picture on Facebook after he's bought a $50,000 truck from me," he says. "That's not right. It's nobody's business."

Deep into the digital age, as automakers and retailers stampede to online marketing, a curious truth remains: Many car dealers prefer to advertise the traditional way -- radio, TV, direct-mail fliers and even the occasional full-page ad in the local daily newspaper. They like the human touch. They are pleased with the results. And like many things in the auto industry that are not always easy to explain, it just feels right to them.

"I guess I'm old-fashioned," Folsom concedes. "And maybe somebody'll tell me I'm not doing things the new way. But it's working fine for me."

Dealer Woody Folsom stands in front of a green screen to make a TV spot. "I guess I'm old-fashioned," he says of his preference for traditional advertising "but it's working."

More dealers agree with Folsom than the merchants of digital marketing probably would care to admit. Even as the industry rushes into a more Internet-based reality, big money still is going into legacy media.

In its most recent forecast of auto ad spending in late 2014, Borrell Associates predicted that dealers would spend more than $2.1 billion on newspaper advertising in 2015. That amount was down precipitously from just a few years earlier, when busy full-page dealer ads crowded Saturday newspapers to capture shoppers on their day off. As recently as 2013, dealers spent $3.1 billion advertising in newspapers.

But often lost in the discussion is the point that printed newspapers still were expected to represent the second-largest dealer advertising media, after digital. That's despite all that has been said about the decline of local daily newspaper readership in iPhone-equipped America, as multitasking young people turn to Instagram, BuzzFeed and Gawker to follow the world.

Radio rises

At the same time, radio has actually increased as a dealer advertising medium since 2012, growing from $641 million to a forecasted $746 million, according to Borrell. And despite predictions of the demise of traditional TV in a bubbling world of Internet program viewing, video-streaming over mobile phones and the rise of on-demand formats such as Netflix, Hulu and YouTube, car dealers were on track to spend $1.3 billion on TV ads in 2015, according to Borrell.

That would be down from $1.6 billion in 2013 -- but not down enough for anyone to declare TV ads anywhere near obsolete.

"I like TV," says Vic Koenig, owner of Vic Koenig Chevrolet in Carbondale, Ill. "It's working for us. And working in ways that I'm afraid the Internet can't deliver."

Koenig sells about 90 new and used vehicles a month. He says radio and TV get the lion's share of his ad budget to compete in his market, which is heavily tilted toward working families, college students from nearby Southern Illinois University and lower-income demographics.

"A lot of people around here aren't wealthy enough to have satellite radio," he says. "So we hit radio hard. And TV.

"In fact, most of the dealers here in my market are competing to get the same spots on local TV that I want. If you watch the 6 o'clock news here, you're going to get five or six different dealerships advertising in the course of 15 minutes."

Seeing value

By no stretch of the imagination is there evidence that the great migration into digital marketing is losing its way or turning around. But nor is it fair to characterize dealers at the rear of the migration as merely tech-challenged stragglers.

Many simply see value in traditional approaches and are not keen to abandon them.

Szakaly: Digital ads measurable

"This is a real issue in the industry," says Steven Szakaly, chief economist for the National Automobile Dealers Association. "The attraction to digital marketing is that it is measurable. And there's no way to measure the success of a radio ad.

"But that's the problem," he says. "Because you can't measure it, you also can't say that it wasn't effective. Maybe it was. Maybe it worked.

"It may very well be highly effective, and that's why everybody stays with it. As an economist, I know that groups of people don't tend to make the wrong choices."

Nor is everyone in America on the same page when it comes to media.

As recently as 2013, more than one-fourth of all U.S. households did not have Internet service, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Almost one out of six households did not even possess a computer, the bureau found.

The bureau also found that the availability of high-speed broadband Internet still varies from city to city. Broadband access was available to fewer than 60 percent of households in some markets in Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi.

And as information technologies evolve, consumer habits are indeed changing -- but not as dramatically as some assume.

Media measurement firm Nielsen Corp. confirmed late last year that TV viewing continues to decline across America, but it is still a core pastime in the average home. The average American adult watched four hours and three minutes of traditional live TV a day as of the third quarter of 2015. That was a decline from the same period of 2014 -- but only by six minutes. Since 2013, average traditional TV is down by just 20 minutes.

It is still four hours a day.

"It is very hard for a dealer to build a brand identity somewhere other than TV or radio," says Terry Lancaster, co-owner of Instant Events, an automotive ad agency in Brentwood, Tenn. "Lead-generation services are powerful tools, but they're all about price and inventory. If all you're doing is selling cars through TrueCar, then you're really just a delivery service for TrueCar. Where is your brand?"

Lancaster conducted two packed dealer workshops on the opportunities of traditional media at last year's NADA convention. He pleads that he is not anti-digital, and his agency assists dealers with digital marketing.

"But I do tell dealers not to forget their stores," he says. "Don't forget to build the image of your dealership and all your brick-and-mortar investment.

"The lead generators find the consumer who is already in the market and ready to buy. But what about the vast majority of consumers, who are not already in-market? Shouldn't they already know who you are before they start looking for a car next year?"

Kip CassinoBorrell Associates

"Even though it's changing, and even though every year the factories spend more on digitaland drag the dealers along with them, it's clearly an arduous process to get folks to change their ways."

Kip Cassino, executive vice president of research at Borrell, believes car dealers are beginning to find ways to build brand identities in the digital world as it grows. He believes some dealers and ad agencies are holding tight to old advertising habits simply because they are comfortable with them, or uncertain of the mechanics of the new media.

"I have been surprised at how much spending remains in legacy media," says Cassino, who tracks automotive marketing expenditures every year. "Even though it's changing, and even though every year the factories spend more on digital and drag the dealers along with them, it's clearly an arduous process to get folks to change their ways."

"Still working for them'

But he also concedes the point.

"I'm sure it's still working for them," he says. "Or they wouldn't still be doing it.

"We'll continue to see vitality in the traditional media for dealer advertising because there are still a lot of people who depend on those media. And obviously, there are large numbers of baby boomers and early Gen Xers in the market who still listen to radio and watch television. Even young millennials watch TV and listen to radio.

"The question is, for how long?"

Chevy dealer Koenig says there is a human element to his radio and TV ads that simply can't be replicated online.

"Customers come up to me at a high school basketball game or at church, and they tell me they heard my ad yesterday, or they saw it on TV," he says. "You don't get that interaction from online activity."

That is precisely the strategy Woody Folsom believes is working for his Georgia stores.

"I started 19 years ago with one dealership, and we advertised on the radio to reach people as far away as we could," Folsom says. "Now I have five dealerships, and radio is still working for us. I just want people to come see me. When they get here, I have to treat them right and do what I promised them in my ads."

Folsom promises listeners a "deal as sweet as 'nanner pudding," and his TV spots show him offering pans of banana pudding out of a pickup. He tells listeners in his ads that his service technicians are instructed to fix every car "like it belongs to their momma."

His agency, Deen Advertising of Adel, Ga., hired drones to fly over Folsom's side-by-side Ford, GM and Chrysler group stores along the highway in Baxley to capture the visual impact of some 2,500 vehicles sitting in inventory. Those images are incorporated into the dealer's TV spots, which make it a point to remind viewers that Woody Folsom has new Fords, Chevrolets, Dodges, Rams, Buicks, GMCs, Jeeps and Chryslers all available at one destination.

That is not the kind of branding that an automaker would create, and it is not the kind of message that comes through from an online vehicle search. But it is Woody Folsom's branding.

"Inventory is important, your sales staff is important," says Ralph Deen, the owner of Folsom's agency. "And you also have to commit the dollars for advertising.

"But beyond that, you have to make people want to come see you," he says. "You want customers to default to you as a brand because they know you and they like what they see. If all else is equal, it's not the car, it's you they want to do business with.

"That takes a personal message from an individual," Deen says. "I think people still want that personal connection, and I don't know a better way to communicate it than the way we've been doing it."

You can reach Lindsay Chappell at lchappell@crain.com.

advertising

Source: Forget Internet marketing, many dealers still prefer traditional media

Seattle Web Design Firm, efelle creative, Continues to Evolve Legal Marketing

Seattle web development and marketing agency, efelle creative, adds new features to their already one of a kind law firm marketing platform.

Seattle, WA (PRWEB) February 21, 2016

Recently efelle creative has added another incredible feature to their already one of a kind Law Firm marketing platform, LawFirm Fusion, which showcases trials, outcomes and findings in real time. This along with streamlining other tasks that typically require costly manual labor such as creating branded downloadable attorney bio PDFs and practice area brochures are proving to be factors changing the industry.

Lawfirms Across the Nation Realizing the Power of LawFirm Fusion

Legal firms of all sizes around the nation are being powered by LawFirm Fusion. From single partner firms to firms with hundreds of attorneys and multiple locations the easy to use Content Management System (CMS) is giving the people the power! With more features to roll out soon, including a digital PDF briefcase, efelle continues to improve the legal industry around the world.

About efelle creative:

efelle is a premier custom web design and development firm specializing in the legal industry. After adding 36 more national and international design awards to it's resume last year, efelle has added 4 more team members this past month bring their total to a 42 person in house team. With each custom website efelle places a strong emphasis on organic SEO and industry leading design techniques. We'd love to talk to you about your law firm and how we can help! Give us a call at 206.384.4909 or fill out our online contact form to speak with an online marketing specialist to learn how we can take your business' website to the next level.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/02/prweb13225537.htm

Source: Seattle Web Design Firm, efelle creative, Continues to Evolve Legal Marketing

Key tips for your email marketing

As your business seeks to grow, one method to help is to setup an automated sales pipeline on your website that uses email. This use of automated "drip marketing" emails is an efficient way for a business to grow leads and nurture a prospect in the journey to becoming a customer. The key is that the emails need to be handled with care to be effective. No customer wants to feel like they're hearing from a pushy, automated sales machine. To find success when communicating with automated emails, there are a number of key to follow. In this article I dive into that in more detail.

What is automated email marketing?

Automated email marketing is like having another salesperson on the job operating 24/7/365 for your business. The starting point to get people signed up is a lead capture offer on your website. This can be a free, downloadable resource of value, or a discount coupon. The key is to offer enough value the visitor is interested in signing up with their name and email address to access the offer. The incentive is essential and getting the offer in front of them on your website is very important as well. It must stand out!

At signup, the visitor is invited to join a email list as they submit to get the resource. With their opt-in to the email list, the email marketing automation begins. Using online software tools like MailChimp, InfusionSoft or Salesforce, just to name a few, a company can setup a sequence of emails that go at specified times over the course of days, weeks, or months, and that have related content that works together. One example would be sending five emails over 10 days, basically a email every-other-day. This content conducts the "sales process" with the end user by educating them further, building trust, offering value, and addressing their common questions to help them see how your company product/service can solve their problems.

Personalize the emails

First, drop the generic marketing greetings of "Dear Reader" and related introductions. When you capture their information on your site you should capture their name and email address. Any good email marketing system will let you add a macro to insert their first name so that your email can read: Dear , or "Hello " where their name is inserted. This is much more personal.

Second, beware of generic signatures and email addresses. Instead of signing off with "The 'Company' Team" or some other impersonal signature, choose a spokesperson for the emails to come from. So it's a person's name. It's far better to sign an email with a name and bring a human touch. Customers will feel like they're able to connect with a person, and value the interaction more. As well, the "from" email address should be more personal as well. Do not use "marketing@ourbusiness.com" or "email@ourcompany.com".

Segment to be more relevant

Just because emails are automated, doesn't mean they have to be one size fits all. Demographics or key actions can be used to segment an email list. An email list can be divided by relevant factors like age, geographic location, gender, web page signed up on, resource signed up for, etc. Emails can then be tailored to best suit each group. Customers get a sense that you want to meet their individual needs when the emails are relevant to them and related to what they initially signed up for.

Drop the sales pitch

Your email sequences must not be high in sales pitches.

This is a sure way to have high "unsubscribe" rates. "Save more" and "Buy now" language is a good way to get people turned off and tuned out. Offer value in the emails! When they sign-up for a resource, the best path forward with your automated emails is to continue to offer them resources. This is education and help, answering common questions. A builder can explain more about "green building" and "energy efficiencies" in future emails as opposed to "sign with us now" pitches.

Choose the right language

Your interaction with a potential customer just learning about your brand should be different than the interaction with an established customer who's been buying your products for years.

Automated emails should reflect these different relationships. Monitoring a customer's interest levels and dedication to the brand is important for communication. Collecting information on response rate and lead conversions from your emails allows you to adjust the emails sent to each customer over time to be more fine-tuned.

Email is an important tool today for marketers. It is powerful for connecting and communicating with potential customers. The key is personalization and resourcing. Careful attention to detail and customization is vital for automated emails to be personal and to add value for the recipient. By putting personal touches on an automated campaign, a business can build trust, grow sales, shorten the sales cycle, and stand out by showing its attention to detail.

Mike Gingerich is president of Digital Hill Multimedia (www.DigitalHill.com), a website and marketing agency. He is also a co-founder of TabSite.com, a leader in Facebook page apps for businesses that offers brands the power to boost online marketing with contests and promotions, and podcaster of the Halftime Mike digital podcast show on iTunes.

Source: Key tips for your email marketing

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