SMS may break down digital barrier

Having a tough time overcoming resistance to online marketing?
Let's face it, no matter what the statistics and forecasts say, there are still a group of people that both buy and sell advertising that are adverse to online advertising.
How do we overcome that?
Surprisingly, one thing that marries up extremely well with print advertising is mobile.
Surprisingly, only because it is further up the digital evolutionary scale than basics such as banner ads. Many of us have tried to make some of the most basic digital platforms fit the resistors simply because they are basic.
That may not be the answer and SMS may be the best example of that.
With SMS there is no reason to dissuade reps or advertisers alike from buying print. In fact, print is the perfect way to advertise a mobile campaign.
You have probably seen many of these campaigns already.
These would be typical print ads that include a simple line such as "Text special to xxxxxx (whatever the number is) and receive this week's specials."
A reader then texts based on the ad's instructions and gets a text back with the offer. The reader then takes his phone into the business and uses the text offer as a coupon.
It's perfect for restaurants, bars, salons, oil changes and more. If a business runs coupons, then it can run its typical offer in print and ad a line about a text offer. It can only increase response and isn't a radical departure from what the business is used to doing.
It's a great way to add a sample of online advertising to a business that may have had reluctance in the past.
Everybody is going to have to get into the digital pool at some point; our jobs as digital marketers is to make it easy to at least get a foot in.
Combining print with texting is as good as way as any.

Marty Valania has an MBA and has been involved with digital marketing for over 10 years. Please email suggestions or ideas to martyvalania@gmail.com.

Digital marketing revenue growing quickly

As the advertising industry rebounds from the recession and a slow couple of years it's the digital dollars that are helping lead the way.
This excellent New York Times article details Publicis' gamble in buying digital marketing agencies a few years ago and how it has paid off for the Paris advertising giant.
The story details how advertising spending will raise 5% over the next three years but digital advertising will increase 48 %.
Local marketers need to take heed and be unafraid to roll out new digital initiatives. Businesses are moving dollars that way and we need to have the platforms available for them.

Marty Valania has been involved with digital marketing for over 10 years. Please send questions and/or suggestions to martyvalania@gmail.com.

Top five mistakes made in company blogs

I found this link to have good information about writing blogs for your company or business.
If you are charged with this task, take a look at it - it's definitely worth your time.
http://mashable.com/2011/03/22/company-blog-mistake/

Industry, marketers alike to watch Times experiment closely

Will people pay?
That is the question that New York Times executives and  newyorktimes.com advertisers both have as the Times implements its new pay wall plan for its website.
The newspaper industry has long been trying to maximize its digital revenue. Most news organization websites have been free to readers since their inception. There have been some smaller organizations that have implemented pay walls - but none nearly the size of the New York Times.
The issue for advertisers and marketers is what effect will this have on digital advertising? Will pay sites, such as the Times, be able to keep enough of their traffic to keep the revenue they are receiving from advertisers. Any significant drop in page views will reduce inventory and, in turn, reduce revenue.
Obviously, the idea is to keep traffic up to keep ad revenue up - and then ad subscription revenue to the pot.
Theoretically, this will increase the total amount of revenue that sites are generating.
That, however, will only be the case if traffic remains steady. This will happen only if readers are ready to pay for content.
The New York Times, along with a few other organizations, are betting that they are.
We all anxiously await the results.

Nothing magical about digital marketing

Technology on the internet may seem magical at times to many of us. Marketing on the internet, however, is not.
Too often a business will place a bland ad online with no offer, no call to action and no real hope of drawing anybody's attention. That same business will then have a very low click through rate and won't generate any business and proclaim that advertising online is worthless.
Well, no kidding.
A similar bland ad with no offer or call to action won't do anything in print either.
Business owners and digital marketers, alike, need to know that digital marketing is not magical. Nothing takes the place of sound marketing. Nothing takes the place of good offers and sound ad design.
As marketers, we need to work with businesses to craft good ads. Ads that have a benefit headline, a great offer or some kind of call to action will always do better than ones that don't. It's amazing to look at the difference in click through rates between quality ads and worthless ones.
If a business owner thinks that online ads don't work, ask her if she'd be willing to build an ad offering her product for free. You can bet she'd get some customers through the door then.
The point here isn't to have businesses give their products away. The point is that people do see the online ads and react to good offers.
So before allowing a business with a poor ad to drop their digital marketing, work with it on building a good ad with a good offer. Then sit back and watch the results improve.
It's not magic, it's marketing.

Marty Valania has been involved in digital marketing for over 10 years. Please email martyvalania@gmail.com  with ideas, suggestions or questions.

Education can overcome misconceptions and digital bias

You name the objection and we've heard it.
"Online doesn't work."
"We don't need to be online."
"Our customers are too old for online."
Seriously?
There really isn't a business anywhere that couldn't benefit from reaching additional potential customers. And, really, isn't that what digital marketing is all about?
Who cares about the medium? Aren't you trying to help businesses grow their business?
Then why in the world wouldn't you help them get their advertising message in front of more people?
It seems to me that we - and that includes businesses, digital marketers, sales reps, etc. - have got way too distracted about things that really don't matter.
Just this week I had a business owner tell me that his own internet usage pattern didn't include a certain high profile website. So just because he didn't visit the site, he didn't want to advertise there. It didn't matter that his potential customers were going there - he was blinded by his own routine.
Another example is the technology. Some business owners don't understand the technology and let that dissuade them from marketing online. Again, this means they are missing our on a golden opportunity reach potential customers because of their own bias.
It doesn't make any sense.
Digital marketers and people that sell digital products need to learn as much about as many products as possible. This is the group that must display expertise and savvy in the digital world. This is the only way to allay the fears or irrational objections that some clients will throw out.
Digital marketing is the same as any other marketing - getting an advertiser's message in front of as many people as possible.
Don't let misconceptions get in the way of that goal.

Good news for newspapers

It seems it has been quite awhile since newspaper companies have heard any good news about themselves or their future.
All is not lost though.
Newspaper companies should be buoyed by Google's revamped way of ranking websites in its organic search. Newspapers companies with robust websites that is.
As detailed in this recent Wall Street Journal article the internet search giant is tired of sites trying to cheat their way up the rankings by using frowned upon Search Engine Optimization tactics. The result of these tactics has led consumers to complain about bad rankings that direct users to irrelevant sites.
So how is this good news for newspaper companies?
Google has ever changing algorithms that determine site rankings. What it plans to do, though, is to place more emphasis on sites that offer relevant content and information and greater value to sites that update that content more often.
This is exactly what local newspaper websites do.
I'm not talking just about the big national news sites. I'm talking about the small daily and weekly community newspapers in towns and locales all over the country.
Even companies with weekly newspapers have figured out that they need to have a daily digital product. The smallest publications in the country can be updating their websites several times per day.
This means that established news organizations with staffs capable of updating news site, often with fresh and original content, will have a decided advantage in search rankings - especially when geographic keywords are plugged into the search.
That, in turn, means that newspaper companies with strong websites will definitely be more relevant than a site that is just a space holder with a quality URL and optimized with keywords. If these sites aren't providing quality and fresh content, it will not be ranked as high as the newspaper site.
Of course, that means that the newspaper sites will offer more valuable advertising space than other local sites that don't provide readers with valuable content. And this is the crux of what digital marketers are looking for.
Savvy digital marketers are looking for the best spots to advertiser their own business or their clients. Newspaper websites provide that and will continue to provide that.
Google may change its algorithms continuously, but one thing is for certain - it will always value quality content  over lousy or no content.
In a time when the news just keeps sounding worse for newspapers, this is more than just a ray of hope. This is how newspapers will get stronger.

Marty Valania  has an MBA and has been involved with digital marketing for over 10 years. Email ideas, questions or suggestions to martyvalania@gmail.com.