Mad 4 Blog

Smart, sleek, compact, and inventive. No, we’re not describing the brand new Porsche Roadster. These words illustrate a new advertising medium: hospital mobile marketing.  Cell phones are an extension of human existence, like the high rise buildings, Tivo, and the computer.  They are personal assistants that fit in the palm of your hand with access to the internet, email, and countless other online applications.  They let you call a distant cousin in Europe in South Florida while on public transit.  They connect you to a world outside your own.

We at Mad 4 Marketing have seen the potential of this innovative market and realize that even in recessionary times such as these, cell phones that were once luxuries have become a necessity.  Everyone has one.  We believe campaigns that reflect the importance of mobile marketing are crucial.  Imagine receiving a mobile Starbucks coupon through your Gmail account on your iPhone.  Or an email from the Express clothing store stating there is a huge sale this week.  Jiffy Lube utilized a mobile coupon promotion and had a fifty percent rate of customer redemption. Mobile marketing is used to sell products successfully in all kinds of industries.  Whether you are marketing and education, healthcare, financial services or any other number of services start putting mobile marketing initiatives on your radar….or the to do list on your cell phone.

Are you building an online social media platform from the ground up? You’ll want to gather an audience who is willing to follow your words, sign up for notifications, and participate in your vision. But in order to do that, the very first thing you have to do is earn your audience’s trust. Don’t settle for short-term goals, like a one-time sign-up. It isn’t enough to entice readers with nifty tricks your platform can do that the other guys can’t (although that helps). You’ll also want to get them excited about future endeavors, and keep them coming back for more. You want them to visit your platform every single day, and then tell all of their friends to sign up, too. Essentially, you want to earn their trust and then keep it. Here are five ways to gain an online audience’s trust through social media marketing:

1. Stay Engaged. Update your own platforms regularly (at least once a day). Then, use other networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to keep subscribers informed between updates. Give them reasons to reply back (such as a prize incentive for participation), or provide interactive media such as widgets and polls. Build personal rapport by answering every reply you receive. Weekly newsletters, personalized emails and geo-targeted updates will also help your network feel connected as individuals.

2. Write Directly. You aren’t creating this platform for you; you exist for your audience. Keep in mind that you’re providing a service to them, and that rewarding their loyalty is a first priority. Write short, engaging articles that will keep their eyes on your page. Provide content that is of interest to them. And be completely frank and honest—speak directly to your audience, in a friendly and familiar (not fake) tone. Remember to make sure you are communicating with them, not speaking at them.

3. Get Personal. Let your readers and subscribers know who they’re talking to. Put up a picture of you (or something that represents you—not just a static logo). Set up a profile or ‘about me’ page that’s much more personal than A/S/L. And always be transparent about your social media agenda. “We’re trying to reach 1,000 fans on Facebook!” is much more relatable than “Sign up for us on Facebook!” Give everyone access to you, with multiple revenues to communicate (a comments section, phone number, email address, and physical mail address).

4. Limit Yourself. As with any marketing campaign, you’ll only find success with social media marketing if you target your audience. Although it’s easy to get giddy at the thought of how many people can be reached via online marketing, if you create a campaign that’s generic enough to appeal to everyone, you’ll probably never make a connection with anyone. Your images, words, and product features should have one specific recipient in mind. You’re far more likely to retain a loyal audience base if subscribers feel you’re addressing their particular needs.

5. Be the Best. The only way to be the best at what you do is to become very familiar with what else is already out there. You don’t have to sign up for all of your competitors’ products, but sign up for some of them. You don’t have to read all the books on your subject matter—but learn which book has gained the most attention in your industry (the one your competitors and audience might be reading), and study that one. That’s how you can find little untouched crevices of opportunity, dig yourself a niche, and really stand apart. No matter how competitive your industry, you can always be the best at something—even if it means picking one area to dominate (such as above-and-beyond customer service). Subscribers will feel confident that you’ll always satisfy them in your specialty area. Of course, if you can be the best at everything—well, that’s even better.

When websites—especially popular, well-known websites—link to your page, your website has not only been given free promotion, it will also command higher status in organic web searches, thanks to the Google Page Rank formula. The number of ‘inbound links’ a website collects, the more relevant it’s considered. That’s why collecting links is currently a hot trend in the world of online marketing. But as people grow keen to the benefits of inbound links, and develop new ways to disingenuously acquire them, the Page Rank formula continuously revises how links will weigh on website status.

Google devised the Page Rank formula in order to both signify a quality website and qualify that site for higher listing in organic searches. Page Rank—which is most often discussed simply as PR—assigns a 1-10 score. If you’re trying to increase traffic and get your website noticed (whether to attain customers, grow your brand or sell ads) you want a score of PR3 or higher. Top sites boast PR7-8; select few are 10s. Though the actual equation for this formula is highly guarded, it’s been known to change to accommodate the ways that people use the web.

In the beginning of page ranking, inbound links were considered a highly relevant factor when determining a site’s relevance and popularity. It establishes that others are reading and affiliating with your website. In some circumstances, a link is posted for perfunctory reasons, such as when websites are partners. Other times, links are supplied to browsers as suggested reading for similar content—in effect, it’s akin to a recommendation or business referral. The person with the most (and most prestigious) referrals is going to seem like the most qualified candidate, the most credible resource.

However, it wasn’t long before savvy web marketing professionals developed ways to elicit and trade links. These days, it’s common practice for sites to proffer inbound links quid pro quo. Now, links have become a cheapened commodity; they go for trade. And once something can be bought and sold, it can no longer be considered objective.

To make up for the compromised status of inbound linkage, Page Rank has reduced the merit of reciprocal links. If sites swap links, they essentially cancel each other out. More valuable are singular links—where one page links to another, and the other does not return the linkage. Because this looks like pages are offering impartial validation—and it’s less likely they’re in cahoots—these links may be given more weight within the complex Page Rank formula. But that won’t stop marketing sites from working around the new PR red tape. Currently in fad are triangle trades, wherein one site links to a second, the second to a third, and the third to the first. Everyone gains one inbound link, and no penalties are deducted by the PR system.

Despite all of the complicated PR mechanics (and the fact that they seem to change faster than you can refresh your browser) the bottom line is that it’s still profitable and advisable to collect links for your website—but you may want to eschew trade propositions in favor of one-way inbound links, for now.

So here is the hot topic on the lips of everyone: how big is online video? Is it so trendy it is sitting at the cool kids table at lunch and having cute girls bring it pudding? Or is it the neglected nerd at the back of the cafeteria eating a bagged lunch all alone?

Measuring the success rate of online video is an increasing necessity for today’s marketers. Should dollars that are currently bracketed for virtual banner ads or television commercials be reassigned to the multipurpose web video format? If so, which website is currently making the biggest splash—Yahoo, Hulu, YouTube, AOL? Despite the clamor of investors, programmers, distributors and marketing specialists, no one has yet been able to conduct a conclusive, standardized study that proves exactly how popular online video has become, or how popular it’s expected to get.

One of the main reasons the task of measuring video views is so tricky is because every site has its own way of measuring video plays. Some trackers count plays per video unit (but don’t offer site-wide stats) and some merit partial plays of video (rather than only counting full plays from start to finish). Some sites only count one play per IP address, while others do not count embedded video content on third-party hosts. Even when a web video distributor or host guarantees advertisers a certain number of impressions, it’s hard to gauge when and if this quota is reached.

When it comes to measuring online video plays, the two main number crunchers are Nielsen and comScore. While their methods are similar (the random survey of web browsers’ video watching habits), variables remain–for example, Nielsen does not count paid distribution ad units, which may significantly alter video counts on certain sites. Between the two surveys last year, a shocking interval of approximately 7 billion views remained–enough of a difference that one service reported a 16.5% increase of online video viewership, while the other reported a 2.3% decrease

Many have suggested that the only reliable way to collect data would be a widespread, live assessment of usage on the largest video websites. However, the current expense of such an endeavor has kept survey companies at bay. Under certain conditions, comScore has expressed interest in the implementation of such an endeavor, while Nielsen has expressed that it would only be able to perform such an intricate study if the participatory sites were able to cover their respective surveillance costs.

One thing on which all analysts seem to agree is that video viewership is on the rise. The percentage of Americans partaking of online video is estimated somewhere between 70-80%, according to BusinessWeek.com. Top sites like YouTube and Hulu are consistently if not increasingly patronized—and this trend is predicted to remain steady.

For the time being, the most dependable way to market remains a cocktail of resources. Television ads are not to be quit quite yet, and web banner ads are not completely out of fashion. But it might behoove curious marketing companies to launch their own mini-study by putting video ads on the web to see how it impacts their overall project and connects with the masses. That is, if your target audience is the young, hip crowd, it might make a bigger splash if a campaign is launched via viral video, in forms such as midstream ad placement or in-video product placement. Then again, a recent study concluded that 99% of video viewing still occurs on a television screen. As if to underscore that point, internet phenomenon Hulu finally made its debut into the mainstream with—that’s right—a well-placed and well-timed Superbowl commercial.

So it seems that the online video ad craze should be taken with a grain of salt–but stay on top of the numbers. Don’t be afraid to verge into the world of internet video marketing, or conduct your own trials. Depending on your audience, timing and placement, video ads may do wonders for your upcoming campaign. After all, it is the next big thing. Probably.

Search engine optimization is not a science; it is more of an art. While rigid mathematic equations and research methods are used to derive the formulas that rank web pages, the best path to getting your website ranked amongst the top few is still very subjective and controversial.

One ongoing debate considers how selective a page should be when you’re trying to stuff it with key words. Some SEO analysts believe that one page can be so tightly written that several key words can be incorporated–meaning that the page will come up first in organic listings for each key word. Others seem to think that having several key phrases will detract from the article, because the focus isn’t as exact.

For example, search engine optimization specialist Mike Moran recently stated that a page trying to promote more than one key word at a time will not only be less effective—it might actually confuse the search engine, and lead to lower ranking. For example, if we wanted to write this article about Mad 4 Marketing and M4M, then that would be okay because they’re essentially the same word and wouldn’t detract from each other. The same thing goes if we want readers to locate this page to learn about search engine optimization, but also used SEO. However, if we wanted this page to be optimized for Mad 4 Marketing and search engine optimization, therefore stuffing the text equally with both of these phrases, Moran believes that our primary message would be unclear, and this would make our page weak. In other words, having more than one key word would be like wearing a bright blouse with a colorful purse and a pair of patterned pumps: it’s just too much, and the objective eye (the search engine) doesn’t know where to look.

Moran’s argument makes sense; there’s no denying that a highly targeted one-key-word web page won’t do well. However, when you consolidate space and use several related key words throughout the same page, you’re also reducing the size of your website and the amount of work that goes into it (aka, saving time and money). Scripting a new page for each potential target key word is indeed a lot of work—but the real question is, will it pay off?

Some say it’s too hard to build a massive site with a page per key word. Others say it’s nearly impossible to get the rankings you want otherwise. Mad 4 Marketing would love to hear what you think is the best way to optimize your website. Are you all about single key words, or are you getting results with multiple-lead pages?

A digital monthly newsletter is a superb way to connect with clients, colleagues and customers. Newsletters serve three main purposes:

1)    They’re a great way to stay in contact with your clients and subscribers.

Get the most of your mailing lists by creating a regularly syndicated newsletter rich with engaging content. Experts suggest releasing your newsletter on a regular date so that readers are able to anticipate its release. You can reach out more then once per month, but newsletters should come no more than once per week. This will keep your name on clients’ minds without overwhelming their inboxes. It’s also best to cover fewer than five topics per newsletter. This will invite them to read through each article; lengthier chunks of text can be intimidating. Printed newsletters may have the luxury of in-depth articles, but in the digital age, attention spans are as short as winter in South Florida; so keep it brief and interesting.

2)    They allow you to track the responsiveness of readers through links and interactive elements.

Unlike static 2-D newsletters of the past, today’s digital newsletters (such as e-mail newsletters or website newsletters) aren’t just one-way windows into your company. The best use for your newsletter is to provide interactive elements, which serve two important functions. First of all, they’re just plain fun. Readers will feel more connected to and engaged with your content if they’re able to participate in features such as polls, surveys and contests. This means that they will look forward to seeing your newsletter in their inbox each time it pops up, providing direct responses to their votes and opinions. Interactive elements also allow you to track what’s important to your readers by seeing which elements interest them and where they’re eager to jump in and comment or participate. Knowing what engages your subscribers is an invaluable asset for sustaining continued relationships with prior contacts and for marketing to new business.

3)    They allow your company to engage subscribers on a regular basis, which familiarizes them with your name and services while providing you access to their thoughts and feedback.

In every issue of your newsletter, provide your mailing list subscribers with the option to send in questions or leave feedback. This will help you tune in to what they’d like to see from you, and it lets them know that you’re willing to listen and respond to their needs. Invest the time creating valuable, enticing content which addresses these specified interests and you’ll be able to stay in the periphery of prospective business in a mutually beneficial and communicative way. Even when clients don’t currently need your services, your name and availability will stay fresh on their mind for when they need you again.

With these tips and goals in mind, you’re all set to begin drafting your company’s newsletter. Have any other questions about the process? Do you need help building your first newsletter (or a newsletter template)? Mad 4 Marketing’s specialists will be happy to help you develop a successful newsletter marketing strategy for your business.

When Mad 4 Marketing, a local woman-owned, full-service advertising agency, was approached to participate in the 9th Annual 5mile/5K Riverwalk Run along the tree lined boulevards of the historic Rio Vista neighborhood, they weren’t about to sit on the sidelines.

Mad 4 Marketing was proud to be part of an opportunity to raise thousands of dollars to support one of Fort Lauderdale’s most active not-for-profit organizations, plus it was a great excuse to get involved and get active outside the office.

Christine Madsen, the agency owner, agreed to donate her firm’s time and resources to do what it does best; spread awareness, create collateral such as posters, application packets, and email blasts to brand the community event.

“I have always encouraged our staff to get involved and give back to the community as often as possible,” expressed Madsen. Earlier this year, Mad 4 Marketing donated their time to redesign the League Listenings when it took on a new look and feel as it transitioned into a full color quarterly interest piece. Mad 4 Marketing’s Interactive Director, Tiffany Tobol, and Director of Client Services, Amy Chattin, are both active League members.

Encouraging participants and sponsors to get involved is imperative to a successful fund raising event and the team at Mad 4 Marketing knows that all too well. They hustled to design the material so participants could mark their calendars in plenty of time.

Mad 4 Marketing launched a new viral, photo sharing component this year. They invited race participants to get involved with their Smile. Click. Share. campaign. At the race, photographers invited people to Smile for the camera, Click online to see their photos from Race Day, and Share their photos with friends, family, and coworkers.

And what’s more, sharing photos was a great way to show off those recently worked calve muscles, brag about participating in the feel good event, and invite inner circles of friends to donate to a great cause. No amount is too small and the more people that know, the better, so if you haven’t shared your smiles, it’s not too late!

The Mad 4 Marketing crew was in full force on Race Day with their cleverly-designed t-shirts. If you happened to miss them, check out the photos at   www.mad4marketing.com/riverwalkrun and don’t forget to Share!

It’s pretty clear that we feel confident of the many benefits of blogging here at Mad4Marketing, which is why you’re reading our blog about marketing right now! Creating a blog on your website is a valuable way to gain readership, increase traffic and improve your search ranking. At Mad4Marketing we create SEO-strong blogs for our clients’ websites to increase visibility and brand awareness with a stronger web presence. If your company owns a website to advertise its services or wares, you already own pivotal Internet real estate—and setting up a blog will help you make the most of it.

•    Gain Readership – Generating steady content on your site keeps readers coming back for more, instead of seeing what you’re about once and then moving on. Humorous content, inventive stories and informative articles are popular, but sometimes readers are just intrigued to see the inner workings of your company and follow your business plan. Whichever angle your choose for your blog, just make sure your content is smart and original to keep readers enticed.

•    Increase Traffic – When a website regularly posts fresh content, search engines give it more weight for relevancy, and may list it higher among resulting search links. This is just one element of the complex formula dedicated to ranking pages, but if your competitor has a similar yet stagnant website while yours is dynamic, you’re likely to get first dibs on readers. Increased traffic is also vital if your website features advertising as a means to supplement business costs.

•    Improve SEO Rankings – Another way that blogs can help you improve search engine optimization is if you use relevant business phrases often within the body of your blog. Infusing your blog posts with key words will make your website rank higher when people search for those services and phrases online. There’s only so much text you can fit on any tasteful webpage, but blog content is limitless and gives you more opportunity to repeat your message and plug SEO.

It’s also important to update frequently. Many experts recommend that blogs be updated at least three times a week, and every day if possible. But more important than quantity is the quality of your posts, which is why it’s also sometimes more relevant to write when you have something to say rather than as much as possible. For less than three blog posts per week, we recommend asserting a regular schedule—and sticking to it! Earn return visits by adhering to your schedule so that readers will begin to follow your weekly postings (you can tell when this is successful if your website traffic spikes on the days blog posts go up). For example, Mad4Marketing is responsible for the Satori Living blog, which is updated twice weekly on Tuesdays and Thursdays to promote the premiere eco-friendly apartment rental community in Fort Lauderdale. Prospective tenants come to the Satori Living blog to learn about the Satori apartments and amenities, and we hope to encourage residents to come back again every week for information about local events, restaurant reviews and neighborhood highlights.

Whether for e-commerce purposes or just to draw customers to your company’s site for information, blogging is a surefire way to gain momentum and success with your website. We’ll continue to give you advice for improving your website and utilizing modern marketing techniques online through this blog, so visit us here every Monday morning to kick off your week with marketing tips, anecdotes and insights. (See what we did there? And you can do it, too.)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of obtaining natural search engine rankings to drive visitors to your website. There are several important factors that search engines such as Google and Yahoo take into consideration when deciding which websites to display at the top of search engine queries:
• Inbound Links are the single most important factor within search engine algorithms and the best kind of inbound links to have are one way inbound links from websites that have a Google page rank of 3 or higher.
• Website Architecture is another key factor in search engine optimization. It is critical that websites be built in cascading style sheets (CSS). The beauty of CSS is that it greatly reduces the code to text ratio by placing the code for the page design in a separate file which allows search engine robots to more quickly read your web pages and find the text and keywords.
• Content is King. Once you have a website with clean code with a lot of inbound links, you then want to have enough content to naturally infuse all of the keywords that you want your website to get ranked for.  Many people make the mistake of thinking that being ranked for 10-15 keywords is sufficient. In the world of Search Engine Optimization, every industry has thousands of keywords that people put into Google and Yahoo to find similar services and products. To find the keywords that people put into search engines to find your particular products or services visit http://www.google.com/insights/search/#.
These are just the basics of Search Engine Optimization, there are many other intricacies to the process that I will continue to expand upon in my next blog. In the meantime if you are looking to build a new website or want to drive visitors to your website via SEO contact me today at tiffany@mad4marketing.com for a free SEO website benchmarking and analysis.

Web videos are spreading across the internet like wildfire…YouTube, webinars, webisodes, NBC even spent a bundle to broadcast the Olympics on the internet. It’s no wonder why web videos are growing so quickly – they provide entertainment (or teach you something), eliminate the need to read on the internet, and are available at the click of a button on your schedule.

In 2008 companies spent $2.7 billion creating web videos to spread the word about their products and services, an astounding amount which is predicted to quadruple by 2012 reaching upwards of $10 billion according to In Stat. So, how can your company jump on the bandwagon of this growing internet marketing trend? A great place to start…review what other companies are already doing and start brainstorming on how you can apply it uniquely to your brand. If you are still stumped Mad 4 Marketing is always here to lend a helping hand.
Here are some examples to get you started:
At Mad 4 Marketing we created a video to advertise our rebranding

Dove created a webisode campaign to advertise their new line called Dove Night

Google uses web videos to teach users how to utilize Google Adwords

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…