Mad 4 Blog

As the new year kicks off, we’re looking at some exciting growth and new developments around the office at Mad 4 Marketing. One thing we started at the end of 2011 was staffing up the company, which included introducing new team member Damon. Damon has been professionally involved with the Internet since the early 1990s and has worked on major sites like the WSJ and TigerDirect, to name a few. Now he’s leading our interactive marketing division, which helps you attract and retain clients via the power of the Web.

With the addition of Damon, we’re able to continue buying ad space online, helping you market your website and build relationships via social networking. The best part about expanding our work on these services is that we’re able to provide you with extremely measurable results on pay-per-click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. This means we can also better predict how certain tactics will improve your existing and developing online advertising strategies. We’ve got the numbers on hand and we’re excited to show our clients how our efforts can help you gain a following, drive traffic to your site, track information and even complete sales online.

Analysts confirm that small businesses are poised to spend more on marketing in 2011 than in 2010. Although this can be partially attributed to uptick in business as American companies crawl out of the recession of recent years, another giant factor is the growing need for digital and social media. More small businesses are looking to use external marketing specialists to build their websites, begin social media campaigns and engage more thoroughly with online communities.

According to an online poll by VistaPrint.com, 88% of small businesses (ranging in 1-10 employees making less than $100,000 per year) are expanding their marketing efforts in 2011. This is compared with about 29% of small businesses that said they planned to increase their marketing efforts for 2010, according to Ad-ology. About 34% of those expanding their marketing efforts are focusing on social media such as Facebook and Twitter, noted VisaPrint.com; meanwhile, Ad-ology reported that 45% of businesses polled were looking to expand their online video efforts and 35% felt ready to foray into mobile marketing.

Some advertising experts claim that the expenses may either not be warranted or not provide the ROI that a small business may be expecting. In some instances, the appeal of social media is its low overhead and general accessibility. For example, an in-the-know intern who’s ready to actively and smartly engage with a company’s online audience may be able to garner just as much, if not more, success and presence with online marketing efforts as a professionally organized marketing campaign.

The plus side for small businesses that expand their marketing budget and finance professional social media campaigns is greater accountability, measurability and the ability to integrate social media elements with a comprehensive marketing campaign that also factors in traditional media such as local radio, television or print ads, out-of-home engagement and word-of-mouth efforts.

Learn more about the dos and don’ts of social media and online marketing next week. In the meantime, if you’re a small business looking to expand your marketing efforts this year – on the Web or not – don’t hesitate to Contact Us. As a small business that’s been successfully operating in South Florida since 1992, we know a thing or two about your specific, small-business needs.

Those hoping to snag an affordable floral bouquet delivery in time for Valentine’s Day were about to have their hopes dashed after trying to purchase a coupon from Groupon.com. Groupon is an enormously popular website (and mobile app)  that allows visitors to buy very steep coupons for their favorite products and services, ranging from pet groomers to salons, from restaurant gift certificates to concert tickets.

The original V-Day deal was that customers could buy a coupon that gave them $40 worth of FTD flowers for only $20—an excellent steal at half-off. However, first buyers were told as early as Feb. 10 that they couldn’t get their flowers until Feb. 15—after Valentine’s Day. Those that forged ahead would discover that when they visited the designated website where they were supposed to shop, they noticed that the prices were higher on their options than on the actual FTD site. For example, a dozen roses through Groupon might have been $40, while the same bouquet was only $20 elsewhere on the site. That means the customers saved…nothing. They were simply directed to marked-up wares in return to buying coupons through a third-party site.

Furthermore, the Groupon deal description stated that on-sale flowers were not purchasable with the coupon; what actually happened was that when customers clicked on some low-priced bouquet, the website then tried to charge them $5-$10 more than the price as shown, claiming that the displayed cost was “on sale” and they needed to pay “full price”—meaning that the same floral bouquet could be bought cheaper on FTD, and they were being charged surplus for being Groupon customers—some deal!

Originally, Groupon was claiming that the numbers on the site were an accident, but the deal was soon taken down—after selling $20 vouchers to more than 3,000 money-savvy romantics (that’s over $60,000 for those keeping count). Now, Groupon is embroiled in controversy and struggling to make amends with those who purchased coupons for FTD.

Who’s at fault here? Is it FTD, Groupon or both? Of course, it’s now probably up to the courts to decide, but let us know what you think! And feel free to share any of your own horror stories about false advertising.

Naturally, Mad 4 Marketing is strongly against any deceptive marketing practices, and we will help you steer clear of any possible message entanglement to provide your clients and customers with informative, attractive, appealing and honest advertising.