Mad 4 Blog

Sure, it is important to have well-worded and visually appealing ads with strong brand messages. And yes, it is also imperative that these ads reach as much of your target audience as possible for maximum and repeat exposure. But you can put the most wonderful ad in front of throngs of potential buyers and still fail with poor ad placement.

Ad placement can mean a myriad of things depending upon the format of marketing being discussed. For example, website ads should be built into the main framework, such as within a sidebar, so that they show all the time on all pages of the site, regardless of new content. And you’ll want them placed ‘above the fold’—which means that viewers can see them without scrolling down. However, ad placement in a newspaper could mean placing a small ad for your gym next to an article about vitamins, rather than a page-spanning ad next to an article about things that can be done at home to save money.

Sprint recently posted an extremely concise and clever ad on CBS.com. Viewers watching the network’s television shows are exposed to two consecutive 30-second spots on every commercial break. Sprint bought an ad proclaiming they the network helps you get exactly what you want, when you want it—and to prove it, the screen simply shows a click-through button that lets the viewer skip the rest of the ad. This instant gratification associated with the brand name is extremely smart, doing more to make a good impression and convey a clear message in one or two seconds than a full-minute ad might. The problem occurs when this ad comes first in the series of two ad spots. Rather than send the viewer straight back to their program, by clicking (following the CTA) the viewer is merely rewarded with…another commercial. Simply by swapping the placement of the two ads, Sprint’s advertising endeavors could have twice the power.

Similarly, the Associated Content website raised the hackles of its loyal readers when ads were placed mid-article, interrupting their reading flow. In this case, the ads became associated with interruption and frustration—so a viewer’s first impression and relationship with that brand was negative. But while more discreet advertising has its merits, tricky ads (such as invisible links on websites) also never win consumer favor.

Marketing experts must do more than place expensive media buys for amazing creative. They must have a hand in the ad’s placement from unit purchasing to proofing the final result. And of course you’ll want your marketing team to come to your defense against the venue if an ad is inappropriately handled in any context—and prevent future mishaps.

To ensure that you’re getting the best ad placement possible, you should not only confirm that intelligent human eyes or ears land on and approve your company’s ad in every context, but also seek ways to measure the success of various ad placements. While this is easy to do online, you may have to be more clever with other marketing formats. For more on this subject, visit last week’s blog about Tracking and Coding.

For a laugh, you may want to browse this list of Top 10 Unfortunate Ad Placements.

It always makes sense to ask successfully acquired clients and customers how they came to hear about your business. By carefully comparing how well each of your advertising efforts performs, you can bulldoze past a lot of trial-and-error and simply direct your budget toward what works, both in quantitative and qualitative units. For example, if no one’s seen that ad in the newspaper but everyone heard about you from a friend or relative, you may wish to pull your print ads and focus on buzz-generating word-of-mouth campaigns–or even reward former patrons for referring a friend. And if you’re reaching a higher caliber of clientele via brochure than billboard, you’ll certainly want to bring your message down to the smaller scale, which can also cut back cost.

These days, tracking is everything when it comes to building successful campaigns. Online, it’s perfectly easy to determine how a person landed on your page; analytics mark each click-through by its referring links, search engine source, browser type and even the viewer’s physical location—it’s not only effortless, but also automatically built into most website content management systems. But even online there’s always more you can do; when it comes to e-commerce, many shopping outlets utilize codes. Asking buyers to enter a code before they take advantage of a sale helps marketers to track which sales and campaigns were more successful than others, and to help determine if shoppers heard about it from a newsletter, referral or ad. This is why you might see several usable codes available for the same sale, depending on where you hear about it.

In what other ways can coding and tracking be used in your business endeavors? Mad 4 Marketing recently posted job listings on several career search websites. But each posting required us to pay a fee, and since we weren’t sure which websites or which wording would be most successful for attracting the best new teammate, we decided to generate a few different ads. We asked job candidates on each board and posting to reply with a different subject line. This took a little more time and thought, but we were able to see from where we were getting hits, and what kind of prospective employees were nipping the bait. After the first week we cut our ad placement (and cost!) in half and only used phrasing that was clearly expressing our desires to the most qualified candidates.

Another example is Satori’s text message campaign. In 2008, we used a lot of on-the-scene guerrilla marketing to advertise for the newly opening apartment rental community in Fort Lauderdale. We wanted to reach out to those who already lived in and loved the surrounding area of South Florida. At each event (such as street fairs, art shows and the boat parade), we advertised the chance to win six months’ free rent by texting a code to a given phone number. At each event, the code differed. That way, we could see which community event had directed the most participants to our giveaway, as well as which regions or crowds were most interested in Satori. This information turned out to be extremely valuable in later marketing endeavors, such as choosing local ad placement.

The bottom line is that tracking efforts are a smart investment in the future. It means looking past today’s brochure or even tomorrow’s website, toward next year’s entire marketing strategy. Tracking provides you with the tools to always understand and surpass prior tactics–and no matter what, this means that you will ultimately succeed.

Last week, we introduced the premise of using blogs in marketing, and what to do once you have your own blog. In that same vein, this week we are following up with tips for keeping your readers once you have reached out and engaged them in the first place.

Getting Readers to Stay on Your Site

In a world where single impressions are used to measure website results, one might wonder why it’s important to care how long readers actually stay on your site. When it comes to marketing, keeping readers engaged means that you’re increasing their familiarity with your voice and information. By staying on your site, readers are able to connect to the content, which may make them think about your ideas later or want to return (more on this below). You’ll also want visitors to move around on your site, which is why you should always provide links to other areas that might be of interest. For example, if you published a complementary article last month or previously mentioned the topic at hand, you’ll want to refer back to that old post. When readers move through your site, it increases your impression rate click by click–getting you more bang for your buck per visit or guest.

Getting Readers to Revisit Your Site

Why allow readers to have one single good experience on your site when you can encourage them to create a pattern? Readers make pivotal decisions about whether they might want to return to your blog in the first few seconds of landing on it, so inviting them to come back again begins promptly at the start of their very first visit—even with your blog’s title. An easy-to-memorize name will make it easy for one-time visitors to find their way back to you. The look and layout of your blog are also invaluable tools that can influence how the general populace—or your targeted audience—perceives the value of returning to your blog, so don’t skimp on the creative. Remember, you only get one chance to make a first impression.

The next step is to make your content as subscribable as possible by providing easily identifiable links to RSS feed, your newsletter or other forms of content subscriptions; this includes ‘following’ ‘friending’ ‘liking’ ‘fanning’ or other ways to connect with the page. It also helps to flat-out prompt readers to bookmark your hyperlink. Anything that removes the middle step of making your reader remember that your blog exists will be useful, so be sure to try to lock them to a mailing list or feed as soon as possible.

You’ll also want to make your blog extremely user-friendly so that it’s a welcoming and easy-to-navigate space that readers will want to revisit. We’ve previously discussed the importance of user-friendliness on the Web, but there are a few differences when talking about a blog rather than a website or forum. For example, utilize your blog’s sidebar to chronicle past posts, organize content by key words or add a search feature. Don’t just load this valuable space with heavy text and ads; besides, a busy blog will generally overwhelm readers and dissuade them against ever coming back.

Of course, no effort goes so far as introducing frequent, fresh content and enforcing quality control. By providing plenty of new, engaging content (that must, must, must be typo-free), readers will come up with the bright idea to come back again all on their own.

These aren’t stand-alone suggestions; each relates to one another in order to create a plotted process by which readers are easily directed and re-directed to the blog. Much like with all advertising, it takes several interactions or impressions before marketing tactics can truly take hold; and it’s those who have been most often exposed to your messages who are likely to convert to customers–and spread the word.

These days, it seems like everyone has a blog. In fact, most business websites would not be complete without one. The trick is to stand out from the herd—because in today’s fast-developing and competitive world of websites, just having a blog is only status quo. In fact, it may even be a waste of time and money if your voice is only going to get lost.

But before you can adequately market your blog, you have to understand the reasoning behind it. Not all techniques are suitable for all blog types, so what you use should be determined by the site’s overall goal. Some people build a blog in order to increase traffic to their website, while others create blogs in order to generate revenue. Of course, many blogs are also stand-alone pages created to exist as singular discussion forums.

In terms of marketing, most blogs are used to enhance SEO. They help business-oriented websites attract attention, build brands and communicate with prospective clientele. With this in mind, here are three top tips for marketing your blog:

1) Create an e-Newsletter.

Whether or not your company already sends out a regular newsletter, embedding links to your blog or even re-posting eye-catching selections from its posts might engage current e-mail recipients while informing new subscribers that the blog even exists. You can also see who’s using the links to click through to the blog to determine which posts and topics are generating the most interest. Just remember, re-posting your blog posts in full is a bad idea; it deters readers from ever actually needing to visit your website.

2) Build a Community.

Having individuals visit your blog on a regular basis is excellent. But each lone reader is actually an opportunity to expand your entire community. The first thing you want to do is inspire readers to leave comments so that they can bond with other forum members, who can serve as a reason for readers to return. This can often be done by including interesting topics and asking questions directly within the content of your post. You’ll also want to visit blogs similar to your own and get to know the readership there; as discussed above, it’s easy to make connections and participate by replying to others or leaving your own comments. You can also ask these website owners if they’d like to participate in cross-posting, guest posting, link exchanges or other ideas that allow websites serving the same readership to gain exposure on your blog while you contribute a new voice to theirs. In blogging, there is a focus on community, not a sense of competitiveness—and this benefits everyone in your interest group or business field.

3) Ensure Consistency and Quality.

No matter how well you succeed in attracting readers to your blog, your endeavors can never succeed if visitors only stop by once. In the blogging world as much as in the real world, first impressions are vital. To keep readers coming back again and again, an attractive website with appealing content is necessary. Next week, we further discuss how to encourage return readers and turn them into customers and clients–or just loyal fans.

So come back next week to find part two of the Top Ways to Market Your Blog.

When it comes to online marketing, the main touchstone for success is user-friendliness. An obvious example is e-commerce websites, which must make it as easy as possible for visitors to complete transactions from first search to shopping-cart check-out. But every website—from static information pages to dynamic social media forums—must ensure that readers can quickly locate what they’re looking for—be that a desired product, specific factoid or overall experience. All it takes is a moment of confusion or distraction, and visitors are just as likely to click away and take their business elsewhere.

Sitemaps and very clear menus can also help with user-friendliness. Speed (in terms of fast page loads), navigational organization and clarity of layout are also vital. Even the most engaging content must be edited and streamlined to ensure that virtual passersby don’t move right along, because this generation’s ‘window shoppers’ increasingly refuse to jump through hurdles to get what they’re seeking on the Web. In a nutshell, the main tactic is to get visitors from Point A (their landing page) to Point B (the intended conversion) with as few clicks—and as little frustration—as possible.

Recently, profitable partner sites Catster.com and Dogster.com underwent makeovers in order to improve user experience. Even though these two popular sites had no shortage of traffic, realizing that they could absorb even more by enhancing appearance and services led to a complete overhaul of the pet-friendly websites. While the old adage states not to fix things that aren’t broken, this attitude has no bearing when it comes to the Internet. In this case, the sites took initiative based on perceived needs, and noted a full four percent of new traffic coming from iPhones thanks to improvements in small-screen usability.

On the other hand, when does too much become too much? These days, it seems that whenever users discover a glitch or imagine an upgrade, they increasingly expect their favorite websites to predict unprecedented solutions and implement complex programming changes overnight (see: Facebook). Web managers can spare a few headaches by anticipating user needs well before they clamor for change. Strategies include extensively testing the appeal of upcoming features, and keeping abreast of return activity rates. Of course, nothing will ever usurp the time-tested method of trial and error.

And then there’s the good ol’ Suggestions Box. Be proactive: ask users to tell you what they want—before they come around to inform you in the form of a complaint. For marketers, this is doubly beneficial: feedback can be used to help target what users really want, which can influence the success of future campaigns. It’s not rocket science; it’s just basic smart marketing. It’s safe to assume that users are seeking, at minimum, consistent demonstration of your willingness to improve.

With every website, there’s always room for improvement when it comes to usability. Any site that considers itself a finished product rather than an organic process is already on the fast-track to failure—or, at the very least, can look forward to its users becoming a lot less friendly.

Collecting a random survey group to test products and offer unbiased feedback is one of the bedrock systems of marketing. Whether this method means dragging a clipboard outside for street polling or years of formal data collection, one thing is for certain: As technology advances, so do survey methods. But how advanced is too advanced? And when does surveying cross the line between enlightening and overblown?

Well-known soup brand Campbell’s recently conducted extensive surveying to test how a remodel of their iconic logo would go over with consumers. Understandably, tweaking a design that’s been used for more than one hundred years is not a decision that the brand would want to take lightly. But they didn’t just ask what people thought of different images. Rather, they hooked participants up to monitors that would gauge their biological responses as they viewed various soup cans. This process is known as neuromarketing.

Campbell’s decided to use this tactic rather than polling or verbal surveying to avoid the discrepancies that traditionally exist between what people say they like and their actual buying habits. Executives decided not to rely on consumers to accurately report what they liked. Instead, they based their decisions on pure physical responsiveness such as pupil dilation, heart rate, sweating, breathing and posture. Scientists and specialists monitored participants as they went on simulated shopping experiences and browsed the aisles for soup. Campbell’s new soup can design is based on these results. For example, if survey members salivated over a soup can displaying a bigger bowl of soup, that bowl would now be on the label. This testing took place over the course of two years.

It would probably take a lot of surveying to determine if this sort of investigation is considered worthwhile in the conventional world of marketing. But one thing is certain: Most businesses cannot afford to dabble in the same kind of pricey testing as Campbell’s.

A more realistic option with time-tested results is a focus group, which can be arranged by a marketing agency such as Mad 4 Marketing. Unlike the Campbell’s technique–which cuts consumer opinion right out of the picture as if it’s out of style–a focus group really explores what select candidates think and feel about brands, services and products. Unlike a poll, which can be out-of-context and impersonal, focus groups go more in-depth as participants familiarize with the topic at hand. And rather than cutting a broad swath of random survey participants, a focus group can be tailored to really reflect a company’s audience. If you’re selling women’s sneakers, for example, you’d collect a group of athletically inclined females who regularly shop for gear, as well as those who have expressed an interest in becoming more active. Naturally, the process of choosing participants would be based on previously collected data and demographical information that would also be used in all future marketing endeavors for that campaign.

Overall, focus group testing is shorter and simpler than neuromarketing—plus, it’s a much more cost-effective research method. And despite what Campbell’s seems to think, asking people what they want and letting them provide thoughtful and voluntary responses is still a viable technique when it comes to marketing.

Did you know that female buyers control most spending on the Internet? In fact, over 20% of women are likely to shop online once per day. Proclivity to complete a transaction is not the only thing that makes women a highly profitable market to reach online. About 75% of women also like to provide feedback and participate in panels about the products and services they have encountered. This means that building a relationship with women online means that you can capitalize on insightful feedback.

Women are also valuable subjects of online marketing because they’re likely to promote your ads to their friends. A striking 91% of women are likely to pass on ads they like to others, according to research by Ogilvy & Mather. And the average woman’s contact list holds 171 subjects. That means a successful advertisement on your end can prospectively be passed along to many, many more eyes—and a recommendation from a friend on top of a great ad is the kind of marketing that would benefit any business. Making your ads easy to transfer, share or promote is a surefire way to take advantage of this angle.

Of course, before you charge into the online advertising fray, it’s important that you really understand your audience. For example, the rise of mom-themed web forums may lead some marketers to believe that women hold sway over the online marketing because they’re budgeting for a family or browsing child-related sites. But before you bust your budget on mom-centric online ads, you should know that the actual numbers show that only about half of the women shopping online are also mothers. Because women are barraged with marketing from all angles online, they’re increasingly selective about what they respond to, which means that you must grasp what women want from online ads.

What Women Want from an Online Ad

•    Personalization - When it comes to advertising to women online, targeting may be surprisingly successful. According to a recent study by Q Interactive, a number of surveyed women stated that they like it when ads seem tailored to speak to them. Targeted ads can range from the highly personal (such as integrating a person’s name or region) to the more common interest-based ads which touch upon gardening or soccer or cooking or another related theme that the woman has previously related to, demonstrating an understanding of the individual woman’s likes and needs. More to the point, a majority of women stated that they would actually be interested in seeing more targeted ads from brands that they trust.

•    Special Discounts - Q Interactive also sought to discover what makes online advertising most effective to women. As it turns out, most women prefer ads that offer incentives for them to click through, such as deals and special offers. The second-largest group of women claimed that they want to see brands try to learn more about their needs before trying to initiate a relationship. Close behind, women asked for ads that show further information about the product. In last place, a very small selection of women thought that online ads could benefit from consistency of communication.

Women are responsible for 85% of buying power. In fact, American women spend about seven trillion dollars per year. So if you think you do not need to dedicate time and money to address women in particular with your products and services, then you might as well be throwing money out the window.

Mad 4 Marketing can put those dollars to better use by devising advertising tactics specifically geared toward women. As a woman-owned and women-run marketing agency with an eye on the trends of gendered buying, we believe we know a thing or two about marketing to women. Here are just a few helpful tips:

Market to Women in a Modern World

One commonly made mistake is when companies assume that marketing to women means separating them according to attributes that were outdated about a century ago. Obviously, women are not black-and-white cookie-cutters of one another—and they should never be pandered to as stereotypes. Remember, women aren’t all mothers and housewives. Even though they make purchasing decisions for men and children, they have their own unique standards and don’t want to be addressed as conduits to the men and children in their lives. In fact, treating all women like Susie Homemaker can actually dissuade a female audience from working with your business. Women don’t just want kitchen appliances and pink products and handsome male models. When you market to modern women, you have to keep in mind relevant, recent analytics about what women are responding to in advertising and how they think about their purchasing power. Relying on research rather than creating a caricature of your female audience is essential.

Think About How to Market to Women – Not What

There is no need to market different products to men than to women. Assuming that a woman wants a silver minivan while men want a blue sports car means that you are alienating large segments of the population. Instead, marketing must simply speak in a certain way to its intended audience. The fact is that women communicate differently than men. Within creative, women want to see organization; for example, they are more likely to buy from a website that is easy to use than their male counterparts, who may linger longer on a less-organized site. Women also like strong, appealing visual design and are more affected by aesthetics than men, who may zero in on the product specs. Contrarily, women like to know about value rather than attributes. Most importantly, women want to build a relationship with your brand. Creating an ongoing bond—such as through membership or rewards for return business—may encourage the female buyer.

Since its inception in 1992, Mad 4 Marketing has focused on keeping the female perspective in mind, and we consider ourselves experts in marketing to women. The company devotes ongoing energy and resources to understanding how women think about buying and investing. Contact Mad 4 Marketing to learn how our insight about marketing to women can help your business grow like MAD.

One important aspect of marketing is to constantly evolve and stay ahead of the curve. This includes staying on the cutting edge of technology. In the past few decades, there has been a dramatic shift from traditional print marketing to online marketing. Over the years, there has been an increasing gap between these two formats. And this means that money is wasted by companies launching dual advertising campaigns while trying to cover both bases in terms of distribution and audience engagement. But one company noted this discrepancy and took action to fill the void: USB Insert™

USB Insert™ is a revolutionary marketing solution that seamlessly merges print advertising with the online experience. This option connects your corporeal audience to any abstract content on the World Wide Web. For example, USB Insert™ is suggested as a trade show hand-out or magazine insert. Because it’s small and discreet, it’s easy to pass out and share with others. Once USB Insert™ is plugged into any computer, the user is immediately and automatically directed to your company’s website, online catalog or interactive experience. Your redirect link and the content involved are entirely up to you.

This also frees up the focus of your ads. Your hand-out or brochure can focus on key messaging and enticing creative, saving in-depth explanations for online. And it’s much more traceable than print media, with user tracking capabilities built into the USB card. Because your content is already based online, no memory or storage space is necessary.

How Can It Help My Business?

First and foremost, bridging the gap between print marketing and web marketing reduces your marketing expenses. Rather than do everything in duplicate, you can use one format to cover all of your bases, without expecting your print readers to memorize your URL. At the same time, it’s an exciting way to stand out from the crowd. A simple mailbox flier or event hand-out suddenly earns a second look. Your customer can easily pop out the USB card and plug it in at home or the office. It’s quick, convenient and easy to use.

USB Inserts™ not only pique the curiosity of those who receive them, but also make your giveaways or brochures more interactive. This heightened level of engagement transfers to the user’s online experience. By grabbing and keeping your customer’s attention, this option makes your unique brand message instantly memorable.

Naturally, USB Insert™ marketing is ideal for anyone targeting the coveted tech-savvy youth crowd. It’s also smart for techno-savvy businesses, such as hospitals and colleges. By consolidating your ads, USB Insert™ effectively reduces paper waste and contributes to environmentalism; so it suits businesses with a strong eco-friendly slant.

USB Insert™ is just one outside-of-the-box example of how Mad 4 Marketing uses emerging and nontraditional formats to benefit your business. By staying in touch with digital and interactive developments, Mad 4 Marketing is able to offer clients advertising options that put them ahead of the pack.

When the economy got slammed, big businesses had to evaluate their budget and seek ways to trim expenses. One of the major ways that companies discovered they could save money was by reducing or eliminating their internal marketing staff and instead outsourcing this work to independent agencies such as Mad 4 Marketing.

Why Companies Choose to Outsource
The main reason that this option eliminates cost is because marketing is not a piecemeal endeavor. For any of the components to work successfully, marketing departments must offer comprehensive services. But when companies sustain a full-time, fully staffed internal marketing department, it can be extremely expensive to maintain. By outsourcing to a self-sustaining agency, business can rely on quality performance right when they need it.

Familiarity is another important perk to employing an outside marketing agency. Some companies choose to collect bids and hire freelancers each time they endeavor a new marketing action. Although you may save money by continuously seeking the cheapest options, specialists won’t have a thorough grasp of your business, brand or boundaries. If you use website developers, you’ll need to start all over again when you’d like to run a radio commercial. If you place an ad in the newspaper, you may need to find an entirely new agency when you want to rent a billboard. This strategy won’t benefit your business.

Eliminate the hassle by connecting with one agency that can provide all of the resources, connections and talent to composite any kind of campaign. Your frequent, return business allows them to understand your company, its history of marketing and all of your ultimate advertising goals. Every time you need anything at all, you can just pick up the phone and connect to a friendly and familiar voice, someone who you already trust to stay right on top of your unique business marketing needs. But your business won’t have to shoulder the ongoing operations and finances of an internal marketing department.

Why Mad 4 Marketing
Mad 4 Marketing is an ideal solution for the ongoing advertising needs of large and small businesses because we believe in and practice a concept called 360º Marketing. This means that we don’t just use isolated mediums to reach your audience. We make it our priority to understand what makes each brand unique and how to best approach its clientele. Then we creatively conceptualize campaigns that will reach out from several touch points to insightfully impact your audience.

We offer print, radio, television and nontraditional marketing (such as guerilla and viral marketing). Our interactive department can put your company online, encourage potential customers to visit your site and track responsiveness once you’re live. By utilizing all of these available outlets, your message fixes in the minds of its recipients.