Saturday, August 13, 2011

When Radio Advertising Works


It's not because you bought the "right" radio station.

It's not because you bought enough Gross Rating Points.

It's not because you offered 50% off.

It's not because you reached the largest audience.

It's not because of the jingle.

It's not because you advertised at the end of the week.

Having spent more of my life in the radio business than any other occupation, I have some insight into what works and what doesn't.

Earlier this month a former radio client of mine posted this insightful article:

The Number One Success Factor in Radio Advertising

It's true that successful radio advertising, particularly in direct response, comes down to the right message to the right people at the right cost. But true success requires something that this basic overview doesn't explicitly state. Authenticity.

Recently, make up giants Maybelline and L'Oreal have come under fire for print advertisements featuring popular actresses whose pictures have been heavily modified through photo editing software. These advertisements were deemed so misleading, that they were banned in the U.K.

This brings up the question of how much authenticity today's consumers are expecting from any given advertisement. When has an advertisement been edited so much that it crosses over into being unbelievable or worse - misleading?

Of course this question translates differently for those of us in the direct response radio advertising industry than for those working in the print ad world, but it's relevant for all of us in the advertising industry no matter which medium you work within.

As a radio advertising agency, we're not handling graphics or visuals. We don't ever face the question of whether or not to Photoshop our model's crow's feet out of a shot. But as a creative department team within a direct response radio agency, we do have to ask ourselves if the tactics we're using (whether it is copy or production) will result in a radio advertisement that is inauthentic. For example, removing every single breath a voice talent takes during a spot might net us a second or two to fit in more copy. But if it results in an overall tone that sounds completely unnatural and forced - chances are, the production edits are too extreme and alternatives need to be considered. Otherwise, we run the risk of sounding inauthentic and thereby harming response.

There are other instances when we need to be particularly careful to inject plenty of authenticity into our radio advertising work. These include making radio ads that have a conversational or dialogue context, radio advertisements with highly promotional copy, and radio ads that are purposely faster paced to create a particular effect.

Again, although we're not working with a visual medium, it's important for those of us in the radio advertising industry to remember that consumers expect the same (if not higher) level of authenticity and realness in radio ads as they do from print, tv, and other mediums. In radio advertising, where we're working with auditory sense only, it is often much more subtle task to create authenticity. And we love that added challenge inherent to radio advertising.

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Fresh Ideas

A regular email I receive is from the folks at Springwise.com:


New ticketing service guarantees sell-out gigs

An innovative new ticketing service in the US, Ticketometer, hopes to eliminate the problem of poorly attended concerts by guaranteeing artists play to a packed audience. READ MORE...


‘Lab on a chip’ diagnoses HIV in 15 minutes

The mChip device can quickly, easily and inexpensively perform complex HIV testing even in the most remote regions of the planet, requiring only a tiny drop of blood, obtained through a finger prick, to test for both syphilis and HIV. READ MORE...


Lid that enhances the flavor of takeaway coffee

Mint Urban Technologies hope to improve the flavor of takeaway coffee with the Aroma Lid — a solution to the problem of plastic aftertaste and restricted aroma. READ MORE...


Wise Words with Keyis Ng

Keyis Ng, 23, worked in the fashion events industry for over two years before creating his own events and PR agency, STORM, and launching FashForward.com in early 2011. The launch saw over 500,000 online viewers from a total of 90 countries watch Singapore’s 2011 Audi Fashion Festival. READ MORE...


Deals site scours the web for personally relevant offers

Now in private beta, Chicago-based KoalaDeal is a free tool that uses information about the user’s interests and past purchases to find matching deals from the most popular deals sites. READ MORE...


New smartphone app to service conferences and events

Launched in June by New Zealand company SmartShow Limited, the ShowGizmo app boasts a list benefits for organizers, exhibitors and delegates alike, aiming to build a community and a sense of connectedness around events. READ MORE...


Confidential lost & found tags help protect users’ things

TurlyTag is a system of hard tags and stickers that lets users label their things without giving out personal details, using unique codes to identify the owners of lost items. READ MORE...


Service scans Twitter to help hotels find new guests

Reach.ly monitors Twitter for mentions of planned trips and allows hotels to reach out to visitors who are heading their way. The free service begins when hotels register with the site via Twitter and indicate which cities they’re interested in. READ MORE...


Baby bottle mimics the breast and keeps air out of milk

The Bare bottle is a new feeding system that’s designed to mimic the breast in virtually every way, including keeping air out of baby’s milk. Mimicking the breast has been the goal of just about every bottle design in recent years, but Bare may get closer than any other option on the market so far. READ MORE...


Social trip-planning site targets group travel with friends

TripHuddle is a social trip-planning application that aims to make coordinating trips easier and more fun by helping people work together and share their travel information. READ MORE...


Online ‘relationship dashboard’ rewards loving couples

San Francisco start-up Kahnoodle is aiming to use web and mobile technology to help couples stay together. Kahnoodle aims to combine empirically-supported and well-researched best practices with modern technology to “help busy couples build and maintain awesome relationships”. READ MORE...


Augmented reality app reveals the world’s hidden stories

Colorado-based Tagwhat offers a look back into the past by revealing the stories associated with different geographical places. The stories pop up on top of real-life locations when users look through their phone’s camera, changing based on what they’re looking at. READ MORE...


News from global outlets, translated for English-speaking readers

Aiming to bring more news reports from around the world before the eyes of English-speaking readers, French Worldcrunch selects, translates and edits content from top foreign-language outlets and delivers them online to English speakers. READ MORE...


On two continents, two indie mags turn out issues in 48 hours

Two efforts are taking place this summer to produce an entire magazine issue within 48 hours. Both at Stack in the UK and at Longshot in New York, the issues are written, designed and edited over a weekend, relying on the help of the crowds to produce the final issues. READ MORE...


In Pakistan, garden pots made from old, recycled tires

Australian UBeauty has launched a line of garden pots made by hand in Pakistan from old, worn out tires. The tire-derived planters are made by a former leather-crafting shop from discarded tires that are past the point of retreading, while any tread remaining on the tires is stripped and used for mulch. READ MORE...


New font designed for readers with dyslexia

Dutch design firm StudioStudio has created a typeface that can be read by dyslexics more easily and with fewer errors. Recognizing that dyslexics tend to rotate letters as well as mix them up, Dyslexie incorporates numerous features to help keep such problems from occurring. READ MORE...






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Problems?

from my email:

Daily Sales Tip: The 'Problem Creator'

Solving your prospects' or clients' problems is no longer an effective sales strategy. The successful salespeople in today's marketplace and the marketplace of tomorrow will be creative problem creators. Effective salespeople will be ruthless in their pursuit of uncovering or creating an awareness of client problems that they weren't even aware they had. They will think far ahead of their clients, not just along with them.

If you want to guarantee your success in the coming years, it will only take one approach. Find out what is preventing your prospects from getting a good night's sleep. Determine what is keeping them up at night worrying and you won't have to worry about customer loyalty, reducing prices or over-aggressive competition.

Source: Sales speaker/trainer Tim Connor

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Friday, August 12, 2011

Friday Night Marketing News from Mediapost

Click & read:


Food
by Karlene Lukovitz
While consumer awareness -- and sales -- of "functional" foods and beverages continue to grow, the number of Americans reporting that they consume such foods has shown virtually no increase since 2005, according to the latest annual functional foods trends survey conducted by the International Food Information Council. ...Read the whole story >>
Retail
by Sarah Mahoney
While marketers know that moms are the gatekeepers to everything from cell phone plans to family vacations, many are still baffled about how best to deliver their brand's message. The problem, says child researcher Donna Sabino, is that many companies have gotten lost in the swirl of changing technology and have lost sight of the only two things moms really care about these days. ...Read the whole story >>
Retail
by Aaron Baar
The retailer contracted VistaEmerge (and its charismatic singer) to promote the new line of shoes, which are targeted at teen girls. Rather than take a basic advertising approach, however, Payless's agency, Martin Williams Advertising, opted to tag along with the band on its European tour, filming everything that went on for a series of videos. ...Read the whole story >>
Automotive
by Karl Greenberg
Ram Brand CEO Fred Diaz and advertising chief Marissa Hunter talked about the brand's back-road travels and how the campaign is evolving. In a Web conference on Thursday, Diaz said, among other things, that the economy notwithstanding, the road has not been all that rocky for Ram. ...Read the whole story >>
Sports
by Karl Greenberg
Yingli's sponsorship activities started with Wednesday night's U.S. Men's National Team match versus Mexico at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. At the game, which aired on ESPN2, ESPN3.com and Univision, the company ran LED boards, video boards, PA announcements, and the managing director did the coin toss with the president of U.S. Soccer. ...Read the whole story >>
Financial Services
by Tanya Irwin
The study revealed that while social media has become very popular, the majority of companies are not using these platforms effectively. For instance, only 15% of the companies surveyed use Facebook and YouTube. Blogs are regularly updated by just 10% of the firms surveyed, and Twitter had the lowest use, with only 8% regularly posting content. ...Read the whole story >>

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The Open or Delete Test

Last weekend I posted some email hints, but today I want to cut to the chase.

My first hands on experience with running an email campaign was a few years ago as the V-P of Communications for the American Advertising Federation - Fort Wayne.

Emails were sent to announce and invite members and non-members to our monthly functions.

I had help with the graphics from a designer, but the content was all mine.

But even more important than the content inside the email, was the Headline, or Subjectline.

Maybe it was due to my radio script writing background, combined with a sly sense of humor and a solid background in getting attention by being a little outrageous at times, but I saw the open rate and the click thru rate of the emails I sent sky rocket compared to the year before I took over.

If you are going to do email marketing, make sure you work it, and work it well, don't just do it as a task on your to-do list.

Pat Mcgraw shares his thoughts:

Are You Excited by Your Inbox?

Posted: 04 Aug 2011 06:50 AM PDT

email inbox

“The number one reason that consumers opted out of email lists was that the emails received were not pertinent to them (58%). The second most popular reason was that the sender sent too many emails (44%). Less than a third of those surveyed opted out over too many emails in general, because their situation changed or they are using less email in favor of other modes of communication like texting or social media.”

MarketingSherpa. “Email Maketing Benchmark Guide.” 2008. www.marketingsherpa.com.

How often does your company ask email subscribers for input on topics of interest? What delivery options do you offer them – daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly? And do your emails provide a mix of education/information with promotional messages – or is your editorial focus leaning towards promotional offers over education/information?

Forgive me if I repeat myself, but a few months ago, I bought a new pair of Sperry Topsiders from Sperry’s website. Since then, I have been bombarded with promotional emails for the same product I just bought. After a few weeks, I just started deleting them, unread. Eventually, I unsubscribed – and that got me thinking about other emails and before you know it, I have been on an ‘unsubscribe binge’ that’s impacting a lot of companies.

So what are you doing to engage the 98% or more of your email subscribers that never open or click or buy from your emails efforts? If your readers opt-out because the content isn’t relevant, are you taking steps to eliminate this reason?

Are you reaching out on a regular basis and asking for content ideas or input on possible topics so your readers never get to the point where they want to opt-out because of the content?

If your readers opt-out because of the frequency of email, are you testing various delivery schedules? Can they get the daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly delivery option?

(And let’s be honest, if the content was worth a damn, frequency isn’t a problem. So take a look at the content needs/wants of this group too.)

Sure, it’s more work – but your job is supposed to be about engaging qualified buyers and driving life-long relationships. And that might require a little more work and creativity than banging out “Save 20% Today” emails two or three times per week. Beating the customer into submission really isn’t winning.

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Serving Customers

from RAB.com:

Daily Sales Tip: It's Everyone's Job

Customer service is everyone's responsibility. How you do your job, how you interact with your peers, and how you interface with customers determine the way your company competes in the marketplace.

The way you approach your job and how you contribute value determine the quality of your company's products and services. Your initiative, commitment to excellence, and follow-through affect customer satisfaction even if you have no direct contact with customers. The quality of your effort affects the quality of your company's solution for customers.

How you interact with your peers has an outward rippling effect on customer satisfaction. You can only serve external customers to the degree to which you serve each other. When employees battle each other for power, recognition, and rewards, customer satisfaction is a casualty of that battle. When departments fight turf wars, there is little energy left over to battle the real foe --customer dissatisfaction.

How you interface with customers determines your company's image. Your company can spend millions of dollars promoting an image, but how you treat customers speaks more loudly about your feelings for customers. If you view customers as an interruption, they hear it in your voice. If you frown when customers call, customers see it in their mind's eye. If you believe that serving is a pain in the neck or someone else's responsibility, it's difficult to conceal those feelings.

Customer service is everyone's responsibility, regardless of title or position. It's your job. It's your peers' job. It's your boss's job. Everyone is responsible for creating satisfied customers because everything you do affects customer satisfaction in one way or another.

Source: Sales author/consultant Tom Reilly

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Thursday, August 11, 2011

Thursday Night Marketing News from Mediapost

Click & read:


Retail
by Sarah Mahoney
The idea is that the retailer's Elf balloons, which have been floating down Broadway since 1947, are in desperate need of a makeover. Called Macy's Great American Elf Adventure, shoppers who locate one of the missing elves can give it an update. The winning entry will be transformed into a Macy's parade balloon on the big day. ...Read the whole story >>
Research
by Aaron Baar
According to Scarborough Research, coupon usage for household items such as groceries is up 24% since 2006. And though more than a fifth of these coupon users are using digital media such as email, text messaging and the Internet to get coupons, the primary channels continue to be Sunday newspaper inserts, in-store coupons, direct mailings and in-store circulars. ...Read the whole story >>
Food
by Karlene Lukovitz
While the product's formula isn't being changed, with new branding -- or at least new primary branding -- new packaging and new marketing, it's not hard to understand why The Dannon Company is terming this a "launch." ...Read the whole story >>
Retail
by Sarah Mahoney
"Consumer perceptions of the economy had been improving moving into August," comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni says in a webcast to present the company's latest research. "But our latest shows a major change. Between the end of July and our polling this week, the number of Middle Americans rating the economy as poor jumped to 64%, from 58%." ...Read the whole story >>
Retail
by Karl Greenberg
Typically, advertising on auto sites is centered on OEM efforts targeting competitive vehicles. However, Kelley Blue Book says putting these kinds of ads on the site's main vehicle marketplace pages is a new tactic in the realm of digital third-party research and inventory aggregators. ...Read the whole story >>
Hospitality
by Karl Greenberg
The Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS), a New York orthopedic hospital center, has signed as Official Hospital of The PGA of America. HSS will partner with The PGA on future health and wellness initiatives, including sponsorship of a program called "Let's Move On Course!" launching at the upcoming 93rd PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club. ...Read the whole story >>

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New Ad Campaigns

From Amy:

Free food truck goodies -- but there's a catch. Trapped in a Newcastle Schooner. Let's launch!


Levi'sLevi's took its stateside campaign "Go Forth" to a global audience, running in 24 countries across the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions. The campaign continues to pay homage to the brand's heritage while celebrating present-day pioneers looking to make a difference in the world. "Legacy," a 60-second ad, launched Monday on Facebook and will air on TV and in theatres later this month. The spot features young adults in Berlin, forming a large crowd in the streets. A few adults come face-to-face with police in riot gear, an image all too poignant given what's happening now in London. Other friends are simply gathering together to watch the sunrise and attend a concert. The poem "The Laughing Heart" by Charles Bukowski is read throughout: "Your life is your life. Know it while you have it. You are marvelous. The Gods wait to delight in you." Watch the TV ad here and see print ads here, here and here. Wieden+Kennedy Portland created the campaign.

DoritosPlaying with your food can be fun, profitable and problematic for Esteban, the "Dip Desperado" in a TV ad for Doritos. The two-minute spot opens with the humble beginnings of Esteban, a regular guy with an extraordinary talent for flipping chips with eagle-eyed accuracy. At one point in the ad, he actually takes downs an eagle soaring high above. Esteban becomes "El Flicko," garnering success, admiration, and women. Years pass and a younger man dethrones Esteban of his title and his wife. The spot ends with an older Esteban emerging from his home to prove his talent still exists. Watch the ad here, created by AMV BBDO and edited by Adam Jenkins of FeedTheWalrus.

CoronaCorona Extra's latest TV spot encourages "Commuters" to find their own beach, even if it's inside a busy park. Three pals in bathing suits sit and drink their Coronas on the beach as a group of stressed-out and overly dressed commuters rush alongside the water. One commuter strays from the hoard and joins the relaxed Corona drinkers. Turns out that the beach and bikinis are just an illusion; in reality, the friends are unwinding in a park after a day's work. See the ad here, created by Cramer-Krasselt Chicago.

NewcastleVisitors to the Del Mar Race Track in San Diego, Calif. aged 21 and over can see an optical illusion of sorts made possible by Newcastle Brown Ale. On July 20, three giant pieces of art were placed at the entrance of the track. If you climb inside the middle installation and are standing in the right place, you'll see someone who looks like they're trapped inside an 8-foot-tall pint of Newcastle Brown Ale. There are worse ways to go. Newcastle encouraged visitors to upload pictures to Facebook and so far, more than 1,000 pictures are online. See the installation here, created by Vitro.

Living LanguageThis next campaign for Living Language combines New York City food trucks and learning foreign languages, for a campaign that feeds your mind and your stomach. Mullen Boston has parked food trucks in Union Square and Midtown Manhattan today and tomorrow and is giving away snacks. Here's the catch: foodies must order in Spanish, French, Italian or German. It's called the "say it right to get a bite" rule. Last year, The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck in NYC took $1 off orders for a Salty Pimp ice cream cone if you ordered in Spanish. (I looked it up and practiced on my co-workers all morning.) The campaign supports Living Language's new Platinum program providing foreign language instruction through text, audio CDs, online courses and apps. The menu includes grapefruit sorbet; sfogliatelle, a delicious Italian pastry; and pretzel with beet-horseradish mayo. The menu helps participants say the names of the items properly, and everyone gets entered into a contest to win Living Language's Platinum product or gift certificates to NYC restaurants.

Big Ad GigThe Big Ad Gig has returned to this year's Advertising Week, where eight creatives will compete for five month-long paid gigs at four agencies and Facebook. Atmosphere Proximity, one of the agencies awarding a 30-day post, created two amusing call to entries, one paying tribute to the past and the other with a modern spin. Participants must create a video reenactment of a moment in advertising history, like the birth of David Ogilvy or the launch of Facebook. The first ad begins in black and white with a man ill-equipped to work in a kitchen, especially an old-fashioned one. He's unable to crack eggs, but he can turn eggshells into a delicious cake. Watch it here. Next, a magic taxi carrying a giraffe, robot and sheep flies above Times Square, while the lone human passenger describes the rules for entering the Big Ad Gig. See it here.

Kenneth ColeKenneth Cole launched Where Do You Stand, a Web site that tackles four important issues: gay rights, a woman's right to choose, gun control and war. Visitors can discuss these issues via Facebook, and watch videos featuring Kenneth Cole himself. A social media, outdoor and print campaign, running in Vogue, Esquire and Details, supports the site launch. Print and outdoor ads will come equipped with a QR code, including this ad, deemed too controversial for advertising, until a strategically placed QR code was added. See the edited ad here. enter:new media handled campaign outreach.

FerragamoFerragamo launched its first foray into ready-to-wear e-commerce with Trunkshow.Ferragamo.com, a U.S.-only site that features an online trunk show where customers can pull clothes from Ferragamo's fall/winter collection and choose, create, mix, match and purchase looks. Clothes, shoes and handbags will be available for purchase in limited quantities. The site features a "style yourself" sharing application where customers can create looks for themselves or their friends and share them via Facebook and social media outlets.

Cosmo for GuysRandom iPad App of the week: Hearst launched CFG -- that's Cosmo for Guys -- for the iPad. This is for the man who unabashedly reads his lady's issue of Cosmo, but now the app features content and quizzes especially for men. Topics covered include: 5 awkward date situations solved; the CFG sex map; gifts she'll love; and, "read her mind." The app can be purchased for $1.99 a month, $3.99 an issue or $19.99 annually in the App Store.


Amy Corr is managing editor, online newsletters for MediaPost. She can be reached at amyc@mediapost.com.

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Time for 2012

from my email:

Daily Sales Tip:

Start selling 2012 now...this is when budgets are being set and evaluated. You have a much better chance of being put in the budget now than trying to go after the money once the budgets have been determined and accepted up the line.

Source: Brandeis C. Hall, RAB

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Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Wednesday Night Marketing News from Mediapost

Your nightly dose:

Automotive
by Karl Greenberg
BMW Group Financial Services is touting its extended-vehicle protection program with a three-part series of viral videos. The central message is that the extended vehicle program is great to have, but forget it if the nitrous oxide super-booster flux capacitor that triples your horsepower is made by someone other than BMW. ...Read the whole story >>
Food
by Karlene Lukovitz
The brands, making their second appearance at the show, were diamond (highest-level) sponsors, and leveraged the exposure to some 3,000 bloggers to drum up buzz for a Jimmy Dean cause-related marketing initiative and new products rolling out this month. ...Read the whole story >>
Hospitality
by Tanya Irwin
Each grand prize winner will receive a three-day/two-night trip totaling approximately $5,000, which includes round-trip airfare to the destination of their choice for the winner and a guest, hotel accommodations at any Hilton Garden Inn around the globe and money to spend on the activity. ...Read the whole story >>
Retail
by Sarah Mahoney
"Levi's Legacy" is a 60-second film from Wieden + Kennedy, intended to reinforce the brand's "now is our time" message. While "Go Forth," introduced back in 2009, was inspired by Walt Whitman's poetry, this spot goes into new literary territory for the brand, featuring the poem "The Laughing Heart," by Charles Bukowski. ...Read the whole story >>
Research
by Aaron Baar
According to a new report from Experian Simmons, approximately 33.3 million consumers are using a cell phone for shopping-related activities. The uses range from researching products and pricing (which 15% of cell phone owners say they do every month) to scanning barcodes (8%) to making purchases directly from their phones (7%) ...Read the whole story >>
Cause-related
by Karl Greenberg
The campaign, for which the Knoxville, Tenn.-based agency secured backing from the Environmental Protection Agency's WaterSense program, as well as Bosch Home Appliances, Kohler, Lowe's and Procter & Gamble, takes a humorous approach to water-wasting habits. ...Read the whole story >>
Retail
by Sarah Mahoney
On one hand, "there's the uptick in July results for stores like Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue and Victoria's Secret, none of them your typical back-to-school destinations, Ted Vaughan, a partner in the Retail and Consumer Product Practice at BDO Seidman, tells Marketing Daily. "And that bodes well for the holiday season." ...Read the whole story >>

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Crafty Bastards


Crafty = skillful in underhand or evil schemes; cunning; deceitful; sly.

Bastard = a vicious, despicable, or thoroughly disliked person.

The above definitions are from Dictionary.com

And to whom am I referring to with such strong language?

The Local Search Association.

Who are they?

According to their website... Formerly the Yellow Pages Association...Neg Norton is president of the Association. Joe Walsh, CEO of Yellowbook, is the chairman of the board of directors. Local Search Association board member companies include Super Media, Local Insight Media, DexOne, DAC Group, AT&T Advertising Solutions, Wahlstrom, Telmetrics, Inc, Nationwide Media, Yellow Pages Group and Marquette Group.

And:

Mission Statement

The mission of YPA is to LEAD, SERVE, GROW and ADVOCATE for the Yellow Pages Industry.

What has me upset is that the phone book people are trying to piggy back on data that is clearly not about them.

Read the following but be careful, you and I are not looking at the online yellow pages, we are Googling, Binging and Yahooing.

Internet Yellow Pages Thrives on Reputation

According to The State of Local Search study by comScore, new data show local searches now account for 13% of all core search activity on top web search portals as of January 2011. Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) and local search sites also exhibited strong growth with 5.6 billion local searches in 2010, a 15% increase over 2009.

According to Neg Norton, President, Local Search Association, "...convenience, trust, and brand are all important in attracting the search...local search providers that offer all three attributes to the consumer will be in a good position to deliver to the advertiser..."

58% of respondents who choose an IYP site first, like DexKnows, Superpages, Yellowbook and YP.com, do so due to brand recognition and reputation. Nearly a third (30%) indicated they chose an IYP site first because of its reputation for local business information.

Portal searchers were more likely to conduct local searches as part of broad information gathering, while primary IYP searchers reported conducting local searches to look for contact information with specific products or services in mind. Despite differences, over half of local business searchers choosing portal or IYP sites for primary local search are highly satisfied.

The study shows significant growth in mobile local search use, which provides opportunities for local businesses to engage with potential customers via mobile. In January 2011, 77.1 million mobile subscribers accessed local content on a mobile device, up 34% from the previous year. Local content users accounted for 33% of mobile subscribers, with 87% owning a GPS-capable handset (up 9% from the previous year).

App use for mobile local content grew 34%, with 56% of respondents using apps for local content. Browsers lead in usage of local content with 73%, dropping from 75% last year. Local content via SMS dropped to 25% from 30%.

Core mobile usage behaviors showed local content dominating, as mobile subscribers increasingly turn to their mobile phones for information on maps, weather, traffic, retail and other local content. Online daily deal offers and discounts have also emerged as an additional customer acquisition channel for local businesses.

According to Gillian Heltai, Senior Director at comScore "...many new entrants to the daily deal space, but awareness is a big issue...wth IYP sites already interacting with local business searchers...there is the prospect of intercepting shoppers who are looking to buy and could become return customers."

Norton concludes that "...the market is changing so rapidly that...small and medium size businesses are working to understand how to be effective and use these tools to their advantage..."

(Source: The Center For Media Research, 07/26/11)

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Define: Saleperson

My friend Randy Clark wrote this:

Are You a Good Salesperson?



Webster’s Dictionary has an entire page of definitions for the word, “good” (That’s good, right?). I’m certain I could ask twenty successful salespeople to define a good salesperson, and come up with another page full of definitions, as well. What is a good salesperson? Is it strictly bottom-line net business or is it more? I think more—MUCH more.

Randy continues with 11 insights that we should read, live and pass on to others. Continue by going here and add a comment or 2 too: http://blog.tkographix.com/post/8524932056/are-you-a-good-salesperson

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Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Tuesday Night Marketing News from Mediapost

Click and read:


Telecom
by Aaron Baar
In a new set of television commercials, Virgin Mobile's "Sparah," a manufactured celebrity couple meant to attract tabloid coverage, encounter a T-Mobile lookalike in the company's signature all-white setting, calling the place "boring." The T-Mobile lookalike agrees the set is boring, and it will only get more so when the company is taken over by AT&T, "who ranks last in customer service." ...Read the whole story >>
Automotive
by Karl Greenberg
Mark Barnes, VP of Volkswagen Customer Experience, says he will bring the customer voice to the highest levels of the organization, and eliminate the kind of redundancy -- at least in the area of customer service -- that can happen when disparate divisions do similar efforts without communicating tactics and strategy to other areas and also to leadership. ...Read the whole story >>
Beverages
by Tanya Irwin
The number one ad is the Bud Light "Dog Sitting" spot, which broke during the Super Bowl. The spot had the highest "likability" score than any other beer ad, says Ace Metrix CEO Peter Daboll. "We often see very high likability scores in ads that incorporate both humor and animals," Daboll tells Marketing Daily. ...Read the whole story >>
Retail
by Sarah Mahoney
Marketing Daily caught up with Oscar H. Castro, director/general manager of international e-commerce, for more details on how the Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based retailer hopes to woo the fast-growing, social-media loving Hispanic market. ...Read the whole story >>
Automotive
by Karl Greenberg
Honda has been running the Honda Civic Tour for ten years. But this is the first time the tour has brought back an original band from the tour's first outing. The 38-city tour features Blink-182, which launched the yearly Honda Civic entertainment venture back in 2001. ...Read the whole story >>

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