Mobile campaigns can be a powerful marketing tool, but the power is in the creative concept. Mobile will not make a poor idea better, but it can make a good idea great.
Thank you for visiting my blog, it has moved to http://tactilus.wordpress.com/ Please bookmark the new location and share your comments!
Thanks!
Kim
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
What IS the industry standard?!?
More and more we are hearing that standard banner ads are not as effective as they used to be. We have all seen examples that would both support and dispute this claim.
The best part about banners is that they provide inexpensive exposure (where else can you get a guaranteed impression for .03 cents?) that can be tracked and targeted. And we’ve all seen the latest Rich Media ads that slide, pop and interact in new ways. So the age-old question “What is the standard industry click through rate?” itself is actually becoming out-dated the more banners change.
There is still an answer to this question, but the answer is more than it ever used to be. And here it is (according to Doubleclick):
Avg Click-through Rate 0.10%
Interaction Rate 2.11%
Avg Interaction Time 10.29 seconds
Expansion Rate 2.46%
Video complete rate 54.25%
Avg display time 32.13 seconds
Avg Expanding time 6.5 seconds
These are incredible stats. Look at the jump in response from a static banner to an interactive banner.
What else do we know?
Larger creative sizes tend to produce higher click through/interaction rates.
Rich Media video ads consistently out-perform non-video ads.
Auto, wellness, media/entertainment, and retail get the best response rates.
Response rates are highest (more than double ours) in Hong Kong, India and the United Arab Emirates. Totally not useful for us…but we all need a few useless facts under our belts.
Moral of the story? Whether in New Delhi or New Hamburg, Singapore or St. Thomas, banner ads are still an important part of your media mix. Get more creative with your standard ad units and help your customers interact with you MORE!
The best part about banners is that they provide inexpensive exposure (where else can you get a guaranteed impression for .03 cents?) that can be tracked and targeted. And we’ve all seen the latest Rich Media ads that slide, pop and interact in new ways. So the age-old question “What is the standard industry click through rate?” itself is actually becoming out-dated the more banners change.
There is still an answer to this question, but the answer is more than it ever used to be. And here it is (according to Doubleclick):
Avg Click-through Rate 0.10%
Interaction Rate 2.11%
Avg Interaction Time 10.29 seconds
Expansion Rate 2.46%
Video complete rate 54.25%
Avg display time 32.13 seconds
Avg Expanding time 6.5 seconds
These are incredible stats. Look at the jump in response from a static banner to an interactive banner.
What else do we know?
Larger creative sizes tend to produce higher click through/interaction rates.
Rich Media video ads consistently out-perform non-video ads.
Auto, wellness, media/entertainment, and retail get the best response rates.
Response rates are highest (more than double ours) in Hong Kong, India and the United Arab Emirates. Totally not useful for us…but we all need a few useless facts under our belts.
Moral of the story? Whether in New Delhi or New Hamburg, Singapore or St. Thomas, banner ads are still an important part of your media mix. Get more creative with your standard ad units and help your customers interact with you MORE!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Why you WANT the Tweeters
The first part of the study, conducted by Edison Research, basically stated that, unless you've been living under a rock, most people are aware of Twitter. In fact you don't even have to own a computer or be online to have some knowledge of Twitter. But it's still in the early stages of adoption and hasn't experienced the 'hockey stick' growth curve shown by other giants like hotmail and facebook.
The most interesting stat that came out of this study as it applies to your business is that Tweeters are generally early adapters AND they are 3 times as likely to follow or friend brands and businesses than any other social network user. So if you sell a product or service that holds a higher value to early adapters - fashion, electronics, vehicles, beauty products, baby gear, etc Twitter users may be more lucrative to your business than facebook, myspace, and other SN sites.
A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush!
There are 17 million active Tweeters in the US alone. From a rudimentary population ratio Canada might have about 2 million active Tweeters. But remember - you are looking for small groups of highly interested people. You don't need 2 million people to make a difference in your bottom line this month...you might just need 10. So don't be afraid to start small - 10 followers are GOLD if you can show your value to them with regular, meaningful Tweets. A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush!
By the way....follow me on Twitter...@kimbero.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Nurturing your Social Media Strategy
Many business owners and marketers are coming to the realization that a Social Media Strategy is a necessity in today's marketplace. Unfortunately that realization does not come with a standard issue manual on how to make it happen.
The experience is not unlike having your first child. You decide you want a baby (Facebook or Twitter page) and you go through the simple (and let's hope somewhat exciting) process of creating one. You post photos and all your friends coo at your pretty new creation. Sometime in the not too distant future when you're losing sleep and the baby is fussy and demanding you wonder why you ever signed up for this and - trust me on this one - you actually audibly utter "why didn't this thing come with a manual?".
Here's where we come to the big difference between the baby and the fan page...you abandon the fan page. Your 'cyber-baby' and all its admirers are left to fend for themselves on the world wide interweb...your fans abandon you back and you explain that 'social media' wasn't the right fit for your business.
Saying that social media isn't the right tool for your business is like saying that you don't value word of mouth. And in every sales meeting I have ever attended, every owner/manager I have questioned (short of a few extremely bizarre situations - but that's another blog entirely) word of mouth is always one of their most important marketing tools.
In today's digital marketplace social media can become the very tool that gives your strongest supporters their own personal soap box. Look at the Starbucks Fan Page - over 6.5 million fans and 40 wall posts per hour from social experiments to tips for your next barista beverage to downright gushing over one's love for the cafe giant. OK..so they are an international giant...let's take a look at this on a slightly smaller level...
Offspring Baby in Cambridge, Ontario. Fantastic small baby gear store with personal service by moms who truly love what they do.
159 fans...slick, almost candy-like imaging....a few wall posts a week...but every mom in their fan club knows that the new Baby Banz are in - and if they don't need any this year I guarantee you they will tell their mom-friends who do! Offspring relies on more than a fan page for their business, they are strategically smart in much of their marketing, and this is a logical extension of their brand that allows their supporters to participate in their business, even if spit up and nap-time prevent them from visiting the store today.
Facebook and Twitter can replace the need for creating and maintaining costly e-mail opt-in lists, or will make those lists more effective by providing you with multi-touch points. And don't be afraid to promote your social media pages in store and in your other media to encourage new fans and followers. The more the merrier! So manual or no manual, take the leap into social media. Be patient, you'll have to crawl before you walk...but once your up and running you'll be glad you stuck with it.
The experience is not unlike having your first child. You decide you want a baby (Facebook or Twitter page) and you go through the simple (and let's hope somewhat exciting) process of creating one. You post photos and all your friends coo at your pretty new creation. Sometime in the not too distant future when you're losing sleep and the baby is fussy and demanding you wonder why you ever signed up for this and - trust me on this one - you actually audibly utter "why didn't this thing come with a manual?".
Here's where we come to the big difference between the baby and the fan page...you abandon the fan page. Your 'cyber-baby' and all its admirers are left to fend for themselves on the world wide interweb...your fans abandon you back and you explain that 'social media' wasn't the right fit for your business.
Saying that social media isn't the right tool for your business is like saying that you don't value word of mouth. And in every sales meeting I have ever attended, every owner/manager I have questioned (short of a few extremely bizarre situations - but that's another blog entirely) word of mouth is always one of their most important marketing tools.
In today's digital marketplace social media can become the very tool that gives your strongest supporters their own personal soap box. Look at the Starbucks Fan Page - over 6.5 million fans and 40 wall posts per hour from social experiments to tips for your next barista beverage to downright gushing over one's love for the cafe giant. OK..so they are an international giant...let's take a look at this on a slightly smaller level...
Offspring Baby in Cambridge, Ontario. Fantastic small baby gear store with personal service by moms who truly love what they do. 159 fans...slick, almost candy-like imaging....a few wall posts a week...but every mom in their fan club knows that the new Baby Banz are in - and if they don't need any this year I guarantee you they will tell their mom-friends who do! Offspring relies on more than a fan page for their business, they are strategically smart in much of their marketing, and this is a logical extension of their brand that allows their supporters to participate in their business, even if spit up and nap-time prevent them from visiting the store today.
Facebook and Twitter can replace the need for creating and maintaining costly e-mail opt-in lists, or will make those lists more effective by providing you with multi-touch points. And don't be afraid to promote your social media pages in store and in your other media to encourage new fans and followers. The more the merrier! So manual or no manual, take the leap into social media. Be patient, you'll have to crawl before you walk...but once your up and running you'll be glad you stuck with it.
Friday, March 26, 2010
People actually read these things?!
Have you ever felt like laughing, crying and banging your head against a wall at the same time?
It's a confusing feeling...I imagine the look on my face was as perplexed as the face staring back at me. 3 times in the last week when I have been talking about blogs the person to whom I was speaking said "people actually read these things?"
My answer is...as always...an emphatic "YES!" Granted the followership of my blog is a grand total of 1 - and that's me - but bear with me I'm just starting out. Someday you will quote this blog...and I will smile contentedly knowing that my Friday afternoon musings weren't falling on deaf ears.
World wide there are over 130 million blogs! This blog right here, was one of about 1 million blog posts the day it was written. I can estimate that of the 364 million people reading blogs today, this one may only reach ... well ... not that many.
But I digress. The point is 77% of active internet users read blogs. That's an incredible figure! It explains why a local radio station announcer can have 20,000 blog page views a month, if 77% of their listeners who are active internet users read blogs...that's a lot of readers. And the connection the announcer already has with their audience is invaluable...and the reason that they can bring a few thousand people to read their blog in a few hours, while my blog - by comparison - well we've already addressed that.
So the first question is...why aren't you keeping a blog? Surely it is something that you lack which is preventing you from doing so....time, inspiration, spell check....if you honestly cannot embrace the concept of a weekly journal, then forget friends in high (or low) places, you need some in digital spaces.
YES...people actually read these things....you just did! You have now joined 363,999,999 others...welcome to the club!
Kim
It's a confusing feeling...I imagine the look on my face was as perplexed as the face staring back at me. 3 times in the last week when I have been talking about blogs the person to whom I was speaking said "people actually read these things?"
My answer is...as always...an emphatic "YES!" Granted the followership of my blog is a grand total of 1 - and that's me - but bear with me I'm just starting out. Someday you will quote this blog...and I will smile contentedly knowing that my Friday afternoon musings weren't falling on deaf ears.
World wide there are over 130 million blogs! This blog right here, was one of about 1 million blog posts the day it was written. I can estimate that of the 364 million people reading blogs today, this one may only reach ... well ... not that many.
But I digress. The point is 77% of active internet users read blogs. That's an incredible figure! It explains why a local radio station announcer can have 20,000 blog page views a month, if 77% of their listeners who are active internet users read blogs...that's a lot of readers. And the connection the announcer already has with their audience is invaluable...and the reason that they can bring a few thousand people to read their blog in a few hours, while my blog - by comparison - well we've already addressed that.
So the first question is...why aren't you keeping a blog? Surely it is something that you lack which is preventing you from doing so....time, inspiration, spell check....if you honestly cannot embrace the concept of a weekly journal, then forget friends in high (or low) places, you need some in digital spaces.
YES...people actually read these things....you just did! You have now joined 363,999,999 others...welcome to the club!
Kim
Friday, February 19, 2010
A Fresh Angle
Sometimes all it takes is a fresh angle.
I found it both frustrating and interesting that something I have been saying for years in my current role has been reintroduced as a fresh idea....and it worked!
It was frustrating for obvious reasons...how many times can I say the same thing without it registering or having an impact? (all parents may now nod knowingly)
It was interesting because this is where I found my answer. I became complacent and comfortable with my approach. A fantastically motivating speaker came in and said what I have been saying with new words and cool slides (ok...and lots of cool NEW ideas too) and there was suddenly a room full of epiphanies and light bulbs! Coincidentally this person also managed to give me a fresh angle on some of my personal attitudes and opinions...which left me feeling a little foolish...so I found the clarity to step back and take another look and I feel like I changed a bit this week (for the better).
So here's the lesson (you knew it was coming)....don't get too comfortable. If your current message is working, great. Keep going. But plan ahead for the time when the message becomes stale and you'll need to put a new spin on it. (Wiki the meaning of Cliche) Think of your message as your weekly dinner menu. How many times can you have breaded chicken and stir fry before you start looking for a new chicken taste?
Consumers...well...consume. Once your message has been digested they will be ready for the next entree.
Kim
I found it both frustrating and interesting that something I have been saying for years in my current role has been reintroduced as a fresh idea....and it worked!
It was frustrating for obvious reasons...how many times can I say the same thing without it registering or having an impact? (all parents may now nod knowingly)
It was interesting because this is where I found my answer. I became complacent and comfortable with my approach. A fantastically motivating speaker came in and said what I have been saying with new words and cool slides (ok...and lots of cool NEW ideas too) and there was suddenly a room full of epiphanies and light bulbs! Coincidentally this person also managed to give me a fresh angle on some of my personal attitudes and opinions...which left me feeling a little foolish...so I found the clarity to step back and take another look and I feel like I changed a bit this week (for the better).
So here's the lesson (you knew it was coming)....don't get too comfortable. If your current message is working, great. Keep going. But plan ahead for the time when the message becomes stale and you'll need to put a new spin on it. (Wiki the meaning of Cliche) Think of your message as your weekly dinner menu. How many times can you have breaded chicken and stir fry before you start looking for a new chicken taste?
Consumers...well...consume. Once your message has been digested they will be ready for the next entree.
Kim
Friday, February 12, 2010
No Pain No Gain
I admit that I don't subscribe the retro 80's doctrine "No Pain No Gain". People often make things a lot more painful than they really need to be.
There is, however, 1 exception....IT upgrades. Although they are for the best, they rarely come without pain and stress.
Back in the early days of the dot-com explosion I was the point person for an IT project that coordinated an in-house inventory system with a then-state-of-the-art website - something NONE of our competitors had even considered, I'm sure. All was custom coded and looked new and shiny by late-90's standards. But the code in the back end was a nightmare and having to replace the programmers when they couldn't finish the project properly proved to be a very costly venture. In the end as the industry moved very quickly into internet based sales we were the clear winners, and the fact that we could take photos of our own inventory, touch them up and use them in our marketing left our competitors literally scrambling to figure out how our product looked so flawless!
Having been through this I was certain that as technology developed that launching new websites would become simple. It turns out that in order to achieve technological gain, one must still endure pain. Going through the launch of the 8th website in my career there is clearly no way to avoid the pain that comes with creating, uploading and transferring content, design, tools and interactivity. Although I can honestly say this has probably been the easiest transition to date (likely because I am not managing the project, just helping out and taking direction from others) I have come to realize something.....
It's all about communication.
Few projects require more specific and detailed communication than the launch of a website. So next time you venture into new website territory BE SPECIFIC. Sketch, write, collaborate, share, criticize, applaud...do whatever it takes to keep all parties involved completely informed on your vision, but be willing to consider the advice of those more tech-savvy than yourself.
Your website is your first impression...it will make or break your consumers' opinion of your business and products. You will not regret the time, money and stress required to build a 'good' website.
Kim
There is, however, 1 exception....IT upgrades. Although they are for the best, they rarely come without pain and stress.
Back in the early days of the dot-com explosion I was the point person for an IT project that coordinated an in-house inventory system with a then-state-of-the-art website - something NONE of our competitors had even considered, I'm sure. All was custom coded and looked new and shiny by late-90's standards. But the code in the back end was a nightmare and having to replace the programmers when they couldn't finish the project properly proved to be a very costly venture. In the end as the industry moved very quickly into internet based sales we were the clear winners, and the fact that we could take photos of our own inventory, touch them up and use them in our marketing left our competitors literally scrambling to figure out how our product looked so flawless!
Having been through this I was certain that as technology developed that launching new websites would become simple. It turns out that in order to achieve technological gain, one must still endure pain. Going through the launch of the 8th website in my career there is clearly no way to avoid the pain that comes with creating, uploading and transferring content, design, tools and interactivity. Although I can honestly say this has probably been the easiest transition to date (likely because I am not managing the project, just helping out and taking direction from others) I have come to realize something.....
It's all about communication.
Few projects require more specific and detailed communication than the launch of a website. So next time you venture into new website territory BE SPECIFIC. Sketch, write, collaborate, share, criticize, applaud...do whatever it takes to keep all parties involved completely informed on your vision, but be willing to consider the advice of those more tech-savvy than yourself.
Your website is your first impression...it will make or break your consumers' opinion of your business and products. You will not regret the time, money and stress required to build a 'good' website.
Kim
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