Google Analytics, Meet Webmaster Tools!

Google continues to provide amazing ways in which search marketing professionals can improve their campaign efforts. The latest is this week’s announcement that webmasters using Google Analytics to track site data can link verified sites in Webmaster Tools when using the same Google account. What does this mean to you?

Perhaps the most valuable aspect of connecting the two services is that users are able to access the Google Analytics Referring Pages report from within Google Webmaster Tools. This means that you will be able to “understand the overall trends in traffic volume from referrals, as well as the sites driving those trends,” according to Google.

This is quite the important development for a few reasons, but perhaps most notable is that webmasters will be able to use the data to see if the sites that link to them most frequently or the content that is linked to the most on a website are actually driving traffic. Why is it important to know that? Well, should you be witnessing links that are not driving traffic you can assume that there is not a lot of value in them which might in turn encourage you to seek out those that do.

This might just be the first value proposition from connecting the two account - in the future you might see others. For example, it is completely possible that Google could take data currently available in Webmaster tools (information on impressions or average position for example) and show the relationship between a number of variables including unique visits, time on site, etc.

WM won’t go into detail about how to link a verified site in Webmaster Tools to a Google Analytics profile but we will say this – the entire process takes just a few minutes and you’d be nearing foolish not to do so. Expect a lot more to come from the Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools connection in the near future.

Website Magazine

Emineo Media

Website and Email Critical B2B Investments!

In a recent survey of business-to-business (B2B) marketers, traditional online tactics remain key to marketing success.

Just over half of B2B marketers surveyed told BtoB Magazine their budgets would go up this year, mostly by less than 15%. With a primary marketing goal of customer acquisition (69%), the greatest number of respondents expected spending increases to come from online (78%). By contrast, 44% said they would be spending more on events and 36% on direct mail.

Online, B2B marketers were most likely to report planned increases in marketing spending on their websites and email programs, followed by social media. These results differed in priority from those of a survey of general US marketers by RSW/US.

Among that group, 65% planned to spend more on social media, followed by 47% on email. RSW/US did not report on increases in website spending.



More than two-thirds of B2B marketers already used social media marketing as of December 2010, where the main focus of marketing efforts was brand building. Despite customer acquisition being B2B’s top goal for the year, less than half of respondents were using social media for lead generation.



In 2010, social media, websites and email each received a median of 10% of B2Bs’ online marketing budgets. Spending levels were higher on display and video advertising.

 Article

Emineo Media

Email, Social Media to See More Marketing Dollars in 2011!

Email marketers have been warming up to social media for the past year, using social elements like “share with your network” and buttons to connect with brands on Twitter and Facebook in email campaigns. Email and social media also go together in another way: They are the top tactics marketers worldwide expect to increase budgets on in 2011. 

According to a November 2010 survey of business executives around the globe by StrongMail, nearly two-thirds of companies will increase spending on email marketing, and 57% will put more dollars toward social media marketing. Search took a distant third place with 41% of respondents indicating they would spend more.



Email, Social Media to See More Marketing Dollars in 2011

Emineo Media

Word-of-Mouth Has Greatest Effect on Moms!

If moms weren’t already an attractive enough target for marketers, a Keller Fay study of US internet users and their brand conversations has found that they are more responsive to word-of-mouth than other adults and more likely to help pass on brand messages.

Nearly two-thirds of mothers studied in September 2010 said they typically thought word-of-mouth was credible, 2 percentage points ahead of females in general and 10 percentage points ahead of men. They were also more apt to take action, including passing the information on to others, making a purchase or doing more research on a brand. Across all metrics, while females were more receptive than males, moms were even better disposed to listening to brand conversations.



They also mentioned more brands per week in their own conversations, at 73 mentions compared with fewer than 65 among females and just 57 among males.

Word-of-Mouth Has Greatest Effect on Moms

Emineo Media

Social Network Ad Spending to Double in U.K. by 2012!

The rise of social networking, and the involvement of advertisers in these channels, was one of 2010’s mega-stories—not least in the UK. Though spending in social networks is still a fraction of total online ad spending, many UK brands have leapt at the chance to engage with consumers in an environment where they spend increasing amounts of time and are highly motivated to share their thoughts. eMarketer estimates social network ad spending in the UK will rise from £130 million ($203 million) this year to £275 million ($430 million) by 2012, an increase of more than 110% in two years. This will boost social network ad spending from 3% of all online ad spending to 6% over the same time period.

via UK Social Network Ad Spending to Double by 2012 - eMarketer.

Social Media Is Greater Marketing Priority for Small Businesses!

Facebook is now third most important marketing tactic Small businesses, while not yet at the usage levels of their larger counterparts, are warming up to social media marketing, according to a fall 2010 survey from small-business marketing firm Constant Contact.The businesses surveyed overwhelmingly considered word-of-mouth the most important marketing tactic for finding new customers, but that figure includes discussions that take place both online and offline. Websites and email marketing followed as the only other tactics a majority of small businesses said were “very important.”

The businesses surveyed overwhelmingly considered word-of-mouth the most important marketing tactic for finding new customers, but that figure includes discussions that take place both online and offline. Websites and email marketing followed as the only other tactics a majority of small businesses said were “very important.”



Social Media Is Greater Marketing Priority for Small Businesses

Emineo Media

How Many Marketers Are Using Social Media?

Nearly three-quarters this year

As consumer usage of social media continues to increase in the US and around the world, marketers have transitioned from cautious engagement to full deployment.

Next year, four in five US businesses with at least 100 employees will take part in social media marketing, eMarketer estimates. That’s up from just 42% as recently as 2008, and the number of marketers using the channel will continue to rise through 2012.

“Marketers that have spent the past few years ramping up their internal social media marketing infrastructure—and their presence on sites such as Facebook and Twitter—will take social media to new heights in 2011,” said Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer principal analyst and author of the new report “Social Media in the Marketing Mix: Budgeting for 2011.” “And as they do, they will evolve the way they market across all media, not just online.”



How Many Marketers Are Using Social Media? .

Is Cyber Monday Dead?

According to eMarketer Cyber Monday is dead. Various sources are reporting an uptick across the board in both on and off-line spending for the Thanksgiving holiday. That alone is something to be thankful for. Digging into the numbers from Coremetrics there's real evidence that a segment of the population is also using their mobile devices. Whether they are making a purchase or just browsing the site for the latest deals is irrelevant. That fact is they are online and looking for something - right; coupons, discounts, promotions, directions, etc.

Whether your business is retailing online or just driving traffic to your site to spur offline sales, your online presence, image and ability to just be found is increasingly important. Last week we interviewed several businesses who maintained they must go it alone due to costs - they can't afford to outsource or hire someone to manage or run their interactive marketing; or even worse - they "know how to do it, (we) just need to commit some time." Sleeping on the job never got me a pay raise. Neither did being stubborn.

Trying to shoot a moving target is a difficult task. So too is Interactive Marketing. Reason being, you've got to be up-to-speed on where the target is now, or where it's going. Unless you're entrenched in the in's and outs of the marketing industry, you're more than likely going to miss the target, or at best, get there after it has moved.

Don't get bogged down in the details of learning how to do interactive. Educate yourself on what you think you need and get with (hire) a firm that can help you meet your needs & goals. Small and Medium size businesses that opt to go-it-alone are missing opportunities 24/7. And at what cost?

How can you cost-justify outsourcing? How much does your average sales agent generate each year?

Do you take action or gamble?

We truly appreciate when trusted sources share nuggets of information to educate us all on the how-to’s of web design (et al). Whether your company has been online for many years or many months, take heed to the advice but more importantly, take action. You can have the greatest product or service in the world but a poor or bad experience on your website will turn your prospective customer in the opposite direction. It’s no different than a sales agent at a retail (offline) location. If that agent is having a bad day and it’s in the mood to deal with the same questions she just answered over and over the day before and she leaves your prospective customer feeling annoyed as opposed to excited to learn more, there’s a (huge) problem.

So be honest with yourself and/or your team. Are you really going to take action when you receive these complimentary tips from the experts, or are you going to go about your day and take a gamble?

Remember, even if a browser on your site doesn’t turn into a customer, what is it that you want them to remember from their experience (while on your site), which in turn is what do you want them to remember about your company?

If you acknowledge that you likely won’t and rarely do take action, contact a professional interactive web design firm. In the long run, your business will outperform the competition when you focus more on the experience, and less on the expense.

Interactive Marketing Listens to Customers!

Interactive Marketing is a reference to an evolving trend in marketing where marketing has moved from transaction-based to conversation-based. John Deighton at Harvard provided the definition of interactive marketing, he says; "interactive marketing is the ability to address the customer, remember what the customer says and address the customer again in a way that illustrates that we remember what the customer has told us (Deighton 1996)."

Although interactive marketing processes are facilitated by internet technology, interactive marketing is not the same as online marketing. The ability to communicate with our customer more easily using the technology of the internet is made easier when we can collect customer information online and share this information with them. Interactive marketing works because it allows us to better serve our clients, their customers and provides a better use of marketing dollars.

Emineo Media

Social Media: Essential Strategic Communication!

Social media must be viewed as an essential strategic communication medium that all businesses should embed in their overall marketing plan.  Social media can’t be viewed as a fad, a craze or the next big thing. Its potential to maximize a brand/identity, business, organization or personality continues to evolve and its imminent impact will further astound those who have yet to embrace it.