GSW Consulting Group » Marketing

Internet Marketing vs Interactive Marketing

Bridget Ayers — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 01:43:15 +0000

Internet marketing, also referred to as i-marketing, web marketing, online marketing, or eMarketing, is the marketing of products or services over the Internet. (source: wikipedia) Internet marketing is relatively inexpensive when compared to other forms of business marketing, i.e. print, billboard, radio, t.v. etc., through online marketing companies can reach a wide audience, global or targeted, for a small fraction of traditional advertising budgets. The ease of use, scope and breadth of information, low cost of access, and mobility of the internet for the user gives businesses the advantage of appealing to consumers any day, any hour, and in any location. The strategy and overall effectiveness of an internet marketing campaign depend on the company’s goals, plan, and execution.

Measuring an effective advertising campaign is subjective, the ROI (return on investment) for each company is different, some of the components that are measured are time, cost, reach, and conversion. When measuring an internet marketing campaign we take traditional measurements and add in analytical data that can be tracked, measured, and comparatively analyzed. This data can be used to judge execution, to compare with previous campaigns, as well as the web presence of competing companies. The analytical data from internet marketing is far easier and more efficiently extractable when compared to a traditional offline advertising campaign, this coupled with the lower cost has made web marketing an integral addition to most business marketing plans.

Internet marketing enhanced traditional advertising campaign measurements with the addition of unique visitors, clicks, bounces, page ranks, keyword authority, link tracking, and much much more…..and now, as if that weren’t enough we add in the interactive marketing component where engagement, brand awareness, word of mouth, and community generated content expands the ROI from return on investment to return on influence. Interactive marketing measurements include content syndication, brand exposure, and comments and discussions on blogs, social networks, forums, micro-sites, article sites, news aggregator sites, mobile and social applications, and…..basically anywhere information can travel it can now be tracked.

Internet marketing has morphed into so much more than the just internet based, where it used to be predominately SEM (search engine marketing) with pay per impression, pay per click, pay per play, or pay per action and SEO (search engine optimization) with long tail and short tail keywords, backlinking, and website design and coding, it is now interactive multichannel marketing. Internet marketing has grown from just paying for placement for visibility on the internet to interactive digitally focused engagement marketing, which involves the placement of media along varying stages of the customer engagement cycle. Multichannel marketing is accomplished through use of the internet, email, mobile devices, and even extends offline. Interactive marketing is about reaching and engaging consumers where ever they may be.

Right now is the time of year that most business owners are creating or fine tuning their business plan for 2010, part of that process is to look back at what you did this year and last year, as well as to look ahead at what you might want to do next year and the years beyond. A comprehensive marketing plan should encompass staying in front of current and past clients while also increasing exposure to get in front of new clients. Through the use of technology and the internet this has never been easier, so get out there and get interactive. Let us know how it goes!

Adding Video to your Email Marketing Campaigns

Bridget Ayers — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:38:42 +0000

Aweber has a great article with tips and resources to add animated gif to your email. They also highlight a more detailed write-up of how to make the GIF. Aweber is an e-newsletter provider we discussed in a previous post on options for picking an e-news provider .

Quick Steps

Record or capture video
Convert video file to GIF
Upload GIF to your website
Put GIF into your email just like any other image
Add remaining email content
Test and send your email!

A Few Things to Consider When Using This Tactic

This tactic can be useful not only for “normal” videos, but for any situation where animation might be helpful. A 360-degree rotating view of a product and a virtual tour or slideshow of a house for sale.
There will not be sound in the email with this method, so don’t forget to link the image to a page of your website where your subscribers can go watch the video with sound.
If someone has images turned off, they’re not going to see the animation. Encourage subscribers to turn on images. Also, provide a text link to an online version of the video.
Keep the video short and the file size small remember some of your subscribers may have slower Internet connections.You want your image to load quickly, right?

Tools That Can Help You Create Your Video

Logitech webcams
Camcorder
Camtasia Studio – Screen Capture Software
Jing – Screen Capture Service. Free.
Photobucket - To create a slideshow
Adobe Premier e – Video editing software
Video editing software review
Free Video editing software
First Stream – Web-based solution that packs powerful features so you can broadcast live over the Internet, manage all incoming email and send video email, create video podcasts and blogs.

Tools That Can Help You Create Animated GIFs

Pro Motion – the software Anna used to create her GIF. Software download for Windows. Cost: $78.
VidGIF – software download for Windows. Cost: $29.95.
GIF Ninja – web-based video to GIF converter. Free. (But remember that when you use an online converter, you’re uploading your video to someone else’s site. If you’re not comfortable with that, don’t do it.)
VTubeTools – web-based video to GIF converter. Free.
Leech Video – web-based video to GIF converter. Free.
Shareware Connection – Software download video to GIF converter. Free

A wikihow discussing video to GIF conversion:

Convert A Video Into a Gif Animation

We would love to hear your feedback are you using this tactic or something else to get video in your email?

InsideUp The Source for Business Services

Bridget Ayers — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 03:30:34 +0000

I am sure that many of you have heard of Yelp.com, “Real People, Real Reviews” for those of you who do not know:

Yelp is…

…the ultimate city guide that taps into the community’s voice and reveals honest and current insights on local businesses and services on everything from martinis to mechanics.

That is a lot of territory to cover and now it looks like there is a new kid on the block that would like to take a piece of that territory as their own, Insideup.com.

InsideUp is creating an online community where small businesses can search for business services, review vendor ratings, and get feedback on vendor services. So as Yelp is all about the happenings around town InsideUp looks to be all business, all the time or the source for business services at the very least.

Is there a need for this type of community?

From the InsideUp blog it looks like there are 1.68 trillion reasons:

According to a 2007 report published by Visa International, small businesses (businesses with less than 100 employees or less than $25 million in sales) in the U.S. spend $1.68 trillion yearly on business services, or nearly 35% of their total business expenditures.

Another nice little statistic that lends some credence to the need for this type of resource, also from their blog:

According to Access Market International (AMI) Partners, more than 40% of small and medium businesses (or about 2.8 million businesses) are using Web 2.0 applications as part of their normal business practices. Web 2.0 is a term that describes interactive web features such as blogs, wikis, and social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, & Digg.

How does it work?

Members can rate vendors, provide references, and answer questions from other members. To insure accuracy, we allow business vendors to flag ratings and references that may not come from actual customers. We also don’t release or sell member information, so our members’ privacy is protected.

Smart Choices

At InsideUp, we know that making smart choices is essential in today’s competitive environment. Business services vendors want to target customers in a cost-effective way, and companies want to make sure that they are choosing solutions that take their businesses to the next level. That’s why we are creating an exciting online community where companies and business services vendors can connect in a unique and innovative way.

The website is in beta testing right now, and there are some glitches so be patient. I have only been able to login once since signing up and that was by accident, I just kept clicking links and the system finally gave in and let me on. Support hasn’t gotten back to me yet, but I am sure they will work the kinks out soon.

Without being a member you can perform a business category search based on distance from a specified zip code. The search will pull up business name, city, and a one to five star rating-to see actual reviews you must be a member.

At this time the membership is free and it looks like that will continue they are, like most networking communities, looking to make their money off of advertising.

I personally like niche communities, I think the more specialized and smaller the better, they keep the feedback relevant and reliable.

As sites get larger like the ones listed below, you get some people that have an opinion just because, and even though there are some genuine reviews the “just because I can” opinions give all the reviews less credibility.

The Better Business Bureau, local Chamber of Commerce, and the large internet directories are adequate resources and provide a starting point for information, but I also like that I will now have a more local tech based source for business services.

What do you think, do you use the larger business directory sites, if so how do you like or dislike them? Would you be interested in a more specialized, narrowly focused site to get your information from?

there are 1.68 trillion reasons:

According to a 2007 report published by Visa International, small businesses (businesses with less than 100 employees or less than $25 million in sales) in the U.S. spend $1.68 trillion yearly on business services, or nearly 35% of their total business expenditures.

Another nice little statistic that lends some credence to the need for this type of resource, also from their blog:

According to Access Market International (AMI) Partners, more than 40% of small and medium businesses (or about 2.8 million businesses) are using Web 2.0 applications as part of their normal business practices. Web 2.0 is a term that describes interactive web features such as blogs, wikis, and social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, & Digg.

How does it work? Read the rest of InsideUp for Business Services ……..