| TRENDING STORIES IN BUSINESS & MARKETING | | | | | | | ALL STORIES IN BUSINESS & MARKETING | | |
| StyleSeat Is OpenTable for Beauty Appointments | | Friday, January 20, 2012 11:20 PM | Lauren Indvik |
|  The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. Name: StyleSeat Quick Pitch: Find and book beauty salon appointments online. Genius Idea: Robust marketing tools that bring salon owners and stylists onto the platform. Like many promising startups, StyleSeat began with a problem. When Melody McCloskey -- the tall, conspicuously pretty San Franciscan who cofounded StyleSeat three years ago -- wanted to book a salon appointment, she struggled to find someone who was skilled at cutting curly hair within her budget. Friend recommendations only took her so far, and salon receptionists declined to make suggestions about which of their stylists would be best suited to her. So she persuaded Dan Levine, a former colleague and VP of digital product development at EMI, to become her cofounder. The pair did their field work, interviewing salon owners, wellness experts, and hair and beauty stylists to ascertain their needs. They found that professionals book 70% of their available appointment times on average, but lack the resources, particularly online, to further grow their businesses. StyleSeat launched in May 2011, and has since expanded to more than 20,000 professionals in 4,300 cities. Two hundred fifty thousand appointments have been booked through the service altogether. The site is designed to make it easy for consumers to find and schedule an appointment without picking up the phone, just as OpenTable makes it possible for diners to discover and reserve tables at restaurants. Users can filter search results by location, price range, those that offer online booking and those who are running promotions. They can even see who is available for an appointment in the next few hours. Professionals have their own profiles, with which they can introduce themselves over a few photographs and a portfolio of work (see above). Consumers can look through the list of services and prices and easily pull up a stylist's calendar to pick an appointment time (see below). After an appointment, a stylist can prompt a customer to give feedback through StyleSeat. If the feedback is negative, it gives the stylist an opportunity to address the customer's issue. If it's positive, the stylist can post it publicly on his or her profile. As such, McCloskey says the site isn't a replacement for Yelp or other review sites, but rather complements them. For beauty professionals, there's also a range of tools for helping them better optimize their businesses. For instance, professionals can view charts that show them the days that they are booked most and least often. StyleSeat might then suggest a stylist run a promotion on his or her quietest day to help bolster bookings. The company has also produced a number of small business guides to help professionals take advantage of online marketing platforms such as Facebook. The site is free for both professionals and consumers. McCloskey says StyleSeat will eventually introduce an online payment option that will charge professionals a fee similar to that of a credit card. The company is also looking into premium marketing packages as revenue opportunities. Beyond developing its business model, StyleSeat is also building apps for iPhone and Android devices, and making it easier for consumers to shop for specialty services such as prom updos and children's haircuts. Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark
The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today. |
| Advertisers, This Is What an NFL Fan Looks Like [INFOGRAPHIC] | | Friday, January 20, 2012 9:24 PM | Sam Laird |
|  Just two NFL teams will remain after Sunday's league semifinals, setting up a final showdown for Super Bowl XLVI glory. But the Super Bowl isn't just a huge event for the players, coaches and fans involved. It's also make-or-break time for the television advertisers who pay a premium for the right to reach an audience of more than 100 million rapt viewers. But exactly who will these advertisers target? And what will they spend to do it? The infographic below shows that sales professionals, fans of science-fiction movies and people interested in buying Sony and Vizio products are "very likely" to tune into the game. Golfers and owners of sport utility vehicles have an even higher likelihood of watching, and people looking to buy an Amazon Kindle are probably big fans of the Super Bowl as well. But reaching those football buffs won't come cheap -- 30-second spots are expected to top out at around $3.5 million each for the 2012 Super Bowl. Last year, advertisers spent some $200 million to run their messages on Fox during breaks in the action. The record, however, was set two years prior when companies spent a total of $213 million to advertise during NBC's broadcast of the game. From 2001 to 2010, total ad spending on Super Bowls topped a reported $1.6 billion. During that period, the parent company of Budweiser beer led the rush by shelling out a whopping $235 million, while PepsiCo was well over the $100 million mark as well. Check out the infographic below for more details on who makes up the Super Bowl audience and what advertisers spend to reach them. Infographic courtesy of BlueKai |
| Why 2012 Is the Year of Mobile Advertising | | Friday, January 20, 2012 5:27 PM | Ernie Cormier |
|  Ernie Cormier is the CEO and president of Nexage, the leading mobile advertising exchange. You can follow Nexage on Twitter @Nexage and read Nexage's blog here. Mobile advertising is coming of age. In many ways, it has been driven by the sheer force of the consumer's insatiable appetite for all things mobile. More to the point, mobile is becoming a substantially more capable vehicle for driving brand awareness, affinity and purchases. Advertisers see this pattern taking shape, but there is still a disconnect between the avid mobile consumer and potential advertising dollars. This is caused by several factors, including the sufficient difference between mobile and standard web. Similar to the relationship between offline and online, it simply takes time to adjust to a new market, and credibly, there have been gaps in the mobile ad ecosystem that one can expect in any earlier stage market. SEE ALSO: The Evolution of Advertising: From Stone Carving to the Old Spice Guy But this distance is rapidly narrowing as advertisers and publishers employ the building blocks that will expand mobile advertising effectiveness in 2012. Mobile Advertising in 2012 1. Demand and Liquidity Is Increasing Although advertisers are concerned that total ad revenue (including digital) may decrease, mobile advertising is growing rapidly. Two factors are driving the change: First, more buyers are coming to the market and growing their purchase volumes, and second, there is a heavier focus on executing mobile-native campaigns that translate to better consumer engagement and improved ROI. 2. Location-Based Advertising Is Taking Flight Mobile-driven, location-based services are becoming a staple in nearly all parts of our lives, including mobile advertising. Advertisers are using local and hyperlocal campaigns to promote events and drive in-store sales, and an ever-increasing number of consumers respond to deal-, coupon- and event-based advertising. Mobile Media's SMART Report stated that "49% of all targeted audience campaigns used local market audience targeting, as advertisers are often turning to mobile as an effective way to reach local consumers." 3. Real-Time Bidding (RTB) Creates Powerful Mutual Value for Buyers and Sellers RTB provides real-time auctions that enable buyers to compete for and buy individual impressions that best serve their campaigns. The value is shared by buyers and sellers alike -- buyers purchase only the impressions they want, and publishers and developers benefit from a higher price and increased demand for their ad spaces. The resulting powerful and mutual value pushes RTB onto center stage as the strategic foundation for mobile advertising. 4. Rich Media Is Dramatically Enhancing Ad Quality and Consumer Engagement The ads themselves have held back mobile advertising. Banner ads were uninspiring, or in some cases, dull. Rich media ads -- including video ad units and interstitials -- are more artistic and animated, which fit better within today's highly visual games, apps and mobile web content. In 2010 banner ads saw a 0.09% click-through rate, while rich media ads saw 1.1% CTR, a significant difference. 5. Mobile Private Exchange Is Catalyzing Premium Publishers and Developers Premium publishers see the immense value in mobile advertising, but they also must avoid price erosion that has been attributed to automated markets. This friction has previously limited the financial value for the publisher; it has also limited the high-value audience available to advertisers. Mobile private exchange changes that equation, enabling premium publishers to create exclusive markets in which they select only those buyers they want to sell to, and prescribe the terms of how they sell. This can be particularly important for premium publishers who need to consider how to combine the liquidity of automated markets with brand sponsorships and their direct sales forces. With private exchange and the associated pricing and brand controls, publishers are able to shift from avoiding channel conflict to managing integrated (and productive) channels. Brands, ad agencies and publishers are allocating more time and money to mobile advertising; even with all of its imperfections, the sheer scale and energy of this market is unavoidably persuasive. And in 2012, building blocks are now in place to marry extraordinary opportunity with real capability, and to translate market confidence into revenue and ROI. Images courtesy of Flickr, samgranleese, iStockphoto, DamirK |
| Google Algorithm Changes Downgrade Sites With Too Many Ads [VIDEO] | | Friday, January 20, 2012 5:16 PM | Joann Pan |
|  Got a lot of ads on your website? Google's new search algorithm, which looks for sites that maintain a good balance of content and ads, could automatically filter it out of search results pages. The change comes after complaints of searches regularly turning up sites that favor bulky ads over the content. The search engine will show more high-quality websites by downgrading pages that display too many ads, according to a blog post from Google engineer Matt Cutts. High-quality sites will also be rewarded, encouraging "a healthy web ecosystem." Google, though, is already coming under fire for the changes. Some say its own site sometimes favors ad results. One example -- see the video above -- shows how a search for "Blu-Ray DVDs" turns up sidebar links to stores, supported personalized ads, shopping results, plus advertisement links that deflect from real content that users may be looking for. The change, Google's Cutts notes, will affect less than 1% of global queries or less than 1 in 100 searches. The new algorithm will reduce rankings for low-value ads and sites deemed less useful. SEE ALSO: Google Promises Consumers Greater Ad Transparency Afraid your site will be affected? Google suggests cleaning up obscure content with the help of its Browser Size tool, plus screen resolution emulators to see how users will see your webpage on different devices. Tell us in the comments what you think of Google's latest algorithmic tweak, and if you think it'll impact your website. |
| FindTheBest Mobile Will Instantly Compare Anything | | Friday, January 20, 2012 3:08 PM | Sarah Kessler |
|  Whether you're looking for a daycare, ski resort or smartphone, comparison engine FindTheBest can provide the critical stats. On Friday, the startup will give you better access to this info while you're on the go with the launch of a new mobile site. Since going online in August 2010, FindTheBest has manually put together decision criteria for more than 700 topics. It uses information from data feeds, databases and manufacturer websites to show how each choice performs against them and compiles a "smart rating" based on an aggregation of expert reviews. The FindTheBest main site gets about 4 million visitors per month, according to internal measures. Some topics on the site have criteria similar to those at comparison sites that rely on scraping. The criteria for smartphones, for instance, includes price, screen size, battery life and megapixels. But in other topics, the humans involved in the process shine through. "Key details" for financial planner comparisons include, for instance, a record of the individual's exam performance. Because people still shop in brick-and-mortar stores, it's not surprising that about 20% of the startup's traffic comes from mobile phones. FindTheBest considered iPhone and Android apps, but eventually opted for a platform-agnostic mobile site. "For us, they're just the wrong way to go," says FindTheBest founder Kevin O'Connor, who is also the cofounder of DoubleClick. "We're a web-based service. If you're Angry Birds and you have to have something tied to the device, great." Because FindTheBest relies on advertising for revenue, more people being able to efficiently access its site in more places is a good thing. FindTheBest has, however, been exploring another revenue source. After a spiffy redesign in December, its automated comparison charts started to look a lot like those you might find in a magazine or on a website. Now it's teaming up with content providers such as motorcycleshows.com and VentureBeat to make branded versions for their sites -- so you might run into the site's comparison breakdowns even if you don't navigate to the mobile site. |
| Samsung Super Bowl Ad Going for Apple Tackle [VIDEO] | | Friday, January 20, 2012 2:00 PM | Todd Wasserman |
|  Samsung, which tweaked Apple fanboys and iPhone-mania with a well-received ad last November, will go after the tech behemoth again in an upcoming Super Bowl ad. Samsung's first Super Bowl ad will build on the creative concept of that ad, according to a report by The Huffington Post. The brand also released the teaser above, which shows Apple fanboys -- and fangirls -- online at what is meant to look like an Apple Store in Austin, Texas. As in the previous ad, the fanboys are shown up by a suave guy sporting a Galaxy S II. As the largest tech company in the world, Apple represents a fat target for rivals in the category, particularly for Samsung, which has fought Apple in court of late over various patent issues. In Samsung's case, the approach seems to have worked. The "fanboy" ad, for example, moved the needle on brand perception, according to YouGov's BrandIndex. However, it's worth noting that Motorola also bashed Apple in a Super Bowl ad for the Xoom tablet, and that was less of a success. The ad, which tweaked Apple's famous "1984" ad introducing the Macintosh computer that year, presented another dystopian environment, but this time the Xoom was presented as the vehicle of choice for personal freedom. Despite being fairly well-received, Xoom did not become a hit and did little to dent Apple's commanding lead in the tablet market. The Xoom spot was preceded by other would-be Apple dethroners including Microsoft, whose 2009 "Laptop Hunters" campaign portrayed buyers of Windows PCs as savvy consumers. Before that, SanDisk tried to punch a hole in Apple's brand perception with a campaign presenting iPod users as "iPuppets" and "iSheep." |
| 3 Metrics that Will Change the Way You Market on Facebook | | Friday, January 20, 2012 10:51 AM | Amy Porterfield |
|  Amy Porterfield is the co-author of Facebook Marketing All-In-One for Dummies and creator of the Facebook marketing training program, FBinfluence. You can join her on Facebook at facebook.com/AmyPorterfield or read her blog at AmyPorterfield.com. Facebook isn't just the largest social networking site on the web (with more than 800 million active users); it also collects a massive amount of information about those users. Through the newly revamped Facebook Insights, Page owners can access a staggering amount of information about their fans' activities. This information gives business owners valuable insight into what they need to do to give fans a better experience and, in turn, achieve better marketing results. But it can be challenging to sift through all that data. An easy way to avoid metrics overdose is to find and target just a few key metrics. Below is an overview of three game-changing metrics you should be tracking, along with concrete tips for improving your Page's performance in each area. 1. Track "People Talking About This" People Talking About This is one of the new metrics for Facebook Pages. Unlike other metrics on your Insights dashboard, it's also the only one visible to the public. This number represents the total number of people who, over the past seven days, have engaged with your Page in any way - by Liking it, commenting on or sharing a post, answering a question, tagging your Page, or responding to an event. In your Insights dashboard, you'll also see a percentage increase or decrease next to the current number, so you can compare this week's engagement against last week's stats. If you want to build a thriving community on Facebook - or if you want to turn existing fans into raving super fans - engagement is the most critical metric you can track. And People Talking About This is a good measure of overall engagement. Luckily, the best way to increase engagement is easy: Just ask. Ask your fans questions, request their opinions, and ask people to click. Don't post, "I'm excited about the Superbowl this year!" Instead, write, "Click Like if you're excited about the Superbowl this year!" You can also ask people to share your content. I might write, "If you found this tip useful, make sure to share it with your friends." Inserting mini calls-to-action reminds your audiences to act, not just read. Tip: Never let a post go unattended - meaning, when someone does comment, Like or share your post, reach out to him personally and acknowledge his action with a thank you, or use it as an opportunity to expand the conversation. But whatever you do, don't leave fans hanging. 2. Track "Engaged Users" On your Insights dashboard, you'll see a chart in the Page Post Information area with a column called "Engaged Users." The number represents the number of unique people to have clicked anywhere on that post. (Note: Insights only tracks this for 28 days.) Hint: If you click on the number itself, you'll also see a pie chart with types of clicks, including "other," which counts the clicks not included in any other metric (clicking on someone's name, for example). This shows you how many people are really paying attention, even if they don't comment or click Like. Engaged Users is another engagement-related metric, but since it tracks actual clicks, you can see how your audience interacts with your posts - and use this information to craft more engaging calls-to-action. Tip: Target posts to your ideal audience. If you're not getting steady, increasing clicks on your posts over time, the most likely culprit is that you're not giving your audience members the information they need. To create more targeted posts, ask yourself: Who is my ideal audience? Age? Male/Female? Location? What type of information do they want from me? What are the main challenges I can solve for them? Instead of guessing the answers, collect feedback online or use Facebook polls to find out more about what your audience is actually looking for. 3. Track "External Referrers" Click on Reach (under Insights in your sidebar) and scroll down to find "External Referrers." You'll see a list that shows how many times people arrived on your Facebook Page from an external site during a selected date range. All business owners should know where and how people are finding them online. While it's important to direct traffic from social media to your main "hub," whether it's a blog or a static business site, bringing traffic onto your Facebook Page is also important. Why? Because Facebook allows you to have conversations and build relationships that you just can't have on a regular website. Those conversations can yield powerful market insights and, eventually, lead to actual sales. Tip: Actively drive traffic to Facebook. Start by determining where your current referrals are coming from, and then ask yourself whether you're doing all of the following. Am I optimizing my Facebook Page so that when Google indexes Facebook, users find my Page too? Make sure to include keyword-rich information on your "Info Tab" to help users find you easily. Am I doing enough outside of my website and Page to bring traffic in? One way to do this is by guest posting to blogs in your niche, especially highly trafficked blogs. In general, getting yourself out there is good, whether by webinars, teleconferences, interviews or free online trainings. Each is a great forum for driving more traffic to your Facebook Page - and you can get feedback on participant experiences when they stop by. Does my website account for some of my referrals? If not, make some changes to your business site. Add a Like box social plugin, include share buttons, and of course, display your social icons in a visible place on every page. Have you started actively monitoring Insights yet? Which metrics have yielded the most valuable business insights? Share your experience in the comments. Image courtesy of Flickr, GOIABA (Goiabarea) |
| 3 Metrics that Will Change the Way You Market on Facebook | | Friday, January 20, 2012 10:51 AM | Amy Porterfield |
|  Amy Porterfield is the co-author of Facebook Marketing All-In-One for Dummies and creator of the Facebook marketing training program, FBinfluence. You can join her on Facebook at facebook.com/AmyPorterfield or read her blog at AmyPorterfield.com. Facebook isn't just the largest social networking site on the web (with more than 800 million active users); it also collects a massive amount of information about those users. Through the newly revamped Facebook Insights, Page owners can access a staggering amount of information about their fans' activities. This information gives business owners valuable insight into what they need to do to give fans a better experience and, in turn, achieve better marketing results. But it can be challenging to sift through all that data. An easy way to avoid metrics overdose is to find and target just a few key metrics. Below is an overview of three game-changing metrics you should be tracking, along with concrete tips for improving your Page's performance in each area. 1. Track "People Talking About This" People Talking About This is one of the new metrics for Facebook Pages. Unlike other metrics on your Insights dashboard, it's also the only one visible to the public. This number represents the total number of people who, over the past seven days, have engaged with your Page in any way - by Liking it, commenting on or sharing a post, answering a question, tagging your Page, or responding to an event. In your Insights dashboard, you'll also see a percentage increase or decrease next to the current number, so you can compare this week's engagement against last week's stats. If you want to build a thriving community on Facebook - or if you want to turn existing fans into raving super fans - engagement is the most critical metric you can track. And People Talking About This is a good measure of overall engagement. Luckily, the best way to increase engagement is easy: Just ask. Ask your fans questions, request their opinions, and ask people to click. Don't post, "I'm excited about the Superbowl this year!" Instead, write, "Click Like if you're excited about the Superbowl this year!" You can also ask people to share your content. I might write, "If you found this tip useful, make sure to share it with your friends." Inserting mini calls-to-action reminds your audiences to act, not just read. Tip: Never let a post go unattended - meaning, when someone does comment, Like or share your post, reach out to him personally and acknowledge his action with a thank you, or use it as an opportunity to expand the conversation. But whatever you do, don't leave fans hanging. 2. Track "Engaged Users" On your Insights dashboard, you'll see a chart in the Page Post Information area with a column called "Engaged Users." The number represents the number of unique people to have clicked anywhere on that post. (Note: Insights only tracks this for 28 days.) Hint: If you click on the number itself, you'll also see a pie chart with types of clicks, including "other," which counts the clicks not included in any other metric (clicking on someone's name, for example). This shows you how many people are really paying attention, even if they don't comment or click Like. Engaged Users is another engagement-related metric, but since it tracks actual clicks, you can see how your audience interacts with your posts - and use this information to craft more engaging calls-to-action. Tip: Target posts to your ideal audience. If you're not getting steady, increasing clicks on your posts over time, the most likely culprit is that you're not giving your audience members the information they need. To create more targeted posts, ask yourself: Who is my ideal audience? Age? Male/Female? Location? What type of information do they want from me? What are the main challenges I can solve for them? Instead of guessing the answers, collect feedback online or use Facebook polls to find out more about what your audience is actually looking for. 3. Track "External Referrers" Click on Reach (under Insights in your sidebar) and scroll down to find "External Referrers." You'll see a list that shows how many times people arrived on your Facebook Page from an external site during a selected date range. All business owners should know where and how people are finding them online. While it's important to direct traffic from social media to your main "hub," whether it's a blog or a static business site, bringing traffic onto your Facebook Page is also important. Why? Because Facebook allows you to have conversations and build relationships that you just can't have on a regular website. Those conversations can yield powerful market insights and, eventually, lead to actual sales. Tip: Actively drive traffic to Facebook. Start by determining where your current referrals are coming from, and then ask yourself whether you're doing all of the following. Am I optimizing my Facebook Page so that when Google indexes Facebook, users find my Page too? Make sure to include keyword-rich information on your "Info Tab" to help users find you easily. Am I doing enough outside of my website and Page to bring traffic in? One way to do this is by guest posting to blogs in your niche, especially highly trafficked blogs. In general, getting yourself out there is good, whether by webinars, teleconferences, interviews or free online trainings. Each is a great forum for driving more traffic to your Facebook Page - and you can get feedback on participant experiences when they stop by. Does my website account for some of my referrals? If not, make some changes to your business site. Add a Like box social plugin, include share buttons, and of course, display your social icons in a visible place on every page. Have you started actively monitoring Insights yet? Which metrics have yielded the most valuable business insights? Share your experience in the comments. Image courtesy of Flickr, GOIABA (Goiabarea) |
| Bing Ditches 'Decision Engine' Tagline in New Ad Campaign [VIDEO] | | Friday, January 20, 2012 10:27 AM | Todd Wasserman |
|  Video: Bing is for #Doing: Kevin Pearce's Story Bing, Microsoft's search engine, is launching an ad campaign this weekend featuring winter sports athletes whose can-do spirit underscores the brand's new tagline, "Bing is for Doing." The first such ad, featured above, stars Kevin Pearce, a snowboarder who was on the path for the 2010 Olympics before a snowboarding accident left him with a traumatic brain injury. Pearce, now an aspiring sports commentator, talks about how he persevered despite the accident. "I made it," he says. "I'm here. I'm chillin'." The ads are set to premiere this weekend during X Games coverage on ESPN. Lisa Gurry, director of Bing, says the new tagline is an "evolution" of the old campaign. "Out of the gate, decision engine helped us differentiate from our competitors and peak interest from consumers," she says. "We heard loud and clear that people love Bing because it helps them do interesting things." Razorfish, a digital shop Microsoft used to own, created the campaign. The campaign comes after Bing edged out Yahoo in December to become the number two search engine, next to Google, according to comScore. Google, an archrival of Microsoft's, still holds a commanding lead in the category -- its market share is 65.9% compared to Bing's 15.1%. Meanwhile, Google hasn't run TV ads promoting its search engine in some time. The company's last major campaign for search, in 2010, including the 60-second Super Bowl commercial "Parisian Love," (see below), which tied Bud Light in USA Today's AdMeter that year as consumers' favorite Super Bowl ad. |
| How to Promote and Advertise Your Mobile App | | Friday, January 20, 2012 9:06 AM | ClickZ |
|  If you have an iPad app, you need to advertise to make sure people know about it. And, just like the traditional world, the ad opportunities are endless. Effectively determining where and how to advertise your app can be tricky if you don't stop and consider a few key elements. Effective app advertising requires three key areas of focus: brand, buzz and balanced opportunity. Brand. In the app world, your brand is immediately leveled. Even if your company has the strongest brand name around, in the app world, you face a different world; a new world where a virtual game, that people spend real money on, suddenly has more cache than yours. You need to build an "app brand." Building an app brand consists of two elements: Reaching out to your traditional brand followers to let them know you now have a presence as an app. Creating a personality around your app's brand and introducing it, for the very first time, to many people who have never heard of you. Most companies are only focusing on No. 1 - this is a mistake. It is a short-term win, but a long-term loss. The key to success is to invest in both and go way out of your safe zone to find ways to build a brand with a completely new audience. Buzz. If there is no buzz, there is no engagement and revenue. While many people look to their brand-building efforts to build buzz, the critical key here is to build a consumer audience that is buzzing. This means spending time on the standard locations like Facebook and Twitter, but also hitting the device user forums hard, in addition to any review sites you can find. If you are not spending time or money here, you are missing out. In app buzz building worlds, the blogger and vlogger community may just have hit their sweet spot in earning influence. Balanced opportunity. This is where your app efforts could fall flat on your face. If you think traditionally here you might just be digging a hole for yourself. Gone are the simple days of selecting sites that match your target audience to advertise on. Gone are the days where email marketing lists have an impact. In the world of app advertisement, you could be throwing your ad dollars away if you don't consider this one key point. If you are looking to reach someone who is on a smartphone or a tablet while they are on the smartphone or tablet, do not try to interrupt what they are doing. That statement may sound silly, but it's true. Unless you are simply executing a brand campaign, consider what app's you advertise in and around and how engaged the person is with the app. While you may think your app is perfectly aligned with people who stay at XYZ hotel, you might want to think twice before advertising your app in theirs. Why? Because if you are in the XYZ hotel app you are doing something. You are checking on a reservation, making a reservation, or changing a reservation. This means you will not want to drop what you are doing because you see a shiny object. As an advertiser, seek out those apps that your target audience engages with when they have free time. For example, the weather app. Of course people go there to check the weather, but then they are happy to leave. It's a perfect time to head to your app. Creating a strategy that takes advantage of the culture we are building in an app-driven society will propel you light years ahead. It's not the same as we have gotten used to in online advertising, or our traditional efforts, but it does open up a whole new world of opportunity. Taking time to put effort into your strategy now will pay dividends in the future. -- Jeanniey Mullen, ClickZ Image courtesy of iStockphoto, izusek |
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