SME’s increasingly using Twitter to communicate
Econsultancy has recently been highlighting the many uses of Twitter, which is a customer service solution, a marketing platform, and a brand monitoring tool.
Now, new research from O2 has found that smaller businesses are quickly adopting this online medium.
Yahoo takes a new approach with web video
Web video is hot. From the user-generated video content on YouTube to the professional video content on Hulu, everybody loves watching video online.
But achieving real success financially with online video has proven to be much more difficult than achieving popularity.
The importance of integrated multichannel marketing
Integration and Multichannel are words on the lips of almost every marketer in the world. Whether you are an offline marketer or digital marketer, developing integrated, multichannel marketing campaigns is now a critical element of planning and strategy, but the skill-sets to be able to do this effectively are often lacking.
In Econsultancy's course on 'Multichannel Marketing', I'll be exploring how integration really works and how to plan, execute and measure campaigns in a multichannel environment. Read this extract below of some of the themes that are discussed in the course.
Online marketing and charity: a dangerous combination?
Charity is good, right? There are obviously lot of great causes that deserve our attention and our investment.
But can charity be abused? It's a question I've been asking myself lately.
E-commerce tips: 13 recommendations for multichannel integration
Web project management can be a challenge for the most experienced project managers, much less for relative newcomers, and when e-commerce is involved, the stakes are that much higher.
With this in mind we recently commissioned e-commerce expert Martin Newman to compile a best practice report to help steer you down the right path, called 'Delivering Successful E-commerce Projects'. It has more than 400 individual recommendations and is a terrific investment for anybody working in this area (as with all of our research, it is priced at just £150 / $215, or is free for Econsultancy subscribers).
The report focuses on client-side challenges, supplier challenges, and joint challenges. I thought I'd give you a taste of what's contained within the guide by publishing a few extracts. Here's the first one, which focuses on multichannel integration.
Interview with Martin Newman on e-commerce project management
Martin Newman is an e-commerce expert who we recently commissioned to produce a step-by-step guide called Delivering Successful E-commerce Projects, which I have just published.
Here I talk to Martin to cover some of the key challenges and issues for e-commerce project managers. These are outlined in more detail in the report, alongside lots of guidance (it contains more than 400 practical recommendations). Why not grab a copy today?
Social media beyond the buzz
I was asked the other day what I thought about Skittles' social media experiment and whether it would have lasting effects.
My response: I wasn't sure. The buzz seems to have died down. Certainly it's nowhere near the pitch that it was when we all first learned that Skittles.com had been turned into Twitter.
Barnes & Noble makes a move, finally
It would be easy to feel a bit sorry for Barnes & Noble. It is the biggest brick and mortar bookseller in North America, fighting the good fight for literacy against a tide of economic disaster. It has been laid waste by the internet and in particular, Amazon, one of the most innovative companies ever. Competing against Amazon in the 90s was kind of like playing Michael Jordan in his rookie season. You just didn't know how good he was until you lost to him. Then, after the B&N business model was hit hard, the printed page is being attacked by eBooks.
But this here is business, young man, and it's no time for the faint of heart. No longer is B&N employing the the "if you can't beat 'em don't join 'em" strategy. It has finally, and admirably, made a move that doesn't involve closing stores. Late last week it purchased Fictionwise, an eBook retailer that is rumored to be developing a Kindle-competitor, hand-held eBook reader.
Following Skittles is a state of mind
By now it's a fair assumption to say that the new Skittles social media drenched website has owned the week in internet marketing. According to the March 5 Google Trends index it spiked more than 100 percent in news reference volume this week, and more than 50 percent in actual searches.
Now that the buzz is fading just a little, we asked Mars PR Manager and spokesperson Ryan Bowling to put the launch in perspective.
New research ties email to customer loyalty
Maybe consumers really do want to read about toothpaste, paper towels, and soda. A new study from ROI Research and Epsilon claims that 62 percent of customers that receive permission- based emails are influenced by those emails, and 75 percent have read company or brand content as a direct result.
The survey was conducted in mid-October and measured 1,517 people. Not exactly a statistically projectable dynamo, (and it is, after all, sponsored) but even if half the numbers are on the money they are significant. They support the continued effectiveness of permission-based email, and they support the concept that content will attract consumer attention, which will increase engagement and then purchase intent.
Social media: the best and worst of 2009
Email marketing: six steps to improving customer engagement in 2010
Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
