Google starts offering local bargains to smartphones

There’s one thing about the world of mobile apps and that’s the fact it never stops changing. Every marketing professional that’s looking to put together an effective content strategy is looking at interactive marketing, automated marketing and the possibilities that smartphones present, as a cost effective and efficient ways of getting to the right market demographic.

Sometimes, it’s good to sit back and watch what others are doing in this field to get a good idea of what works and what doesn’t. That’s why more than a few experts in the field have been paying attention to what’s going on in Portland, Oregon as Google starts offering discounts of up to 50% or more at local establishments there.

One coffee shop owner in the area tells how he’ll offer $10 items for $3 and says that he expects a crush of the hip trend setters in the area to come and take advantage. These Google Offers are designed to work with a mobile app that will effectively replace many other methods of payment. Google Wallet will redeem many coupons and such and even offers loyalty points every time the app is used.

It’s clear the combination of the smartphone and these latest mobile applications are part of the race that interactive marketing sees itself in for the hearts, minds and wallets of the internet savvy generation. It’s important for any marketer to remember that new battle lines have been clearly established even if the exact boundaries keep shifting. Consider the fact a new report says over 90% of people under 50 use Facebook in the United States and you’ll see right away the need for a well thought out Internet marketing strategy that includes all the latest.     

Everyone’s On Facebook, Including Your Market

It goes without saying you need to know who your market is to mount any kind of successful content strategy. That’s true whether you’re looking at using print collateral or any of the interactive marketing techniques available today.

Granted, the possibilities present in Internet advertising has been clouded over by the fact that a clear way to gauge the ROI on social media hasn’t really stepped to the forefront as yet, but no one that hopes to make any money from any demographic other than the Boomers is ignoring or denying the obvious lucrative nature inherent.

Take a look at the latest numbers from Edison Research. They state 96% of Americans under 50 use Facebook. When you read that it doesn’t really matter if there’s a reliable metric that can be used to determine how effective any of the ads are—with a combined demographic like that all in one place that’s so easily accessible, there’s room in any content strategy for trail and error. There’s even more good news here when the report says half of those surveyed have increased their use of the social media platform in the last 12 months.

Simply put, all this means no matter who you are trying to reach and no matter what it is you’ve got to sell, you can find your target audience through social media marketing using Facebook. There’s even a strong case to be made for the fact you don’t really even need traditional marketing analytics to get a good idea of how you’re doing when the nature of interactive marketing offers a more personalized approach to contact with your intended market.

The survey was conducted for Bank of America and also finds 69% of those who responded said their Facebook time doesn’t take away from the time where they surf other websites. 

Selling On The Internet Doesn’t Rely On Impulse Buying

Since $38 billion has been spent in ecommerce in 2011 so far this year, and that represents an increase of 10% over 2010, now is the time more than ever to invest in a content strategy that makes sense and will be profitable in the short and long haul. 

The Long and Winding Road: The Gamesmanship of Shopping report has been recently released and focuses on what consumers are looking for. One thing is apparent here and that’s while shoppers are warming to the idea of online shopping like never before, they also want to be sure they can finish the process quickly and have the best deal.

There are some interesting statistics here including the fact that: 
• 55% of shoppers say shopping on the web has made them more careful about what they buy
• 49% ask for friend’s input
• 82% are sold on the idea of online shopping
• 60% shop online to find the best deal
• 17% find they are in fact impulsive more so on the Web

What all this points to is the new way of doing business and a clear indication that any content strategy and interactive marketing campaign will need to focus on cost or any deals/coupons rather than any of the methods that worked better in other times. Research from one of the biggest search engines, Yahoo, has some further suggestions that include creating an experience that meshes the online and offline experiences and creating brand trust through the newer models like social media marketing where consumer input is used to design the brand image.  

Although there is still some conjecture about the best metric to use when designing a content strategy that will involve social media marketing, there’s no doubt considering this most recent information that impulse buying isn’t the domain of the online shopper is something to be considered.

Email Messages Need to Work With Handheld Devices: Here Are a Few Tips

Interactive marketing is generally fast paced and unforgiving. Like life itself, the only constant is change and so you need to be aware of what’s happening now and what still works from yesterday. More consumers are moving toward smartphones and tablets and that means they are looking at ways to view email on these devices.
 
Melanie Attia, Product Marketing Manager for Campaigner has studied the matter and has a few suggestions that make the transition a little more focused and clear. It seems that, like a lot of other things in the interactive marketing arena, some of the changes necessary are about making some common sense adjustments.
 
For example, Attia explains that one of the transitions needs to be compressing any images you use in an e-mail marketing campaign designed for mobile devices. She also goes on to explain if you can’t compress the images properly for use on a smart phone or tablet, it's best to rework the message itself so that clearly explains any missing information that's left behind by the lack of visual.
 
She also says there's really no cause for alarm and that many of the traditional ratios that existed for an e-mail marketing campaign before mobile applications became all the rage still work. For example where possible, you should be sending a 70 to 30 ratio between content and images and a call to action should still be present somewhere in the e-mail preferably with the image.
The first five words of the subject line are still one of the most important parts where you need to make the sale and it’s still essential to make sure all of the most important content is front and center following the more traditional roles of the inverted pyramid borrowed from journalism.

Online Tracking Takes Another Twist

There’s no doubt that if you’ve invested heavily in social media marketing or search engine optimized content as your interactive marketing vehicle of choice, you need to be sure you’re on top of all the metrics that will give you a clear advantage in deciding what’s working and what isn’t.

A new survey by the Ponemon Institute is shining a new light on what’s becoming a hot button topic in the world of Internet advertising—namely the fact that technology exists for businesses and others to use online tracking as a way of looking at trends when it comes to consumer preferences. Now although this technique is highly useful from the industry standpoint, it has raised some privacy issues in the past.
 

Still, like most other things there doesn’t seem to be any clear black and white areas when it comes to online tracking; or if there are, the ever changing landscape of technology seems to blur them constantly. To the point:
 

Fraud prevention provider ThreatMetrix has just released some information that points to the fact 85% of consumers are worried about the perception that online businesses don’t provide enough protection to ensure safe transactions on the Internet. That idea slows the emerging attitude toward online purchases.
 

However, the same research shows that, under the right circumstances, these folks were willing to do their part to help lessen fraud. For example, 88% were willing to give up the serial number of their computer and 71% were willing to part with their browser settings. Most of the people surveyed felt it was okay for business to track them for fraud prevention, but the survey also went on to say a great majority don’t report what they perceive to be this activity when they have fallen prey to it. Of the 42% that said they had fallen victim to online fraud, 80% said they didn’t report it.