The chart below ranks the effectiveness of website design, management and optimization tactics.  How is your your website working for you?

The top 5 tactics include:

1. Implementing unique landing pages for various marketing campaigns
2. Optimizing design and content for conversions
3. Regularly optimizing on-site content for SEO
4. Implementing separate micro-sites for branding or campaigns
5. Leveraging video

How many of these top 5 are you using in your business?  If you need help, please give us a call.

John Locke

CEO/Strategic Creative Director

FeedFactoryPro.com

Managing and maintaining customer relationships are key to a strong digital marketing strategy.  But did you know:

• You can increase your sales by 50% without increasing your marketing budget by nurturing, retaining, and maintaining your customer relationships with your existing customer base?
• Most companies spend 80% of their marketing dollars going after new customers and clients rather than nurturing, retaining, and maintaining the customer relationships they already have?
• Repeat customers spend 33% more than new customers.
• Referrals among repeat customers are 107% greater than non-customers.
• It costs six times more to sell something to a prospect than to sell that same thing to a customer.

The bottom line is that one of the key components in marketing and business growth is to spend the majority of your time and effort nurturing customer relationships, so that you get business from existing clients and customers.

Contact us for more information on how FeedFactoryPro’s Integrated Digital Marketing Strategies, Solutions and Partners Program can help increase your sales by 50% without increasing your budget.

Categories of Social Media include:

Communication

• Blogs: Blogger, LiveJournal, Open Diary, TypePad, WordPress, Vox, ExpressionEngine
• Micro-blogging / Presence applications: Twitter, Plurk, Pownce, Jaiku
• Social networking: Bebo, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Orkut, Skyrock, Hi5, Ning, Elgg
• Social network aggregation: FriendFeed
• Events: Upcoming, Eventful, Meetup.com

Collaboration

• Wikis: Wikipedia, PBwiki, wetpaint
• Social bookmarking (or Social tagging) (Golder & Huberman 2006): Delicious, StumbleUpon, Google Reader, CiteULike
• social news: Digg, Mixx, Reddit
• Opinion sites: epinions, Yelp, City-data.com

Multimedia

• Photo sharing: Flickr, Zooomr, Photobucket, SmugMug
• Video sharing: YouTube, Vimeo,
• Livecasting: Ustream.tv, Justin.tv, Stickam, bizbuzztour.com
• Audio and Music Sharing: imeem, The Hype Machine, Last.fm, ccMixter

Reviews and Opinions

• Product Reviews: epinions.com, MouthShut.com
• Q&A: Yahoo! Answers, WikiAnswers
• Employer Reviews, Jobeehive.com

Entertainment

• Virtual worlds: Second Life, The Sims Online,Forterra
• Game sharing: Miniclip, Kongregate

Understanding Conversions

Conversions are the primary driving force behind digital marketing.  In addition to building brand awareness and increasing traffic, the business goal behind an integrated marketing strategy is conversion.  A conversion occurs when a prospective customer takes the marketer’s intended action.

Is your intention clear to your visitors?

Before beginning any strategic digital marketing campaign, we must be clear on who your customer is, what they want from you and how you can deliver (a portion of) that information for free.  Customers who have an active interest in your products or services are more likely to provide contact information in exchange for a sample of information that could prove useful to them. Any information you can collect about a visitor will assist you in determining whether they may be a qualified lead. Statistics have shown that visitors who voluntarily provide their contact information (opt-in) are up to 20% more likely to engage you.

It is critical then, after all the work you go through to  get additional traffic to your web site, blog, RSS feed or electronic newsletter be sure to ask yourself, the following questions:

• “How are we inviting the reader to actively engage us in conversation?”
• “Did we intentionally create a targeted message that appeals to our particular audience?”
• “Do we allow our visitors any opportunities to request information on services we offer, to call us or email us or complete a transaction online?”

The top 5 conversion techniques include messaging that invites your visitor to:

1. E-mail you for additional information or assistance
   
2. Telephone you to make an appointment or for support
   
3. Fill in a form requesting additional information
   
4. Complete a transaction unattended
5. Make a purchase

Tailoring and targeting your message, and intended action through email marketing or pay per click advertising, blogs or Internet properties is key to converting passive viewers to active sales leads that can actually be tracked and measured through win-loss analytics.

Now, what is your intention?

[Download the latest Conversation Prism map.]

Online, conversations are taking place with or without your awareness.  The Conversation Prism was developed by Brian Solis at PR 2.0 to help you visualize the potential extent and pervasiveness of online conversations that can impact and influence your business and brand. The conversation prism is a living, breathing representation of Social Media and will evolve as services and conversation channels emerge, fuse, and dissipate.

Created by Brian Solis

Digital and New Media Marketing in Business is most effectively demonstrated by RSS-driven technologies such as blogs, podcasts, VODcasts, forums, dynamically updated websites, targeted landing pages and electronic newsletters.  One of the primary arguments to leverage digital and new media marketing in business is the statistical evidence demonstrating:

1. A growing trend of consumers making purchasing decisions off Internet research and referrals
2. Traditional advertising (television, radio, direct mail, newspaper advertising) is losing its influence on consumers
3. Consumers are more inclined to believe feedback from like-minded peers than corporate marketing claims

A relatively new concept, use of digital and new media marketing in business is most often targeted to developing an interactive conversation with a brand’s  online community, through which satisfied customers congregate and extol the virtues of a particular company, product or service.   Although businesses could potentially be exposing certain weaknesses to the marketplace by allowing individuals, or even competitors, to post critical comments, responding with an honest and transparent answer designed around solving the issue at hand may mitigate potential risks and build credibility for the brand.

In most cases, the online community includes mechanisms such as blogs, podcasts, message boards, and product reviews, all of which contribute to a transparent forum to post praises, criticisms, questions, and suggestions.

Apr 02, 2009
Case Study #CS1693:
Follow BMW’s Mobile Campaign to Get 30% Conversion Rate: 5 Steps

SUMMARY: The appeal of direct mail continues to decline as the prices of printing and mailing increase. What if there was a way to avoid the high costs without losing direct-response impact?

Find out how BMW Germany tested a mobile campaign to sell winter tires that achieved a 30.31% conversion rate. Includes a step-by-step guide and creative samples.
CHALLENGE

Mark Mielau, Head of Digital Media, BMW Germany, wanted to remind his 2006 customers that snow tires are more of a necessity rather than luxury, if you are spending your winter in Germany. He sought to urge those who had purchased a BMW in the warmer months to visit a local dealership and buy a set of tires for their new vehicle.

Moreover, he wanted to use mobile marketing. His team had created a mobile application earlier that year that let buyers customize an entire vehicle.

“We did much more fancy things but we figured out that the more fancy an application is, the less traffic we get. And so we thought, let’s go back to the really [basic] function of the mobile phone. So that’s where we started rethinking MMS and the campaign. And that’s where this came up, where we have the chance with one message to deliver a lot of information.”

CAMPAIGN

The Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) standard is very similar to the Short Message Service (SMS) standard, which is used to send text messages to mobile phones. The exception is that MMS is used to send multimedia, such as images, audio, video and links.

Mielau’s team wanted to test sending a customized MMS message to new customers just before winter to remind them to buy winter tires and to direct them to a BMW dealership to purchase them.

Step #1: Target customers and get opt-in

Mielau’s team limited the test to BWM customers who purchased in Munich between March and September 2006. Those who purchased during that time would likely need to buy snow tires before winter. They ended up with about 1,200 customers they could message.

The team acquired the customers’ information and opt-in during the time of purchase. Information relevant to this campaign included:
-Name
-Make and model of car
-Date of purchase
-Mobile phone number

Step #2: Craft MMS message

The MMS message had a snowy design to remind customers of the weather ahead. It also included:
-Personalized customer greeting
-Picture of the make and model of the car purchased
-Picture and description of the recommended tire
-Price of the tire
-List of dealerships in their area
-Link to call a dealership
-Link to request a call from a dealership
-Link to download a tire application for more information

“It was a concrete proposal for your car instead of a very anonymous print mailing, where you have a tower of wheels which are not matched directly with your car,” Mielau says.

Ultimately, the team wanted customers to visit a dealership and purchase tires, and they intended to make the conversion path as simple as possible. “It always creates a hurdle when you make the process complex,” he says.

Step #3: Create application

The team predicted that some customers would want more information about their tires, or a choice to select a set other than those recommended in the MMS message. For those customers, the team created a mobile application (see creative samples below) that could be downloaded via a link in the MMS message.

The application showed how different sets of tires would look on the customer’s car; listed their prices, hours of operation and contact information for BMW dealerships in the area. Again, the application featured a winter-evoking design that included an opening frame of a snowy mountain road.

“The scalability of MMS is no big deal. There is some difference with the application,” Mileau says. MMS is a widely accepted standard for multimedia messages used by most mobile phones. Mobile applications, however, are much less uniform. The team decided to focus on the top phones that were used and bought in Germany, Mileau says.

“We optimized for about 20% of available phones. At this point, there were about 400 handsets in our market, so we were optimizing for about 80 of the main devices.”

Step #4: Send Message at Appropriate Time

The team segmented their list into three sets of about 400. They planned to stagger them and watch the results, but mother nature had other plans. “I was sitting there in the evening of, I think Oct. 13th, and I was looking outside, and I saw the first snowflakes falling down from my office in Munich. So, I knew everyone out there without winter wheels now has the highest demand for winter wheels. So I just called and said, ‘send out the first series.’”

The first set performed so well that the team sent the remaining 800 messages a few days later.

Step #5: Track results

The team matched the information of customers coming in to buy tires with the information of customers who received the MMS message. This gave them a good idea of the conversion rate and success of the campaign.

RESULTS

“The results were quite amazing,” Mielau says.

o 30.31% of those who received the message came to purchase snow tires from a BMW dealership. Mielau concedes that some of those customers might have come to purchase tires anyway, but not all of them.

We estimate that the campaign bumped up BMW’s revenue by over $180K, assuming that a set of snow tires retails for about $500.

o 5.64% of those who received the message responded by either calling a dealership or requesting to be called.

“In comparison to an average response of 2.7% in that business, that was quite good.”

o 2.2% downloaded the application.

“This was 2006, and that was a time that, in Germany, flat rates [for browsing the Web] didn’t exist for mobile phones. And browsing had always the image of being expensive. From that perspective, the number of downloads was really good…today that would be totally different.”

Useful links related to this article:

BMW Germany Snow Tires Mobile: Creative Samples
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/cs/bmwgerman/study.html

How to Build a Mobile Ad Campaign: 4 Crucial Elements to Include
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=30675

BWM automobiles
http://www.bmw.com/

Source: Marketing Sherpa
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=31164&pop=no#

Feed Factory Pro Presents:

Moblogging enables contributors to create and publish new posts from their mobile phone or Internet devices. This test message was posted via the iPhone.

Case Study: How our Automated Newsletter Service works:

RSS Driven Newsletter from FeedFactoryPro.com

• Web Sample
• eMail Sample forwarded below this message.

Creating the Newsletter Template for SMBTN

• We created a newsletter campaign and hosted the subscriber list database (CSV import/export).
• After evaluating the value of a text only email newsletter, we opted to custom design an interactive eZine or electronic newsletter template mirroring SMBTN’s existing branding and website. The use of an interactive (dynamic html) mail format enabled us to integrate key strategies for increasing clickthroughs, linkbacks, and search engine optimization (SEO) conventions that optimize conversions  (We can also integrate this service as a key component of our web and blog design and hosting services).
• A text only version is derived from the html template and is embedded as a multipart message.
• Once delivered, an archive of the campaign is hosted as a staic web page with a permanent link address.

Identifying and Aggregating Relevant Content:

• For SMBTN, we developed a custom pipeline to create, collect and aggregate  content from 4+ discreet external sources into our centralized content management system (CMS).
• Linkbacks to all content were maintined and and key URLs were added including membership promotions, opt-in subscriber management capabilities, the SMBTN blog, website and bookstore links, and a free toolbar download.
• A social media campaign was integrated incorporating dynamic links to twitter, DIGG, Facebook, del.icio.us, LinkedIn, MySpace and others.
• A forward this email funtion was integrated along with back end mail delivery services  enabling readers to forward and share the newsletter from any platform.

Realtime Information Management Services

• Content for the newsletter is collected and processed daily by FeedFactoryPro and fed to the newsletter generator.  If there is new information identified, a new edition of the newsletter is auto generated and delivered to the subscriber database on a daily, weekly or monthly setting.
• We also collect and integrate 3rd party syndicated content from a variety of news sources, job boards etc.
• “Direct Injection” capabilities were added, allowing SMBTN to  inject previously unpublished content into the newsletter via email or web post (useful for notices and advertising/sponsored promotions).

Multimedia Syndication

• The same information feeding the newsletter plus additional documents, audio, video, graphics, animations, calendars, slide presentation, webinars etc. is capable of being fed dynamically to  to web pages, blogs or social media sites, allowing greater Internet presence and increasing traffic to the SMBTN properties.
• Multimedia support allows the content also to be syndicated as podcasts, docucasts, videocasts, photocasts and to be sliced into unlimited sub feeds to drive other media such as mobile devices, user, or content specific delivery.

Managed Services, Syndication and Promotion

• Once implemented, no direct publisher (SMBTN) intervention is needed to create a new newsletter.  They simply post to their existing blog, website or inject an item via email to the CMS.  New content dynamically appears in the next scheduled edition and is automatically sent to the identified subscriber base.
• All campaigns track statistics.  A report feature allows us to measure the effectiveness of our email newsletter campaign by tracking opens, click-throughs, and opt-outs.
• An option to provide search engine optimization (SEO) for content hosted in the FeedFactoryPro CMS or to close the portal to search engines and robots was implemented.
• An option to brand the CMS portal for SEO is also available.
• An initial setup fee and annual managed services contract provides ongoing information collection, aggregation, processing and delivery for multiple SMBTN needs.

Based on our early succeess we we are now accepting new beta clients and developing additional service options based on customer use cases and demand. I would appreciate any feedback, suggestions, additional requirements or referrals.  We are currently making client visits in the Los Angeles and Bay Area.  Other locations are supported remotely.

Your interest in supporting the growth of FeedFactoryPro is greatly appreciated.  If you would like to subscribe to the SMBTN newsletter as a case study and watch it as it coninuously develops you can opt-in here (sign up in the right column) or call me at 408-219-1619 to discuss developing your own!

Repurpose Website Content to Triple Leads, Double Conversions: 7 Steps

SUMMARY

Feeds allow web publishers aggregate and re purpose information that helps prospects find you on the Web along with content that gets them into your lead-nurturing process. Read how a subscription-based software company revamped itself as a destination for best practices and resources by using SEO tactics and online registration forms. They tripled leads through a free trial program and saw traffic jump 200%.

Full Report:

https://www.marketingsherpa.com/barrier.html?ident=30739#

A web feed is a data format used for providing users or intelligent applications with frequently updated content. Content distributors syndicate a web feed, thereby allowing users to subscribe to it. Making a collection of web feeds accessible in one spot is known as aggregation, which is performed by an Internet aggregator. A web feed is also sometimes referred to as a syndicated feed.

In the typical scenario of using web feeds, a content provider publishes a feed link on their site which end users can register with an aggregator program (also called a feed reader or a news reader) running on their own machines; doing this is usually as simple as dragging the link from the web browser to the aggregator. When instructed, the aggregator asks all the servers in its feed list if they have new content; if so, the aggregator either makes a note of the new content or downloads it. Aggregators can be scheduled to check for new content periodically. Web feeds are an example of pull technology, although they may appear to push content to the user.

The kinds of content delivered by a web feed are typically HTML (webpage content) or links to webpages and other kinds of digital media. Often when websites provide web feeds to notify users of content updates, they only include summaries in the web feed rather than the full content itself.

Web feeds are operated by many news websites, weblogs, schools, and podcasters.

FeedFactoryPro  specializes in multimedia content creation, management, aggregation, publishing, distribution, syndication and personalization.  With its proprietary feed creation engine, FeedFactoryPro.com allows professionals, small to mid size businesses and organizations, publishers, bloggers, podcasters, advertisers and agencies to dynamically aggregate, categorize, recombine and deliver digital media to targeted Internet destinations increasing content visibility, customer acquisition, and traffic across multiple platforms and devices.

RSS (abbreviation for Really Simple Syndication) is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format.^[2] An RSS document (which is called a “feed”, “web feed”,^[3] or “channel”) includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favored websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place. RSS feeds can be read using software called an “RSS reader”, “feed reader”, or “aggregator“, which can be web-based, desktop-based, mobile device or any computerized Internet-connected device. A standardized XML file format allows the information to be published once and viewed by many different programs. The user subscribes to a feed by entering the feed’s URI (often referred to informally as a “URL” (uniform resource locater), although technically, those two terms are not exactly synonymous) into the reader or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser that initiates the subscription process. The RSS reader checks the user’s subscribed feeds regularly for new work, downloads any updates that it finds, and provides a user interface to monitor and read the feeds.

RSS was designed to show selected data.
Without RSS, you would have to check our site daily to look for new updates. This may be too time-consuming for you. With an RSS feed (RSS is often called a News Feed or RSS Feed) you can check our site faster using an RSS aggregator (a site or program that gathers and sorts out several RSS feeds). Since RSS data is small and fast-loading, it can easily be used with services like cell phones or PDA’s. Web sites, blogs, and portals with similar information can easily share data on their sites to make them better and more useful.

Digital Marketing is the practice of promoting products and services using digital distribution channels to reach consumers in a timely, relevant, personal and cost-effective manner.

Whilst digital marketing does include many of the techniques and practices contained within the category of Internet Marketing, it extends beyond this by including other channels with which to reach people that do not require the use of The Internet. As a result of this non-reliance on the Internet, the field of digital marketing includes a whole host of elements such as mobile phones, sms/mms, display / banner ads and digital outdoor.

Previously seen as a stand-alone service in its own right, it is frequently being seen as a domain that can and does cover most, if not all, of the more traditional marketing areas such as Direct Marketing by providing the same method of communicating with an audience but in a digital fashion.

Delivery Channels:

Website

Blog
Shortened from “web log” a blog is a user-generated Web site where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order.

Microsite
A mini Web site design to promote a specific portion or brand from a larger corporate site. Used often with contests or as a landing page for a specific promotion.

Instant Messaging
Instant messaging (often shortened to IM) is a type of communications service that enables you to create a kind of private chat room with another individual in order to communicate in real time over the Internet.

RSS
RSS or Real Simple Syndication is technology designed to allow users to subscribe to a specific content feed and be automatically alerted when new updates are available.

RSS Reader
Application used to subscribe and monitor selected RSS content feeds.

Email Campaign
A campaign is a specific message being sent to a specific group of recipients.

SMS
SMS (Short Message Service) is a one-way text message sent via a cell phone. It is usually received via the subscribers’ text message inbox on their cell phone and can be a maximum of 160 characters per message.

Short Code
A short code is a 5 digit number that is used to send and respond to text messages. They can either be a random set of numbers or a “vanity” number tied to a specific brand or number pattern.

Social Bookmarking
Social Bookmarking is a popular way to store, classify, share and search links that are combined into a single site for easy access.

Streaming Technologies
Communication channel such as video and audio that is accessed online. Can be a pre-stored clip to access as well as a live feed that is streamed like an online broadcast.

Voice Broadcast
Sending a pre-recorded voice messages to a large set of phone numbers at the time same. Can either be a voice call (meaning the recipient must answer the call for the message to play) or voice mail (meaning the message will play only if the recipient doesn’t answer )

Widget
A small graphical device that does a highly focused, often single, specific task. Web widgets can be embedded in web pages or run on the desktop of a PC (Windows or Mac) using software such as Apple’s Dashboard software or Yahoo! Widgets Engine.

Personalization Terms:

Subscriber
A person who signs up to receive messages from a particular company or entity.

Personalization
Personalization gives you the ability to create a customized message for each person in your database. Can be addressed by first/last name, city, state, zip, etc.

Targeting
Targeting allows you to send a message to people based on specific criteria from your subscriber database.

Monetization Terms:

Keywords
Used in conjunction with SMS messages. A user types a short code and matching keyword in order to be added to a mobile club or database.

Banner Ad
An advertisement that appears on a Web page, most commonly at the top (header) or bottom (footer) of the page. Designed to have the user click on it for more information (see Microsite)

Click Through
The number of times people clicked on the links in your message. This is often referred to as CTR (Click Through Rate). Note: you must have enabled click through tracking in the campaign in order for this to be recorded.

DMA Market
DMA stands for Designated Market Area, which is often associated with the entertainment industry. DMAs are usually counties (or sometimes split counties) that contain a large population that can be targeted, such as New York City, Los Angeles or Chicago.

Email Concerns:

Email Service Provider (ESP)
Outside companies like mobileStorm that send bulk emails on behalf of their clients to prevent their messages as being labeled as spam or blocked entirely.

Open Rate
This is a ratio determined by the number of people who opened your email against the total number of people to whom you sent the message. Typically, this number will be low for large campaigns and higher for more targeted campaigns.

False Positives
Legitimate messages being labeled as “spam” Can cost companies potentially millions in potential lost revenue if not dealt with correctly.

Blocked
A blocked notice means that the message did not get through due to being considered spam by the subscriber’s ISP. This may be due to being on a blacklist or because the message contains a domain that is already being blocked.

Blacklisted
A blacklisted notice means that the message may not have been delivered due to be flagged on one of the major lists that keep tabs of known spammers. Different ISPs use different blacklists to block mailings from being delivered to their clients. It can be a temporary ban or a permanent one, depending upon the list.

Spam
An email message that is unwanted by the recipient. Legitimate emails can sometimes be incorrectly identified as spam and is a growing problem.

CAN SPAM Act
The CAN SPAM ACT is a series of federal laws that must be followed by all email marketers. Those found in violation of the laws can be subjected to major penalties. For more information, go to http://www.spamlaws.com/federal/index.shtml

GPRL
The Global Permanent Removal List consists of records that are automatically removed from a particular database. Almost all email service providers (ESP) or multi-channel messaging companies maintain these lists for their clients.

While digital marketing is effective when using one message type, it is much more successful when a marketer combines multiple channels in the message campaigns. For example, if a company is trying to promote a new product release, they could send out an email message or text campaign individually. This, if properly executed, could yield positive results. However, this same campaign could be exponentially improved if multiple message types are implemented.

An email could be sent to a list of potential customers with a special offer for those that also include their cell phone number. A couple of days later, a follow up campaign would be sent via text message (SMS) with the special offer.

Push and pull message technologies can also be used in conjunction with each other. For example, an email campaign can include a banner ad or link to a content download. This enables a marketer to have the best of both worlds in terms of their marketing messaging.

There are 2 different forms of digital marketing, each of which has its pros and cons.

Pull
Pull digital marketing technologies involve the user having to seek out and directly grab (or pull) the content via web search. Web site/blogs and streaming media (audio and video) are good examples of this. In each of these examples, users have a specific link (URL) to view the content.

Pros:
No restrictions in terms of type of content or size as the user determines what they want.

• No technology required to send the content, only to store/display it.
• No regulations or opt-in process required.

Cons:

• Considerable marketing effort required for users to find the message/content.
• Limited tracking capabilities – only total downloads, page views, etc.
• No personalization – content is received and viewed the same across all audiences

Push
Push digital marketing technologies involve both the marketer (creator of the message) as well as the recipients (the user). Email, SMS, RSS are examples of push digital marketing. In each of these examples, the marketer has to send (push) the messages to the users (subscribers) in order for the message to be received.

Pros:

• Can be personalized — messages received can be highly targeted and specific to selected criteria – like a special offer for females, 21 years old or over and living in California.
• Detailed tracking and reporting – marketers can see not only how many people saw their message but also specific information about each user such as their name as well as demographic and psychographic data.
• High Return on Investment (ROI) possible – if executed the right way, push messaging can help drive new revenue as well as brand reinforcement.

Cons:

• Compliance issue – each push messaging technology has its own set of regulations, from minor (RSS) to heavily controlled (email and text messaging)
• Requires mechanism to deliver content – the marketer has to use an application to send the message, from an email marketing system to RSS feeders.
• Delivery can be blocked – if the marketer does not follow the regulations set forth by each push message type, the content can be refused or rejected before getting to the intended recipient.