Firefox Extensions Can Alter Your Web Traffic Reporting
I start this post assuming that you have analytics in place on your website, the single most important thing for tracking your traffic. I highly recommend Google Analytics – free and powerful.
It is common knowledge that no two analytics programs will have the exact same numbers, but there is one thing they will agree on – they will undercount the number of visitors to your site using Firefox.
A significant portion of Firefox users have added the NoScript add-on to their browser. This is one of the top-10 most popular extensions for Firefox. This extension blocks any javascript calls that the user doesn’t approve of. Blocking javascript causes Urchin, Google Analytics, Webtrends, etc to not work. These tracking services never see the traffic because NoScipt blocks it.
The best way to figure out the real traffic to your site is to also look at your own weblogs on your server. Most hosting packages should come with a weblog analytics tool at no extra charge. The hosting company I have used since 2001 provides access to our internal stats and we routinely compare to Google Analytics.
If you don’t have access to your weblogs, request it or change hosting companies. This information is crucial when creating media kits to send to potential advertisers because your traffic volume is one of the key decision points.
David Mullings is co-Founder and CEO of Realvibez Media, an integrated media and entertainment company focused primarily on
Obama helps or hurts his ‘brand’?
I ask this question because all businesses can learn from the last few months of political theater. A Presidential candidate must create a ‘brand’ and then manage that brand effectively. Not being able to control your brand image results in your opponent defining your brand, like what happened to John Kerry and the “flip-flopper” image.
Obama has had to deal with Jeremiah Wright, his pastor (or former pastor as it may now seem) and all brands at some time face tough challenges. A brand must always focus on it’s core customers and make sure that this target market feels a specific way about that brand.
Obama has had to fight to protect his brand image of “Unifier” because of statements by Wright and today he came out to strongly denounce Wright’s recent remarks. Interestingly enough, I believe that Obama has both helped his brand and hurt it at the same time.
He has helped his brand among the Superdelegates and White voters while simultaneously hurting his brand amongst many Black voters.
Sharing Knowledge On The Web Is Good For…
…PR and reputation building.
Whether you are an entrepreneur or a professional, you want to build up your reputation in your field and you want to constantly promote your story. One of the best ways to do that is to share your knowledge.
Blogs are the main way that people are currently imparting their knowledge and expertise but you should also take advantage of “How To” documents, whitepapers and question/answer services like that in LinkedIn. I recently discovered two great sites to share knowledge and wanted to share them with you because they are free and can only help. Read more
MyStarbucksIdea.com Misunderstood?
Imagine this: Dell launches a crowdsourcing initiative and wins a PR Innovation of the Year 2008 award and when Starbucks uses the EXACT SAME software from Salesforce.com, people start dumping on them.
Only on the web.
It seems that many bloggers and mainstream media love to hate Starbucks right now. Social Media Insider on Mediapost carried a post titled “Ewww….What’s That Smell? It’s MyStarbucksIdea.com” and judging by the comments, the readers have a better understanding of the goal of the site than the writer (I like Mediapost and this new blog by the way, just disappointed with this post).
At least the recent post on News.com, Has crowdsourcing jumped the shark?, clearly identifies that the new site is all about allowing people to make suggestions to Starbucks and vote on other suggestions. Too bad that last week they called it a social networking site and tried to belittle it: “You know social networking has jumped the shark when Starbucks gets into the act.“
Others are mistakenly classifying this as a social network play by Starbucks as well but the slightest bit of research, like clicking on the very clear “powered by Salesforce.com” logo would reveal quite clearly that this is not meant to be a social network. The link takes you to this page: http://www.salesforce.com/products/ideas/ which clearly explains the purpose of the “online community application”:
Salesforce Ideas makes it easy to unleash the power of your community. By creating an interactive Ideas forum where people can vet their best ideas, you can become a more responsive company, uncovering new opportunities and instilling a sense of co-ownership with your most passionate evangelists.
The “Marketing” In Search Engine Marketing
I studied marketing in business school and one of the most important things that has always stuck with me was the 5 P’s of Marketing – People, Place, Product, Promotion and Price. I later realized that some people were taught less than 5 and I personally came to believe that there should be 6 – Profit should matter as well.
More companies are realizing that SEM is a valid and important strategy, but many of them are not approaching it in the same way that they approach traditional marketing. People working in the SEM/SEO industry blog about these kinds of clients all the time – those that think it is as simple as picking a few keywords, throwing up an ad on a search engine and bidding more than everyone else to get the top spot.
This is not the process for traditional marketing and should not be for SEM. I have outlined how a company should use the 5 Ps to plan a paid search campaign better. Read more
Do you know about Scribd and iPaper?
I happened across this amazing start-up recently and immediately fell in love. Scribd describes itself as a “Silicon Valley startup creating technology that makes it easy to share documents online” and goes on to say that you can think of it “as a big online library where everyone can publish original content”. I believe that this iPaper is excellent for businesses because it allows you to present whitepapers, presentations and outlines of your services right on a web page using flash instead of expecting a person to download a PDF, WORD document or PowerPoint presentation. I can see why they managed to secure funding from Y Combinator, Redpoint Ventures and others - they are unto something.
Will cause-marketing affect your new hires or talent retention?
I was fascinated by an issue that the President of Unilever raised in a story by AdAge, (see story) - the fact that the new generation of marketers were looking for reputations of “ethical marketing” and companies that take positive and global views on the environment.
I know that “green” has been the in-thing lately and many are taking it seriously (thankfully) but I didn’t think that it would start to affect new hires or retention just yet. I am glad that it has though because it makes more companies take a serious look at their processes and values. Read more
Mass Media Out, Micro Media In?
We marketers have traditionally taken a mass media approach for many campaigns and the internet has forced us and our companies/clients to begin to change their approach - as can be seen by the growing online spending budgets and declining print budgets.
The consumers’ slow shift away from mass media to micro media - I say slow because television viewership is still high and people still read the newspapers - has not only affected marketing products and services, but also product development itself.
I previously worked for one of the largest financial institutions in Jamaica and was a member of the marketing and product development teams. We helped to create their online banking service which launched in 2007 and the creative agency outlined an expansive campaign mostly focused on mass media. Our team advocated for a different and more targeted approach - promoting via the web and being more targeted. Read more
Knight Rider premiere is great for Microsoft Sync?
NBC aired the well-promoted Knight Rider movie special yesterday and even though Ford is the biggest sponsor - the new car is a Shelby Ford Mustang - Microsoft Sync benefited the most in my opinion.
The Ford commercials during the movie special focused on promoting Microsoft Sync, a new feature exclusive to all Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles, that allows voice-activation of things such as playing music, checking messages and calling people. Read more
HD-DVD no more for Netflix
The NY Times ran an article this morning titled Netflix Opts For Blu-Ray. This of course is bad news for HD-DVD, the other format for high definition movies. The format war has been playing out for some time and last month’s announcement by a few studios to back Blu-Ray exclusively basically put nails in the HD-DVD coffin, but there was always some slight glimmer of hope.
Netflix would have been a great strategic partner for HD-DVD because they buy a tremendous amount of movies and can help to shape consumer tastes. Renting HD movies through Netflix is much cheaper than buying them since the prices are so much higher than standard DVDs so the subscribers who do want to get their HD fix now have no choice - Blu-Ray is it, which means we should expect increased sales of those players.
The HD-DVD brand missed a great opportunity to align itself with Netflix in an effort to reach consumers and it will be a lesson in how brands can use channel partners to increase awareness of a product or service. HD-DVD to date has mostly been promoted on regular DVDs from partner studios, press and traditional advertising during the Christmas sale.
Does this mean that HD-DVD players are future doorstops and I am going to buy a Blu-Ray player anytime soon? Not a chance - still too expensive for my tastes and I need to buy an HDTV first anyway.
I think I am in the majority.
Reaching the 18-29 demographic
The 18-29 has continued to be a highly targeted segment for most companies but I am not sure if enough marketers are taking a close look at what Barack Obama has done that has brought him such wild support among that segment.
This political season is giving us many case studies that can apply to business and while I don’t want to only focus on the Obama campaign, his recent victory in South Carolina is cause to study his brand and his message that allows him to reach this segment in a way that most brands can only dream of. (For the record, my next post will about Ron Paul).
So how has Obama appealed to the youth segment and how can this benefit a company?
- Anti-establishment
People routinely refer to youth as rebellious, no matter which decade we speak about. Barack has positioned himself as the agent of change that young people seek - the one that rocks the boat and does not adhere to the “old guard”.
The brands that have positioned themselves as different and not following the status quo seem more likely to capture the imagination of that segment.
- Authentic
Obama has done his best to present himself as being of the people, not above the people. Reaching out to work with people and placing a value on their opinion makes people feel more important and he makes it seem real, not just an act.
Your brand must be authentic, not try to fake it, because you will be found out. Some brands only cater to a group when it is convenient to do so, rather than being part of the fabric. DC is one of the most recognizable brands to skaters because it has always been authentic.
I hope that you are learning as much as I am from these political campaigns.
Successful email marketing campaigns - What you can learn from the Barack Obama campaign
I signed up for the email lists of a few of the candidates to experience their internet strategy first-hand. After the New Hampshire primary, I received an email from Barack Obama’s campaign saying that they had set a goal of 100,000 online donors in 2008, a goal they hoped to reach before the Nevada caucuses.
Naturally there was a big red “donate” button at the end of the email. Yesterday afternoon I received another email that included the following information:
Last Night we got there five days early.
Think about that: 100,000 donors in 15 days Read more
Generation Y is misunderstood?
After reading Richard Laermer’s “Why’s Everybody Always Pickin’ On Me?” My Impressions of Generation Broke and seeing many of the comments, I felt that it was time to be a bit more vocal.
My generation, like all generations, is misunderstood by those that come before it (especially since everyone seems to think that their generation is the best). While an entire generation is not homogeneous, there are generalizations that tend to be true and certain influences that have played key roles.
It is important to realize that my generation grew up with success stories such as Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, the Google Guys and other people who created great companies, made themselves wealthy and impacted the world in major ways. We have come to believe exactly what Donny Deutsch says on The Big Idea - Why not me? Read more
Do consumers really want another set-top box in their living rooms?
BusinessWeek ran an article about the new Netflix/LG deal to create and market a set-top box that will allow Netflix users to stream movies to their TV - better late than never, maybe. If set-top boxes are the future, I would think that Tivo, Cable and Satellite companies already have a major advantage. Cable/Sat companies could easily develop monthly PPV subscription plans akin to Netflix’s DVD rental plans and I would be quite happy, unless I want to buy a movie without going to the store.
I don’t think that consumers are interested in more boxes just for video, especially if they are restrictive and don’t solve more than one problem or offer more functionality. Read more
Vehix.com leveraging interactive marketing on television
During the last month of 2007 my wife pointed out some interesting commercials from Vehix.com on our Comcast cable. A little box would pop up in the top left corner and contain a question, with 3 potential answers and little icons beside each one. Out of curiosity, we clicked the button corresponding to the answer we thought was correct and it took us to a page that gave us the result.
I must admit that I paid more attention to Vehix commercials to see what other questions they might have. I then came across a “call to action” ad from Vehix that indicated that I could press a button to search for cars and even though I am not in the market right now, I wanted to see what the interface was like. I did not see any other advertisers using this “call to action” type of spot until recently.
A real estate advertisement indicated that I could click a button to go to a channel where I could search for properties (the channel has been there for some time but I have never seen an ad that lead to it by clicking).
I think this trend will grow in 2008, particularly because marketers are more used to having metrics about performance thanks to the web advertising industry and these action driven ads allow them to really track “click-thrus” and solicit direct actions.2007 was filled with talk about “engaging consumers” and the impact of DVRs on ad spots.
Vehix has impressed me by undertaking this kind of campaign and I would love to know who else has seen it. I don’t know if it provides a better return on investment but at least new things are being tested.
Have you used LinkedIn for research?
I recently began researching ad platforms to use in order to serve advertising on my main website because of the need for geo-targeting so I did the typical thing, go to Google and start to search.
However, I decided to also make use of the Answers section of LinkedIn and ask the question in the marketing section just to see what kind of responses I would get. Imagine my surprise when I had 6 answers in less than 48 hours from qualified individuals, not just a search engine algorithm.
One person from a company even called me and we ended up speaking for almost 1 hour then we managed to schedule a demo for this week! Read more
Feedback about the Facebook Ad Platform
There was a lot of buzz around the launch of the new Facebook ad platform and the ability of companies/brands to create pages.
I quickly signed up and created a page for my brand, Realvibez, and signed up to test out the ad platform with some highly targeted ads.
The results have been mixed.
I created two ads, one targeting users between 18-25 in the USA who mentioned Sean Paul and one for the same group but mentioning Reggae. The platform easily informed me of how many (or how few) users I was targeting - less than 150,000 in each case. Read more
Inside NBC/News Corp.’s Hulu.com
I was anxious to receive my invitation to beta test the new online video venture from NBC Universal and News Corp. - Hulu.com. The media had been touting it as a Youtube competitor that would be focused on professional content and I was eager to see exactly what it was and how it compared to Joost (My first week with Joost). There is no competition between Hulu and Youtube - I will go to Hulu for my professional content any day.
OfficeMax gets creative for the holidays
I came across Elf Yourself (reminds me of the whole Simpsonize campaign) and couldn’t resist trying it out.
See the results here.
OfficeMax is certainly not afraid to try new things and I give them high marks for this campaign leading into the holidays as it certainly made both my wife and I laugh and then she went and did her own. Naturally we each have forwarded the link to our Elf to a couple friends - viral at its best.
When you click to send the Elf to a friend via email, some ads show up and inform you about promotions, a subtle and less intrusive way of advertising to users. I am not sure which company pitched OfficeMax on this idea or if they came up with it themselves but this is creativity.
Unlike a banner ad or a typical website, I am enjoying interacting with this promotion and passing it on to my friends.
I couldn’t help but notice that there is also a Scrooge Yourself, but I enjoy the holidays.
Have you spoken to your customers lately?
Every marketing professional speaks about getting to know customers and engaging them with creative, but how often do you speak with your customers to find out what they are thinking?
It seems that more people develop a customer profile and then keep using that while also relying on old focus groups. The World is changing faster and marketers need to communicate more with customers to find out what they want and how they want it. Read more
Subscribe to Beneath the Brand