Leader’s Blog

The thing that makes online marketing such a powerful force is its ability to be agile.  eBags used an agile approach to take what could have been a challenging holiday season into “Cyber Monday” sales that were up by 32%.

So what worked?

The marketing team kicked off their paid search campaign with the words they thought would generate the most sales, but they didn’t stop there.  They defined a firm target on how a word should be generating sales and reduced spending on those words that didn’t make the mark.  It has been my experience that people treat paid search as a “set it and forget it” marketing technique so I am always glad to hear about companies that follow my preferred “deploy, analyze and adjust” model for paid search.

I should also mention they deployed a targeted email campaign that was based on users’ previous purchase that led to a 25% in their email marketing.  This is a one-quarter increase in opportunities to sell to a current customer based on the understanding of what they like.  This is a great combination of the analytics gathered at purchase with a straightforward execution method.

With a nimble marketing strategy in place at one of the peak times of the buying season you can understand how eBags earned its spot as 93 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.

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I have always loved the CES – every since I was a kid, growing up during the rise of Nintendo and the DVD. And this year’s CES is an extra special one, as it confirmed the next channel of digital marketing is upon us – the Internet integrated into your television.

For the consumer, a whole new world is opening up – television supported by new interactive experiences, new ways to share with others, new ways to access and digest information, and new ways to navigate.

And for companies, a new way to engage, interact, and satisfy customers. And it enables new ways to extend existing campaigns and assets across a brand new channel.

Throw in a few of the other emerging technologies such as Internet integrated into your vehicle or Skype’s extension into wherever the Internet lives and it is easy to see that the Internet is quickly become the primary tool for people to manage everything they have going on in their lives. But more then intriguing to ponder the possibilities is the fact that those companies that embrace these channels as part of the holistic customer experience will be those that benefit and profit the most from this evolution.

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As we are all now well into our marketing efforts for 2010, it is hard to miss the reports stating that “this is the year for mobile marketing”.  So how to you determine how much is fact and how much is hype?

The article doesn’t talk about predicted mobile ad spending as the main reason you should stand up and take notice, but rather looks at how people are using their smart phones for things other than calls.  The study indicates that users have essentially doubled their non-voice communications.  It also indicates that 18.5% of mobile users have searched for local products or services from smartphones. (For more thoughts on how mobile can be effective locally, check out Getting the Most From Mobile Ad Spend.)

As marketers start to shape their mobile approach, it will be critical to understand how users interact in the mobile environment.  Once you have a clearer picture of the landscape, you can make better decisions about how mobile can best impact your business.

Only time will tell if companies are able to successfully harness the mobile landscape – whether or not it is 2010 – it appears that is more for mobile users to decide.

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Direct Digital Marketing (a.k.a. Digital Marketing) gained momentum and is now an enterprise priority for many companies in the consumer goods and retail industries. In addition to the incumbent service providers available, such as Aprimo, both technology and consulting firms are organizing resources to share in the opportunity.

Some incumbent service providers offer proprietary technology platforms – packaged as software-as-a-service – and promise to provide full enterprise marketing management capability. In reality, none do.

This article speaks very simply to what must be achieved in a technology platform to address the full digital marketing challenge.

• A seamless interface that connects email, mobile, and web marketing and analytics

• Profile management system that connects end-to-end customer data with captured behavioral data when interfacing with web sites, mobile media, email, online advertisements, organic and paid search activity – and although not mentioned but required measurement of traditional media.

As more competitors, technology platforms, and specialized software-as-a-service tools surface it will be interesting to see who will best address the opportunity. It will also be interesting to see how integrated business suite software offerings such as Netsuite evolve and build on their existing product’s already impressive capabilities.

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With many people trying to understand how YouTube can be used to market products and services, it is great to see Silk Soy Milk leverage the channel in an innovative and interesting way.

The campaign starts with an interactive trivia game that leverages YouTube’s new “deep link annotation” functionality.  This keeps users in the Silk branded environment as they progress through the game.  Silk also leveraged YouTube’s promoted video.  This allows marketers to code videos with keywords to make them easier to find in YouTube’s search.  (It is also interesting to note that promoted video is being offered on a cost-per-click basis – much like Google ad words.)  Silk is using print ads with quick response (QR) codes to encourage mobile participation. 

Understanding how consumers interact with a channel is key to successfully leveraging it.  Consumers come to YouTube to be entertained and Silk hits the mark with this fun and imaginative game.

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We have seen an explosion in the world of consumer applications on smart phone devices. Now a new trend emerges in the next generation of mobile applications – applications for enterprise businesses.

As software developers continue to concept and release business applications a new group of players will soon emerge as leaders of the business application revolution. Most likely to lead the pack will be the enterprise technology leaders – including IBM and Microsoft.

Already rich in the resources required to plan, develop, deploy, and manage enterprise systems it is a logical next step for the technology giants. Throw in the need for enterprise level security and long-term vision that is agile enough to adapt to the client’s ever changing business requirements and no other class of business is positioned as well to deliver on client’s demands for enterprise grade mobile business applications.

The real question becomes how do telecommunications companies transform their business strategies, mobile devices, and operating platforms to take full advantage of this growing opportunity. After all, businesses will be looking for solutions that offer the most flexibility – cross platform, cross operating system, and ability to run multiple applications at a time – and few companies are currently addressing enterprise client’s expectations.

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