The world of online marketing is on a changing spree these days. Consumers are empowering themselves to make informed decisions, thanks to social media.

Thoughts are shared, debated, and dissected all over the world before a decision is being taken. The online platform has been helping consumers to make choices on the global experience of a product. Times are changing and for the better for consumers.

From Economictimes.indiatimes.com:

What has changed?

To begin with, the source of control is shifting dramatically. It is moving more rapidly to the consumer. The internet is quite like swapping stories around a campfire, only fizzier and better. A recent study of 475 active online consumers revealed that 91% of consumers rely on the Web to get current news or information and about 60% personalise their home pages by adding features like specific content feeds or RSS. Nearly 70% of these consumers read blogs regularly and about 67% regularly watch videos online. The fact is that the internet promises and delivers the fizziest array of entertainment and the most intense amount of information on any subject, with a degree of informality that represents true freedom and liberation for the consumer.

And not just that. Today, considering that the young consumers are becoming increasingly immune to clichéd prime-time television advertising and prefer to spend intimate, one-to-one time with their PCs, truly makes the internet the ‘hottest real estate’. The global economy has also made the notion of personal intellectual space a reality. And while we still lounge with the Sunday paper, the almost second-by-second frenzied analysis of relationship status on Facebook profiles faces us as a stark truth.

It has, therefore, become important for brands to come out of their comfort zones and stand the test of scrutiny based on buzz, opinion polls, and evaluations.

Tags: content feeds, Facebook, online marketing, opinion polls, Social Media, watch videos online

ESPN, a unit of The Walt Disney Company, has decided to give a go-ahead to the formation of CreativeWorks, which will be producing marketing campaigns with sports themes.

Ed Erhardt, president for ESPN customer marketing and sales, remarked that we have done this de facto when asked by people.

From Mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com:

In Tuesday’s New York Times, Stuart Elliott and Brian Stelter report that ESPN, a unit of The Walt Disney Company, has something new to share with media buyers at its upfront presentation Tuesday morning:

Among the announcements expected from ESPN executives is the formation of a unit, named CreativeWorks, that will produce for marketers campaigns with sports themes.

“Over the years, we’ve done this de facto, when people asked,” said Ed Erhardt, president for ESPN customer marketing and sales, for brands like Axe, Hewlett-Packard, Nissan, Toshiba and Vaseline.

CreativeWorks will be providing television and radio commercials, print advertisements, digitals ads, and mobile ads to marketers. Among the first clients of CreativeWorks is T-Mobile that will be launching commercials on television to appear during coverage of the finals of the National Basketball Association playoffs by ESPN.

Tags: Axe, CreativeWorks, customer marketing, digitals ads, ESPN, Hewlett-Packard, marketing campaigns, mobile ads, Nissan, print advertisements, T-Mobile, Toshiba, Vaseline, Walt Disney

In today’s web-dominated world, no business can expect results coming its way unless it makes it a point to create and nourish its online presence by opting for a professionally-designed website. Moreover, the website must be regularly updated and in complete conformity with website creation and marketing guidelines. Read on to find how you can brand your website in easy ways.

The website of your business is the first impression and point of contact for customers, existing and potential. This means that it represents an important component of your marketing and branding strategies and what customers should be expecting from you. It is for this reason that we mentioned the words “professionally designed website” since your business site will help customers make informed decisions and do business with you. It will also help in marketing your products and services and creating equilibrium between demand and supply.

Before you start branding your website, it is important for you to first carefully evaluate the potential markets and customers. For this, you will need access to preferences of customers that will help you grow the business in the best possible manner. After detailed audience profiling, it is time for you to find insights on strengths and weaknesses of your competitors as your marketing strategy will be focused on their weak points and your strong points.

Then, it is time for you to brand your website by emphasizing upon branding tools such as articles, blogs, newsletters, press releases, newsletters, and email marketing.

It is highly important to note that you need to focus on the quality and not the quantity aspect. This means that you need to improve quality of your products and services by finding easy, budget-friendly, and efficient ways to increase the production and reducing the operational costs without compromising on the quality aspect. If you can do that, customers will reach you before you reach them and this will be success for you, as a business.

Tags: articles, audience profiling, blogs, brand your website, branding, branding tools, email marketing, Marketing, marketing guidelines, marketing strategy, newsletters, Online Presence, press releases, professionally designed website, website creation

The footwear and apparel brand founded in 1914, Brooks Sports, narrowed its marketing focus to just running shoes in 2000 and the marketing strategy has paid off.

The company has been reporting an annual growth of 5-10 percent over the last three years, and the reported revenue totaled approximately $200 million in 2009.

From NYtimes.com:

Dave Larson, vice president of marketing at Brooks, said that brands generally either take a “big shoe” approach, where technical features of shoes are highlighted, or a “big sweat” approach, where “running is a chore,” but there is “redemption” for those who exert.

“Companies are imaging running the same way by just talking about shoes’ features and benefits and not connecting with why people are out there,” Mr. Larson said. “We’re taking the tack of having more fun with it.”

Women, who accounted for 10 percent of marathon runners in 1980, represent 41 percent today, while women currently represent 47 percent of casual runners who run fewer than 50 times a year, according to Running USA. David Willey, editor of Runner’s World, said popular charity runs for causes like breast cancer, leukemia and autism, have drawn many new runners, with women being a “vast majority.”

According to the Sporting Goods Manufacturing Association, 43.9 million people ran at least once as compared to 31.4 million in 2000 that means a staggering growth of nearly 40 percent.

Tags: Brooks Sports, Marketing, marketing strategy

If you are an online marketer or business owner and about to explore marketing by emails, this blog on basic fundamentals of email marketing will surely help you in endless ways.

Before we proceed any further, it is highly important to note that email marketing should not be a forced affair. This means that promotional emails should be sent to only those who are interested (or opt-in) to receive such emails. Moreover, each of the promotional emails must have the option to “opt-out” so that customers feel free to do business with you. This will also help prospects of the business in the long run by building credible business relationships. Never ever sell or rent email list of customers. If you cannot respect the privacy or value of your customers, they will not take a second before leaving you.

In addition to that, do make it a point to recheck claims and facts included in the emails before clicking on the “send” button so that no single piece of false information is provided to the customers. Furthermore, include a section through which customers can express their opinions and preferences (allow them to express positive as well as negative opinions) and work on them. Remember, customers prefer businesses that care for them by responding to their needs, before-sale and after-sale.

Last but not the least it is important for you to update your customers with every important happening about your business. This way, customers will start relating with the business after getting real value from every sent message. Follow these easy tips to get benefits of email marketing.

Tags: basic fundamentals of email marketing, benefits of email marketing, blog, business, business relationships, email marketing, emails, marketer, Marketing, online marketer, promotional emails

If you want to put your business on the path of prosperity or reap optimum benefits of marketing strategies, this blog on quotes for businessmen and executives will be useful to you in more than just a way.

A cardinal principle of Total Quality escapes too many managers: you cannot continuously improve interdependent systems and processes until you progressively perfect interdependent, interpersonal relationships. – Stephen Covey

Anyone who has lost track of time when using a computer knows the propensity to dream, the urge to make dreams come true and the tendency to miss lunch. – Tim Berners-Lee

Do more than is required. What is the distance between someone who achieves their goals consistently and those who spend their lives and careers merely following? The extra mile. – Gary Ryan Blair

Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement. Economic wounds must be healed by the action of the cells of the economic body – the producers and consumers themselves. – Herbert Hoover

All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible. – T. E. Lawrence

Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the actions stems the dream again; and this interdependence produces the highest form of living. – Anais Nin

Tags: managers, Marketing, marketing strategies, prosperity

If you are looking to promote products and services offered by your business on the web, there is nothing more rewarding than hiring the services of an Internet marketing agency. This is not just because these are services rendered by experts, but also because they prove economical in the short and the long run. Read on!

Before we read about the association between business promotion and internet marketing agency, it is important for us to know that one of the biggest tasks before the decision-making authority of a business is to select an internet marketing company that is a well-established name in the segment of internet marketing. Once an informed decision has been made, results are obvious and tangible since potent online Internet marketing strategies identified by an internet marketing agency can facilitate dramatic business solutions in any business environment.

It is worth noting here that some of the services offered by an internet marketing agency include affiliate marketing, article marketing, banner ads, search engine marketing, pay per click advertising, blog marketing, e-mail marketing, and blogging. If that was not all, internet marketing covers many business activities such as public relations, sales, customer service, and information management.

By opting for such services, your business gets benefited in more than just a way. Internet marketing is more affordable, flexible, and result oriented than traditional forms of marketing. This form of marketing is pivotal in standardizing sales performance and improving credibility of your online business on a continuous basis. It is also effective in diversifying revenue streams and provides ample opportunities to expand area of scope besides establishing two-way communicative marketing outlook.

All in all, there is a critical association between business promotion and internet marketing agency. And if you want to put your business on the global map and stay ahead of the competition, services of an internet marketing agency will help you realize this dream of yours.

Tags: affiliate marketing, article marketing, banner ads, blog marketing, Blogging, business promotion, e-mail marketing, internet marketing, Internet Marketing Agency, Internet marketing strategies, pay-per-click advertising, search engine marketing

A new study has suggested that consumers forward email marketing messages they like to their colleagues, family, and friends.

The research conducted by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) indicated that reaching to new audience is easy when the content is deemed relevant.

From Globalgold.co.uk:

Emails which include deal offers and discounts were found to be the most popular among survey respondents, with three in five finding these most preferable.

Free delivery notices were next on the list with 18 per cent, while more generally, 60 per cent of interviewees said they are likely to forward humorous and informative emails.

DMA executive director Chris Combemale said the report showed that when email works well it is “highly effective”.

However, he noted that good targeting “remains a central challenge for marketers”.

Last month, Luke Griffiths told Net Imperative that email marketing should be better targeted as generic content can easily alienate customers.

The research also noted that emails with deal offers and discounts were the most popular among survey respondents.

Tags: email marketing, generic content, Marketing

In today’s competitive business environments, no business can consider itself as safe if it fails to emphasize on content. Since “content is king” and is the basic on which internet marketing tools such as SEO, SMO, and PPC shine, every business looking to make the best move in the market needs to concentrate on content uniqueness, relevance, quality, and appeal.

In addition to emphasizing upon content, it is always better to carefully select site keywords as while a right selection can bring visitors to the site, a bad selection can put a site a waste and burden on the business.

From Searchenginewatch.com:

1. Content is Key to SEO, PPC, SMO

While it isn’t at all original to say “content is king,” consider how things work in international search marketing. Every organization works diligently to reduce the costs of content. That isn’t surprising, because if a website is in the typical 20 languages, just making one relatively minor change to the website can incur some significant cost.

We must stress that content is at the heart of everything we do — and that also includes paid search and social media marketing. The most common cause of failure: allowing customers working in other languages to receive second best.

In international search, the product is the content, and the content is the product. The product or service drives the content on the website. Many companies would do well to “localize” their product or service — and not just the words describing it.

2. Keywords Can’t be Translated

Keywords are not “words.” This is why they can’t be translated and why translators aren’t the right people to choose them or associate them with content.

Keywords are actually abbreviated thoughts that are created within the framework and rules of a particular language. There is no one-to-one relationship or connection between keywords in different languages. Think of keywords as “language codes” that represent a particular category or concept just in that one language.

In short, content and keywords are two important factors that cannot be avoided or delayed by any profit-motivated business in times of today.

Tags: content, internet marketing, internet marketing tools, Marketing, PPC, search marketing, SEO, SMO

Yahoo Inc. is purchasing Associated Content, a freelance news site, in a deal that is expected to add a folksy touch to Yahoo, which is one of the world’s most successful websites.

Associated Content, launched in 2005, has developed an economical news model that is dependent upon nearly 380,000 freelancers sharing their expertise on varying subjects.

From Livemint.com:

Yahoo plans to sprinkle Associated Content’s contributions throughout its news, sports, finance and entertainment sections. Yahoo will continue to publish stories that it gets from newspapers, its own editorial staff and outlets that include The Associated Press.

Associated Content “gives us more local gravitas,” Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz said in a Tuesday interview.

By providing more parochial stories, Yahoo hopes to widen its audience and create more opportunities to sell online ads tied to the neighborhoods or topics that Associated Content’s freelancers are covering. Yahoo has been slumping for most of the past four years because it has been losing online ad revenue to rivals such as Google Inc. and Facebook.

Yahoo’s decision to expand the breadth of its local coverage is similar to a strategy being pursued by AOL Inc. as its CEO, Tim Armstrong, tries to turn around that company.

AOL is trying to build two low-cost local news sites, Seed.com and Patch.com.

Armstrong stands to personally profit from Associated Content’s sale because he is among the startup’s early investors and even served as its chairman until two years ago. He helped fund Associated Content while he was still a top advertising executive at Google.

Yahoo is planning to close website of Associated Content after completing the acquisition in the third quarter.

Tags: Associated Content, entertainment, finance, news site, sports, The Associated Press, Yahoo