Category: Local Marketing

What Apple’s New iPad Means For Digital Marketing

Posted on by Andrew

In case you were in Siberia, you probably heard about Apple’s new iPad. It has a better screen, faster processor and a better camera.

All that sounds great if you’re in the market for a new iPad, but those stats should also sound good if you are in digital marketing. The reason is more online traffic. Tablet traffic since December 2011 has increased 50%, and tablet sales are on pace to pass traditional PC sales by 2015.

That means you better be thinking about the tablet space when you plan your advertising. Tablets don’t trigger mobile websites, but tablet users search similarly to mobile users, meaning they take action faster and search more for local businesses.

Data from the same Localeze study I shared a few days ago shows this prominently. Roughly two-thirds of tablet owners use their device at least once a week to search for a local business, making tablet owners more active than in local searches than both mobile phone users and PC/laptop users.

Tablet searchers also purchase more frequently as well. In the study, 86% of respondents said they made a purchase as a result from their most recent tablet-based local search.

So, all in all, tablets are friends of local businesses and marketers. Tablet owners search more and purchase more than other searchers, so it pays to target tablets.

Email and Paid Search Garner High ROI Ratings

Posted on by Andrew

New data from digital marketing firm eConsultancy says Paid Search and Email Marketing are two of the best options for high-ROI campaigns.

The data comes from a survey of marketing professionals around the globe, where they rated their satisfaction with various marketing channels.

In the report, 70% rated email marketing as either excellent (23%) or good (47%). Also, 56% of the respondents stated that paid search campaigns offered ROI figures that were either excellent (14%) or good (44%).

This is great news for small businesses. Email and Search Targeting are easy to implement into a marketing plan and, as the data shows, offer great results.

Another place that made large strides was mobile. In this survey, 41% of marketers said mobile gave them excellent or good return on their investment. This is an increase of 23% compared with the data from 2008.

Maybe your business hasn’t implemented these marketing plans, or maybe you’ve tried and it hasn’t worked out very well. Regardless of your past situation, we guarantee we can help you with your local marketing plan.

Contact us today or leave a note in the comments to see how we can help your business.

The Goldilocks Rule of Digital Marketing

Posted on by Andrew

Chances are you’ve read Goldilocks and the Three Bears. If you haven’t, go find it online somewhere and then come back.

Okay, so now that we’re all on the same page, why do I bring up Goldilocks and the Three Bears? It’s simple: when Goldilocks broke into the bears’ house, she ate the porridge that was “just right.” Not the porridge that was too hot or too cold, but just the right amount.

This is also true of your customers. If you do too little digital marketing and advertising, they won’t remember you, but if you do too much, they’ll get annoyed and purposely not do business with you because of your annoying ads.

A new survey released from Upstream says that 20% of Americans would stop using a brand’s product or service if they received too much advertising. That’s a lot of people. Can you afford to lose 20% of your customers?

We are constantly checking our campaigns to make sure they don’t show up too frequently. For example, our Retargeting campaigns are designed and fine-tuned so they only show our client’s ads 10-15 times over a month. Studies have shown that’s the optimal balance between not enough and too much exposure.

Don’t let this fear of the Goldilocks rule stop you from doing advertising, as you won’t even have any customers if you don’t do any marketing and advertising. Instead, do your best to strike the right balance between too much and not enough, because, unlike the three bears, we want Goldilocks to eat that porridge.

5 Best Practices for Your Mobile Site

Posted on by Andrew

So I told you all about how one in five visits to a mobile website results in a call. Since hearing that you’re probably thinking you need to get a mobile website. It’s

normal website vs a mobile website

true, you do need one, but before you go rushing in to make your own, read through our list of best practices for why you need to have one. Having a mobile-optimized website is becoming more and more important. Smartphone usage is continuing to grow, and mobile Internet usage is projected to pass desktop usage in 2013.

In order to take advantage of this expanding market, you need to have a mobile website. Not just any mobile website, however, as mobile users have drastically different needs than desktop users. Below are five tips for you to apply to your own mobile website.

1. Make it quick
Mobile users are usually searching for your website while on the go, trying to get things done while they go about their day. In order to serve them, remove clutter and give them the basics they need to contact you such as your phone number, address and hours of operation.

2. Make it easy for them to convert
Mobile users have higher purchase intent than desktop users, but they still need additional prodding to make a purchase. Focus on information that will help the mobile user convert: product details, photo galleries and simplified data entry.

3. Make it simple
Clear navigation is key with mobile users, as they don’t have as much screen real estate as their desktop counterparts. Minimize scrolling and make buttons large enough to press with a thumb. If a user “fat-fingers” a link one too many times, they might leave and never come back.

4. Make it seamless
Users might check your website out at home, and then be reminded to check it while they are on the go. If they navigate to your mobile website and it is a vastly different experience from your desktop version, they might be unnerved. Keep logos and colors uniform across both sites, so it’s obvious that they are visiting your mobile site, not one of their competitors.

5. Make it accessible
Your mobile site needs to work on more than one platform. Android and iOS make up the lion’s share of smartphone users, but you still need to cater to the millions of people that use other operating systems. Also, use HTML as flash doesn’t show up on mobile devices.

So there you go, five tips to help you with your mobile website. If you have questions about mobile feel free to contact us for a free mobile consultation, or leave a question in the comments.

One in Five Visits to a Mobile Website Results in a Phone Call

Posted on by Andrew

Mobile users have higher purchase intent than pretty much every other demographic. Want to know how I know that? Well I’ve seen it with our own clients, and now there’s some new numbers to back up my anecdotal evidence.

According to new data from DudaMobile and Google, one out of every five visitors to a mobile-optimized small business website results in an immediate call to that business. This is a huge number, and that number even goes up for some verticals. For example, pizzerias have a 32% click-to-call rate, and transportation has a 44% call rate! Users also clicked through to maps and directions at an average of 3.25% across all categories.

In a new whitepaper, DudaMobile says that small businesses should align their site’s content with the priorities of the mobile user. That means short text, fast load times, big, clear buttons and a call to action.

We’ve seen huge success with several of our clients who use a mobile landing page and mobile search to drive traffic to that page.

If you’re curious about setting up a mobile campaign and a mobile search campaign, contact us today.

Global Ad Spending to Rise 4.9% in 2012

Posted on by Andrew

Global ad spending is set to rise almost 5% this year to reach a total of $465.5 billion according to new numbers from research firm Strategy Analytics.

The total U.S. spending rate is set to grow 2.7%, up from .6% in 2011. Global online spending is predicted to grow the fastest, by 12.8% to $83.2 billion – meaning 18% of total ad spend.

Online ad spending is still leading the way, though growth has slowed due to the growing maturity of online spending. In 2011, Internet media revenue grew by 21.4%, but is set to only grow 10.9% in 2012.

Despite the slowdown in growth, digital advertising is set to increase its share of the global ad market from 15.9% in 2011 to 21.2% in 2014.

So what do we know from these numbers? Well, for starters, digital advertising is growing rapidly, and is eroding TV’s 40% global share of all advertising dollars. These numbers represent important trends that you must acknowledge as a small business owner. Gone are the days where creating a radio or TV ad was enough; now, you need to be invested in social marketing, banner advertising, search optimization and have a killer website.

So who is going to help you wade through these treacherous waters? Well, that’s why we’re here. We’ve created hundreds of digital marketing campaigns, and we’ve successfully increased sales and revenue for all our clients.

If you have any other questions about what we do or ways we can help out your business, let us know in the comments or contact us on our website.

Mobile Advertising is the Fastest-Growing Media Segment

Posted on by Andrew

Total revenue from mobile and social advertising is up to $45.38 billion according to new numbers from PQ Media. That’s up 30.2% from last year, and it’s set to keep increasing.

Mobile advertising and marketing was the fastest growing segment in 2011, growing 53.7% year-over-year to $3.39 billion. Those are some big numbers, and you may be wondering how those huge figures applies to your small business. The reason this matters to small businesses is that those numbers represent the overall trends of the marketing and advertising landscape.

If your ad agency isn’t pushing mobile, then you should ask them why. Mobile is the next big wave, perhaps the biggest since Internet marketing became viable. Take control of your marketing and examine how you will be taking advantage of this growing platform.

If you have questions about mobile advertising or marketing, let us know in the comments.

3 Marketing Trends You Need to Implement

Posted on by Andrew

A lot of business missed the boat on a few marketing trends over the last few years. Some missed out on websites, some on email marketing and others on mobile. Your business may have missed out on some or all of these trends, but I’m here to make sure you don’t miss out on these next three!


1. Mobile
Mobile is huge these days. Mobile search has already been exploding and mobile shopping is expected to increase substantially in the next few years.

2. Data
You need data to understand exactly why you’re doing something, and how you can make it better. The old model of creating a radio or TV commercial is gone. Now we have the ability to track, alter and optimize every ad campaign.

3. Branding
Your brand doesn’t just exist on your website anymore. You are on social places such as Twitter, Facebook, Digg, YouTube, etc. Your brand is more “out there” than ever, and your customers have more avenues than ever to contact you — you just need to give them reason to.

It’s a unique time to be a small business. Never before have you had the power to reach so many customers as easily as you can today. The world of digital marketing offers countless ways to interact with your customers, and using as many of them as possible can help bring you new business and more brand exposure.

If you are curious about any of these methods such as SMS targeting, search marketing, retargeting, behavioral targeting, mobile targeting and more, contact us today. We’ll help you wade through the field of digital marketing and advertising.

Local Mobile Search infographic

Posted on by Andrew

Just letting you all know up front: I love infographics, and I share them like crazy whenever I find a good one. Recently, I stumbled upon several infographics I think warrant posting on here as they’re all relative to the world of digital advertising.

The first infographic is from a marketing firm called Orange Soda. It’s called “The Power of Local Mobile Search,” and it runs through some of the stats and figures I’ve posted on here before, but includes some fancy graphics to drive the points home.

Check it out!

Continue reading…

Mobile Search: The Next Frontier

Posted on by Andrew

According to a report from the xAd advertising network, there were big increases in mobile and local searches during Q4 2011. The stats are pretty incredible, and just go to show how much you need to start looking at mobile and local searches.

One amazing stat is the level that mobile searchers react to ads compared to desktop users. In the study, 52% of mobile-local searchers called the local businesses after the initial click. The leading secondary action was accessing maps or driving directions (50%), compared to 42% for search ads.

The click-through rate (CTR) for search ads was also strong last quarter as well. Average CTR for search ads was 7%. This is because mobile-local searchers are seeking information related to a specific action for a need or want that they want to fill.

Another enlightening statistic about mobile search is that mobile search requests grew 60% quarter-over-quarter. That’s a huge number, and shows just how many people have smartphones these days, and how many are searching for local businesses.

So do you have any local search game? Well if you don’t, you’re in luck – we do. As part of our search targeting, we make sure to create mobile-specific campaigns that target the mobile user with a special call to action and click-to-call ads.

But what good is mobile traffic if they get sent to your clunky desktop site? We also design mobile landing pages that deliver the things mobile users want. On our custom-designed sites, we include mapping options as well as a mobile-specific call to action with a prominent click-to-call button.

Have any more questions about mobile? Ask us in the comments.