Online Marketing Strategy

We do not have to tell you that over the past year there has been a massive increase in the popularity of smartphones: iPhones to Blackberry to Android to Windows Mobile. It seems nearly everyone can access the web on the move. Phones equipped with 3G and wireless capabilities can deliver information quickly to an ever growing number of users.

Ask Yourself: “Are you taking advantage of the opportunities that mobile can bring to a digital campaign?”

This year MobileStorm noted the rise in mobile internet use and predicted it would only increase in the years to come, and that was all before the release of the iPad. The increased number of people accessing the web through mobile devices has opened up a new and exciting market. more…

Being British, the weather has a massive impact on nearly everything we do, from conversations with colleagues to our search behaviour on the internet.  It will therefore come as no surprise that the time of year and the weather we are experiencing drives what we search for on the web. Where the summer calls for barbeques and flip flops, the wintery months gain searches for gloves, boots and all things woollen.

We all know the importance of targeting the correct search term, if your business sells apples there is no point opting for deckchairs. Clever businesses are altering their search terms as the year progresses in order to react to the change in needs of their visitors. By opting for seasonal keywords a business can widen the net, display their seasonal products and increase traffic to their site.

The common consensus regarding British weather is that predicting it can be like storing water in a sieve, but we can be sure of some things. History has shown us that the winter will be cold and the summer will be slightly warmer.  Aside from the occasional freakish weather, such as a rainy August bank holiday or T-shirts in January, seasonal weather changes can be expected. Gearing your search term for the coming months can put you a step ahead of your competitors. more…

Showbiz fans can get even closer to the stars from today (12th October 2010) as The Famous Bizarre column from UK Tabloid The Sun goes digital with the brand new Bizarre Smartphone App.

The app is described as an “Access All Areas” pass to showbiz news and will give fans of showbiz all the latest celebrity news and pictures on the go, as it happens. The App has reportedly already attracted thousands of pre-registrations on The Sun’s website.

The app updates automatically throughout the day with breaking celebrity news content from Gordon Smart’s Bizarre column so followers can be sure they will be the first to get the insider news.  It also features an exclusive “Live Gossip” Twitter style feed from the Bizarre team and celebrity guest tweeters. Launching it off today is guest tweeter X factor winner Joe McElderry.

The app is available to download worldwide from today via the Apple store and Android Marketplace. But is Murdoch, as ever, being too greedy again?  One of my personal criticisms of this app is the price. more…

An Orange a Day Won’t Keep Fifa Officials away

Picture this; a group of beautiful women, glowing the colour orange, surrounded by a group of footballers and boisterous men.

Don’t be mistaken I am not talking about a night out with my fake tanned friends, I am talking about the latest ambush marketing stunt at the 2010 FIFA World Cup by Dutch beer company Bavaria!

It was not instantly obvious that the 36 women wearing tight figure hugging bright orange dresses at the World Cup game between Denmark and Holland on Monday 14^th June 2010 were advertising for the Dutch Brewery.

(And let’s not forget ITV pundit Robbie Earle who is said to have provided Bavaria with the free tickets to the World Cup Match who has since been fired!) more…

An Overview of the Creative Industry

The economic growth of any country comes from the government and the private sector. I do not need to tell you about the state the British Government has been left in after thirteen years of Labour Governing. But let’s take a look about the state of UK creative industries:

I speak on behalf of those working in creative industries throughout the UK that many of us have seen a drastic cut back in Private Sector spending – huge cutbacks in client budgets since 2008 particularly in the advertising, public relations and graphic design industries. This being attributed to the massive government spending which has had a negative impact in private sector consumption and investment. When business directors and shareholders do not understand the true importance of marketing these divisions of the business are usually the first to see a slash in budget.

Lucky for those of us in the digital industry we have not suffered so much at the hands of the public sector over spend. In fact we have seen an increase in online marketing spend with more organisations and companies starting to embrace and understand the value of marketing their business and products online. In fact, 66% of companies are planning to increase their digital marketing budgets during 2010 (Marketing Budgets Report, econsultancy 2010).

Creative SME’s have competed for public sector contracts

In attempts to further conserve profits many SME’s have turned to the public sector to sustain their business. This has proved a good strategy in some cases but has generally not been the case for creative SME’s due to the rigid procurement processes which prevent smaller private sector providers from competing for public sector contracts. Sam Allen, search expert at Zeta wrote an excellent post about public sector organisations using private design agencies.

Labour ‘spin’ has resulted in a negative reputation for Marketing and PR

PR is often said to be about reputation management yet through poor and ineffective attempts to manage themselves the UK government has damaged the meaning of PR. more…

At least that is the message denoted by the latest high court ruling which places website and blog owners at risk of liability from the user generated content displayed on their sites.

The verdict was delivered after Labourhome.org owner Alex Hilton was sued by Johanna Kaschke. Kaschke was objecting to a libellous comment which appeared on the labour home site which was written by a user.  The content was accusing her of having had links with Baader-Meinhof, a German terrorist group.

Although Hilton did not write the comment or make it live, the fact that he actively moderated other areas of the website by …”exercise(ing) some editorial control on parts of the website and in particular on the homepage.” held him liable.

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The busiest online trading period of the year is now upon us, reaching its peak earlier than the high street, around the beginning or middle of December. Another important date for many online retailers is the 25th December when eager bargain hunters will be ready to make the most of the sales whilst high street shops stay closed.

Figures tell us that online spending is continuously growing despite the country’s economic slowdown. The trend seems to be that we may be spending less money on Christmas presents but more people will use the internet to purchase their gifts. With 76% of the adult population now using the internet and 64% of those users having made a purchase online (figures from Office for National Statistics), today’s e-commerce sites need to accommodate for a more diverse customer base within a very competitive marketplace.
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If used correctly, Twitter can be a great communication tool for your company to get its message out to clients and customers.  It can also have a negative effect if not used correctly, especially if you don’t check your profile regularly and post frequent tweets. In this article I will give you a simple guide on how to set up and successfully manage a Twitter account for your business. more…