Archive for the 'Online Marketing' Category

Social Networking in Sports Marketing

Published
by
Eric Dudley
on November 7, 2008
in Online Marketing and Social Media
. 1 Comment

Social Networking in Sports Marketing This Monday, November 10, I have the honor of moderating a discussion entitledThe State of Social Networking in Sports: What Every Sports Marketer Needs to Know To Generate Revenue, Increase Fan Base, Sell Merchandise and Attract New Business Today.   It will be for the Charlotte Chapter of National Sports Marketing Network.

The all-star speakers are: Matthew Hong, Vice President and General Manager of Sports Digital, Turner Sports (Nascar.com); Jim McPhilliamy, Senior Vice President, Brand Marketing for the Bobcats; Kelly Perdew, CEO of Rotohog.com; and Pete Vlastelica, CEO of Yardbarker.

Discussion points will include:

  • Who are the players in the space?  We will discuss the traditional sports sites as well as the niche sites like Yardbarker and Facebook.
  • We will examine what the teams, sports sites and athletes are currently doing online and see what is working best to attract sports fans and drive revenue - and what is not?
  • The feature sets/technologies that younger fans are engaging with - as well as ideas on how can we educate and influence older fans to engage and utilize the great tools available to them online.
  • Social networking and advertising:  How can the sports business industry help advertisers take advantage of this vast growth online - and guarantee value and ROI?
  • Who are the leaders and what is working: examples of companies that are utilizing social networks and thier new technologies to drive new revenue.  How are sponsors taking advantage of these new features?
  • How is social networking changing how sports fans interact online and consume sports content?  Who is doing it right and how are they doing it?
  • The future:  What is on the horizon for social sports online?  Where are we going and how do we get there?  In this already crowded space, who will survive and what is most attractive to sports fans and sponsors?

 Hope you can make it.  Click here to learn more about the event and the speakers.

Presidential Election Results Online- Obama vs. McCain

Published
by
Eric Dudley
on October 30, 2008
in Online Marketing, Social Media and Website Analytics
. 0 Comments

For the first time ever, the Internet is a dominant channel for presidential candidates to use in order to get their message out to voters.  This also marks the first time we can really measure how people are interacting with each candidate.  Obama and McCain are both highly visible online, especially through social-networking sites such as FaceBook and MySpace. 

Presidential Election Results Online- Obama vs. McCainThis chart from The Wall Street Journal shows how the candidates are being represented online through mentions and user interaction.  It is interesting to note that for most categories, Obama has a clear online lead.  This reflects not only the polls but the online marketing budget and younger online audience he draws.  I can’t tell you how many presidential emails I have received this year…

If you haven’t voted, early, there are only 5 more days until Election Day.  Make sure you get out there and vote!

Google Analytics Upgrade - October 2008

Published
by
Kyle Bumgardner
on October 22, 2008
in Online Marketing and Website Analytics
. 0 Comments

Google officially announced upgrades to Google Analytics today via their blog here. The impressive list of new features and the timing of the announcement should be very interesting to marketers considering upgrading or choosing another web analytics solution.  Basically, Google is offering some very compelling reasons to stick with what’s working…at a great price point! ($0).

A brief summary of enhancements being added in the coming weeks, which will be available to all Google Analytics users…is outlined below.  The full list of new features includes: custom reporting, advanced segmentation, motion charts, as well as integration with AdSense, and a beta API.

New Google Analytics Features:

Advanced Segmentation: This enhancement enables a user to analyze subsets of site traffic based on data variables and visitor segements, such as Paid traffic or Visits with Conversions.  (Custom segments can be created using a drag-and drop interface).  The segments you create can also be compared to historical data or to segment preformance in side-by-side reports, as well.

Custom Reporting: This allows a user to create, save, and edit reports with custom variables viewable on the axes of graphs.  The customization also allows tabbed sub reports to be created that can show related data for a specific variable.

Motion Charts: This is advanced visualization feature adds multi-dimensionsal analysis to most reports (not sure which reports would not be applicable).  Using specific metrics for each axis, along with bubble size and color, a user can analyze how data points interact and change over time.  By comparing metrics over time, this allows a marketer to view relationships that might not be evident in traditional reports.

The video below gives a great introduction to the Motion Chart (my personal favorite) feature available in the upgraded Google Analytics solution.

These new enterprise-level enhancements should satisfy many of the needs of more sophisticated marketers and create more actionable data to drive online marketing in 2009.  I’ll be checking the discussion forum here to gauge what users think as these enhancements roll-out over the next few weeks and months.

Call Tracking Combined with Online Marketing Campaigns Offers High Return on Marketing Investment

Published
by
Eric Dudley
on October 20, 2008
in Online Marketing
. 0 Comments

Call Tracking Combined with Online Marketing Campaigns Offers High Return on Marketing InvestmentThis article was printed in the August 29, 2008 edition of The Charlotte Business Journal.

Have you ever wondered which online marketing campaign is making your phone ring or which online advertising source is resulting in calls that generate sales?  By using call tracking with your online marketing campaigns, you can effectively track and measure your phone sales from their online campaign source.

What is call tracking? For years, traditional marketers have used dedicated phone numbers to track off-line campaigns like direct mail, print, broadcast and outdoor ads.  However, online marketing is a bit more complex because unique phone numbers are required for every keyword combination that results in a visitor generated through an Internet search. Call tracking allows online marketers to track the entire journey from online visitor to offline telephone call to final purchase in an efficient and meaningful way.

How does call tracking work? Call tracking can be integrated into various online marketing tactics including pay-per-click advertising and online media buying. It works by displaying a unique, toll-free telephone number each time a visitor comes to your Web site. The phone number is associated with a specific keyword combination and online marketing source so that when the visitor decides to go offline to gather more information, you can immediately tell from where that lead came. Marketers can then optimize their online campaigns based on trackable sales calls that result in new customers.

Contrary to what you might think, you don’t have to worry about managing a plethora of phone numbers. They are reused after the visitor leaves the site, thereby minimizing the volume of phone numbers required.

Why invest in call tracking? Call tracking enables you to gather important data about the prospects and customers who call in response to online promotions and marketing campaigns, and you can use that information to turn more callers into buyers. Your organization can then categorize and prioritize calls, routing high value calls to select representatives.

From an operational standpoint, call tracking combined with online marketing can smooth out the peak call times when callers have to wait for a representative.  Likewise it can also generate calls during off-peak times to improve utilization of your representatives.

How can I maximize my return on investment? When call tracking is combined with pay-per-click campaigns or online media buying, measuring a return on your online marketing investment becomes more comprehensive and maximizing that return requires continual analysis of the keywords being used to generate phone calls. Keywords that entice highly qualified prospects to visit your site and then call you offer the greatest return whereas keywords that do not result in good leads should be eliminated. Adjusting your search marketing keywords in this way is critical to maximizing your return on advertising. Whether the conversion is a new account, lead, or transaction, clear keyword analysis is essential in getting the best return on an online marketing investment.

Eric Dudley is president and founder of Internet marketing agency WebsiteBiz and frequent contributor to www.MarketerInsight.com. He can be reached at 704-338-1794 or visit www.WebsiteBiz.com for more information.

Communicate with People - not Lists - to Build Relationships

Published
by
Kyle Bumgardner
on October 15, 2008
in Online Marketing
. 1 Comment

This statement is one of the foundations of effective one-to-one email marketing strategies.  It’s also a core belief of ExactTarget’s Subscribers Rule! philosophy, as introduced at this year’s Connections User Conference.  The Subscribers Rule philosophy is built upn three simple directives:

  1. Serve the Inviduals
  2. Honor their unique preferences with regard to communication, channel, content and frequency
  3. Deliver timely, relevant content that improves their lives

Read more about Subscribers Rule! here and watch our very own Tom Dressler, WebsiteBiz Internet Marketing Director, discuss his thoughts about how marketers can build better relationships using the Subscribers Rule philosophy, in this exclusive interview with ExactTarget VP of Marketing, Jeff Rohrs…