Did you know repeated exposure to banner advertisements generate a positive feeling toward that product advertised? There is a long history of experiments in repeat exposure to a stimulus but one of the more recent studies was in the Journal of Consumer Research.

In this study, they asked students to read a long essay (under the impression they would have to answer questions about the content). Little did these students know that the researchers would survey them on a factious camera brand, Pretec, that was advertised throughout the essay via banner advertisements shown in batches of zero, five, or 20 times.

When the students were questioned  on their positive feelings towards Pretec, the factious camera, researchers discovered a very interesting trend. The more a student was exposed to the banner advertisement, the more positive feelings a student would express toward Pretec.

Ultimately, this psychology—based research suggests familiarity of a banner advertisement  can aid positive feelings toward a brand.

What wonderful news that Dealer Ignition designs and codes banner advertisements for our dealers! An example of our excellent work is one of the many Karastan banner advertisements we have made shown above. Learn more about us and take a tour of our services. You will not be disappointed!

http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2007/05/the-psychology-of-banner-ads.ars

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublication?journalCode=jconsrese&

So, What is Search Marketing?

It’s making sure your website is found by search engines! (Through organic search(SEO) and paid-advertising (SEM).) According to MarketingShare.Hitslink.com, 57% of internet users search the web every day, and according to the US Census Bureau there are 162 million estimated adult internet users. After a little bit of math, a teaspoon over 92 million people conduct searches online every single day!

The complicated part is that search engines do not see websites the same way a Steve, Justin, Robin, and Tracey (visitors) would see it. In regards to Google, Yahoo, and Bing, a website is a ton of text and visuals thrown together into many pages and links. Search Engines struggle to understand disorganized/hard-to-use websites and, unfortunately, that text and those visuals are completely worthless if search engines can’t understand or find it.

Why Do Search Engines Need to Understand My Website?

In order to show up on a Google search, Google needs to be able to know whats on your website and relate to back to those keyword searches a surfer plugs into a Google.

Since 75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results, websites now need  high quality rankings. (A website’s rank is determined by each search engine on many things but mainly the quality of information that is easy to find through titles, links, and content).

Basically, if search engines can’t read your website, you can say goodbye to a high SEO ranking. (And when you say goodbye to a high ranking, you can say sayonara to your website coming up on Google, Yahoo, or Bing when a customer searches keywords that are related to your site!)

Where Do I Go From Here?

Google is the new yellow pages! Today, making sure you show up in a search is no longer something to consider, but actually something you must be optimizing. Google needs to understand whats on your website so it can see if its truly relevant to those trillions of keyword searches. Whether it be through an organic approach or paid advertising on search engines, companies need to make sure their website is ready to be found!

Stay tuned for my next section going deeper into what to do with search! In the mean time, comment or give us a ring at 888-344-6483

http://contentmarketingtoday.com/2010/08/24/if-google-cant-see-your-content-your-prospects-wont-find-you/

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/14416/100-Awesome-Marketing-Stats-Charts-Graphs-Data.aspx?source=BlogTwitter_[100%20Awesome%20Marketin

KellerFay, a well-known word of mouth marketing research consultancy, estimates there are almost one trillion -yes, T for Trillion!-, conversations about brands every year in just the United States. A key factor: these conversations are not just face-to-face, but very much online too.

Conversations lead to Conversions

The KellerFay Group conducted a study to figure out what type of recommendations are most common. To the right is what KellerFay discovered.

Research has proven Retail Brand recommendations increase the likelihood of a lead converting into a sale. In fact, compared to its unrecommended retailers, a recommended retailer is 11% more likely to convert a lead in a sale. Pretty impressive!

What’s the Best Medium?

If you said internet, you guessed it! The internet has is the highest form of references for consumers reviewing retail stores. Almost 20% of shopper recommendations are about something they saw online.

People Trust Online

Over 80% of consumers go online to do research, 55% look for reviews and 10% ask for advice from social networks. And for the most of generation Y(ages 24-34), 23% actually ask for advice from social networks. According to ExactTarget, 90% of people trust recommendations on Facebook.

Think Facebook

A good reference of online word of mouth is Facebook’s “like” feature. This is a fun way for consumers to announce to their “friends” online that they like a brand. According to AdAge, 75% of users have a liked at least one brand on Facebook. In fact, according to Facebook, the average user clicks the “like” button 9 times each month. There are a ton of ways to connect consumers through Fan pages, applications, and social sharing features on Facebook. Go use them to your benefit!

Success of Specific Brands

Juicy Couture, a hip high-end clothing store, increased their product purchase conversion rate by 160%, just by installing social sharing features! Or take Ticketmaster for an example. It is estimated that every time a user posts he or she bought a ticket, Ticketmaster receives an extra $5.30. Both of these successes relate to companies maximizing buzz marketing.

What Now?

Be proactive! Help consumers to discover, discuss and buy the best of the best. People love to talk about shopping almost as much as they love shopping. Furthermore, think about ways your online presence can deliver “talkable” in-store experiences and recommendations. What are you doing online today?

http://www.kellerfay.com/insights/being-recommendable-is-powerful/

http://trendwatching.com/briefing/

In the 1900s

The United States struggled with communication. We didn’t have mail, gravel roads, or communication outside of our neighbors. But one day, an American Farmer D. Ward King had had enough. Born from a devotion to increase communication between towns, and high hopes of better sales of his crops, he created the King Road Drag. This invention ensured dirt roads remained usable during hard rains. After congress heard about his amazing invention, states passed laws that required its use. So where did we go from here?

You’ve Got Mail!

In the 1890s Congress pledged mail to be free to every home. But under one condition; communities had to ensure roads were good enough for the postman to travel daily. An interesting catch-22, thankfully solved by the King Road Drag. Within 5 years mail doubled and by 1929, 100,000 homes were receiving daily mail. (Let’s put that number in perspective: today, the Radicati group estimates the number of emails sent per day to be around 294 billion )

The Catalogue

Daily mail opened up a myriad of opportunities and it was during this time that mail-order began. Now instead of having to ride hours to the nearest general store, farmers could simply use a catalogue to order thousands of products to be delivered right to their front porch. Eureka! (And in the days of outhouses and no readily available toilet paper, the often 500+ pages catalogues came in handy for other uses too.) Can you imagine how excited these farmers were?

Mail Order Stores

Soon, mail was delivered to most households! Entrepreneurs (like Richard Sears) caught on quickly and created mail-order catalogues. In the early days of catalogue shopping, it could take more than three weeks for your new long johns to be delivered to your porch. Now, thanks to the internet, Sears can deliver them in a few days!

Impressive Improvement

How lucky are we to be here when the internet is around! As Bill Gates said ten years ago “…business is going to change more in the next 10 years than it has in the last 50.” Isn’t it crazy to think how far we have come? What do you think is next?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mypiety/2128752761/sizes/z/in/photostream/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_road_drag

Gladwell, M. (1999, December 6). Clicks and Mortar.The New Yorker

As I mentioned before in “Moms are turning Smart,” mothers are going online to hear about deals and weigh their options!  Well apparently, it’s not just mothers! A Deloitte study confirmed and revealed that mobile and social connections help all consumers make more wise buying decisions.

According to Deloitte, 60% of shoppers go online to find the best product or price. Online activity mainly stems from shoppers wanting to hear about promotions, browse products, and preview recommendations. This Deloitte study also found 40% consumers investigate retailers through social networking sites.

Online Shopping: Growing like a man’s 5 o’clock shadow…

AKA really fast! Compared to last year, consumers are reporting they make more purchases.  Searching online for the best product or price has grown by 15% since 2010. This is great news that we need to take advantage of!

Can we get an age bracket please…

You may think: how old are these online shoppers or who are these 40% using social media!? Good question! Although younger age groups are more inclined to use their cellphones and social networks, the fastest growing demographic on Facebook is actually over the age of 45!

Don’t underestimate these baby-boomers! In the Deloitte survey, over half of the consumers that answered were over the age of 45. Of these respondents, 56% search online to find the best product or price. Furthermore, nearly 1/3 of these consumers surveyed claimed their favorite retailers  provide information through social media, apps, or mobile alerts.

How is this relevant?

Consumers are growing to expect a retail presence online- particularly in social media. Additionally, when I say consumers, I mean every age bracket(especially generation Y and baby-boomers). Moreover, consumers are more inclined to shop with your store if you tell them about your promotions online! Don’t let this awareness fade and take action today. Have you created a presence online?

http://www.marketingcharts.com/direct/4-in-10-shoppers-interact-wretailers-via-socnets-17027/deloitte-online-shopping-apr-2011jpg/

http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/press/Press-Releases/ecb809805003f210VgnVCM1000001a56f00aRCRD.htm

Maybe you’ve signed up to be a partner with Dealer Ignition, but now don’t know what to do!  Yes, you are so thankful to have a great template, but what about the content?! How do you write a good e-mail that will get your reader’s attention and keep it there?! Well, I’m not saying I have all the answers but I do have some great tricks to to always consider when writing those nifty e-mails…

Write a Purposeful Subject Line

• Accurately describe content in your email
• Never put “free” (can be considered spam)
• Use incentives

Remember KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid)

“Use as little words as possible, introduce who you are, context if necessary, and why you are emailing.” Unless you are asked, elaboration is NOT needed and will bore the reader!

Know Your Reader

Know when to be formal and when to be informal, but always use your real voice! Try to avoid large words and sounding like a robot. ALways keep it personable.

Easy to read=Easy to understand

• Use clean fonts that are readable and not distracting
• Bullet whenever possible
• Skip lines between paragraphs
• Use standard capitalization/spelling
• Avoid attachments (copy/paste what is important into the body of your email)
• Link appropriate URL’s  (if the reader wants to learn more this way he can in one click!)

Clearly State Benefits, Not Features!

If there is something you are actually selling, draw attention to the benefits! Your product may have a ton of amazing features but these are nothing unless you explain why this will beneficial to the reader!

What to Remember:

1. Make a meaningful subject line
2. Simple is better
3. Be yourself
4. Know who you’re writing to
5. Keep to the point!
6. Formatting matters
7. Sell the benefits

If you have any questions, just ask! Comment on this blog or call us…we love to help!

+1 (888) 344-6483

http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/e-text/email/

http://thinksimplenow.com/productivity/15-tips-for-writing-effective-email/

Men are from Venus, Women From Mars

Wait, you are right; we got it mixed up! Generally, men and women react in different ways to design, imagery, and content in marketing campaigns. Martin Evans, professor of marketing at Bristol Business School, says “In short, men want a message, women want a mood.” (Note: With this being said, please take it with a grain of salt. In this type of research there will be generalizations made and we apologize if anyone takes personal offense.)

Men Love Manipulation

Or so we women like to think, but boy, are we misguided! Apparently, men want everything fast and simple. This means marketing that grabs their attention and follows with bullet points, facts, and figures. Also, men are more prone to impulse buying and prefer free gifts. However, men do not like bright colors; they feel bold colors are a manipulative tool in marketing.

On the other end, females prefer emotionally driven advertising filled with bright coloring. Opposite to men, women find free gifts suspicious and enjoy detail. According to Paco Underhill, a nationally acknowledged author in environmental psychology, women prefer to have multiple options and feel as if they formulated their own, unique decision.

The Relation Between Belt and Pants

Underhill examined gender preferences in retail shopping. While men prefer to have the belts directly next to the pants, women prefer creating the outfit and searching for each article of clothing. After observational research, Underhill found women would not choose a belt placed next to the pants, mainly because that would make the experience too easy. Hence, we need to be conscious of how to appease women’s creativity and thought process while still making a sale.

How Does This Apply to Me?

Well, gender differences still apply when men and women are online. We must be cautious of our design and wording when we are targeting men versus women. Know your audience and speak the language that they speak. Easier said than done, but oh, so important. Have you considered the differences in gender and how important this may be in marketing campaigns?

Galdwell, M. (1996, Nov  4) The Science of Shopping. The New Yorker.

Swengley, N.(1999, April 30) Women like their Mail to be Moody; While Males Want to Cut Straight to the Point. The Evening Standard. 23.

Did you know most of our Karastan Promotions can be customized to fit your own store’s needs?

You can usually add your own store logo, message and customized links to a promotion. For instance, if there is a generic link that goes to www.karastan.com, you may want to customize it with your own URL so that customers will remain on your website.

Read this tutorial to learn how to customize your promotions.

Google has a unique audience of about 147.9 million, 13% more than Facebook’s unique audience of about 130.8 million. But do not doubt Facebook. They’re growing like the baby boomers claiming retirement! While the United States’s monthly Web usage normally decreases in February, Facebook increased from 118.8 million to 130.8 million. This is unheard of..Facebook had a 10% growth in a single month!

People, including myself, do not realize how much time they spend on the internet. But us businesses are not complaining… more ways to reach the customer! In Feb of 2011, the average user spent 6 hours and 36 minutes on Facebook, and spent 1 hour and 15 minutes on Google. Think back to the cliche slogan “time is money!” Let’s take their time and turn it over into money.

For example, Kentucky Fried Chicken created many engaging advertisements with coupon deals but still were struggling with actually engage their customers. Then, KFC increased the exposure of its standard banner ad by 40 percent on Facebook. In two days, KFC gained 75,000 fans to its brand page. Their customers just needed more awareness, and with Facebook advertising their fans were engaged!

If you have a target demographic between 20 and 54, I’d suggest looking into Facebook and Google. Whether it be creating a brand page or using their advertising, more than half of the users log on daily. That is not a shy number! Dealer Ignition and Dealy are taking a closer look on these super-sonically active internet sites, are you?!

Lee, J. (2009, July 9). Network to push for display ad dollars; media & marketing. The Age, p. 2.

Facebook has big lead in avg. monthly minutes. (2011, March 22). Retrieved from http://www.marketingch arts.com/direct/facebook-has-big-lead-in-avg-monthly-minutes-16699/?utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_source=mc&utm_medium=textlink

First, always use color when able!  Color engages and stimulates the eye. It is proven; Advertisements printed in color are read up to 42% more than the same advertisements printed in black and white.  The use of color can emphasize and de-emphasize essential areas to make it easier for the consumer to know what is important.

So the marketer must wonder: color may be important but which colors would be good for my product? Well it depends on who you are marketing to! The colors that drive North Americans to buy differ from those in India. For North America, each color has been defined for the marketer’s convenience:

Overall, color can be our best friend or worst enemy. Many do not realize the leverage color can provide, so use this to your advantage. Have you manipulated color schemes in your logo or venue or website?

Morton, J. (2005). Why Color Matters. Color Matters- Business-Marketing-Trends-Topics. Retrieved March 1, 2011, from http://www.colormatters.com/market_whycolor.html.

Patel, N. (Aug 31, 2010). KISSMetrics-Marketing Blog. In How Do Colors Affect Purchases?. Retrieved March 1, 2011, from http://blog.kissmetrics.com/color-psychology.