I worked for six years in the B2B industry. One of the projects I worked on was developing and implementing the marketing to build the customer base on modernmedicine.com. This is a website that validates physicians against the American Medical Association database and provides a unique community of content for physicians only.
In reading about ad serving in Robert (163) I started thinking about how we served ads to those physicians. When I left the company, we were starting to work with a third party company to develop a more complex logic to serve ads to users based on what their behavior on the site. (Roberts 166)
Modernmedicine.com Already had the basics down - if a urologists logs in and views articles on urology, ads related to that field would display. If no industry specific ads were waiting in the wings, a general ad geared towards the physician would be served. What we were working towards was being able to serve ads based on that physician's behavior. For example, a urologist may login and read an article about HIV, then watch a video about brain surgery. The more in depth they got into the site, the better we could serve ads.
At the time, I didn't know the technical terms for ad serving. Now I can tie in the strategic goals with the technical terms. I hope they've been successful in implementation!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Grants and Social Media
Last week I attended a UWS seminar on grantwriting with Boris Frank.He brought up the interesting point that social media will begin to play a bigger role in winning grants. I am somewhat a newcomer to grantwriting and assumed that grants would continue on the path of traditional format of the printed word.
One group that is already taking advantage of social media in grantmaking is Pespsi. On their website, you can vote for which organization you believe deserves a grant the most. However, to login to the site, a person much pass through a login where you can provide an email OR login through facebook.
As eMarketer discovered in a study conducted earlier this year, heavy facebook users spend more money online compared to the average internet user. So, for an organization that sells products and has a foundation associated with them, linking grants with social media is a great way to engage consumers and hopefully inspire a purchase down the line.
http://www.refresheverything.com/
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007739
One group that is already taking advantage of social media in grantmaking is Pespsi. On their website, you can vote for which organization you believe deserves a grant the most. However, to login to the site, a person much pass through a login where you can provide an email OR login through facebook.
As eMarketer discovered in a study conducted earlier this year, heavy facebook users spend more money online compared to the average internet user. So, for an organization that sells products and has a foundation associated with them, linking grants with social media is a great way to engage consumers and hopefully inspire a purchase down the line.
http://www.refresheverything.com/
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007739
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Qwest
Interesting turn of events. After starting this online course, I realized that my internet connection is too slow. Or maybe I'm too impatient. Either way, I started talking to people about better internet service. Lucky for me, my neighbors had the same problems with my current internet company, but had since switched to Qwest. Their very positive experience (on the back end) encouraged me to try it out... as well as the introductory value proposition of a lower price point. (Roberts 56,89)
My visit to www.qwest.com landed me on a page with a few great offers - a nice way to engage me (acquisition) as a first time customer. (Roberts 84) Once I clicked through on the too-good-to-pass-up offer, I was greeted by a pop up with a live customer agent asking if I needed help. Normally I would be displeased with such an intrusion, but since my knowledge of the different packages was low, I engaged in conversation. Of course, this high level of service and support led to my purchase of a new internet plan. (Roberts 85)
I'm only partially through my purchasing process. No idea yet if I'll be loyal to this new company. But if I continue to have easy access to service, a quality product and the costs don't increase dramatically, Qwest may just retain me. (Roberts 85)
Let's hope they've thoroughly reviewed their value chain and continue to meet my needs as a consumer.
My visit to www.qwest.com landed me on a page with a few great offers - a nice way to engage me (acquisition) as a first time customer. (Roberts 84) Once I clicked through on the too-good-to-pass-up offer, I was greeted by a pop up with a live customer agent asking if I needed help. Normally I would be displeased with such an intrusion, but since my knowledge of the different packages was low, I engaged in conversation. Of course, this high level of service and support led to my purchase of a new internet plan. (Roberts 85)
I'm only partially through my purchasing process. No idea yet if I'll be loyal to this new company. But if I continue to have easy access to service, a quality product and the costs don't increase dramatically, Qwest may just retain me. (Roberts 85)
Let's hope they've thoroughly reviewed their value chain and continue to meet my needs as a consumer.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Branded social games... where spam could use improvement
Today as I browsed the marketing section of the IAB enews, an article about branded social games caught my eye. Yesterday I commented on spam's online games. In this particular article, Oliver Chiang talks about the marketing value of online games. Although Chiang focuses on facebook games (and spam just has games on their website) it gave me pause.
So I checked out the spam website again. I had a blast catapulting cows at soldiers while everyone made funny noises. Will I come back again? Will I email the link to a friend? Possibly. In that case, spam has succeeded in driving more web traffic - both repeat and new visitors.
Where spam is lacking is a great facebook game. Perhaps I didn't look hard enough, but I couldn't find an easy link to any games on facebook. For that matter, a brief search of facebook turned up no obvious official spam page with games. There's a big opportunity here to engage consumers in a deeper way - and increase your reach as you do so. (Chiang)
In addition to viral marketing, Chiang discusses the increased revenue opportunity for branded social games. Not only do visitors play the game, but the company has a new opportunity to sell branded merchandise. (Which is tempting when you imagine just how cool you'd look in spam branded socks.)
Spam - you're doing great with your game, but it's time to expand. Get yourself a developer with a sense of humor and test the facebook waters.
Article referenced: http://www.forbes.com/2010/09/13/social-games-sanrio-technology-brands.html
So I checked out the spam website again. I had a blast catapulting cows at soldiers while everyone made funny noises. Will I come back again? Will I email the link to a friend? Possibly. In that case, spam has succeeded in driving more web traffic - both repeat and new visitors.
Where spam is lacking is a great facebook game. Perhaps I didn't look hard enough, but I couldn't find an easy link to any games on facebook. For that matter, a brief search of facebook turned up no obvious official spam page with games. There's a big opportunity here to engage consumers in a deeper way - and increase your reach as you do so. (Chiang)
In addition to viral marketing, Chiang discusses the increased revenue opportunity for branded social games. Not only do visitors play the game, but the company has a new opportunity to sell branded merchandise. (Which is tempting when you imagine just how cool you'd look in spam branded socks.)
Spam - you're doing great with your game, but it's time to expand. Get yourself a developer with a sense of humor and test the facebook waters.
Article referenced: http://www.forbes.com/2010/09/13/social-games-sanrio-technology-brands.html
Monday, September 13, 2010
Spam lovers share through social media
I'll begin by disclosing my bias for spam. I do enjoy a nicely fried slice of spam every now and then. In fact, I've been the museum in Austin, MN and purchased my very own spam cookbook. (Worth a visit if you're ever in the area!)
Now that my bias for spam is out of the way... I noticed that spam does a decent job at linking their main website to social media. Part of the standard toolbar is a link to follow spam on Twitter. On a handful of other sections, such as the recipe exchange and portions of the fun & games, website visitors have the option to share content through Facebook, Reddit and other social media sites. Visitors can also easily email the page or print the information.
In a September 10 article, eMarketer notes that over 500 million consumers are accessible through Facebook, and more are reachable through other networking sites. Spam may be letting go of some brand image control, but they've now opened themselves up to a whole network of new potential customers.
Spam is doing a good job at providing more customer value - they appear to have identified customer needs and now host recipe sharing and fun games to play. (Roberts) However, are they actually developing long-term customer relationships? According to the eMarketer article, marketers are split on whether or not social media actually develops brand loyalty.
Either way, Spam has jumped on the social media bandwagon and integrated their fun and charismatic marketing with popular social media sites.
Now that my bias for spam is out of the way... I noticed that spam does a decent job at linking their main website to social media. Part of the standard toolbar is a link to follow spam on Twitter. On a handful of other sections, such as the recipe exchange and portions of the fun & games, website visitors have the option to share content through Facebook, Reddit and other social media sites. Visitors can also easily email the page or print the information.
In a September 10 article, eMarketer notes that over 500 million consumers are accessible through Facebook, and more are reachable through other networking sites. Spam may be letting go of some brand image control, but they've now opened themselves up to a whole network of new potential customers.
Spam is doing a good job at providing more customer value - they appear to have identified customer needs and now host recipe sharing and fun games to play. (Roberts) However, are they actually developing long-term customer relationships? According to the eMarketer article, marketers are split on whether or not social media actually develops brand loyalty.
Either way, Spam has jumped on the social media bandwagon and integrated their fun and charismatic marketing with popular social media sites.
Gift registries for anyone?
Even though Target has an overwhelming number of retail items, they have a few features that allow them to meet the needs of individual shoppers, especially in the realm of gift registries. Target.com offers gift registries for babies, weddings and anyone who's dreaming of a longer shopping list. I can appreciate that I don't have to have a baby or get married just to make a dream shopping list. In that way, Target is meeting my needs. (Roberts 22)
What I particularly liked (if I were to create a registry), was the customer feedback section. I prefer reading other buyers' opinions before I buy online - a few positive reviews can sell me on an item. Any website can turn a happy customer into free advertising by making it easy to give feedback. But as Christopher Haddad pointed out on the Hubspot Blog, be prepared for all sorts of feedback - including negative comments. He makes a good point to follow up with peeved off customers. Target definitely makes the reviews easy to find and quick to browse.
Another advantage of the Target.com gift registry is that anyone from my mother in NH or my friend in Duluth can access the same registry and then choose to purchase online OR in the store. Internet has revolutionized gift registries in that geography no longer matters. (Roberts 18)
Target - nice work on making your gift registry accessible and easy to use.
What I particularly liked (if I were to create a registry), was the customer feedback section. I prefer reading other buyers' opinions before I buy online - a few positive reviews can sell me on an item. Any website can turn a happy customer into free advertising by making it easy to give feedback. But as Christopher Haddad pointed out on the Hubspot Blog, be prepared for all sorts of feedback - including negative comments. He makes a good point to follow up with peeved off customers. Target definitely makes the reviews easy to find and quick to browse.
Another advantage of the Target.com gift registry is that anyone from my mother in NH or my friend in Duluth can access the same registry and then choose to purchase online OR in the store. Internet has revolutionized gift registries in that geography no longer matters. (Roberts 18)
Target - nice work on making your gift registry accessible and easy to use.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)