Social Media - Listening Pt.2

In the previous post we talked about Google Alerts and how it can be used as a tool for listening online.

Google alerts is great for listening to news stories, blog posts, discussion boards and forums. Unfortunately it is not so good for listening to Twitter.

The good news is, there's an app for that! (I know cheesy, but i couldn't resist)

HootSuite - Developed by Vancouver based company, Invoke media, Hootsuite is a powerful web-based* Twitter client.

*Web-based = No need to download anything

HootSuite Screen Shot

HootSuite allows you to manage multiple Twitter accounts, send tweets, compress links, monitor statistics, and, of course, listen.

By setting HootSuite to what keywords you want to listen to you, you can segment conversations that involve those keywords. For example, our client, the Gastown Business Improvement Association, cares about people talking about "Gastown." We can tell HootSuite to track all conversations involving "Gastown" and we can monitor these in real-time.

This allows us to find any information about what is going on in the community. As well as engaging in conversation when relevant to the GBIA.

You can sign-up to Hootsuite here hootsuite.com/

Social Media - Listening

As mentioned, step 1 in any social media strategy is listen. The question is how?

With so much information flying around the blogosphere and twitosphere how can you listen to all of it? The answer is you don't!

Over the past year there has been an influx of programs that allow you to segment the millions of comments, blog posts, and tweets going on in social media. With these programs you can segment the content so that you only listen to what is relevant to your brand.

Google Alerts -

Google Alerts is a fully customizable notification tool. All you have to do is tell Google what keywords you care most about. (Tip: make sure your keywords are specific or you will get thousands of alerts a day)

For example: I only want to know about the keyword "Gastown Restaurants" Now, whenever someone posts an article on their blog with the keyword "Gastown Restaurants" Google will notify me of that article.

You can customize this to just blogs, news articles, videos, etc. You can also make this an RSS feed so that you can read it on an RSS dashboard. This means you can have multiple feeds on a dashboard such as Google Reader and see in real-time new content relating to your keywords.

You can now:
-Listen to conversations about your brand
-Read blog posts about brand you carry
-Conduct market research about a new product you are thinking of carrying
-Keep an eye on what your competitors are up to
-Find content that your blog readers might be interested in

And the list goes on.

Keep posted to the MarketR Blog for other tools that allow you to listen online.

*Currently the MarketR team is advising clients on how to use online marketing channels during the 2010 Winter Olympics. If you are interested in sitting down with the MarketR team for a free one hour consultation, send us an email today.

info[at]marketing-revolution[dot]com

Vancouver 2010 - Social Media

I was recently at a marketing workshop in Vancouver and the hot topic was social media and the 2010 Winter Olympics. This is a very interesting topic, because Vancouver will be the first Olympic event were social media will be a key communication tool. (Unfortunately, China could have had this title, but chose to continue to control internet in China. )

It was apparent that the moderator of the event had very little experience using social media, when he asked the question "How do we control social media during the 2010 Winter Olympics?"

This is a question that many large companies ask. And this is the reason why many large companies do a horrible job using social media.

Social media can not be controlled.

There is no on/off switch for social media. You can not say this week I would like people to talk about my brand but not next week. You can't say nobody can talk about my brand in a negative manner. Because social media happens.

The question is, will you listen? Or will you bury your head in the sand and hope that social media goes away.

Step one in all social media strategies is listen. The question the moderator should have been asking was "How can we use social media to listen to everyone during the 2010 Winter Olympics?"

The following posts this week will talk about ways to use social media to listen. Only after listening can you engage in the conversation.

*Currently the MarketR team is advising clients on how to use online marketing channels during the 2010 Winter Olympics. If you are interested in sitting down with the MarketR team for a free one hour consultation, send us an email today.

info[at]marketing-revolution[dot]com

Guerrilla Online Marketing

In September, the MarketR team was asked to put on an event for Toni&Guy Vancouver to promote their latest hair collection.

The MarketR team designed a very successful Online Guerilla Marketing campaign that brought Toni&Guy Vancouver significant exposure, new clients and community engagement.

The concept was to allow people to pay what they want for a new collection haircut. All the donations would be given to the David Suzuki foundation. The event would last one day and it would be on a first come first served basis.


The event was promoted primarily online with a few ads being placed in the university newspaper and the 24 Hours. The company raised $1,200 for the David Suzuki foundation and had over 30 people lined up outside the salon waiting for a haircut.

*Note: Toni&Guy was able to raise more money for charity than what they spent on marketing. Unfortunately this is not always the case for many fundraiser events.

The event was covered by the 24 Hours, Miss 604, HummingBird604, Vancouver is Awesome, MartiniBoys, Vancouver Magazine and MallVibes. The event was also talked about on Twitter and Facebook.

Market Research:
All attendees to the event were asked how they heard about the event. Out of the 30+ attendees only 2 had seen the ads in the 24 Hours and University Newspaper. Most attendees stated that they saw posters on the street, paired with Facebook ads and people talking about it on their online social networks. Others said they saw it on popular online blogs.

Remember:
Toni&Guy spent over 75% of their marketing budget on traditonal marketing. In the end it only brought in 2 new clients. The other less than 25% was spent on posters and online marketing that brought in roughly 30 new clients.

Yes, traditional reaches a very large audience. But online reaches the people you care most about. When done right, online is focused and targeted and reaches only those individuals in your target market.

Offline/Online Integration

How do you integrate online applications into an offline community event?

This is the question the the Gastown Business Improvement Society asked the MarketR team when they were planning the 1st Annual Gastown Blues and Chili Festival.

The event would bring together 20 Gastown Restaurants to compete for the Best Chili in Gastown award. The main voting would be done by a panel of celebrity judges; however, there would also be a people's choice award.

The MarketR team decided to integrate the people's choice award with Twitter. This allowed people on the day to use Twitter to vote for their favourite chili.

A large LCD screen was set-up to display, in real-time, the number of votes for each restaurant. Participants could vote online or at the People's Choice Award booth.



The live-voting was a huge success with participating restaurants checking the screen and encouraging people to vote. The live-chart could be viewed online allowing attendees to check who won when they got home. Over 100 people voted for their favorite chili and the Gastown Business Improvement Society is looking at using the live Twitter voting at other Gastown event.

Contact MarketR to see how you can integrate online applications at your offline event.

Leverage - VFS District 9

Online marketing allows small-medium sized business to leverage events, awards, training programs, and more without breaking the bank.

Read more posts about online marketing and leverage

There has been a lot of buzz lately about a sci-fi movie called District 9. The movie has received one of the highest ratings on IMDB.com and has received rave reviews from movie critics. Even more surprising is that there are no A list actors in the movie and the director has only directed 2 low budget movies.

How do you leverage the fact that the movie director, Neill Blomkamp, graduated from your school's film program?

This was the question that VFS had to ask themselves. Most large companies, who tend not to think outside the box, would send out a generic press release to traditional media. This strategy would work for about 3 days. The problem with this is that it is short-term, and VFS's target audience spend more time reading blogs and on Twitter than reading newspapers.

So VFS decided to create their own microsite highlighting all the VFS graduates who worked on the district 9 movie.


"Neill Blomkamp, director of this summer's must-see sci-fi thriller District 9, got his start at Vancouver Film School. That's not all: much of the talent behind District 9 originates at VFS, including co-writer Terri Tatchell, Visual Effects Executive Producer Shawn Walsh, and 40 other members of District 9's visual effects team."

The microsite is filled with facts about the movie and video on the behind the scenes of District 9. The site also incorporates the VFS twitter and Facebook page, encouraging viewers to follow and become a fan of VFS.

From the microsite viewers can learn more about VFS and the programs they provide. There is even a competition for visitors to input their email for a chance to win District 9 merchandise.

Why this strategy works?
This strategy provides VFS with long term leverage of the District 9 movie. The site will always be on the Internet and can be viewed by potential students from all over the world. Technology, and movie blogs picked up the site and promoted it on their sites to viewers that fit perfectly with VFS's target market. The strategy can be measured easily. VFS can see how many visitors go to the microsite and from there how many visitors view more info about VFS. They can measure engagement through the sign-up form, Twitter and Facebook page.

Is your business doing great things in the local community? Do you have a training program superior to your competition? Have your employees accomplished outstanding feats in their industry?

Make sure you leverage by using online marketing tools. To learn more contact MarketR

If you thought social media was a fad. Think again.

Twitter 101 - For Business

Twitter has recently announced a new website specifically for business owners. The Twitter 101 site walks you through how to set up a Twitter account, the Twitter lingo and case studies of companies using Twitter.

Twitter has been a great tool for companies to communicate and listen to their customers. However sometimes brands get it all wrong. Take Best Buys Chief Marketing Officer for example.

Below is the conversation the CMO of Best Buy had with a prominent blogger. The conversation has been seen by millions and has tarnished any marketing done by Best Buy to promote how friendly and supportive their staff are.

(Click the image to view the conversation)

(Click the image to view the conversation)

Future Marketing Trends – By The Numbers

For those of you who are still not convinced that online marketing is the way forward, see the statistics below.

Courtesy of TheFutureBuzz.com

Marketing spends

$55 billion - number of dollars marketers will spend on interactive (display, mobile, email, social, search) channels by 2014

21% – percentage of all marketing spends that the 55 billion figure will represent

7.8 billion - amount marketers will spend on display advertising in 2009

$15.3 billion – amount marketers will spend on search marketing in 2009

$716 million – amount marketers will spend on social media marketing in 2009

4% – percentage of budget allocated to social media as compared to search in 2009

9% – amount this number will grow to by 2014

(source)

$585 million amount in 2008 marketers spent on MySpace ads

$210 million amount marketers spent in 2008 on Facebook ads

9% - amount Facebook’s ad revenue will grow in 2009

15% – amount MySpace’s ad revenue will fall in 2009

(source)

Twitter by the numbers

21% – number of Twitter accounts that are empty placeholders

94% – number of Twitter accounts with less than 100 followers

5% – percentage of users who make up a staggering 3/4 of all Twitter activity (participation inequality)

Tuesday – the most popular day on Twitter (not a number but still an interesting fact)

62% – percentage of Twitter users from the US

(source)

2.56 billion – number of Tweets at the time of posting this (source)

22.99 million - number of unique visitors to Twitter.com in June of 2009 (source)

Facebook by the numbers

200 million – updated number of active Facebook users

30 million -number of those active users who access Facebook via mobile device

100 million - number of Facebook users who log in daily

66% – percentage of Facebook users who are outside of college

120 – average number of friends per user

900 million – average number of photos uploaded to the site monthly

10 million - number of videos uploaded each month

1 billion – number of pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) shared each week

2.5 million - number of events created monthly

70% – number of Facebook users who live outside the US

950,000 – number of developers and entrepreneurs leveraging the Facebook platform

100 – number of applications that have more than 1 million active users

10,000 – number of websites using Facebook connect

(source)

Twitter Pt.2 - Listen and You Will be Heard

So I was at a "Social Media Workshop" on Monday night and the presenter said "I use Twitter but I don't get why, and how to use it." This is when I knew I had to update my blog with "Why and How to use Twitter."

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If you have not read twitter,tweets,twestival,tweetheart pt1 read it first!!
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Ok lets start with some fun Twitter jargon.

twitterlooing: twittering from a bathroom.

Visit Twitterspeak page on Mashable for more.

So why is there so much hype about Twitter and how can companies leverage it's success?

Remember when you wanted to find out what people were saying about a particular product. You would look for online message boards, or forums and ask your friends what they thought about a particular product.

You trusted these opinions because there was no incentive for people to lie. These were honest experiences that people had when using a particular product or service. It was great, you didn't have to worry about spending a ton of money on a car, or a hotel because you had these testimonials.

However, there was one problem with the online message boards and forums, there were so many and some were full of spam and others didn't seem like they really knew what they were talking about and just seemed like one big online argument.

Then along came Twitter.

People talk on Twitter. They talk about everything and anything. The movie they just saw. The girl they just passed. Even the doctors appointment they just went to. It is the largest message board in the world. And even better, it is real-time. Want to know what is going on right now in the world? All you have to do is check what words are trending on Twitter.

Visit www.whatthetrend.com to see what terms are trending on Twitter and why.

For example, I just looked what terms are trending as I am writing this post and this is what I found.

Tim Burtons Alice: Tim Burton is remaking the classic ALICE IN WONDERLAND movie, set to release on March 5, 2010.

IranElection: A large percentage of the Iranian population disputes the election of President Ahmedinejad, believing the election rigged, a "Sea of Green" took to the streets to protest. Tweeters are trying to raise awareness of the situation, because news networks won't.

TED: TEDGlobal 2009 is happening this week with lots of high-profiled speakers

Pretty cool stuff. Especially the IranElection tweets. In fact the reason why the uprising in Iran has been so powerful is because of Twitter.
So what are the implications for brands?

Twitter is an amazing communication tool. You can reach thousands of people. Letting them know about your latest promotion, or review in a popular magazine. You can voice your opinions about a particular event or news story. And you can definitely push any new content that you have recently put up on your blog. (Which I will be doing as soon as I publish this post, @raykanani)

But that isn't why Twitter is so great for brands.
Unfortunately brands are so used to talking that they can not see that listening is what makes Twitter such a powerful tool. search.twitter.com allows you to search what people are talking about in regards to a particular keyword, geographic region, or even attitude.

The MarketR team is constantly listening to what people are talking about on Twitter and engaging in a conversation when we feel the topic is related to the client's brand.

For example we noticed that an individual in Vancouver was complaining on Twitter because she was having a bad hair day. One of our clients is an internationally recognized hair salon. On behalf of the client we engaged in a conversation. We recognized that she had over one thousand people following her on Twitter so we offered a discount to the salon. She was ecstatic at the offer and made sure to share her excitement to her followers. Even better when she came into the salon she made sure to write about her amazing experience to all of her followers.

Some other examples of listening on Twitter.

Malaysian Airlines.


Wells Fargo


By listening you can understand how your brand is being perceived. If you keep hearing that brand x's prices are so high, then maybe it is time to do a price promotion. Or maybe you keep hearing that service is so poor at brand y. Well maybe it is time to focus on customer service training.

By listening you can attract individuals who are experiencing the customer pain that your brand is designed to solve.

By listening you can show your customers and potential customers that you care.

Listen and you will be heard

Facebook.com/yournamehere - Vanity URL

We know we said the next few posts would be all about Twitter, but we felt this could not wait.

Facebook has announced that it will be issuing vanity URLs for Facebook accounts.

You may be asking, what is a vanity URL? It is your chance to claim your very own piece of Facebook.

In the past Facebook URLs would be made up of what looks like random numbers. This was very inconvenient for brands who wanted to promote their Facebook page offline, because who would remember "www.Faceboook.com/profile.php?id=123456789" ?

So Facebook has finally followed Twitter, and MySpace and offered a personalized "vanity url" that can now look like this www.facebook.com/brandname



Because nobody can have the same Facebook URL this space is going to go quick, this means you need to move fast. If you have an existing Facebook page, log-in to Facebook and visit the Facebook.com/username website. From there you are given suggestions for your custom Facebook URL. Click the more option to input your own choice. Note: This also works for Facebook brand pages, however you must have over 1000 fans.

If you do not already have a Facebook page for yourself or brand, you are out of luck. New Facebook accounts are not eligible.

Now for my rant.

For brands who have recognized the potential for social media, the new vanity URL is great news. For brands who thought it would be a fad, the news is irrelevant because these brands are not eligible for a custom Facebook URL. Which means by the time they get 1000 Facebook fans, the URL they want will not be available.

Let this be a lesson to those brands still on the social media sidelines. Get out and play! Because if you don't you might never get a chance to.

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*Note: You may have noticed the blog has not been updated regularly. The MarketR team is currently in Europe facilitating online marketing workshops for brands wanting to play the social media game.

The team will be back on June 22nd.

Twitter, Tweets, Twestival, Tweetheart... pt1

Everyone is using and talking about Twitter. From talk show host Ellen, to dictators in North Korea. Twitter is an amazing communication tool with endless possibilities, however brands are still unsure how to use Twitter effectively.

The next few posts will be all about how your company can use Twitter to build relationships with potential and existing customers.

*For a list of Twitter terms as seen in the title of this post visit the Twitterspeak page on Mashable.

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Definition of Tweetheart: that special tweeter who makes your heart skip a beat.
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Step 1: People don't enjoy talking or listening to robots.
Example: From the youngrepublicans.tv twitter account (I apologize for using a political website as an example, however it was the best example of how not to use twitter.)

"CIA Deputy Chief Visits Yemen for Talks on Fighting Terrorism: Steven Kappes made an unannounced visit to the co.. http://bit.ly/12TJh4"

If you visit the youngrepublicans twitter account you will notice every message includes a link to a website they want you to visit. There are no thoughts, emotions, or questions in any of the messages. There is no indication that there is a real person behind these messages. Even worse it seems the youngrepublicans have a serious problem interacting with other Twitter users.

How can the youngrepublicans use twitter more effectively?

Set-up twitter accounts as an actual human being representing the youngrepublicans brand.

Example:
Twitter name: John Doe
website: youngrepublicans.tv
Bio: Senior Director for youngrepublicans.tv...

Now John Doe can express how he feels about anything going on in regards to the youngrepublicans brand.

Posts can now read like this:

"Just read a great article on the CIA Deputy Chief's Visit to Yemen where he talks about fighting terrorism. http://bit.ly/12TJh4. Let me know what you think."

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Take away: When researching online marketing you will hear a lot of people using terms such as engagement, interaction, and transparency.

What do these words mean?

It means consumers want relationships and they can't have relationships with brands that act like robots.

Twitter robot characteristics.
-All talk and no listening
-Never engaging in conversations with other Twitter users
-Automated messages when you receive followers.
-No human attached to the Twitter account
-Generic posts with no opinion, or emotion

The next post will talk about how you can use tools such as Twitter Search and #tags to listen to your existing and potential customers.

Follow me on Twitter @ray kanani

Leverage Local

If you are visiting this site, chances are you found use through the local listings on Google. MarketR ranks high on many important and very expensive search terms such as online marketing and marketing agency.

Thanks to local listings we don't have to bid on these keywords using Google AdWords and in return save thousands of dollars a year.

We receive a lot of inquiries about search engine optimization and questions on how to increase a websites ranking on Google. The problem is SEO takes time and clients usually want immediate results.

What is the solution? - Dominate the local search.
You may have noticed when you search geographically targeted search term such as "Hair Salons in Vancouver" a local map shows up at the top of the Google page. This area is essential for any business serious about increasing it's online presence and growing the customer base. I am sure I do not have to convince you that people actually click on the local search area quite often, as you most likely clicked on it to get here.

Every client we have worked with has signed up for the local search package. And every client we have worked with has noticed a significant increase in web traffic and customers.

MarketR has put together a new search marketing package for small-medium sized businesses. We set you up with local listings and optimize for the most popular local search terms. We also integrate your website with tracking software so that you understand how your customers are finding you and where you can improve. Finally we set up Google AdWords so that you can bid on keyword that will drive potential customers to your website.

Inquire today about the search marketing package for small-medium sized business.

info@marketing-revoultion.com
or ask for Ray at 604 728 4979

YouTube Ad Competition

Some of us at the MarketR team recently entered the Young Lions YouTube Ad Competition.

Let us know what you think and check out some of the other entries. Young Lions 2009 - Ridiculous Vancouver

Why do we buy?

It has been a while since we updated the MarketR blog. It is ironic because the past 3 weeks we have been working with clients on developing strategies for keeping online content up to date.

Marketing 101: Consumers don't buy features, they buy benefits.

Why do we buy?

Why do we buy those $140 Nike shoes? Or that $1,000 Hugo Boss suit? Some may say because they are comfortable, or that the fit is better than anything else. That person does not understand why they buy.

Luxury good manufacturers don't sell shoes, suits, or even jewelery, they sell confidence, strength, and beauty. That is why we buy the $140 Nike shoes, or the $1,000 Hugo Boss suit. Not for the fit or for the comfort; instead, for the association of strength, confidence and beauty.

As the marketplace becomes increasingly more competitive, products become more and more generic. Take for example the bottled water industry. There are numerous companies selling bottled water, and they are all selling the exact same product. (Some may disagree, but when researchers did blind taste tests participants could not differentiate bottled water from tap water.) Bottled water companies can't promote their convenience because all there competitors are just as convenient. They can't promote their price because water is free. Because of this they have to create an association with an admirable human character trait. For example, Evian is perceived as being classy, and sophisticated. When consumers purchase Evian water they are not purchasing it for the convenience, or for the taste, they are purchasing it to be associated with class and sophistication. (There is a popular joke when talking about Evian water. Just read the word Evian backwards.)

What does this all mean?
It actually means a lot. It means that multi-million dollar corporations only have one thing that separates them from small-medium sized businesses, a multi-million dollar marketing budget. With this budget they are able to manipulate consumers into believing that purchasing overpriced shoes will result in admirable character traits such as confidence, strength and beauty.

Stop selling your product. Start selling your brand!
What does your company stand for? It isn't goods, or services. It is the desire to give back to the local community, it is your love for the environment, it is your dedication to volunteering. Consumers don't buy Nike shoes, they buy everything that Nike stands for.

MarketR allows you to promote what your company stands for without the multi-million dollar marketing budget.

PR 2.0 - Crazy Haired Eggs and the Power of Twitter

MarketR and Toni&Guy Vancouver teamed up to deliver one of the most exciting egg hunts Vancouver has seen.
Toni&Guy Vancouver is one of MarketR's largest clients. This means almost all marketing, events, promotions, and PR is handled by the MarketR team.

After the success of the Toni&Guy Declares W.A.R. event, we were very excited to come up with another affair that was going to attract a lot of buzz.

After taking a look at the Calendar we immediately saw an opportunity during Easter. Egg hunts have been around for many years, but over time have become dull and are mostly geared towards young children.

The MarketR team came up with a way Toni&Guy could rejuvenate the Easter egg hunt in a way that was unique to Toni&Guy.

The 1st Annual Crazy Hair Toni&Guy Egg Hunt.

The Objective
Raising brand awareness while building upon the existing branding that Toni&Guy is a fun, and creative salon that is constantly thinking outside the box.

The Campaign
Over 40 plastic eggs were decorated with crazy hair by the Toni&Guy team and placed around the city. Inside each egg was chocolate and a Toni&Guy gift card valued at up to $100. (Values ranged from $5-$100).

Samples of the eggs:



Visit the Toni&Guy Egg Hunt FlickR page for pictures of all the eggs.


Results:
The Toni&Guy Crazy Hair Egg Hunt created large amounts of buzz for the salon.

People were talking about the egg hunt over Twitter.

(Twitter Screenshot)

The egg hunt was featured on multiple local blogs.

MartiniBoys.com

TinyBites.ca

"This was the coolest egg hunt I’ve heard about this year! 40 coiffed Easter eggs will be hidden all over Kitsilano and downtown Vancouver. Each contains the requisite chocolate plus a T&G gift card ranging in value from $5 - $100.

To join in on the scavenger hunt, follow the clues that will be tossed out Friday afternoon and Saturday morning on the Tony & Guy blog and their Twitter account."

FashionMagazine.com
Miss604.com
TheStyleSpy.com
People who found the eggs started posting pictures online.


The Toni&Guy Vancouver website doubled in traffic and the Toni&Guy Twitter account acquired 70 new followers. Because of the websites dynamic content, traffic continues to grow everyday.

(The first spike in traffic was when the campaign launched. Twitter, and Facebook messages drove traffic to the site. The second spike was organic traffic from referring sites talking about the campaign. The third spike was when the egg hunt actually happened. Community involvement such as conversations on twitter and users posting pictures of their egg finds drove traffic to the website.)

Take Aways:
-If you want your brand to be perceived as fun and creative, make sure your events and promotions are fun and creative. (Sounds simple, but so many companies don't follow this rule)

-Utilize your staff: We were able to harness the talent of the Toni&Guy team to decorate the eggs. Instead of paying a street team to promote the event on Robson St, we used the Toni&Guy staff who were already enthusiastic about the event and loved showing off the eggs they decorated.

-Do not underestimate the power of Twitter: All communications to local bloggers was done through Twitter. Once the event was covered by one popular blog the event was quickly covered by many others. By engaging Twitter users, conversations about the event grew organically both before and after the event.

Pushing VS Pulling

In marketing there are two common techniques, pushing and pulling.


Pushing means your marketing material is geared towards pushing your product onto the customer. This means offering incentives for employees or sales representatives to push your product or placing your product in areas were customers impulsively buy. Promotions are a form of push marketing, or advertisments that end with "buy now."

For example: Energy drinks love to use push marketing. You will see numerous street teams handing out products and promotions to potential customers. A lot of perks are given to retail stores to carry specific energy drinks, such as free tickets to events, price breaks, and merchandising material.



Pull, means your marketing strategy inspires consumers to demand your product. This technique requires you to use your head rather than your wallet. You need to come up with ways to relate with and engage your target market. Tools often used are sponsorship, product placement, PR stunts, and word of mouth.

For example: Apple Computers very rarely pushes. Instead they use product placement, PR and innovative advertisements to create consumer demand for their products. If you look at Apple computer advertising you'll notice that they never end with quotes such as "buy now" or "available at the following locations." The ads are never trying to push the product, instead the message is "this is who we are, this is our product, and this is what it does."

An energy drink company that focuses on pull marketing is Red Bull. By sponsoring events such as the soap box derby, concerts and Formula 1, Red Bull has created an image that is relatable to its target market.

Both Apple and Red Bull offer no price breaks to retail stores, and almost no perks for selling their product. However thanks to their powerful pull marketing strategies they offer something that other brands can't, guaranteed consumer demand. Stores like London Drugs know that although Apple and Red Bull products are priced higher and have smaller margins, the product is demanded by their customers. Because of this stores are forced to stock these brands.

So why don't all companies use pull marketing?
-It takes time to see results
-Consistency is key
-Coming up with creative ideas takes too much time and energy

These are the three biggest reasons small-medium sized companies don't use pull marketing.

Contact MarketR to learn how we can help you develop cost effective pull marketing strategies.

Did You Know - The Online Revolution

MarketR was formed because the Internet is in the process of revolutionizing the marketing industry. The Internet allows you to communicate with your target customers quickly, and cost effectively. Unfortunately many marketing agencies in Vancouver are struggling to understand how to use the internet effectively. Even worse is when agencies feel they should charge clients the same ridiculous fees as offline marketing.


Visit the MarketR - Main Page to learn how you can use the Internet to grow your business.

The Internet is growing at an incredibly rate. If your company is not harnessing the power of the Internet you will get left behind.

"It's Only a Mistake If You Do It Twice"

Unfortunately I can not take credit for this quote, however it is one of my favorites.

The internet is a relatively new tool for marketers. This means no one person is an expert. Of course some people are more proficient then others, but nobody can say I am the best online marketer. If you hear someone say this, I advice you not to believe much that comes out of his or her mouth.

One thing does separate great online marketers from not so great online marketers. That one thing is the ability to test and refine. Great online marketers are not afraid to take controlled risks, keyword controlled, in order to develop new more effective online marketing techniques.

Example: The MarketR team just finished implementing a Google AdWords strategy for the Sauder School of Business at UBC. The strategy focused on 3 geographic regions, China, India and Canada. We had no idea what keywords and ad variations would deliver results, so we tested and refined.
Step 1:
Using tools such as Google's keyword selector and Google Insights, we were able to develop a large list of potential keywords that were both generic and geographically specific. Our team of search marketing creatives developed a variety of ad variations for each geographic region.
Step 2:
We tested. We segmented each campaign so that we could easily see which keywords and ad variations were delivering the best results. We ran the campaign and continuously monitored the performance.
Step 3:
We analyzed. This is an important step that poor marketers and business owners miss often. Always reflect on everything you do, this is the driving force towards improvement. Unfortunately poor marketers are afraid to reflect because they are scared of what they might find. This forces them to implement the same flawed strategies over and over again.
Step 4:
We refined. We looked for keywords and ad variations that were doing well and we removed the ones that were not. We were able to see trends in each region that we could never have anticipated before testing. We leveraged these trends by increasing our budget around these high performing keywords.

Now our client has a focused, well refined and effective AdWords strategy that will deliver outstanding results for approximately one month. It might seem surprising that we only expect it to deliver great results for one month. However at MarketR we understand that the internet is continuously evolving, meaning you have to continuously test and refine new strategies to deliver exceptional results.

Remember:
Don't be afraid to try new things. If it doesn't deliver results, stop doing it. If it does, continue doing it, and test ways to make it even better. Always reflect on how successful your marketing strategies are. Or risk throwing your money away.

MarketR Main Page

Everyone needs a main page, even MarketR. Today we are excited to announce the soft launch of the MarketR Main Website.




Check it out and let us know what you think. www.marketing-revolution.com