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#MarketingTitbits – Google+, Black Friday emails, worst

googleplus-emails-adverts-smaller1. Former Google+ designer slams the service for being ‘Facebook lite’
One of Google’s former employees has described Google+ as ‘adrift at sea’, with the social network leaving behind big opportunities and a ‘ton of value on the table’.

Chris Messina believes that Google+ is too similar to rival Facebook, and that they should have embraced the concept of identity by creating connections from the information that is shared online by Google users.

Could Google be slowly moving away from its Google+ brand? Right now, it’s unclear. But watch this space.

To read more about Google+, click here.

2. Black Friday email marketing: eight retail examples

Black Friday seemed to cause mayhem across the UK, both online and in shops. Now that the dust has settled, David Moth from Econsultancy reviews the emails he was receiving in the lead-up to the infamous wallet-emptying weekend.

He found that retailers such as Topshop, Urban Outfitters and Quicksilver were all keen to start early, sending out emails offering savings across their lines in advance of the big day. When Black Friday arrived, we were bombarded by emails, declaring 10% – 50% off items.

Brands such as House of Fraser and Office decided to steer clear of a generic Black Friday title and simply presented consumers with sale details. In contrast, other retailers, such as River Island, embraced the event to the full, making the deals available online only.

What was your experience of Black Friday?

To read more, click here.

3. The 10 worst ads of 2014

The time of year has finally come – no, it’s not Christmas just yet. Instead, it is time for us to sit back, relax and look over some of the worst ads from the past year. Business Insider has compiled its rankings of the top 10 fails in advertising. Here is a taste.

The top 10 includes some poor taste humour from brands, such as Paddy Power, who were placing bets on the murder trial of athlete Oscar Pistorious, a spot of corporate feminism from Dove and their ‘Patches’ product and a three-minute Scottish travel agent ad, using a series of questionable effects and props.

From cheesy soundtracks to some odd laxative issues, the list doesn’t fail to disappoint in the ‘really?’ department. So, click here if you can cope with seeing some.

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#MarketingTitbits – writing tips, LinkedIn, marketing fails

writing-linkedin-fails-smaller1. 12 handy tips for writing better web copy
Some people consider writing for the web more difficult than it actually has to be. If you fall into this camp, Econsultancy may be able to help. They have put together some handy tips to keep in your mind when writing web copy.

If you haven’t heard of the inverted pyramid method, you have now! Put simply, include everything an individual would need to know in the opening paragraph. As the reader progresses through the article more in-depth information can then be revealed. It is a common journalist trick to engaging the reader quickly.

Other important factors for better web copy include: knowing your audience, using short paragraphs (in web terms this is a mere one or two sentences) and numbering or bulleting to format and break up chunks of text.

The tips don’t stop there. To see the remaining tips,click here.

2. LinkedIn to let marketers use more of its data to track users

As the biggest business-orientated social networking service, it’s no surprise that LinkedIn is expanding its offerings. The latest development is the introduction of advertising products that allow marketers to track their 300+ million users across the internet, followed by a targeted send of personalised messages to those users.

It comes as LinkedIn reveals plans to merge with its latest acquisition, Bizo, a digital marketing group bought in 2014 for a sum of $175m. Brands like Groupon, Lenovo and Salesforce are currently trialling the new product, with Groupon marketing executive Stephan Heller revealing the success that it has brought them.

If you would like to find out more about LinkedIn’s new venture, click here.

3. Five marketing fails

After the unfortunate mistake of the Hull Branch of Krispy Kreme relating their promotional club to the KKK a few weeks back now, PR Week has given us a round up of some top historic marketing fails.

You’ll find some use of mistaken language from not one, but five brands! Named and shamed in these mistakes are Sharwoods, Wang, Honda, Umbro and an Italian mineral water company.

Click here to see how these brands got it wrong.

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#MarketingTitbits – YouTube, LinkedIn, billboard campaigns

youtube-linkedin-billboards-smaller1. YouTube tops the list as favourite digital brand among children
Childwise, a market research company, has published a report highlighting that YouTube was the most popular site for 5 – 16 year olds over a 7-day period following a survey of the age group.

YouTube visits outnumbered the likes of Facebook, Snapchat and Google, and children / teenagers rate the video streaming platform as their favourite website (23%) and favourite app (8%). Amongst the children surveyed, 11-16 year olds were more likely to put video sites and vloggers at the tops of their favourite brand lists, whereas 5-10 year olds preferred social gaming brands.

It was notable that the popularity of Facebook amongst younger audiences continues to deteriorate. Do these findings indicate a changing of the social media guard?

To read more about the survey, click here.

2. How to use LinkedIn’s publishing tool to increase your social reach

Last year, LinkedIn released its publishing tool which allowed users in the US to create and post blogs on the platform. It has now granted publishing power to those outside of the US too, which means LinkedIners in the UK can now benefit from the function. You can add a headline, insert images to support  the blog and header, and copy and paste directly into the text box, which will preserve any links you have. How can you use this to your advantage?

One way of doing this is explained by Matt Owen from Econsultancy. The concept involves multiple people posting different blogs to their own LinkedIn pages, covering a wide range of connections.

For a thorough explanation on how you can make the most of LinkedIn’s publishing tool, just click here.

3. Bruised woman on London billboard heals as people pay attention to her

Canary Wharf in London saw the first in a short series of billboard campaigns surrounding the issue of domestic violence last week. Using facial recognition technology, the ad is designed to catch the eyes of busy passers-by.

The poster promotes a simple message, informing people to look at the bruised face of a woman and watch as the bruises heal when more people pay attention. The campaign was brought together by ad agency WCRS, charity Women’s Aid and the photographer Rankin.

To take a look at the striking adverts, head to Mashable.

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#MarketingTitbits – Twitter, Aldi, advertising fails

twitter-supermarkets-adverts-smaller1. Twitter officially lets you retweet with comments now
Over the years, Twitter has faced criticism from frustrated users who struggled to warm to the limited functionality of the platform, but their latest change could help allay some of those frustrations.

Gone are the days where you had to cut and paste a URL before adding a comment; now it’s available at the click of a button. The “retweet with comment” feature allows users to embed tweets with their own messages, with photo and video retweets appearing as a small preview.

So far the new feature has gained mixed reviews, but what do you think? To find out more, click here.

2. Aldi replaces Waitrose to become the UK’s sixth biggest supermarket

It’s become clear that the rise of German discounters Aldi and Lidl shows no sign of slowing any time soon, as it’s revealed that in the 12 weeks to March 29, Aldi and Lidl’s sales rose 16.8% and 12.1%, respectively. Aldi is now the UK’s sixth biggest supermarket, holding 5.3% of the market share, overtaking Waitrose which stands at 5.1%.

Figures from Kantar Worldpanel show that the big four supermarkets faced a mixture of growth and decline in sales during this period, all the while remaining in the price war which aims to win back their lost shoppers. But as food prices continue to drop, what will the future landscape be for the UK’s supermarkets?

You can read more on Aldi’s success by clicking here.

3. 23 of the worst online advertising fails

When an online advertisement is placed well, it can be one of the most effective ways of targeting consumers. However, there are often some unfortunate moments where brands are just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Brands such as Apple, UPS, Samsung, Uber and Nike discovered that there can be a number of unforeseen complications with online ad placement, leading to some unfortunate outcomes.

If you would like to see the list of fails, head to Business Insider.

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Facing Tough Competition

Is your business on track for marketing gold?One of the key factors for business success lies in knowing who your competitors are and what they are doing. Facing up to strong competition can be a challenge; however, we believe that with the right research and analysis, you business can be armed with the tools necessary to achieve market dominance.

You may think you already know your competitors and what they are up to, but how often do you check their social media platforms, promotional material, website or customer service? Time and time again we speak to SMEs who believe they already know their competitors and that research is not a priority. We would have to disagree. Understanding how your competitors engage with your target audience and identifying what their strengths and weaknesses are, gives you a valuable insight into how you can improve your business. Competition can be fierce and in order to form sound business strategies, you need to have as much information as possible.

Ensuring your offering is different (in a good way!) is vital. If you don’t have up-to-date information about competitor activity how can you be sure you are?


So where to start? How about asking yourself these questions.

  • Who are your direct competitors? Have you actively searched for new companies that may have entered your market place?
  • Where are they located? Do you all operate in the same region?
  • What services do they provide? Have they introduced a new product offering recently?
  • Do they have an experienced team?
  • What about indirect competitors? Who are they? The watch market didn’t see mobile phones as a threat, now their market place is shrinking as people use their mobile to tell them the time.


What else might be useful to know?

  • Do they have an effective website? What content do they upload and is it updated on a regular basis?
  • Are they actively participating in social media? What content are they sharing and what platforms are they utilising? Are they effective users of Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn?
  • Do they have a USP? Are they providing a service or product that you are not?
  • Have you mystery shopped them?
  • Are your competitors publishing regular press releases?
  • Is there a news or blog function on their website? What are they talking about?
  • Do your competitors advertise, if so, where?
  • Do you know what terms they are optimising their website for?

All this may seem overwhelming, but preparation and research are vital within a crowded market place. Your findings will help shape winning marketing strategies that help drive future business success.

So if you can’t answer many of the questions above….start researching you competitors today.

 

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Marketing Titbits – MarketingWeekLive, When Advertising Goes Wrong and PageSpeed Insights

1. MarketingWeekLive – get your ticketsThe UK’s largest marketing event takes place between the 26 – 27th June 2013 at London conference venue, Olympia.

With over 450 exhibitors addressing all things marketing, a plethora of free ‘conference’ sessions from some of the world’s largest brands, networking opportunities and learning seminars, MarketingWeekLive is a great event to attend if you have an interest in marketing.

To find out more information about the exhibitors, insight seminars, speakers and to book your tickets, click here.

2. When Advertising Goes Wrong

We found this great blog last week showing 23 unfortunate advert placements. If you fancy a laugh take a look. It just goes to show that you can design and proof adverts all you like but there are some things outside your control, like where and how the adverts are placed. Our particular favourite is the billboard promoting heart disease awareness, placed alongside a Burger King ad promoting 2 ‘Croissanwiches’ for $3!

To see all the images, click here. Let us know which is your favourite.

3. Page Load Speed Insights – Improve your Website’s SEO

When attempting to improve your website’s SEO credentials it is easy to overlook an increasingly important factor – PageLoad speed.

A webpage that loads quickly offers an improved user experience. Faster page loads are shown to decrease bounce rates and improve conversion rates. As such, they are also thought to be a factor the search engines use when assessing your website and then positioning it in search results.

To find out how you can improve the page load speeds on your website, the nice people at Google have provided a free tool, PageSpeed Insights, to assess the pages on your site and suggest ways of improving the page speed.

Take a look to see how your site performs and how you can improve it.

 

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