Local-mobile ad network xAd a bunch of data of data from 4thQuarter 2011 last month. The US-based information is drawn from mobile sites and apps that run its ads and the related user behaviors that xAd observes. These data are interesting in part because xAd has what is probably the largest network offering local search and display advertising outside of Google (AT&T might dispute that claim).

The following were the most frequently searched local content categories in 4th Quarter 2011:

Ad performance reported by xAd exceeds comparable online CTRs (Click-Through Rates) for both search and display. The network said that average CTRs in Q4 for local search ads were 7 percent, while locally targeted display ads yielded 0.6 CTRs.

Beyond the initial click xAd captures “secondary actions” (i.e., calls, map lookups). The company said that among those who clicked on ads, 37 percent of search clicks and 5 percent of display CTRs delivered these secondary actions.

The secondary actions were further broken down by xAd. Calling a business was the most frequent secondary action taken by local searchers, while maps/directions lookups was the most common action among those clicking on display ads.

Another interesting observation is how display responders (above right) sought more information or reviews but local searchers did not as frequently. This likely indicates the more “directed intent” of search-ad responders vs. display clickers (Pay Per Click Ads) who were being exposed to new information or businesses.

One of the most interesting findings in the xAd report shows how search and display ads reach people at different times of day. This shows that although the complementary nature of search and display advertising online is well established, that the two can also work very well together in mobile.

Local search peaks during the middle of the day and declines in the evening. However display exposure peaks “after hours” when people are in leisure mode. (my wife and I are prime examples of this…evenings, usually just after dinner, are our down times. We are both (or at least one of us) is online and either actively searching Pinterest, in Jane’s case, or reading blogs, catching up on twitter and searching for cool gadgets, in my case.)

Finally, xAd said that among all mobile subscribers, “mobile browsers are still the primary access method for local-search information.” However for iPhone and Android owners, “in-app access is preferred by a large margin over in-browser access.” From my perspective it’s an interesting statistic.  My iPhone has many more apps on it that I could ever use.  My thinking is that most people settle on their 5 or 6 favorite apps and go back to them time and time again. My favorites are Facebook, Twitter, Mashable, Kindle (or iBooks), Starbucks (of course), and Kingdom Rush for the iPad.  Hey, a guy’s gotta do something while out on the deck smoking a premium cigar!

Others have reported similar data, confirming the preference and trend toward apps among smartphone users. “We expect that trend to continue as more users of feature phones switch to smart devices,” explains xAd.

While Google “owns” 95 or more percent of mobile-browser based search the same is not true in the app world, which is more verticalized.

This is great information from a small business marketing perspective.  It’s difficult for us to pin down those particular things that we should be doing to grow our businesses.  Obviously mobile is one of those.

Big Daddy Marketing can quickly and affordably build a mobile-optimized version of your website. For more information, pricing, or a demonstration, contact Jim@BigDaddyMarketing.net

(The information in this post was originally conveyed on Search Engine Land on Feb 16, 2012 at 9:42am ET by Greg Sterling)

The post Growing Your Business With Mobile appeared first on Big Daddy Marketing.

Since Facebook has taken away our ability to set up a default landing page on the new Timeline, there are still ways to for us to provide opportunites for our visitors to stay on our page and engage with us as brands or companies.

One of the more interesting features of the new Timeline for business is the ability to “Pin” a post to the top of your feed.  This has the effect of highlighting a particular post (think combination post and image here), for 7 days.

Some of the things that you might do with this option is to:

• Encourage the visitor to LIKE your page (remember you cannot do this on the cover photo)
• Highlight a new product
• Highlight the service of the week
• Encourage visitor’s to click on one of your other app icons
• Highlight a staff member or customer

Here is a short screenshot video that I made on How to Pin a Post

I’m pretty excited about all the new changes.  I know some folks are confused and some have actually created their new Timeline against Facebook rules and policies.

If you find yourself in that situation we are here to help.

Reach out to us by phone at 281-488-1787 and ask for Jim, or find us on the web at http://www.BigDaddyMarketing.net, or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/BigDaddyMarketing .

Are there another other features of Timeline that you would like to know more about?

The post How to Pin a Post in Facebook Timeline for Business appeared first on Big Daddy Marketing.

Here are some of the highlights so far.  As with anything new I expect that some of this may change around Go Live time but for now here are 9 key changes to Fan Pages.

1. Direct messages have been enable for Fan pages. this will be a huge benefit to those of you who use Facebook for customer support or product sales
2. You can “star” a post to make it stretch across the page for emphasis
3. You can “pin” a post to push it to the topmost position for 7 days.  This may be a great way to encourage people to view your custom tabs such as the Welcome Tab, or your shopping cart.
4. You can create and upload custom icons for your tabs and apps
5. You can reposition (or switch positions) of your tabs and apps to highlight those that are most important.  Note that the Photos tab cannot be moved and is always 1st.
6. Custom Tab pages will be 810 pixels wide instead of the current 520 pixels (think of a website as being 1000 pixels wide and you’ll have some idea of scale)
7. When your visitors click on your Likes Tab they can see; posts that haven’t been hidden, a list of their friends who Like the page, what their friends are saying about the page, and recent posts made by others.
8. You can add Milestones to your timeline to highlight important events such as an the day your company was born or the day you joined Facebook. Milestones will stretch across your page.
9. A new Cover Photo takes the place of the old profile image.  This is meant to be a unique image that tells what your page or business is about. Cover images need to be at least 399 pixels wide and there are restrictions for their use:

• You cannot list Price or Purchase information on the photo
• Contact information, such as web address etc. cannot be listed
• You can’t ask someone to LIKE or SHARE your page or any other Facebook action
• You cannot have calls to action like “tell your friends” or “find it here”

I’ve created the following graphic to show what the Big Daddy Marketing page might look like with some of these features enabled.

I’ll be staying up to date on the changes as they occur.  Stay tuned for for an update as new information is available.

If you have any questions please post them and I’ll answer as I get the information.

What do you think of the changes?  Will they be good or bad for YOUR business?

The post 9 Key Features of Facebook Timeline for Business Pages appeared first on Big Daddy Marketing.

I jumped online to search for NO POWER + Keurig and up pops about a dozen posts with the same problem..turns out there may be a transformer issue with this model.  But here’s the thing; instead of ranting about how terrible this situation was (NO COFFEE MAKER), these folks were RAVING about the response.

I called customer service and was suprised to find a human at the other end of the line.  After a few questions about the problem and a request for contact information, serial number etc, the young man at the other end of the phone said something like; I apologize for your inconvience but your warranty has recently expired.  Well I guess that was it?  No sir.  He further said, “since your Keurig failed to power on we will replace it for you, at no charge.  NO WAY?  And then he said that I should expect to receive the new coffee machine in 3-5 business days. WOW!  I was impressed.  Super Bowl Sunday, real person, above and beyond the call of duty for a customer, and it only took a 10 minute phone conversation.

I received no less than 3 follow up emails keeping me informed about the replacement process. I received my new Keurig on the 3rd business day.  Now I know that the business reason for replacing my machine was so that I would remain a Keurig customer and continue to buy the K-Cups, which is probably where they make their real money.  Ask me if I care!  I am now a Keurig customer for life.

There are seven things that all of us can learn from this:

1. Care about your customer
2. Empower your staff to make reasonable decisions
3. Sincerely apologize if there seems to be a problem
4. Be polite
5. Make it right if at all possible
6. Do so as quickly as possible
7. Mix all together until you have a fanatical fan

We hear so many things that businesses do wrong when it come to customer service, I thought it would be good to share 1 that does it right.

Have you had a recent interaction with a business that did customer service right?  Please share.

The post 7 Steps to Fanatical Customer Service appeared first on Big Daddy Marketing.

Inbound Marketing Terminology

HubSpot has produced a new ebook, written by Magdalena Georgieva, to help us all better understand the terminology involved with this whole idea of Inbound Marketing.  For those of you unfamiliar with the term, Inbound Marketing is defined as  a marketing strategy that focuses on getting found by customers. This ebook actually contains 250 terms and their definitions, too many to list here.  The key ones that I think would help someone who isn’t sure what this Inbound Marketing thing is all about are (these are in no particular order):

1. Lead Generation - Lead generation is the process of attracting new leads. It is a marketing tactic that drives a person to demonstrate interest in a product or service. Online this traditionally happens by providing valuable content in exchange for contact information from a website visitor.
2. Landing Page - A website page containing a form that is used for lead generation. This page revolves around a marketing offer, such as an ebook or a webinar, and serves to capture visitor information in exchange for the valuable offer.
3. Conversion Rate - The number of people who complete a form on a landing page divided by the total number of people who visited the page.
4. Call to Action - A call to action is a text link, button, image, or some type of web link that encourages a website visitor to visit a landing page and become a lead. Some examples of CTAs are “Subscribe Now” or “Download the Whitepaper Today.”
5. Funnel - The process logic as a visitor gets to your page and completes the “transaction.” Think of a visitor as someone at the top of your sales and marketing funnel. How do you get them to the bottom of the funnel?
6. ROI - The return on investment of your marketing efforts.
7. Above the Fold - The part of a web page that is visible without scrolling. It is generally more desirable placement on a website because of it’s visibility. If you have a “join our mailing list” form on your website, you should place it “above the fold” making it easy for visitors to opt-in.
8. 301 Redirect - A way to make one web page redirect the visitor to another page. Whenever you change the web address of a page, apply a 301 redirect to make the old address point to the new one. This ensures that people who have linked to or bookmarked the old address will automatically get to the new one, and search engines can update their index.
9. Blog - This is short for web log or weblog. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual or group of people. A personal blog or business blog will traditionally include regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material, such as photos and video. Note: if you are blogging for business, you should always add a call-to-action to ensure your blog is generating leads.
10. Drip Marketing - Drip marketing is a synonym for lead nurturing, a series of emails that seek to qualify a lead, keep it engaged and gradually push it down the sales funnel.

Sales Toolbelt

In order to compete these days I think that most businesses need to consider adding some tools to their sales toolbelt.

• A Website that is not only informational but also helps drive traffic in to the sales funnel.
• Some sort of Social Media presence, depending on where your customers or prospects are hanging out.
• A Blog (like this one)
• An Email Marketing program
• An effective Direct Mail program
• The analytics to back all of this up.  Information that will help make for a successful and duplicate-able  multi-channel marketing program. (that’s another one of those phrases from the eBook)

CAUTION: Shameless self-promotion to follow!

If you need help or support with any of your marketing efforts we are here to help.

You can find us here on the web and in the beautiful Bay Area of Houston, Texas.

Check out this inventive holiday video by the folks at HubSpot on the topic of Inbound Marketing.

If you have any other terms that you think are on the most know list, please feel free to post them for everyone to see. The Inbound Marketing Glossary is available for download if you want to add it to your marketing library.

The post 10 Key Words for Inbound Marketing Defined appeared first on Big Daddy Marketing.

Direct Mail Tips & Tricks

In direct mail marketing, the response rate is the percentage of recipients who respond to the mailing. Response rates can vary widely by industry, though the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) in a study of 1,122 industry-specific campaigns determined that the average response rate for direct mail is 2.61%. The response rate is often used as a measure of the success of a direct mail marketing campaign. Before beginning any direct mail marketing campaign, it is a good practice to determine the breakeven response rate – the number of respondents to the campaign that must buy to yield enough profit to cover the cost of the direct mail campaign. If the breakeven response rate is very high, then the campaign can be restructured to lower the cost and therefore lower the breakeven response rate to a more achievable level. In general, the overall response rate is higher when a smaller target audience is contacted multiple times versus a larger target audience contacted once.

Communicating with your customers

If your organization is a nonprofit that needs to communicate with alumni, members or donors, you’ll be interested in the results of a survey commissioned by Pitney Bowes in 2009. Conducted by International Communications Research, the survey included approximately 1100 U.S. college graduates who were asked about their preferences for receiving information from the school they attended. The survey found that 54% of respondents have a strong preference for direct mail. Less than half that number – only 23% – chose e-mail as their preferred method of communication. Respondents also indicated that they are less likely to discard or ignore direct mail that includes messages about fundraising and donations for their college or university. The alumni also prefer print mail for correspondence and news from their alma mater – 57% indicated a preference for mail versus 31% for e-mail. Response rates naturally increase using a combination for direct mail + email marketing in the same campaign. The key to interactive communication is to engage an audience, not just talk at them.   Engagement implies that you are listening and responding, as well as talking. Using Personalized URLs (known as Purls) connect a static form of communication, direct mail, with an interactive form of communication via the internet. Your direct mailer includes a URL, or web address, that incorporates the recipient’s name. When the mail recipient types that URL in their computer browser, they are taken to a landing page, on a website, that has been personalized for them. This increases the power of direct mail exponentially because it makes it both interactive and personal.  Utilizing a QR code for smartphone users to scan and access that landing page allows you to further engage your potential audience.

Invariably, during the course of discussing a direct mail campaign, this sort of question comes up:

Q: Doesn’t direct mail encourage the killing of trees?

A. Contrary to what you may have heard from proponents of various “Do Not Mail” coalitions, direct mail is an environmentally responsible way to advertise. Yes, trees are harvested to create the pulp from which paper is made. But the harvested trees are grown specifically for that purpose on tree farms known as managed timberlands. The trees are an agricultural crop, like vegetables on a farm; the trees are not cut down from neighborhood parks or wilderness areas. America’s forestry and paper industries plant more than 4 million new trees each day (or 1.4 billion per year) – that’s three new trees for every one harvested.
Recycling is another reason not to fear direct mail. Paper is one consumer product that is fairly easy and inexpensive to recycle. After first use, paper products can be made into corrugated boxes, packaging, newsprint, tissue and event writing paper. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, annual recycling rates for advertising mail have increased seven-fold since 1990. In 2008, 57.4% of all the paper consumed in the United States was recovered for recycling. This is the equivalent of nearly 340 pounds of paper for each man, woman and child in America. The paper industry has set a goal of 60% recovery by 2012.

How successful was your last direct mail campaign? Let us help make your next one even more successful.

The post Tips to Increase Direct Mail Response Rates appeared first on Big Daddy Marketing.

They obviously have a fan base that cares about them, they thought enough to at least have a social media presence, everyone knows they have new, serious competition just down the road and yet they let their only marketing outlet be a one way channel.  Oh, did I mention that I was unable to find their website thru local search?  I finally did find the website, it was the only thing, besides their street address, on the info section of their Facebook fan page. Was I really surprised when I found that their website consisted of a static image of their logo + phone and hours, and a link to download their (scanned, crooked) pdf menu?  NO I was not. Was the website, such as it was, a Mobile Touch Website? Nope.  What do you think i did next?  Being a good customer, and wanting to promote the restaurant, I checked in on Foursquare.  My friend also checked in and is now the Mayor..score! Did the restaurant know what Foursquare was, or that they could set up “Specials”, for free that anyone checking in nearby would be able to see, or to reward frequent eaters; no they did not. I thought that maybe my friend and I were the only ones checking in on Foursquare?  Nope, almost 250 checkins. Another lost opportunity to engage.  When we got up to leave, there were still only about 15 people eating…and the counter staff were chanting, “come on 7:30 rush!”. When I checked out, I spoke to the owner about a couple of these things, told her where to claim the business on Foursquare and how to set up a Special, and then offered to help market this great little local business. Will she reach out to me?  Too early to tell.  Will I reach out again if I don’t hear from them?  Sure I will, because I care about this small business surviving.

Here are my 3 surefire ways to kill a business

1. Don’t monitor your established social media channels and interact with your fan base.
2. Don’t have and maintain a professional website
3. Thinking that, “If I build it they will come”…THEY will not.  Your customers like you, they are talking to you, they want to support you….you gotta give them a reason not to go your nearest competitor.

Any other thoughts about helping these guys survive and thrive?

The post 3 Surefire Ways to Kill Your Business appeared first on Big Daddy Marketing.

The Follow up

Did you know that 80% of trade show leads are never followed up on? Happened to me last month. We attended convention in Las Vegas. There were over 100 booths at the vendor portion of the conference. Jane and I visited and spoke to every single one of those exhibitors. (OK, there was a contest for a new $80,000 printer, how could we pass that up?) To date we have received approximately 6 follow up calls, emails or mailings. 6…out of 100. Freeman Decorating Service (a company that manufactures and manages/rents large trade show displays) did an informal study and found that 50% of the crates that were returned to them still had the leads in the crates. The exhibitor never even took the leads back to the office…seriously!

So, you designed a compelling booth presentation, you sent your invitations to current and potential clients to visit you at the show. You prepared your sell sheets and posters, ordered just the right give–away’s and were on your game while talking to and qualifying prospects and leads. You’ve been away for 3 days, attending the required after hours parties and networking events, and have just arrived back at the office…exhausted, the dogs are barkin’ and you’ve got a pile of mail and email in your inbox.

What do you do next

You now have to apply the “important vs urgent” filter by taking care of those things that need your immediate attention such as returning that call from your #1 client, or completing that order for delivery that you didn’t get to before you left. But that’s it, put everything else that is not important (even the things that might be urgent but NOT important) aside. It’s now time to get to your follow up.

Let me stop and suggest that all of the above can be avoided if you have assigned someone who did not attend the trade show, the job of lead follow up. Then, instead of doing the “important” list, that person can start following up immediately after the show. Heck, using a bus card scanner or smartphone with a camera and an app like Scan2PDF or CamCard, you could take photos of the prospect business cards, categorized as to lead priority (A,B,C) and start the follow up even before the prospect gets back to their office.

OK, now try these 4 follow up steps:

1. Add all contacts to a database or excel file to add to your monthly e-newsletter list.
2. Email everyone immediately (or within 48 hours) to thank them for visiting your booth, remind them of the show special and encourage them to visit your website or Like your Facebook page.
3. “A” leads then go to sales for personalized follow up, “B” leads are put in to your drip email/inbound marketing system, and “C” leads get the email only.
4. Evaluate and make adjustments for the next show.

• What worked?
• What didn’t?
• Was the booth in the right spot to generate traffic?
• Where your promo items appropriate for the audience?
• Was this even the right trade show for the company?
• Did you learn anything from the competition or others at the show that can help improve the ROI from your next show?

There’s lot’s of detail that I didn’t even get into but if you at least do this much, your chances of success at your next trade show will be better than 80% of your competition.

What do you do that is particularly successful in your trade show marketing?…please share your ideas.

The post 4 steps to Effective Trade Show Follow Up appeared first on Big Daddy Marketing.

Participating in a group event

Participating in an event for a group of prospects has three phases:

• Preparing for the event
• Attending the event
• and Following up

In each phase there is a need for materials to be printed, distributed and given away. These all need to be graphically coordinated to reflect your company or organization’s image or brand – especially since some of the staff at the event may not be seasoned marketing or sales professionals.

Begin by deciding on a marketing theme for the event. Tie it to your company’s overall marketing focus but tailor the theme to reflect the interests of the target audience who will be attending the group event. Some typical themes are how your product or service promotes efficiency and saves money; how it solves problems encountered by the target audience; what competitive advantage it imparts; or what enhancements to customer service it brings.

Trade show graphics

Trade show graphics are the large-scale photographs, signs, banners, posters and booth displays that are intended to draw the attendee’s interest and attract them to linger at your booth. In addition, trade show graphics can impart information that provides a context for explaining what your organization or business does or provides.

Designing for large-scale displays is different than designing for brochures and similar printed marketing materials. The primary difference is scale – display graphics are significantly larger than those used in collateral pieces and also simpler. Headlines should be trim, images large, and text short and easy to read. As a guide, think of a highway billboard that is read in three seconds or less. Your trade show graphics need to convey who you are, what you do and why a prospect should care in the amount of time it takes to stroll past your booth.

For consistency of image and brand, tie trade show graphics to your product or service marketing literature. But be careful here – the images used in a brochure may not be of sufficient resolution when enlarged to sign, banner or poster size. Ask us to evaluate the suitability of any photograph or other image you are considering.

Printed material

Besides having a supply of brochures, sell sheets and business cards to distribute during the trade show or group meeting, you might need other material to support the trade show or meeting activities such as:

• name badges for your staff and attendees
• copies of an agenda or program
• entry forms for a drawing or giveaway
• tickets to invitation-only activities such as a luncheon or sponsored entertainment
• new product announcements and product guides
• show special flyers or discount offers
• mini catalogs or CDs with product information
• order forms

As with trade show graphics, these materials will have greater impact if they are visually tied to your company or organization’s regular marketing and sales material and also reflect the marketing theme of the trade show or group meeting. Give all your printed materials a consistent look and message by using the same color palette, fonts and graphics throughout.

Promotional items

Whether you are a group meeting host providing a thank you gift to attendees or a trade show distributor who wants to attract traffic at the booth, a supply of promotional items – sometimes called advertising specialty items – are a way to be sure your company or organization is remembered after the event has concluded.

When deciding on a promotional item, select one that pertains to your business and simultaneously appeals to the target audience. A promotional item of higher quality or real utility is both more appealing and more likely to be taken back to the office and used by an attendee. If the projected meeting or trade show attendance is very large, consider having a low-cost item to attract people to your booth and reserve the higher-quality item as a prize for a contest or a drawing. It is also a good idea to select a promotional item that can be used as a giveaway after the trade show or meeting.

The Follow Up

This is probably the most critical part of the event and one that I’ll reserve for a post all it’s own.

Your Brand . . .

Your graphical image or brand is vital to your marketing success. You have only seconds to make a first impression so it’s important to put your best foot forward.

What did I miss?  What other things are critical to trade show or meeting success?

The post 3 Phases of Marketing at Events appeared first on Big Daddy Marketing.

I actually had a friend say to me the other day, “Hey you know those QR things you told me about almost 2 years ago?  I’ve been seeing them around everywhere lately” … So here you go.

The QR code is the creation of a Japanese company, Denso Wave, in about 1994.  A QR code is a 2D bar code.  The purpose of the QR or 2D code is to direct your smartphone to do something.  You scan the code using  a free app that turns your phone’s camera in to a scan device.  There are tons of apps for most smartphones that will perform this function. Some of the more popular ones are i-nigma.mobi, BeeTagg, and Qrafter (Qrafter is only for the iPhone).  Microsoft is even in the game with it’s proprietary Tag.  Unlike a standard consumer barcode, the QR code can hold up to 400 characters. They are the bridge between your printed marketing piece and some sort of online engagement.  That online interaction could be a website, a Youtube Video, a geolocation tag, or any number of cool things.

Here are 5 things that you can do to ensure that your next QR code marketing campaign is as effective as possible.

1. Use as short a URL as possible. This increases the likelihood of a successful scan and also allows you to make a physically smaller image.  Though I don’t usually recommend creating a code smaller that 1″ square,  I’ve successfully scanned codes that are as small as .5″ square.  If necessary you can use one of the URL shorteners like bit.ly.
2. Make sure the code that you generate is scannable.  Test, test, test. Use different phones and different scan apps.
3. You’ve created it for mobile, don’t give them an experience that won’t work well on a mobile device. It’s not cool to create a QR code that resolves to a website meant for a desktop computer.
4. If using the QR code as part of an overall marketing campaign make sure it is   a) trackable, so you can analyze the results; after all, if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it and   b) redirect-able; you want the ability to direct your QR code to a different URL for the next campaign. (or if using them for real estate marketing you need to be able change the URL address after you sell the house so that you can re-use the same code and not have to make new signs.)
5. Include instructions with your code.  Something simple like: “Google QR code to download your free scan app” works fine for most applications.

What are you waiting for?  Work a QR code in to your next direct mailer, be sure you have a clear call to action, make the engagement mobile friendly, find one of the QR code generators that are available on the internet, create your code, print and engage. Measure your results, make adjustments, and do it again.

Let me know how it turned out for you.

Obviously there are many variables when working with QR codes, as there are with any marketing campaign. What other uses can you all see for the QR code?

The post 5 steps to a successful QR Code launch appeared first on Big Daddy Marketing.