Online Marketing
This section is where you will find some general thoughts on online marketing.
Picking the Right Affiliate Marketing Software
Written by Neil Patel on June 24, 2010 | 5 comments
When working with affiliate marketing, you need to be able to understand and pick the right software to fit your needs. There are tons out there (believe me, I've started looking and informing myself already) but sometimes it's just overwhelming. You can't really rely on word of mouth for these things, or reviews, because each one will fit you differently. Only you can decide what is right for you.
Want to be a winner? Join the Winners Circle!
Written by Neil Patel on July 6, 2009 | 8 comments
Gyutae Park from Winning the Webjust launched a new membership site called Winners Circle. I don't normally post about stuff like this but I wanted to mention it because I think it has a lot to offer marketers of all levels.
Want to be a winner? Join the Winners Circle!
Written by Neil Patel on July 6, 2009 | 24 comments
Gyutae Park from Winning the Webjust launched a new membership site called Winners Circle. I don't normally post about stuff like this but I wanted to mention it because I think it has a lot to offer marketers of all levels.
The Inside Scoop from Facebook Advertising
Written by Neil Patel on March 7, 2009 | 26 comments
One of my friends, DK, had a chance to visit Facebook a few weeks ago and he learned some cool stuff about it.
How To Get The Most Out of Shoemoney Tools Beta
Written by Neil Patel on July 24, 2008 | 40 comments
About a year and a half ago I went to Jeremy Schoemaker's house for a few days (aka Shoemoney, aka Shoe) because I heard rumors that the Shoemoney team was making tons of money from the affiliate marketing/arbitrage space. I wanted to learn first hand on how I could do the same.
Clickbooth Setting the Pace for Affiliate Marketing Companies
Written by Neil Patel on March 23, 2008 | 52 comments
As many of you can tell, I haven't been blogging as much lately. One of the main reasons for this is because of Clickbooth. I have been spending a lot of time on the Clickbooth network because it pays out really well for affiliates.
The RKG Duck
Written by Neil Patel on February 12, 2008 | 6 comments
I'm not sure how many of you run/manage advertising campaigns, but I just found a useful tool that makes it easier to sort ad groups.
Banner Blindness Gets Creative
Written by Neil Patel on February 12, 2008 | 13 comments
When most companies are trying to create buzz they usually ask bloggers to blog on their company or they higher a marketing firm to do it for them. Although these are not bad ways to create buzz, with a bit of creativity you can create an organic buzz around your company.
Gamespot: How To Destroy Your Brand And Alienate People
Written by David Chen on December 3, 2007 | 16 comments
Digg (and the rest of the internet) was ablaze this weekend as gamers took to message boards to protest the firing of Gamespot's long-time reviewer, Jeff Gerstmann. The incident not only had broad ramifications for the whole game enthusiast industry, it also demonstrated how badly the P.R. division of a major company like CNET, owner of Gamespot, can completely melt down, destroying one of its precious brands in the process.
Firebrand - All Ads, All The Time
Written by David Chen on November 29, 2007 | 8 comments
Firebrand recently launched with a relatively new business model: Broadcast all advertisements, all the time, but only display the ones that the company deems creative and interesting. Today, we take a look at the new service.
The Benefits of Not Advertising
Written by David Chen on November 19, 2007 | 25 comments
The Associated Press recently published a story about a curious phenomenon: Google is one of the most lucrative ad-selling companies in the world, yet rarely indulges in buying ads for itself. Today we take a look at the advantages Google gains against its competitors by not advertising.
Protecting Your Online Reputation
Written by David Chen on October 6, 2007 | 5 comments
Customers deserve the right to review your services in an impartial and public way. However, they don't have the right to deceive people about your business. Now more than ever, when disgruntled customers spread falsehoods about you online, the damage can be significant. Today, we look at one example and evaluate some ways to protect yourself.
NBC, Fox, and the iTunes War
Written by David Chen on September 24, 2007 | 2 comments
While NBC has decided to leave iTunes and strike out on its own, Fox has recently demonstrated that it fully embraces the iTunes business model. Today we reflect on the effectiveness of these decisions.
Battle of the Brands: Quirky Versus Telling
Written by Muhammad Saleem on September 18, 2007 | 3 comments
With the advent of Web 2.0 it seems that most new media entrepreneurs have delegated the responsibility of coming up with names for their services to four year-olds. Will these names stick or is it just wishful thinking?
How The New York Times Got Its Groove Back
Written by David Chen on September 18, 2007 | 5 comments
Yesterday, The New York Times announced that it would be ending Times Select, its paid subscription services, and would refund money to those who had already paid. Today we take a look at the history of Times Select and the implications of the Times' decision.
The Absolutely Wrong Way to Market Yourself
Written by Muhammad Saleem on September 9, 2007 | 5 comments
A few days ago, I got a couple of invites to a new social networking site, Quechup, from a friend of mine. While ordinarily I would've signed up for the site (just to see what the fuss was about and perhaps to write about it), this time I found my friend online and asked him if it was worth joining.
Speak Your Customers' Language Part 2: The Pitch
Written by Jay Cross on August 24, 2007 | 2 comments
Yesterday we discussed the importance of speaking your customer's language. Let's expound upon this concept with an example from a company that sells an instructional DVD on integrating Russian kettlebells into a baseball training program, since I recently bought the DVD myself, solely on the strength of their sales letter.
Speak Your Customers' Language
Written by Jay Cross on August 23, 2007 | 2 comments
People in the marketing profession are often instructed to speak their customer's language. While no one doubts value of the above it is rarely defined how one might actually do it. So let's see if we can't breathe new life into this old maxim. Why is it important to speak a customer's language?
Online Video: The Complete Picture
Written by Muhammad Saleem on August 14, 2007 | 21 comments
About two weeks ago we asked the very pertinent question of whether online video is sustainable or not and whether you should be using the online video platform to market your content/products/services. But just looking at sustainability is not enough and so today we're going to look at the demographics and viewing habits of the online video watchers and reach more conclusions about the medium.
The Worst Form of Advertising is Alive and Spreading!
Written by Muhammad Saleem on August 10, 2007 | 15 comments
With the advent of the social web and contextual advertising, marketing has not only become easier for the marketers and advertisers but has also become more palatable (because of reduced intrusiveness and increased relevancy) for the end-users. That said, it is surprising to see that not only do companies continue to use non-contextual methods such as banner ads and pop-up/pop-under ads but that their use is spreading to other formats.
Making Money From User Errors and Downtime
Written by Muhammad Saleem on August 8, 2007 | 52 comments
An article by Leonid Shalimov proposes an interesting idea. The article explains how to customize and monetize your 404 page, and while Leonid restricts it to user error pages, it can be extended to temporary placeholders while you're having downtime.
Is Online Video Sustainable?
Written by Muhammad Saleem on August 1, 2007 | 7 comments
The question is quite straightforward. Given the new 'business model' of 'ad-supported' is online video a sustainable space and as a marketer, should you be looking at the online video space as a possible advertising platform? Let's see.
Microsoft's Massive Assault on the Web and the Living Room
Written by MG Siegler on July 28, 2007 | 14 comments
A massive offensive by Microsoft is underway. The signs are all there, maybe you just haven't notice, but it's more than likely that you have. Take a look at your RSS feeds over the past few days, glance at Digg's popular stories, browse the headline stories of Techmeme from this week - Microsoft, Microsoft, Microsoft, on multiple fronts too.
Pronet Advertising's 4 Steps to Success
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 24, 2007 | 14 comments
Over the past year we've covered many different subjects from the basics of blogging to how to really make your traffic explode. Here are Pronet Advertisings 4 steps to success.
Immortalize Your Business: 4 Lessons From Apple
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 23, 2007 | 3 comments
With the rise of a huge number of copycat services that try to capitalize on the success of one venture without providing much in the way of differentiation or innovation, it is incredibly important to learn from the masters of innovation so that you can avoid falling in a similar trap.
4 Things That Are Horribly Wrong With Your Ad
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 22, 2007 | 4 comments
After reading that Curtis (50 Cent) is going to sue an advertising company for $1 million - for illegally using his image in advertisements that encourage viewers to "shoot the rapper" to win a ring tone, an xbox 360, or another item, and inspecting it for a few minutes - I realized that the illegal use of the image was the least of the problems with the ad.
Online Marketers Rejoice: Online Audience Growing, TV Audience Shrinking
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 13, 2007 | 9 comments
While reading Al Gore's The Assault on Reason I was struck by his emphasis on television as the best medium for engaging an audience and getting your message out in a fast and efficient manner. Struck by his statistics on how television is seemingly more important than online advertising I decided to do some research.
The Timing of a Press Release Can Make or Break Your Product/Service
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 11, 2007 | 4 comments
The events of the past week made one thing abundantly clear. You can have a great, even revolutionary product, but without the proper marketing and a well-timed press release you may still be doomed to obscurity. And while timing press releases sounds straightforward and obvious, here's an example of how it isn't always quite straightforward or obvious.
Why Google Doesn't Care About Nielsen/NetRatings, But Why They Still Matter
Written by Chris Hemphill on July 10, 2007 | 7 comments
Nielsen/NetRatings made changes to the way it ranks sites, shifting from rating by number of page views to rating by amount of time spent on a page. A lot of the online response to this announcement has dealt with how this move will really hurt Google, because most Google users do not actually spend that much time on the search engine itself. However, here's a contrarian view of the situation.
Web Analytics: An Hour a Day
Written by Neil Patel on July 9, 2007 | 45 comments
Over the past few weeks I have been reading a book called Web Analytics: An Hour a Day which was written by Avinash Kaushik. I am not a big fan of reading books, but this one actually provides tons of knowledge on analytics for advanced marketers as well as beginners.
Transparency and Integrity: Both Offline and Online
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 9, 2007 | 2 comments
Transparency is something that we, not only as consumers, but also as human beings, value in every facet of our lives. Whether it be financial transactions, politics, traditional media or online media. Here's a look at transparency from brick and mortar to online brands.
Apple's 3-Tiered Marketing Model
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 7, 2007 | 4 comments
While listening to 'This Week in Technology' a few days ago, the masterfulness of Apple's marketing dawned on me. Here's a look at the 3-tiered structure.
The Importance of Marketing and Covering in Moderation
Written by Muhammad Saleem on July 6, 2007 | 10 comments
While one of the things this blog is dedicated to is teaching people how to market themselves using the various social media and online marketing tools available to us (along with making a truly marketable product), today I wanted to step back and focus on two things: the importance of using all of these tools in moderation (as a marketer) and when it comes to writing about certain topics (covering), doing that in moderation too, and generally striving to provide your audience with a healthy mix of offerings.
How Richard Binhammer is Changing the Face of Dell Online
Written by Muhammad Saleem on June 30, 2007 | 12 comments
Getting people to try out your product is great, and when they like it and buy it, that's even better. But whether they will stay with you in the long-run, (i.e developing customer loyalty) and whether they will become repeat customers depends a lot on how you treat them once they have given you a nod. And part of how you treat them includes talking to them when they express their disappointment or an issue they're having. With the internet, and now that everyone has blogs, it has become even more important to see what people are saying about your company online, and responding to that.
How The Other Side is Marketing
Written by Muhammad Saleem on June 23, 2007 | 2 comments
I was watching Thank You For Smoking last night when it occurred to me that while we covered the Tobacco Industry's brilliance in marketing cigarettes, we never gave the other side a fair chance. Here's a look at how the other side is marketing the harmful side effects of smoking.
A Not So Viral Campaign
Written by Muhammad Saleem on June 19, 2007 | 9 comments
While Warner's viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight has been incredibly successful and we have even covered it several times, today we will look at a not so successfully executed viral marketing campaign.
Crazy Egg Launches Confetti
Written by Neil Patel on June 19, 2007 | 10 comments
I don't often blog about analytics but as some of you may know I am deeply involved in the space because I am one of the owners of Crazy Egg. In the past I blogged about it and why it is useful for website owners and today we just launched a feature called confetti that gives website owners a better understanding of how visitors interact with their website.
Have You Tried 'Free' Yet? It's Free To Try!
Written by Muhammad Saleem on June 14, 2007 | 1 comment
Even though you have a good product, many customers are going to think twice before they pay the price you name. There are several reasons for that and not the least of them is that they simply don't know if they should believe your sales pitch. Sure your marketing materials say that you're the best but they don't know that. For customers like these, there's nothing better than a free trial, and now we have some statistics to show that it really helps converting triers into paying customers.
Are Your Beliefs Social Media Marketable?
Written by Muhammad Saleem on June 5, 2007 | 3 comments
I was watching Spider-Man 3 over the weekend when I saw the all too familiar Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger anti-piracy advertisement and it got me thinking about what various people believe in and how social media marketable those beliefs are.
Satisfying the Vocal Minority - Why it Matters
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 29, 2007 | 6 comments
When I wrote about Dell's IdeaStorm I mentioned that one of the key factors to their success was the ideas in action section of the site that allows Dell to show its community that the company is not only listening to them but also implementing their recommendations. Today, Dell has taken this a step further.
The Difference Between Marketing, PR, Advertising, and Branding
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 28, 2007 | 11 comments
Ads of the World is an online archive of the best and most interesting advertisements from across the world. Today I came across an advertisement on their site that uses four simple pictures to explain to you the difference between marketing, pr, advertising, and branding.
Tim Ferriss - Social Media and The Social Proof - Part 1
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 22, 2007 |
As a follow up to Darren Rowse's three-part interview with Tim Ferriss, I sat down with the author (through the magic of instant messaging) of The 4-Hour Workweek, to discuss efficiency when blogging, media training for bloggers, different content promotion methods, social media, and much much more. Here is the first part of a two-part interview. Tim has a lot of interesting insight to share so please read and enjoy.
Tumri - Design Your Own Interactive Advertisements
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 16, 2007 |
Tumri, a web start-up that launched about a week ago, allows you to create and put up custom advertisement 'pods' on your site. Here's a look at what you need to know, and how to navigate through the process.
How Much Exposure Are You Really Getting?
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 5, 2007 |
Whenever you see a list of top sites, whether it is the Technorati top 100, the Alexa top 500, or the Schroeder top 40, each of these ranking methods exclusively use one metric to calculate popularity, and therefore is inherently inaccurate. I got an email today about what could be the most accurate method of ranking top sites. Let me know what you think about this.
BlogSigs - Increase Traffic With Your Email Signature
Written by Muhammad Saleem on May 4, 2007 | 4 comments
It's surprising how much email I get from people who simply sign their email with their name, telephone number, and street address. Nowhere to be found is their web presence or how to get in touch with them over instant messaging clients. Not inserting a link to your online presence is simply free traffic lost, but just throwing a link on there isn't going to work either. Here's how to use your email signature to increase traffic, the right way.
vFlyer And The Mobile Marketplace
Written by Muhammad Saleem on April 26, 2007 | 1 comment
As mobile devices become more and more extensive and as surfing the internet on these devices approaches the ease of use of the PC, the cell phone (whether it be a Blackberry, an iPhone, or a Windows Mobile Smartphone) will take a central place in the users' hands between a desktop and a laptop. And as the mobile internet user base grows, so does the mobile marketplace.
Ask.com Asks, How Much Do You Value Transparency, Customization?
Written by Muhammad Saleem on April 25, 2007 | 1 comment
Ask.com announced their version of an online contextual advertising product today, which is essentially a direct competitor to Google AdSense. What sets Ask's program apart from others, and is it worth taking a look at?
Spoken Word Versus Written Word
Written by Muhammad Saleem on April 24, 2007 |
People often underestimate how much is actually lost when spoken word appears in print. A statement can be interpreted several different ways depending on your intonation when you speak and where you put the emphasis but this is often not apparent when your statement appears in print.
PodBridge Raises $8.5 Million, Gives Us One More Reason to Pod-vertise
Written by Muhammad Saleem on April 21, 2007 | 3 comments
I have provided a total of 5 excellent reasons why you should Pod-vertise, but I get the feeling that many of you are still not convinced. For the naysayers, here are more reasons to invest in Podcast-related advertising, and a look at PodBridge, Pod-vertising made easy.
Death of the 'Page View' as an Ad Metric
Written by Muhammad Saleem on April 19, 2007 | 6 comments
I've discussed numerous times before, how traffic measured in page views can be misleading and how Compete's Attention Metrics that calculate site popularity and influence based on time spent by visitors, are a much better metric. Now we have what may prove to be the final nail in the coffin of the page view as a viable metric.
It's a Women's World (at least 51.9% of it)
Written by Muhammad Saleem on April 19, 2007 | 2 comments
James Brown once sang "It's A Man's Man's Man's World". We've come a long way since 1966 and that fact no longer remains true, especially in the online world. The demographic of US internet users has changed and is likely to remain that way. Here's what you need to know and why this change matters.
Learn From Google, Think Before You Brand
Written by Muhammad Saleem on April 19, 2007 |
It's good to have fun and try to be clever when you're trying to brand a product, but as Google reminded us yesterday, its more important to be clear and get your message across.
Text Link Ads, Now Social Media Optimized
Written by Muhammad Saleem on April 11, 2007 | 2 comments
I received an email from Text Link Ads Publisher Support yesterday regarding a new product they have released - Post Level Text Link Ads. The idea is quite exceptional, and looking at it from a social media perspective, considering the importance of social media today, one has to wonder why no one thought of this before.
Make Your Online Profiles Work For You
Written by Muhammad Saleem on April 8, 2007 | 3 comments
When you have a strong online presence on multiple popular websites (especially socially driven sites), apart from using your ranking on these sites to drive traffic to good content, you can also use it to get traffic back to yourself.
Attention Metrics: Going Beyond Numbers
Written by Muhammad Saleem on April 5, 2007 | 4 comments
A little over two months ago, I asked the question: should we measure traffic in minutes? The question was prompted by Scott Karp's observation that not all traffic is created equal, and my own conclusion that consequently, 5000 quick visitors from one source are not as useful as 500 visitors from another. A few days ago, Compete answered my question.
Grow Your Audience with Pod-vertising
Written by Muhammad Saleem on April 1, 2007 | 1 comment
Podcasts are a small but fast growing market. About a month ago, I provided 4 reasons why you should absolutely invest in Podcast advertisements. Let's look at how the market has changed since then, and why you should capitalize on this to grow your business along with it.
Illustrating Your Better Value Proposition
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 30, 2007 | 10 comments
You don't always have to bring something truly novel to the table and innovate from scratch to be able to truly succeed in a crowded marketplace. You simply have to show the your potential customers that you are providing more value than your competitors.
Spotrunner.com Versus Personalized Advertising
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 27, 2007 | 9 comments
I was catching up on some past episodes of one of my favorite technology podcasts, This Week in Tech, last night when I came across their discussion of the online 'personalized' advertisement creation service Spotrunner.com. Let's see if the service is a good substitute for a truly personalized ad.
Market Perception: The Good, The Evil, and Switching Sides
Written by Muhammad Saleem on March 23, 2007 | 8 comments
In the world of social media, is your company good or is it evil? Reputation management, or more specifically market perception management goes hand in hand with successful social media marketing. Which side of the fence will your company fall on?
Using social media sites for reputation management
Written by Cameron Olthuis on March 8, 2007 | 3 comments
If there is one thing that social media has taught us it's that user created content ranks very well in the search engines. You can hardly do a search anymore without noticing at least a couple of social media sites within the top 10 listings of a search and even more so by the day.
The quest for the perfect online ad
Written by Neil Patel on February 27, 2007 | 10 comments
Paul Slogan from Business 2.0 recently wrote a great article on the quest for the perfect online ad. He discusses how although Google is the king of search, users only spend 5% of their time searching. With users spending 95% of their time on the Internet engaged in non-search related activities, how can you target them? I don't think there is an answer, but here is how I would go about creating the perfect ad.
Why You Need to Pod-vertise
Written by Muhammad Saleem on February 26, 2007 | 7 comments
Podcasts are one of the most under-appreciated medium for advertising. Let me briefly explain why you too should Pod-vertise!
The Virality of Bad Commercials
Written by Muhammad Saleem on February 19, 2007 | 7 comments
We have heard over and over again about the importance of a good and well targeted advertisement, but rarely do we hear the case for a ridiculously bad ad.
Go a Little Crazy!
Written by Muhammad Saleem on February 17, 2007 | 6 comments
Sometimes, what makes other people visit your content are the most unexpected and completely crazy things you do.
Of Sponsorships and Freebies
Written by Muhammad Saleem on February 16, 2007 | 5 comments
Sponsorship really is a very tricky business. Every time a corporate entity tries to sponsor a smaller entity, the communities participating or monitoring either entity will be up in arms. The problem is the somewhat incorrect perception people have that if you are sponsoring someone or give them a freebie, from your perspective that you are trying to influence their opinion, and from the receiver's perspective that they have "sold out" and become shills.
Two Ways to Market Yourself on MyBlogLog
Written by Muhammad Saleem on February 7, 2007 | 17 comments
MyBlogLog is an essential social networking tool for bloggers to get in touch with their readers as well as other bloggers. The site "enables you to take advantage of your existing presence on the Web and ties it into communities of like-minded readers and authors to add context to the conversations in which you take part." The potential for you to market yourself through the site, though, reaches beyond that.
Should We Measure Traffic In Minutes?
Written by Muhammad Saleem on January 31, 2007 | 39 comments
Let's assume that the ratio of referral traffic to social media traffic (by way of social bookmarking and socially driven sites) is 1:10. The question is quite simple actually, but the answer isn't. Would you rather have 5000 unique visitors from Digg.com or would you rather have 500 visitors from everywhere else on the web?
The rise of 125 x 125 ads
Written by Neil Patel on December 29, 2006 | 26 comments
Have you noticed that the hottest ad format for blogs is now those little square 125 x 125 ads? Sites like TechCrunch, Mashable, Read/WriteWeb, GigaOm, and Marketing Pilgrim, just to name a few have them plastered on the top right side of their blogs. So, what's wrong with these ads?
Has Frys Electronics Missed the Boat?
Written by Ryan Fujiu on December 9, 2006 | 7 comments
As the general public turns to the Internet for their shopping needs, it is important for brick and mortar businesses to marry their online and offline marketing campaigns. There are examples of traditional businesses doing a great job at this, but some seem to have missed the boat.
Marketing chefs
Written by Cameron Olthuis on October 1, 2006 | 3 comments
Marketing is one of those things where it seems like everyone thinks they know how to do it. It never ceases to amaze me the number of people I talk to that are trying to become marketing consultants when they have no real experience. It doesn't really matter who the person is, but everyone has an opinion when it comes to marketing, and it looks like VCs are no different.
Don't be silly with your marketing plan
Written by Neil Patel on September 3, 2006 | 3 comments
In the past couple months I have heard a lot of dumb marketing plans. Some of these guys who created these plans are new to the online industry while others have been in it for years. Cameron also wrote "What's your marketing plan" a few days ago, so I decided to compile a list of the 10 dumbest plans I have ever heard.
Communicate with your customers, not at them
Written by Cameron Olthuis on August 28, 2006 |
YouTube is finally attempting to solve their problem of creating revenue. Brand Channels gives marketers a platform to try and broadcast their message to the YouTube community. The brand channels are a lot like a MySpace page, see the Paris Hilton channel for a great example.
Marketing on a budget
Written by Neil Patel on August 28, 2006 |
Patricia Hursh from SmartSearch Marketing recently wrote an article called "Winning Big with a Small Search Marketing Budget". The article discusses how companies with small marketing budgets can effectively use their money to get the most bang from your buck.
What's your marketing plan?
Written by Cameron Olthuis on August 21, 2006 | 8 comments
You could put up a pretty strong argument that marketing is one of the most important factors of a company's success. It is definitely up there, but these days the actual product or service is probably most important. Okay, so why are there so many companies being launched right now that have no marketing plans at all?
How do you HP?
Written by Neil Patel on July 19, 2006 |
Celebrities have a huge psychological effect on people which is why they can affect decisions. For this reason companies have been using celebrities in their commercials for years.
Rocky 6 trailer, it's all viral
Written by Neil Patel on July 13, 2006 | 4 comments
Sylvester Stallone is well known for his role in Rocky and all of the sequels that followed it. A couple years ago, they decided to make another sequel to the franchise, which will total up to six Rocky movies.
The Apple of my eye
Written by Neil Patel on July 10, 2006 |
In the last couple of years Apple computers have taken their TV commercials to the next level. They have used silhouettes and upbeat music to make people pumped about the iPod.
Politics 2.0
Written by Cameron Olthuis on July 10, 2006 |
Is it any surprise that politicians are embracing web 2.0 for their political campaigns? It was only a matter of time before they came around and I suspect it's only going to get worse, or better, depending on how you look at it.
Looking forward to the Little Man
Written by Neil Patel on July 5, 2006 | 2 comments
Lately I have been seeing a lot of TV commercials for the movie Little Man. The movie is coming out on July 14th and they already have done some creative marketing to get the prelaunch buzz going.
BMW goes viral
Written by Neil Patel on July 4, 2006 | 5 comments
Every year car manufacturers release their new models for the upcoming year. They use many different forms of advertising to notify the public of these upcoming models.
What ads work?
Written by Cameron Olthuis on June 26, 2006 |
The Nielsen/Norman group recently did some eye tracking studies that show some interesting results. It shows that users seem to ignore animated ads, or graphic ads that stick out from the rest of the site.
Follow the leader
Written by Neil Patel on May 19, 2006 |
People are notorious for following the leader. Doing what other people do is one of the easiest decisions to make, especially if those people are leaders or respected figures. As a company, you should always have some focus on getting people to follow the leader when it comes to buying your products.
Funnybone Marketing
Written by Neil Patel on May 16, 2006 |
Using humor in advertising is probably the most universal way to reach people. Everybody loves to laugh, everybody loves to smile, and everybody loves to share the funny stuff. These days we are all getting emails from friends with links to funny videos, anticipating Superbowl commercials, and getting busted for forwarding a borderline joke to colleagues.
Google Trends Unleashed
Written by Neil Patel on May 11, 2006 |
One of the greatest things about search engine marketing and Internet marketing in general is that you have tons of data to work with. You can tell how many people are clicking on your banner ads, how visitors are getting to your website, who those visitors are, and tons of other stuff that gives you feedback on how your marketing is doing.
Marketing 2.0 Innovators
Written by Neil Patel on April 25, 2006 | 4 comments
The new Web 2.0 websites offer a ton of opportunity to get outside of the box with your marketing tactics. Standard banner ads, links, and any other "typical" methods are no longer your only choice. In fact, they are far more expensive and far less creative than some of the things you can do these days. By combining both the old and the new, companies are able to do some pretty neat things.
World Domination Tips
Written by Neil Patel on April 24, 2006 |
So, you want to go global with your website eh? Not so fast, if you have ever traveled to another country you will appreciate just how different things can be despite the fact that we are all made of the same stuff. These differences are critical to a successful international launch and without truly understanding your market you could be making some big mistakes.
