Archive for October, 2011

October 31st, 2011

The Three Most Common Banner Ad Mistakes

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Marketers are still inventing new ways to make effective banner ads. The discipline of creating powerful messages in boxes just 728 pixels wide (or less) is still far from settled. Nevertheless, if you scan the digital landscape you will find some examples of banner ads that are adhering to fundamental best practices of commercial communications—and others that are making some really basic mistakes.

This topic could take terabytes to fully explore, but in this post I’d like to draw your attention to just three ground rules that—judging by what I’ve seen out there—are routinely ignored. Here we go.

Know what you’re talking about.How can I say that? You’re talking about your business, so surely you know everything there is to know about the product or service you are placing before the public. But you’d be surprised! I regularly consult with brilliant entrepreneurs who haven’t gone through the fundamental process of formulating the key promise of their brand. (By the way, I’m not complaining: their failure to do this creates a market for my services, so really, everybody comes out ahead here.)

Are you forgetting some of the basics of banner advertising? You'd be surprised how many corporations ignore or overlook these essential rules.

It’s not unusual for business owners or their marketing deputies to think that every damn thing about their operation is the best the world has seen. But in even the best-run companies—putting out the best products—somebody needs to spend time defining what, exactly, is the appeal for the potential customers out there who haven’t yet turned over money.

When it’s time to create a banner ad with its Lilliputian stretch of screen space, boil down your message to its absolute shortest expression. Make your call to action indisputably clear and forego originality here for something impossible to misunderstand, such as “Click here.”

Don’t lead visitors off a digital cliff. I’m talking about what can happen when a viewer actually clicks on your ad—a rare opportunity that should not be squandered. Many advertisers are not careful enough in ensuring that a click fulfills the promise of the ad.

In preparation for writing this post, I randomly sampled several banner ads. The first made a very common error. The ad (which was for an electronics manufacturer) promised a special offer for those who clicked. I clicked and was taken to the company’s regular home page. No hint of a special offer!

The second ad, for a mouthwash, took me to a 414 error page. I was informed that the URL was too long. That’s an expensive mistake for the mouthwash manufacturer.

The third ad did everything right. The ad was for a scrumptious-looking breakfast sandwich. I clicked and was taken to a landing page made specifically for the sandwich—a special section of the fast food chain’s site.

It’s hard to know where the errors in the first two ads originated; however, their example suggests that you pay close attention to your banner ads and make sure the click does what it is supposed to do.

No zombies. Zombies belong outside. Properly deployed, zombies should be roaming the countryside, engaged in a relentless search for brains. They should not be peering out at the public from your banner ad.

Obvious, you say?

Apparently not. I have seen banner ads that feature, for example, a photo of an attractive woman whose eyes are speedily rotating in a manner I can only describe as deeply disturbing. I have to admit: her googley eyes got my attention—but only because I was appalled. To be fair, it is possible this woman was not, technically, a zombie. To the best of my recollection, her flesh was not rotting. But her face was disquieting in the extreme and I prefer not to do business with a company that freaks me out.

The zombie example, of course, is just one of many digital stunts such as rapidly flashing, alternating colors or silly looping animations of someone dancing for joy. A little movement in your banner ad is a good thing but to avoid irritating your viewer, don’t do the infinite loop. The Interactive Advertising Bureau suggests no more than 15 seconds of animation.

You’re spending money every time your banner ad is displayed on a person’s computer screen. You owe it to yourself, and your parent company, to avoid these egregious errors whenever possible.

About the Author: Mike Turner is a freelance Creative Director/Copywriter who has helped create compelling communications for brands as diverse as Orkin Pest Control, Time Warner Cable and Norfolk Southern Railroad. He is also the Founder of Foursquare Communications.

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October 28th, 2011

It’s Official: I’ve Changed My Twitter Handle

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Hi, Friends.

Just a very quick announcement here.

I’ve officially changed my Twitter handle from @60SecondTweets to @AskJamieTurner. It reflects my desire to continue building my personal brand as an author and a speaker. It also reflects my desire to engage in more conversations with my Twitter followers.

You’ll still receive my Tweets, as always. Only now, they’ll say @AskJamieTurner instead of my old handle.

Any questions?

Jamie Turner's Twitter Handle

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October 28th, 2011

How to Tweak your Website Copy to Make the Most Out of your Online Traffic

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Did you know the average conversion rate on a landing page is between about 2.2% and 2.5%? Given that, the odds of converting a prospect to a customer are not very high.

But if you incorporate some of the tips outlined below, you’ll be able to improve your landing page conversions by 10% to 50%. Imaging that — increasing your revenue on each landing page by 10% to 50% by simply fine-tuning your website copy.

Read on:

Focus on what the buyer wants, not what they need. Consumers listen to their cravings and desires far more than they pay attention to their needs. Have you ever gone into a grocery store and left with nothing that you planned on getting in the first place? Buyers are impulsive purchasers. When you tap into humans’ natural tendency to be impulsive, you can increase conversions on your website (and at the point-of-purchase).

Before you write a word of copy, you should get inside the mind of your consumer and find out what their hidden motivators are.

Identify your target market’s hidden motivators. Your website has an end purpose to drive consumers to action whether that is to buy a product, join an organization, or donate money. By analyzing your customer’s hidden motivators, you can ask the all important question — what drives them to action? For example, people don’t buy Rolex watches because they tell time accurately. They buy Rolex watches because they want to look sophisticated and wealthy. That’s their hidden motivator. (Why do we say it’s hidden? Because if you ask Rolex owners why they bought their watch, they would never say “Because I want to look sophisticated and wealthy.”)

The aesthetics of your copy can be just as important as the wording. The fastest-selling websites consist of a one-page sales letter with a single column of text occupying half the screen width and a maximum of 2 or 3 linked pages. The paragraphs should be kept short to make the page easier to read. Emphasizing certain keywords by bolding or highlighting can also be useful by drawing your reader’s attention to your benefits.

“Test everything…assume nothing!” There is always room for improvement, so you should test, test, and test some more. It is the only way you can point out your strengths and weaknesses, what works and what doesn’t. No matter how much you research and plan the strategy, you can never know for sure what the outcome will be. Remember that practice makes perfect and lucky for you, copy on the internet is always tweakable.

Many ads today include a URL, leading the potential customers to a landing page in hopes that they will take some kind of action. They may ask for more information, sign up for the newsletter, or make a purchase. By improving the sales copy, you can lead the consumer to make a move.

The take away:

Attention: Grab the buyer’s attention with your headline copy

Interest: Know the target you are addressing so you can capture their interest

Desire: Take advantage of your customer’s wants and desires

Action: Lead the customer to the action you want them to take

If you are eager for more tips on improving your copy, check out this article from Moving Ahead Communications.

Brittney Leigh Smith is a marketing analyst and contributing writer for the 60 Second Marketer.

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October 27th, 2011

A Failsafe Way to Write Website Copy That Converts

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People frequently overlook the content on the pages of their own websites – and it’s easy to do. Unless you’re constantly updating your products or overhauling your services, once the landing pages are up, they’re quickly forgotten about. But when you rely solely on the words on the page to turn browsers into buyers, you should be spending a decent amount of time evaluating, tweaking and then re-evaluating your content. Think of your web copy as a member of your sales team, and make sure it’s working as hard for you as any of your other employees.

Take a look at your current pages and ask yourself a few questions:

  1. Do they properly describe the products and services you offer, highlighting the unique features and benefits of each (all while staying true to your brand)?
  2. Do they have distinct calls to action (that don’t sound cheesy)?
  3. Is there enough content on the page so that Google will notice it for the right search terms (without seeming “keyword-stuffed” to human eyes)?
  4. If a complete stranger saw your page, do you think they’d trust your site enough to make a purchase or follow up for more info (would you give your credit card info to a website like yours)?

If the answer to any of these questions is “negative, Ghostrider,” it’s time to reconsider your content. You can hire a pro or, if you’re looking to save some money, you can do it yourself. Whatever you do, you should have your final pages edited by somebody who has experience with web copywriting.

Website Copywriting Tips

It's important to write copy that draws the reader in. But it's even more important to write copy that converts prospects into customers. Here are some tips and techniques you can use for your own website or landing page.

Writing is a lot like singing: everyone thinks they can do it. You don’t want your landing pages to look like the written equivalent of a bad American Idol audition, and that’s why it’s important to have a web content specialist take a look at your finished copy. This option gives you extra control of your message, and it costs about a third of what you’d pay for a pro to write it from scratch.

The Pre-Writing Process

If you’re going the DIY route, there are a couple of things to consider before you start writing. First, make sure your foundation is solid by double-checking that the back end of your website is properly optimized for search engines. If a keyword had high search volume and low competition three months ago, that doesn’t necessarily mean you should still be targeting that keyword today. So get your keyword research on. It’s time well spent.

The other thing to consider is the amount of content you’re putting on each page. Most people agree that 250 words (about a half page) is a good start, but if you really want to catch Google’s eye you should hit 650 or more. Is that reasonable for all pages of content? Not always. So use your best judgment, and if you find that it’s possible to use more words without overcrowding the page or looking like you have too much time on your hands, go for it.

The Content Itself

There are several tricks you can rely on to ensure that your content will be, at the very least, above average. Hey, even if it’s not perfect, chances are it’ll still be better than your competition’s. And speaking of competition, looking at your competitors’ websites is a great way to get ideas about what to emulate, as well as what not to do.

In general, you’ll never go wrong if you:

  1. Hook ‘em from the beginning. An attention-grabbing first sentence or headline guarantees that the next line gets read. Once the reader is halfway through sentence two, they might as well finish the paragraph. Unexpected statistics, cultural references and scenarios are a great way to accomplish this goal.
  2. Create a problem. Then, solve it with your products or services. In some cases, this may be a problem your potential customer or client doesn’t even know they have. For instance, were you questioning your web content before you read this post? I don’t know if you realized it or not, but my company writes web content!
  3. Watch QVC. If you want to see sales pros in action, watch QVC. Those hosts don’t just sell gaudy holiday sweaters to old ladies, after all. They run a 26.2-mile word marathon on a daily basis, and they can teach you a thing or two about writing copy that is engaging and that converts. When you’re faced with writing fifty 250+ word pages of unique content, it’s easy to run out of things to say. The QVC hosts never do. They talk about the same product for five minutes at a time, nonstop – and yet it never sounds desperate or overly salesy. Listen to how they present products and companies and try to incorporate similar styles and ideas into your content. If it works for Quacker Factory it’ll work for you.
  4. Keep your tone readable and consistent. There’s a reason people read the copy of a Groupon and ignore a terms of service agreement. Groupon has a great tone that’s enjoyable to read, and terms of service agreements are boring legalese. You don’t have to be out-there wild and witty to produce content that people actually want to read. You just have to be interesting.
  5. Put a call to action on every page. Many of the product and service pages that you’ll find on the Internet don’t contain enough of them, but calls to action are important, and you’ve got to have them. Incentives are sort of like built-in calls to action, so throw them around liberally. “Order today, and we’ll split the cost of shipping with you.” Better yet, offer to ship it free. Remember, using the same line over and over again is cheating, and it’s annoyingly redundant when you’re browsing through multiple pages of content. It’s important to vary your verbiage.

But Wait! There’s More!

Just because your web copy is written and posted to your site, that doesn’t mean your work is done. Make sure that each page links to at least one other page on your site, preferably using SEO-charged anchor text.

And the last step? It’s a simple one: don’t forget about your new content. Tweet links to your new content-rich pages on occasion, then post a notice on Facebook too. Watch your Google analytics to see what your time-on-site and conversion rates look like. If these numbers are not where you want them to be, make adjustments until they are. After all, it’s an art, this stuff. Musicians have their overdub buttons, sketch artists have their erasers, and an artist isn’t happy until the work is done. Web writers? You’ve got your delete key and, sometimes, you’ve got a better idea.

Kari DePhillips is the owner of The Content Factory, an online PR company that specializes in web content writing and social media management. Give her a shoutout on Twitter @ContentFac.

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October 25th, 2011

Email Marketing to the Youth Market, Social Style

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Today’s teens aren’t enchanted by email in the least. A roundup of 167 teen opinions on email, shows that less than half are confident that email even has a future.

Now, 5% of these teens reported that postal mail is already dead, the mail carrier walking by their window notwithstanding. So this does not, as some might assume, mean that email will die out as this generation comes of age.

It simply means that at their stage of life, teens look to communication technology for social connection, and they can connect with more friends at once on social media.

Which is not to say you can’t market to them with email – quite the opposite, in fact. If you’re trying to sell to teens, combining the medium of email with the mood of social networks should do the trick.

Why bother trying to reach them through email?

Reaching teens via email marketing has been and continues to be a viable marketing channel.

Here’s the thing. As teens grow older and start sending more formal communications, they’re going to be pulled into email more and more.

In fact, even now 95% of teens who fan companies on Facebook also subscribe to commercial email. It may not be the place where their buddies are present, but it’ll become the place where they expect to hear from the businesses they’re interested in.

Since you’re not their buddy, and you are a business, this is good. When teens check their email, they’ll be looking for deals, expecting updates and ready to entertain offers.

Plus, with email, you have a much higher chance of your message being seen than on social media, where feeds continually update.

Invite your teenage fans to subscribe now, and you’ll build loyalty with them early. They’ll get to know your emails and your brand, and you can start building relationships with them.

In a few years, when other brands are preening, posing and competing for a spot in their (adult) inboxes, you’ll already be there, a favorite fixture.

Now, how can you create a teen-friendly experience with email?

First, let’s ask establish what kind of experience social media provides.

In one word: community.

Social networks are places where teens can:

  • Share their own opinions.
  • Get feedback on their own ideas and questions.
  • See people that they know.
  • Find out what’s going on in the world.

When teens show up on their social network of choice, they find something intensely relevant and personal to them. So to appeal to them with email, try to bring them the same kind of experience. Slant your campaign toward building a community and involve teen subscribers in your emails as much as possible.

Introduce yourself.

The formal face of a brand isn’t likely to appeal to an audience so accustomed to informality. So write as a person (or a team), not as a brand. Share personal anecdotes or opinions. Include signatures. Include pictures. Let them get to know you.

Invite their replies.
A very common function of social networking is telling other people what you’re thinking.
So when it makes sense for your subscribers to share their questions or opinions, tell them they’re welcome to hit that reply button. (And tell them sincerely, not in a canned, drop-the-same-line-in-every-email way.)

FEATURE those replies. Include quotes as testimonials. Post their questions and then answer them in emails. Include their first names (though not their last, for privacy), so they notice that they’re featured. (You may want to get their permission first – which gives you even more of a chance to interact with them one-on-one.)

Keep it current. Whatever is going on “in the world” is affecting each of your subscribers individual worlds, as well. By relating your marketing emails to the events of the moment, you have a chance to share those experiences with them, further strengthening your sense of community.

And as these teens become adults…

They are going to grow older. But these tweaks designed to appeal to them as teens aren’t something they’re likely to grow out of, like black lipstick or a Skittles-and-root-beer breakfast habit.

They’re molded to the way this generation is growing up, to the way today’s teens expect to communicate online.

Teens may accede to more formal messaging as they grow up, but for the best of both worlds, bring the social element they’ve grown used to.

Amanda Gagnon writes about email marketing for AWeber, a leading email service provider for small-to-medium businesses. For more email marketing tips from AWeber, you can subscribe to their twice-weekly emails here.

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October 24th, 2011

Three Small Business Social Media Success Stories

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Almost 1/5th of all small businesses are currently implementing social media into their daily business procedures.  Some business are just getting started on it while others have been doing it for years. No matter which end of the spectrum you’re on, you can always learn something new.

Here are three case studies we’ve drawn from the pages of Mashable to help you zero in on what works and what doesn’t work in social media.

SteelMaster unites with Facebook. If you’re like SteelMaster, you might think that social media has no benefit to your business.  That was the mindset of the manufacturer of prefabricated steel buildings until they discovered the array of possibilities Facebook has to offer.  All that needed to be done was to find the connection between SteelMaster and the social media world.

Answer: pictures.  Facebook is an excellent way to show off their projects through posting pictures to their page.  It allows them to stay connected with current customers while also providing prospective customers with an idea of what they offer.

Twitter and Facebook also helped SteelMaster develop new leads and enter into markets in which they were previously unknown.  Exposure was created by posting pictures, but also customers sharing photos of their finished product with friends!

Lesson learned: social media can work — even for small B2B manufacturers.

 

Steelmaster found that social media isn’t just for B2C companies — it works for their B2B company as well!

@NeenahPaper. What happens when the phone conversations and in-person meetings you typically depend on fail to provide new customers?  It might be easy to just throw in the towel, but the team at NeenahPaper decided that social media was their way out.

By taking advantage of the ample amount of time their designers and graphic artists spent on the computer, the company stepped onto the Twitter train. Ironically, it was actually their sales force that benefited the most.  Twitter gave each sales person a brand new outlet in developing leads and forming new relationships.  Now, a majority of their business deals occur via the social media world. 

Lesson learned: social media can open new channels for your salesforce to connect with prospects.

 

What do you do when prospective customers don’t answer their phones anymore? You open up new channels of communication the way Neenah Paper did with its social media campaign.

Butter Lane: A Social Media Connoisseur. Do you have a social media page for your business but now feel like it’s time to add one more?  What about seven more?  Maria Baugh, co-owner of Butter Lane cupcake bakery, has discovered the enormous reward social media has to offer.  Her Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Tumblr, Groupon, LivingSocial, and Foursquare pages all serve to enhance her business through customer relations.

Butter Lane relies on social media, like Yelp, to keep track of their customer service and manage it effectively.  Any review or customer feedback sent their way is considered with the highest regard and used to make beneficial changes.  Baugh says that she owes much of the success of her business to social media and the following created from it.

Lesson Learned: Social media can open up a dialogue with prospects and customers, and it can help you keep track of your customer feedback.

 

Butter Lane uses Yelp and other social media platforms to keep track of their customer feedback and customer service.

Those are just a few accounts of the success small businesses have had with social media.  I hope they serve as encouragement for your business and provide some inspiration to step into the world of social media, if you have not already.  But lets not stop there! We would love to hear more stories on how social media has brought success to other businesses.  Feel free to share any comments with us below.

Westley Philippi is a marketing analyst and writer for the 60 Second Marketer.

CategorySocial Media | Comment4 Comments »

October 20th, 2011

Back to the Basics: Video Marketing 101

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In the age of new media, video has become a vital method of communication for marketers. In fact, according to Forrester, 60 percent of online consumers in the U.S. now regularly watch some form of video online, up from 41 percent in 2007. Consumers expect to watch videos on whatever device is most convenient to them at any point in time. In order to effectively communicate with their customers and differentiate themselves from competitors, marketers must provide relevant content on multiple channels and media for around the clock accessibility.

A rule of thumb for good storytelling is “show – don’t tell.” This same rule applies when thinking about good marketing. Everyone loves a good story; how better to tell it than through video?

While adapting to new technologies can be challenging and costly, marketers should embrace the opportunities video offers, such as dynamic content, emotional connection and increased creativity. Through video, companies can connect with their customers in ways prohibited by other media. Unlike text, a video can evoke emotion and create a connection with the viewer through the combination of words, voice, image, music and movement. Unlike still photographs, video captures the viewer and holds their attention as they wait for the next scene.

Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, video is as easy to target toward multiple audiences as traditional text or still images. When distributed across multiple platforms and channels, video can reach various target audiences at once. Adding in social tools, such as allowing viewers to share the video, increases the breadth of any campaign and ensures the reach to a widespread audience.

Incorporating video into the overall marketing strategy is relatively easy when utilizing the right technology. Today there is a multitude of exciting new platforms and tools marketers can use to tie their marketing efforts together. For example, upcoming trends such as QR-codes in advertisements and commercials mean your mobile audience is only a scan away from your mobile website. This adds true value to your customers and gives you insight into response and conversion rates to see what really works.

Given all this, you may wonder how one can implement a successful and dynamic video campaign. The five key points to remember when creating a video marketing strategy are:

  1. Understand your audience.The same basics you ask yourself before starting any campaign still apply to video – what are their likes and dislikes? What language do they speak? What device will they access it on.
  2. Define. What are you trying to accomplish with the video and who are you trying to reach
  3. Base it on your strategy. Video should not stand alone from your other marketing efforts; it should complement them and create synergy with them.
  4. Start small. Dip your toe in the water before you jump in and make a splash.
  5. Refine and scale. Take a look at what worked and what didn’t work. Not every campaign will be flawless.

Successfully integrating video into your communication strategy requires a blend of old wisdom and embracing new technology. Creating and publishing a video is one thing, but communicating your message effectively and maximizing it to its full potential on different devices and in different channels, is another. Make the most of the tools available to ensure success in a cost-efficient and timely manner. Check out this video to hear more from Robert Carroll on video marketing.

Uploaded by Robert Carroll, CMO of Web Content Management Solutions, SDL

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October 18th, 2011

Are There REALLY More Mobile Phones Than Toothbrushes?

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(A note from Jamie Turner: In Go Mobile, the book I’ve co-authored with Jeanne Hopkins from HubSpot, we discuss an often-repeated statistic that there are more mobile phones in the world than there are toothbrushes. To confirm this statistic, I asked 60 Second Marketer contributing writer Nicole Hall to do some research on the subject. Her story of how she approached the research and what she learned during the process is fascinating. I’ve asked her to share her journey with members of the 60 Second Marketer community.)

If you read a lot about mobile marketing, you’ve probably heard the sensational statistic that more people in the world own a cell phone than own a toothbrush.  I, for one, found this statement a little suspect, kind of gross, and very depressing. So, I started digging to figure out whether this stat is true or false. Read on for Mythbusters, 60 Second Marketer Style.

The Mobile Marketing Association of Asia, where this information originally came from, stated that out of the 6 billion people on the planet, 4.8 billion have a mobile phone while only 4.2 billion own a toothbrush. So, the first step to proving or disproving the stat was to find out whether the number of people who own a mobile phone was correct. So, I ran a standard Google search for “number of mobile phones worldwide.”

This number was fairly easy to find, though different sites often reported the numbers differently. However, after perusing several different sites, I settled on a fairly regularly cited stat of 4.6 billion subscriptions. (Check out Chartsbin, for more on this number as well as a cool interactive infographic.)

But it’s important to note that the 4.6 billion figure measures penetration by the number of subscriptions, not the number of people with cell phones. While this may seem a small difference, it really isn’t.

According to BusinessWeek, over 20 countries have mobile phone penetration rates over 100%, with the UAE’s penetration reaching as high as 233%. And according to Chartsbin, the number of countries with over 100% penetration is nearly 60. This indicates that many people who were counted in the MMA’s stat were actually double counted because they have multiple subscriptions. If the penetration rate in these countries is lowered to 100, the number of people that have cellphones drops to around 4.2 billion.

But, to play it safe, we’ve settled on a figure of 4.0 billion mobile users just to make our estimates even more conservative.

Next, I moved on to trying to figure out how many toothbrushes there are in the world to see if the MMA quoted 4.2 billion was correct or not. Now, you’re probably thinking “how hard could it be to find out how many people own toothbrushes?”

Mobile phone users vs. toothbrush users

Are there really more mobile phone users than toothbrush users? We've done the homework and, based on a few assumptions, the answer is yes.

Let me tell you, it’s hard.

The first Google search I entered — “How Many People in the World Own a Toothbrush” — returned pages upon pages of sites that were all quoting the MMA’s stat that “more people in the world own a mobile phone than own a toothbrush.”  It was unhelpful at best, infuriating at worst.

Depending on what syntax I used, I got some marginally helpful facts. For instance, according to environmental website, GreenLivingIdeas.com, each year 50 million pounds of plastic in US landfills can be attributed to discarded toothbrushes. Then, after discovering the average toothbrush weighs 62 grams, I calculated that the US goes through roughly 366 million toothbrushes a year.  However, when considering this only accounted for number of toothbrushes discarded, and only in the US, I hit a dead end.

Ugh.

But not to be discouraged, I continued my search. And finally, after much clever Googling, I found a stat that said Colgate has 34% global market share in manual toothbrushes. Now, if only I could find how many toothbrushes Colgate sells, I could figure out how many toothbrushes are sold throughout the globe! (Again, this would probably include some duplication of people as, hopefully, people replace their toothbrushes, but hey, it was a start.)

Unfortunately, my Google luck had run out, and I could not find how many toothbrushes Colgate sells globally. I couldn’t even find a sales number. However, with nearly three hours already sunk into this project, I was not going to abandon it. Instead, I made contact with Colgate to see if they would let me in on what appeared to be a state secret.

I called Colgate’s media inquiries line, and after much holding and transferring, I was able to leave a message for someone in the toothbrush brand division. It’s worth pointing out here, that everyone I spoke to at Colgate was exceedingly helpful, and all seemed to want to help me get to the bottom of this.

However, as I was waiting for the Colgate employee to return my call, I saw a stat from Oral-B that claimed that the “brushing market” is a $5 billion a year market globally. Aha! Another solid lead. Now all I needed to find out what the average cost of a toothbrush, and divide $5 billion by that number to figure out how many toothbrushes are sold annually.

Unfortunately, the average cost of a toothbrush is also a difficult number to find. However, I took to Amazon and averaged the cost of the top 20 toothbrushes, for an average US cost of $3. Then, to extrapolate what these costs might be in other countries, I looked at the cost of living for 83 countries published in the Mercer Global Cost of Living report.

And here’s where things got exceptionally nerdy. Since the cost of living is expressed in terms of an index, with the base cost of living being the United States, I multiplied the index of each country by $3, the average cost of a toothbrush here. This returned an average cost of a toothbrush to be around $2, which would indicate only 2.5 billion people have toothbrushes.

However, this number was skewed because it did not take population into account. So then, I looked up the population for each of the 83 countries, and divided each country’s population by the total world population to figure out what percentage of the population their country accounted for. Then, using this number, I calculated the weighted average of the cost of a toothbrush. This returned the slightly more satisfying cost of $1.55 per toothbrush worldwide.

It’s important to note here, that many African countries are left out of the cost of living data as the data is not collected there. This probably allowed the average cost of a toothbrush to be slightly higher than it would be if these countries were included.

However, if we use the $1.55 average cost, and Oral-B’s reported market size of $5 billion a year, we find that approximately 3.22 billion toothbrushes were sold last year. Which is, alas, lower than the number of mobile phone owners, which we calculated to be 4.0 billion.

But this number must be taken with a grain of salt. Because most African countries were taken out the mix, which account for nearly 15% of the worlds population, the $1.55 average cost of a toothbrush could actually be closer to $1, which would significantly change the number of toothbrushes sold per year.

So, again, to provide the most accurate numbers possible, we’ve gone conservative and estimated the number of toothbrushes sold last year to be 3.5 billion.

Additionally, it is quite likely that there is not 100% mobile penetration in any country, given the fact that there are children, who all probably do not have phones. Therefore, even when you lower the penetration rate of those 60 countries who reported rates over 100%, it is still probably too high, and indicates that even the countries with rates under 100% are probably overstated as well.

The bottom line: I’m a data junkie, so I love investigating this kind of stuff. That said, it’s really difficult to pin down exact numbers on any of the data we collected, so at some point, you simply have to put a stake in the ground and make some assumptions.

Based on the research we’ve conducted, we feel that there are almost certainly more mobile phone subscriptions than there are toothbrushes on the planet. And, if you make some additional assumptions based on our research, in all likelihood, more people own a mobile phone on the planet than own a toothbrush.

And there you have it.

Nicole Hall is an account manager at BKV Digital and Direct Response and is a contributing writer for the 60 Second Marketer.

CategoryGeneral Marketing | Comment20 Comments »

October 17th, 2011

9 Ways to Build Trust with Your Email Subscribers

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Most of us are all addicted to our email. In fact, more than 90% of Internet users between 18 and 72 say they send and receive email, making it the most popular online activity.

E-mail is a powerful marketing tool because it is intimate. You are among friend’s party evites, family messages and funny forwards that everyone can’t get enough of. You need to develop a relationship with the consumer as well. Otherwise you are just an intruder in a house you don’t belong in.

Treat your email marketing like a friendship and follow the proper etiquette that all good friends stick to:

  1. Don’t be a stranger. You talk to acquaintances only once in awhile, but you speak to a friend frequently, so stay in contact with your subscribers. If you send too many emails, you can definitely become a pest. However, sending too few emails can cause your consumer to start relying on someone else instead. Find the right balance so you will be anticipated, not dreaded.
  2. Be personal. Talk to the consumer like a friend. Be informal. Your tone should sound like you are talking to them, not at them. Use their name and make sure it is spelled correctly! Use information that you know about your subscribers to a add a personal touch, such as wishing them a happy birthday. It doesn’t always have to be about the hard sell.
  3. Get to the point.You don’t want to be that friend who takes 20 minutes to tell a 2 minute story. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to read an e-mail that just won’t end. People are pressed for time, so keep it as short as possible to get across what you are trying to say. Write the email first and then cut it down by half. It will take longer to make the email shorter but it will be worth it in the end.

    Since we're on the topic of e-mail marketing, why not check out a sample of our e-newsletter by clicking the image above?

  4. Maintain consistency. Nothing is worse than someone who is two-faced. You never know which person you are going to get and it can be confusing. You want your emails to maintain a consistent flow that is steady and reliable. Keep this in mind with elements like your company logo, overall email design, from address and name, as well as tone. This will make your email more recognized in a crowded inbox and recipients will appreciate the familiar look so they can better navigate the different elements.
  5. Master the art of timing. A friend knows when “it’s just a bad time.” Your consumers all have a part of the day or week that is best for them in receiving emails. If they are stay-at-home moms, mornings would most likely be best. However, if you are talking to the 9-5 crowd, you might not want to send it at 6pm on a Friday when the last thing they want to do is read an email. Since there are no hard-and-fast rules on the exact best day to send an email, testing is always a good way to figure out when your audience prefers to receive your emails.
  6. Don’t be selfish. A friendship is one where both parties should benefit. So make sure you are giving your subscribers what they want whether it is information or special deals, which should be hinted at in the header of your email. Don’t send pointless emails; all of them should have a purpose. Give the people what they want.
  7. Make their lives easier. Friends are always thoughtful. Since the number of users checking e-mail on their mobile devices has risen by 36%, you should consider developing a mobile platform. This will involve upgrading your campaign to perform properly on the iPhone, iPad, Android phones, Windows mobile platforms and other devices as well as adjusting your content to the smaller screen size.
  8. Don’t hold on when it’s just not working out. Going your separate ways can be difficult, but don’t make it harder than it has to be. If a person wants to stop accepting your emails, they shouldn’t have to jump through leaps and bounds to be able to. Make the unsubscribe link clearly visible because it’s way better to receive an unsubscribe than a spam complaint!
  9. Learn from your mistakes. It is always disappointing when a relationship ends, but it is important that you improve as you move forward. Let your audience provide you with the reason they are unsubscribing so you can prevent future losses.

Email is a much more personal plane of marketing than other forms of communication, such as television, radio and magazines. You are among family, friends and co-workers. This can be to your advantage if used properly.

The take-away: Building trust is the key. Instead of just flooding subscriber’s inboxes with your messages, consider each email carefully. It can make all the difference in your correspondence with the subscriber and whether that relationship is fleeting or enduring.

CategoryEmail marketing | Comment1 Comment »

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October 14th, 2011

How Bayer Brand Managers Blew It

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Those of you who have been part of the 60 Second Marketer community for a long time know that it’s very rare that I bash companies for their marketing efforts.

After all, the people at these companies are human and, as humans, we all make mistakes. Lord knows, I’ve made plenty during my career in marketing.

But whoever oversees branding at Bayer, Inc. should be fired.

Someone at Bayer, Inc. needs to wake up and smell the coffee. They're ruining their brand image by putting their logo on products that can help you (aspirin) and that can kill you (pest control). Make up your mind, Bayer.

There. I said it.

If some college textbook is not already using Bayer as an example of how not to handle a brand, I’d be surprised. For several years now, I’ve been waiting for Bayer to catch on to the fact that they’re making a huge mistake with their brand that only someone straight out of college would make.

Here’s why.

We all know that Bayer is a name we can trust to provide us products that keep us healthy. One of their most popular consumer products is Bayer Aspirin. Millions of people buy Bayer Aspirin each week to alleviate pain and reduce swelling.

But did you know that Bayer also puts their brand name on products that can kill you?

I kid you not.

Bayer has dozens of products that kill insects and pests and their logo is plastered all over these products.

Now, to be honest, I’m not 100% positive that these products will kill humans, but I’m not willing to take the chance testing that hypothesis. I’m going to assume that something toxic enough to kill roaches is toxic enough to kill humans.

My point is this — some person at a very, very high level at Bayer has made an economic decision to keep the Bayer brand name on these pesticide products.

Their logic went something like this:

  • The Bayer brand is trusted by millions thanks, mostly, because we make aspirin that people around the globe buy each week
  • Therefore we should spread this brand wealth across a variety of products, even the ones that kill human beings
  • We’ll save tons of moolah because we won’t have to spend our hard-earned cash building a new brand for those products that kill things

See how boneheaded that logic is? See how microscopic that thinking is? Only someone in a C-Level suite could have come up with something so absolutely silly.

All it would take is a single focus group to dispel the idea that putting the Bayer logo on products that help us (aspirin) and putting it on products that kill us (pest control) is a bad idea.

But in order to arrive at that decision, you’d have to care about what consumers think and feel about your products, which, sadly, has apparently been missed by the people in the upper floors of Bayer’s headquarters.

The bottom line? Someone at Bayer needs to be brave enough to stand up and say “The emperor has no clothes!” They may get fired for saying that (after all, Bayer has a history of making boneheaded decisions), but at least they’d be telling the truth to a bunch of people who apparently don’t want to hear it.

P.S. Do you know who makes Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing? Clorox. Seriously, Clorox makes Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing. Is Clorox boneheaded enough to put the Clorox logo anywhere near the Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing marketing department? Nope. That would be something only Bayer would do.

P.P.S. Seriously, I’m a nice guy. I don’t usually vent like this. But Bayer is making such a huge mistake, someone has to call them on it.

Posted by Jamie Turner, Founder of the 60 Second Marketer and co-author of “How to Make Money with Social Media” and “Go Mobile.” He is also a popular marketing speaker at events, trade shows and corporations around the globe.

CategoryBranding | CommentNo Comments »

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October 12th, 2011

What Are the Hidden Costs of Running a Social Media Campaign?

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According to eMarketer, US companies using social media have spiked from 42% in 2008 to a whopping 80% this year.

Based on that, it looks as though just about everybody is jumping on the social media bandwagon. That’s great. But if you’re going to launch a social media campaign, you’ll need to understand the hidden costs associated with it.

With that in mind, we took a look at some of the hidden and not-so-hidden costs associated with running a social media campaign.

Here’s what we found:

Twitter: If you are looking to launch a new Twitter account, including both setup and outsourcing content creation, costs are on average $2,000-$4,000 per month. Already have a Twitter account, but looking to restructure it? Well, you are looking at a cost of $1,000-$2,500 per month. Not as cheap as you thought, huh? These costs can include tasks such as:

  • Monitoring for related keywords, then pushing links/tweets to those talking about relevant topics
  • Obtaining relevant followers
  • Consistent feed updates

    Despite what you may have heard, social media is not free. There are plenty of hidden costs associated with running a campaign.

Facebook: If you thought Twitter costs were high, take a look at Facebook! PR agencies charge an average $2,500-$5,000 per month with the highest amount reaching up to $9,000! Costs can involve content creation, analyzing and testing as well as other tasks such as:

  • Training
  • Running contests and notifications of new promotions
  • Status updates

Blog: Blogs can be a useful addition to your social marketing campaign and also relatively inexpensive depending on the components you are looking to include. Launching a blog from the ground-up can cost $1,000-$12,000 per month. A blog can include initial setup as well as outsourcing all content creation. Costs can also include additional tasks such as:

  • Blog postings
  • Monitoring and responding to user comments
  • SEO keyword research

Strategy: We are missing a very important component in these prices. Guess what? They don’t include strategy. Without objectives or a definitive game plan, it will be difficult for you to get anywhere with your social media marketing. Social media strategy has a wide range of costs, anywhere from $3,000-$20,000 per month with the average being $4,000-$7,000 per month.

Of course, there are various other social media platforms out there, such as Foursquare, Youtube, Linkedin, etc. However, your company doesn’t need to be on every social network. It’s best to focus on the most popular social sites in order to get the biggest bang for your buck instead of spreading yourself thin across numerous locations.

Also, prices vary based on the size of the business. Smaller businesses, such as the crème brulee man, can manage their Twitter account and other social media at little to no cost with high returns. However, larger companies, such as Best Buy and Starbucks, have more to lose with their social media platforms and must tread lightly.

Don’t let your social media campaign be a shot in the dark. Make the most out of the money that you have, but don’t underestimate the costs of effective social networking when building your budget.

For additional information about the real cost of social media, visit The Content Factory. For information on Social Media ROI, read “How to Calculate the ROI of a Social Media Campaign“  on the 60 Second Marketer blog.

Brittney Leigh Smith is a marketing analyst and a contributing writer for the 60 Second Marketer.


CategorySocial Media | Comment3 Comments »

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October 12th, 2011

5 Ways To Market Smarter with Social Media

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When it comes to a successful social media campaign, the key is to make sure fans, followers and connections aren’t just reading, but engaging in what you have to say. Often, engagement is thought of as being pro-active, but it’s equally as important to use tools that help organize and disseminate information to give you the best chance of getting a good response.

Here are 5 tips to help you market smarter, and one free tool to make it all a piece of cake.

MarketMe Suite

The MarketMeSuite is a cool, free dashboard that can help you market smarter using social media

Tip 1: Organize Your Team

First and foremost you need to organize your social life. If you work as a team, who is managing which accounts? Do you have clients you post on behalf of? Are they posting at the same time as you? These are all questions you need to ask so you never double contact someone. By this, I mean, someone asks a question like “Where do I find info on your return policy?” and 3 different people all reply to that same person. It’s reply inundation and a major turn off. Even if you’re a “one man band” you may wear different social hats. Setting yourself up with different “team” views (even if you’re alone) helps keep you organized and on task.

Tip 2: Geo-Target

Never under-estimate the power of local. Did you know that almost all tweets are now geo-tagged even if not sent from a phone? Use this to your advantage by searching what’s being said about your industry in your location. A restaurant monitoring all tweets about their cafe within 20 miles has a perfect chance to send someone a “thanks for eating with me, mention this tweet code and get 10% off your next meal!”

Tip 3: Stop ignoring Linkedin

Linkedin is still, to some extent, the red haired step child of the “big 3,” behind Twitter and Facebook. But for marketing, there’s a big opportunity. Start Linkedin Groups and start building a following around your brand, and post to it regularly. Get the Linkedin share plugin on your site.

Tip 4: Give Credit

RSS posting is a great way to keep information going out to your followers and fans, but what if the information is not yours? Make sure to marke “RT @ ” the person, or “So and so wrote a great post.”  You do not want your streams to be cluttered with so much information that your following has no idea what’s important. Also, people tend to like being mentioned, and there’s a good chance if you’re posting someone’s feed, they will post yours in return, so let them know!

Tip 5: Be Regular

Granted, you can’t be at your social media dashboard at all hours of the day, but it’s important to have content going out to hit all the time zones you need to interact with. Schedule some posts up for when you’re away (or sleeping) to keep all corners of the world engaged. Just be sure to be ready to respond as soon as you get your computer started the next day.

One Simple, Free Solution to make this all happen for you….

Lucky for you, there is one tool… one FREE tool that helps you do all these things. It’s called MarketMeSuite, and it’s the intuitive social media marketing dashboard.

You can grab it, totally free, here: http://marketmesuite.com/get-app

Posted by Tammy Fennel, CEO of MarketMeSuite. 

 

 

 

 

CategoryFacebook, LinkedIn, Social Media, Twitter | Comment3 Comments »

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October 11th, 2011

The Four-Step Guide to Creating Marketing Videos

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Just a few years ago, video on your website was seen as a flashy, nice-to-have element. But in 2011, video is no longer considered extra marketing fluff and is instead a key element to driving website success. To begin creating professional grade videos for your own site, follow these four simple steps.

Video marketing

Using videos on your website can be extremely effective in marketing your products and services, and it doesn't have to be too complicated.

1.         Make it look good. This means using a sufficient amount of light to make the images look sharp.  You don’t need a big, fancy lighting kit. A couple large reflectors – soft fill lights can do the job just fine. If you can’t afford lights, then at least turn on all the lights in the room and aim a lamp at your subject.

Also, be sure to keep the camera steady.  Jumpy, jiggling video looks awful. Buy a tripod and use it. It does not have to be fancy, just strong enough to hold your camera steady.

2.         Make it sound good. When you are shooting your video, make sure you use a good microphone. It can be a tiny lavaliere mike attached via a cable to the camcorder, or a shotgun mike aimed at your talent. If the location is relatively noise free, you can use a wireless microphone to give your talent more flexibility and freedom to move around.

If possible, have someone listening in on headphones while your talent speaks. By monitoring the recorded audio, with their eyes shut, they will be able to pick up on verbal flubs as well as any noise or mike crackles.  It is always better to catch audio problems during the recording session, rather than trying to fix them later.

3.         Keep the production simple. You don’t need fancy effects, lots of camera moves or a flashy background.   A nice pastel background, with your company’s logo works fine. Keep the demo stage area clean and uncluttered, focusing only on what you are trying to show your viewers.

Video is all about close ups. If the video is all about how the product is used, stay tight on the product. If the video is all about the words coming out of your talent’s mouth, stay with medium shot or a close up of them. We don’t need to see the whole room.

Fancy video effects are cool but unnecessary. To transition between scenes, stay with straight cuts and very quick dissolves.

4.         The most important aspect is to keep your video concise. Keep it short – between three to six minutes and spotlight one or two features that really set your product apart from the competition. It is more effective to do a series of short videos than one long, complicated video with lots of sections and elements.

Not only hip and cool, online video is becoming an essential way to show that your company is an industry and thought leader. Using these 4 tips, you’ll be well on your way to incorporating video into your existing marketing tools.

Posted by Ian Snead of vzaar.com, the leader in hosting online video for business and eCommerce.

CategoryViral Video | CommentNo Comments »

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October 10th, 2011

The Rise and Fall of Advertising Media

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We have all heard that mobile marketing is a powerful new tool, but how does mobile really stack up against other advertising channels? Microsoft Tag representative and friend of the 60 Second Marketer, Nick Martin, passed along this new infographic that shows exactly how influential mobile marketing really is. Enjoy!

Rise and Fall of Advertising Media

CategoryGeneral Marketing | CommentNo Comments »

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The 60 Second Marketer is a free online magazine brought to you by BKV Interactive and Direct Response. We try to provide quick updates on the newest tools, tips and techniques in marketing. We also try to accomplish that with a dose of humor or levity. As it turns out, we're pretty good at providing tools, tips and techniques, but we're not actually all that funny. Which would explain why people don't call us "funny" as much as they call us "laughable." Bummer. Our offices, for those of you who are interested, are located in Atlanta (404-233-0332) and Kansas City (913-648-8333). We also have offices on Bora Bora, but they don't have the phones installed yet.

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