Tag-Archive for ◊ advertising ◊

Every facet of internet marketing has its own vocabulary, and for beginners it can be difficult to effectively communicate your wants needs without a proper understanding of the terminology.  Terms like “Open Rate”, “Click Rate”, “Conversion Rate” and “Cost-per-Click” can be a little intimidating for people when they are just getting started.

Without at least a basic understanding of the language of email marketing, it can be difficult to know what you need to track and what the measurements can tell you about the success or failure of your campaign.

What follows is a list of ten terms that are commonly used with email marketing campaigns, what they mean, how they are normally calculated and why it’s important to you. more…

Can a product be too good for its own good?

We’ve all heard the expression “it’s too good to be true”.  That’s something that as marketers, we have to be careful not to create when we promote our products – no matter how great or innovative they may be.  People often have preconceived ideas about what various products can and can’t do, and claims of performance that go beyond those expectations may be viewed as unrealistic and unbelievable.  If your customer thinks you are exaggerating the performance of your product, they may still be willing to try it, but will not be willing to pay the price you expect for such an industry break-through.  Your customers see the transaction as risky and will want to limit possible losses.    Even if your products do all you say and more, if people don’t believe you, the perceived value of your product will lessened.

What if your product was a talking dog?

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Communications can be a challenge

You’ve heard it a 1,000 times over, you must advertise to keep your business afloat.  For many businesses though, effective communication with consumers is one of their biggest challenges.  You must try to think like your customer, put yourself in their shoes. That’s not always an easy task.  Often advertisers are so caught up in the copy, the design, the music and the ‘call to action,’ that they forget to consider the surroundings and circumstances under which the ad will be seen consumers often end up seeing advertising which probably cost more money to create that it brings in.  Not all mistakes are so big that they jump out at you, little ones happen too – but they can damage your image just as easily.  Whether you are a do-it-yourselfer or a big agency it can be easy to over-look mistakes when you are so closely involved in a project.    Larger advertisers may have the time, money and resources to do A/B testing or focus groups.  It’s my opinion though, that because humans like to make others happy the people being watched and/or tested will inherently try to figure out what the tester wants and give it to them.  Testing, if possible, is an important and useful tool – just use the data you acquire carefully.  Lastly, I strongly urge you to have someone without a vested interest in your advertisement, and who has never seen any version of it, look at it to make sure that it gives the intended message and does not make you look like a jack-ass.  I hate to tie this back to lawyers, but much of what they quote is based on what a “reasonable person” would do.  Put your ads to the same test – what would a reasonable person see, think and feel when they experience your ad?  I offer a few samples I think should have a “reasonable person” test. more…