Post #10 – eBay fighting National Sales Tax bill

I was first alerted of this issue on Monday morning when I received the email that eBay sent to millions of their customers or account holders. According to an article on the Wall Street Journal’s website, eBay has been asking users to send letters to Congress in an effort to change a bill that will allow all states to collect sales tax from online merchants, no matter whether they have in-state operations or not.

Basically, this bill would put a sales tax on some of the smaller businesses that people have on eBay, and it would be comparable to that of Amazon or larger retailers. “The legislation treats you and big multi-billion dollar online retailers–-such as Amazon—exactly the same,” said John Donahue, the CEO of eBay. He also personally believes that the company should have to meet certain requirements, such as size and annual sales, to have such a tax.

One of the things I thought was a good way to approach this and was done very well by eBay was the email they sent out to the millions of users, myself included. At first, I didn’t really read into it, or pay much attention. But then I saw all the tweets and articles regarding the matter, and saw what a large issue it could be to a company I use numerous times a year, and thought I’d look into it. The best part about their email that attracted me to their cause was the simplicity of the process. It was formatted in a letter style, and provided a link to send a letter to congressmen. I clicked the link, was given the two easy steps, and quickly filled in my information. After proceeding to the next step, they had used my information to format a lengthy but informational letter to send to congressmen. On top of that, they used my personal information to send the letter to some of my local congressman according to my zip code. There was a huge button to send the letter, and it was as simple as that.

Tying this to Internet Marketing, it shows how asking for your customers help in a situation brings out the loyalty in them for your company. eBay doesn’t want this bill passing, so sending an informational email with a link to help in a quick and easy way makes their company look very good in an effort for you to help them out. Personally, I looked at it like this: they help me with making some money and an easy-to-use website for good purchases, so I can help them out by taking two minutes out of my day by sending a letter with the click of a button. With eBay making an effort to contact their customers, it brings out a lot in the loyalty to their brand, ease and efficiency, and an overall well-thought design and process. It’s a form of marketing their customers, in a different type of way, but nonetheless effective.

Post #9 – YouTube planning to act like a TV channel

Television was a hot topic and brand new technology back in the 1950s and 60s, but recently seems to be having a lot of competition from the internet. Websites such as Hulu, Netflix, and YouTube are drawing large crowds and hits to watch hours upon hours of videos and movie every day. There’s always a discussion about how a lot of tech-savvy people are transitioning from digital cable to the internet for their favorite shows and movies, to cut down on costs. YouTube has recently come out about a new pitch in an article on AllThingsD. In the article, it discusses how YouTube will try and mimic themes from TV channels and bring them to the internet. They’ll be debuting this campaign starting in May, where they have a themed weeks throughout the year.

Pulling a move like this all comes down to making money off of advertisement and traffic. The author of the article, Peter Kafka, believes their logic is to distinguish their video packages of themes for the special weeks from all of the other videos on the topic on their website. By doing this, it’ll give them better options and chances to sell to video advertisers. As much as they can do this, and do this well, advertisers aren’t jumping all over the idea. One advertiser said that they’d still rather reach a specific target audience that’s watching the channel for that specific show, not just a random clip on the giant video website.

To assess this whole situation is basically going to have to take the knowledge to tell what viewers want to see on their programs. Whether it be something they’re watching online or on their TV, are they still inclined enough to pay attention to an advertisement enough to buy their product? Most users, like myself, go to YouTube to check out some neat videos and clips, but are also doing a million other things at the same time. Compare this to TV viewers, who might also be doing other things than watching their TV, and it’s kind-of hard to judge who’s a better audience to sell advertisements to. Personally, I think YouTube could make more money by adding incentives to their users, and it could add more profit to be made off their channels and not just the main ones promoting this sales pitch. All in all, TVs are slowly fazing out because of video content on the web.

Post #8 – Scala’s use of search engine marketing

In David Meerman Scott’s book The New Rules of Marketing & PR, he touches on a company called Scala in chapter 22. That chapter is about search engine marketing, and to me, it looks like Scala has mastered the art form behind it.

The section of the chapter in which Scott talks about Scala is all about fragmented businesses using search engine marketing to their advantage. For example, since Scala is a business using for digital signage, there are plenty of different names they could go by, such as: digital signage, digital merchandising, electronic displays, electronic billboards, and plenty of other names as well. In the world of SEO, this is great for Scala  because they have so many different search names and terms they can draw customers in with. President and CEO Gerard Bucas said he loves this, and that their company relies on marketing through search engines.

On their website (www.scala.com), they are very upfront about what they do, and how you can use their products for your business. Taking up most of the homepage is a shattering lightbulb, which is interactive by the moving shards of glass when you hover your cursor over it. It definitely grabbed my attention, and I’m sure anyone looking to purchase digital signs would give them a lot more of their time.

 

After browsing their website for a little while longer, the many ways they use search engine marketing comes out. They instituted a blog through their domain, and you can read up on plenty of posts about their company. Not only did they have a nice blog right on their website, they also have a page dedicated to all of their news and press releases, where potential buyers can find even more information on new products or release they may have. I think the one thing that tops off all of their information on the site is the video they have explaining their company as a whole, and what customers can expect of them. As I mentioned in my last post, videos are essential in driving traffic and attention to your business.

All of these things boil down to one thing: search engine marketing. Using keywords, phrases, and search terms will bring a lot of attention to your website, and move your company to the top of the search results. Personally, it was very easy for me to find Scala through Google, and they were towards the top of the page on lots of different searches.

It may sound like I work for Scala and I’m trying to promote the company through the blogsphere, but that is not the case; they are simply doing everything right when it comes to this topic. I’d say Scala is successful for many reasons, and one being how well their content is used to market through search engine platforms. Without having a strategy that conforms to a great website, the business would fall under, and Scala seems to be growing rather rapidly.

Post #7 – Videos

With my previous topics involving news release and the power one controls by releasing them, there’s an even better more technological way one can spread news or information via the web. I’m sure you’ve heard of it; it’s called video.

YouTube is the largest video-sharing website in the world. According to Shama Hyder Kabani, she says “More than 40 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube each minute, and Cisco predicts that video will drive 80 percent of web traffic within the next four years,” (The Zen of Social Media Marketing, 162). With eye-boggling statistics like these, it would be silly NOT to have a YouTube channel for your company or business.

ESPN’s YouTube channel.

One example I’d like to point out is the worldwide leader in sports, ESPN. Their YouTube channel is using an old-layout, which has changed rather recently, but you get the overall picture of their design. Like most channels, they have a featured video that can automatically play, playlists on the right side, and views/subscribers.

With ESPN being the leading network for sports coverage, the amount of news they have going through their offices amongst sports every day is a lot, to say the least. Using YouTube to their advantage, the generous people over at ESPN upload just about every clip you will see on TV to their channel. Since the recent Rutgers coaching scandal happened this week, their featured video is the footage and interviews about the case. It’s simple for users to see, and they can browse all other clips and recent footage from the page as well.

Jack Vale’s YouTube channel. He has plenty of links to his social media sites, along with an endorsement from a prank company.

For those that aren’t as big as ESPN, they can use video editing skills and creativeness to make a decent living off their YouTube videos. Take Jack Vale for example. He lives off pulling pranks on citizens in the streets of California. His channel is apart of YouTube’s newest layout, which has a very clean design. He links to his various social media sites, which is basically him selling his brand and product to you, only his products are prank videos.

Since Jack Vale makes money through ads that show up on his videos, the more viewers he has, the more potential money he’s bound to make. You can also see the “BUY A POOTER” link on his header. It’s a prank company that endorses Jack, so the more he markets their product, the more he makes in that area as well.

All in all, videos are the fastest and newest ways to spread news and information. ESPN uploads hours of sports coverage per day, which helped myself and millions of others decide the best way to destroy our March Madness brackets. People like Jack Vale wouldn’t have fun jobs if it weren’t for YouTube, and marketing an online prank show is very simple with what you can do through social media and video sharing these days. I’m predicting the market overflowing with video content in the next few years, which is a lovely thing.

Post #6 – The power of news releases

For this week’s post, I decided to take David Meerman Scott’s example out of his book The New Rules for Marketing & PR. Scott mentioned how he was on Google looking for ideas for a keynote speech he had to give, and came upon a company called WebEx. He was searching for “accelerated sales cycle” and this site’s news release came up first in Google’s results. The same thing happened in the Google News section. Scott spoke with Colin Smith, director of PR for WebEx, and he explained how much power new releases have through Google. “Google and news keywords have really transformed the news release as a distribution vehicle,” said Smith.

The point here is that news releases are not dead, like most people think. David Meerman Scott is just one example of many people that search for these keywords, and it shows that someone can bring a lot of traffic to a company through SEO (search engine optimization). The phrase, “accelerated sales cycle”, was one that WebEx used in optimizing for their search. This means that when people like Scott search for that, a news release from WebEx will appear as the first link. By doing this, the company owned by Cisco can reach a lot of buyers. Not only using this one phrase or keyword, but plenty of others throughout all of their news releases. Also, what the company does with these news releases is vital to grabbing attention of the maximum potential buyers. They can litter the article with links to their products or sites, and including share buttons can help spread the word about a new product via social media. Reaching the maximum amount of potential buyers is the main goal of a PR professional in writing news releases.

Search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing are main catalysts as to how news releases and companies can stay afloat during this ever-changing digital age. Optimizing searches through keywords and phrases can bring in a ton of consumers and customers, and promoting these products in news releases can lead to plenty of success for a company. WebEx is owned by Cisco, so their reach for buyers looks great from the start. However, promoting news releases on the company’s website and marketing through social media and search engines is key to bringing in the audience you want; it worked well for David Meerman Scott.

The digital world today is short and simple for the most part, as we limit most information to 140 characters or less. This is not the case for important news releases, and with help from search engines, it looks like they’ll be around for a while.

Post #5 – News Releases

Across the internet there are tons of article and releases put out by news corporations. Websites such as BusinessWire.com, Marketwire.com, and PRNewswire.com are some of the largest websites to post news releases, and even search engines like Yahoo and Google are gaining a lot of traction through them as well. By a company posting a release on a product or anything related to their business, it spreads the word about what they currently have going on and why the reader should connect with them.

Take a look at this release from PR Newswire. It talks about how American Airlines is the official airline of the SXSW festival, and is practically their “super sponsor”. The major airline has a lot of contests and giveaways going on throughout the festival, and the release also speaks about their presence on social media. By putting out a release like this, it obviously brings major attention to American Airlines. The SXSW festival is huge and brings in a lot of people from around the country and world, so having an airline be the biggest sponsor and bragging about it is a very smart move. Publishing a news release on a large PR website, the SXSW website, and AA.com is a great way to reel in a lot of the attention, consumers, and customers. To post the release with all of the information on other websites, there is a price to pay, through news release coverage on the online news services. Nonetheless, you have to spend money to make money, and American Airlines can count on that philosophy when it comes to sponsoring such a heavy load in the SXSW festival this year.

As David Meerman Scott mentions in his book The New Rules of Marketing and PR, “…creating links from your news releases to content on your website is very important.” AA does this through the release on PR Newswire, and having the consistent social media sharing buttons associated with the article makes it very easy and accessible for readers like us to spread the word about their airline sponsoring the festival, their giveaways, and where to connect with them. Buyers are flooding the internet looking for hot deals and ways to connect with companies they buy from. Ease and accessibility go hand-in-hand, and publishing an article promoting the company through several news websites that all link back to your company is the best way to go in marketing for your company.

Post #4 – Old Spice’s Facebook

Making a presence for your brand online is probably the most important thing you can do for marketing. Clearly, Facebook is the leading website one can use for free advertising and connecting with consumers and customers. One company I found to dominate the world of Facebook and promote their brand in excellent ways was Old Spice.

With a company that sells products like deodorant, body spray, and other fragrance  essentials, there’s specific ways you attract fans, consumers, and customers. They make these products specifically for men, so making their online presence comforting for a typical male is the best way to go. They’ve definitely done it well on Facebook.

When you first click on a page on Facebook, you see the profile photo, information, and cover photo. Old Spice has their logo right up front, and markets themselves well with their latest products in the cover photo. For example, they have a new line called “The Wild Collection” with names such as Wolfthorn, Hawkridge, and Foxcrest. The cover photo shows a wolf paw in a suit holding the new product. This automatically drew me into their page for a couple reasons: the humor of it and also the creativity. Wild animals in suits is always a joy, but just how clean and professional their page looks shows how top-of-the-line company they truly are.

On top of just the look of the page, Old Spice connects with their customers in comments, frequently posts relevant pictures and funny videos, and they even sell clothing associated with the Wild Collection line of fragrances. All in all, Old Spice continually comes up with new ways to interact and engage with their audience, and I think it’s the best Facebook marketing I’ve seen.

Old Spice is very well known for their advertising, especially in commercials with celebrities. They bring humor and manly-man actions to the table for their marketing, and excel with it in all areas on social media, especially Facebook.

Post #3 – Nike’s ‘Find Your Greatness’ Social Media Campaign

Nathan Sorrell starred in one of Nike’s biggest commercials of the London Olympics.

Through last year’s London Olympics, Nike launched what is called one of the best social media campaigns of 2012.

In this campaign, used through mostly Twitter and Youtube, Nike posted pictures, videos, and inspirational messages about how anyone can “find greatness”. The main idea behind the campaign was to show that anyone can become whoever they wanted, possibly like some of the Olympic athletes that millions of people were watching religiously on TV. In one of their most successful advertisements, Nike had a minute long commercial starring Nathan Sorrell of London, Ohio (how ironic) and shows him running down a farm road. Sorrell most likely isn’t the smallest kid in his class, and some people found this degrading. However, in the big picture, Nike and millions of people found it as motivation to strive to become a fit and active person and achieve greatness. While doing so, hopefully wearing Nike products, of course.

The ad, which is on Nike’s YouTube channel, now has over 1.6 million views.

Personally, this type of advertisement is perfect for the event they were marketing it in. Nike aired these commercials throughout the Olympics, and rightfully so. Using video and tweets to their advantage, Nike reached the greatest audience through social media during this time. Young, active, sports-enthusiasts were tuning into the Olympics on a daily basis for a couple of weeks, and were bombarded by these videos with a hashtag. When logging on to Twitter and tweeting about the events (as most Olympic/sports nuts do), they saw promoted hashtags and tweets by Nike about #FindYourGreatness. Getting behind a campaign that was inspirational for millions of views and that promoted being active was popular amongst the Olympic viewers.

Just as Shama Hyder Kabani said in her book The Zen of Social Media Marketing, “Social media is where the people are.” And on YouTube and Twitter during the 2012 London Olympics was where the best possible audience was for this marketing campaign.

Overall, I’d nominate Nike for the best social media marketing campaign of the year for these sets of advertisements. They marketed their brand and product to their target and primary audience, and did it at the perfect time, during the 2012 London Olympics. Using the concepts of active, fit, young people and the inspirational mood set things off for Nike. I wouldn’t do anything differently, and they should definitely do this (or something similar) for every year there are Olympics.

Post #2 – McDonald’s ‘Let’s Talk’ Blog

Since the reading for this week was centered around blogs, I figured I could take a piece out of Scott’s The New Rules of Marketing and PR book and talk about a large corporation’s blog. He mentioned how McDonald’s has a blog that opens the discussion about their corporation, and how it is run. After looking it up, I found McDonald’s blog, and it’s entitled “Let’s Talk”.

I’m not sure whether it’s the exact blog Scott was referring to in the book, but it seems to have the same concept. McDonald’s states at the top of the page, “Great things are always happening at McDonald’s. This the place where you can share in exciting stories and experiences from around the world.” Basically, the largest fast-food company in the world wants people to share their experiences from around the world at their various locations. When looking at their posts, which was hard to find I may add, it isn’t updated very often; it hasn’t been updated on a regular basis since September 2012. And even when it was updated frequently, there weren’t many vistors (ranging from a few hundred to a couple thousand).

A screenshot from McDonald’s “Let’s Talk” blog.

To analize this blog, I’d sum it up saying it isn’t maintained enough to be considered good. Scott outlines four uses of blogs for marketing and PR, and McDonald’s has a good thing with this website according to what Scott says. They start conversation, provide information about their company, and let there be an open discussion. The problem lies with McDonald’s not having enough interaction from the public and customers to make it worthwhile or very good. As far as the website and concept go, it looks great and is a good overall idea. Since McDonald’s undergoes scrutiny for being a factor in making this country obese, it looks like having something other than Facebook and Twitter for customer interaction would be excellent. However, they just don’t have the numbers on this site for it to be effective.

One way McDonald’s can fix the issue of their blog not getting much attention is to market it a little more. It wasn’t easy to find through their homepage of McDonalds.com, because it was hidden beneath a lot of other sites and on their “About” page. If they made it a little more prominent on their homepage, and shared links on Facebook and Twitter where they get most of their feedback, I believe it could blow up and become something very useful.

Post #1 – Toyota’s RAV-4 Super Bowl XLVII Ad

With Super Bowl XLVII being last week, there were a ton of advertisements and marketing campaigns that cost some serious money to stick out to the large audience. Some of them were funny, others serious, but most of them were somewhat a let down compared to years past. Although most of the ads from this year’s Super Bowl weren’t very good in my mind, there were a few that I found decent. Of these select few, I believe Toyota’s RAV-4 advertisement and campaign was the best.

Kaley Cuoco as a RAV-4 genie in Toyota’s commercial (photo credit: TheCarConnection.com)

In this commercial produced by car manufacturer Toyota, Big Bang Theory star actress Kaley Cuoco plays a genie that grants a family of four wishes related to the RAV-4 vehicle. Each member of the family has their own wish, and they pick things unrelated to the RAV-4, except for the father who wanted the spare tire removed. The non-RAV-4-related wishes were humorous and family related, which made it great for everyone. Cuoco playing a very stylish, good looking genie branded the product very well, and people probably think after seeing this, “If she approves of the RAV-4 and has one, then I should too!” Overall, the concept of what they wanted to get across was spot-on.

When it comes down to how well the commercial did statistically, the numbers look very good. According to FoxBusiness.com, Toyota’s ad has the highest view-count on YouTube out of all other 2013 Super Bowl commercials, currently at about 16-million. One aspect that helped feed this advertisement was the teaser put out by Toyota before the big game. The teaser commercial landed over 3-million views on YouTube. Statistics also show on the FoxBusiness article that companies that showed pre-game teasers earned 600% more views for their campaigns than companies who did not produce teasers. On top of that, the top four Super Bowl XLVII ad campaigns each had teasers. A hashtag that became trending on Twitter, #WishGranted, was perfect for this advertisement and got the ball rolling for their campaign even more.

Looking at Super Bowl ad campaigns from the past few years, it’s easy to see that there is a simple criteria a company needs to follow; either be funny or serious, use social media to your advantage, and use good looking women. Toyota did all of these things in this advertising campaign. First, they started the commercial with their RAV-4 car, and the stunning Kaley Cuoco appeared to grant wishes. What type of guy watching football wouldn’t be drawn in to that? They they used family-based humor to connect to many types of adults and kids, and ended their commercial with their hashtag #WishGranted. Toyota successfully incorporated advertising on YouTube, with their teaser and full commercial, netting over 20-million views and making their ad one of the most talked about. All in all, Toyota made one of the few very successful Super Bowl ads this year, and I’m almost positive it will reflect in their company’s sales statistics.