Category Archives: Marketing

Lemonade.com deserves to succeed

Posted on by

I’ll tell you why. Last week I checked out their site and was impressed by their product, their site and their plan of action. What I didn’t like was the business model. It wasn’t solely based on affiliate marketing but enough of it was to throw it in that direction. I wasn’t so much railing on their business model as I was the whole notion of affiliate marketing in general as a business model. I just have never been wild about having to rely on other peoples traffic for the success of my product or business.

Well after saying as much, about an hour later or so I received the following email from Thomas Zawacki the Co-founder and CEO of Lemonade.com:

I read your blog and appreciate your opinion. Like you, I have been in the internet marketing industry for a long time. I agree with you that relying on an affiliate program as your sole source of income is a very difficult business to be in. That is exactly why we have built the Lemonade Social Commerce Server to be able to receive data feeds from a variety of revenue generating opportunities. Currently, we have integrated revenue from commissions from sales (affiliate deals), cost per acquisition offers (CPA deals), cost per click ads (CPC) and cost per thousand online advertising offers (CPM deals). The Lemonade Social Commerce Server also has the flexibility to add auction based revenue streams (e.g., Ebay) and revenue a user might get from selling their own products. All coming soon. In addition to aggregating revenue streams in our flexible back-end, the user experience must allow for three things to happen: 1) easy to join and set up the application (e.g., widget or Lemonade Stand); 2) easy for the consumer find what they want and interact with; and 3) the Lemonade Stand owner must make a significant amount of money per month to make it worth while – this is a combination of impression levels, click-through rates, conversion rates, etc.It takes under 3 minutes to set up a Lemonade Stand. Lemonade Stands live at http://www.lemonade.com and/or as a widget/application on Facebook, Blogger, and other key distribution points. This means that there is a built in amount of traffic to the stands that our users can monetize. Lemonade Stand owners can then make money via four different revenue streams, commissions from sales, CPA deals, CPC or CPM ads. This aggregated revenue is what makes it worth it to the user, not solely the returns from affiliate deals.Thank you for validating our model. We hope millions of people have fun setting up their Lemonade Stands, enjoy the social community aspects of http://www.lemonade.com, and make a bit of money along the way to pay their cell phone bills, donate to a good cause, or buy that gift for the holidays that their loved one really wants.

TRZ

So riddle me this. Here is the CEO of a company, taking time out from his busy daily schedule to actually reply with thought, meaning and honesty on a) why I was partially right and b) why I might be wrong. And yet, he feels that it is worth his while to respond.

This tells me a few things. First, here is someone that knows what the viral effect of blogs can have on a company. Second, rather than getting defensive, he decides to point out why he thinks their product will bet better. So now, instead of me saying, “boy what a jerk”, he gets, “Boy, what a class act”!

I don’t know if his widget will set Web 2.0 on it’s ear, but if I were to teach how to be the CEO of a company, what he did would certainly be a lesson.  he took the time to address a blog that mentioned his company, spun it in his favor and didn’t burn a bridge in the process. He made an ally.  So what if he only responds to one a day, or whatever. The fact is, he took time out, to handle a little guerilla marketing on his own. A little hand to hand, if you will. Good Job TZ.

Top 15 search results this past week…

Posted on by

Here is what we as a society care about, according to the Lycos 50.

top-15-searches.jpg

Thats great, Poker, Paris Hilton, Golf Clubs, Project Runway, Britney, MySpace, and Clay Aiken (wtf?). Interestingly enough, stretching beyond the top 15 and looking at the next 10, there is absolutely nothing in there about, global warming, world hunger, the Iraq war, the presidential election or the oil spill in S.F.,  Though in the 20 spot we do have something about pink ribbons and breast cancer awareness-finally a web search about something with meaning and substance. Without going any further, I can assure you that all we care about are things that stimulate us one way or the other.

43% of teens who instant message use it for things they wouldn’t say in person.

Posted on by

Further enhancing the notion that you don’t need “beer muscles” to say something outrageous, America’s teens have now resorted to hiding behind their pc’s to say things to people they otherwise would not say face to face.

However, on the flip side IM’ing has led to a  significant spike in dates to the mall and the movies  since Twenty-two percent of teens use IMs to ask people out on dates or accept them. Unfortuntaely, fearing the fallout from rejection and or puppy dog eyes, 13%  have used IM for breaking up.

Interestingly enough for parents, this latest data has shot holes in their notion that their teenage son or daughter was banging out the rough draft on that report due next tuesday. Instead, nearly half of teens age 13 to 18 said they use instant messaging.

Among teenagers, about half of girls and more than a third of boys said they have used instant messages for things they wouldn’t say in person. Which means whatever you want it to mean, and we’ll leave it at that!

Teens also dominate when it comes to high usage. One in 10 say they spend three hours or more a day instant messaging, that’s right 3 hours. Nearly a fifth, or 17%, send more than 100 IMs daily. Ok so lets do some math. They go to school from 7:30 to 3, then there might be practice or homework or a job, so that means the better part of the evening is spent IM’ing. There is a some sort of cultural message there, but I’ll let you figure that out on your own.

The online survey of 410 teens and 836 adults was conducted from Oct. 25-Nov. 5 by Knowledge Networks. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 6 percentage points for teens and 4.3 points for adults.

Search Quotient

Posted on by

 I came across this site this morning and thought it was cool, but….

SearchQuotient.com looks at a URL and key words then instantly reports a composite score reflecting a website’s ranking on major search engines. The higher the “SQ”, the higher the ranking on search engines. SearchQuotient’s staff then offers a customized plan for increasing the site’s position on major search engines.

Only one  problem: The site’s “free” tool didn’t work. Talk about a bad first impression! Which begs the question,  Who should be at fault? Transmedia Group, who released a Press release this morning or Search Quotient for not testing to make sure their tool was ready before releasing the tool?

Either way, though there are lots of free tools out there that do virtually the same thing. I’m sure they would like another shot at proving that what they have to offer works.

Thinking of marketing to Gen X’ers? Do it!

Posted on by

 Hey all of you marketing folks out there. Consider the numbers below:

— 62 percent say they live paycheck to paycheck.

— 56 percent have an outstanding credit-card balance of $3,000 or more.

— 62 percent of women say they have not bought any investment products.

— 45 percent of women would buy 30 pairs of shoes before saving $30,000 in retirement assets.

— 65 percent of women and 48 percent of men said they do not know how a mutual fund works.

— Nearly 65 percent did not know that when interest rates go up bond prices typically go down.

— 38 percent of women have not started saving for retirement

If they aren’t investing in their future, then they must be investing in something right? How about themselves? Face it Gen X’ers are saddled with the same thing they were tagged with 10 years ago. That all they cared about was themselves. So what has changed? Nothing and the above numbers prove that out.

So if you’re a direct marketer, an email marketer, or any type of marketer, forget about the Baby Boomers for a minute and consider this audience.  They are living for today and tomorrow can wait. How much is that iphone again? and can I get that in leather?

Boomers might kick the tires, but the Gen X’ers will want the tires with the 17 inch rims.

VOIS, What do you know about it?

Posted on by

Vois  is one of the fastest growing, global social networking communities for people ages 18
and over today. And you’ve never heard of it. Go figure huh? Now let the word global sink in for a second, and  then read the following stats. Social networking growth is quickly becoming a worldwide phenomenon. By the end of this year, Asia will account for 35% of the world’s social networking users, with 28% of users in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, 25% in
North America, and 12% in the Caribbean and Latin America, according to research firm Datamonitor Plc. That means that ASIA is  the largest user of social networks in the world. That’s right, the world.

According to a Goldman Sachs report, the fastest growing economies in the world are  Brazil, India, China and Russia or BRIC’s.  The next 11 countries or the N-11, that are the next future important economies are Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Korea,
Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Turkey and Vietnam.

So follow me here because you’ll see why VOIS (pronounced voice) in particular could be bigger than Facebook and MySpace combined. Due to the incredible growth rates of the BRIC economies, their combined GDP is predicted to overtake the combined GDP of the major developed economies of the US, Western Europe, and Japan in the next 40 years or less.

Now here’s the skinny on VOIS.  VOIS accordingly has made significant inroads in obtaining significant market share in many of the BRIC and N-11 nations. According to Alexa.com, VOIS ranks within the top 15,000 websites worldwide and within BRIC and N-11 nations VOIS is already within the top 5000 websites in Egypt (523) and Iran (4,575), within the top 10,000 websites in Indonesia (3,778) and within the top 20,000 websites in India (12,223) and Mexico (18,871).

 VOIS.com’s goal is to become a top website within many of the BRIC and N-11 nations within the next year and plans to pursue more market share and expand global reach by launching localized language-specific content-specific versions of their website in each of the BRIC Countries and the N-11.

According to the CIA World Factbook, the BRIC  countries collective presently possesses more mobile phones and Internet users than in the U.S., while the Internet News Agency reports that the BRIC middle class is expected to exceed 800 million in the next ten years, a demographic larger than the United States, Western Europe and Japan
combined.

So if you are a marketer, or advertiser, or a cell carrier, etc etc and you think you’re little world here in the United States is all about you and your social network, and your niche, well you better think again. it’s a big world out there and they are coming fast and they are coming hard.

Top 10 Search Results… Surprise surprise..Facebook

Posted on by

WALTHAM, Mass., Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ — Lycos, Inc. , today
announced the following information from The Lycos 50, the 50 most
popular Internet search results for the week ending Nov. 3, 2007.

There are some interesting results as usual, so I will provide my running acerbic, commentary for comedic relief.
    Biggest Movers and Shakers for Week Ending Nov. 3, 2007:

    1.  Robert Goulet                    800 % (You thought the net was just for the 18-34 demo?)
    2.  Bee Movie                        700 %( Seinfeld reincarnated )
    3.  American Gangster                162 % (Denzel and Crowe will always pull)
    4.  Reese Witherspoon                142 % ( Is it cause she’s cute?)
    5.  Keith Richards                   140 % (slurrrrrs..another coconut tree?)
    6.  Thanksgiving                     132 % (Understandable)
    7.  Facebook                         100 % ( You knew it was gonna happen)
    8.  Katie Holmes                     173 % ( People are still asking, why Tom?)
    9.  Christmas                         61 % ( It’s the annoying Zales commercial again)
    10. NCAA                              55 % ( I’m an 11 year old boy, how do I search?)
    Notes of Interest:
 Facebook (#25) makes its first-ever appearance on the Lycos 50,
generating more searches this week than popular web search mainstays
Dragonball (#27), RuneScape (#31) and Wikipedia (#34). Although MySpace
(#19) still ranks higher in search activity, Facebook’s open source policy
regarding applications, combined with other unique functionality, has
allowed it to soar in popularity.

ThoughtOffice

Posted on by

I came across the site of one of the people who has ventured upon our blog here and decided to check it out. The site is called ThoughtOffice<—Dispel any notions you might have of the “thought police”. This site is essentially an incubator for your ideas.

Here’s a blurb…

“Get creative. Solve big problems fast. Craft intelligent, compelling presentations in minutes. Instant access to PhD, MBA and Domain Expertise. 13,920 Questions. 7,420,000 answers. Develop your ideas, perfect, organize, protect and share with ThoughtOffice.”

With ThoughtOffice you will:
     

  • Develop an idea a minute.
  • Install and get productive in under 5 minutes.
  • Craft a winning presentation in 10 minutes.
  • Solve a big problem with precision in 30 minutes.
  • Coach an executive in real-time.
  • Craft a term paper at the 11th hour.
  • Storyboard a video in 30 minutes.
  • Comp 5 killer ad concepts in 30 minutes (with stock photos!)
  • Write a business plan in 1/5th the time.
  • Solve a personal or business conflict in an hour

    •  

    Check it out. I’m tempted to try it. Maybe Mark Effinger, will let me test drive it??? That’s not too blatant is it?

     

A Word to Mobile Marketers: Dumb it Down.

Posted on by

 By 2010, over 300 million people  will be using mobile phones and PDA’s. The five big verticals of mobile marketing and search will be : Consumer Package Goods, Fast Food, Entertainment, Travel, and Financial. Two other  industries not to ignore however, are gaming and adult.  In all of these market segments though, there will always be a need to vomit the information to the consumer, if you will.

Graphic analogies aside, what marketers need to have, to steal a line from “Top Gun”. Is a “need for speed”. having said that, internet marketers and web designers have to build their mobile sites in a completely different way for mobile users. Below is a short list of things that will need to be done in order for the experience to be a positive one for mobile users.

1) Keep the layout simple and compliant to the device(more on this later)

2) Small URL’s. At some point, someone will have to type in your mobile URL into their device.

3) No Forms. Why you would want forms on a mobile site escapes me, but if you stay in the business long enough, you tend to see it all.

4) Make the naviagtion simplistic and linear. Keep the user going down  a logical path.

5) Be specific in the content, so that the user finds what they are looking for quickly. Bear in mind that mobile users have an immediate need and reason for surfing mobile content, give them a quick result.

6)  Limit the number of clicks and drill downs for the user to get their information.

7)  Refrain from using graphics and ads. They will only cloud the page and the result and slow the results to a crawl.

8)  No scripting, no plugines and no tables.

9) Try and develop a page that can be navigated using one hand. I know it’s virtually impossible but, put yourself in the users place.

10) Make the content accessible regardless of device and regardless of bandwidth needs.

11) Keep the following specs in mind as well:

  • 120 pixel screen width
  • Use XHTML
  • Use UTF-8 character encoding
  • Use JPEG’s and GIF’s
  • Page size should be 20Kb’s
  • Color: 256 min.
  • No scripting
  • Css1 style sheets
  • Http/1.0
  • No image maps
  • Limit Links

You’ll save yourself a lot of grief and headaches if you, wanting to cash in on mobile marketing, subscribe to certain design constraints when building your mobile ready websites. I know there are others that still need to be discussed, but the above should help in at least giving you a small checklist to utilize in your quest to be part of the next great marketing boom. Remember KISS! (Keep it simple, stupid.)

Click Fraud is on the rise.

Posted on by

 Recently The Click Fraud Index run by Click Forensics  showed that click fraud rate was on the rise. What you will find interesting about these numbers are

Key findings from data reported for Q3 2007 include:

  • The overall industry average click fraud rate was 16.2 percent for Q3 2007. This is an increase from 13.8 percent for the same quarter in 2006 and from 15.8 percent for Q2 2007.

cfq.jpg

  • The average click fraud rate of PPC advertisements appearing on search engine content networks, including Google AdSense and the Yahoo Publisher Network, was 28.1 percent in Q3 2007. That’s up from 25.6 percent for Q2 2007, 21.9 percent for Q1 2007 and 19.2 percent for Q4 of 2006.
  • Over 60 percent of traffic from parked domains and made for ad sites was click fraud
  • In Q3 2007, the greatest percentage of click fraud originating from countries outside North America came from France (4.2 percent) China (4.1 percent) and Germany (3.7 percent

Publishers and advertisers have recently felt the impact click fraud is having in the content networks. Increasingly, publishers are seeing a performance drop in the content network traffic quality. Advertisers are seeing their conversion rates drop significantly on content networks because of bad traffic coming from parked domains and other low quality sources.

“Click fraud activity continues to grow especially on made for ad sites, parked domains and on the content networks,” said Tom Cuthbert, president and CEO of Click Forensics. “Advertisers, publishers and search engines need to take notice because content networks are becoming the fastest growing source of click fraud. Ensuring their quality is essential for the pay per click advertising market to continue its growth