marketing communications
Tips, trends, and reviews
to help you maximise your marketing
| BusinessBYTES |
| News you can use, from Steve Calder |
| October 2007 |
|
Welcome to BusinessBYTES. If you’re anything like me, you’ll now be scratching your head wondering why on earth you’ve received yet another enewsletter. The answer, of course, is: you ticked a box – at www.stevecalder.com. But fear not: although you may unsubscribe at any time –– by clicking the link at the end of this message – I’m willing to bet you’ll choose not to. Why? Simple mathematics: each edition of businessBYTES takes just five minutes (or less) to browse. Yet it’s chockfull of easy–to–digest hints and tips, news and info to help you maximise your productive time, hone your marketing and save you money. This month’s MoneyMatters, for example, could help cut the cost of your next iPod by £40.00 or more. That’s a five minute read, for a £40 saving. Equates to a reasonable hourly rate, doesn’t it? Given which – and to ensure you receive each issue of BusinessBYTES without fail – why not take a further half–minute to ‘white list’ us (to stop your SPAM filter blocking future copies). Just add news@stevecalder.com to your address book, with ‘Steve Calder’ in the Name field. And you’re done. Now, without further ado… |
|
SEARCH SAVVY Black Hat SEO Keyword stuffing Similarly, ‘cloaking’ – publishing keywords in the same colour as the site background (rendering them visible to search spiders, but not the naked eye) – is an absolute no–no. Be assured: offending sites will be spotted – and banned. Link exchanges With Search now regarded as a key weapon in the online marketer’s armoury, is it really worth taking the risk?
NOTABLE QUOTABLES
SITE SPOTLIGHT Moneysupermarket.com – Compare and Buy Comparison service, Compareandbuy.com – which is owned and powered by energywatch accredited Moneysupermarket.com – offers free, impartial online quotations to users considering changing their gas and electricity suppliers. By taking into account factors such as location, usage, price, service levels and payment methods, the team claims to be able to offer savings of up to £325, with average savings hovering around the £140.00 mark. It’ll cost you nothing to calculate your own potential savings – Moneysupermarket.com – Compare & Buy TRENDS Mobile marketing Given that there are, currently, around 2.5 billion mobile phones in circulation – and adoption is growing far faster than that of PCs (particularly in poorer countries) – Informa’s prediction that annual expenditure will reach $11.4 billion by 2011 seems perfectly reasonable. For now, most mobile advertising takes the form of text messages. But companies are also beginning to deliver ads in the form of web links, video clips and downloads. Key to the medium’s attraction is relevance – the ability to match ads to subscribers’ buying habits. And, with more and more handsets being equipped with satellite–positioning technology, targeting will become ever more precise – enabling firms to alert prospects to relevant offers as they walk past their shops or restaurants, and mobile based web searches to generate – alongside generic results – ads for suppliers who are, quite literally, on the doorstep. Similarly, Bluetooth marketing (aka Bluecasting) capitalises on the fact that mobile phones usually have Bluetooth switched on (for easy connection with car kits and headsets) – opening the door to an array of promotional messages as users pass within range. All of which leads one to question whether Informa’s predictions may be a tad conservative… MONEY MATTERS Government subsidised iPods? Surely not… Which – with top end technology topping out at £100s – could amount to quite serious savings. Training is of course the primary business application, with numerous seminars, workshops and information bulletins now being available to download. (Indeed, the Revenue itself now provides online lectures on a range of topics, including year end filing.) Private use of the iPod – as long as it’s minor – incurs no penalty. Though, to be on the safe side, you might be advised to have a policy in place for the ‘private use of electronic devices provided by the company’. Belt and braces types may choose to imprint the device with their company logo too. THIS MONTH’S ‘BusinessBYTES SPONSOR’
DIARY DATES Having recently attended Centaur’s Search Marketing workshop, I have no hesitation recommending a follow–up event, Social Media for Business, to be held at the Kensington Close Hotel, London, Tuesday 30 October 2007. Focussed on helping companies to leverage social networking sites – such as Facebook, MySpace and Wikipedia – to support their business goals, the full–day seminar will feature a number of firms who have tapped in to the new tools to ‘create a buzz’ around their brands. Delegates will also hear from the social networking sites themselves about the key tools they employ to build communities online – and how you can benefit. For further information telephone Samantha Mccarthy on 020 7970 4876, or email her at samantha.mccarthy@mad.co.uk.
BOOK WORM Commonsense Direct and Digital Marketing First released in 1982, this book’s predecessor, Commonsense Direct Marketing, remains the best–selling British work on the subject: published in 13 languages, it provides a definitive, practical (and eminently readable) guide for marketers of all levels of experience and ability. Whether you're a small business without a dedicated marketing manager – or a large corporation, with full agency support – you cannot help but learn (and profit) from this latest edition, which is packed with real world case studies and a wealth of new material. About the Author TECH–TALK
The player can be charged conventionally, through the USB port of your computer – or wound up, like a wind–up radio, with one minute of winding providing 40 minutes of play time. Fully charged, the Eco will provide around 20 hours of constant music, or around 10 hours of video. It features a 1.8" full colour LCD display, 24bit digital audio processing and 2GB internal memory. Readily available plug–in SD cards offer even greater capacity should you need it. MILESTONES Glib marketing speakers talk about how you should always stress benefits, and never talk about features … and how you should always focus on the customer, and never on the company. But you and I know this isn’t always true. For instance, the number of years you’ve been in business is a feature – a fact about the company. Yet prospects care how long you’ve been in business – and your longevity can help close the sale. Why? According to a recent NBC poll, more than 70% of Americans are losing their trust in business. And as bad as that may sound for most businesses, companies that have been around a long time, with a track record of success, “are suddenly at a tremendous advantage,” says Stephen G. Fossler of Stephen Fossler Company, a US based printer specialising in corporate anniversary seals. “Your years of customer satisfaction act to build trust in your company and give people a good reason to do business with you,” Fossler explains. Source: Stephen Fossler Company, www.fossler.com Holidays assured About Steve Calder To find out how Steve could help you to
IN THE NEXT ISSUE… We’ll be sharing more search tips from our resident experts.
Steve Calder Not yet subscribed? Sign up now. To unsubscribe: email news@stevecalder.com with the word ‘remove’ in the subject line. BusinessBYTES is published by Steve Calder |
by Drayton Bird
