Catalpha's Marketing Insights Blog

Get Your Marketing Plan Ready for Video

Catalpha Advertising & Design — Fri, 11 May 2012 17:21:39 +0000

Another Element To The Marketing Mix: AdWords For Video

Google has officially launched its new venture – AdWords for Video. AdWords makes it easy for companies of every size and category to purchase keywords and post ads on Google’s search results. Now, the same concept comes to YouTube.

With AdWords for Video, companies can bid on keywords to have their video ads appear before the YouTube videos that match their selected keyword phrases.

Video is becoming a key online marketing element to consider. EMarketer (emarketer.com) says online ad spending toward video will almost double this year – from 7.9 percent to 15 percent. With production costs for a 15-second video affordable for all businesses, now is the time to determine if online video ads should be part of your marketing mix.

The Late Night Letterman List: Does Your Company Have One?

The late night master’s trademark can be used a great corporate exercise on positioning and differentiating your business in the marketplace.

Developing your own list helps your company answer one of the most difficult business questions, “What are the top reasons someone would purchase my product or service?” We suggest you develop a Corporate Letterman List and post five to ten reasons why a customer or client would want to choose your business over one of your competitors.

And, take the bigger challenge: Can you develop those reasons without using any of the following words: price, quality, service or guarantee?

How To Get In Front Of The World

Three years from now, according to Google, half of all online ads will include video. The rise in popularity indicates that your potential customers and clients will take the time to watch short videos about your company and your product or service.

With the increasing popularity of online video, we suggest you have your own YouTube channel and syndicate the video content to your blog, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest accounts – all to maximize your online exposure and get in front of the world.

If you’re looking to get an online omni-presence – from organic search results to paid search using Google AdWords, then contact us. We know how to get you in front of the world – and we can get you there … now much faster than ever.

Your Website’s About Page: Don’t Lose This Great Opportunity

Catalpha Advertising & Design — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 13:07:44 +0000

Many companies overlook the importance of the About page on their website. When analytics may indicate that it’s one of the most highly visited pages, it’s critical that this page works to your advantage and you’re not losing sales opportunities. Here are some guidelines to follow:

Call it an About page. Don’t confuse users with a name that’s too clever to figure out. When users want to know about your company, they look for the About tab – and they want to find it immediately.
The content of the About page is what your company does. While it’s about you, it should also serve the needs of the users and subtly sell them on why they should choose you over others.
In addition to basic information on your company, include history, corporate philosophies, awards, testimonials, bios and photos.
Don’t undercut the effectiveness of your About page. Your content should make the user feel “at home” and comfortable doing business with you.

Is There A Direct Relationship Between Your Facebook Likes And Sales?

Catalpha Advertising & Design — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:59:07 +0000

While companies of every category encourage people to click their Facebook Like buttons, the accountability questions continue to surface: “How much does liking a company influence a purchasing decision and increase loyalty to the business?”

The best way to determine if there’s a relationship between fans who’ve actually liked and purchased is to directly ask your customers and clients, “Have you liked us on Facebook? Did that influence your purchasing decision?”

A recent report from eVoc Insights (evocinsights.com) published in the eMarketer Digital Intelligence Report, said “54 percent of Facebook users who liked the page of a brand or company said they were somewhat or much more likely to purchase from that brand.”

That means it’s about fifty-fifty: half the fans are more likely to be real customers or clients, the other half are not.

Despite reports from various research companies, until you ask your customers and clients, you may never know the real value of your Facebook fans. Results will differ from one business type to another, to the creativity of your Facebook page and to the content you’re posting on your Wall.

The bottom line: No business should assume that customer visits or purchases are earned just from the click of the Like button.

Did The Super Bowl Ads Increase Sales?

Catalpha Advertising & Design — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:56:29 +0000

The showcase of TV commercials in February’s big game always raises the topic of “return on investment.” Was it worth it? Will the awareness by millions watching the game equate to incremental sales? In most cases, it doesn’t happen. Take the test next month and look back at which commercials from the game you remembered and which products you purchased. The hype is great, the awareness is huge, but the stark reality is that if your advertising dollars don’t result in an increase in sales and profits, you’ve wasted your money.

How To Harness The Power Of A Corporate Blog To Increase Your Sales

Catalpha Advertising & Design — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:35:11 +0000

Don’t underestimate the power of using a blog as part of your online marketing and publicity efforts. A corporate blog can establish your company as a thought-leader in its business category and enhance its overall Internet presence. In addition, a corporate blog can attract new customers and clients at a relatively low cost-per-lead.

Here are five critical factors to help you harness the power of your blog and attract more readers:

Make sure each post focuses on your subject of authority and is optimized with relevant keywords. Do it properly and Google could index your post within sixty minutes!
Syndicate summaries of each post to your Twitter and Facebook accounts to reach more people, driving them back to your blog and to your website.
Design your blog so it’s comfortable to read and reflects your company’s corporate culture.
Add photos and videos to your post for variety and to enhance reader interest.
Personalize your blog by including photos of the writers. While the blog may reflect your company, it is written by people for people.

Five Things To Watch For This Month

Catalpha Advertising & Design — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:26:54 +0000

The Corporate Art Of Nickel And Diming
As various companies start the new year by increasing their monthly rates, adding new fees and surcharges, how many will ignore the lesson of Netflix and Bank Of America and endure the wrath of their customers?
Path: The New Anti-Facebook Social Platform
Facebook growth is slowing down and some are turning to other alternatives. Path (Path.com) is a new anti-Facebook social networking platform launched last year that’s growing in popularity. Rather than concentrating on the number of friends you have, Path encourages quality relationships, allowing you to have only a maximum of 50 friends.
Will Companies Change Their Social Media Strategies?
Many businesses will examine their P&L’s and take a hard look at the dollars and time allocated to their social media efforts this past year and make critical adjustments based on sales, new business opportunities generated, connections with influencers and brand name awareness. Next month’s Super Bowl will give us a good idea on how far major advertisers will go to cross promote their promotions with their various social media platforms.
Re-Connect With Your Facebook Fans And Their Expectations
After “liking” your company on Facebook, your fans may have high expectations of what they want to get back from you, and not fulfilling those expectations can lead to disappointment. According to a report by ExactTarget, 51 percent of consumers expect companies to send them marketing messages after “liking” the brand on Facebook. We recommend that you take this month to re-connect with your fans and exceed their expectations. (ExactTarget.com)
Google Sparring With Travel Industry Giants, Expedia and Orbitz
Watch this month as Expedia and Orbitz fight it out with Google, complaining that Google’s new flight search tool is dramatically hurting their business. The Wall Street Journal reports that searches like “NY to LA” now produce a Google chart of airfares with links directly to airlines. The travel sites accuse Google of abusing its power in an effort to grab itself a big piece of the $110 billion online travel market.

The Ten Best Ways To Position Your Company For Success In 2012

Catalpha Advertising & Design — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:49:27 +0000

Focus On Selling High Profit Products And Services
Don’t be deceived by success in percentages. Focus on selling products and services that have a high profit return in dollars, as opposed to a profit return in percentages.
Focus On Your Team
Build a championship team that’s going to survive and win despite this economy. Weed out the dissenters otherwise you risk losing loyal customers.
Communicate A Compelling Competitive Advantage
Do you have a competitive advantage – a position that makes your company’s product or service distinct and recognizable in your marketplace?
Be The Personality Of Your Company
Get in front of people and be the face and personality of your company. Networking and speaking in front of 100 people is worth more than you can imagine.
Love Your Customers
Your customers are the sole reason your business exists today. Make them feel important. Ask for feedback. Once a year, invite your key customers to a special event to thank them for their business.
Be Remarkable
Everything you do and everything your customer or client sees about your company from the inside on out – every sensory touch point – must be remarkable. If not, you’re just another average business and there’s no customer loyalty when you’re average.
Understand The Power Of Trust As A Marketing Tool
The number one way to grow your business is through trust. Trust is the only reason your customers continue to purchase your products and services from you. Without trust, your advertising simply won’t work.
Invest In “Search” – The Focal Point For Online Success
Your website is the center of your online success. Aim for a first page presence on Google for keyword phrases used by your customers. If your business isn’t listed on the first page, there’s a chance you’re losing thousands and thousands of dollars each day.
Be Creative, Innovative And Take Risks
Creativity, innovation and the ability to take risks can move your business forward, otherwise it stands still. Take a look at your products and services. Can you “supersize” or downsize them? Can you develop product extensions with new markets?
Get Familiar With The Shift To Digital And Mobile
Next year will be the big year for digital and mobile marketing. While an integrated marketing approach is still important, the emphasis will be on increasing awareness and sales through various digital and mobile marketing channels. Don’t get left behind on this.

How To Have An Incredible 2012

As we wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season, we’re aware of a number of challenges that can easily stop your journey to profitability. There’s still a war going on, a volatile economy, unstable gas prices, high unemployment and an election coming up.

We trust that you’ll face these issues head-on, letting your employees, customers and clients know that you stand for nothing short of delivering excellence in everything you do. If you do that, you’ll have an incredible 2012.

Want to know more about having an outrageous and incredible 2012? Want to know more about how to jump beyond your competitors with memorable, cutting-edge marketing? Contact us. We can help you get there … faster than ever.

Five Things To Watch For This Month

Catalpha Advertising & Design — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:50:55 +0000

Is Google Trying To Buy Yahoo?
There are initial rumblings that Google is interested in purchasing Yahoo. While the US government may try to block such a sale, some say this is Google’s ploy to drive up Yahoo’s stock to make it more expensive for Microsoft, who has long been rumored to be interested in buying Yahoo.

Herman Cain Selling A Tax Plan Like Pizza:
If nothing else, Herman Cain will be remembered for 9-9-9 and reminding us of the importance of having a memorable slogan and that the most attractive pricing for all products ends in a nine, not a five.

Netflix Underestimates The Fury Of The Consumer:
Subscribers lashed out at Netflix’s 60 percent price hike and a series of bungled marketing attempts to spin off its DVD division. The fury has resulted in over 800,000 subscriber cancellations with more expected. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said, “We became a symbol of the evil, greedy corporation.”

Buy 100 Shares of Groupon: Half Off Within The Next 24 Hours:
Groupon’s widely publicized IPO was introduced at a valuation price much lower than originally planned. One could say they are discounting the price in order for people to buy it.

Will Anyone Miss The NBA?
With parts of the schedule already cancelled, is the complete season in peril? The toll on the local restaurant, hospitality and retail sectors already hurting in this economy, are disastrous. Like other professional sports leagues that have experienced similar lockouts, all will eventually be resolved and the loving relationship between the team and its fans will return to normal – like nothing ever happened.

Four Ways To Increase Sales: Focus On Them And Sales Will Soar

Catalpha Advertising & Design — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 12:55:33 +0000

There are just four powerful ways to increase your sales. Not 400, not 40… just four. If you focus on the tactics most applicable to your business, then your sales and profits will increase.

Increase the number of new customers or clients
Increase the purchase frequency of current customers or clients
Encourage upselling opportunities to increase the average sale
Encourage large group sales

Select the best approach to increasing your sales by starting with a focused plan – and then watch your sales zoom.

The Moneyball Strategy: Can It Work For Your Company?

Catalpha Advertising & Design — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 20:29:16 +0000

The baseball movie Moneyball, based on Michael Lewis’s book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, details the issues facing the Oakland A’s – a major league baseball team that has a low budget and at the same time needs to field a championship level team in order to remain competitive and profitable.

It’s a situation that many businesses in every single category face today: how do you compete against those companies that have larger budgets allocated for advertising and for recruiting the best talent?

Moneyball is also about challenging the status quo by introducing innovative systems aimed at developing a winning and profitable infrastructure when the talent market is thin and there’s an attraction to work for the “big boys.” When this occurs, the questions arise:

Where do you recruit new staff?
How do you successfully compete in the talent market against bigger companies?
How do you ensure you’re getting the best return from those who are working for you?

While these questions are challenging, the answers just aren’t clear cut, as many companies attempt to build and maintain a championship level team of people.

Billy Beane, the GM of the Oakland A’s realized that to find good people, he had to turn the old system of recruiting upside down and look for “hidden gems.”

Beane recognized that by hiring players that had a higher percentage of getting on base, rather than hiring the multi-million dollar home-run sluggers, he could field a highly competitive team.

How does this apply to you? While we’re not advocating you become as statistically oriented as noted in Moneyball, maybe there’s something to this?

If you want to be more profitable, what performance statistics should you be tracking? Do you know for example, which people in your company attribute most to growth?

Simply, how do you measure specific talent performances that are tied to profitability?

Moneyball is a reminder that there is a way to overcome the odds and field a championship level team that can compete with the best.

Moneyball is a lesson to turn things upside-down and inside-out and analyze the performance of your complete team.

And finally, Moneyball is a lesson that implores us to not settle with tradition, but to seek out new ways to win … and find those “hidden gems.”