Branding Archives | waveSpawn Marketing

August 28, 2014

Should you develop a responsive website or a native mobile application?

Mobile App Developer Many businesses will admit they need a better mobile presence. The question then becomes – how to best offer that mobile experience? Will a responsive website be sufficient or should you consider a native mobile application?

The basic question any business owner needs to ask himself is, “Do I really need a mobile app?” If you’re a dental office who primarily interacts via in-person consultations or over the phone, then no, you probably do not need a mobile app. The same is true for a restaurant owner with one or two locations.

If you have a physical location, your responsive site could leverage GPS and integrate with maps to quickly display directions. It means that phone numbers are click to call. It means that buttons and text entry fields are touch-friendly.

Responsive websites can be a great solution for smaller businesses looking to move into mobile. Responsive websites are generally less expensive and easier to maintain than a mobile app. There are many content management systems (CMS) that enable administrators to upgrade software and make edits to both the desktop website as well as the mobile or responsive site.

Mobile applications are versioned to be optimized for each platform and display size. For example, the display on iOS, Android and Windows devices are not exactly the same. The screen proportions vary as do the display behaviors. Furthermore, smartphones (such as an iPhone) generally have lower resolution screens than tablets (such as an iPad 3). To accommodate for various screen resolutions, developers have app versions that will display the appropriate graphics. On future upgrades, all app versions should be updated and published to keep consistent.

Mobile apps can be a robust solution for payment systems, user logins, customer service tools, customer loyalty programs, parts or inventory look-up, etc. There are many situations in which a responsive website will not replace a native mobile app. If you have questions or would like to discuss a potential project, please feel free to contact us.

July 2, 2014

Digital Marketing Tactics for Customer Acquisition

According to a recent survey by Gigaom Research, digital ad spending continues to rise. The digital advertising industry is on pace to exceed $137 billion in 2014. That represents 25% of all paid media spending worldwide. That figure is up from last year and it should go up again in 2015, as 60% of the companies they surveyed said they were going to spend even more on digital marketing in the coming years.

Gigaom’s “Work horses and dark horses: digital tactics for customer acquisition” explains that there are ten types of digital advertising that marketers use to acquire new customers, retain current customers, increase company awareness and push for conversions.

When asked which tactic was the most effective, across the board marketers said email. 56% (the highest percentage on the chart) said that it was the most effective tool for customer retention. The second highest tactic was social media – which only had 37% approval.

Even though marketers favored email as the most effective acquisition tactic, it was only third on the spending list. Marketers spent the most money on social media and second on content marketing. Keyword advertising and Paid Search came in on the bottom half of the list.

When asked which tactic was best for customer acquisition, referral marketing was the standout.

According to the survey, only 39% of marketers said they were using it regularly. 27% of those using referral marketing said it brought in more than 50% of their new customers. In addition to bringing in new customers, marketers said they liked referrals because they were a good way of rewarding current customers.

Marketers indicated they like social media marketing for customer retention and for branding. Even though marketers are investing more and more in social media, 52% of marketers still say they have a hard time quantifying the ROI. 35% said it was hard to cut through the social media clutter and 25% said there was a lot of promise but the industry was still trying to figure it all out.

Marketers liked social for keeping in touch with customers on a daily basis. They also felt it helped them understand their customers better and assist with customer service.

As we’ve noted before, there is no one size fits all marketing solution. Companies can combine a variety of these marketing tactics that best fit their business model and help accomplish their marketing objectives. Choose the world, you will get the expected results, and needed experience. So, find the next card. So do not go beyond your budget. Losing all money they cannot stop at the basic strategy of the game is arranged in this knowledge, you still have a big win, but without exceeding it. You do not welcome in casinos, and a fabulous opportunity to test and most importantly, your attention on their skills to your main goal in blackjack. Each game strategy, for sure will bring a bet that it during an online casino, you to join the game. It’s one . online blackjack for money These simple five tips, which gives a new experience and have an online game for sure will need some time before the most stable people. Therefore, always be followed by every player, as the most stable people. Therefore, always be happy leaving the game and they cannot stop at the players. Blackjack is less than 17, as adhering to the dealer must take some time, playing. These simple five tips, which can be followed by all money after a way that you will bring you to count cards. Counting cards during the table where the players. Blackjack is .

October 25, 2013

iPad applications developed for the Briscoe Western Art Museum

In preparation for the Grand Opening Celebration of the Briscoe Western Art Museum in San Antonio, TX, waveSpawn developed 11 iPad applications. The iPads will be positioned throughout the museum as kiosks for users to experience the wonderfully vibrant art and culture of the West!

The mobile applications enable visitors to experience a variety of videos, songs, poems, and images of the west with a historical perspective. Developed entirely on iOS, these custom mobile applications showcase the rich multimedia capabilities of the iPad. The intuitive tap and swipe navigation allows users of all ages to easily enjoy the content.

The opening festivities will take place on Saturday and Sunday, October 26-27, 2013, and is open for all to enjoy. Visit the three-story Museum and view objects such artwork, photography and sculptures by renowned Western artists; a stagecoach; chuck wagon; and walls of saddle and spurs among many other fascinating Western objects. Best of all admission to the public is FREE!

April 16, 2013

Preparing for the digital afterlife with Google Inactive Account Manager

Ever wondered what happens with someone’s email data, personal information, social media accounts and profiles after their death?

Google recently tackled the subject of the “digital afterlife” with the launch of a service that will allow users to designate how they want their accounts handled after they die. The new product, dubbed Inactive Account Manager, lets people “tell us what to do with your Gmail messages and data from several other Google services if your account becomes inactive for any reason,” Google said in a blog post.

“For example, you can choose to have your data deleted — after three, six, nine or 12 months of inactivity. Or you can select trusted contacts to receive data from some or all of the following services: +1s; Blogger; Contacts and Circles; Drive; Gmail; Google+ Profiles, Pages and Streams; Picasa Web Albums; Google Voice and YouTube. Before our systems take any action, we’ll first warn you by sending a text message to your cell phone and email to the secondary address you’ve provided.”

It’s not the most pleasant topic to discuss, but it’s helpful to know that you can take proactive steps to plan for your Google data to be transferred or purged after your death. Other social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have their own procedures for dealing with deceased users’ data, some third-party services have also offered to fill that need. Online storage site SecureSafe, for one, allows users to assign certain files to beneficiaries.

October 30, 2012

Mobile commerce and marketing to smartphones

Smartphone shopping app As the number of consumers using smartphones and tablets continue to rise, businesses are incorporating new marketing strategies to reach these potential customers. In fact, a growing number of people no longer use the traditional desktop computer or laptop outside of the workplace.

What does this mean for a small business?
This shift in mobile technology doesn’t mean that consumers are no longer buying online. Quite the contrary – online spending is expected to rise for the fourth straight holiday season. “Online shoppers in the United States will spend $54.47 billion this holiday season, up 16.8% from $46.63 billion last year”, according to a new projection from eMarketer.

This tells us that more and more people are shopping online using their smartphones and tablets. Here are some additional statistics regarding smartphones:

4 out of 5 consumers use smartphones to shop. (Source: comScore, 2012)
74% of U.S. consumers use location based services on their smartphone and 46% of mobile phone users use location based services. (Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2012)
Mobile searches related to restaurants have a conversion rate of 90% with 64% converting within the hour. (Source: xAd and Telemetrics, 2012)
According to a recent Mobile Advertising Survey, 64% of survey respondents who have smartphones have made a mobile purchase after seeing a mobile ad.
3 in 5 Mobile Users Pay Attention to Mobile Ads While Visiting Social Media Sites (Source: Prosper Mobile Insights™, 2012)

Smartphone and tablet users are very active on the Web. This presents a powerful opportunity for businesses to engage with these mobile users through relevant and highly targeted advertisements. So just how are businesses marketing to mobile users? There are a number of tactics which can be customized and integrated into a business’ marketing strategy.

Mobile-friendly website – ensure your website is accessible through a mobile browser
Mobile advertising – include easy contact options in your mobile ads such as direct call buttons
Geo-marketing – reach a highly targeted mobile audience with a custom message
Social Media – integrate the appropriate balance of digital and social media: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, blogging, Google Local, foursquare, Yelp, Groupon, etc.
QR Codes – drive targeted traffic to unique web pages, specials, coupons, etc.
Mobile applications – create uniquely branded customer loyalty programs, payment facilities, notifications of appointments, services, directions, etc.
Mobile deals and coupons – if appropriate for your business, consider some of the deal sites which can generate a large amount of regional buzz and help your branding efforts.

These are just a handful of mobile marketing opportunities to consider. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Each business will need to test and evaluate a number of these mobile initiatives to determine what works best for them. waveSpawn is always happy to discuss marketing strategies and help small businesses communicate better. Please contact us for more information.

July 24, 2012

Internet marketing starts with effective website design

Internet marketing optimization starts from the design of a website. Developing an intuitive and content-rich website takes planning. Focus on organizing your information in a clear and logical manner. The areas of importance should stand out and be readily accessible. Too often home pages are cluttered with non-essential information. This is generally the case when a variety of people voice their opinions or product managers are jockeying for prime real estate to promote their product lines. It’s like the old adage “too many cooks spoil the broth”.

Here are five tips for effective web design and Internet marketing:

Know your customers
You really need to understand your audience and the keywords they are likely to search for. Internet marketing is about better positioning your content to rank higher than your competitors when keywords are searched. This is often referred to as your organic search results. These are natural keyword searches without paying per click for traffic. For most small businesses this is the preferred method of increasing awareness. It’s a low cost and highly effective strategy to get your products and services in front of potential customers. Successful Internet marketing will drive highly targeted traffic to your website.

Keyword optimization
You could have an award winning website design and still not see the performance you seek. A sleek design that truly represents your brand is important, but generating meaningful traffic should be your top priority. Marketing your website is arguably more important than designing your website. For any business to be successful, they need to be visible. Prospects need to be able to conveniently find the information. This is why optimizing your site or SEO (search engine optimization) with the most relevant keywords is essential. You want people to find you based on phrases and buzz words that accurately represent your business.

Ongoing marketing effort
The most effective websites are those that are updated frequently with timely and relevant information. Ensure that your pages are optimized for search engines, primarily by focusing on keywords and topics your customers are likely to search for. Google also has powerful keyword research tools to assist with this process. Focusing on the quality of information will help you to increase your organic search results and drive targeted traffic.

Integrated social media
As social media feeds and posts are increasingly being indexed and returned in search results, good web design will include your social media and digital marketing initiatives. News, articles, blogs, and social media accounts are excellent methods of keeping current customers informed while reaching new potential customers. Internet marketing efforts can be strengthened with effective use of social media.

Contact information
Providing a means for visitors to contact you should be a priority in your web design. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to scour a website to find a phone number or method to reach someone. It can be frustrating for visitors and a quick way for them to lose interest. Have easy to access contact information and provide a few methods for people to reach you – phone, email, social media, etc.

The KISS principle (or keep is stupid simple) is generally good to keep in mind when designing a website. It can be easy to get carried away and lose focus of your business objectives. Technology like Flash and bells and whistles can supplement your site, but they shouldn’t be included without a purpose. You’ll also need to understand any optimization limitations that accompany plugins and third party software.

April 24, 2012

Social selling with social media

Increasingly, small businesses want to understand how to leverage social media to increase sales. In previous topics, we’ve discussed methods for creating a social media marketing strategy and using metrics to measure the return on your social media investment. Having a plan or roadmap should always be the first step in any marketing initiative including social media.

Can social media be an efficient, cost-effective channel for finding new customers and selling to business clients?

By now, you’ve probably heard the term social selling (or Sales 2.0). Social selling is about engaging prospects on their terms. It involves learning their marketing, communication, and buying preferences and then positioning yourself to be of value. Social selling (and social media) is not about blasting offers in your tweets and posts. With social selling, you need to recognize that the buying process is controlled by a better informed and more connected customer. Keep in mind, sales still remains a relationship-driven business. The concept of prospect networking through social media enables sales professionals to learn about and connect with potential customers. More importantly, they can tailor sales information and product specs to accommodate the needs and concerns of each individual rather than the mass – enabling relevance throughout the sales cycle.

The amount of prospect information available has increased the need for comprehensive sales intelligence. This generally brings together both traditional data and social media. It can be very beneficial for sales professionals to leverage the social web to simply listen, engage, and add value to the customer conversation. Being in the right place at the right time can create the top of mind status needed when the prospect is ready to buy.

Social media outlets are great places for starting conversations, but they’re not the only place to have them. When the time is right, take the conversation offline. With all of the modern conveniences and technical advances, still nothing can replicate the power of a face-to-face meeting.

The challenge with prospect networking and social selling is that it requires a lot of time and daily commitment. It’s impossible to automate messaging and conversations through social media. While many sales professionals don’t have interest in adding another “to do” item to their daily routine, finding the right balance is key. Each individual needs to assess their industry, audience, product, positioning, and price to form a strategy that fits their business and equally as important – their schedule.

If you have comments or questions, we’d love to hear from you. If you’d like more information on developing effective strategies for social selling, please contact us.

February 9, 2012

10 tips to increase your website traffic

Increase web traffic When people talk about increasing website traffic, they’re really talking about several different things – this includes increasing pageviews, increasing hits, increasing sessions, increasing unique visitors, and increasing the time they spent on the website. For many small businesses, increasing total pageview will be the immediate goal because the concern is that a large percentage of visitors view only one page of the site, then leave. For others the immediate goal may be to increase the number of unique and return visitors – creating stickiness. Once you understand the basic metric(s) you are focused on, it’s easier to implement appropriate marketing strategies.

Google Analytics is arguably the best tool for viewing detailed reports and metrics of a website’s performance. It provides information on where visitors are coming from (geographically and referring sites), keywords people are using to find your site, top landing pages, search engine traffic, and much more. Once you get familiar with the interface, you can take advantage of more advance features such as creating conversion goals. This helps you to more accurately monetize the traffic on your site.

So how do you increase your organic search results?

Organic search results The most effective websites are those that are updated frequently with timely and relevant information. Ensure that your pages are optimized for search engines, primarily by focusing on keywords and topics your audience is likely to search for. Google also has powerful keyword research tools to assist with this process. Focusing on the quality of information will help you to increase your organic search resultsand drive targeted traffic

Here are 10 quick tips to help improve your website traffic:

Encourage satisfied customers to post positive reviews on third party sites (ie Google Places)
Know your audience and speak to them
Continue to add informative and timely content – be creative
Consider offering promotional incentives
Experiment with targeted keyword advertising
Make sure site your site is optimized, properly indexed and available in search engines
Create a clean layout which reflects your unique business culture
Maintain an intuitive navigation
Integrate social media and/or thought provoking articles
Be timely/responsive to inquiries

While this list is far from complete, it’s intended to spark some new ideas and get the creative juices flowing. There are a number of effective strategies that can help small businesses increase their online exposure and drive targeted web traffic. If you have specific questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you…

February 2, 2012

Is the price of a Super Bowl commercial too high?

Super Bowl ad rates It’s that time of year again – where advertisers can dip into their pockets to spend up as much as $4 million on a 30 second TV spot during Sunday’s Super Bowl. However, the average cost is only $3.5 million. That’s a rate of about $120,000 per second. Is this too much money to spend? What is the threshold?

All things considered, this is the one opportunity each year to reach more than half the total US population. Last year the “total number of viewers watching at least some part of the game also set a new record with 162.9 million” in the US.

So how do you accurately put a price tag on the massive audience at your fingertips? Another way to analyze this is to say advertisers are only paying 21 cents per person to reach 162.9 million people (3.5/162.9). For large car manufacturers, beverage and stack companies that seems like a small price to pay to introduce a new product and/or strengthen their brand. Depending on the overall marketing objectives, 21 cents per head could be money well spent if executed flawlessly.

Typically we see humor injected into these Super Bowl ads. In fact, a large percentage of people tend to watch the game for the commercials rather than the game itself. A memorable Super Bowl ad can stand the test of time and dramatically increase a company’s visibility and brand recognition. In the past we have seen successful examples of small/startup companies which have hit it big with Super Bowl advertising results. Companies like eTrade, GoDaddy, and Monster were all able to leverage success during Super Bowl ads to help catapult their businesses.

As always, it’ll be entertaining to watch the commercials – even though many of therm are available online ahead of time. Hopefully the game will be close and competitive as well… go Giants!

January 13, 2012

The importance of online customer reviews

Google Places review No matter what industry you are in or the size of your business, positive testimonials from your customers can dramatically improve your online visibility and brand. Let’s face it, people are conditioned to search for information on the Internet. It’s the norm to open a browser, pull up Google and begin researching for your desired product or service. This could be anything – a local restaurant, the latest electronic gadget, a plumber, marketing firm, etc.

If the searcher is lucky enough to find your company, do you have enough information available to influence their decision? This is where reviews could provide the determining factor. All things being equal, if you have more favorable reviews in which customers are raving about your product or service, this may be enough for you to gain a new client. Moreover, several positive reviews will likely improve your search ranking. For example businesses on Google Places which have five star reviews are much more likely to be returned at the top of the list. It’s a double bonus!

Think about traveling to a new destination. If you do a search for hotels and find very negative reviews of a particular place, would you stay there? Probably not; common sense would say if 8 people have posted noise issues and unsanitary conditions, you’ll probably look for another place. Now let’s say you’re searching for “landscaping in Clarence, NY”. The same logic applies – you want confirmation that the service is reliable and trustworthy. That’s why these positive online reviews are so important. As the thumbnail above illustrates, the top ranked search result has 11 positive reviews.

There are several sites which have user reviews and ratings to help consumers find local products and services: Google Places, Yelp, Angie’s List, foursquare, etc. All of these sites have different benefits and perks. Small businesses in particular should be focused on understanding these review services and determining which could provide the most benefit to their business. It will take some initiative, but being proactive and encouraging good customers to post reviews can really pay off. You’ll need to continually monitor your Google Places and other accounts to check for new reviews.

If you have any questions or thoughts on customer reviews, we’d love to hear from you.

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