10 Online Marketing Trends for 2013

Here's a great article from Entrepreneur.com about online marketing trends: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/225392

To say the least about this year so far, options abound, and the clever marketer will have to decipher available media to effectively determine what fits and what doesn't based on product, objective and target audience.

Getting face-to-face with your audience

By Lee Clark, President, Nye & Associates

On this day in 1948 the original Land Rover debuted at an automotive trade show in Amsterdam. The Land Rover has changed considerably over the years. Trade shows, however, essentially remain the same.

While other forms of media and technology offer great avenues to help reach, educate and influence buyers, there is no greater value than that of a face-to-face conversation between manufacturer (or manufacturer rep) and buyer.

According to The Role of and Value of Face-to-Face Interaction, a 2012 CEIR (Center for Exhibition Industry Research ) study, 48 percent of trade show attendees said face-to-face interactions at exhibits during exhibitions, conventions and annual meetings are more valuable today than two years ago, and 43 percent anticipate this setting will be more valuable over the next two years.

While it’s clearly important to keep abreast of new marketing trends that could potentially impact your bottom line, let’s not forget about the original social network: face-to-face interaction. Nye & Associates supports our client's trade show efforts in a variety of innovative ways. To learn more, give us a shout.

On target, and tracking

 By Lee Clark, President, Nye & Associates

The U.S. military uses this term when targets are engaged, whether they are friend or foe. The same term could be used in marketing. Are you effectively targeting and tracking results from your online advertising campaigns using Google Analytics and UTM tags? What’s a UTM tag you ask?

UTM tags are helpful for identifying where traffic comes from, especially if the traffic comes via a banner ad or other source without referrer data. UTM tags should not be used for direct HTML links, as they pass referrer data automatically to Google Analytics. Instead, UTM tags should be used for PPC, ad campaigns, email campaigns and other links that don’t pass referrer data.

A UTM tag is a tracking marker appended to a URL, and is recognized by Google Analytics as a dimension, just like average time on site, for example. UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module. In 2005, Google purchased Urchin and rebranded it Google Analytics.

Here is an example URL with UTM tags:

http://www.google.com/?utm_source=sourceexample&utm_medium=mediumexample&utm_campaign=campaignexample

Common parameters include:


• Campaign Source: utm_source; usually the site, such as Facebook or blog

• Campaign Medium: (utm_medium; how the link was published, such as a banner ad or tweet

• Campaign Term: (utm_term; to identify the paid keywords for search campaigns

• Campaign Content: (utm_content; use to differentiate ads

• Campaign Name: (utm_name; for ad campaign names, such as ‘FacebookMay2012′ or ‘sedanbannerad’

UTM tags can be used in almost any type of marketing campaign, from PPC advertising to social sharing. However, if a user copy and pastes a link with UTM tags and uses it in a different medium (e.g. Copying a hyperlink from an email newsletter and sharing it via Twitter), the link’s original UTM tags may be maintained.  Additionally, UTM tags don’t have to be used in Google Adwords campaigns – just enable auto-tagging of links.

For all your marketing needs, including Internet and mobile marketing, we invite you get in touch with us (and yes, we just used a UTM tag for tracking).

Infographics & Namibia

 By Jennifer S. Worrell, Account Executive, Nye & Associates

I recently traveled to Namibia in Africa for a multi-day run through the desert.

We wanted to share a few stats from the trip here via infographic. Infographics are a great way to communicate a lot of information visually and quickly.

Let us know if our team can make one for you.

 

Q&A with Ruth Johnson, Nye & Associates CEO and Media Planning Maven

When it comes to media planning and buying, Ruth is our pro. Not only is she a wiz with a spreadsheet (seriously, she continually impresses us with her spreadsheet poweress), but she also combines strategy and a bird’s-eye view when maximizing a client’s media mix.

Q: What is the fist thing you look at when planning media for a client?
A: Of course budget, but as an agency we like to plan around a client’s goals; their issues and objectives, and audiences.

Q: With so many media options today in the digital space, where do you start?

A: We love finding the best medium for the client’s key messages, whether that is an international online media mix, a television sponsorship opportunity, a custom app, outdoor media or something statewide or regional. We also specialize in helping clients with earned media. We like to find the best way to use a client’s available resources.

Q:  How do you measure a media plan’s results?

A: Measurement and evaluation are important to us at Nye & Associates. We utilize what we call a Marketing Activities Calendar that is a timetable/calendar/budget hybrid that helps our teams and the client stay in touch and track, record and evaluate communications and monetary elements through all stages of a media plan.

Need a media planner or buyer for your business? Overwhelmed with where to start? Call us at 316-263-5878 or email Ruth at ruthj@nyeandassociates.com.

Building a winning team

By Jennifer S. Worrell, Account Executive, Nye & Associates

As an owner of an almost-sled dog Siberian Husky, I wanted to share this Business Perspectives article from The Wichita Eagle about an Iditarod champ's tips on leadership and team building - good ideas!

Iditarod champ offers tips to build a winning team

"Ideas are like pants – everybody has [some]. The important question is, are the ideas smart and effective on the market?" – Nikola Zinic Advertising Age

Admit it, you have pants you keep around, but don't wear, we all do. In that sense they are like ideas; we have many to choose from, but only show off the best.

That's what we do at Nye and Associates. We only show off the ideas (and pants) that make you look your best.