Who does your internet marketing target and why?

All marketing activities are usually aimed at one of four groups of people, according to a recent post from Seth Godin:

Strangers – customers to be, but not yet
Critics –  those that would speak ill of you, or need to be converted
Friends –  those that might have given permission, or even buy now and then
Fans – members [...]

Is a Brand just the result of good design?

There is often talk about “brand values” and “protecting/building a brand”, but what is a “brand” in today’s digital economy. And is it just the result of good design work?

Seth Godin’s definition from a recent blog post is :
“A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a [...]

Two Important Marketing Questions

Do your marketing messages tightly target your customers? Are you using laser sights or just a scatter gun approach hoping to hit something?

There are two simple questions to consider when building your marketing messages.

1. What is your customer’s underlying needs?
Ask them! Ask the people who talk to them – particularly customer service. What questions do your [...]

Social Media Marketing – Cheryl Cole style

Cheryl Cole’s solo album went on sale last weekend with much press coverage and hype.

However its immediate success was down to a very broad and carefully managed marketing campaign spread across the social media. From My Space to Bebo, and Twitter to MSN, Cheryl Cole was very active interacting directly with her fan base and potential fans. The old days of expensive blanket advertising have gone. Continue reading Social Media Marketing – Cheryl Cole style

Why do people abandon shopping carts?

Every day, shopping carts get abandoned on e-commerce sites. On many sites, its not unusual for 70% of visitors to start shopping and then just walk away.

These are lost opportunities and can be a major drain on marketing expenditure. So why do they/we do it?
A survey earlier this year by PayPal and comScore highlighted 7 key [...]

Google Automatic Translation – Good or Bad?

Do you want your website to be understood in 51 languages?

At the end of last month, Google quietly announced its website translator gadget which can be added to your site.

Then when people visit your page, if their language (determined by their browser settings) is different to the language of your web page, they’ll be asked if [...]

Listen to your customers

How do your customers describe your product?

Most industries have a rich vocabulary of technical terms and descriptions, which have evolved to aid clarity and improve efficency of communciation inside that industry.

Unfortunately, most customers do not understand that vocabulary, they may put a slightly different interpretation on words, or even use completely different words to describe a [...]

Improve Website Conversion – Whitepaper from WSI

WSI has produced a whitepaper to accompany the free webinar entitled “Conversion Architecture – Improve your online performance while reducing your spend“. This is scheduled for July 28th (3pm BST). If you would like to listen in, please click the link above to book your place. You will also need to add my name – Andy [...]

Google and WSI working closer together

We’ve been working together for years: Google – the world’s No 1. search engine and internet company, WSI – the leading supplier of internet solutions to small and medium businesses worldwide. Last Friday that relationship moved closer with a unique event.

Andy Wooles, along with over 60 other WSI Internet Marketing Consultants from the UK and across [...]

Search Engine Blind Test – Can you tell the difference?

An interesting new site has just popped up - http://blindsearch.fejus.com/ which enables searchers to blind test Google, Yahoo and Microsoft’s new Bling search engine.

Its a beta site so lacking elegance and a bit buggy. You just enter your search term and you will presented with three sets of search results with all search engine branding removed.

You choose [...]