Branding

TubeRank: The Viral App

In the past few weeks, Harlem Shake videos have taken over YouTube. How did this craze become so popular? Was it the awesome dance skills or the funny costumes that made you watch the same video over and over again? One time was not enough to satisfy your desire to find your favorite dancer in each video. Every brand these days wants to make a “viral” video. What if there was a tool that could aid in the infectiousness of your content? The answer may be as simple as using the new app, TubeRank.... Continue Reading

Vine: The Next Instagram?

Last Thursday, Twitter announced its partnership with Vine, an app that allows users to create six-second loop videos. The app is free on any iPhone 3G (or newer) and integrates with Twitter to provide consumers with instant video-sharing. Some even speculate that Vine will become the next Instagram. What do you think…fad or awesome marketing tool? Big brands like GE and Urban Outfitters have already jumped on the Vine bandwagon. For example, GE posted a video with the tagline “Innovation starts... Continue Reading

Who Knew Storytelling Could Become So Trendy?

Gone are the days when you could sell a product based solely on features or flashy packaging. Now, consumers are looking for much more. Not only are buyers interested in exceptional products, but they are also looking for businesses to provide unique experiences. How can your business keep up with this growing trend?

Brand Lift from Video Ads

Oftentimes, online video ad success is based on click-through rates, but according to Vindico, completion rates are a better gauge of ad effectiveness. A study by TubeMogul proposes that participants exposed to a pre-roll video ad revealed higher brand awareness and message association than the control group. Similarly, the viewers who completed the ad had a larger lift among viewers.

Show your profile picture in Google search results

Have you ever done a Google search and noticed that some of the results have photos next to them? This is thanks to Google Authorship, a feature of Google+ that allows you to distinguish your content, increase your click throughs, and build a following.

There are several key benefits to Authorship, the first and most important to me is the potential increase in click throughs. On a page of text-only search results, images stand out and are more likely to get a click. Sites that have implemented structured markup on their content have reported increased click through rates of 30 to 150+ percent.

Preventing Brand Decay

To prevent brand decay, start by revisiting what your brand is, what you want the brand to be, who you want to do business with, and what your differentiating points are. Next, examine what elements have changed since your last analysis. For instance, you may consider whether your firm has new products, new competitors, or new customer segments. In addition, a simple SWOT analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats should be conducted to gain a better understanding of the position... Continue Reading

How to use Landing Pages

Continued from Part 1: Why  Landing Pages Rock! There are two requirements for successful landing pages: a specific source of traffic and a defined goal. A specific source of traffic is necessary because you have to be able to control who hits your landing page.  You can’t very well target a page to a particular audience if you have no idea who is seeing it.  Some examples of traffic sources would be a pay per click ad, a banner ad, a sponsored link, etc. A defined goal is the other necessary... Continue Reading

Why Landing Pages Rock!

When a visitor first lands on your website, the page they hit is technically a landing page. But in the world of interactive marketing, “landing page” refers to a page that is designed specifically for one campaign that is separate from the rest of your website. Landing pages work so well because you can target your page to speak to one specific audience and lead them to complete one specific action on your site. By maintaining a consistent message from the moment you piqued someone’s interest... Continue Reading

The PROTECT IP Internet Censorship Bill

For those of you that don’t know, a group of U.S. senators, in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security, have been working to provide a bill that would allow the Federal Government to take over or shut down websites if they were found to be terroristic in nature or that violate copyright protections. Unfortunately, every draft of this bill has been labeled “censorship” as they can’t seem to craft legislation that doesn’t censor the internet in some massive... Continue Reading