Story by: Cliff Boodoosingh     Date: Tue, April 22nd, 2008          ... more from Cliff

Keep Green Marketing Down to Earth

Spending sixty bucks to fill the gas tank was my first head shaking experience of the morning. Thankfully, we split that bill in three, my car-pooling friends and I. And thus, my first Earth Day friendly gesture was in the history books.

Perhaps I should have biked in, or rather used "alternative green transportation" to follow suit with some of the marketing hype companies have been dishing out leading up to this Earth Day. Yes, there are companies still making false claims and misleading statements according to marketing firm TerraChoice, which evaluated more than 1,000 products on the market.

Is it any wonder consumers are skeptical of Green promises or even the catch phrase 'environmentally friendly'? In fact, a study from Cone and the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship (cited in USA Today) found only 47% of adults trust companies to tell them the truth in environmental marketing.

That's hardly fair to the companies that actually believe in the Green theme for the whole 365 days of the year and those that continue to make strides and work hard to help the environment. Is it?

Fortunately, consumers are more conscious this year: surveys show that we are more concerned about our environment than a year ago (Yankelovich poll of 2,763 consumers) and this translates into more awareness of sound Green practices. Companies are also being vigilant and there are watchdog groups springing up to keep an eye on the Green washing. Maybe we can celebrate this Earth Day with an eco-friendly drink of 360 Vodka (www.vodka360.com)--and keep our 'Green' state of mind. Just a thought.

Story by: Cliff Boodoosingh     Date: Mon, January 7th, 2008          ... more from Cliff

Internet marketing's 'Timeless Classics'

In early December at PubCon 2007 in Las Vegas a panel of experts doled out some the SEO 101: Timeless and Classic Hits. Jill Whalen, Bruce Clay, Jake Baille and Ash Nallawalla were on hand to remind market novices and veterans alike what they should be focusing on.

Many of you have heard these tips before (hence, timeless), and you’ll hear them again—they’re classics. Here goes. The importance of the title tag cannot be over-emphasized and all four panelists agree. Get your title tags done properly! Develop and post unique content as frequently as possible. Build relevant links. Develop a site map. And last but not least: research for proper keywords and optimize your site for these keywords.

You got this down, you say. Well, congratulations. Many of you do not. Internet marketing firm, Samson Media, recently polled executives from retail, banking, manufacturing, trades, and business service companies. Interestingly, they found that 25 percent of those surveyed either weren’t sure or didn’t have a clue about which keywords were important in helping prospects find them.

So I'll leave you with this timeless gem from Harry S. Truman: "It's what you learn after you know it all that counts."

Please write to Editor@MarketingFind.com

Story by: Cliff Boodoosingh     Date: Mon, December 3rd, 2007          ... more from Cliff

The Wow in WoM

There's been a lot of good press on Word of Mouth marketing lately. Perhaps the most significant revelation came from PQ Media which reported that buzz marketing was the fastest-growing segment of the $254 billion US marketing industry last year: WOM marketing spend increased 35.9 percent in 2006 to $981 million (from 2005's $722 million). It's expected to reach $1 billion this year and $3.7 billion by 2011.

So it's because of Facebook right? Partly. Marketers are certainly aware that users believe what their social networking contacts tell them far more than what advertisers, vendors or bloggers tell them. This too is reflected in the research data: More than one-third of Internet users surveyed by Faves said they “highly trusted” information from friends and acquaintances in their online social networks. Nine in 10 said they at least "moderately trusted" their social network contacts. However, only 4 percent had a high amount of trust for content and opinions from vendors, advertisers, blogs or forums.

Is it any wonder Facebook unleashed its new advertising network allowing users to share details so that advertisers can target their messages? Will this help the trust factor? Maybe. It will fuel online conversations, help marketers build relationships and enable users to promote products they like.

But, I'm told by the Keller Fay Group that 90 percent of WOM still occurs offline. Wow, the good old water cooler factor still measures up but we're still not sure how to put a dollar figure on that...yet.