Digital Marketing Blog

Google Maps and Google Earth have now received two updates in 2012. The updates are to better render buildings and tall objects, so the maps will be more realistic and more usable. Google has also developed a new piece of software for faster and better rendering of maps inside a web browser. Google is not alone. Apple and Microsoft are also active players in the reality-simulating ecosystem.

Mapping is also not limited to outdoor environments. Microsoft’s Bing was first but now Google Maps has overtaken indoor mapping and there are swarms of young adults with camera-mounted backpacks mapping more and more environments. There are other advancements being made, all in an effort to make navigation easier and more efficient.

What is missing, for now, is the shopping component. Most maps will point to a business location on the map, but that is the extent of the interaction. That will change in the near future. The digital marketing company needs to make sure they are on the cusp of this coming revolution. Some day, possibly soon, a user will be able to hold up a smartphone and see what is seen on the display but overlaid will be search functions for types of businesses as well as an ability to immediately make purchases from that interface.

The creative limit to these reality augmentations seems endless, and the most effective applications have probably not even been thought up yet. Note the effectiveness and the controversy caused by Amazon’s app that allows a user to photograph an item in a store and then purchase it more cheaply from Amazon at that moment. This will be the next revolution in mobile commerce and digital agencies need to make sure they are on the wave of the change instead of left behind by its competitors.

Google Map/Earth Updates

Tags:   Google · Google Earth · Google MapsNo Comments.

Checkpoint Research has conducted a survey of nearly 1,000 IT managers and the results have some interesting data for the digital marketing agency. For their employees businesses prefer iOS to Android and Blackberry devices. Currently 89% of businesses have smartphones or tablet integration into their corporate ecosystems and 30% of those devices are iOS powered.

The main concern corporations have with Android devices is a security risk because Android is seen as inherently more unsecure than iOS devices. Whether or not that is accurate is irrelevant, as businesses answer their employees’ questions with an iPhone recommendation.

This is very important for the digital agency. As more and more mobile devices are used for productivity and not just consumption purposes, the way marketing is approached needs to also adapt. Marketing efforts will need to become more high end and less focused on entertainment. This sentiment needs to be reflected in not only the form of marketing efforts but also the content of what is being advertised.

If the iPhone and iPad continue to gain in corporate environments, then it makes the adaptation forced upon the digital agency easier to implement. If it is rare for an Android device to be used for productivity purposes, then it is easy to continue making entertainment and consumption driven advertisements to Android devices. The current state of the industry only forces ads sent to iOS to face the conundrum of what kind of advertisement. The digital agency will also need to evaluate ad servers to see if there are tests being used to determine what type of advertisement is most appropriate for iOS users.

 Businesses and iOS

Tags:   Advertising · Android · apple · Blackberry · data · digital marketing · iOS · mobile · smartphones · TabletsNo Comments.

Despite the poor market share of Microsoft smartphones, some believe they are poised to make a large strike into the field. There are a couple of advantages Microsoft has going for it. The main benefit is the large share of business products Microsoft already controls. The theory is that Microsoft will be able to make a smartphone that more seamlessly integrates within the business ecosystem. If so, then it is definitely an advantage that neither Android nor iOS can tap into.

Another advantage for the Microsoft phone is the software. The reports about Windows Phone 7 Mango are very favorable. Windows Phone 8 is slated to release soon. It is supposed to integrate easily with productivity software, a serious lacking for Android and iPhones, and its basic interface is simple compared to the other competitors. As smartphones become smarter a growing concern is security and this is seen as another area where the Windows Phone holds an advantage. Microsoft has no shortage of security experience and these skills will transfer over to the smartphone market as it becomes needed.

The digital agency can afford to neglect Windows Phones in the current market. If the predictions are correct, then attention to the Windows Phone will become necessary. This attention is more than making sure mobile ad servers are serving to the devices, but that the ads make sense with the different user interface and configurations of the Windows Phone. The Windows Phone will also be integrated to Bing products instead of Google, so a focus on Bing Maps, for example, will need to become standard business practice for a digital advertiser.

Windows Comeback

Tags:   microsoft · mobile · Windows phoneNo Comments.

In October 2011 25.1% of smartphone purchases were iPhones. That number reflected a trend where Android controls the majority of the smartphone market. Over the holiday season, however, the number grew to 37% of new smartphone contracts. Apple has been changing its strategy and it appears to be working. While Android devices are still most common, the gap is quickly closing.

As AT&T contracts, the original exclusive carrier of the iPhone, expire many people have a freedom that did not exist when they signed their contracts. Users may now jump to different carriers and still have an iPhone. There are also a variety of price points available for new iPhone contracts. Estimates open up the iPhone availability from 100 million to 260 million because of those new freedoms.

The mobile marketing agency has long needed to pay attention to smartphone operating systems and which apps are available. As more and more apps become available for both devices, then this platform issue will matter less and less. Until then, however, the mobile marketing agency needs to make sure their ads are displayed across all platforms. If a decision is needed, then it appears the long play is on iPhone and ads delivers to an iOS device.

iPhone Purchases Rise

Tags:   Android · apple · iphone · mobileNo Comments.

While nine out of ten tablet owners used their tablets to make a purchase this past holiday season, most prefer to do their shopping on laptops or PCs. 87% of tablet owners say they prefer to shop using their laptop or PC to a mobile device. That data is the result of a study completed by social merchandising firm Zmags.

Another interesting data point to come out of the study is that only 4% of mobile customers prefer to shop on an app. Web browsing, assuming the site is optimized for mobile devices, is the preferred method for users to search for products and to complete sales. Part of the desire for web browsing may be attributed to Facebook. 34% of tablet owners say they do their online shopping through a brand’s Facebook page.

While brands are rushing to build apps, a recommendation made here several times, the lucrative nature of having a specific app may be waning. As mobile users grow more accustomed to online shopping and as apps become more bountiful, then it may just follow that apps are losing some of their appeal. The digital marketing agency needs to be careful about the supposed lucrativeness of the app. The current state of the industry may be a flash in the pan. What is clear, however, is the importance of Facebook for the future of digital commerce. Facebook is becoming the preferred gateway to sales instead of just being the main gateway to customer engagement.

Brand Apps

Tags:   commerce · digital marketing · Facebook · Internet · internet marketing · mobile · shoppingNo Comments.

A new study released by L2 reports that large retailers are not keeping up with the demands of consumers for mobile shopping. Survey results show half of the prestige retailers had feeble efforts for mobile shopping. Many of these vendors did not even have mobile optimized websites, and even fewer provided an ability to make purchases on mobile devices.

Even the apps that exist are nearly useless. They are very bare bones efforts and do not have any appeal to keep consumers returning to them. It is really shocking to see such results as we enter the mobile persistent era. 9.8% of all online sales last holiday season were conducted on mobile devices.

This is good news for the digital agency because it means there is a gap in the market that needs to be bridged. Smaller firms that would normally be unable to compete with the larger prestige firms can do so in the mobile arena. It might even be possible to supplant the larger firms, so when they finally do come online it’s too late.

Mobile Advantage

Tags:   mobile · mobile shopping1 Comment

As the app explosion takes off the digital agency needs to become skilled in building them. One of the questions facing the development process had always been to build them natively to the operating system or to use HTML5. Forester Research has been answering that question for some time now with, it’s complicated. They have recently changed their mind, however.

The firm now says HTML5 is the way to go. The new tags allow the smartphone to tap into hardware functionality. It used to be the case that browsers were unable to access the camera or GPS functions. These days though the browser is able to go access most hardware functions on a mobile device. The question is about which OS is on the device and what it allows the browser to do. There is a performance hit, but that hit is lessening over time.

This matters because building apps using native code significantly drives up cost because of OS fragmentation, not only an iOS and Android difference but also differences among the Android platforms and the tweaks each Android carrier provides. As Windows phones enter the market this problem will become magnified. Because HTML5 can bridge the fragmentation issue, the cost of app development will drop significantly allowing better mobile marketing for firms.

HTML5 Superiority

Tags:   Android · apps · HTML5 · iOS · mobile · OS · smartphoneNo Comments.

On Christmas Day there were 7 million Android smart phones and iPhones activated across the U.S. The new phones combined with the already existing inventory made that week the heaviest app download week in history. It is estimated that 1.2 billion apps were downloaded that week alone. That number is a significant jump over a more traditional, and yet still busy, week. The first week in December saw 750,000 mobile apps downloaded.

The first lesson for the digital agency is about the growing importance of mobile devices. More and more people are researching and shopping on their mobile devices. A strategy for mobile marketing translates onto non-mobile devices, however, a strategy that does not emphasize mobile devices rarely translates onto mobile devices. The possession arrow moves in one direction and digital marketers need to make sure they are inline with it.

The second lesson from this development is about apps more specifically. People are willing to download apps. Maybe they do not keep them very long, but if it is free they will download it and try it out. Digital marketers need to increasingly develop their own apps instead of just advertising within popular apps. Creating an app also might force the firm to develop some creative approaches to the content within the app. In all, building an app might force marketers to not be complacent.

Holiday Apps

Tags:   Android · holidays · iphone · mobile · shopping · TabletsNo Comments.

“2012 will be a tipping point as exploding mobile-connected consumer adoption reshapes all business structure, process and economics,” writes Diane Mermigas. “Worldwide social network ad revenues will pass $8 billion in 2012, $5.8 billion of which will be generated by Facebook and its mobile expansion, according to eMarketer.”

As all advertisers will allocate significant budgets to run ads on Facebook and other social media platforms, they are well advised to consult with social media marketing firms that have experience in this area of advertising, in order to achieve maximum ROI.

How can you tell that an agency has the necessary expertise? Ask them for specific examples, how they have achieved measurable results for their clients. Keep in mind: A good digital marketing agency will focus on customer conversions, not ad impressions.

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Any of the following redesign mistakes can negatively impact your Google rank:

• Change page URLs and other file names (images, pdfs)
• Use different page titles and descriptions
• Replace HTML-based headlines and texts with graphics or Flash
• Make page text changes (content, formatting)
• Change your internal link structure
• Make changes to link anchor texts
• Make changes to alt tags of navigational elements and images
• Change links to external pages

In other words: Be cautious with a complete redesign, if your web site is already top-ranked on Google for your most important keyword phrases — unless you have an unbeatable number of quality inbound links. Even then, be very careful not to make any of the mistakes listed above, because on-page optimization is the foundation of search engine marketing success!

Tags:   search engine marketing · search engine optimization · seo1 Comment