With its ability to target consumers based on their actual shopping preferences, behavioral advertising has become a very popular tool among marketers and retailers. And the behavioral targeting trend shows no signs of slowing down, being applied not only to traditional online marketing campaigns but to mobile marketing as well. That’s because behavioral marketing has proven to be more effective than non-targeted advertising, converting consumers into buyers at more than two times the rate. It’s also more profitable, generating 2.68 times the revenue per ad than non-targeted advertising, according to the Network Advertising Initiative.

How behavioral targeting works

Behavioral targeting uses the cookies from a person’s browser to show that person ads for things they have a proven interest in. So, for example, let’s say you have a client who sells consumer electronics (digital cameras, camcorders, printers, etc.). Using behavioral targeting (and an ad network; see below), you can find consumers who recently performed a search for “digital cameras,” and show them ads for digital cameras just about wherever they go online that features ads.

Similarly, if the person just purchased a digital camera, you can use behavioral targeting to show them online ads for, say, photo printers or photo editing software.

As a marketer, that kind of targeted approach to advertising is incredibly powerful as you can now target campaigns based on consumers’ actual buying and browsing behavior instead of having to guess – and achieve better results (more clicks, higher conversion rates).

As an educated consumer, I realize that online ads are not going away any time soon — and if I’m going to be served ads on all my digital devices (I have too many) why not make them relevant to me? But I also realize this comes with a price. Ads can quickly become irrelevant to me, and marketers may misinterpret my online behavior or invade my privacy.

Privacy advocate groups have the similar concerns. In fact, Google and Mozilla are now introducing Do Not Track features to their browsers (due in part to pressure from the FTC). There is also talk of an opt-out registry, which could be similar to a telemarketers “Do Not Call” list. However, it will probably be a while before advertisers and ad networks adopt such a system.

Targeted mobile marketing

As stated above, one of the hottest areas where behavioral targeting can make a big difference is marketing to a mobile audience.

Mobile devices (namely smart phones) are increasingly becoming a part of the shopping process, as well as a way for brands to really connect with their target audience. More and more, shoppers are using their smart phones for comparison pricing, looking for coupons and discounts, and sharing information about products and services on review and social media sites.

Using mobile behavioral targeting (aka mobile and location marketing) you can now target customers when they check in at locations (using Foursquare, for example) or scan products, pointing them to products or promotions they might not have otherwise been aware of.

Advertising networks and behavioral targeting

To implement your behavioral advertising campaign, you are going to need to partner with an advertising (or ad) network that understands and tracks consumer behavior. Similar to media buyers, ad networks allow you to run targeted ads across hundreds, even thousands, of websites, rather than just on specific sites.

However, all ad networks are not the same. So make sure the ad network you work with understands your target audience (and defines it in the same way you do) and can and will place your ads on sites your target audience is likely to visit.

How behavioral targeting benefits your clients

Not only is behavioral advertising more targeted than traditional advertising, it also tends to be less expensive. So clients don’t need a big budget in order to cast a wide net to catch their target audience. Additionally, the returns are higher, because behaviorally targeted marketing campaigns and ads are reaching the right people at the right moment.

“So where do we start?” This is a good question to ask before jumping into social media. Many companies have already started without knowing it, and others are so paralyzed by the fear of exposure or lack of control that they never get out of the gates.

To get on the right track you first need to develop a strategic plan to control and participate in the ever-changing social media universe. Don’t start prematurely with fancy campaigns to build a Facebook fan base or begin production on a hit viral YouTube video. Hold on to those ideas for now and start with the basics: research, planning, and listening.

But before we even get to the good stuff,  we have to make sure that management is convinced that social media is the right thing to pursue—and sometimes that is easier said than done. We’ve observed that many C-level executives of large corporations were born before 1980 and quite frankly are not typical users of social media. Of course they feel the buzz, but often they don’t have firsthand knowledge of the medium, nor have they experienced their viral powers. So how do you build the business case for your unconvinced boss or client?

The first concern a CEO might have is about the audience: “I’m not certain our niche audience is using this stuff.” This is why you need to come prepared with the compelling facts:

• More than a third of the U.S. population is on Facebook
• Half the human race is under the age of 30, and they’ve never known life without the Internet
• One-third of women between the ages of 18 and 34 check Facebook before breakfast
• Half of all online time is used in social media accounts
• Communications within social media accounts have surpassed email

The stats go on and on, and the numbers keep growing.

If your CEO is still not convinced that her customers and potential customers are on Facebook, show her Facebook users by geographic region. You can easily find the number of  Facebook users in remote zip codes or tiny cities through Facebook’s targeted ad generator. Comparing your current customer numbers in a small city to Facebook users in that same city will show undeniable opportunity. Maybe you need a compelling quote:

Social media is the same today as it was yesterday. It’s just now reached such a critical mass, it’s too hard to ignore. You don’t want to be “that guy” or “that brand” who refuses to adapt to change and loses touch with reality.

—Julia Roy, Senior Manager, Coach, Inc.

If you’re still getting pushed to the back burner, show them what the other big boys are doing:

• 80% of the Global 100 companies are using at least one social media platform
• At least half are reaching audiences through Facebook (54%) and YouTube (50%); one-third maintain corporate blogs
• Global 100s have four or five Twitter accounts, two or three Facebook fan pages, one or two YouTube channels, and four or five corporate blogs
  
  ^{Source: Burson-Marsteller Evidence-Based Communications}

By this point, let’s hope you’ve quickly proven the need to start a strategy, but it’s possible that your company is still not seeing the potential benefit. You might be asked, “How is this going to improve sales or sell product?” This is the end game for all forms of marketing, but social media is a long-term commitment and not an event that brings in immediate returns. Paul Adams, a senior user experience researcher at Google, put it wisely:

Social media…is a way of thinking…it’s not about sales, or ads, or click-through rates. It’s about pursuing relationships and fostering communities of consumers. It’s about rethinking how you make plans when your customers are in the center and in control.

There are many dangers in not being involved that upper management should be made aware of, such as:

• Your employees are already doing it—yes, they are doing it for you, without guidance or brand continuity
• Discussions about your brand are taking place without you
• Incorrect statements about your company and products are living online without being challenged or corrected

Beyond promoting products and offers, there are many other key benefit areas, such as:

• Brand awareness
• Inbound marketing research (it’s an ongoing focus group)
• Community relations
• Customer support
• Recruiting and employee relations
• Investor relations
• Crisis management

Now that you’ve got the management team convinced that developing a social media strategy is the best place to start, you need to perform research, develop a plan, and do some listening. In my next post I’ll address these next steps and best practices.

If you’re like me, the week after Labor Day feels like the start of a new year. We’re done with vacations, the kids are back in school and a new season is just around the corner. September’s all about new beginnings – it’s a launch pad for fresh ventures and adventures, and Loewy Design is ready with key additions to our ground crew.

In the past few months we’ve grown our lineup to reinforce our talents in technology, design, strategy and account management. Our core team – David, Donald, Marc, Selina and LeAnna – is proud to welcome new faces and assets on board.

On the technology side we’ve added Senior Developer Nitin Menon as our tech lead. Nitin’s expertise and skill sets include application development, e-commerce and content management systems. He specializes in PHP, MySql Databases and Cold Fusion. Nitin brings with him over 8 years of experience from interactive agency Big Buzz.

We’ve tapped Executive Producer Angela Florie to manage our internal and external growth as our client roster continues to expand. Angela hails from TMP Worldwide, an interactive agency specializing in online marketing and communications. Angela provides strategy, marketing and account management and helps us stay on track and on budget.

We’ve strengthened our design team with Senior Designers Casey Bartholomew from Big Buzz and Ryan Barresi from NBTY. Both top web designers with diverse talents, they provide strategy, information architecture, design and front-end development. We’ve also hired new programmer Ellie Roepken, who specializes in PHP, content management systems and front-end development, and designer/front-end developer Jason Friedberg.

We’ve been working hard this summer on many exciting startups, redesigns and online marketing campaigns – and also on building our group and fine-tuning our process. Now, we’re thrilled to kick off fall with the right team for what’s next, fully powered up to do what we do best – offer complete online branding and marketing solutions.

Meet our new teammates.

If you own a successful brick-and-mortar store, you’ve built it by providing high-quality products or services to your customers. You’ve earned their trust for a variety of reasons: they found what they needed, they like your prices, their friends shop with you, you’ve been around for years…and so on. So how do you build the same trust and confidence with an online store?

Trust can be lost quickly, especially online. We ask a lot from online customers, and their suspicions are already on high alert for fraud, identity theft, hacking, spam and other risks. Not only do we want them to buy our product, but we also require their email, street address, credit card and any other info we can squeeze out of them – which is very different than walking into a store, dropping a few bills and leaving. So here are a few best practices that will put your online shoppers at ease, build customer loyalty and, most importantly, increase conversion rates.

Define your brand

Customers want to interact with distinctive and professional brands that they can believe in and be proud to shop.  Having a strong store name and domain is a great start. Try to avoid hyphens and cute misspellings when choosing a domain name – those can work well for content-driven or social media sites, but can be negative factors for selling products.

Your store’s visual design should be unique, and your messaging needs to be well written. Users can smell a purchased design template from a mile away and will suspect something fishy if they’ve seen stores similar to yours. Your store should be clean but not sterile, so look for ways to infuse your brand personality into your design and copywriting.

Seamless user experience

Your user interface design shouldn’t stray from what consumers have learned to expect from online shopping. As e-commerce has matured over the last decade, it’s established standards that shoppers rely on and demand. Don’t create funky new ways of browsing for products or checking out – continue to build trust with an experience that feels familiar and natural to your customers. There’s nothing wrong with taking cues from the best online stores and emulating their shopping process.

Pay close attention to every point where visitors interact with you. From product browsing through checkout, to email communications, packaging, reliable delivery and confirmation – consistency is essential for building trust. Detail the steps for completing a purchase and aim to under-promise and over-deliver.

That’s what they said

Spotlight your awards, success stories and security measures. Testimonials are great, but people are often suspicious of praise from unknown customers with no last name, so establish your success and reliability in other ways as well. Don’t be afraid to publicize your increase in sales, registered members or traffic. Back up your stats by linking them to reports provided by third-party tools like Alexa or Compete.com. Tout your privacy policies, seals of approval and security certificates.  All of this will help allay customers’ concerns, make them comfortable, and help them feel more secure about your business.

Doing press releases, thought leadership pieces and blogging can position your store as authoritative and sophisticated. You’d be surprised how many shoppers want to get the backstory on your store before they’re willing to enter their digits.

Community

Depending on your store and demographic, building Facebook, Twitter and other social media communities can ease doubt and enable customers to share stories about your shop and products. Be careful to keep a close eye on these communities and monitor the conversations. It’s likely you’ll get some negative comments that you’ll want to respond to quickly. You should always be open to criticism, fess up to your mistakes and explain what steps you’re taking to address them, and inform your customers about your plans for improvement.

Convey, build, and keep trust with your consumers, and they’ll return to your store again and again.

There seems to be another scammy trend brewing in email marketing. Recently I’ve been receiving email promotions from brands with subject lines apologizing for a mistake or retracting a misstatement. I like to forgive and forget as much as the next guy, but when the apology requested is nothing more than a trick to get me to open an email, I’m opting out.

Okay, I admit it, I’ve fallen for the trick a few times. Most such emails are from smaller companies hurting for revenue, but some are from brands that are well established and trusted. Just recently I received an email apology from TripAdvisor (a site I always use when planning a trip, by the way).

TripAdvisor’s subject line was: “Oops we had a glitch.” Inside was a copy of an email I had received the day before about its Travelers’ Choice 2010 Awards, which I had clicked through earlier without a glitch. The message said:

“Our Travelers’ Choice announcement was so popular this week, many readers couldn’t access the results. They’re available now.

Apologies and many thanks,
TripAdvisor.”

It’s hard to believe that TripAdvisor’s sophisticated servers crashed due to the high volume of visitors from this email campaign, but let’s give it the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the company really had a “glitch” and should apologize. Was there a better way to handle this?

My first recommendation would be to make the subject line less ambiguous–and, in fact, less intriguing. If it’s really an apology, save me time and let me know directly in the subject line that there was a problem with the Travelers’ Choice 2010 Awards. Brands should be honest and accountable for their mistakes—but if this is a tactic to improve open rates disguised as an apology, it will ultimately diminish the site’s credibility.

TripAdvisor could easily have promoted its awards within another value-added email promotion, by using search marketing, on its website, or through other avenues. Brand loyalty must be earned over time, but it can be destroyed quickly through overzealous marketing.

Customers form their opinions of you based on your value and how you treat them. Treat them with respect and they’ll be loyal forever.

When I was a creative director at HomePC magazine back in the early ’90s, there were lots of articles making predictions about the convergence of PCs, TV, and telecom. Along came WebTV in ’96, a big box with a wired keyboard that made your TV into a monitor for accessing the Internet. Microsoft bought WebTV, but it never took off; it was very clumsy, with a bad browser among other shortcomings (not surprising). Now here we are in 2010, and you can plug your ethernet cable or wi-fi into your TV. Presto, you’re on the Web—sort of.

I don’t claim to be an expert on the television/Internet space, but I can assure you that something’s very wrong with this picture. I’ve been doing a little research and I’ve looked closely at Web-enabled Sony, LG, and Panasonic TVs. These sets do not offer the big, open Internet we know and love; instead, they provide widgets and content channels chosen for us based on licensing deals between TV manufacturers and content providers such as Google, Yahoo, Netflix, and Time Warner.

This may seem to be a huge improvement for consumers. We can get movies instantly from Netflix and YouTube and great content from some of the best media companies in the world. In return, the media companies expand their audience, which will help them weather the recession and diminish their advertising woes. This is great for Sony and Google. But it’s bad for us. As Dan Frommer from Business Insider puts it, “We want a TV with a real Web browser that offers full access to the entire Web via wi-fi/broadband—not some crippled gimmick.”

As a marketer and consumer I have serious concerns with the direction the new Web-enabled TV movement is taking. I’m reminded of the AOL days, with closed proprietary systems where content was pushed and interactivity was limited. The only true convergence happening here is the merging of services provided by ISPs, telecoms, and TV manufacturers.

My exploration into the world of Web-enabled TVs has renewed my appreciation for the current Web—the Web that is free, open, and innovative. We need to remind ourselves that we have a wonderful and fragile resource that needs to be fought for and defended. I hope we haven’t lost the battle when it comes to Web TV, and that it will evolve based on user demand and not on corporate enrichment. Content providers, telecoms, and manufacturers need to realize that with an open Web they’ll have their biggest audiences and happiest sponsors.

If you’re interested in the fight for the open Web and Internet neutrality, please visit these sites:

http://www.savetheinternet.com/

http://www.freepress.net/

http://www.wearetheweb.org/

http://www.openinternetcoalition.com/

http://stopbigmedia.com/

Earlier this month I attended the Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA) conference in New York. The mission of SoDA is to advance the profession of digital marketing through education, discussions of best practices, and advocacy. The conference was billed as an “un”conference, which made the event conversational, collaborative—and at times a little too “un”structured. Still, it was a good experience.

We broke up into groups to discuss hot topics: Challenges of the Modern Agency, Metrics for Success, Engaging Social Media. I had hoped to gain insight into how large companies and agencies are managing their brands within their social-media initiatives. It’s clear that social media should be part of a brand’s marketing strategy, but how are companies controlling their brands’ voices? To my surprise, other attendees from top agencies and brands had similar questions—but few answers.

Some sound ideas popped up, such as the development of branding guidelines for social media, and the hiring of brand editors who can provide a checkpoint before tweets, blogs, and comments are published. These two methods can work fine for blogs themselves, but they can kill the spontaneity and immediacy of a tweet or a comment on a blog. Moreover, what do you do if your entire company is enthusiastic about speaking out and joining in on all the conversations?

If it’s your company’s policy to allow many social-media voices, it’s imperative to set up rules and guidelines and hold your employees accountable. Amber Naslund of the blog Altitude provides great examples of blogging policies from large corporations that can be used as an excellent starting point for developing your company’s guidelines.

If your social-media voice is monitored by a specifically designated department or by an outside agency, it’s easier to stay in control and keep your brand’s message inline. Your social-media captains should plan how they will uphold your brand’s promise in their conversations with customers, employees, and partners. They should meet weekly or monthly with the marketing or brand teams to ensure that all efforts are aligned with your brand’s strategy and corporate culture.

For a Twitter campaign for one of our clients, we create a monthly bag of “evergreen” tweets that are mixed in with spontaneous ones. That client is accustomed to having its copy and creative approved by its legal department and brand managers, which is not an ideal situation for quick tweets about what’s going on at the moment. To overcome this we develop 20 tweets that can be preapproved, and then mix those in with 10 spontaneous tweets that follow our defined social-media strategy. With this method and ongoing monitoring we’re able to lower the risks of tainting the brand, while still appearing spontaneous and continuing to build one-to-one relationships with the company’s customers.

This is new territory, and the best tactics have yet to be determined.  We encourage you to share your experiences and thoughts on how you manage brand continuity in social media for your company and your clients.

I recently gave a lecture to the advanced web design class at Farmingdale College. When I met up with professor Jack Harris, he informed me that the kids, mostly juniors and seniors,  saw Loewy Design’s page in the Flash/Dreamweaver Genius Guide, and they were looking forward to meeting with me. A bit embarrassed and very flattered, I asked Jack what book was he talking about and where could I get one.

I later found out that the book is published by Imagine Publishing and promises to be the essential guide to dynamic design and development. We were recognized for our website’s approach to animation and design using purely CSS and Javascript, a technological accomplishment but not exactly what I wanted to talk about in my little seminar. My talk was about the real world lessons that you can’t get from a textbook. I wanted to focus on the process of solving business and branding problems with the online medium.

I tried to push their tech questions aside but they kept coming. I eventually got my point across that the technology we’re using today will be completely different when the students immerse themselves in the job market. They’ll need to educate themselves on the latest versions of Flash and Dreamweaver and keep up with always evolving programming languages throughout their careers.

The most valuable information I could share with them was to describe our thought processes, not only about making a website look great but about creating one that will actually help your clients solve their business challenges. I gave them our secret sauce on how we deliver positive results to our clients and improve their bottom lines.  As a take-away, I provided them, and now you, with a list of reference tools organized by each phase of our process.

By no means is this the complete list, since it too is always evolving, but it could serve as a nice resource and good starting point for students, clients and peers.

Recently a client asked us for our opinion on a Digimag (or whatever-you-call-it) service called Ceros. I’ve seen this technology grow in popularity over the years, and I have to admit Ceros has taken it to a higher plane. Their product and experience is rich with video, animation and interactivity – but so what.

I can see how print publishers would really love for this page-flipping technology to take off. Their print advertising windows are closing quickly, yet their online advertising windows are not opening fast enough. With Digimags, they are offering an online add-on, attempting to close the deal with the advertiser on that expensive print inside cover or center spread.  In my opinion, this is just another way of putting off the inevitable transition from print to true online publishing – publishing that is centered around knowledge exchange, content that takes place on a variety of platforms and advertising programs based on audience relevance and brand engagement.

Furthermore, is there really a mass audience for Digimags? Nxtbook Media, another digital magazine service, has an interesting real-time map illustrating how often Digimags are read across the globe.  While this is a cool use of Google’s API, showing a reader or two per second – this map is an insult to a publisher’s intelligence.  According to their site, 1.3 million people read a Digimag per month.  That sounds like a lot – but it pales in comparison to the number of people who read online magazines every day.

Digimags are not the panacea for publishers’ woes.  They sacrifice the standards and best practices of web publishing. The content has poor search visibility; there is no room for user-generated content; you need to click and enlarge to read; and you have to drag your electronic paper around to navigate.  Perhaps their future is better suited to a different device, such as the Kindle, as stated in this article.

Finally, producing an issue of a Digimag can cost as much as $100 per page.  Why not put that towards building a sustainable online magazine for your audience and your advertisers?

If you’re running a small business, at some point you probably thought: “there’s got to be a better way.”  As small businesses become larger ones, systems and processes tend to get more complex.  Yet sometimes the best solutions have fewer bells and whistles but fit better with the culture and operation of the company.

Case in point:

Years ago, as an independent contractor in a home office, things were relatively simple. I did it my way, flying by the seat of my pants with my own systems and processes, which mostly meant a good memory and lots of post-its. Thankfully, the business has grown and I’m now managing seven people, freelancers, a full office, accounting systems, networks, and an upcoming office expansion. With growth comes complexity, so my staff and I are constantly evaluating tools to make our lives easier and our work better.

What we’ve found is that the newest and most elaborate products are not always the best for us.  Our company and culture is unique, so this year’s “Top 10 Solutions” may not necessarily work for us.   The tools and technologies that we use to run our business have to match our group’s abilities and their willingness to embrace them.

Our time-keeping software, for example, is a simple application that has become our most important tool.  While my staff finds it a pain to account for every minute of their time, they appreciate that the system helps us estimate costs and profitability (right guys ).  Without these metrics, we would be unable to measure our success.

We use a system called TimeFox.  As a group we went through demos, free trials and testing before we committed to it. We listed our needs and sought a system that was easy to use and quick to put in place, bypassing software that included more features but was more cumbersome to use.

Another tool that needs careful evaluation is our project management software because it is used by clients who have different levels of expertise. Basecamp is a tool we often use if clients are web savvy and detailed oriented. For clients who need a simpler solution we’ll use Backpack, which is an easy to use intranet storing and sharing information with a virtual team.

Now that we are moving to a larger office, we are researching phone systems.  I think we’re close but I’ll let you know (any good ideas out there?). One thing is already clear: we’ll be guided by our experiences and won’t feel compelled to acquire a system with a lot of extraneous features that aren’t right for us.