BRAND marketing Curation

A startup’s main marketing challenge is to grow as fast as possible. The process of doing so can be broadly summarized as follows: learn as quickly and cheaply as possible about your customers, what they like or don’t about your service, the most effective ways to reach them, and customer acquisition costs. Once these questions are answered, then grow as fast as it makes sense.

All marketers will agree that market research is important. Because the media landscape is in a constant state of flux and marketers are constantly overwhelmed with data and business priorities, though, marketers tend to shave timelines, do “internal” research, and lose sight of the need for consumer marketing research for their organization.

Market research, however, is essential to you and your brand’s long-term success. Market research will keep your brand afloat while companies who fail to make research a high priority drown.

Market research should be bumped to the top of your priority list for the following five key reasons.

Twitter has rapidly become a vehicle for brand marketing and reinforcement, but keep in mind that it’s only partially a broadcasting channel. Many companies are using it as a one-way broadcaster of 140-character messaging, instead of using it to engage followers. Startup Nestivity, which develops community software tools for Twitter, has come up with a list of the top 25 brands that best utilize Twitter for customer engagement.

The list was developed from a study, conducted by Evolve Capital and by Dr. Natalie Petouhoff of the UCLA Anderson School of Management, that was designed to measure brand engagement in that social channel. The research focused on traffic for the 100 most followed brands, and looked at how relationships were created and maintained with customers, influencers or advocates.

There’s certainly no shortage of metrics to access to measure your blog’s performance. Regardless of the analytics software you use, keeping track of what matters can get tricky.

Love – and loyalty -- is a two-way street. Just ask your customers.

According to a national survey conducted by Opinion Research Corp. and commissioned by Analytic Partners, customers want to be loved by the brands they love.

Nancy Smith, founder and CEO of Analytic Partners, said in a press release that the overarching survey theme was customers want to be loved by the brands they’re loyal to, adding “loyalty has become a two-way street.”

“No longer are the days when brands can advocate solely for themselves,” Smith said. “In fact, the way brands spend their marketing dollars to interact with their consumers can ultimately have a real impact on profitability."

Nearly half (48%) of people between the ages of 18-44 indicated that any loyalty they feel toward brands in the future will be because of the types of experiences brands create for them. Some of these experiences cited by survey respondents include interaction in the form of video/online gaming, social media, and third-party expert information through blogs and articles.

The Most Annoying Types of Ads on the Internet #infographic

Pop-up ads, lottery scams, and other types of advertising do more than just interrupt the flow of information online. Respondents to a recent survey on annoying ads have reported losing sleep and even assaulting their hardware after reading yet another email from a pen pal in a foreign land who needs them to transfer some money.

Although a greater number of Americans (60 percent) are annoyed by television commercials than internet ads, the newer medium is on the rise, with 55 percent who are finding annoying ads in their inboxes and 37 percent who say they are happening on social media.

The most offensive kinds are:

Pop-up ads – 70%Lottery scams – 70%Male enhancement ads – 66%Emails from deceased African leaders who have left them money – 64%Ads for products and services they do not need – 58%Female enhancement ads – 54%

Although the dawn of the Web was nearly two decades ago, many small and midsize businesses (SMBs) still have a limited, ineffective online presence. That wouldn't be much of an issue if the Internet hadn't long ago replaced hardcopy Yellow Pages as the go-to source for business information.

vSplash's SMB DigitalScape data, based on an analysis of 1 million SMB websites worldwide last year, provides a clear demonstration of how poorly equipped SMB websites are for the digital age.

Let's go through the most alarming findings and examine the top reasons SMBs are failing online.

Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2013/10531/six-reasons-your-website-will-fail#ixzz2QGbmqGHF

I agree, it was way past time for American Airlines to update their branding. ... 2013 Oceans Design Group / Graphic Design Miami / Logo Design / Web Design / Photography / Brand Management / Miami Beach FL 33139 ...

By removing certain tactics, you may find that you save some time while the content that you create is more likable and thus drives more traffic. Here are some tactics that if you’re using I recommend ditching and make time for strategies that work.

Just 32% Of Small Business Owners Think Social Media Marketing Is Effective [STUDY]

The social discounts space seems to be getting more crowded by the day — and now financial giants Visa and Mastercard have come to the party with a deal with location-based social network Foursquare.

How does your social media content stack up against the work of others? Quality, entertainment value, and writing skill all play into the equation. Quantity enough won’t cut it.

Make sure your brand is using the right tone, post type, and timing to reach (and impress) your female fans on Facebook. Socialtyze dug into the data to find out exactly what to say, and when to say it.

You don't see many tweets touting companies as #betterthanaverage. But there's plenty of social media chatter about really good or bad customer experiences. The same holds true for the feedback companies receive directly via e-mails or phone calls. Customers are most likely to offer feedback when they have either a really bad experience or a great one — and they almost never say a word when their experience falls somewhere in the middle.

The problem is, that silent majority in the middle typically drives the success or failure of a business.

“Everyone has something they need to hear. Tell them.”
-Homepage message on Hallmark.com 
Incorporating content personalization into your marketing campaigns is a lot like choosing a birthday card for someone.

Yesterday Facebook announced a number of changes to News Feed that have huge implications for businesses, marketers and their Facebook Pages. The main changes include how visual content and stories are displayed in user's News Feeds.

A recent study reveals which gender is more prevalent on Facebook. It explores which sees and clicks on more ads, draws more ad dollars, and costs less to target.

10 Challenges of Retail Marketing. Marketing a small retail business has many challenges. Since the nature of the business is highly competitive, the owners are faced with tough times. It do.

The Oscars are Hollywood's biggest night for celebrating achievements in film and the reaction this year on social media was at an all-time high in volume.

Disney World isn’t just a magical place for families or kids.  It’s also pretty magical for marketers too.