Pizza Psychology: Is Domino's Picking Your Pizza or Your Brain?

If you are a frequent reader of the Tandem Interactive Blog, you are familiar with all our team and know that my main focus is on NeuroMarketing. When you are conscious of the tactics it is very easy to identify all of the big corporate names that are using these tactics to their advantage to help with their sales and branding. But if you are not familiar with NeuroMarketing, you are just a pawn in this game these companies are playing.

In the midst of the holiday weekend, I found myself juggling between work, shopping, family, and the like that I thought it was time to just order a pizza and relax. To my surprise I find myself inspired by my Domino's Pizza purchase and made it my focus for this blog post. Everything about the Domino's experience is based off of a NeuroMarketing platform. Let's exam the entire process:

When you go to their website for an online order, this is the home page (on Dec. 2, 2013):

They give the user exactly what they are looking for: 

1. Pictures of food - the user is obviously hungry so the pictures simulate the users appetite to help initiate the purchase. They do not limit the photos to just pizza, but they include all of their food options. 
2. Pricing- The pricing is very clear, bright red (to capture the users attention), and bigger than any other text on the page. 
3. Emotions - they use the St. Jude Meal Deal to help push more purchases. You have the option of adding a $1 donation to any order, but they put together a package of 2 pizza ($5.99 each), bread ($2.99) and a 2-liter ($2.69)... So for a meal that actually cost you $17.66 plus the $1 donation to St. Jude's (so $18.66 total) is actually $1.33 more when it is labeled the 'St. Jude Meal Deal'. So a person that is generous or a supporter of the cause, would see this promotion and naturally think, let me get this meal deal and help the cause... Not realizing that they are actually paying 7% more for this meal than what it would cost to individually add these items to the cart seperatly in addition to the donation. You may think that $1.33 isn't that much more, that you may not care to pay the extra, but it may be better to think of this number in a percentage so you can see how much the different may be. Let's think that 100 people a day will purchase the 'St. Jude Meal Deal' so a total of $2000 in sales; and an extra 7% or $140 that was made. You case see how slowly this starts to add up. So a meal deal that seems like you are contributing to a good cause, you are actually the victim of 'Feel Good Marketing'; the theory that you made a purchase that made you feel good although you may have been baited into.

So after you make the purchase, the psychology doesn't end there. To my surprise, once the pizza is delivered you get your box of yummy goodness in box and you go to open the box and what is the first thing you see before the pizza... Instagram. Directions on how to take the perfect #PizzaPics, how to tag Domino's, and how to share your experience. So here they are using you and your social media to help promote their business through photos. So you are telling your friends, "Hey look at what I just got for lunch!"; which in turn could possible make them want to order a pizza. Then you are endorsing the brand of Domino's by saying, "Look at my positive experience". 

Don't feel like you are a victim of Domino's awesome marketing because I could have never wrote this post if I too wasn't roped in! You can see pictures of my pizza and more at #PizzaPics on Instagram and until December 8th you can take advantage of 50% off of any pizza :)  For more tips and tactics on NeuroMarketing and all marketing keep up to date with the Tandem Interactive Blog! Have a great week and Happy Holidays! 

Pubcon Kicks Off with NeuroMarketing

For those of you that aren't familiar with the conference Pubcon, it is the premier social media and optimization conference and expo. Pubcon is held twice a year in Las Vegas and New Orleans; and is slowly growing to appear in other locations nationally. With over 200 speakers and 1,800 attendees it is definitely the most recognized digital media conference in the US. 

This year was my first time attending the conference and I had one person that I was anxious to see; Roger Dooley of Dooley Direct LLC and the author of Brainfluence (the most applauded Neuromarketing book available on the market). As most of you may know, I am a Neuromarketer and an advocate of how psychology and sales are related; and I believe that when used properly neuromarketing can be an asset to your business. 

Roger Dooley was the keynote speaker that kicked off the Pubcon conference on Monday in Las Vegas at the Master Training. His keynote was focused on this: "SEO, SEM and Social Media help drive traffic to your site. And if you want more revenue you need to turn up the traffic or turn up the conversions." The key to conversions is persuasion. 

Roger Dooley likes to look at the purchase cycle as a slide, 'The Persuasion Slide'. And this slide consist of 4 different features: 1) gravity, 2) nudge, 3) angle, and 4) friction. 

• Gravity is the initial motivation that brings the consumer to you.

• Nudges are little things that your business does to help motivate them to convert. Nudges are ALWAYS about the consumer, NOT ABOUT YOU! Nudges must be seen to provide the initial motivation to start the process.

• Angles are both conscious and subconscious factors that help motivate the consumer to buy. Some conscious factors are free gifts, sales, stats likes savings or other rational decision factors that could help pursuade the consumer from browsing to buying. Subconscious  factors that motivate the consumer without the 'in your face' effect; like emotions, psychology and brain bugs. 

• Friction is anything that prevents someone from purchasing. Some examples of friction are too many lines to fill out on a form or making the conversion sequence harder than it needs to be. Use choice architecture to help minimize friction by creating a 'default' choice.

Roger Dooley is an amazing pioneer of neuromarketing, by far my favorite to follow. His 'Persuasion Slide' is a great concept and has the ability to help promote conversions. If you want to try testing a neuromarketing theory on your website or if you have questions regarding neuromarketing, please contact me at BDiaz@Tandem-Interactive.com Have a great weekend!

Gregs Marine Wire Supply - Online Sales and Service Done Right!

I always wish I had more time to write. I am itching to put an article together about the fake reviews bust and fines in my Industry (Gabtab Solution for REAL Reviews anyone?). I want to write an article about "The Day the Organic Keyword Died", but cannot seem to find the time. However, I am so impressed with http://gregsmarinewiresupply.com, I need to get this down.

One of my hobbies is working on my very old boat (1986). I love re-wiring and adding newer technology to it. I have been working on adding a third battery for the past week. Battery cables are extremely important and can be quite costly. Without the proper crimping tools and heat shrink connectors they can be difficult to make. I found Gregs Marine Wire Supply and have now done two orders for custom sized cables. My second order was this morning and it was shipped within hours! This is obviously a very specific product, but any business can follow this model.

Don't just sell the product, see if there are ways you can customize the product and add value (battery wire versus custom cables ready to install).
Don't just handle the order, make each order a priority (packing and shipping the order as soon as it is ready versus waiting for batches)
TLC - my first order had a hand written thank you. Nice touch!

Google's Partner Live Stream Advent Calendar

I quickly recognized this:

because my sons are interested in the Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar. I jumped the gun on the date because I am traveling to speak at the DFWSEM event tomorrow and then headed to the Google Think Performance conference in Mountain View on Thursday. Thank you for the yummy chocolate and Tandem Interactive looks forward to being part of the new Google Partners Program.

Utilizing The Cost of Advertising

"Get the most bang for your buck..." is there anyone in the business field that hasn't heard that quote? But there is one company that caught my attention at breakfast for their ability to truly UTILIZE their cost. 

While in the middle of enjoying my delicious chocolate chip cookies I could help but look at my milk carton. A few months back we decided to go completely organic in the house and milk was one of those products. So I'm enjoying my breakfast while reading the milk carton. Talk about getting the bang for the buck. Every inch of the carton had writing on it. Their are social media links, quotes, facts, and information on why Organic Valley milk is the best milk on the market. They promote subliminal messaging in their text by telling you how "they give their animals the greenest pastures and they give you delicious & nutritious milk". They thank the reader for helping support the Organic way of life. They use 'feel good' marketing when they show the picture of the farmer with the cows, how it is going from their family to your family, and that they raise their animals with love. They make a connection/bond with the customer by using words like 'family, nurturing, children, love, and affection'.  

If you are buying their products, they know that you are health conscious (if not you wouldn't spend the extra $3 for the half gallon). Most people that are health conscious and shop at Whole Foods or GreenWise are usually against the cruelty of animals or vegetarian/vegan. So they pump the milk owner with all these facts on their cows, their family owned farms, and the way the animals are treated and raised. I mean Organic Valley really did what they could to use the carton. You figure you have to design the carton to hold the milk in, why not use every inch of space to convince the buyer why they should continue to buy our milk; not only our milk but try our yogurt, cheese, ice cream, and don't forget to like us on Facebook! 

So for the little businesses that cost is an issue, take some advice from Organic Valley farms; think about the products that you already have and buy and use them completely. Use the back of your business cards to place a discount promo code and add social links. Make sure you add links to social profiles on your website and make them easily accessible. If you have to buy boxes for your products, advertise all of them! The customer is going to get the box, and when they are bored eating cookies & drinking milk, they are going to read what you wrote. Make every dollar count so that you can say you get the 'best bang for your buck'! All around great approach for marketing and neuromarketing while on a budget. 

For more marketing tips, keep reading on the Tandem Interactive Blog! Have a great week! :) 

Study Finds Majority of Online Shoppers are Rural, with Few Exceptions

It is no question that the popularity of e-commerce is growing substantially year after year, with reported sales now topping $200 billion annually. While organic search is still the leader for referring online customers (accounting for almost 16% of customers that businesses acquire), many retailers are still shifting from a free-to-paid model and are relying heavily on third-party vendors to drive website traffic. Affiliate sites in particular have grown tenfold, and email marketing is still an effective way to acquire customers. In fact, e-mail customer acquisition has quadrupled in the last four years!

What about social networks like Twitter for customer acquisition? According to a new study by Custora, the lifetime value of Twitter-referred customers is 23% lower than average. And despite the mega-businesses located in coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles, the most valuable online shoppers tend to come from more rural states. It's possible this is because there is less storefront availability in rural states, where major cities likely get a large amount of foot traffic as well as substantial online sales.

Fashion brands break the trend, with their best customers residing in densely populated coastal areas, with a few exceptions. While the usual suspects are high online sales traffic locations for fashion retailers, states like New Mexico and Wyoming rank high for valued online customers as well.

What means are you utilizing to obtain online customers? See all the data shared on states and the value of their e-commerce customers here.

Twix New Marketing Campaign

So I have obviously not written in a while, and just now I am in the middle of SEO and link building reports when I get served a 'verify an email address' and I get taken by surprise. I go to Yahoo! to log into an email address and confirm the email just sent to me when I see the ad and I can't help but stop E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G I am doing to blog about it.

 

Some of you may have already been exposed to the new Twix campaign about 'choosing a side'. I am absolutely mind blown by this NeuroMarketing technique that they are use for their campaign. If you are not seeing the extent of my enthusaism yet, let me elaborate on what they are doing. They have not come out with a new product. They did not make a 'limited edition' version of their signature candy. They have not done anything new or different and they have not changed or modified the product AT ALL. They have taken their product and made a completely new and distinct NeuroMarketing campaign based on a the same product they have always had but added a significant way to engage their product lovers.

 

Twix is a cookie covered with caramel and chocolate; and they always come in a set of two. They have designed their whole new campaign to make people choose between the left Twix or the right Twix. They are exactly the same product the only difference is their position in the wrapper. But they have used the neurological concept of "them vs. us" marketing (similar to Apple's technique) but against themselves. They are creating a divison between its competitors and consumers  and then inventing a new and stronger sense of attachment to its 'unique' product.

 

 

 

If you look at their ad, even though they are creating a divison amoungst themselves they are also subconsciously dividing Twix against all other candies through their content. The whole ad uses phrases such as "one of a kind", "unique process", "..makes us different...", and "...makes us stand out...". They are constantly reinforcing how different not only Twix consumers are but that 'LEFT' Twix consumers are even more unique.

 

But before you even get to see their ad or understand the technique they are using to try to get engagement from their customers, you will see "Now Introducing Left Twix and Right Twix". When you get served with an ad like this you think "Well I know what Twix are... But what is the 'left' and 'right' Twix?". That's the when the curisousity sets in and you are engaged and left trying to figure out what they are asking; which is the purpose of any marketing campiagn - ENGAGEMENT from the targeted audience. And this campaign does just that; so much that I had to stop everything that I was doing to Google what Left & Right Twix were and then to Blog about how fascinated I was! So thank you Twix for catching my interest so much to motivate my Blog post.

 

Keep up with the latest blog post by all the Tandem Interactive Team here :) Email me directly at BDiaz@Tandem-Interactive.com if you have any questions about NeuroMarketing or would like to design a campaign with neurological tactics. Have a great weekend!

 

 

'Feel Good' Marketing = Coach Factory's Tactics

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that it feels good to buy things at good prices. 67% of American's admit to buying items that they did not intend on purchasing if they felt like they were getting a good deal. This marketing strategy is called 'Feel Good' Neuromarketing and there is one company that holds the gold metal in this tactic: Coach Factory Outlets. 

Many women are subscribed to numerous websites for deals, coupons, sales and promotions. When you subscribe to these sites they send you emails on occasion to promote whatever sale is occurring. Coach Factory store's send several emails per week notify the subscribers of different sales that are occurring. The newest sale intrigued my inner marketer, so I decided to engage in the sale. Below I have attached the screenshot of the Coach Factory online sale that is currently running. If you go to the website (www.CoachFactory.com) you have to be a subscribed member before you are given access to the website and its sale. 

TACTIC 1: Get a conversion. The potential buyer is on your site because they are already interested in your promotion, now you are funneling them to provide an email address to subscribe to the site in order to gain access to the website and sale. This tactic does two things for Coach, (1) it allows their user to believe that this is a 'members only' and 'exclusive' sale to them. Because you are a member we are giving you this % off our items. This is initiating the 'feel good' experience that you are aiming for in this marketing strategy. (2) If the potential buyer goes online, goes on the site, looks around, and decides not to purchase anything, you already have a valid email address to that purchaser. So even if they did not convert when they went online, you have a way of contacting them in the future to try to close the deal next time. 

So now your on the Coach Factory site, your logged in, and you begin to browse. What do you see? TACTIC 2: Incentives. The first incentive is (1) SALE ENDS: 1 Day, 3 Hours. This gives your viewers a sense of urgency; you have 27 Hours to engage in this special offer or your going to miss out. (2) Invite Friends for $10 off, 50% off of Everything, Free Shipping on $150+. So not only do they feel the urgency to purchase to get the 'Feel Good' savings, but they now have 3 incentives: 

• If they tell their friends about the sale, get an extra $10 off
• They have 27 hours left for 50% off of everything
• If they purchase $150+ they get free shipping (More Savings! Yay!)

So these viewers are going on this site, and they are being overwhelmed with all these good feeling: I got 50% off of a new purse, I got free shipping, Sally signed up and how I got an extra $10 saved! So the customer is feeling good and happy and engaging in the website doing EXACTLY what Coach Factory wants them to do:

1. Give us your email so in case you don't purchase now, we got the line in the water and can reel you in later.
2. Buy and buy NOW! They are pushing the sale with the time limitation
3. We will give you $10 for referring a friend because we will make money off of them and you.
4. Purchase over $150 and we will pay for the shipping. An incentive to a higher purchase.

So the customer feels good and happy about all the savings that they feel they are getting, and Coach Factory store is happy because the audience is engaging exactly as they planned. 

TACTIC 3: Reinforce the feel goods. Once you actually start to look at the products you see that they reinforce what Coach has been telling you since you got on their website: It's a good deal, engage. They show the picture of the handbag, the name, the regular price, the sale price, then the 50% limited time offer price in red. So you see a purse you like and it was originally $358, then now it is $279, but for the next day at 50% off it is $139.50. That 50% off price sounds a lot better than the original $358 retail price. Product placement is also influential during this marketing campaign. In the screen shot you will see that the most expensive purse is placed in the middle of the page, in between the two beige bags which make it stand out the most on the page. All the purses around this bag are the same price ($114.50) except the purse in the top right corner (which is where the most eye traffic goes naturally to the top right corner of any website, hence the reason it is always recommended to place your phone number and contact information there) which is the least expensive bag at $101.50.

There a many other tactics that are used on Coach Factory websites, along with other top named brands. To learn more, subscribe to the Tandem Interactive Blog and email me directly at BDiaz@Tandem-Interactive.com. 

'Them vs. Us' Marketing

Loyalty is a very powerful marketing tool to build your brand and its empire. Apple has used the same marketing tactic for years that has allowed their brand to grow to its position today. 

Scientific testing has proved that humans have a deep, unconscious longing to belong and fit in. Naturally, we want to be accepted and loved.  Because humans want to fit in we develop loyalty to to groups. By developing this loyalty to a group, we will then become emotionally attached to our group and in result set boundaries to distinguish that we are separate from other groups. Because we are naturally programmed to have this reasoning, Apple has found a marketing approach that has embraced this hardwired human characteristic. 

By allowing its users to develop a distinct division between 'them' (the PC users) and 'us' (the Mac users), Apple has created its own group with a sense of loyalty and making them prone to purchase their other products. For the past 30 years, Apple has made a distinction that we are different, we are not every other computer, we are Macs. Their video advertising has always shown the division between its users and the general public, reinstating this differences between its users and 'everyone else'. If you watch their videos ads you will see that there is little to no information on the actual product but just the reinforcement that their is a difference and the difference is you are either a robot just like everyone else or you a Mac. 

Some take-away's on how you can use the "Them vs. Us" Neuromarketing approach:

(1) Make a division : Find something that makes your business unique and different from your competitors. Teach your audience to embrace this difference and to be loyal to the difference. 

(2) Believe in your message : False advertising is not a foundation you should build your marketing strategy or your business on. But advertise relevant and TRUE statements about your brand. Make your audience believe in your message. Use different strategies to target your audience and show them that they fall in your business' division. 

(3) Embrace the separation : If you can create the division to your targeted audience telling them that they are different than the other groups they will believe in your message. Remind them of the difference, tell and show them directly and indirectly how they fall in your distinct group. Doing so will allow them to affiliate with your brand, increase your validity, and improve their status as a member of your 'group'.  

Google Releases New Version of Maps!

Google has been busy with the release of the new Google Plus as well as the new version of Google Maps.  Users who opt-in to the new Google Maps will now rate businesses on a scale that ranges from one to five stars. The system maintains the precision of the former 30 point scale while improving the readability and accessibility of the business listings. Your customers will be able to find up-to-date, accurate information on your business faster than ever. As a business owner, you’ll notice that past ratings have been mapped to the five star system so you won't lose any of your reviews or rankings.
These updates will continue to roll out on Google Maps, Google Maps for Mobile, Google search results and Google+ Local in upcoming months. Zagat reviews are still available throughout Google, and you’ll continue to see Zagat throughout Google products with editorial reviews and curated lists awarded to notable places

Google is mapping individual ratings to the star system using the following framework:

 

Previous rating scale	Five star system
Poor-Fair	2
Good	3
Very Good	4
Excellent	5

 

Your business’s overall rating is calculated from both old and new customer reviews as a 1.0 to 5.0 star rating. Old dimension ratings like “service” and “decor” will contribute to the overall rating. The new algorithm takes into account statistical uncertainty in the straight average of user scores to make the scores more reliable for places with only a few ratings. 

 

If you have yet to set-up your Google Plus/Places page or need help with other local organic listings please feel free to call me at (954)281-9995
 

Subconscious Directional Cues

 

Tuesday, May 14, 2013 was the SFIMA Pubcon Summit in Davie, Florida. Some of the world's leading Internet marketers gave presentations on SEO, SEM, and Social Media Marketing. One of the most interesting presentation was given on Conversion Rate Optimization. In the lecture, they gave examples of how clear logos, toll-free phone numbers and visible shopping carts can give a boost in sales. They also showed that a strong return policy (if your site is E-Commerce) or a strong sense of Customer Service will help the audience to convert more easily. When you are trying to convince your audience to convert you should use 'directional cues'. This caught my attention when the subject was introduced because directional cues are a form of Neuromarketing. There are two forms of directional cues: (1) Implicit and (2) Explicit.

 

Implicit Directional Cues are those that are implied such as direction of view, color, visual weighting, prioritization, repetition of color, size or shape that engages your audience more. Explicit Directional Cues are very direct, they have arrows, lines, or curves showing them 'this is where your eyes should be'.

 

Although explicit directional cues are useful and obviously engage your audience they can sometimes be too overbearing. This is why it is important to constantly be testing your landing page to see what engages your audience most. Test your site using both implicit and explicit directional cues. For implicit use people then objects, what does your audience convert more on? If it is people, then test a single person or a family? A male or a female? White or ethnic? Older or Younger? The greatest 'take-away' that I had from the SFIMA Pubcon Summit was a quote by Paul Ryazanov that said "In God we trust, everything else we test". I believe that in marketing and especially Neuromarketing this is true.

 

Call my office 954-281-9995 or email me at BDiaz@Tandem-Interactive.com if you would like to have a meeting with me on some ideas for Landing Page Optimization or Conversion Rate Optimization using directional cues and Neuromarketing.

Does Pricing affect Sales?

Many of us have all seen the typical $9.99 price on items, but what researchers have shown is that this type of pricing tends to sell more often. Neuromarketing has shown that items that are priced just under an even amount sell more of that item, in example $9.99 or $497.95 rather than $10.00 or $500.00. Big companies and marketers like Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Sears have spent money testing the pricing therapy to see if slight savings (a few pennies or a dollar) would impact substantial sales, and the result is YES! 

One of the studies researched was for real estate pricing. Studies showed that houses priced with an odd number, Roger Dooley's example of $494,500 rather than $500,000 would sell at closer numbers to their asking price then the even numbered price. 

The keys that research has shown is that:

• Consumers respond better to numbers that are odd rather than even

• Avoid round numbers, an item priced at $499 will sell more than at $502.50 even though the difference is slight

• Consumers shown items without dollar signs or decimals spend significantly more ($12.00 compared to 12)

Discover Disney: Decoy Marketing?

NeuroMarketing is the newest and most advanced form of marketing available today. It has taken large businesses over 20+ years to accept the merge of science and marketing; and with this new merge, businesses are capable of targeting more engaged audiences.

 

Walt Disney is a World Wide name and well known brand. My recent interest towards visiting Disney this month gave me a surprise. Many of you know that from January to June every year Disney runs a special for Florida Residents called the 'Discover Disney' Ticket. The ticket is always available the beginning of January and expires in June when season begins. However, this year their marketing campaign showed they were running off of a NeuroMarketing tip.

 

Last year, in January 2012, Discover Disney was released to Florida Residents with two different ticket offers:

(1) 3-Day Pass: $99

(2) 4-Day Pass: $129

This year, Discover Disney was released again, however the pricing was different:

(1) 3-Day Pass: $119

(2) 4-Day Pass: $129

Although the pricing for the 4-Day pass stayed the same, the price for the 3-Day pass increased by $20. This approach is called 'Decoy Marketing'. They did not change the price of the second ticket, but, by increasing the price of the 1st option by $20 they made the option of the 4-Day ticket seem like a better buy. So by increasing the price of the first option (3-Day Pass) resulted in the increase of sales of the second option (4-Day Pass). By creating this 'Better Buy' idea to its targeted audience, more 4-Day passes were sold thus driving more money, sales, and an extended stay for these buyers. So it was an all around WIN for Disney with this new pricing.

 

Decoy Marketing can be a very powerful tool in marketing products as you can see with this example. To learn more about this technique, check out this link to Roger Dooley's 'Brainfluence' Blog about Decoy Marketing.

Enhanced Campaigns: What We've Noticed Thus Far

It has been a couple months since we've had the ability to upgrade existing campaigns to the new Google AdWords enhanced campaigns and have been able to experiment and make observations of the changes. While the new structure may have a positive impact for some advertisers (i.e. increased CTRs and Conversion Rates), we haven't noticed significant improvement just yet. In fact, some accounts have remained performing the same and in others there were some issues. In one of our client's account, we noticed that the company's actual phone number was being displayed on their ad instead of the Google Forwarding number (which was the setting selected). Also, the account was reaching it's daily budget a lot quicker than before.  We also had to check across accounts to make sure sitelinks were shortened as characters have decreased from 35 to 25. Overall, the enhanced campaigns do help manage accounts more simply while saving time.



What have you noticed? Please share. We'd love to hear your thoughts!

 

-Sara Ayala

Turning Clicks Into Customers

Having had experience as both a business owner using Google Adwords and as an account manager of it, I have seen both sides of how it can work or not work for my customers. I owned an office automation company where we serviced and sold printers, copiers, faxes and supplies. We depended heavily on our Adwords campaigns. With offices in Los Angeles and Miami, our call center was in Fort Lauderdale and we found out very quickly how important it was to man the phones. Most of the calls that came in were customers who were down and needed quick response times, and our ads boasted "Same Day Service" so it was imperative for us to answer the calls quickly and transmit them to our techs in the field. Adwords could always bring us the leads, but it was up to us to turn those leads into customers.

I have clients today that complain about low conversion rates and I know from firsthand experience that it is hard work to turn that click into a real live customer. There are a lot of variables involved in the process things like: 

How expensive is the proposition?  It’s a lot easier to sell a $2.99 car air freshener than it is to sell a $4,000.00 plastic surgery procedure. 

How are you converting those leads? 

How is the potential customer contacting you? By email, phone call, or is the customer filling out a contact form on your website? However the contact happens, it is very important to follow up in a timely manner. 

These are all things to be considered when setting up your website and ad campaigns.  Make it as easy as possible for the customer! In most cases, the searchers are doing research about a certain product or procedure and they are not just looking at you they are also looking at your competitors.  Once they contact you, quick response and good customer service can go a long way to turning that click into a new customer.

Social Media Checklist for Business

Social Media is a very powerful marketing platform for any business, but how do you know what to do? The typical business owner ask the same questions when social media is recommended for them. How do I blog? How many tweets do I send? What should I do on Facebook? What about LinkedIn? 

This is a very simple social media checklist to help any business owner with what they should be doing at minimum for these different platforms. 

Blog Post:

• Write 3 new blog post a week
• Have 3 targeted keywords that you include in every blog post
• Share the blog post link on:
• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Google +

Facebook:

• Find and Like 5 new pages a week
• Update company page status daily
• Post about 2 interesting topics related to your business
• Ask people to comment, like or share post

Twitter:

• Re-tweet 2 interesting tweets a day
• Follow 10 new people a week
• Send at least 3 new tweets daily
• Business related
• Promotional
• Fun & Interesting
• Circulating the blog post

LinkedIn:

• Update Company profile and status
• Connect with 3 – 5 new people per week
• Ask for 1 -2 recommendations per week
• Follow 3 new companies

Google + :

• Add 5 new people to your circle a week
• Offer a Google + Hangout session for a related topic in your industry
• Share content at least twice a day to your personal Google + profile and company page
• Host a monthly Google + hangout for a topic your industry

Pinterest:

• Each month, post product images and examples of our work from our company website as pins leading back to the site
• Follow 5 new interesting and inspiring pin boards each week from other users related to our field
• Add 1 new board that contains at least 6 new pins each week

YouTube:

• Find 3 new videos each week to share on Facebook, Twitter, and Google +
• Plan a video that showcases an area of our businesses expertise
• Have video capability at special events our business hosts or attends each month. Ask for brief interviews to post to YouTube.

This checklist should be used as a guide to help any business owner with their social media platform. These are the typical minimum requirements necessary to perform properly and see results. 

Rock of Ages, Google Play, and My Samsung Galaxy Note II

I am 37 years old now. I remember 1987 quite well, but I was in middle school. It was a very different world back then. I am pretty sure I liked Michael Jackson and Pop music at the time. Today, I am very much a contemporary country music fan.

Rock of Ages filmed 2 years ago right around the block from my office at a facility I knew as "The Edge" (later to be The Chili Pepper... Now I think it is called the Green Room). I was interested in the movie when it was released. The reviews were bad and I swear I didn't know anyone that saw it and knew how good it really was - so I didn't see it in the theaters.

Since it came out on HBO, I have seen the movie 5-6 times. It is the movie that every time it is on, I can watch it. Tom Cruise as the 80s Rocker? Love it! Alec Baldwin singing? Love it! Amazing 80s music - the reason to watch the movie!

This morning I really wanted to listen to the soundtrack. I have been too busy to buy it on ITunes and transfer it to my Ipod, so I tried buying it on my Note II through the Google Play store. I was impressed in every way and got to listen to it all morning (and now playing in the background on my PC).

Screenshot from this morning a few minutes after I decided I had to have it:

I noticed one comment on Google Play that said Rock of Ages is like the Grease of our generation. I am good with that. This is an amazing movie. It is a guilty pleasure. If you are between 50 and 32, this is a movie that you have to see.

Rudy's BBQ Nails It With Real Texas Brisket - Rudy's Anywhere

I tend to travel to Texas 6 to 8 times a year for client work. Besides the wonderful nature of Dallas and Austin, I love their BBQ. The first time I had Rudy's BBQ and they served it with sliced white bread, I had to have a strange look on my face. When I tasted moist brisket for the first time, I was in trouble. Anyone that knows me well, knows I am passionate about food.

On every visit to Texas I have multiple servings of Texas brisket, and at least one visit to Rudy's. I have even brought back pounds of it fresh carved and wrapped up for travel on the plane back to South Florida. Every time I do it, there are some seriously proud Texans in the security line seeing me bring back one of their delicacies to my home.

Sadly, it goes quickly. I started getting requests to bring extra back on my last few trips for friends!

I discovered Rudy's Anywhere about a year ago. I shipped two briskets to my door. The first one was disappointing. In retrospect I think my Dad did not follow the directions properly.

Yesterday for my son's 4th birthday we heated up the second one. IT WAS AMAZING. I was 95% as good as getting it fresh. I heated it in a sealed tin with a cup for water for 2 1/2 hours at 300 degrees. I watched the (very professional) Rudy's Anywhere YouTube Video several times to get the carving technique down pat.

I am going to be ordering monthly now!
Get your's here: http://www.rudysbbq.com/store/

It's Spring - Time to Clean out Your PPC Campaigns!

Have you kept up with your PPC campaign or is it overloaded with keywords, targeting, and promotions you don't use anymore? PPC campaigns benefit from the same attention we give our closets when it's time to replace our old belongings with something new and fresh. Especially now with the roll out of the new enhanced campaigns, your existing AdWords PPC account may need some spring cleaning. Here are three quick tips to help you brighten up your PPC account:

1. Upgrade to Enhanced Campaigns

If your current account is eligible to upgrade, make the transition now and get adjusted to the new features. The set up is fast and simple. AdWords will guide you through each step once you get started. Enhanced campaigns will help you reach your audience with the right ads, based on their location and device type without having to build out and manage several separate campaigns. Google will upgrade all accounts by mid-2013.

2. Get Rid of Unwanted Keywords
Sometimes we get carried away and add keywords then lose track of what is actually working. Take a look at your keyword list and delete or pause keywords with low quality scores and that are expensive and not generating any conversions. Use the search query tool to find new, relevant and high traffic keywords. 

3. Test New Ad Copy
Recycle your current ad copies and replace them with fresh content, new promotions or call to action. Enhanced campaigns do not allow phone numbers in the ad copy, therefore, make sure you take any phone numbers out and create a call extension instead. 

Keeping your account clean will improve your ad rank, increase click-through rates and help you maintain brand awareness. Remove the clutter and re-energize your campaigns! 
 


Good luck!

Sara

Google Panda and Penguin Are Coming...Are You Ready?

At the end of this week or by early next week, all signs point to another Google Panda update hitting the Google search results pages. Not far behind will be another Penguin update, so it is important that you get your website up to par for these Google updates that can be seriously detrimental if you choose not to abide by them.

The goal of both of these updates within Google are to provide the user with quality results. This means weeding out the spam pages and raising the search location for quality pages, pages that actually contain content that is fresh and is related to the search query. Google Panda had a previous update at the end of January, and 1.2 percent of English search queries were affected. See some crazy traffic fluctuations on your site in the next few days, and you may be one of the site's on Panda's hit list.

Panda-proof your website TODAY:

Get rid of duplicate content. Large levels of duplicate content (that appear intentional rather than a few republished works), and Google has a specific set of guidelines that they prefer for cleaning up duplicate content, which you can read here and subsequently implement. Remember to keep duplicate content in the back of your mind when you make future changes to your site, as it is an issue Google takes seriously.

Take away the low quality content. Content that is specifically on your site to fill space and lacks any actual value or quality should be removed. While this may seem obvious, it can be hard deciphering what is "low quality" to Google when it may not be low quality in your eyes. Look at your analytics and see what pages aren't getting clicks, where users aren't spending any time, and read over Google's take on the issue and how to fix it here.

Develop high quality content. In keeping with cleaning out the bad content, your quality content may need a little work as well. Beef up existing content with new statistics, helpful links, add images, and make existing content appear more thorough and useful for a Google searcher. Remember, original content is ideal, and lots of it. Read more here. Develop high-quality content and make it the rule for your site. When adding content, ensure it meets these criteria: It offers value, it's something you want to share, and you can link it as an informative resource.

As for Penguin, the date of this update is still a mystery. However Matt Cutts, Google's engineer extraordinaire, did say that there will be a new generation of Penguin, an algorithm also designed to weed the junk out of the Google search results and penalize websites with suspicious and unnatural link portfolios. As you probably know, there are still plenty of sites like this lurking the web and hogging the search results, so this follow up Penguin attack could help level the playing field. The update will be a big one, as Cutts himself referred to it as "significant and one of the most talked about Google algorithm updates this year."

Remember, the Panda and Penguin are both coming, so it's best to be prepared than take your chances. Be sure to reach out to your friends at Tandem Interactive if you have questions or need pointers.

Google Furthers the Multi Device Connections and Attribtuion

Recently, I noticed on my Samsung Note II (Best phone or phablet EVER) that in my search box, there were items in my history that I did not search for on the phone. This peaked my interest and I quickly realized they were searches that I did on my desktop earlier. I was logged into Google on my Desktop and on my phone through Android.

This is significant because Google is connecting the dots between devices that we regularly use. On the analytics side of things, we know that multi device attribution is coming. Traditional cookies are the big hurdle to get over.

Thinking back to my early post on Google+, http://www.pubcon.com/why-is-google-plus-relevant-for-all-businesses, this is another feather in the hat for Google+. If we get to an always logged into Google world, there will be other ways to track Web usage by a person regardless of the device they are on. The screenshot above is only a glimpse into how connected (and trackable) our future is!

A Movie About Google Starring the Wedding Crashers Team? I am in!

I am excited for the new Star Trek Movie.
I am excited for the new Transformers Movie.
I am looking forward to a new Star Wars Movie in the next few years.

Today and I psyched about a Google Movie. I was watching Wedding Crashers on Saturday night and am still amazing by the buddy chemistry between Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. Now they are back together and doing a movie about Search (well an internship at Google)! He is a preview:

This movie should provide a lot of insight into our Industry and maybe my Parents and Wife will get it. The funny thing is that my 6 year old and 4 year old sons completely understand what I do everyday.

Coca-Cola's NeuroMarketing Strategy : Sensory Marketing

We are all familiar with the brand "Coca-Cola" and we are also all familiar with the five sense we are all born with; (1) sight, (2) hearing, (3) touch, (4) smell, and (5) taste. What a lot of us don't know is how to use all five of these sense in our marketing techniques. When our body receives information the brain is not the only organ that interprets the information, all of the body translate the message differently depending on its main sensory. When you are trying to appeal to a potential customer you may only be using the bare minimum in "sensory" tactics. By collaborating all five of these senses into your marketing campaign you can redesign your product from a non-seller to a powerhouse. 

Martin Lindstrom (the author of Buyolgy) is a dedicated researcher of sensory marketing. Lindstrom believes that in order for your brand to be successful you must incorporate every sense and treat them as equals. The purpose of this equal incorporation is to design your brand to be recognizable if you deleted one or more senses. 

The five sensory's should be targeting as such:

(1) Sight : logo, product design, color(s), typeface (using the eyes)

(2) Sound : music, product sounds (using the ears)

(3) Taste : product taste, edible favors/gifts (using mouth and tongue)

(4) Smell : environmental aroma, product aroma (using the nose)

(5) Touch : product surface and shape, marketing materials, environment surfaces (using hands, feet, and skin)

This marketing technique of "sensory" targeting should always be kept consistent. The key to building your brand is to make your brand the same in sight, sound, taste, smell and touch at any point in time. 

A perfect example of a sensory targeted brand in Coca-Cola. Let show some examples: 

 

Although the design of the bottle has slightly changed, you can see that the Coca-Cola scripted logo has been the same since 1899. The design of the bottle has always been so similar that even if you remove the scripted logo, the audience still knows that it is Coca-Cola. 

Coca-Cola has marketed their product with not only the red and white colors with the scripted font, but with the use of the "coke" bottle itself. In its logo design it has targeted the sight of their customers, the taste (the taste same remained the same in 1899), the sound (the pop of the bottle), the smell, and the touch (keeping the shape of the product consistent throughout the years even though the materials may have changed). Coca-Cola is one of the best examples of positive sensory marketing that has shown tremendous branding results.