Adwords and my first experience.

For the past week I have been monitoring an Adwords Campaign, in which my team and I established for a pub in Richmond, BC. Honestly I found setting up an Adwords campaign to be quite confusing and not very self-explanatory. Of course I did my research, watched Google Help Videos and read blogs about obtaining free start-up coupons. Even so I came across a few ‘hiccups’ on the way, which is to be expected because who can get it right the first time?

I found it interesting that I couldn’t set up an upfront payment system where I could load $100 for instance onto the Adwords Campaign, and watch my ‘pay-per-click’ deduct from the account. Unfortunately this option is not available in most developed countries and I’m not sure why (see link). I can understand the advantage for Adwords by not having an upfront option; as there is a greater possibility that companies will spend more than they budgeted. However this option would have made my team and I’s life a lot easier.

Secondly a daily budget can help monitor the user’s spending, but Adwords can vary the daily budget as long as the end monthly bill is less than or equal to the daily amount times 30.4 (average days per month). This is a problem that my team and I occurred as we only want to test a two-week campaign; therefore our daily budget for the two weeks could exceed our final budget. Although there are ‘rules’ that can be set to control campaigns to ‘pause’ after reaching a certain amount, I still didn’t feel comfortable that it would work (so far so good). Although these are only minor things I came across, Adwords is currently testing a video-call support feature with a number of advertisers in Canada and the US. Personally I think this will be an excellent feature for people (like me) who are new to setting up an Adword Campaign and a little unsure.

After using Adwords I feel that their target market is medium-large corporations, as they are more likely to have the time, money and resources to implement Adword Campaign’s. Although Adwords is missing out on the potential of a large segment of small businesses who might not have the expertise in online marketing. Therefore Adwords could benefit from a simpler user-friendly version for the less tech-savvy.

Skedadel is a newly released discovery app co-founded by Peter Boctor. As explained by Kate Knibbs, the app utilises images from Instagram that have been geo-posted and segments them into areas of interest; for instance food, coffee, night life and shops. What’s so special about the app? Basically it replaces websites such as Yelp and Urban Spoon, in which Knibbs describes as some-what time consuming to scroll through different reviews and distinguish the real ones. The application focuses on the visual opportunity of the local businesses based on the user’s location and what the consumer is looking for. Although it sounds much like Foursquare, only visual content can be posted and the segmentation of categories of interest is helpful to the consumer.

However the downfall to the app for users is that it benefits businesses in the way that the photos posted on Instagram tend to be more positive compared to possible negative comments on other review websites. Therefore the photos may result in a false representation on what the consumer is to expect. Overall its an interesting concept that is currently only available from Itunes, I’m personally looking forward to the Android version, are you?

Would you ‘squat’ for a free train ticket? Check it out..Moscow Subway Squats Video

The 2014 Winter Olympics hosted in Sochi, Russia, have created an offline campaign to interact with their consumer’s. The promotion is utilized at the Moscow Subway Train Station as shown on the YouTube video where passengers can literally complete 30 squats in under 2 minutes, and receive a free train ticket. As discussed in the Forbes Article, the Russian Olympic Committee ‘wanted to show that the Olympic Games are not just an international competition that most people watch on TV every two years, it’s also about involving everyone into the sporting way of life.’ This is an excellent campaign that demonstrates how an offline promotion can be globally successful; and interacted with customers through the use of online media and news.

Of course these types of offline campaigns have been around for the past couple of years, such as Coke’s implementation of their Coke Happiness Machine. Although it is the continuing level of sophistication, competition and freshness of the ideas that keeps the consumer’s interested; without allowing them to be skeptical of what is being promoted. The very reason I am writing about this campaign, which is happening in Russia, is evidence of the ability to reach customer’s on a global scale; but it is also becoming increasingly difficult with customers higher expectations.

E-Marketer estimates that in one month, close to 126 million people will play a mobile phone game at least once. When compared to the below table, online casual games follows closely behind with 96.6 million (groups are not mutually exclusive). This demonstrates the growing importance of mobile gaming, as a different marketing platform. However the forecast for 2017 , seems almost unlikely to predict with the ever adapting technology.

For instance; Redbull recognizes the importance in creating new forms of engagement in attracting brand awareness, through mobile games. Wolfgang Schmirl, Head of Digital Media at Redbull Media House, explains the importance of expanding their platforms, by linking with smartphones and the growing industry of mobile gaming. Redbull adapts the gaming idea from their current gaming website, to the mobile gaming.

E-Marketer also states that 73% of respondents aged 17-25, play games on their smart phone. This demonstrates a possible target audience for marketers who wish to expand their forms of engagement into mobile games, such as Redbull. Even though on paper it may seem appealing for a brand to create a mobile game, the important question is; will consumer’s want to play it?

Of course creating a game that represents your brand costs money, as does all marketing. When Schmirl was deciding whether to partner with an existing mobile game or create their own, he states that ‘quality is priority and innovation is the key.’ In the business’s case it was more suitable to create a Redbull mobile game, by being able to work with professional gamers and have flexibility. However each business will differ, but it is important to recognize what is the business’s objective in creating the game, and what will the return on investment be.

Schmirl makes an important concluding statement that ‘consumers will continue to find games relevant, but as technology continues to develop, underlying platforms will change.’ Pointing out the importance in understanding the consumer trends in the world of marketing and gaming. What are your thoughts on brands creating mobile games?

Think about a local cafe you’ve ordered from, imagine you work for them; its a highly competitive industry, you have been asked to look into social media advertising, but you don’t know where to start.

Introducing Foursquare, a social media application that allows users to locate local businesses and post geographically where they are situated for their social friends to see. Foursquare announced recently that they are about to test 800 businesses with self-service paid ads. The idea is to function much like Google Adwords where the business can ‘bid’ for how much they want to spend on their ad (minimum $50 per month); which will determine where the ad will be ranked. The self-service ads target consumers through their geography settings, called geo-targeting. The app primarily assists in promoting local businesses, by creating awareness of the business and recommendations from other users. Although how does Foursquare’s ad potential compare to other social media sites?

E-Marketer estimates in the table below that Facebook will earn over $6 billion (2013) in Ad spending, compared to Twitter with close to $600 million. Foursquare unfortunately does not receive a mention in this table, although it will be interesting to see in the following years if their new paid ads will contribute on a competitive level in social media.

Secondly a survey completed by STRATA, a software company, concluded that 90% of Agency Executives were more likely to use Facebook for brand promotion. Comparing this to Foursquare, with 8% of executives stating that they would be likely to use this platform.

However the data presented does not segment what type of industries and markets are most likely to use which social media site. Even though Foursquare has only 8% interest, this could be mostly local companies that can benefit from reaching the consumer on a different level such as local restaurant promotions. The application allows local businesses to interact with consumers, without being bombarded by larger corporations. There is a local potential for this social media platform, it will be interesting to see if it can create some competitive advantage with the other social media sites. Could Foursquare be the next social media craze, your thoughts?