Marketing and all things related

Marketing Blurb has both Hotmail and Yahoo email accounts. We do not use these often, however, because the advertising annoys us to the point of anger. (We are already satisfied with our mortgage, and with a wife and girlfriend, we no desire to meet eligible singles.) We prefer Gmail, which only includes unobtrusive text advertising. But for marketers, Yahoo mail is preferred placement. In fact, according to Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance, more than 4 in 10 display ads from last month appeared in Yahoo mail! Yahoo’s impressive 41.4% of all display advertising is almost three times as many as the closest competitor--social networking site MySpace, which captured 16.1% of display ads. MSN Hotmail, the third most popular ad destination, garnered 7.8% of display ads placements. The most eager Yahoo Mail advertisers are financial services, retail goods, and web media. Marketing Blurb does not have information regarding the click-through or conversion rate of these ad placements; we just know we have not refinanced our mortgage or contacted that eligible single. Now what was her name again?

Marketing Blurb loves diamonds. We can’t afford them, so we try to keep our wife and our girlfriend distracted with less costly perishable items like chocolate or flowers. But we were not surprised to learn from eMarketer.com that online jewelry sales are serious business. Yes, diamonds are supposed to be one of those emotional purchase experiences that only happen face-to-face. But according to the International Diamond Exchange, online jewelry sales are now equivalent to about 2000 independent jewelry retailers selling $ 1 million annually. (That means online jewelry sales of about $ 2.1 billion. Says eMarketer: “It took seven years (from 1996 to 2002) for online jewelry sales to reach the $1 billion mark. Online jewelry sales doubled in the following three years.” We are impressed—but still tell our wife and girlfriend the jewelry store is closed today.

Marketing Blurb is an advocate of online shopping. We could claim that online shopping saves gas and is good for the environment. But the truth is more self-serving. We don’t like the shoppers we encounter in the offline world. But whatever your motive, you should know about ShopWiki, a new shopping comparison search engine. ShopWiki includes listings from 120,000 retailers, and allows multi-variant search like “diamond rings 2-4 ct.” When you see your results there is a slider bar you can use to adjust the desired price range of your results. Oh, merchants cannot influence product rankings. The results are directed spidered from the sites. The venture is supported by contextual-based advertising. So avoid those crowds, and try ShopWiki. One caveat,--real men do not use any online tool with the word Wiki in the name, so call your wife or girlfriend to the screen.

Let’s say that you are having a very slow day. So slow, that you decide to buy merchandise which appears on your favorite ABC television show. We’re talking stuff like: “Gabrielle's Yoga Pants, Martha Stewart Signature Couch (as seen in Bree's living room) and Edie's Rouge Guitar from ABC's daytime shows, "All My Children," "One Life to Live," "The View," and "General Hospital."

All this and more is now available from ShopABCTV.com, a store managed by a company called Delivery Agent. Delivery Agent works with show prop masters in arranging relationships with manufacturers to sell items seen on television. These items are knock-offs, not the originals. But hey, you too can wear the same threads seen on Desperate Housewives. Now is this a great country, or what? Or perhaps a country with just too much idle time? Photo Credit: ABC Television

e-Commerce merchant Red Envelope has a novel idea to promote their brand and encourage repeat purchases. If someone sends you a gift from Red Envelope, you can go to their website, and send the gift-giver a quality personalized thank you card (one per gift) at no charge. Sending the card requires the order number from the packing slip for authentication. The tasteful thank you card parrots the company logo, reminding the gift-giver to consider the site for future purchases. Marketing Blurb thinks this is an outstanding branding idea for online merchants, and thanks WOMMA, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, for a link to this feature from their newsletter. Oh, and I will be watching my mailbox for that gift—thanks!

Regular readers know Marketing Blurb loves boomer women. Boomer women know what they want, are more brand conscious, and spend more money than there daughters, or their lunkhead son-in-laws. TravelSmith agrees, because they have decided to launch a new catalog targeting women aged 40-55 called IOS, for Individual Original Style. The apparel selection is intended to be flattering and distinctive (and photographed in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.) The catalog product mix will also include accessories, jewelry, belts, and sandals. Collections will be organized by color to help shoppers build a wardrobe. The first spring 2006 catalog will mail late March, supported by a website at isocatalog.com. Marketing Blurb feels confident TravelSmith will succeed with this target audience. Boomer women are comfortable with catalog and online shopping. Oh, and they travel. Will one take me to Pureto Vallarta?

Search marketing is turning the advertising industry upside down. While still a small portion of overall ad spending, the rate of increase is gaining dramatically every year. And as you might expect, search marketing is ideal for e-commerce. In fact, according to a recent study by analytics company WebSideStory, search engines have more than twice the e-commerce conversion rate of other traffic acquisition sources which include banner ads, affiliate marketing links, shopping search engines and other referring links. “During the last three months of 2005, the search engine conversion rate at business-to-consumer e-commerce Web sites was 2.30 percent, more than twice the conversion rate of other acquisition sources at 0.96 percent.”  Only direct navigation or bookmarks has a higher conversion rate—4.23% by the study. You can learn more from The Direct Marketing Association.

Email service provider Return Path just released their 2006 Holiday Email Study (free registration required.) Of note, more than 60 percent of consumers opened e-mail from senders they knew and trusted. The performance of email campaigns depends upon a number of factors. In terms of email open rates:

43 % open based on subject line
25 % open for discounts
23 % open based on preview window contents
21 % are motivated by free shipping 

Campaign conversion rates depend on understanding and meeting the needs of the target audience:

50 % took advantage of e-mail offers
41 % comparison shopped with e-mail
31 % used e-mail for gift ideas
29 %used e-mail to get to familiar web sites

Marketing Blurb advocates permission-based, opt-in email marketing. Successful email marketers test list segmentation, copy, offers, frequency, and other variables to maximize results. Oh, and treat women with respect--they purchase online.

Chrysler has enabled a click-to-call feature on their website which allows online visitors access to a live call center to answer questions regarding price-quotes. The call center offers to transfer website visitors to a local dealer. 80% of those who use the feature decide to talk to a local dealer, and 15% of those calls result in a sale.

Chrysler also uses the click-to-call technology, provided by eStara, to solicit feedback to improve the customer experience. While positive results to date, Chrysler is considering if the tool might be used to facilitate financing in the future. Marketing Blurb believes this is a promising approach for the troubled auto industry. DMNews has more.

Back in 1984, (well before Al Gore invented the Internet) only real men shopped online. The only game in town was CompuServe’s Electronic Mall. You had to logon with your computer in terminal emulation mode, listening for that distinctive analog telephone hiss to confirm connection. The store was all text, and you paid a premium to purchase what you wanted.

Fast forward to today, and Forrester Research confirms that affluent women dominate purchases online. But even that profile has changed over the years. Ten years ago, the majority of web shoppers were women with annual household income of more than $80,000. In 2005, that average household income dropped to $ 60,000 according to a Forrester presentation to the National Retail Federation. As the profile for online shoppers becomes more mainstream, Forrester reports that merchants are using the Internet for branding as well as sales. Marketing Blurb loves affluent women, (most are boomers) and reminds marketers to court their sensibilities.

Online sales are booming, but as always in the marketing game, the name of the business is customer life-time value. You can build customer LTV by delivering quality products and services which encourage additional purchases. And, you can create a community of buyers with a common interest.

TaylorMade Golf has just launched two blogs to support their e-commerce efforts. One is the TaylorMade Product Blog, which provides detailed enthusiast information about specific products. The second blog is an inside look at Life on the PGA Tour. Both blogs offer valuable community information for golf enthusiasts, and help reinforce the TaylorMade brand. Marketing Blurb applauds this outstanding e-commerce community effort, and would like to thank Steve Rubel of Micropersuasion for lead to these blogs.

Let’s assume for a moment that you are fashion challenged. (Yes, readers of Marketing Blurb are unquestionably chic, but bear with me here.) You don’t know what to wear, and you cannot accessorize. You know you gotta have bling, but where can you turn for help? Ah—why not turn to celebrities, and sparkle like the stars? Yes, you too can look like Kate Moss, Carla Gugino, even Scarlett Johnsson. The secret is celebrity bling, and you can wear it, too!

Spark Like the Stars is an ingenious blog by e-commerce merchant Ice.com. The blog features gossipy stories and alluring photos of celebrities decked with fashionable ear rings, necklaces, pendants, and rings. You read the gossip, and the blog identifies the bling. Click on product description, and zap, you can buy the same designer cross pendant favored by Kate Moss! Instantly, you are trendy. This is brilliant marketing. Keep your eyes open for imaginative e-commerce merchants adopting similar techniques.

Photo Credit: Sparkle Like the Stars