When was the last time you had a look at your strategic marketing plan? It’s commonly known that during periods of economic slowdown, marketing expenses are some of the first to drop off the necessity list.

But with tax cuts on their way next month and petrol prices lowering, New Zealand’s economic situation is perking up and looking brighter, so why not re-invent your marketing strategy ahead of your competition, and nab the rewards first?

E-mail marketing is set to increase by 24% this year, according to the UK-based Email Marketing Platforms Buyer’s Guide. More companies are using e-mail marketing solutions as customer retention tools. This is particularly important in an economy which is renewing its strength - many of your customers and clients may have been reluctant to use your services or buy your product this year, owing to belt-tightening. Now things are looking more relaxed, it’s time to recapture any lost business by reconnecting with them, and reminding them what you can do for them.

Get a little spring cleaning of your marketing strategy by contacting a consultancy who are marketing plan and branding experts, and will inspire breakthrough growth in your business.

Image from Flickr.

Online shopping has become a way of life. Groceries are bought online. Pizzas are ordered online. Cars, houses, furniture - all available online. Globally, more than 50% of the world’s internet users have made a purchase online in the last month.

What makes an online shopping website successful? Is it frequent offline advertising like Ferrit has done, or word of mouth like Trademe?

Latest research has concluded that the power of peer recommendation is one of the strongest in terms of selling goods online. Consumers now count on each other, rather than marketers, for insights on purchasing decisions. Recommendations have become the new currency of e-commerce.

35% of online shoppers say they are more likely to return to an online shopping website if that site makes personal recommendations to them - suggestions on what they may like, based on the purchasing habits of others who have bought the same product. Another survey has determined that 66% of New Zealanders regularly buy from one site, and 1 in 4 buyers completely relies on recommendations to find out which website to browse when intending to buy.

With the strong impact of personal recommendations realised, a market gap has recently been filled by social networking websites which link the things one user likes to the online store which supplies them. Have you just listed Titanic as one of your favourite movies? Your friends can now follow the link to buy it on Amazon.

Personal recommendation does not necessarily apply to just products either, but also suppliers. When was the last time you bought someone in an online auction without checking their feedback first from their previous sales?

Next time you click that ‘add to cart’ button, think about how important feedback and personal recommendations are to you, and how they shape your purchasing habits.

Image from Flickr.

If you were in any doubt as to the importance of branding and identity online, search statistics clearly show that brands matter in online marketing.

The best brands all have one thing in common: they become synonymous in customers’ minds with a particular product or service. Some of the most successful brands today have built their reputation online - and enjoyed flow-on success in the offline market. On the other hand, businesses established in the offline market have had to adapt to the increasing dominance of Internet marketing over other forms of media - achieving varying degrees of success.

According to Hitwise search data, some of the most competitive search terms are brand focused - that is, they’re specific rather than generic. Take the New Zealand fashion industry. The top ten fashion searches over the last six months were:

1. pumpkin patch
2. supre
3. glassons
4. just jeans
5. country road
6. lv*
7. billabong
8. bendon
9. cotton on
10. jeans west

* Louis Vuitton

And Kiwis looking for insurance in NZ are similarly brand focused (save for one generic term):

1. state insurance
2. acc
3. travel insurance
4. southern cross
5. ami
6. ami insurance
7. aa insurance
8. nzi
9. tower insurance
10. amp

Whether you’re thinking clothing brands, beer brands, bike brands, car brands or chocolate brands, never underestimate the strength of brand value online. If you need a hand working out your online branding strategy, get corporate identity services from the professionals.

Image from Flickr.

An interesting battle is going on between the world’s major search engines…

You might have noticed that Google dominates online search, but Microsoft has a plan to knock Google from its top spot as Internet search leader. While analysts believe Yahoo will do everything in its power to remain independent, Microsoft is strongly encouraging Yahoo to accept a takeover bid of nearly US$42 billion.

Google controls around 62% of the lucrative global search market and has been strengthening its grip even further in recent times. In comparison, Microsoft and Yahoo combined have just a 16% share in worldwide search. And the sting for Yahoo? They gave Google its first big break in 2000, hiring the G-team to run their search engine.

Following the news, Yahoo shares rose nearly 48% while Microsoft shares fell 6.6% - signaling the stock market’s scepticism over the benefits of a union between the two giants. Google shares fell 8.6% on Friday, but this was in response to a disappointing fourth quarter earnings report, rather than a reaction to news of Microsoft’s bid for online supremacy.

So, what’s in it for Microsoft? The software giant may still the most valuable tech company in the world, but to solidify its position for the future it will need to gain a more level footing in the online world - as the computer user experience becomes increasingly Web based and less software reliant.

After turning down at takeover offer last year, Yahoo faces pressure to accept the latest bid, or risk a continuation of sliding profits and a bleak outlook for 2008.

After confirmation that advertising on the Internet is a fast-growing phenomenon in New Zealand, a study from IAB New Zealand shows that Kiwis are putting most of their online marketing dollars into classified and display advertising.

Global search marketing trends
Internationally, search engine advertising and getting your website to the top of major search engines - such as Google - is the number one priority. Global statistics show search engine marketing has the majority share in online advertising:

Australia - 46%
United Kingdom - 57%
United States - 41%

Search advertising in New Zealand
Here - where the online marketplace is smaller and advertisers less Internet-focused - search marketing accounts for only 25% of our online advertising dollars. In contrast, classified ads and display advertising gobble up 44% and 31% of our online advertising spend.

Why the discrepancy?
The most likely cause is a lack of awareness in the field of Internet advertising, in both New Zealand’s business and advertising sectors. As an online market, New Zealand is still in the early stages of development when compared to other nations, but this doesn’t necessarily equal a weakness. From a ‘glass half full’ perspective, it means there is still a huge amount of opportunity for search marketing and optimisation in New Zealand. And interestingly, the cost of search advertising in the local market is about half that of international markets.

Stay tuned, as the fledgling New Zealand search market takes off…

Now that you’ve got your new year’s resolutions sorted out, it’s time to make your predictions for Internet trends, developments and happenings in 2008. Surf the Web and you’ll find countless predictions - from top analysts to beginner bloggers, and anyone interested in the online world. Just some of the developments may be in…

Social networking
One of the biggest Internet news stories of 2007 was Facebook, whose social networking and profile site defined the shift towards a global networking community. During the coming year, established social networking sites will consolidate themselves, and new faces may emerge to compete (although any success is unlikely against the big players).

And if you’re one of the many people with profiles on several community sites - Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, LinkedIn, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube - you’ll benefit from the possible emergence of tools that will allow you to update all your online identities from one place. You’ll save time (no more social bookmarking nightmares!) and increase the efficiency of your social networking.

Search
Fundamental to the discovery and gathering of information online, Internet search is here to stay. Watch for major search engines adopting new algorithms, as well as offering solutions for a more personalised search experience through customisation of public search engine tools.

Advertising will also become increasingly integrated into the online search environment, as will search results in a wide range of visual media (note Google’s adoption of search results featuring images and online video clips). While Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) will remain an essential part of marketing online, Google PageRank and link weighting are both expected to decrease in power, as part of a global trend to control spam and improve relevancy of results.

Video sharing and TV online
A key feature of the increasingly interactive online world has been the success of video sharing sites such as YouTube. In the year from late 2006 to late 2007, the number of users watching online videos grew by 45% - a trend which is expected to continue in 2008 with the higher speeds and increased adoption of broadband Internet.

Far from being the realm of amateur entertainment, this field has become a vehicle for music videos, lectures, alternative news sources, television and movie clips, and much, much more. Access to television online through Web based television channels and independent online TV programming will grow in 2008; watch for the first successful 100% online television show.

Online advertising
Advertising on the Internet can be subtle or obvious; whichever the case, it’s there in some form and is part of almost every user’s online experience. The coming year will see a continuation of recent growth in this field; as mentioned in an earlier post on Internet advertising, investment in online advertising space is growing rapidly, while spending in traditional advertising media is expected to showing a corresponding decrease.

We look forward to a year of exciting developments in the Web world!

When it comes to New Zealand search, we’re onto it. As the home of smart search in New Zealand, NZS’ers like to stay on top of both local and international search trends, so it was a must for us to attend the inaugural New Zealand Search Engine Room Conference on Tuesday 13th November in Auckland.

The first major outing for the search engine industry in New Zealand was attended by companies from within the growing NZ search industry, as well as by many sales and marketing managers looking to get in on the rise of performance-based search advertising around the world.

Big name exhibitors
Exhibitors included Google, SLI-Systems, Netconcepts, FirstRate, Alekemi and SureFire, along with representatives from many big name brands such as Microsoft, Yahoo! and DoubleClick. Dr Grant Ryan from Eurekster was the keynote speaker who kicked off the morning sessions, with heavyweights from the search industry - Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft - completing the morning.

Competition in the NZ search market
New Zealand Google Marketing Manager, Paul Webster, will face a growing challenge in the coming year; Yahoo! Search Marketing head, Willie Pang, was adamant their introduction to the market will increase competition dramatically and help shift some of Google’s majority share (90%) of the search market in New Zealand, to Yahoo!

Liz Fraser, NZ Business Manager for MSN New Zealand, was optimistic about the new role MSN has within the New Zealand search market, announcing that the site is about to be re-launched. Liz stated that in the long-run, Microsoft see the greatest search competition solely between Microsoft and Google; this comment sparked some interest from the attendees, as she was effectively writing off the Yahoo! representative sitting next to her on the panel.

Bebo popular with young New Zealanders
A quick talk from the Australia / New Zealand manager for Bebo showed the level of influence the community site has in the 15 to 24-year-old market in New Zealand - Bebo has more traffic than TradeMe. Bebo’s new media relationship with TVNZ was touted as the first of its kind in the world, allowing Bebo access to 70% of the New Zealand Internet audience.

NZS.com at the Search Engine Room Conference
As NZS.com General Manager, I was a speaker at the conference, discussing the emergence of local directories in the small New Zealand market.

We’re already anticipating next year’s event - which should offer a similarly diverse and dynamic programme combining issues such as search marketing, search engine optimisation, blogging and social search.

By now, Internet junkies and casual Web surfers alike will have heard of a lil’ thing called PageRank.

PageRank is a tool used by Google to rank all pages on the Web. The higher your PageRank, the better. A high rank indicates that the great G views your page as more important than a page with a lower rank. The Google-meister describes PageRank as: “using [the Web’s] vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value.”

How does it work?
In a nutshell, Google reads all the inbound links to a page. For instance, if page X links to page Y, Google sees this as a vote, by Page X for page Y.

Sounds like an online democracy?
Well, these elections aren’t 100% democratic. Google doesn’t just go by the number of links to a page; it looks at the importance of the page that has cast the vote. Votes cast by pages with a high PageRank have greater weighting than those cast by pages with a lower PageRank. Google also takes into account many other factors: how long the links remain active, the rate at which your site is gaining links, click throughs to your site from Google searches and the stickiness of your site (how well you can retain your visitors).

And the winner is?
After analysing a page’s inbound links, Google assigns the page a rank out of 10. To see the PageRank of your site and others, simply install the PageRank reader on your Google Toolbar.

So what can I do to get a better PageRank?
The good news is that you can do things to improve your PageRank:

• Fill your site with useful, informative and interesting content that users will want to share
• Exchange links with other quality sites - getting highly ranked sites to link to yours will improve your ranking, so make sure you’re swapping links with well ranked sites. Note: if you link to sites that have been delisted by Google, your site may also be removed from Google’s index
• Submit your site to online directories, like the NZS.com directory
• Let people know about your site by adding your Web address to your business stationery, email signature, press releases and advertising
• Maintain your site, as letting your site become inaccessible for periods of time may affect your rank

Get your rank rocketing today!