Ottaway Communication, Inc.

One of the basic elements of a marketing campaign is An Offer. The Offer alone, however, may not be enough to get a satisfactory response, especially right away. Since all advertisers want instant gratification, we need to stimulate the prospect to respond NOW…not later. And, we need to give her a reason to do so.

We have a list and ran across a list by copywriter, Dean Rieck, that we think is a great “thought-starter” when a promotion is being created. See if we missed any:

Whether you’re working on Tradition Media or new Web Media, providing a great offer with an enhancer or two can really lift your response rate. Research shows that 82% of banner readers will provide an email address, as well as other vital information, just for the opportunity to win something. What a difference this can make in your sales!

Being first to offer a practical and experienced approach to SEM in Metro Detroit has not only made us the leader in accounts under management, but it has kept us ahead of the curve in bringing our clients new ideas and new technology. Contact Brendan Thomas at 248-545-4100 X18.

Are We Confused Yet?

Whatever happened to the :60 second radio spots and :30 second TV commercials? The world of Web 2.0 is difficult enough to learn and keep up with; why does it seem to be something new every day? Like it or not, it’s here. It’s how our prospects are making their buying decisions, and we must keep up with THEM! So, in very brief descriptions:

PAGE VIEWS: The number of times web surfers call up web pages on a given site.

HITS: Also known as “file requests,” they measure every graphic on a page as well as the page itself.

USER SESSIONS: Counts the people who actually visit the site and shows how many of them use the site.

TIME SPENT: The actual duration of time in seconds a visitor spends on your site.

INTERNET SEARCH SEEN DRIVING
75% OF ’08 AD GROWTH IN U.K.

-Dow Jones Newswires, Jan. 2, 2008

Europe is a lot like California, everything seems to happen there first. The headlines don’t lie, however: Internet will be up 75%, newspapers were down 2.8% in ‘07 after a 3.4% decline in ’06. Are you following your customers’ changing media patterns? This is a whole new ballgame where there are no rules and no computerized media programs to make it simple. The best news: We can get you started for about the cost of one :30 commercial on the evening news. You’re not really grabbing all of the available dollars if you’re not fully utilizing all that the Internet offers. Explore this with us now before the field gets too crowded to make a difference in your sales.

In 2007 women tipped the scale to compose more than 50% of online users according to Ad Age Magazine. What women want on the Net can lead to a more engaging web site for your company if you follow their interests. For Example:

“Women’s Community” was the most visited and fastest growing Internet category. (Com Score)
More than 54% of women shopped online in the first half of 2007.
(Burst Media)
More affluent women – 68% of women in households with an income of $100,000+ shopped online. (GSI Commerce)
More than 43 million moms go online daily and spend an average of 85 minutes there. (Com Score.)

ONLINE AD SPENDING IS EXPECTED
TO REACH $27.5 BILLION IN 2008. UP 28.5%
-B to B Magazine

Are you following your customers’ changing media patterns? This is a whole new ballgame where there are no rules and no computerized media programs to make it simple. The best news: We can get you started for a whole month for about the cost of one :30 commercial on the evening news. You’re not really grabbing all of the available dollars if you’re not fully utilizing all that the Internet offers. Explore this with us now before the field gets too crowded to make a difference in your sales. For more case studies email Brendan Thomas: bthomas@ottaway.net

Or, is it the Recession

The truth about marketing in a recession is that you have to watch your budgets. Now, we all know it’s a great time to grab market share: The well known principle that your brand can stand out when the other brands don’t have the money to do so. But, maybe you don’t either.

That’s where the Internet comes in and the ubiquitous, Search Engine Marketing (SEM). It’s so successful that traditional, big-name mediums like Newspaper and Yellow Pages have had to offer their own type of programs, or get left behind. Their programs are more expensive and not as beneficial to you as what we are managing for dozens of clients, but for “the little guy”, they are better than nothing. And here’s why they’ve joined the fray: “Nielsen Co. reported last week that U.S. advertising spending rose 0.6% last year, with the Internet continuing to demonstrate the strongest performance (+18.9%) of any media category.”*

So, when you are evaluating your media choices for ROI and rock-bottom costs, put SEM at the head of your list. It’s the medium that is there when they’re ready to buy. No waste. No guessing, and the ability to “switch-pitch” the prospect.

TIP OF THE MONTH: See how your site compares to traffic with your competitors. Click on www.compete.com and you just might be surprised!

WELCOME: OttawayDigital.com welcomes Botsford Hospital as a new client for SEM.

“YOU’RE THE ONLY AGENCY THAT’S BROUGHT THIS TO US!”

We hear it everyday from companies large and small.

Being first to offer a practical and experienced approach to SEM in Metro Detroit has not only made us the leader in accounts under management, but it has kept us ahead of the curve in bringing our clients new ideas and new technology. Don’t be fooled by some isolated Wall St. reports, SEM is growing by leaps and bounds. There were over 10 billion core searches in the U. S. alone in January according to ComScore. Don’t be left behind. Maximize your web site today. Contact Brendan Thomas at 248-545-4100 X18.

In March 2008, Google’s share of online searches rose up to 59% of the total U.S. home, work and university internet users.
Source: comScore qSearch

Americans conducted 10.8 billion searches at the core search engines, representing a 9-percent gain versus February. Each of the five core search engines experienced search query gains during the month. Google Sites saw more than 6.4 billion core searches, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 2.3 billion, and Microsoft Sites with 1 Billion.

By Jean Halliday
jhalliday@crain.com

GM slashed ad spending by more than $600 million last year, a drop so stunning it should convince even the staunchiest doubters that the age of mass-media marketing is going the way of the horse and buggy.

Whether the cut was as large as the 23.6% indicated by TNS Media Intelligence figures or closer to the 10% estimated by GM, the fact is that the country’s second-largest advertiser is demonstrating a shift toward channels such as direct marketing, websites, online video event marketing, branded entertainment and internet advertising, which are harder to track than they other major media channels.

See full article at AdAge.com, Feb 12, 2007, p.1

How to Identify your Prospect Before they Get Away

We hear it every day from companies large and small, “You’re the only agency that’s brought this to us!” That’s because we’re the only Detroit-based agency that are experts in SEO and SEM, and began buying it in 2000. This is a whole new ballgame where there are no rules and no computerized media programs to make it simple. The best news: We can get you started for less a month than the cost of one :30 commercial on the evening news. You’re not really grabbing all of the available dollars if you’re not fully utilizing all that the Internet offers. Explore this with us now before the field gets too crowded to make a difference in your sales.

Search Engine Marketing is becoming one of the most important ways to reach consumers; however, a good percentage of Internet users are browsers, revealing a special opportunity for marketers. According to Yahoo! Search Marketing, a critical way to change a “browser” into a “buyer” is by inviting visitors to opt in to an emailing list. In fact, according to a Forrester Research study, 94% of U.S. marketers use or planned to use email to contact customers and/or prospects in 2006.

Adding a “Subscribe Here” link will give marketers opt-in contacts to market to. There are three tips for building opt-in contact lists:

1. Add an email registration form to the homepage or other hight traffic landing pages, making the image bold, with a clear call to action.
2. Consumers want control over what they receive. So offering different opt-in forms for different product lines can help gather fields of data relevant to your business: like areas of interest or their favorite sport. The more you know about your consumer the better you can target them.
3. Clearly express the benefits of joining the mailing list. If subscribers believe they are privy to discounts or the “inside scoop”, they may be more likely to join a contact list. Once a consumer expresses an interest to be contacted about new products or services, there is the opportunity to transform that browser into a buyer.