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AdKeeper Lets You Rip Out Ads the Modern Way

posted on October 11, 2010

I’m a magazine ripper. I admit it and I know it’s not something everyone understands, but it’s how I roll. As I read my favorite magazines, I rip out recipes, coupons, the occasional photo of a good looking guy (hey, all work and no play. . . ) and I rip out ads.

With the holidays coming, I’ve been ripping more ads than ever so I was very intrigued when I saw the recent ClickZ article on AdKeeper. AdKeeper is an online service that allows you to virtually rip out the ads you see online. Scott Kurnit, founder and former CEO of About.com, is the man behind the plan. He commissioned a study and found that 95% of people tear ads out of magazines, so it appears I’m not alone in this. His logic is anytime you can bring an offline behavior online, you’ve got a winner.

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It’s Not Easy Being Green

posted on October 8, 2010

Everyone knows green is good and I’m not just talking about the kind you stuff in your wallet. Green is a marketing buzzword that tells your customers that you’re hip, you’re concerned and you’re doing something about it.

Now before you start typing “eco-friendly” on your weekly newsletter, you better take a look at the new guidelines proposed by the FTC.

The Federal Trade Commission is concerned that agencies aren’t taking this environmental stuff seriously so they’re cracking the whip.

FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz had this to say:

“In recent years, businesses have increasingly used ‘green’ marketing to capture consumers’ attention. But what companies think green claims mean and what consumers really understand are sometimes two different things.”

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Mobile Email Marketing Pitfalls; How Do Your Messages Measure Up?

posted on September 29, 2010

By Len Shneyder

Recently, I had the pleasure of presenting with eROI’s Dylan Boyd on the topic of Mobile Optimization. We had a wonderful audience with a bounty of great questions stretching the limits of our imaginations and knowledge.  Seriously, if you don’t learn something from your audience then I doubt you’re really listening. I’m writing today to answer, in greater depth, one of the great questions that came in during the webinar: what kind of pixel resolutions should I code for?

In truth, the most common appears to be 320×480 for most of today’s smart phones. The following resolutions might give you an idea of the slight to drastic variance and how the nuances of the handset’s specific rendering will affect the final outcome:

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Cause Marketing Creates Consumer Loyalty

posted on September 29, 2010

Ford announced yesterday, that it’s teaming up with Web radio station Pandora for a new cause marketing campaign involving Jewel and John Legend. The program surrounds Ford’s new Sync system that allows you to stream audio from a mobile device through the car’s speakers. When consumers visit Pandora they’ll be asked to share songs from either of the two artists and for each song shared, Ford and Pandora will make a donation to charity.

According to a survey by Cone LLC, as reported on by Adweek, this move will help endear Ford to car buying consumers. 41% of the people surveyed this past July said that they’ve purchased a product or service because it was associated with a cause. 85% went so far as to say “When a product or company supports a cause I care about, I have a more positive image of the product or company.” More than half the people said a donation to a cause would make them willing to “try a new brand or one they’ve never heard of.” That’s a huge kick to brand loyalty.

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Consumerist Nominates Worst Commercials in America

posted on September 23, 2010

What would you say is the Worst Commercial in America? Consumerist.com asked their readers that very question and, after receiving responses that numbered higher than their credit score from FreeCreditReport.com, they put together a ballot for a vote.

Bad spokespeople and annoying icons filled out most of the list and the insurance industry took the hardest hit with seven nominations. Thankfully, my favorite Gecko escaped unharmed but that deliriously cheerful woman from the Progressive commercials made it into the top five overall worst commercials on TV.

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For Those Who Abandon Shopping Carts

posted on September 16, 2010

Tell the truth. Have you abandoned a shopping cart this week? I’m not talking about the people who leave actual carts in the middle of the parking lot when there’s a corral two feet away. (Though they annoy me, too.) I’m talking about the 70% of shoppers who load items into a virtual cart on a website only to walk away without buying anything.

We all do it. Ironically, I was going to do it today simply to see if the online store I was buying from would offer me an incentive to come back and finish. I decided not to count on it and it’s a good thing. According to an article on eMarketer, only 35% of marketers send out a remarketing email to people who showed an interest but didn’t follow through. Odds are the small site I was buying from wasn’t part of that 35% but they might be in the future.

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JangoMail Survey Says Less Isn’t More, Anymore

posted on September 15, 2010

You’ve heard the old saying that “less is more.” Apparently, this isn’t true when it comes to email marketing. According to a recent JangoMail survey, 67% of those who enjoy consistent email marketing success include three or more calls to action in their email campaigns.

This reminds me of my college days when I worked as a telemarketer. We were instructed to get three “no’s” from a prospect before we were allowed to end the call. With email marketing, the rejection isn’t so overt, thank heavens, it’s more about the prospect’s ability to ignore a call to action than to vocally object. (Your email came in the middle of my favorite TV show! Dangnabbit!)