Last week, it was found that Google was actively skirting the privacy issues for those that were using Apple’s Safari browser. They then immediately annonced a statement to the press that it was an oversight and a one-time issue. However, today it has been found that they have been doing this on a wider scale. It turns out that they have been extending this practice to the most widely used web browser, Internet Explorer. As the internet evolves and large corporations have more and more access to our personal information, it is always recommended that you be careful when deciding what information you choose to put on the internet. It should be also noted that not only Google, but other large sites such as Facebook have been outed as operating with this same practice as well.
One of the most fundamental pieces of your website is the ability and ease of adding/changing content on each page. Years ago, a Content Management System (CMS) wasn’t widely used and you would have to rely on your developer (or someone in your company that was web-savvy enough) to go into the page and hard code any changes that needed to be made. But there had to be an easier way for the average user to make changes on the fly. Thus spawned the CMS, which gives you the ability to make changes just as if you were using any type of text editor like Notepad of MS Word. We always take in to account the implementation of a CMS when building out all of our sites, and there are numerous options of CMS’s to use on the back end. For more information, contact us and we can help with your decision of the CMS that would work best for your website.
Recently, Google and Apple have decided to lower their ad costs for mobile advertisements. It would seem that both companies are doing this to beat Facebook to the punch and get in at the ground floor for mobile ads, which have been increasing at a quick pace as of late. Seeing that many of us use the internet via our phones & tablets now, this makes total sense. Mobile is changing the game as to how we get our information, news, entertainment, and work done. At Connections Marketing, we provide mobile ad platforms that can be utilized for your business and can fit any budget. Contact us today and we can help you increase your visibility on the mobile web.
Prior to opening Connections Marketing in October 2009 I worked in Advertising Sales for 8 years. When a advertiser buys media directly it is important that you know the following:
1. Never take the first offer
2. Request that your rep “Post” your account. Posting helps guarantee your rating points up to 90%. This option is typical with Broadcast TV buys
3. Whichever media you are planning to buy speak to a few networks/stations and create a bidding war. This will help you obtain a lot more bang for your buck.
4. Review your invoices to ensure all commercials aired
5. When accepting a “make good” please ensure the new spot is an improvement over your previous option
6. When executing a direct response campaign it is best to buy Monday – Wednesday.
7. If you are looking to drive traffic to a retail location the best days to buy are Thursday – Sunday
8. January is typically a slow month for all media outlets, therefore a great month to request bonus spots from your Account Executive
These are just a full helpful tips to ensure your money is well spent. If you would like to learn more about how Connections Marketing buys media please call us at 312-593-2553.
This should come as no surprise to most, but according to StatCounter, we are consuming the web via mobile and a rapid pace. Since 2009, we are consistently using double the mobile bandwitdh every year. And keep in mind, this doesn’t even include tablets that are being used to access the internet. As this whole mobile ecosystem grows, it’s important to ensure that your website is mobile friendly, and Connections Marketing specializes in mobile websites. With record numbers of large-screened mobile devices being activated daily, it is important to cater to your users and give them an interface that is functional and not confusing.
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What a great game yesterday, but not everyone watches the Super Bowl for the on field action. Many viewers love to watch the commercials. I was watching the game with a few friends who are not in marketing and based on the sample size of 5 they felt the commercials fell flat and I agree. A few examples are Go Daddy’s commercials. The creative is old and continues to use half naked women. They need a new direction for 2013. Also, I was disappointed that Cadillac aired a can spot in the 3rd quarter. Why spend 3.5 million on a spot and air creative that one can see on a Wednesday night Chicago Bulls game. I enjoyed the Honda Ferris Bueller spot along with Bud Light spot that added a blurb at the end to help rescue dogs. Overall I felt the creative was flat and a majority money was allocated to air time as opposed to producing a quality commercial.
Keeping up with the current hoopla surrounding the impending Facebook IPO, this is probably the most bizarre story to come of yet. Apparently back in 2005, president of Facebook Sean Parker asked graffiti artist David Choe to come to Palo Alto and paint the Facebook offices. He had two options of payment for his services: either get paid several thousands of dollars for the job, or receive the same amount of money but in the form of Facebook stock. Well, Mr. Choe bet on the stock for his payment…and now, he is looking at earning roughly $200 million dollars for his efforts. Not a bad payday for a paint job. Original Story
Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the last week you know that Facebook will reportedly issue their paperwork today for their IPO. Their current valuation is at $100 billion, however many analysts believe this number is too high. Why? Mcdonald’s value is $101 billion based on annual sales of $27 billion and Facebook in 2011 generated roughly 2.5 billion in sales. In 2012 they are expected to generate 5 billion in online sales, however that $20 billion short of Mcdonald’s. Now we understand that Facebook will grow significantly over the next few years, however there are no guarantees that they will develop a strategy that will produce the necessary sales number to validate their $100 billion valuation.
We recommend to all prospects that before they move forward with Connections Marketing to compare our price to another firm. We do this so the customer is comfortable with our organization and realizes we are offering a competitive price. However, we run into situations where our competitors will offer a greatly discounted rate and when you truly review their bid it is not apples to apples. Typically they are outsourcing to India and working with programmers who lack the education to properly code the website. Now, I am not knocking the strategy of outsourcing to India, however the good companies are not cheap and the price is comparable to US programmers. My point is we pride ourselves on developing high end websites at an affordable rate and if someone is able to beat our price by half then they are utilizing programmers/designers that are outsourced or not veterans in the industry.
In a very interesting article today, Seeking Alpha breaks down three reasons why Google is losing ground. While they mention the farily obvious factors (and these factors may have had something to do with their stock drop after releasing earnings), there may be another factor: social media. Social Media is gaining a lot of ground in how people are searching for information online, and we at Connections Marketing are involved with creating not online an online presence, but a Social Media presence as well for our clients.
