Thursday, July 23, 2009

A Good Time to Upgrade Your Web Site

I came across a recent study on customers' satisfaction with their web shopping experience which shows it has dropped in recent years. Standards for the web are rising, and your business needs to keep up. Many of the top web retailers, including Apple, saw many consumers dissatisfied with their online shopping experience.

Let's face it. We all have higher expectations for web stores than we do for brick and mortar stores. We expect websites to be updated regularly and for the technology to be improving quickly. We are pretty impatient. And the more advanced technology gets, the most demanding we get!

As recently as May, Netflix and Amazon were #1 and #2 respectively in consumer satisfaction. Web sites with accompanied brick and mortar store chains, like Kohls.com and Target.com also saw improvements in customer satisfaction. Experts expect companies like these to incorporate in-store pickup into their web offerings.

Diversifying your web presence is important to consumer interaction. Increase the number of touch points between your business and consumers. Give your web developer a call to discuss all the options available through social media and advancements in technology.

June Bisel
Partner, BBG&G Advertising and Public Relations
BusinessCardContacts.com
SmartStrategies@BBBGGadv.com
845-695-1880

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posted by June Bisel at 3:04 PM 0 Comments

Monday, May 4, 2009

Facebook Success Story

Up until recently, I hadn't even heard of "Toasted Heads". But, success stories in Social Media just fascinate me and I am eager to share them with you whenever possible.

Toasted Heads is a premium wine brand, which has recently become an unlikely success story in social media. They created a profile page on Facebook and increased their stated fan base from under 1,000 to 3,334 Facebook fans as of today.

More than tripling their their fan base on Facebook was not expected because of the exclusivity of the fan base. However, this serves as a lesson to everyone that effectiveness through online social networking media is not just for the Pepsi's, CNN's and Ashton Kutcher's of the world.

If you're considering establishing a presence online, look at what these brands have in common. For one, branded content is very important to your web presence. Toasted Heads uses brand related gigs like the "burning question of the week" and tips to "fire up your life." Ashton Kutcher became the first person with a million Twitter followers with a publicity stunt promising to punk CNN owner Ted Turner if he could reach a million followers before the cable news station.

Toasted Heads also reached out to its own informal friends list, which then created the opportunity for the fan base to spread through word of mouth. Then it was coupled with targeted marketing efforts to drive people to sign up as fans on its Facebook page. Follow the patterns that made these companies successful on social media platforms and use online resources like Facebook, Twitter and BusinessCardContacts.com to their fullest extent to make your web presence effective.

June Bisel
BBG&G Advertising and Public Relations
BusinessCardContacts.com
845-695-1880
smartstrategies@bbggadv.com

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posted by June Bisel at 12:23 PM 0 Comments

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Stop and Smell the Paint

Ingenuity is something that I talk about quite often in my blog. So it should be no surprise that a story about a new line of paint by Dutch Boy caught my attention. Dutch Boy is launching the first paint ever designed to remove odors from a room. I can't imagine how it works ... but having a house full of pets, I'm lovin' the idea!

Dutch Boy Refresh, as it is called, is such an innovative product. Why buy a plug-in air freshener when I've got four walls of odor elimination? They are using TV and online banner ads to promote the new product, but my favorite part is the interactive portion of their marketing effort.

Their promotion, called "My House Stinks: Rate the Rooms" is allowing consumers to upload pictures of rooms in their house that they believe would be a good candidate for the worst smelling room in America. Consumers can also rate other peoples' rooms. My dog, Dandelion would not be happy to hear this, but I may post a picture of her little condo in the basement on this website.

This interactivity is what makes the modern internet, or Web 2.0 so great. Use it to get customers involved with your brand. It will make them feel like they have a more personal relationship with your business.

June Bisel
BBG&G Advertising and Public Relations
BusinessCardContacts.com
845-695-1880
smartstrategies@bbggadv.com

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posted by June Bisel at 1:44 PM 0 Comments