Inbound Marketing vs Outbound Marketing

Marketing has come a long way from being just a one way communication between the brands and its consumers, a.k.a ‘Outbound marketing’. The new age marketing, which facilitates a two-way communication between the brand and its consumers, a.k.a ‘Inbound marketing’ is the way ahead for marketers.

Given below are some stats which appeared in a Mashable article which tells us why Inbound marketing is working better:

• 44% of direct mail is never opened. That’s a waste of time, postage and paper.
• 86% of people skip through television commercials.
• 84% of 25 to 34 year olds have clicked out of a website because of an “irrelevant or intrusive ad.”
• The cost per lead in outbound marketing is more than for inbound marketing.

What else makes it better?

• Customers come to you whereas in outbound marketing, customers are sought out.
• Consumers own your brand and they market it on the social media platforms.

So,why try to buy your way in when consumers aren’t even paying attention?

 

‘Digital Waste’ is polluting the online world

Businesses are wasting time and money trying to reach people online without realising many resent big brands invading their social networks – according to findings from a global study launched by today by TNS, a Kantar company and part of WPP.

Shailendra Gupta, associate vice-president, TNS India, explains, “Digital waste is the accumulation of thousands of brands rushing online without thinking who they want to talk to and why. Many brands have recognised the vast potential audiences available to them on social networks; however, they fail to understand that these spaces belong to the consumer, and their presence needs to be proportionate and justified.”

The race online has seen businesses across the world develop profiles on social networks, such as Facebook or YouTube, to speak to customers quickly and cheaply – but TNS’s research reveals that if  these efforts are not carefully targeted, they are wasted on half of them.

Some key points of the study:

•  57 per cent of people in developed markets do not want to engage with brands via social media
• Only 47 per cent of digital consumers now comment about brands online.
• Although 54 per cent of people*** admit social networks are a good place to learn about products, the research shows brands must harness digital more carefully if they are to use it to their advantage and deepen relationships with customers and prospects.
• People like to praise than complain online (13 per cent vs 10 per cent).
• Spanish are the least likely to praise online, with just one in ten people saying that they would do this, and Argentineans are the most likely to complain about brands online (12.5 per cent).

You can read the full article here.

 

Google+ introduces brand pages

On 7th November 2011, Google introduced brand pages for brands, business and celebrities hoping to give Facebook fan pages as well as twitter a run for their money. An article from wired.com discusses how Google+ brand pages can do better than both Facebook Pages & Twitter. The major points in favor for Google+ were as follows:

• Google has integrated Google+ into its search engine. With Google+ Direct Connect, searchers can insert a “+” before their query and jump directly to a business’s Google+ page. eg. When you type +Pepsi on your Google search bar, it will directly take you to Pepsi’s brand page on Plus.
• As Google+ evolves, Google will have the means to promote its social network — and the branded Pages within it — in ways that Facebook or Twitter cannot because a broad array of services like Search, Gmail, Chrome and Android, which are fundamental to the online lives of so many peoplecan be tied to Google+.
• Google+ integrates directly with YouTube, the web’s unquestioned video heavyweight, and Picasa, its photo sharing tool.
• Anyone can readily comment on a Goggle+ Page post, and the Page owner can readily respond. With Twitter, that sort of communication becomes a tedious series of @-messages that clog the feeds of uninterested followers.

We also feel that the brand pages on Google+ can be used to have a hangout with the followers, which cannot happen in a Facebook fan page or a twitter. That is one aspect which makes Google+ brand pages more interactive, especially when celebrities use it or for movies to be promoted on the platform. The hangouts can also be used to provide customer care to followers.

What is your take on the Google+ pages?

 

Women unimpressed by marketing efforts

A recent study by the Bolton Consulting Group (BCG), suggest that the world’s marketer’s have failed to impress women, who control two-thirds of the global consumption expenditure of $18 trillion.

Other finding of the study named ‘Women Want More’, which surveyed 15,000 women across the world including 5,000 in Asia are as follows:

• 40% of the respondents were unhappy with the marketing efforts in categories such as financial services, cars, banking, investments and life insurance.
• Time is the single biggest challenge for woman consumers in India and China, which was aggravated by responsibility for the vast majority of household chores
• They also consider the demands of time as their primary challenge, while the Japanese are more concerned about aging gracefully.
• Managing household and finances was top of the mind priority for Indian and Japanese women, but for Chinese women the greatest hassle was not having enough time for themselves.

However, what is interesting to see is that though women control two-thirds of the global consumption expenditure, the consumption power of women in China and India are just 50% and 44% respectively.

Original post in Business Line

 

Mobile Internet growing at a great pace in India

According to a report from BuzzCity, the growth of mobile internet in India is at a neck-break speed, with around 85 million users in India, which is a 30% increase in the last quarter. This report demonstrates the growing use of mobile internet in India and how advertisers are developing more interest in the medium across Asia.

Other key points of the report were are follows:

• The number of impressions served was 9.7 billion ads in the last quarter.
• The advertisers were largely mobile content players with some banks promoting home loans.
• India occupies the top spot in the top 5 markets for mobile advertising.
• Nokia leads the market with about 52% accessing internet though Nokia with Blackberry and Samsung at 11% and 10%.
•  Mobile Internet has penetrated about 10% of the 865 million mobile users.
• Advertisers can reach into a substantial female demographic (18%) of 14 million unique users.
• The age group of 20-24 yrs consumes the majority of the mobile content of 49%. This is followed by 25-29 yrs age group with 20%, under 20yrs at 18%, 30-34 yrs at 8% and over 35 at 5%.

Read the original post on Watblog.com

 

Why QR codes generally fail

B.L. Ochman discusses on Advertising Age how badly have agencies used QR codes and also talks about its vast potential and growth statistics. She stated the four reasons listed below as the main reasons why Q.R. codes fail:

• Unreadable codes on billboards, too high up for people to get a clear scan; on ads in subways, where there is no cellphone reception for scans.
• QR codes in TV ads By time you run and get your phone, find the scanner, and try to take a shot, the ad’s over. Doh!
• No instructions. Not everyone knows what a QR code is and how to scan it. So it’s necessary to include clear and concise instructions that include the benefits of bothering to make the scan.
• Using a proprietary code so you need a specific type of QR readers to scan it. As if people would download a scanner just to read a code they don’t understand. Fail.

Read the complete article here