So I finally decided to give Facebook ads a try, and I must say I’m rather impressed. I don’t know if it’s because I had a decent offer or because I set-up an iFrames Facebook “squeeze page” but I would say I was averaging about $.50 or less per Facebook Fan. If a Facebook Fan is anywhere near as valuable as an email subscriber, than I’d say that this is a steal!
I also noticed that the longer the campaign ran, the lower my CPC got. How much better can it get? I have yet to see a ROI but I believe it’s all a matter of tweaking the pieces you have in place here and testing different elements.
Have you advertised on Facebook yet? I’d like to hear about the results you’ve had. Do you have questions about my campaign? Feel free to ask by commenting below.
I’ve been doing some research on Facebook marketing lately to see if it’s worth my time to run a PPC campaign or not, and I stumbled across this simple trick to lowering the price you pay per click on Facebook!
Now that smartphones outnumber desktop computers, and text messages outnumber phone calls and emails, it’s crucial that you’re utilizing the proper SMS marketing technologies to stay top of mind with your prospects and customers.
I’m not advocating that we stop marketing via email since it is still an effective communication tool. I’m advocating that you incorporate SMS text message marketing into the fold because 95% of text messages are read within’ the first 15 minutes. Whereas with email you’re lucky to get a 20-30% open rate.
“I was recently asked by one of our readers for my thoughts about the ongoing innovation and adoption of Mobile Email and its impact on businesses that work exclusively with SMS-based Mobile Marketing.
In my opinion, I don’t think that Mobile Email will have any significant impact on the growth of SMS-based Mobile Marketing. Instead, I think that SMS will prevail as an interactive marketing channel. Although mobile access to email is a growing trend, email is still an overwhelming medium. People are flooded with irrelevant emails and spam, and as such have become de-sensitized to this channel. Text-based marketing has advantages for the following reasons:
1) Text Messaging has more immediacy with mobile phone users than email, since emails are generally reviewed in batches, whereas SMS messages tend to be viewed as they arrive. Marketing messages received via email are almost immediately classified by the user as spam or junk, and users don’t generally look at each email as it arrives. Instead, they will read their emails in batches when they have some time. If the opportune moment for a message has passed, the message is no longer relevant.
2) There is a limit on the length of a text message – a limitation that tends to serve as an advantage. This limit allows mobile users to consume the message more quickly. We’ve learned that the attention span of users is getting smaller – they want ‘snacks’ vs. ‘meals’ when it comes to information (the same
reason that Twitter has gained so much popularity)
3) There are stricter guidelines that govern the distribution of SMS messages to consumers, and although they are merely guidelines, the Mobile Operators tend to enforce them. Therefore, mobile users can opt out of messages they don’t want to receive (thus filtering out unwanted messages more effectively). Opting out of emails can be more difficult and doesn’t always work – hence the success of Junk Mail filters.
4) The ability to have a quick dialog with a consumer – again, due to the short messaging nature, and the immediacy of an SMS, it’s easier to reach the consumer at the right moment and to have a quick dialog that is relevant and beneficial to both the consumer and the retailer.“
This has to be one of the best examples of viral video advertising I’ve seen. I know this is technically branding and not direct response marketing like we talk about in this blog, but this seems like one of the more effective ways to brand considering it’s a youtube video and they didn’t pay one penny to upload it. It really gets the gears turning!
It seems like everybody has heard of Groupon. It’s a win/win for the small business owner and the consumer. The small business owner gets a flood of customers to beat a path to his/her door, and the consumer. Whether or not it’s a win for the Groupon stock holder is another story.
One gripe I do hear from the small business owners is that the customers who come in to redeem their coupon in many cases never come back. This is especially the case in larger cities where there are more businesses to pick from in general. For this reason it is crucial for business owners to try and capture or retain some of these new customers to increase the likelihood of them returning to their place of business.
What is the best way to do this?
The best way is to create another special offer that your customer can take action on while they are in your place of business redeeming their coupon. This special offer should be given in exchange for the customers contact details. Here I’ll give you an example:
A customer comes into a Salon to redeem a “50% off Salon Services” coupon. While they are there they notice the Salon has a monthly contest to win a FREE facial and to enter the contest all they have to do is text the word “freefacial” to 83020. Now they are in the Salon’s text message database for future communications via text message. This is the best way to keep in touch with your customers because 95% of text messages are open within’ the first 15 minutes.
Using our special Text Message Marketing System, you’re able to manage your database of customers and blast messages to your entire list very easily. Which makes it the #1 marketing tool for small, local businesses.
