Relationship Marketing - Customer Relationship Management

CRM is a focal aspect of any business. It allows to reduce costs and build long lasting relationships with customers. A CRM implementation can give several benefits to the company and if it is well implemented it can definitely improve customer retention and extension. the video below gives a brief overview of what is CRM and why it is important.

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Advertising - Facebook rolls out changes to Sponsored Stories ads

Facebook rolls out changes to Sponsored Stories ads

By Sarah Shearman, marketingmagazine.co.uk, 23 September 2011

Facebook is rolling out changes to its Sponsored Stories ad formats, which it claims will provide advertisers with greater distribution among its 800 million users, as part of a major overhaul announced yesterday (23 September).

Facebook: making changes to its Sponsored Stories ad formats

One of the changes announced by Facebook chief executive and founder Mark Zuckerberg at its annual f8 developer conference, was the latest version of its new "open graph", the system that  links Facebook users to items on the web outside of the social network via the "like" social plug-in.

Actions can now be customised to include any verb, such as ‘watch’, ‘listen’ and ‘read’ which Facebook claims will create "more authentic" ways for users to talk about a business and for brands to share it with their friends.

The changes will have an impact on Facebook’s Sponsored Stories ad format. Introduced at the start of this year, Sponsored Stories show a user’s interaction with a brand, such as Likes and check-ins, which are displayed on their friend’s profile in the form of a display ad.

Marketers can now target ads and Sponsored Stories to people based on the stories they have shared from apps.

For example, Sony pictures can reach users who have watched a specific trailer for a specific film with an ad on the day of the release.

Th service is currently in beta with no brands using it currently. It is only available through Facebook’s direct sales team, which it claims will ensure "proper controls".

Brands should also benefit from increased ‘stickiness’ on the social networking site. The new entertainment apps, along with the timeline, will mean that its 800 million users will be spending more time on the site and posting more information about their activities.

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk

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Advertising Online - Google boosts ads linking to mobile-optimised sites

Advertising Online - Google boosts ads linking to mobile-optimised sites

By Sarah Shearman, mediaweek.co.uk

Google is making changes to its mobile ad quality score that make ads that have mobile optimised landing pages perform better in AdWords, as the search giant claims the medium is "a priority".

Google: makes changes to its mobile ad quality score

Quality score determines how ads are treated in an auction and is influenced by factors including cost of the keyword, the quality of the webpage, and click-through rate.

In the next few weeks, mobile optimisation of a website will become a new factor in mobile ad quality for all AdWords campaigns that are driving mobile traffic.

Last year, Google began to limit ad serving on high-end mobile devices if they pointed to landing pages with Flash-heavy content.

David Nachum, Google associate production manager, said in a blog post today (22 September): "We believe that giving consumers the best possible experience on their mobile device is critically important. A poor mobile web experience can negatively shape a consumer’s opinion of a brand or company and make it hard for them to engage or make a purchase."

Google claims that the move is intended to improve the experience for mobile users, saying mobile is a priority for both Google and the industry.

It has long promoted the necessity for businesses to optimise their sites for the mobile web as the first step in a mobile strategy, before building an expensive mobile app.

To this end Google recently announced a free tool which allows business and brands to optimise their website for the mobile web in a matter of minutes. It has also launched its Get Mobilized site, offering information on its mobile ad products in the UK.

This article was first published on mediaweek.co.uk

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Marketing News - IT - Google Revolution

Google makes mobile wallet public

Google has launched its mobile “wallet” that allows users to pay for items by swiping their mobile phones against specialised terminals in retail stores.

The wallet is currently available to owners of the Nexus S Android phone on the US Sprint network who have signed up to a Citi MasterCard account or own a Google Prepaid card.

Google Wallet is initially launching in the US only, although the service can be used at the 300,000 international outlets that accept MasterCard PayPass, such as Burger King, Boots and Tesco.

The company says that Visa, Discover and American Express have made their near field communications (NFC) specifications available to Google, which could enable their cards to be used in future versions of the Wallet.

A European roll out is also expected soon, following the appointment of an EMEA commerce marketing team, who leads Google’s Wallet and offers division, which provides consumers with location-based deals on their Android smartphones.

The EMEA head of commerce marketing, Yasmina Brihi, reports to Google’s marketing director for UK and Ireland Torsten Schuppe.

Google says it will focus its marketing and sales efforts on San Francisco and New York as it works with retailers in the region to employ its “SingleTap” process that allows customers to pay for items and redeem vouchers and loyalty card points by tapping their phone once on a terminal.

Everything Everywhere, Vodafone and O2 have created a joint venture (JV) tocreate a standardised platform to implement mobile contactless payment in the UK. The move has compelled Three, which was not invited to become a launch partner, to urge European regulators to block the JV on anti-competition grounds.

Phone manufacturers such as Nokia and Blackberry have also stated their intentions to launch their own mobile wallet services this year. 

By Lara O'Reilly available at marketingweek.co.uk

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