OIR Interactive Blog

OIR Can Make Your Site Ideal for Mobile

July 21st, 2010

Even with the number of mobile web users growing daily, smartphone purchases on the rise, and mobile web usage predicted to soon outpace desktop web access, many websites, unfortunately, are still not adapted for mobile. Failure to design a site specifically for mobile usage—ignoring the wide variety of available applications as well as consumer habits—leads to a poor user experience. The growth of mobile web users offers enormous potential for businesses and advertisers, but only for those who make smart use of the technology and adapt their site to adequately compete in the market.

The most important thing to remember when developing your company’s website is that people interact differently with a mobile site than they do with a desktop site. Since the navigation on smartphone is more tactile, and since users are often engaged in other activities while using their devices, people who visit mobile sites are usually looking for something specific. Unlike the typical desktop site user who may be browsing for information or comparison shopping in multiple windows simultaneously, typical mobile users are on the move, and thus, more goal-oriented in their web usage. They may want directions, pricing, or a quick way to contact you.

A mobile site is 100% different from a desktop site in terms of the end goal, which is why businesses should take the time to develop a mobile site that reflects consumer behavior. And while we are hearing about all the innovative features of new devices like Apple’s iPhone 4, keep in mind that not every phone supports elaborate images and videos or display settings. An effective mobile site, therefore, should be navigable for all users so that it can enjoy as extensive a market reach as possible.

OIR will develop or adapt your site so that it is compatible with advanced features of a smartphone but will work well with other phones, too. This is where device detection can be vital: OIR can design your website with an eye toward how it is viewed on a variety of devices. This ensures that the user experience will be positive for desktop site users and mobile users of various devices.

Redesign Your Site for Mobile

Most companies with extant desktop sites are already tracking some kind visitor data to the site. OIR can determine which types of computers accessing this site, including mobile devices. Analyzing the content that those mobile devices have been most heavily accessing gives a good indication of what mobile users will want from that particular company’s site. This, in turn, helps dictate the mobile content that should be offered.

Using device detection helps differentiate the desktop users from the mobile ones, and we can also use that detection to serve up different “levels” of content. If we detect a device that supports things like CSS, HTML5, and JavaScript, then we can offer a more enriched version of the website. In general, OIR will build a mobile site with high performance and sophisticated visuals for the benefit of advanced devices, but will degrade gracefully on older or more basic devices.

If you haven’t developed a site specifically for mobile, or if your site would benefit from redesign and/or updating to be accessible to the highly variant mobile technologies, OIR can help. OIR is the only interactive marketing company in Myrtle Beach that specializes in email, web, and mobile marketing, and we can create the perfect mobile site for your business.

Posted in Mobile Marketing | No Comments »

Mobile and Email Marketing for Myrtle Beach Golf Courses

July 13th, 2010

Myrtle Beach is one of the most popular golf resort locales in the U.S. and people come from all over the country to golf for recreation, business, and tournaments. For course owners, that is the good news. The bad news, unfortunately, is that being part of one of the most attractive golfing regions in the country means that your competition is at its peak. Myrtle Beach visitors have access to over 100 nearby courses. How will they know to choose yours?

To stand out from your competition, you have to market aggressively and with an eye toward long-term loyalty. Paying attention to shifts in consumer behavior will give you an edge over your competitors and allow you to use technology to reach likely golfers in ways that are both direct and cost-effective.

Three solutions:

Email Marketing

Sending out email messages that advertise exclusive deals, discounts, and event announcements is instantaneous and the cost is nominal. But blindly emailing tons of people who may be totally indifferent to your offer is a waste of time and money and may weaken your brand by creating an unfavorable impression of your business as a spammer. Instead, develop a targeted email campaign in which your clients are invited to opt in to receive information about your course. Golfing can become an expensive habit for the true enthusiasts, many of whom will be attracted to the idea of exclusive deals available only to those on your email list. OIR offers complete management of your email campaign, including designing, sending, monthly reporting, and data analysis.

SMS

Billions of text messages are sent and opened each month, and SMS offers a method of advertising faster and more direct than any other used today. Typical text messages are opened within only minutes of receipt, and thus make an excellent way of communicating with your clients about short-notice tee times or last minute deals designed to bring people to your course that very day or weekend. OIR offers all the tools you need to start and manage an SMS campaign that lets you craft text messages and send them out at whatever frequency suits your marketing goals. We also track the effectiveness of your keywords and advertising venues so that you can adjust your campaign utilizing only what works.

txtMB

If you are new to mobile marketing or want to test its effectiveness before launching your own campaign, consider joining txtMB, the area’s newest interactive campaign designed specifically for Myrtle Beach visitors. txtMB is a cooperative marketing campaign that gathers together promotions from many area businesses and sends text-message deals directly to interested people’s cell phones. txtMB offers its subscribers exclusive deals to area events and attractions, and it offers advertisers a cost-sharing model that enables them to participate in a text marketing campaign without absorbing all of the expense. Upon joining txMB, a subscriber has the option to select announcements about Golf deals specifically, and will then start receiving text ads (no more than three per day) for area courses. txtMB ensures that all people who specify a golf interest (and only those people) will receive your message. Tourists often like to try out different courses, and txtMB can make sure yours is on their radar.

For more information about how OIR can help you make use of technology to attract more clients and reward the ones you have, contact us at 843-628-1619, or email us at sms@oirinteractive.com

Posted in Email Marketing, Golf, Mobile Marketing | No Comments »

A Cooperative Mobile Marketing Strategy for Myrtle Beach

June 25th, 2010

Harnessing mobile technology to reach clients—current and potential—is becoming less of a novelty and more of a necessity for any business that wants to stay on the cutting edge. Mobile marketing, and SMS text-message marketing in particular, allows your business to reach consumers at any time of day, anywhere they happen to be, on the one device they never leave home without.

In addition to being one of the fastest growing marketing trends, SMS marketing is also one of the least expensive. The high opt-in and coupon-redemption rates make SMS one of the most practical, far-reaching, and cost-effective ways to advertise. In our challenging economy, consider the benefits of integrating SMS into your company’s marketing strategy.

New Opportunity for Myrtle Beach

Myrtle Beach businesses can now take advantage of all the benefits of SMS marketing at an even lower price than before by joining a new cooperative marketing campaign that spreads the cost over several area businesses. Want to try mobile marketing, but not sure if your budget is big enough? Not sure if your campaign will reach enough people or be enticing enough to make a difference? Or, does your business cater predominantly to a tourist client base that turns over too quickly to take advantage of all your offers? If any of these apply to you, an SMS co-op is the way to go. txtMB is the area’s newest interactive marketing campaign that gathers together all the promotions from area businesses and broadcasts them directly to visitors’ cell phones. Created by OIR Interactive, txtMB is designed to be a one-stop-shop for tourists to gain access to exclusive deals from area restaurants and attractions.

What We Do

We do extensive local advertising on billboards and through newspaper and broadcasting venues inviting people to text business-appropriate keywords to our short code. For example, one billboard advertisement invites people to text FOOD in order to receive coupons to local restaurants, while another ad invites people to text GOLF for local deals and discounts. Once a person responds to our call-to-action, he or she becomes a subscriber to our network and receives an instant message with our terms; subscribers can opt-out at any time by simply texting STOP. People can also enroll through our website, txtMB.com. Subscribers are invited to choose as many business categories that interest them and will receive messages that pertain only to their selected interests. And membership to txtMB is free!

We coordinate deals, promotions, and discount coupons from our participating sponsors and send them out each day to our subscriber list. We guarantee that your business’s promotion will be sent out to each person who has opted in to your category.

What You Do

First, decide which category or categories your business fits (Golf, Dining, Entertainment, Attractions, Nightlife, etc.). Then, choose a promotion that you want sent to interested consumers. This can be a coupon or promotional announcement, and OIR can help you come up with creative incentives if you are new to mobile marketing. Finally, decide which day and time of day your promotion should go out. Do you want to reach people in the morning, as they are making their activity decisions for the day? Or do you want to reach people later in the day, just as they are making lunch or dinner plans? Do you want your advertisement to go out on Day 1, or later in the campaign? You even have the option to have your promotion sent out instantly, reaching users seconds after they opt in.

During the 5-day campaign promotions are sent out three times per day, each day, with your promotion going out during the day and time you’ve chosen. After the first five days, the campaign frequency slows down to one message per day—sending out each sponsor’s promotion on a rotational basis—until the user opts out.  This prevents people from receiving extraneous messages after they have left the area. And it does not matter when a user joins the campaign: the initial message, follow-up message, and subsequent series of messages will all be the same and last for the same amount of time. So make your business’s promotion something that can be redeemed any time.

Why join? A Few Good Reasons:

Cost Sharing

For less than $100 a month your business can buy into the Myrtle Beach co-op, txtMB, and begin participating in a targeted mobile marketing campaign. We make this possible with a price tier structure in which you can choose a monthly payment that correlates to your preferred advertising day and time slot. Instant messages are the most expensive, but also get the highest redemption rate and ROI because they reach every subscriber as soon as he or she joins the campaign.

Client Sharing

Everyone who golfs also eats, and most people who vacation on the Grand Strand appreciate the variety of shopping and entertainment options Myrtle Beach affords. We orchestrate our campaign so that our participating sponsors can advertise non-competing business categories in their stores, thereby promoting other txtMB categories to their customers. Retail shops, for instance, advertise our food or entertainment calls-to-action, while restaurants and attractions advertise calls-to-action for dining. This way, the entire network benefits by reaching as many visitors as possible, growing the profit-potential for everyone.

Start Small, Plan Big

Joining txtMB is a great way to get started with mobile marketing if you’ve never tried it before. The risk is very small, but you can experiment with different types of promotions and advertising time slots to see what gets the best ROI.

After a season with txtMB you may choose to expand your mobile marketing initiatives and start your own separate campaign. Get you own keyword, build your own client list and send out more frequent messages to your subscribed customers.

Joining txtMB will allow your business a cost-effective entry into text marketing without reducing your control over advertising decisions. You have control over the type of advertisement you want to send, the campaign day you’d like it sent (Day 1 through 5), and time of day that makes the most sense for your business. OIR must approve your offer, only to make sure that it complies with our high standards for appropriate marketing. We can also help you design your promotions or craft your messages to maximize effectiveness.

With another tourist season upon us, and an economy that is recovering slower than we’d like, a cost- and client-sharing marketing plan is an ideal way to reach visitors for a small investment. Text messages are received instantly and typically opened within only minutes. SMS texting is the most direct method of marketing available, and our co-op campaign guarantees that only interested people receive our offers. No unsolicited messages are ever sent.

To become a participating sponsor, contact OIR Interactive to get started. Call us at 843-628-1619, or email us at sms@oirinteractive.com

We look forward to introducing your business to SMS marketing and, with the collaboration of our area sponsors, creating a convenient venue for visitors to make the most of their time in Myrtle Beach!

Posted in General, Interactive Marketing, Mobile Marketing | No Comments »

SMS Marketing for Myrtle Beach Restaurants

June 21st, 2010

Now is the time for Myrtle Beach restaurants to take advantage of SMS advertising. Evidence is abundant that restaurants with well-conceived text marketing campaigns see high rates of opt-in and coupon redemption. Want to drive up store traffic and make the most of the tourist season? SMS marketing can help.

To Get Started: Scheduled or Staggered
Using TextBoard, decide on the type of campaign you want: You can choose a scheduled campaign in which opted-in users receive a text message promotion or coupon at regular intervals (weekly, bi-weekly, or whatever interval you choose). Or, if you are looking to target customers more frequently over a shorter period of time (as you would with vacationers), you can choose instead a staggered campaign. A staggered campaign sends all new users the same sequence of promotions and discounts regardless of when they sign up.

If your restaurant caters heavily to locals, or if it has multiple locations, you might consider a Scheduled campaign, which targets regular customers and rewards customer loyalty. If your restaurant caters heavily to tourists, you might consider a staggered campaign, which allows you to communicate more often to an ever-changing group of customers that are likely to belong to the campaign for only a short period of time. Of course, the two can be used together if your restaurant has a diverse client base and you want to make the most of your marketing campaign. Many restaurants in Myrtle Beach want to reach the regular locals as well as the tourists, and can coordinate different marketing campaigns to suit the changing seasonal demand. Restaurants can also use TextBoard to initiate SMS-based contests to help boost the number of subscribers.

Advertising
Once you have set up your campaign in TextBoard, you must advertise a call-to-action that invites people to text a keyword and thereby agree to receive marketing promotions from you. While you can choose any advertising medium you like, recent case studies demonstrate that thinking locally about advertising venues has the greatest chances of driving up store traffic. Work strategically with billboards, local papers, and local TV or radio spots. Make sure your advertisement gives people a strong incentive to sign up—coupons that can be instantly redeemed are often a good way to get people in the door.

Timing is Everything
Of course, where you advertise is important, but did you realize that when it comes to dining, when you advertise is just as vital? Give yourself an edge over your competitors by reaching people right before mealtimes; Americans typically open their text messages within a few minutes of receipt, so use the instantaneous nature of text to put your restaurant and your promotion on their minds. Time your texts strategically to fit the campaign goals of the day. Send Happy Hour messages out at 4:00 to increase your bar sales, or send out lunch coupons at 11:00 am advertising something for the user and a guest. Make sure the offer is enticing—you are trying to reach people as they are making their dining decisions, so offer something persuasive enough to bring them in the door that day.

Select locations of Carrabba’s Italian Grill recently reported a 68% redemption rate on offers promoted through their SMS campaign. And many other restaurants throughout the nation are experimenting with text-message marketing as a fast and inexpensive way to reach people on the go. Myrtle Beach, with its high tourist population that is so quickly turned over, can use SMS to reach travelers who will undoubtedly eat out frequently during their stay but may not know about your restaurant’s promotions and specials. You have only a short window of time to reach them, and SMS campaigns can make your marketing more targeted and efficient.

Tandem Campaigns Increase Response Exponentially
TextBoard offers several other SMS campaign types that can be used to complement a scheduled or staggered campaign or can be used alone. Contest campaigns in which people are invited to text a keyword to a short code for a chance at a prize have proven an excellent way to attract attention and create a quick surge in opt-ins. The viral nature of texting allows contests with appealing offers to be passed around quickly to family and friends, and, by entering a contest, customers become subscribers that you can then market to again in the future. Myrtle Beach restaurants can use contest campaigns to initiate their SMS presence locally and then build future SMS campaigns off that initial list of subscribers.

Voting campaigns are popular as well whereby your restaurant can send out a poll and invite responses. Make the poll about something that may benefit respondents, like voting on the addition of a new menu item or a change to the restaurant. Taco Bell and Pizza Hut battled it out in a recent voting campaign at Western Kentucky University where students were asked to vote for which store they wanted built near campus. Campaigns that foster fun and creative competition attract a high level of response in a short amount of time.

Don’t Miss Opportunities Right In Front of You
You may have set up your campaigns to attract new customers, appeal to tourists, or turn local diners into returning customers, and in doing so, brought more people through the door. But what about the diners already in the restaurant? Your store offers a venue for totally free advertising to the diners most likely to be receptive to your offers: the ones who already enjoy your products. Place a large sign in the store or print a message right in the menu or on the bottom of the bill that encourages customers to opt in to your campaign for a future reward. Again, make it appealing and unique so that it stands out from the many other dining options in the Grand Strand. And don’t forget your email subscribers! You can advertise your SMS campaign in your next marketing email to expand your reach as much as possible in a way that costs very little.

TextBoard offers a variety of campaign options to help drive up store traffic and restaurant profits. Depending on whom you are targeting, and when, SMS marketing campaigns can be designed to suit your objective and the results can be tracked in real time so that you know exactly what works and how well. TextBoard also allows very simple coupon redemption so that your business does not have to invest in expensive new technology to scan or track its offer redemptions. If your offer is a coupon, a simple code on the screen can be shown to the cashier and entered into the machine at the point of sale. Simple.

Take advantage of TextBoard’s flexible and user-friendly platform for your SMS marketing campaign. Tourist season is upon us again and there is no better time for Myrtle Beach’s restaurants to start or expand their mobile marketing. Define your goal and your target audience; then work within TextBoard to design a campaign that utilizes the text message technology enabled on virtually every mobile phone in the US to reach as many busy, hungry people as possible.

Posted in Interactive Marketing, Mobile Marketing | No Comments »

An Argument for Email and SMS Marketing

June 9th, 2010

As SMS marketing becomes more widespread, businesses are looking for ways to integrate new mobile campaigns into the more traditional marketing strategies they already have in place. Email marketing is a pervasive and time-tested marketing strategy but one that has limits; SMS marketing campaigns can be used in conjunction with email marketing or as a stand-alone method.

Benefits of Email Marketing

Cost: For one thing, email is very inexpensive. Saving thousands of dollars on paper and postage, email allows companies to invest less and reach more. One email message can reach thousands of subscribers instantly and cheaply, making email a smart investment for advertising budgets of all sizes.

Targeting: Email messages are received almost instantly, and, unlike many traditional print mailings and circulars, well-conceived email marketing is targeted, thereby reaching only those consumers who have demonstrated interest. A huge benefit to email marketing is that consumers can be segmented based on interests or shared traits, making the targeting even more effective. Depending on the product or service under promotion, a company can choose to send out a mass mailing to the entire subscriber list, or just to a segment of specific users. Multiple lists can also be combined whenever it is advantageous.

Tracking: Technology used in email marketing campaigns enable companies to track the campaign’s performance by ascertaining which users actually opened the message—as well as which users followed links and/or forwarded the message on to friends. This kind of information, not available with more conventional advertising venues like print or broadcast, provides instant information about the effectiveness of the campaign for future tweaking or changing.

Proliferation: The nature of email allows marketing to become viral very quickly. If an offer is compelling, advertisers will see it passed around very quickly. This makes email one of the more effective means of expanding market reach.

Email’s Loss is an SMS Gain

The biggest downside of email marketing, any advertiser will tell you, is the low open/read rates of email messages. While email campaigns have success in reaching thousands of subscribers quickly, the promotions are meaningless if the message is deleted or filtered as spam without even being opened. And with less than a quarter of wireless users owning smartphones (and only a percentage of smartphone owners using their device to check their email), email marketing is not ideally suited to take full advantage of the current mobile advertising climate.
These limitations, however, are where the emerging SMS advertising medium can shine. People have their cell phones with them almost all the time and change their phone number far less frequently than they change their email address. Additionally, text messages have a 95% open/read rate, which virtually guarantees that your clients will at least read your message. Consider too that the typical text message gets opened within 15 minutes of receipt. This means even quicker delivery than an email message, which, while instant, must still wait for the user to reach a computer before it can be put to use.

Though currently not as cheap as email, SMS is very cost-effective for its return, and it enjoys or surpasses most of email’s aforementioned advantages. Like email, SMS is highly viral, allowing users to pass good deals or contests on to friends. Applications such as TextBoard will also segment users based on common traits while tracking the effectiveness of keywords so that brands can optimize their campaigns based on what has proven to work. The interactive nature of text marketing allows companies to try different keywords in different advertising media and determine which keywords and media generated the highest response rates. And since SMS is still a bit of a novelty, companies that make use of it get that extra advertising edge over their competitors.
Coordinating Email and SMS

Combining mobile with marketing tools already in use gives advertisers maximum opportunity to reach consumers. Legends in Concert, a live performance tribute show located in ten cities all over the US, held a recent contest that successfully blended their email and SMS marketing strategies. In an email sent to over 20,000 subscribers, they invited users to text ELVIS to a short code for a chance to win 2 VIP tickets. In only 72 hours, Legends saw a 30% opt-in rate, which even surpassed expectations. Their case shows one way that email and SMS can work together, enabling email’s rapid and highly viral nature to give visibility to an SMS campaign.
The opposite type of approach can be used as well, whereby a mobile campaign designed to draw people to it through its promotion can then prompt the user to give his or her email address, and in this way, SMS can be used to grow the company’s email subscriber list of interested consumers.

Savvy businesses should not miss the opportunity to develop a mobile component to their advertising. This includes not only mobile ads and a mobile adaptation of their website, but also well-planned SMS campaigns that complement other advertising practices to maximize the opt-in rates and market reach.

Posted in Email Marketing, Mobile Marketing | No Comments »

Target Announces Scannable Mobile Coupons

March 10th, 2010

Target is the first national retailer to offer a scannable mobile coupon program that allows guests to receive exclusive offers directly on their mobile phones. Coupons are redeemed by scanning a barcode on the phone at checkout.

“At Target, we know that mobile phones are an integral part of our guests’ lives, and mobile coupons are just another way we’re providing convenient, on-the-go shopping solutions”

“At Target, we know that mobile phones are an integral part of our guests’ lives, and mobile coupons are just another way we’re providing convenient, on-the-go shopping solutions,” said Steve Eastman, president of Target.com.

Guests can opt-in to the program on their PC at Target.com/mobile, on their phone at m.target.com or by texting COUPONS to 827438 (TARGET). After opt-in, guests receive a text message with a link to a mobile Web page that contains multiple offers, all accessible through a single barcode. Offers are single use and expire on the date listed.

Target’s point-of-sale scanning technology makes mobile coupons possible, and Target is the first major retailer with the ability to scan mobile barcodes in all of its stores. A leader in mobile retail, Target continues to offer innovative mobile solutions for guests. In addition to using the new mobile coupons, Target guests can access their Target Mobile GiftCards, view online assortments, check product availability and store locations, manage their Target gift registry and lists, browse the weekly ad, and receive text and e-mail notifications of great deals – all via their mobile phones.

via Business Wire

Posted in Interactive Marketing, Mobile Marketing | No Comments »

OIR Interactive, Myrtle Beach Launches New Charleston Southern University Mobile Website

February 26th, 2010

OIR Interactive has launched a mobile version of CharlestonSouthern.edu for Charleston Southern University. The site is available to anyone with web-enabled mobile phone service at mobile.charlestonsouthern.edu.

The new CSU Mobile Web offers easy one click access to sports scores and news,  campus events, weather conditions and emergency alert information. Charleston Southern’s mobile site has been designed to improve user experience for all mobile devices.

“CSU mobile web allows us to connect with students — anyplace, anytime, anywhere — with a single click,” said John Strubel, Director of Integrated Marketing for Charleston Southern. “Mobile web is quickly becoming a required marketing arm at colleges and universities.”

Charleston Southern Mobile Web Features:

  • Campus Events: The Horton School of Music, CSU Lyric Theatre, CSU Players, Convocation, Elevate and a full schedule of sporting events take place regularly throughout the year. With CSU Mobile Web, faculty, staff, students, alumni and the general public can access current campus events from their phone.
  • Commuter Students: With more than 2/3 of the student population commuter students at Charleston Southern now, with a single click, commuters and adult students can stay in touch with news and events.
  • Sports: A member of the NCAA Division I Big South Conference, Charleston Southern fields teams in football, basketball, baseball, softball, women’s soccer, cross country, track and field, golf, tennis and volleyball. Stay up-to-date on the latest scores and team home schedule.
  • News: The latest news and information about Charleston Southern will now be at your fingertips from any web-enabled mobile phone.
  • Weather: Get the latest weather conditions in the Lowcountry.

Posted in General | 1 Comment »

OIR Interactive to Speak at The American Marketing Association Charleston

January 28th, 2010

Pack your bags! It’s time to head down to Charelston, SC and join us for an American Marketing Association Charleston presentation. The show starts at noon on February 11, 2010.

Justin Rockwell, Owner and Web Strategist of OIR Interactive, LLC an interactive marketing agency in North Myrtle Beach, S.C. and OIR’s E-mail Marketing Specialist Teri Backfield will dive into the world of mobile and e-mail marketing. They’ll be taking a look beyond basic digital marketing and focusing on what new digital methods marketers can use and the analytics that go along with them for the best possible impact and return on investment.

While mobile marketing is still in the beginning stages as compared to the more mature advertising mediums such as television, radio, print and even the Internet, mobile is quickly emerging as an advertising channel with full-impact. Rockwell will explain the various methods of mobile marketing, who is currently using them, and what works and what doesn’t so marketers can get started with mobile today.

Backfield will take a hands-on approach to interpreting e-mail marketing analytics and reading between the lines to maximize your e-mail marketing exposure. We have all sent an e-mail for a business, now it’s time to do it right by following examples of industry leaders and encouraging you to create new trends to help your brand’s e-mail marketing messages grow.

UPDATE: The luncheon was great and was one of the biggest crowds the AMA has had! As promised here is a link to the presentations should anyone interested in viewing.

presentation

Posted in Email Marketing, General, Mobile Marketing | No Comments »

Google Product Extensions is Fantastic! But what is it?

December 1st, 2009

Google is the expert at releasing fantastic new things. Google Product Extensions is, in our opinion, one of those great new things. Product Extensions is a new feature of AdWords  (Google’s infamous pay-per-click text ad network). When your pay-per-click ad appears in Google search, and you have a Google Merchant Account, products associated with that pay-per-click ad will appear underneath your pay-per-click ad when someone hits the [+] sign to “expand” the offer. And,  to make it even more fantastic, if the person clicks on your AdWords ad text, or a product in the expanded area, your only charged for one click, and you are not charged at all if someone hits the [+] sign to see what you have to offer but doesn’t click on your ad. Yes, that’s right, people can now window shop your products on Google, and it won’t cost you a dime. This product is just one more reason why Google always stays on top.

laptopcomputer

In the example above OfficeMax, Sears, and Sam’s Club are using the right sponsored links to highlight new laptops.

hdtv

And in this example, Sears is using the main sponsored links to sell HD televisions.

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Myrtle Beach Interactive Marketing

November 9th, 2009

When I bump into people in the Myrtle Beach area and explain that my business, OIR, offers interactive marketing services I find that sometimes people aren’t 100 percent sure as to what interactive marketing is. Since there are only a few interactive marketing agencies likes ours in Myrtle Beach I am not too surprised. So allow me to take just a minute to explain what interactive marketing is and the services that are included when someone says “we offer Myrtle Beach interactive marketing services”.

First off, lets compare interactive marketing vs. traditional marketing. Traditional marketing covers, what “traditionally” has been used in advertising for decades. This includes: print, radio, television and most methods of outdoor advertising. So if you hear an advertisement on the radio, or see a flier in the mail while in Myrtle Beach this was likely created by an traditional marketing agency.

In contrast, an interactive agency deals with items that consumers will “interact” with. Think websites, banner ads, kiosks, mobile phones. A Myrtle Beach website and any banner ads placed on it has likely been developed by an interactive agency.

So why the difference?

Some marketing agencies in Myrtle Beach might try to blur the lines between interactive and traditional marketing. Unfortunately this is never a safe move. Traditional and interactive marketing mediums are so different an individual who has spent their life producing print material understanding margins, bleeds, colors and best practices likely isn’t going to have the slightest knowledge of web, parameters and its best practices.

That is exactly where here in Myrtle Beach we’re the only true interactive marketing agencies. Our core focus and understanding is on interctive mediums, how they work, how they’re developed and how their used to give out clients the best possible results.

Think of it this way: You wouldn’t go to a mechanic in Myrtle Beach for lunch because he knows how to make a great lasagna. Just like you wouldn’t go to a restaurant to have your car worked on by the chef because he knows how to change his oil. You keep them separate to for the best possible service.

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Posted in Interactive Marketing | No Comments »

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