Posts Tagged ‘Myrtle Beach’

Myrtle Beach Interactive Marketing

Monday, 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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The Rise of Mobile Marketing in Myrtle Beach

Sunday, August 30th, 2009

You really wouldn’t think of Myrtle Beach as anything more than a destination for beach going families and the occasional rowdy golfer. But Myrtle Beach is about to become popular for another reason. Mobile Marketing. Specifically SMS text based messaging.

For those of you new to the term SMS, or Short Messaging Service, its simply nothing more than a protocol for phones to communicate to the outside world strictly through text based messages.  The messages are limited to 160 characters each. What makes SMS so attractive as a marketing tool is that it allows businesses owners and advertisers to communicate with potential customers in a personal and non-intrusive manner. Just like email marketing (unless you’re buying lists and spamming people) SMS subscribers choose to join your list by opting-in. And when they’re tired of hearing your message, they simply opt out and move along. This leaves the customers in control and this control encourages to join new campaigns, knowing they can turn on and off the flow of messages as their needs change.

So how does Myrtle Beach fit into all of this? The key to a successful SMS campaign is targeting your subscribers at just the right moment when they’re possibly thinking about making a purchase. Wherever your customers might be while here on vacation, you can instantly send them an alert informing them of promotions, offering them a discount or informing them on a new product. Depending on the offer, you can literally drive traffic into your location within a matter of hours.  Here are a few examples of Myrtle Beach businesses can take advantage of mobile SMS marketing.

  • Restaurants/Bars: Send an alert to your subscribers later afternoon letting them know about happy hour & dinner specials. Offer a free appetizer or drink and your conversion will be through the roof.
  • Golf Courses: Send SMS reminding groups of their tee-times, inform them of weather changes. Let them text in their order before making the turn.
  • Hotels: Since you know your customers are on property, send them alerts that offer promotions to your spa, or the in house restaurant.
  • Entertainment: Remind your patrons that the show starts in 30 minutes, encourage them to visit the gift shop after the show by sending them a text message 10 minute before the end of the show.

With SMS Marketing being so instantaneous it makes perfect sense for a vacation town like Myrtle Beach to take note and start using this highly effective method of advertising. You’re already starting to see a few businesses in the area include the messages “text now to..” and some random number. Come spring time, your business might be left in the dust if you don’t get on board soon.

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