Thursday, November 09, 2006

Useit.com

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/video.html

Talking-Head Video is Boring Online

This article from Useit.com discusses the differences between watching television and watching video clips online. By use of eyetracking data, researchers were able to show that people watching video clips online were easily distracted. The research also shows that when being viewed online, video clips need to be kept short.
This article gave us some guidelines when creating online video:
  • avoid using video if the content doesn't take advantage of the medium's dynamic nature
  • keep it short
  • keep distracting elements out of the frame

I aggree with the author of this article. As a web-user, I find myself having a short attention span when it comes to video clips. I need things to get right to the point, if not, I need to move on and find something that will. Hopefully, video clip creators will find out about this idea and realize that surfing the web for videos is not the same as channel surfing while watching television.

posted by NikkiD~CSULB @ 1:34 PM 3 comments

Clickz.com

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623461

Web Analytics Can Track Offline Campaigns, Too

The article that I have chosen from Clickz.com discussed a service that Google offers which is called Google Analytics. The article features New York-based retailer BuiltNY and how this service was helpful to them. BuiltNY began a print campaign is Dwell's September issue featuring a unique URL used only for that print campaign. Through Google Analytics, BuiltNY was able to track the amount of traffic that was created through their print ad using the unique URL verses a different URL that was used in other ads. In using this they are able to analyze if a campaign is working or not through actual data. BuiltNY is also using Google Analytics to "optimize future campaigns, such as determining the best day and time to send out e-mail communications to existing customers."

This feature offered by Google is a great tool. It can be hard for a small business to compete with large companies when the larger companies have more money to dedicate to their campaigns. With Google Analytics, small businesses are able to spend their money, and time, wiser and locate their target customer.

I chose this article because it caught my eye by using a New York-based retailer. As I read on, I realized that I learned something that could be useful to me in the future because I hope to be a small business owner someday.

posted by NikkiD~CSULB @ 1:04 PM 3 comments

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Last week we had two guest speakers, Professor Alpern and Professor Hartuv. They seemed to have a lot of information on marketing but, the area that we focused on was Direct Marketing. Something that I thought was very interesting was the statistic that direct mail has an average success rate of 1.8%. That seems very low for the amount of "junk mail" that I receive on a daily basis! Another topic that they focused on was the 4 P's of marketing. They let us know that there are actually 7 P's of marketing. Lastly, a topic that the whole class got involved in was the topic of "the list." I didn't realize that there are major companies that it is their job to compile lists of target market. The concept definately makes sense but I just didn't ever think about it.

posted by NikkiD~CSULB @ 2:58 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Assignment #2

1. The shoes that I chose were the Vans Classic Slip-On™ Core Classics.
2. From reading the reviews I found out that the shoes were comfortable with a moderate arch support, plus, they are no hassle because they don’t have laces. Also, the shoes come in a variety of sizes (kids, adults, men’s, and women’s).
3. Reading the reviews would make me more likely to buy the shoes. I was actually interested in these shoes and I am going to go get a pair. I was wondering how comfortable the shoes would be so, from reading the reviews and seeing the comfort rating I am going to get a pair.
4. The advantages to reading the reviews are that consumers can find out the good and the bad that the sales people might not tell you. Also, you get a variety of consumers, like, people from different demographics and different geographic locations.
5. There may be negative reviews but, there are also recommendations that customers give as well. So, someone who is shopping for shoes might be likely to buy an additional pair based upon a recommendation.
6. I would not recommend a site like kencole.com to offer reviews. I think that negative reviews would hurt the business overall more that a multi-brand site. If someone has a negative review on a site like zappos.com the consumer has other brand choices but, if someone has a negative review on kencole.com then it reflects poorly on the brand in whole leaving the consumer with no choice but to look elsewhere.
7. I do look at recommendations on amazon.com when I am looking for books. If it is a book that I might be interested in buying I look to see if other people liked if, if it was easy to read, and if they recommend any other books by the same author. I also look to see if that person recommends any other book that I have already read to see if our taste in books is similar.
8. I think sites should post consumer reviews. It is better to have a happy customer rather than a disappointed one.

posted by NikkiD~CSULB @ 10:19 PM 0 comments

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Assignment #1

The potential business uses of blogs for organizations and marketers really seems endless! Companies can easily get casual feedback about their products from customers and/or potential customers without having to stage focus groups which can get costly. Also, they can get early feedback on new products and make sales forecasts or changes before production.
I don't think that blogs need to look and feel like traditional marketing and advertising because it is not traditional. I think that if there is marketing and advertising that is in blogs it should be disguised because people are not blogging to see "commercials" but, there should be an entertainment value to get attention.
Blogs are definitely not a fad. I think people like the idea of being heard and this is an easy way to do it. Blogs should have an impact on marketing because marketers need to keep up with trends.
I think that it would be interesting to see the marketing department start a blog because it could be a good way for people with a common interest to network. There is a possibility that people are busy and don't have time to join the AMA club but still need a chance to network and here about what is going on out there. Also, it could be a way for the school to here about improvements that may need to be made. It could be a sort of "suggestion box."

posted by NikkiD~CSULB @ 6:01 PM 0 comments