The 7 Pillars of Digital Marketing Blog

Cyber Monday: An eCommerce Holiday At Last November 29, 2007 – 1:08 pm				Arman Rousta

It’s made a splash for online merchants across the virtual marketplace, but many still aren’t on board. Are you?

For the uninitiated, “Cyber Monday” takes place on the Monday after Thanksgiving. It is the internet retailer’s answer to the legendary discounts, high sales volume, and shopping frenzy of “Black Friday,” which has become as much an element of the holiday season as turkey on Thanksgiving and a tree for Christmas. Although the crowds willing to truck out at ridiculous hours of the morning to spend ridiculous amounts of money in an effort to get ridiculous savings make news every year, a significant portion of the population has no interest in battling cars, angry shoppers, and frazzled sales people for the “best deals of the year.”

For these people, who include my own mother and father, the internet community has developed Cyber Monday. Discounts offered on Cyber Monday may not be as dramatic as those offered on Black Friday, but they are significant enough to get renegade office workers, with Christmas shopping on their minds, to spend an hour or two on the first day back at work after Thanksgiving ordering gifts. Deals include 20% off select styles at jewelry site Ice.com, free shipping on toys at Walmart.com and Target.com, or discounts as deep as 30% off of GPS systems, televisions, and other electronics from retail chain Meijer’s newly built web portal.

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Posted by Arman Rousta
Posted in Affiliate Marketing, blog, Digital Media, eCommerce, Interactive Marketing, Website Design | No Comments »
Tags: black friday, cyber monday, deals, Digital Media, eCommerce, Holiday Shopping, holidays, Internet Marketing, internet retail, promotions

Promotions: Succeed Without Attracting the Nightmare Customer October 31, 2007 – 3:29 pm				Arman Rousta

Ahh promotions: classic tool in the proverbial shed of the seasoned advertiser, bastion of customer relations, and possessor of the rare talent for making customers feel simultaneously like a pampered VIP and triumphant bargain hunter. They get people in the store, on your site, or on the phone, and will usually raise both revenues and profits, provided you haven’t given away the store

But there is a dark side to this classic force in the galaxy of marketing. Falsely advertised promotions, dud codes, and hidden expiration dates too often result in the rearing of that most feared of all animals: the angry customer. This nightmare figure of your public relations department can take a few different forms.

Frankenstein: The Loud Customer

On the bright side, Frankensteins have no qualms about unleashing frustration on those around them. They do whatever it takes to tell you what’s wrong, often leaving a scattered path of battered sales people and bruised managers in their wake. These customers are the real deal hunters who purchase because they’ve shopped approximately 250,536 different offers, compared all possible competitors, read every word of fine print (with a magnifying glass if necessary), and spent all waking moments of the past two weeks strategizing for how best to take advantage of your offer. They usually succeed in getting what they want through a combination of stubbornness and threats. I’m that type of customer. When a Bed, Bath, and Beyond rebate was advertised in a local paper after the expiration date, I called customer service and demanded my check. They graciously complied, and I commend their customer service system for it.

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Posted by Arman Rousta
Posted in Affiliate Marketing, blog, Digital Media, Small Business | No Comments »

Connecting Clients to Customers through Social Media Optimization October 18, 2007 – 8:25 am				Arman Rousta

Every few years major changes take place on the internet and often times this is driven by the way the internet is used. A major shift in the use of the internet has been taking place. The shift is one of transformation from finding information through search engines and buying things through portals to one where people turn to other people for their recent in depth knowledge of an issue or experience buying a product.

The balance of power is shifting away from search engines and moving heavily towards social media companies. Many people now expect that a Search Marketing Industry Shake-up is Imminent. Google actually finds itself in a precarious position as a company attempting to protect old revenue streams resulting from search, while simultaneously moving into new social media territories that make Google Search as we know it obsolete.

How Does Social Media Marketing work?

If you had a good experience with a realtor, and a friend asks you, “Do you know a good realtor?” Odds are you might tell them about your experience and the name of the realtor. Offline this is as old as money, possibly as old as bartering, its called word of mouth. Online when a person shares their experience about a good or even a bad experience, its called social media marketing.

Maybe you have heard the funny spin on how you identify Marketing.

The That’s Marketing Analogy goes something like this:

• You go up to an attractive person at a party and say, “I’m Great in Bed!” -> Direct Marketing
• Your friend goes up to an attractive person at a party, points at you and says, that you are Great in Bed -> That’s Advertising
• You get an attractive person’s phone number and call them the next day, telling them that you are great in bed -> That’s Telemarketing
• You go up to an attractive person at a party, socialize pour them a drink, and flirt a little -> Public Relations
• You are at a party an attractive person walks up to you and says that they hear that you are great in bed -> That’s Brand Recognition

Now these can definitely get wackier than that if you want to see what a sales rep or tech support or even junk mail might be like in this analogy.

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Posted by Arman Rousta
Posted in Affiliate Marketing, blog, Blog Marketing, Email Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing, Website Analytics | 2 Comments »

Virtual EcomXpo (E-Commerce Expo) Kicks Off Tomorrow October 8, 2007 – 9:57 am				Arman Rousta

Tomorrow, is the start of the EcomXpo.  This is a virtual online trade show that takes place every six months.  Maybe your feet are weary from attending too many trade shows where you walk a concrete conference room floor for hours going booth to booth to booth picking up a bunch of junk and trinkets your kids don’t even want only to speak with actors or models that don’t know the first thing about the company they’re representing. 

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Posted by Arman Rousta
Posted in Affiliate Marketing, blog, Digital Media, Online PR, Social Media Marketing | 1 Comment »