In response to Emma’s post: Marketing Campaign to Attract Tourists to the USA

What do you think? Will the ad make people want to visit America? Or will it be a turn off to those people who possibly cannot afford to visit and do the opposite of what the ad intended?

I think that this advertisement campaign in other countries is a great way to get people to come visit America. I definitely don’t think that it will make people do the opposite. If they can’t afford to come visit at the time, it may make them want to save up to come visit at some later time. Since the commercials show all of the beautiful places in the country, people will realize it’s a great place to come visit and stay. 

Ways to make your online marketing go viral

Online marketers dream is to have their advertising go viral. It tends to be a very difficult thing to do though. Although it is difficult to have things go viral, you can analyze content that has gone popular quickly and figure out ways to improve your marketing ideas.

1.    Be absurd. Sometimes the more absurd the better. People tend to remember and love the crazier characters.

2.    Capture emerging trends. People will be more apt to share the content if its following trends at the time.

3.    Think in terms of sound bites. Make sure its catchy.

4.    Use infographics. People love things that are visually appealing.

5.    Get influencer buy-in. Endorsements from larger companies can help make content go viral.

6.    Offer outstanding value. Go above and beyond what your competitors are doing

What other ways do you think can help a company go viral with their marketing ideas? 

Pinterest is Becoming the “Next Big Thing” in Social Media Marketing

Along with websites like Facebook, Twitter and Google+, Pinterest is becoming the next big way that companies are marketing their products and services. Here are some reasons as to why it is becoming a huge hit…

1.    How it’s being used. It works as a type of virtual store catalog. People can pin and repin pictures of your products and have them linked back to your website.

2.    Driving Sales. In the last six months, Pinterest has seen a 446 percent increase in their web traffic and the sales resulting from those users has dramatically increased as well.

Do you have a Pinterest account? Do you use it just to browse around, or do you actually buy products off of it? 

In Response to Maggie’s post: Diet Dr. Pepper, Sexist?

Do you think it was a smart move by Dr. Pepper, do you think it was intentional?

I don’t think that this promotional ad was a smart move on Dr. Pepper’s part. I think they tried to add some humor into their advertisement, but it did not come off that way at all. I don’t think that women, who usually tend to do most of the food shopping for families will buy this product just because of this advertisement. It seems to be slightly sexist in my opinion.

Would sexist advertisements stop you from buying a product you tend to normally buy?

In response to Emmett: What do you think led to Gap losing its customer base? Do you think the company will ever be as popular as it once was?

I feel like Gap has lacked in its ways of advertising the past few years. I know growing up I tended to shop at Gap a lot, but I feel like they just never have good sales or products anymore. They aren’t the same company that they used to be. Shopping at Gap used to be a big trend, but its slowly decreased. Their clothes tend to be a little overpriced for the quality of the clothes, and people are trying to save money now a days.

What ways do you think that Gap can come back and become a popular store again?

How to best use Pinterest to market your company

Recently Pinterest has become a very popular website. It has a significant opportunity to share your company’s products and ideas with an extremely large audience. Pinterest lets users “pin” images to their pinboards that they create. Users that follow them are then allowed to “repin” those images which makes content allowed to be very easily shared. These are three ways to determine if Pinterest will help you market your company.

1.    Determine whether Pinterest is a good match for your company.

2.    Avoid a hard sell.

3.    Reclaim link opportunities.

Do you have a Pinterest account? Do you use it to actually buy products or just browse the web?

5 Ways to Build a Solid Email Marketing List

Email marketing lists are an extremely powerful way of reaching out to your customers. When you have a good list, you will be able to reach out to these customers multiple times.

Here’s a list of five ways to incorporate email marketing into your website and stay in touch with your best customers.

1.    Build an opt-in form on your homepage.

2.    Include an opt-in option on you About page.

3.    Add an opt-in form to your checkout process.

4.    Integrate an opt-in function into your blog’s comments section.

5.    Consider a pop up form.

These are all good ways to get customers who are visiting your website to become part of your email list. It also gives them multiple options and ways to do so. People might be hesitant to do so right when they get on the homepage, but the more they browse the website the more likely they will fill out the form and become part of the email list.

Have you ever joined a email list from a company’s website?