Thursday, January 30, 2014

Auto Parts Retailer's Mobile Response Kills Print Ads

The power of mobile advertising was impressively demonstrated recently by Advance Auto Parts, a retailer previously relying on print ads and TV to drive online and in-store sales, reported Business Insider. Advance Auto Parts ran a promotion simultaneously in print and online, offering digital coupons through RetailMeNot. The auto parts retailer reaped a redemption rate for mobile coupon ads of 30%, compared to less than 1% for the print ads. "While they reached less people with [the mobile ads], the [return on investment] for them was great and the ability to target for them was great," Jag Bath, senior vice president of product at RetailMeNot, told Business Insider. The mobile coupon success for a traditional brand also shows the effectiveness of mobile beyond the Internet-savvy younger audience, Bath added. "It isn't just about millennials," he asserted. "Mobile offers can drive foot traffic for more traditional, established brands like Advance Auto Parts." For the story, see http://www.businessinsider.com/mobile-coupons-are-killing-print-advertising-2013-11

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

When's Best Time to Blog Post? Let Google Tell You

Smart blogging can boost your marketing impact, but are you smart about it? Do you know the best times to post in order to maximize your blog traffic reach? Hubspot recently came to the rescue with an article explaining how to create a custom Google Analytics report to answer the timing question. The article provides a simple 1-2-3 step guide to set up a report for your blog url. The report will have two tabs: "Day of Week" and "Time of Day." The "Day of Week" tab is sorted from highest to lowest traffic by day for the selected time period, while the "Time of Day" tab is sorted from the busiest to the least busy hour of the day. The report may show you that Friday your busiest day, followed by Tuesday, and that 4 p.m., closely followed by 11 a.m. are busiest hours, for example. So you can use that guidance to post when you will tap into your peak traffic. Of course, none of that tells you what post content will make your audience respond. For social media, timing is important but hardly everything! To learn how to set-up your own blog traffic report, go to http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/custom-google-analytics-for-blog-ht