Loading

Grow Smart Business


teaserInfographic
Close

Search Articles

Most liked posts



Recent Articles

Popular Tags

accounting and taxes blogging blogs Branding Business Development business travel Capital Access Compliance Customer Service ecommerce Email marketing entrepreneur entrepreneurship Facebook Generational Marketing GrowSmartBiz Conference Grow Smart Business lead generation LinkedIn Marketing michael dougherty mobile marketing networking online marketing Raising Capital Resources retail sales sales process SBSI Search Marketing seo small business small business accounting small business hiring small business loans small business marketing small business resources small business technology Small Business Trends social media Technology Twitter Web Design Workforce

Categories


Video and Mobile Marketing: Just-Released Stats and What They Mean for Your Business

August 9th, 2011 ::
This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series Inbound Marketing

People using mobile phonesIn the first of this two-part series, I shared data on inbound marketing and online advertising and how it related to your small business – all based on great marketing statistics in the just published “The Marketing Data Box.”  In this, the second post, we are looking at video marketing and advertising.

If you have thought about producing and sharing videos online as part of your marketing strategy, consider that Americans watch 14 hours of online video each week.  That translates to an average of 179 million Americans watching video each month.

Based on those numbers, it is pretty safe to say that video marketing is a good idea due to its high level of engagement.  It probably comes as no surprise that YouTube is the dominant channel (77% of market share), trailed way behind by Hulu (6%) and Bing (4%).

It is also worthwhile to consider advertising using online video ads, as they reach 45% of the U.S. population an average of 32 times per month.  Obviously, you need to make sure your target market is in the demographic mix of any online video channel before committing.

If they are using Hulu, you might want to advertise there, as that video channel generated the highest number of video ad impressions at nearly 1.1 billion.

What about mobile?  We are all very reliant on our smartphones to do just about anything–well, at least the 31% of us who have a smart phone.  Nielsen found that Americans spend 38.5% of their smartphone usage time on email.  Social networking is a distant second (10.7%), which, quite honestly, surprised me, but only because so many people I know update Facebook constantly while on the go.

If you want to reach smartphone users, think about finding a mobile game developer. Some 44% of US mobile phone users have played a mobile game at least once; 33% of respondents have played a game in the past month; and nearly a quarter (24.6%) have played in the past week, making them  “avid mobile phone gamers.”

“The Marketing Data Box” is a quarterly series published by Watershed Publishing’s Data Insights, based on HubSpot’s data and using graphics supplied by MarketingCharts.com. 

Image by Flickr user garryknight (Creative Commons)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Marketing | 1 Comment »

Inbound Marketing and Online Advertising: Just-Released Stats and What They Mean for Your Business

August 5th, 2011 ::
This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series Inbound Marketing

MoneyI recently downloaded the just published “The Marketing Data Box,” and I found the information super useful for decisions related to online marketing.  In this, the first of a two-part series, we’ll look at data on inbound marketing and online advertising; in the second, we’ll look at video marketing and mobile advertising.

So, where should you be spending your marketing dollars?  Let’s begin by looking at the big picture.  When it comes to marketing online, B2B and B2C businesses use:

  • Websites: 88%
  • Email: 84%
  • Social media: 66%
  • Paid search: 50%
  • Banner ads: 41%

If you are still relying on traditional marketing channels like direct mail and print ads because you think that online marketing is too costly, consider these numbers:

In 2011, the average cost per lead for outbound marketing was $373, while inbound was $143.

The least expensive inbound channels are blogs, social media and SEO, so if you are using those, you are likely spending your time and money well.

The most expensive?  Paid search (PPC).  (The most expensive source of leads overall, by the way, is trade shows.)

Don’t count out paid search, though, because it is still less expensive than traditional marketing or advertising.   If you want to try it, use these numbers to help you decide where to spend your online ad dollars:

Google’s Ad Network reaches 93.1% of Americans online, followed by Yahoo Network Plus with an 85.5% reach, AOL Advertising with 85% and Yahoo Sites with 84.5%.  Facebook.com crossed into the top 10 for the first time in January 2011 with a 72.3% reach.

So if you had to choose between advertising on Google and advertising on Facebook, you’ll need to know the demographics of your target market.

According to Gallup, men (42%) are about as likely as women (45%) to have a Facebook page. However, men (63%) are 12.5% more likely than women (56%) to say they visit Google in a given week. Overall, 40% more U.S. adults say they use Google in a typical week (60%) than have a Facebook page (43%).

“The Marketing Data Box” is a quarterly series published by Watershed Publishing’s Data Insights, based on HubSpot’s data and using graphics supplied by MarketingCharts.com. 

Image by Flickr user epSos.de (Creative Commons)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Marketing | 1 Comment »