Here is just another very cool example of how an Ontario golf course is using social media to create some free press, offer value to potential customers, and maybe just maybe close some business. (there is no maybe here – they are driving in customers to their cash register).

It’s not just small businesses that are trying to wrap their heads around the convergence of offline and online marketing. Even large publicly traded corporations don’t fully understand it yet.

I was driving behind a city bus the other day that had a billboard ad on the back of it for Husky Energy.  The ad said “Win Fuel For Life”. My first thought was that the offer must be like a lottery where they consider life 20 years. So I immediately started looking for the asterisk and fine print, but I couldn’t find it. My next thought was to look for the call-t0-action. Surely I’d be able to follow the call-to-action and then read about the promotion. The only problem was there was no call-to-action. My next thought was to look for the URL of the companies website, but once again no luck.

I must have scanned the ad four or five times trying to find a call-to-action or the companies URL. I started to think I wasn’t seeing straight. A company of this magnitude didn’t even put their website address on a public billboard ad.

This just seems like a waste of money. A potentially great promo with poor execution. Just think of the lost dollars. Because there was no call-to-action, there is no way for them to track who has seen this ad and who has converted from it. Had there been a call-to-action and had I participated in it, they would now have my name and email address, which I gave to them with my permission, which means they could market to me down the road potentially selling me on something else.

Come on guys, closing the loop on your offline marketing isn’t rocket science. But if you need a hand, that’s whey were here. Have you seen any poorly executed offline marketing lately. Chime in and let us know your thoughts.

We came across a great website today called paywithatweet.com Here is the summary from their site:

In today’s world the value of people talking about your product is sometimes higher than the money you would get for it. ‘Pay with a Tweet’ is the first social payment system, where people pay with the value of their social network.

It’s simple, every time somebody pays with a tweet, he or she tells all their friends about the product. Boom.

It seems like a great concept. We haven’t tried it out yet, but we’re planning on it. We’ll let you know how it goes. Better yet, give it a try yourself. If you’ve all ready tried it let us know your thoughts.

Let’s take an example of a small company that has a marketing budget of let’s say $5000 to $10,000. They are planning to do direct mail marketing, advertisements in trade journals, and online marketing (pay-per-click, e-newsletters, etc). How much of the marketing budget should I allocate for online marketing?

The thing about online marketing that is very cool is… it is becoming the most measurable. And, results are immediate – you can change on the fly and can make or break $1000s at the end of the day. That’s one downside of one-time ads, once they’re out, it’s a game of wait and see.

You can research and validate your marketplace very easily – just to see if it makes sense even to spend money for online advertising. You can test how well PPC, CPA, etc. works for you with a very short test, $100-$200.

There are resources like google adwords, yahoo,search marketing, Microsoft adcenter (bing), etc.. You can create your most compelling ad copy and target popular keywords in your space. Implement the conversion tracking code provided by Google / Yahoo. You’ll be able to determine the ROI within a short time, and short spend.

It is also great for determining COST PER LEAD.  We love to know how much a lead costs us per marketing campaign/promotion.  The lower we can get the cost the better we can determine the traffic source

Ever wonder what the difference between Traditional Marketing and Modern Marketing?

Marketing in a nutshell is creating awareness and demand for products/services.   The Traditional marketing in a quick overview was a manufacturer with a product or service – a bunch of middleman including traditional advertising (print, radio, tv) and customers. Roughly 65% of all the money in the product mark up was spent within all those middlemen.

Modern marketing has a manufacturer and consumers.  There is the direct to consumer route.  The middlemen are still there but have been simplified and have undergone lots of changes.  Publicity through modern communication tools (print, tv, radio, cell mobile, internet) are providing the end consumers convenience and ease of getting information about a product or service.  The mark up costs to consumer has decreased because of the consumer’s ease of getting access to the product without all the middlemen.