So our own branding slogan is as the new banner says. While it sounds cool (right folks?), what does it mean really and how does it make us differ from most of the other companies out there? I thought I’d explain it in a little more detail, and hopefully show everyone what we’re about. There are a million in one ways to market your business online, just not all of them are perhaps the most suitable route. We do our best to send companies in the right direction, and this of course requires more than just a handful of good links.
While there are thousands of SEO consultants, companies and guru’s out there, we aim to always offer something unique to the client. The marketing game is always changing, and a company that forecasts, plans and adapts to those changes will never have to worry about a “dreaded” Google algorithm update. With that being said, our company makes sure every client is dead aware of not focusing on free Google traffic as their sole source of business. If you’re in this boat now, and you’re still sleeping sound at night, then I’m here to shake off that thought process.
Our companies process for each client is highly customised and fine tuned for your market in depth. Our team is here to help build amazing content, sniff out those diamond in the rough links and help you conduct social media like a BOSS. We’re a boutique marketing firm that aims to been felt as an extension of your brand! This philosophy has kept the majority of our client base with us for years, and not just a pump and dump process you’ll get with a lot of other agencies.
Our firm is also aimed for the brands that are in a competitive landscape. We prefer to work with clients that need more than just one month of consulting because there’s no miracle cure for bad rankings. So if you’re looking for a team that can do it all, don’t hesitate to get in touch. We provide extremely in depth proposals at no charge. All our clients, regardless of budget also get 24/7/365 direct contact support from our team, and we’ll never charge for that.
Who isn’t a fan of the Dos Equis Man? The beer brand has done an excellent job with their marketing and branding, and to be considered a meme just solidifies your efforts. I’ll get a Dos Equis whenever I’m at a restaurant, and hey, it even isn’t that good of a beer. I always get a kick out of the meme’s created, so I thought we might as well make our own for the sake of a lazy Canada Day. I’m the only one in office today so I feel the need to start slacking as it’s 3 PM.
The latest and great Nexus S 4G phone is luckily dropping in the States, but not here in Canada. We however have mostly American channels, so that means I get to catch your commercials. I was back home visiting with the parents in Vancouver when I caught this commercial in between a show, and it was good enough to get on here. Cats are huge on the interwebz, this is no secret and it was an excellent pairing for their latest marketing endeavor.
I’m a huge fan of augmented reality and I’m really excited with the pace the technology is advancing. I recently came across the latest and greatest app called Daqri which isn’t quite ready for the public. I can see how augmented reality is going to be the next big thing for many industries, so don’t miss out on this business opportunity. The details are little vague for Daqri so far but you can read more about how it works on their blog and follow them on twitter after checking out this demo video.
I was really impressed with the work Hyundai did with their latest car when it came to branding, marketing and just the overall product in general. This definitely will be the year that more and more mobile app’s for your car will be driven out, so let’s take a look at the future that’s already here. Besides having your entire Hyundai car manual at your finger tips, this iPad app has a whole slough of features to assist you in your travels.
This app, as I mentioned, has the manual with every bit of help and information and then some. Perhaps the second most hand features is that it can locate the nearest Hyundai dealer and schedule a service session! The marketing team behind Hyundai also made sure you can browse other vehicles from their line up..very smart! Now enough of my blabbing and finally let’s look at the app.
There are a few iPad games for pets, but Friskies has taken the production up a notch with three free cat games released today on gamesforcats.com. The games were built with HTML5, enabling your cat to attack your iPad or any Android device. The Friskies scientists claim that their cats haven’t scratched the glass of an iPad, but could damage a plastic cover. The boss’s cat here is a heavyweight in the ring (pictured here), so I’m still sceptical on letting him take a swing at it. So I figured I’d test it out first before I mention it to second in command. The three games are Cat Fishing, Tasty Treasures and Party Mix-Up. All are pretty addicting from my end, the cat equivalent of Nintendo’s classic Duck Hunt, letting the cat swipe the targets instead shooting with a light gun. Now that I think of it, they should remake Duck Hunt for cats, catching the nostalgia market for cats that grew up in the 80s on 8-bit NES. Check out the video below:
I did a little Googling on it and found the game developer, Mondo Studios, which has already released two games for Friskies called Wonderland Quest and Wonderland Quest II. Both designed for humans, the popularity of the first demanding a sequel. I gave the sequel a go, which followed the original by letting you uncover cat treats in a fantasy setting, which was oddly hypnotic. The weirdest part is the developer’s press release, which sites a research study, funded by Friskies, which discovered these key findings:
Wonderland Quest positively influenced the purchase intent of Friskies dry cat food among buyers and non‐buyers of Friskies
Among Friskies buyers, the game had a positive impact on brand loyalty and influenced the purchase intent of specific varieties of Friskies cat foods
Among most groups the game also enhanced the Friskies brand perceptions of taste, variety and mealtime experience
So what I gather is they reverse-engineered the new games for cats from their success with cat food-based games for humans. This leads me to the only conclusion that the Friskies scientists are, in fact, cats.
Luxury hotels and resorts seem to be a little slow and pokey to embrace social, and sometimes it’s hard to get them in a groove as a client. I wanted to showcase a luxury resort we are not affiliate with, and hopefully inspire your team to get caught up. What I liked about the Miramonte, besides its location and amenities, was it’s social media efforts on a plethora of social platforms. I also wanted to get across that not everything needs to be viral or link bait, but just solid content that gets your message across. Hopefully the folks who run the Miramonte don’t mind me using them as an example, but I couldn’t resist as they’re doing a damn fine job.
When you’re a luxury resort of sorts, you’re already a sought after experience that hopefully alone is enough to get a viral effect going. Strutting your stuff across a few of the top social media platforms should be a kick start to an easy social marketing campaign. Your pictures, HD video, deals and celebrity visits are all bases you should have covered. The Miramonte has a great thing going on with their social media efforts, and while it may not be of rock star status yet, they’re heading down the right path. Let’s take a look at just some of the efforts that are driving them businesses through social interaction.
The Blog:
Of course a good blog is in order and the Miramonte is doing an ok job on their blog. While I think a good dosing of images and video could be added to make it more vibrant, they’re getting in solid content for the search spiders. It seems their Facebook Page is getting all the pictures, videos and social interaction and that’s a trend we’ll see more of down the road. We all know more people spend their time on Facebook than any other site, so this may be a sign of the times for blogs (in certain industries).
What they do different than almost all other resorts we’ve seen or worked on is offer people to guest blog. This was a nifty feature to have found and I think it’s a brilliant step to better selling their service. Just imagine your blog getting free great content from the people who pay to stay…just awesome!
Youtube:
Just about any luxury resort is worthy of video marketing mainly because each place is usually stunning. The Miramonte has a crazy nice location just two hours outside of LA, and they took advantage of this with a great mini video. You’ll see below that it’s nothing crazy, just shows off what they’re all about and even some summer deals. This kind of video marketing should lead to a lot of sales if they keep it up! This one was done by Point 7 West.
Twitter:
A lot of people struggle with Twitter, especially if they don’t have a dedicated marketing team. I can see how people don’t get involved, but in the hotel world that can be a huge mistake. The more social you can be the better off your business will be as well. The folks at the Miramonte have definitely been active here and what I liked especially about their Twitter stream was the direct interaction. Most companies just stick to tweeting their latest blog post or a deal, both of which there is nothing wrong with, just don’t make this your bread and Twitter butter.
Twitter is a great way to bridge the gap with your customers, both potential and past. It’s also a great way to get people to return by constantly being in their brain. We’ve even had a lot of success by firing off special deals and coupons to individual Twitter users…and it bloody works!
Facebook:
I really really liked what they’re doing with their Facebook Page. It goes beyond the normal wall posts and they seem to be really embracing a lot of features. You’ll see from my amazing Photoshop skills on all the features they’re taking advantage of(such as Reviews, Book a room, Youtube, Photos, Blog, Active Wall). This is all really good stuff and this is an area I want our hotel clients to take note of, as well all you hoteliers reading this post.
Since I’ve never been in contact with them I have no idea how that Book A Room feature is working for them from the Facebook Page. I can safely say that not including this feature will leave you at a loss, even if you only make one sale a month. From what we’ve seen on our end with other clients, the direct social contact through Facebook leads to a way higher conversion rate.
Foursquare:
Last but not least on the list to mention is Foursquare, and I honestly didn’t expect to see the Miramonte so active on here. Bravo! Their hip clients are checking in at a very good rate here and that’s all you can really hope for. If I were to offer any advice here it would be to jump on the mayor deal marketing opportunity. Besides that you can get a link from your venue page so why not utilize that and add a little more diversity to that link profile?
Foursquare doesn’t take much effort and if your mayor deal is attractive enough, you can pretty much set it and forget it. Make sure you befriend people who check in as well which goes to show you’re a company with real people behind it, and that you actually care.
Well I hope this inspires, helps and encourages a lot of you folks out there. As always, I’d love to hear comments, suggestions and tips regarding anything talked about here. If anyone from Miramonte wants to pipe in then we’d be more than thrilled! For the rest of you folks who are near LA and need a pampering, then check out their spring specials and deals.
I’m a sucker for good/bad/rare ads and usually you’ll find Heineken in the mix. Obviously with my recent post on their latest advertising wonder, I just had to drum up one more for you folks this week. This one features Jennifer Aniston and while nothing too special, she provides enough star power to build enough brand buzz for the delicious beer company. I promise this will be the last Heineken commercial for a while!
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Negative SEO Attack?
Check out the anatomy of a "negative SEO" attack on our own site in our latest post. There's too much worry about these attacks happening, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. Come read what I think and just what to do if anything like this happens to your brand.
