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	<title>RMM Online Advertising Blog</title>
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		<title>Data Driven Marketing</title>
		<link>http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/2010/08/data-driven-marketing/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=data-driven-marketing</link>
		<comments>http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/2010/08/data-driven-marketing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:05:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[advertising]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[comparison]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online marketing]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/?p=341</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Over the past couple of months I have spent quite a bit of time researching analytics and its role in increasing website performance. I help clients with search engine optimization, so I work with traffic data on a daily basis. There&#8217;s an almost intuitive understanding that what gets measured gets managed, so how far can [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Over the past couple of months I have spent quite a bit of time researching analytics and its role in increasing website performance. I help clients with search engine optimization, so I work with traffic data on a daily basis. There&#8217;s an almost intuitive understanding that what gets measured gets managed, so how far can we take this when talking about impacting a company&#8217;s bottom line through web traffic? I am amazed at the wealth of knowledge available to the savvy marketer. I’ll outline some tools and strategies that can help inform your marketing strategy.</p>
<p><strong>Web Analytics</strong><br />
Any effort begins with a web analytics package. This should be a no-brainer. If you have a website you need to know how much traffic you’re getting and where it’s coming from. Are search engines sending you traffic? Are the blog posts that you’re writing generating any traffic for you? Even the simplest analytics packages can provide this data for you. There are dozens of choices so initially I’d say don’t get too bogged down in this feature vs. that, just start collecting data. You can switch later if something becomes important.</p>
<p>Here’s a handful of options, in no particular order.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.google.com/analytics/">Google Analytics</a> – probably the most popular. It’s free and feature loaded. 95% of sites on the web will never need more than this. The only drawback is that the data isn’t instant, today’s traffic shows up in tomorrow’s numbers.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.woopra.com/">Woopra</a> – a very good choice, feature rich tool with live data (see today’s data right now), campaign and conversion tracking, and more. Pricing is reasonable and is based on the number of pageviews a site recieves, but there is a free version which should be sufficient for most small sites.</li>
<li><a href="http://piwik.org/">Piwik</a> – this is another free tool, and bills itself as an open source alternative to Google Analytics. It has all of the features of the most robust tools, with the added benefit that all of the data is entirely yours because it runs on your own webserver.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.kissmetrics.com/">KISSmetrics</a> – this is a newly available tool, and has an interesting twist on other options. They track people, not visits. This likely makes them a great choice for those new to web analytics. Pricing starts at $149 per month.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.omniture.com/en/products/online_analytics/sitecatalyst">SiteCatalyst</a> – this has traditionally been the choice of larger sites that require advanced reporting. There is no free version, but the data is customizable and real time.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Taking it a Step Further</strong> &#8211; As soon as you begin working with web analytics, you’ll probably start to have questions about which visitors are the most valuable. This is where things begin to get interesting. Suppose you’re running two campaigns, an AdWords campaign and a web banner campaign, which of them is generating the most business for you? Which of them generates repeat visits or the most pageviews? Any of the packages listed above can provide this information for you. For more information try reading Avinash Kaushik’s <a href="http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/">web analytics blog</a> or the <a href="http://www.seomoz.org/blog/category/10">SEOmoz blog</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Click Heatmaps</strong><br />
Once your site has some traffic to work with, you’ll want to identify what on your site is working for you, and what isn’t. Does the site’s navigation structure do a good job of drawing people further into the site? Does one section of the site continually underperform in relation to the others? Web analytics can only take you so far, now you need tools to evaluate how effective your site’s layout is. Heatmaps to the rescue.</p>
<p>A heatmap is a tool that shows you where visitors are clicking on your site. While that sounds pretty simple, the data is VERY revealing. Here are the tools to provide this data.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.clickdensity.com/">Clickdensity</a> – very affordable tool with nice data presentation. And, they include a hover map, which can give you information about which content your visitors are reading.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.clicktale.com/">ClickTale</a> – this tool has some nice features over the others, in the way of reporting. The heatmaps can be displayed a couple of different ways, data sets can be filtered, and they also provide information on form conversions. They also provide complete click paths and hover maps. This is the most expensive tool in the list, but you get the most data.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.crazyegg.com/">CrazyEgg</a> – fantastic tool, beautiful interface, and quite affordable as well.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.labsmedia.com/clickheat/index.html">ClickHeat</a> – this tool is different than the others. It’s an open source package that you install yourself. It’s not as feature rich as the others here, but its free which is what you may be looking for. This will be sufficient for most users, but advanced skills will be needed for installation &amp; setup.</li>
</ul>
<p>One quick note, anyone familiar with Google Analytics will know that there’s a site overlay that shows you where people are clicking. This is not the same thing, and if you rely on this you’ll be missing data. The site overlay tool only shows the LINKS that people are clicking on. If they click on an image hoping to leave the page, and it isn’t a link, you’ll never know that you’re misleading your visitors with that image. Unless, of course, you’re using a real heatmap tool such as the ones listed above.</p>
<p>If your site is having trouble with converting the traffic that it receives, give one of these tools a try and find out where your visitors are getting stuck. It’s simpler than it sounds, and the imagery is both fun and informative.</p>
<p><strong>Taking it a step further</strong> &#8211; Hover maps will tell you where your visitors are looking (assuming that the eyes follow the mouse, which is a fair approximation in most cases). This will tell you which content on your site is getting the most attention.</p>
<p><strong>A/B Testing</strong><br />
Once you know which parts of your site are drawing the most attention, you’re going to want to make changes to the other areas to increase conversions. Don’t just wing it, test everything and find out what works the best! A/B testing is the process of trying two versions of one piece of content (text, button, image, etc) to find out which works best. Most of the time you will be testing a call to action, but the tool isn’t limited to this.</p>
<p>Here are the tools available.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.google.com/websiteoptimizer">Google Website Optimizer</a> – this is the most popular tool. It’s likely the most well documented and it’s free. It’s also capable of A/B tests or multivariable testing.</li>
<li><a href="http://wiki.github.com/gregdingle/genetify/">Genetify</a> – this tool is a free, light weight script that you install on the pages that you’ll be testing. It provides all of the information needed to determine what’s working and what isn’t, but there aren’t pretty graphs or charts on the reports.</li>
<li><a href="http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/">Visual Website Optimizer</a> – this is a fee based service for website optimization that’s loaded with features. It is capable of handling multivariable testing, and it even includes heatmaps. This service also includes real time reporting. The pricing is reasonable and they’re loaded with features.</li>
</ul>
<p>A/B testing is real work. It takes time to determine what to test and create multiple versions of the same content. It’s time well spent though. The lessons learned here produce real results, because you’re actively involved in improving your conversion rates. Every major website that you see today does this, whether it’s to increase sales or draw more user comments.</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind as you’re testing the attributes of your site is that it takes time to determine the results. Without getting too technical, statistics comes into play, so the smaller the data set you’re working with, the less accurate the results will be.</p>
<p><strong>Take it a step further</strong> &#8211; You really should be A/B testing everything; website content, calls to action, conversion funnels, imagery, navigation structure… everything. This is the tool that will make your website and all of your marketing materials a well tuned machine for bringing in new business. Once you’re comfortable that your website is doing everything it can, A/B test banner creative, AdWords messaging, landing pages, email marketing, etc. Obviously the tools listed above can’t help with anything outside of your website, but don’t let that stop you. Once you have the data from the tests, plug it in to <a href="http://www.splittestcalculator.com/">Split Test Calculator</a> and it’ll tell you which is the better, as well as how confident it is in its answer.</p>
<p>If A/B testing is a new thing for you, there are a couple of resources which will help you through the process. There’s an <a href="http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/06/24/the-ultimate-guide-to-a-b-testing/">Ultimate Guide to A/B Testing</a> at Smashing Magazine which is quite good. <a href="http://whichtestwon.com/">Which Test Won</a> &amp; <a href="http://www.abtests.com/">ABtests.com</a> both show the results from tests, which is pretty informative.</p>
<p>By now you can tell that when you pay attention to the details, there is plenty that you can do to bring in business through your website. The primary benefit of these strategies is that they’re all quantitative. If you find something that works, you’ll know it, and vice versa. As you apply these methods, they can inform your entire marketing effort. If you know of other tools, or other strategies give a shoutout in the comments.</p>
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		<title>Facebook Won&#8217;t Kill Search</title>
		<link>http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/2010/07/facebook-wont-kill-search/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=facebook-wont-kill-search</link>
		<comments>http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/2010/07/facebook-wont-kill-search/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 22 Jul 2010 23:40:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brian</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[commentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[industry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[search]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/?p=332</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Yesterday Facebook announced that they now have 500 million active users.  That&#8217;s pretty impressive for a company that started in 2004 as an exclusive network only open to certain schools. Facebook has come a long way though; it certainly isn&#8217;t the same Facebook I fell hard for in my freshman dorm at University of Arkansas. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Yesterday <a href="http://www.facebook.com/">Facebook</a> announced that they now have <a href="http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=409753352130">500 million active users</a>.  That&#8217;s pretty impressive for a company that started in 2004 as an exclusive network only open to certain schools. Facebook has come a long way though; it certainly isn&#8217;t the same Facebook I fell hard for in my freshman dorm at <a href="http://www.uark.edu/">University of Arkansas</a>. But what do 500 million users mean for Facebook &#8211; besides revenue and influence? Many people are speculating that this could change the future of Search. I personally don&#8217;t see that happening. Here&#8217;s why.</p>
<p>This week marked another interesting milestone for Facebook. For the first time, they were included in the <a href="http://mashable.com/2010/07/20/facebook-survey/">2010 American Customer Survey Index E-Business Report</a>. Facebook scored 64 out of 100. The reasons for this score, according to ForeSee Results CEO Larry Freed, are &#8220;privacy concerns, frequent changes to the website, and commercialization and advertising.&#8221;  To be fair to Facebook, I think that a lot of these concerns are unwarranted. Facebook is a business, so commercialization and advertising are inevitable. As Facebook grows, so are changes to the website. Truthfully, today&#8217;s Facebook is a much better format than it was in 2004, especially considering how much more content is on each profile, though every change to the user interface rallies thousands of users rejecting the changes.  I think the problem most people have boils down to the fact that Facebook today isn&#8217;t Facebook circa 2004, and for a lot of people, not the Facebook they signed up for initially.</p>
<p>When I signed up, I was able to post anything I wanted for my friends old and new to see, but most importantly, I could do so (seemingly) without consequence. Great hook for college kids, right? Then, employers started checking Facebook profiles: strike 1. Facebook later became open to high school students: BIG strike two, and in my opinion, the first time Facebook did something &#8220;uncool&#8221;. Eventually, Facebook became open to anybody and everybody, including mothers and grandmothers everywhere: strike 3; I&#8217;m out. But not really &#8211; I can&#8217;t leave Facebook. Professionally and socially, Facebook provides a service I can&#8217;t find anywhere else online, so I&#8217;m stuck with a measly profile and a handful of appropriate pictures.  Facebook has become a chore, not enjoyment.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll admit that I&#8217;m skeptical of Facebook&#8217;s third-party applications (and privacy settings and open graph and Facebook for websites and&#8230;), so I&#8217;m not getting the full Facebook experience. But like I said earlier, that&#8217;s not the Facebook I signed up for. A lot of my peers share this sentiment and that score of 64 shows that it&#8217;s likely more than just my peers.  But, since there isn&#8217;t an alternative, we stay, unhappily, on Facebook. Scott Stratten of UnMarketing just wrote a great post about <a href="http://www.un-marketing.com/blog/2010/07/21/why-i-changed-my-coffee-religion/">customer loyalty</a> and how a company shouldn&#8217;t ignore loyal customers. Facebook has 500 million (unwillingly) loyal customers.  I think if a worthy alternative pops up on the web (here&#8217;s looking at you, <a href="http://www.joindiaspora.com/">Diaspora</a>), Facebook would see how disloyal its users are when a mass exodus occurs. They can ask <a href="http://www.myspace.com/">MySpace</a> about that. Remember MySpace? They were a big deal in 2004&#8230;</p>
<p>Satisfaction isn&#8217;t low all over the web though. <a href="http://www.google.com/">Google</a>, <a href="http://www.bing.com/">Bing</a>, and <a href="http://www.yahoo.com/">Yahoo</a> received 80, 77 and 76 respectively in ForeSee Results survey. I think this shows customers still trust search. To most people, search hasn&#8217;t changed that drastically. From a <a href="http://www.redmccombsmedia.com/online-solutions/search-services">search marketing</a> perspective I can attest that search changes daily, sometimes so fast I work with my running shoes on. People love social media &#8211; I know I sure do – and it can offer a whole lot, but, at the end of the day, Search is an institution. There&#8217;s been great competition that has truly benefited users as search results are more fine-tuned for location, search history, etc. It will be a long time before Social Media can give me better, unbiased results for an inquiry than Search, and with Facebook&#8217;s current customer satisfaction, I don’t think they&#8217;ll be the powerhouse to take down Search.</p>
<p>Do you think Facebook will change the future of Search? Sound off in comments.</p>
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		<title>Advertising and Corporate Sponsorships</title>
		<link>http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/2010/05/advertising-and-corporate-sponsorships/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=advertising-and-corporate-sponsorships</link>
		<comments>http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/2010/05/advertising-and-corporate-sponsorships/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 12 May 2010 16:39:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Julie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[advertising]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[film]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/?p=329</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[According to an IEG Report, corporate sponsorships for movies, sports arenas and live television events, from 1987 – 1997 increased 337%.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>When was the last time you went to a sporting event, movie or live performance that wasn’t associated with a corporate sponsor? Probably not in the last twenty years or so. According to an early IEG Report, corporate sponsorships for movies, sports arenas and live television events, from 1987 – 1997 increased 337% &#8211; and this number continues to grow.</p>
<p>In the past five years, give or take, product placement has gone from carbonation to technology. We’ve had the Apple logo shoved down our throats so much so that every time I eat a granny smith, I think about how much I spent on my iMac – no regrets of course,  just high tech advertising at its best.</p>
<p>Before digital media, the sponsorship heavy hitters included Coca Cola, Budweiser and car dealerships. When Brad Pitt drinks it, <em>we</em> drink it. Now that search engines, subscription and social networking sites have become “products” in <em>themselves</em>, we are seeing more and more of their presence in commercials, feature films and on our favorite TV shows.  So, just how far away are we from hearing the words, “this broadcast is brought to you by Twitter?”</p>
<p>Living rooms across the country were astonished by this year’s Google ad during the Superbowl. Does Google.com <em>really</em> need a commercial to grow its profit margin? “How much did <em>that</em> air time cost?” an eager Saints fan asked me. I have a good guess, but I bet Ancestry.com could tell you, considering they’re running Sunday ads on NBC during “<em>Who Do You Think You Are.”</em></p>
<p>And let’s take the recent blockbuster graphic novel turned movie, <em>Kick Ass. </em>If <em>any</em> film could’ve snuck in a subliminal Pepsi can, Doritos or pizza, targeted at teenagers, it was this one. On the contrary – in this day in age, it was comic books, iPhones and MySpace.com. MySpace you ask? Yes &#8211; that blast from the past networking site is the communication device used to call the title character into fighting crime. Okay, a little behind the times in my opinion but perfect if they are trying to drive traffic back to  their site, right?</p>
<p>Is this an example of product placement? Absolutely. Free advertising? That still remains a mystery. Corporate sponsorship deals are very hush, hush – especially in the film industry. So, whether consumers will be rushing to their computers to join MySpace.com (again) or buy a set of nun chucks after seeing <em>Kick Ass</em> – that remains to be seen.</p>
<p>Move aside Pepsi and Starbucks – I’ll be drinking the iPhone and Facebook from now on!</p>
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		<title>How Online Advertising is changing the Film Industry</title>
		<link>http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/2010/04/how-online-advertising-is-changing-the-film-industry/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=how-online-advertising-is-changing-the-film-industry</link>
		<comments>http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/2010/04/how-online-advertising-is-changing-the-film-industry/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:29:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Julie</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/?p=324</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Changing the film industry one click at a time. ]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>What movie should I see tonight? Just ask the Internet!</p>
<p>So, your co-worker coaxes you to watch the trailer for <em>Twilight</em> when you came in for work this morning and it convinced you to be Team Edward all the way. Well, you’ll probably see the preview again in the theater a couple of times and wonder all along why you weren’t Team Jacob in the first place?  Regardless, you’ve seen the trailer twice as many times as you would’ve seen it ten years ago and you’ve invited all your friends to the midnight showing – now that’s how advertising works!</p>
<p>It’s almost impossible to go about your day online and not see an advertisement for an upcoming feature film.  The ad may be a banner across your e-mail server, or a pop up ad on your favorite news page.  It may even be free ticket dancing across your screen or a contest that entices you to check out the trailer.  What ever it is &#8211; online advertising for movies has become more and more aggressive since the first preview showed up on our laptops.</p>
<p>Take the movie <em>Paranormal Activity</em>.  This film was made for a dime in 2007 and sat on the shelves at Paramount for two years.  Needing to close out its fiscal year with a bang,  Paramount dusted off a copy and brought in the ad wizards.  With few dollars for marketing, a specific approach was taken: the movie would NOT carry a wide release unless 1 million votes were received on their official website, trailer included of course. And even though the indie hit was slowly making money already, the online approach to getting this film out and about was simply genius.  Once people heard about the scary flick on sites like Twitter who aggressively helped pushed the outcome by telling folks to “tweet the scream.&#8221;  People everywhere logged on to the site, watched the preview and made their choice.  When someone tells me I can’t watch a film – you better believe I will see it. And for online ad companies, this was a unique way to track what sites people were surfing, what advertisements linked them to the film’s website, how many people participated and how financially effective the campaign was. To date, <em>Paranormal Activity</em> has grossed $183 million worldwide so, you tell me.</p>
<p>Wikipedia claims that ten billion online videos including movie trailers are watched annually; while previews at movie theaters trail this number by thousands. Over 15 million people viewed the trailer for<em> Paranormal Activity</em> on<em> YouTube</em>, and that&#8217;s how online advertising has proved to be changing the film industry one click at a time.</p>
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		<title>Twitter as a Marketing Weapon &#8211; Guy Kawasaki Review</title>
		<link>http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/2010/03/twitter-as-a-marketing-weapon-guy-kawasaki-review/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=twitter-as-a-marketing-weapon-guy-kawasaki-review</link>
		<comments>http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/2010/03/twitter-as-a-marketing-weapon-guy-kawasaki-review/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:13:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/?p=289</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[SXSW is going on right now, which means that Austin is buzzing with music, movie &#038; web types. It&#8217;s a pretty cool time for our great city, free shows, unknown talent, amazing weather and seminars by some pretty cool people. Yesterday the Austin AMA contributed by hosting a luncheon in which Guy Kawasaki presented on [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>SXSW is going on right now, which means that Austin is buzzing with music, movie &#038; web types. It&#8217;s a pretty cool time for our great city, free shows, unknown talent, amazing weather and seminars by some pretty cool people. Yesterday the <a href="http://www.austinama.org/">Austin AMA</a> contributed by hosting a luncheon in which <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Kawasaki">Guy Kawasaki</a> presented on using Twitter for marketing. <a href="http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/author/nikki/">Nikki</a> &#038; I were fortunate enough to attend and I&#8217;m glad because it was awesome. Guy was casual yet composed and went point by point through a list of resources that he uses to get the most out of his Twitter account. I took two full pages of notes and am eager to unpack what he discussed.</p>
<p>First, a quick introduction. Guy is a notable <a href="http://blog.guykawasaki.com/">blogger</a>, <a href="http://www.fogcity.com/">serial</a> <a href="http://alltop.com/">entrepreneur</a>, <a href="http://www.garage.com/">venture capitalist</a> as well as a recent <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1591842239/guykawasakico-20">author</a>.</p>
<p>The title of the presentation was <strong>Using Twitter as a Marketing Weapon</strong>, a <a href="http://holykaw.alltop.com/twitter-as-a-weapon-demo-script">bullet list of his points</a> is available. He covered eight major things about using Twitter for marketing, and used plenty of examples. Here we go.</p>
<p><strong>Monitor</strong> &#8211; Guy gave a few examples of using Twitter search to keep up with conversations that are happening around <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=Nike+OR+Reebok">companies</a>, industries, product lines, and even all conversation through a <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=from:starbucks+OR+to:starbucks">specific account</a>. Nothing fancy here, just recapping the possibilities. The main point here is that Twitter search provides powerful means to keep up with conversations about you, your competition, or anyone else.</p>
<p><strong>Engage</strong> &#8211; Your company should have an account on Twitter. He didn&#8217;t spend much time here, so I won&#8217;t either.</p>
<p><strong>Sell</strong> &#8211; Its possible to use Twitter directly to increase revenue. I&#8217;ve covered this before. Guy gave a couple of examples that are noteworthy. <a href="http://twitter.com/delloutlet">Dell Outlet</a> has generated millions by announcing specials online. At this point Guy gave a shout out to Dell for their creativity here, and asked if anyone in the audience works for them. When someone stuck their hand up Guy jokingly asked if he gets a computer for plugging them, and the Dell person said, &#8220;First you have to learn to pronounce &#8216;Inspiron&#8217; properly.&#8221; Ouch! Snarky! Guy didn&#8217;t skip a beat; he went right in to his next example. <a href="http://twitter.com/kogibbq">Kogi BBQ</a> is a single truck that sells Korean Mexican tacos throughout Los Angeles. They use Twitter to announce where they&#8217;re headed a few hours before they move, and they&#8217;ve managed to build their Twitter following up to 60,000 people. They said when they pull up to a new spot there are usually about 50 people waiting for fresh tacos when they arrive. THAT&#8217;s pretty awesome.</p>
<p><strong>Support</strong> &#8211; He talked about two companies that are using Twitter to provide support, <a href="http://twitter.com/virginamerica">Virgin America</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/comcastcares">Comcast</a>. Apparently a passenger on a Virgin flight once tweeted that the flight attendant forgot to serve his meal. Someone at that account got in touch with the pilots, who then relayed the message back to the attendant and the man received his food after all. I don&#8217;t know if that&#8217;s true or not, but if it is its a pretty powerful example of the use of Twitter.</p>
<p><strong>Prospecting</strong> &#8211; This is the point at which Guy&#8217;s message started to capture my attention. He presented some pretty creative methods of finding potential clients through <a href="http://search.twitter.com/advanced">Twitter advanced search</a> and <a href="http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?answer=136861">Google&#8217;s search operators</a>. Did you know that Twitter allows you to do localized searches, such as <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=+pizza+near:78704+within:25mi">pizza in Austin</a>? Suppose you want to sell equipment to wedding photographers, you can use Google to <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&#038;q=intitle%3A%22wedding+photographer*+on+twitter%22+site%3Atwitter.com">search through Twitter names</a> (note that this will search through both user names and real names). Would you rather <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&#038;q=intext%3A%22bio+*+wedding+photographer%22+site%3Atwitter.com">search through Twitter bios</a> to find the person you&#8217;re after? That&#8217;s no problem! I have to say, I&#8217;ve known about each of these features of Twitter &#038; Google, but had never put this together. Brilliant!</p>
<p><strong>Get More Followers: Focus on Content</strong> &#8211; Here Guy stresses the importance of saying something that&#8217;s worth being heard. We&#8217;ve all seen tweets that aren&#8217;t worth reading, most of us have probably even posted a few. Guy provides a few sources for quality content, <a href="http://alltop.com/">Alltop</a> (of course) is an aggregator of news from across the web, <a href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/">StumbleUpon</a> is content that people have voted up, and <a href="http://www.smartbrief.com/">SmartBrief</a> categorizes news into industry specific feeds. He attributes his success on Twitter (more than 200k followers) to regularly providing links to interesting/useful/insightful stories. His <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=RT%3A+%40guykawasaki">content is re-tweeted</a> hundreds of times each day, which confirms his hunch.</p>
<p><strong>Get More Followers: Tweet!</strong> &#8211; Once you&#8217;re on top of great content, take advantage of some tools that help you manage the flow of tweets through your account. Guy spent quite a bit of time talking about <a href="http://www.objectivemarketer.com/">Objective Marketer</a>, which is a service that allows you to automatically resend tweets throughout the day. Get 90 days free with the promo code &#8220;wiseguy&#8221;! Guy does send each tweet more than once; he said that over time he&#8217;s seen that when he sends a tweet a 2nd, 3rd &#038; 4th time, the number of clicks on his links go up accordingly. So sending a tweet out for times in one day generates approximately four times the number of clicks. Once again, brilliant. He also introduced <a href="http://twitterfeed.com/">TwitterFeed</a> &#038; <a href="http://www.twithawk.com/">TwitHawk</a>. TwitterFeed is a service that automatically tweets the contents of an RSS feed such as your blog. TwitHawk continually searches for a specific set of criteria and then will allow you to either automate a reply, or you can manually reply.</p>
<p><strong>Tools</strong> &#8211; He spoke briefly about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Twitter_services_and_applications">Twitter clients</a>, you&#8217;ll definitely want one. Guy uses <a href="http://www.tweetdeck.com/">TweetDeck</a>, I&#8217;ve tried several and it&#8217;s my favorite also.</p>
<p>On the drive back to the office, Nikki &#038; I agreed that this was one of the best marketing seminars that we&#8217;ve attended. All of the info that Guy gave was relevant and helpful. I&#8217;m encouraged to renew my commitment to social marketing. And if I ever had any doubt, I&#8217;m now even more convinced that Twitter is greater than Facebook. Its openness and flexibility, when combined with the right tools, make it a pretty valuable weapon to have in your marketing arsenal. In case you haven&#8217;t done it yet, go follow <a href="http://twitter.com/guykawasaki">Guy Kawasaki</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/rmm_online">RMM Online</a>. As a bonus, if you want to get links to his talking points, you can text &#8220;alltop&#8221; to 44133.</p>
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		<title>Are you QRious?</title>
		<link>http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/2010/02/are-you-qrious/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=are-you-qrious</link>
		<comments>http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/2010/02/are-you-qrious/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:02:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ann Marie</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/?p=262</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The funny looking box you see above is a not new technology; however the QR Code is pretty foreign to us in the U.S. QR stands for Quick Response. In the next decade, I believe QR codes will start popping up in U.S. media providing our culture with what we love best; content delivery that [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/RMM.jpg" alt="RMM QR Code" title="RMM" width="156" height="156" class="size-full wp-image-261" />
<p>The funny looking box you see above is a not new technology; however the QR Code is pretty foreign to us in the U.S. QR stands for Quick Response. In the next decade, I believe QR codes will start popping up in U.S. media providing our culture with what we love best; content delivery that is easy and FAST. </p>
<p>The QR Code is a kind of 2D barcode that contains a plethora of personalized digital data. It is primarily used to send links to your mobile device. A simple snapshot with your camera phone and the QR Code sends the necessary information to open your web browser to a specific URL site or text message. 2D barcodes allow advertisers and publishers to push relevant digital content directly to consumers? mobile phones when they are most interested in a product or service. This technology bypasses the search engine stage, allowing advertisers and publishers to give people more information at the moment of awareness.</p>
<p><strong>What are QR codes and what are they already doing?</strong><br />
Currently, QR codes are being used as a tool to get more information. You see a code in a magazine, snap a pic, and it directs you to the product site on your mobile phone. Japan and some European countries have taken this technology to a new level. They do use it for informational purposes; however it has opened the door to deeper consumer engagement and interactivity. QR codes are proving that they have the potential to do even more for advertisers and consumers alike. </p>
<p><strong>Some innovative ideas:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>URLs/Coupons</strong> &#8211; <a href="http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/">Dick&#8217;s Sporting Goods</a> announced its <a href="https://dsports.mobi/">new mobile site</a> with QR coding at the new Cowboys Stadium during the University of Oklahoma vs. Brigham Young University bowl game. This was the first marketing campaign to place a QR code on a jumbo-tron during a sporting event. University of Oklahoma vs. Brigham Young University fans were encouraged to take a picture of the QR code and were directed to a coupon for the store. If your phone didn&#8217;t have QR technology, no problem. The website URL and an email address were clearly displayed as other ways to acquire the coveted coupon. A deeper explanation of the campaign and the results can be <a href="http://brandingbrand.com/blog/dicks-uses-qr-code-marketing-on-cowboys-stadium-jumbotron/">found online</a>.</li>
<li><strong>E-tickets</strong> &#8211; Imagine not having to wait in line for your Austin City Limits Music Festival wristband a week before the show starts or the three hour line on the day of. QR codes can completely eliminate the need for wristbands and tickets. After purchasing your ticket online you receive a QR codes to your mobile phone. A simple scan of your phone will show that you have purchased a three-day or one-day only pass. Once you have checked in, your ticket is marked as used.  Also, imagine after you have checked in, your phone directs you to the ACL site, where you are able to view weather, time changes, band line-up, vendor maps, and more. QR codes could even eventually tell you exactly what song your favorite band is playing on what stage in real time. Most importantly, no lost ACL tickets and no need to be worried they won&#8217;t scan.</li>
<li><strong>Business cards &#038; Resumes</strong> &#8211; An awesome way to set you apart from the crowd. Why not include your LinkedIn QR code on your resume? Or your company&#8217;s website on your business cards?</li>
<li><strong>Tattoos</strong> &#8211; I would grab some temporary ones for the office party. Or, if you want to go permanent that&#8217;s cool too. Just make sure it&#8217;s something to last a lifetime!</li>
<li><strong>Billboards</strong> &#8211; Disney in Tokyo has <a href="http://eurotechnology.com/blog/labels/QR-code.html">Mickey Mouse QR codes</a> that send you to the Disneyland website. Billboards in subway stations allow for easy point and shoot.</li>
<li><strong>Branded QR codes</strong>- include a picture within the code and in color &#8211; These QR codes from <a href="http://www.beqrious.com/generator">BeQRious</a> can have color or pictures imbeded in the code! Why not include your face on that resume? Or, put your company logo inside the QR code on that business card?</li>
<li><strong>Swag and self-branding</strong> &#8211; Additional information is gained by using QR codes. Therefore, the potential use for them is limitless. The code can contain anything from your information, to your likes and dislikes, to what you like in a guy, to what your plans are for that night. Why not create a coffee mug, a hat, a <a href="http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2009/03/craft_video_machineknitted_qr.html">scarf</a>, even a baby bib. You can create <a href="http://p8tch.com/">your own patches</a>. Instead of bumping on your iPhone, why not scan someone&#8217;s QR code to learn more about them? Hosting a charity event? Raise funds on location with QR coding.</li>
<li><strong>Geography based tours and reviews</strong> &#8211; City Search and Antenna Audio launched a <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/26/BU1LVQQOB.DTL#ixzz0eIqgSTnT">test run</a> of geography based QR coding in the spring of 2008. QR codes were distributed around San Francisco in restaurants and at popular destinations. The codes included restaurant reviews, as well as audio tours and historical facts allowing tourists access to distinct decision making information.</li>
<li><strong>Loyalty points system</strong> &#8211; In Japan, <a href="http://www.coca-cola.com/">Coca Cola</a> uses QR codes to reward loyal customers. Vending machines have QR codes imprinted on them, and consumers are invited to earn as many as they can, ultimately redeeming them to get prizes.</li>
<li><strong>Secrets and acts of defiance</strong> &#8211; <a href="http://www.petshopboys.co.uk/">The Pet Shop Boys</a> <http://www.petshopboys.co.uk/> released a single in 2007 on which they denounced the idea of a British national identity card. On the CD cover, there was a QR code that directed to their attack on the system. Also, the entire music video sports different QR codes that link to civil liberties websites. Pretty cool that QR coding is being used to spawn political debate and protesting!</li>
<li><strong>Alternative paintballing</strong> &#8211; No more immediate bruising from the paintballs flying at you at speeds approximately 60mph (at least that&#8217;s what it feels like). Players wear t-shirts with their own individualized QR code. A player snaps your QR code from afar and a text message is sent to you informing you of your demise, allowing for a high quality game sans the pain!</li>
<li><strong>Intelligent advertising</strong> &#8211; changing the site location to match the weather. Dynamic QR codes are special codes can be updated in real time for businesses that sell products that might potentially have a need to change advertising in response to say, the weather. What if Gap had a billboard in the NYC subway station and the QR code directed the consumer to the GAP mobile homepage featuring a new line of flip-flops? Well, on Tuesday New York has a forecast of heavy rain. No, problem. Just switch out that QR code to direct consumers to the part of the website that highlights Gap&#8217;s new swanky umbrellas!</li>
<li><strong>A great idea</strong> by DDB Brazil for Editoras Online &#8211; DDB Brazil in a campaign for Online, a Brazilian online bookstore, incorporated almost every valuable player in the media arena. QR codes are the single piece that molded the dynamic parts of the campaign together. This <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG4thXVM2qk">YouTube video</a> explains the intricacies of the campaign far better than I could here. By far my favorite in terms of innovation and success! 33 Interactions has a great post by Jenine Wong that gives an <a href="http://33interactions.com.au/33blog/communications/qr-code-qriosity-ideas-to-demonstrate-their-potential-part-2">extensive description</a> of the campaign as well.</li>
<li>Tim Burton&#8217;s film &#8220;9&#8243; used QR codes that allowed fans to view sneak peaks and hear commentary from the director.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.greenday.com/">Green Day</a>&#8217;s album, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21st_Century_Breakdown">21st Century Breakdown</a> featured QR codes in posters, promo items, and ads directing you to a site with exclusive downloads and images of the band.</li>
<li>L.A. Candy, the newest book by Lauren Conrad sports a QR code on the <a href="http://2d-code.co.uk/harpercollins-qr-codes/">back cover</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>So, will QR codes be the &#8220;<a href="http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=138154">URL Killer</a>&#8220;, as Garrick Schmitt and others have described it? In his article Schmitt says, &#8220;QR codes will become the primary bridge connecting real and virtual worlds.&#8221; As you can see from the aforementioned examples, these codes are one step in the direction of the inevitable merging and graying of media. One builds on the other builds on the next. The mobile revolution and the saturation of the online space have created a need for simpler URLs and innovative connections. And of course, as I mentioned in one of my previous blog entries, <a href="http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/2009/09/mobile-marketing-prowess/">Mobile Marketing Prowess</a>, the mobile consumer wants conversation. QR codes have opened the door to a broader and deeper range of personal targeting and communication, and they have the potential to become a value exchange of relevant, individualized, useful, and interesting information.</p>
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		<title>SEO Will Not Die in 2010</title>
		<link>http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/2010/01/seo-will-not-die-in-2010/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=seo-will-not-die-in-2010</link>
		<comments>http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/2010/01/seo-will-not-die-in-2010/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:55:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/?p=242</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Over the past couple of months there has been quite a bit of banter on the web about whether or not search engine optimization (SEO) will finally fall on its face in 2010. This has been a perennial argument for at least the past ten years, maybe longer. After all, Google keeps updating its algorithm [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Over the past couple of months there has been quite a bit of banter on the web about whether or not search engine optimization (SEO) will finally fall on its face in 2010. This has been a perennial argument for at least the past ten years, maybe longer. After all, Google keeps updating its algorithm to avoid being gamed, right? This has been further accelerated in recent months by the addition of <a href="http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&#038;answer=106230">Google Suggest</a>, <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/personalized-search-for-everyone.html">personalized search</a>, <a href="http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/01/finding-places-near-me-now-is-easier.html">localized search</a>, <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/relevance-meets-real-time-web.html">real-time search</a> and finally, the search giant providing answers to questions within its own site (for example, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=dallas+cowboys">sports scores</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=seattle+weather">weather</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=43202+movie+showtimes">movie showtimes</a>, and I&#8217;m sure there are others). If Google is changing things to make this more difficult, then what&#8217;s the value of this service?</p>
<p>Don&#8217;t be fooled. Yes, the snake oil hucksters that schlep keyword stuffing and link spamming are doomed, but their future was never very bright to begin with. If this is your strategy you&#8217;ll get nowhere, and if you&#8217;re paying for this then you&#8217;re wasting your money. If you&#8217;re charging someone for this, shame on you.</p>
<p>The core aspects of SEO, however, are needed more than ever. Google alone averages <a href="http://searchenginewatch.com/3630718">more than 200 million searches per day</a>. With that much daily traffic, their view of your website matters. Do you really want to completely ignore the potential to earn traffic from them? Or worse, leave it entirely to chance? If you get one ten-thousandth of one percent of that (that&#8217;s 0.0001%), 200 people per day will see your site. Do that many people cross your doorstep each day? Does your phone ring that many times each day? Clearly there is an upside to paying attention to Google.</p>
<p>The traffic that your website receives can provide keen insight into what your target market thinks about your company. Whatever the goals of your company, your website can help you get there. Increasing sales, improving customer retention, reaching a new customer base, improving the return that you get on your AdWords spend&#8230; these are all achievable. As long as you are measuring your website&#8217;s traffic and can recognize trends, you can reach your goals.</p>
<p>Don&#8217;t misread the data. Yes search is changing, it has been since it started. It would be a mistake to infer that this makes SEO irrelevant. Quite the contrary, the changes that Google is making strengthen their search results, which gives people greater confidence in the answers they find through Google, which means that more people will be searching.</p>
<p>Optimizing your website for search is more important now than ever. Frankly, it&#8217;s irresponsible to think otherwise.</p>
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		<title>RedZone&#8217;s Block by Block Reporting</title>
		<link>http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/2009/12/redzones-block-by-block-reporting/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=redzones-block-by-block-reporting</link>
		<comments>http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/2009/12/redzones-block-by-block-reporting/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:11:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Nikki</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/?p=232</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We are proud to announce our newest feature Block by Block reporting which is a part of RedZone, an internal and client facing reporting tool. RedZone allows advertisers to have increased insight into where their traffic is running by giving each client a login for their campaign reports; Block by Block reporting shows these reports [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We are proud to announce our newest feature Block by Block reporting which is a part of RedZone, an internal and client facing reporting tool. RedZone allows advertisers to have increased insight into where their traffic is running by giving each client a login for their campaign reports; Block by Block reporting shows these reports in a block structure that shows campaign impressions, clicks, CTR, and post-click activity (upon request). </p>
<p>We custom build your site list into three separate blocks that are designed with a maximum of ten sites in each block. Your campaign is assigned its own campaign manager that has the ability to manually adjust sites per block after the campaign has started to fully optimize to achieve the best possible performance. After we developed Block by Block Reporting, we were able to track additional data very easily and split it out by blocks and verticals, making our reporting structure unique and valuable to our clients and to us.</p>
<p> Block by Block Reporting was designed to be transparent and make campaign reporting easy to access for our clients. It started out as an internal tool, but as we grew, it was realized that we could open it up for our clients to use directly, saving time and giving them more flexible reporting. </p>
<p>This feature is the third of many products we will introduce to the online market in 2009-2010. These products are what we have built our foundation on and moving forward you can look out for our network expansion in comScore.</p>
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		<title>Mobile Madness at RM Media &#8211; The Launch of our Mobile Marketing Solutions</title>
		<link>http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/2009/10/mobile-madness-at-rm-media-the-launch-of-our-mobile-marketing-solutions/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=mobile-madness-at-rm-media-the-launch-of-our-mobile-marketing-solutions</link>
		<comments>http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/2009/10/mobile-madness-at-rm-media-the-launch-of-our-mobile-marketing-solutions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:01:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Nikki</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/?p=227</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We are proud to introduce Mobile Marketing Solutions as a new service in our RM Media 2009 product line-up. SMS-based marketing is an emerging tool that is delivering strong results; our clients are already building an active mobile database that’s driving sales, increasing their brand awareness, and promoting customer loyalty.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We are proud to introduce Mobile Marketing Solutions as a new service in our RM Media 2009 product line-up. MAGNA research shows mobile advertising revenues to grow 36 percent to $229 million in 2009, and to $409 million in 2011 and that was an opportunity that we couldn’t pass up.</p>
<p>SMS-based marketing is an emerging tool that is delivering strong results; our clients are already building an active mobile database that’s driving sales, increasing their brand awareness, and promoting customer loyalty. Clients can use mobile marketing for many purposes including coupons, sweepstakes, text-to-buy or text-to-give. In addition, our Bluetooth systems can target customers within close proximity to send full motion video, audio/ring tones, coupons and more directly to the phone in your target area.</p>
<p>“We are very excited to introduce mobile marketing to our clients as part of our overall strategy to offer clients an integrated, multi-media advertising campaign that reaches the consumer at the right time with the right medium,” said RM Media’s President Jon Flatt. &#8220;Our Mobile Marketing Solution’s targeting capabilities maximizes our clients’ marketing dollars by directing offers to the most valuable customers and our real-time reporting provides complete transparency and ensures results.&#8221;</p>
<p>We offer a 24/7 content management system with a client’s mobile campaign that gives easy access to the client’s database which makes it simple to change their offers to distribute to their subscribers. Clients also receive a user-friendly reporting dashboard that tabulates the opt-in and opt-out process and is presented in real-time with measureable results. Mobile advertising is a great lead generation tool because, like surveys, it captures consumers in the moment and allows them to quickly and easily request more information.</p>
<p>RM Media’s Mobile Marketing Solutions is part of a robust suite of products that provide clients new and improved ways to track, report and optimize search marketing, display advertising on its premium network, mobile and email marketing, and custom channel building.</p>
<p>Have more questions about our Mobile Marketing Solutions? Contact us for more information or call us at 512.380.4400.</p>
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		<title>Red McCombs Media Acquired by LIN TV</title>
		<link>http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/2009/10/red-mccombs-media-acquired-by-lin-tv/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=red-mccombs-media-acquired-by-lin-tv</link>
		<comments>http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/2009/10/red-mccombs-media-acquired-by-lin-tv/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:05:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ann Marie</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.redmccombsmedia.com/?p=216</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We here at Red McCombs Media, &#8220;RM Media&#8220;, which we are referred to due to legal reasons, are excited to announce that we have been acquired by LIN TV Corp (NYSE: TVL) this week! 
Who is LIN TV you ask? They&#8217;re a local television and digital media company, headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. They have [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We here at Red McCombs Media, &#8220;<a href="http://www.redmccombsmedia.com/">RM Media</a>&#8220;, which we are referred to due to legal reasons, are excited to announce that we have been acquired by <a href="http://www.lintv.com/">LIN TV</a> Corp (<a href="http://www.google.com/finance?q=tvl">NYSE: TVL</a>) this week! </p>
<p>Who is LIN TV you ask? They&#8217;re a local television and digital media company, headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. They have a solid presence in the broadcast network television arena. They own and/or operate 27 nationally-affiliated stations in 17 U.S. markets; along with more than 50 interactive television station and niche market websites and mobile marketing solutions. </p>
<p>We as employees are ready, willing, and raring to go for this new adventure. &#8220;This is an exciting opportunity for our company and our clients,&#8221; said our CEO Jon Flatt.  &#8221;Our foundation for success is, and will continue to be, providing unparalleled client service and achieving measurable results for our clients.  As part of LIN TV&#8217;s new media strategy, we will be able to benefit from important synergies and have greater resources for growth, enhanced service and innovation.&#8221;</p>
<p>Our goals will not change in regards to our clients. Our main objective will continue to be: targeting audiences with advertisers and publishers based on demographic, psychographic, and consumer behaviors to enhance branding and maximize client return on investment. In fact, we will be able to offer so much more through our work with the LIN TV team.  </p>
<p>&#8220;RM Media advances LIN’s transformation from a local broadcaster to a digital media company with a national footprint,&#8221; said LIN TV’s President and CEO Vincent Sadusky. &#8220;RM Media was founded by innovative and entrepreneurial leaders who have a clear understanding of new media engagement and a first-to-market advantage.&#8221;</p>
<p>While meeting with the LIN TV team yesterday and today, I believe the biggest similarity lies in both companies overwhelming ability to embrace change within the marketplace and effectively implement the solutions clients and consumers want. We are forerunners in our respective industries, looking for creative answers to hard problems. </p>
<p>For example, LIN TV was one of the first television broadcasters to fully commit to and make investments in its Internet infrastructure and content. LIN TV has a lucrative multiplatform business model employing synergies from its core on-air broadcasts and dedicated new media technologies and personnel.  On the flip side we have developed many technologies that LIN TV is eager to utilize including but not limited to; a top 35 comScore display ad network, a highly effective SEO &#038; SEM Optimization process, a consumer-and-advertiser friendly video player, and we acquired and integrated two companies that specialize in web development and lead generation, launched two top 100 comScore proprietary websites and services several Fortune 500 clients. </p>
<p>As a part of the LIN TV team we will continue to deliver measurable results to local, regional, and national clients including several Fortune 500 companies. With LIN TV’s outstanding new media strategies, our unique technologies, product innovation, transparency, and personalized online advertising solutions, this partnership will prove to be a step in the right direction!</p>
<p>We hope to continue or begin our outstanding work with you well into a bright future!</p>
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