Pravda on Media and Tech » Marketing

Coffee Break: Four Articles Worth Reading

Yarin Hochman — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:01:30 +0000

We've been reading some great stuff at Pravda Media Group that you might enjoy as well. So, pour yourself a cup of coffee, sit down, and get your read on -- you'll feel more productive than if you're just trawling Facebook.

Eight Ways To Go Viral

http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/26/eight-ways-go-viral/

Uzi Shmilovici, CEO and founder of Future Simple, explains virality and demonstrates some great tools companies use to boost theirviral factor.

Why Android updates are a mess: it's the business model

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/why-android-updates-are-a-mess-its-the-business-model/4300

Ed Bott explains why The Android business model practically guarantees that updates will be a mess.

The Amazing Power of Deflationary Economics for Startups

http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2011/12/22/the-amazing-power-of-deflationary-economics-for-startups/

Mark Suster argues that the most succesfull internet companies are the ones that offer amazing value at high volumes which makes it nearly impossible for high-cost incumbents to compete.

The year in mobile apps: Where we’ve been, where we’re going

http://gigaom.com/2011/12/25/the-year-in-mobile-apps-where-weve-been-where-were-going/

Erica Ogg gives a nice overlook at the year we've had of mobile apps and has some great predictions for what's ahead.

And we're curious: What have YOU been reading?

Inside Pravda Media Group: New Blogs for Our Clients

Sarah Tuttle-Singer — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:58:03 +0000

There are some exciting things happening for our clients that we want to share with you:

PrimeSense is gearing up for CES 2012 – a huge consumer electronics tradeshow, located this year in Las Vegas. PrimeSense has some really exciting things planned, and they promise to revolutionize the way you see your living room.

For more information – including some great tips if you’re attending CES 2012 this year -- check out their new blog:

We are also thrilled to be working with Babylon on their new My Life in Translation series. These posts are written by well-known bloggers as well as Babylon users, and they offer poignant insights into the peaks and pitfalls of navigating new linguistic and cultural terrain. These posts are humorous and touching, and we hope you’ll get a chance to check some of them out.

You’ve got to Learn to Listen: Three Ways To Increase Marketing Effectiveness

Kfir Pravda — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 10:31:29 +0000

Let's face it. We love to hear the sound of our own voices.

When I was single, one of the best pieces of dating advice I ever got was to let the other person speak through the whole date because she will adore you by the end of it. The reason is simple: It is much easier to talk than to listen to others.

But the reality that just like in any relationship, one must listen to the other side in order to better understand them. Brands are facing the same situation on a daily basis. The holy grail of modern marketing is creating and cultivating relationships between brands and their target audience. Therefore, listening is a key to reaching this goal

Thankfully, several companies are offering listening and monitoring platforms that makes this task easy. We've chosen Tra.cx due to their great team, technology, and customer service.

Conversation Distribution by Platforms via Tra.cx

But technology is not enough. It is all about what you do with it. So, with no further ado, here are some of the key ways to use listening as a strategic tool in your digital marketing toolbox:

Tweak your product and pitch - by listening to target audience conversations, we have been able to gain insight about general topics of interest. For example, when listening to online discussions of IT managers, we were able to ascertain their key concerns and challenges. This provided valuable input to our client, as they could fine-tune their pitch and online presence.

Evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing - one of our clients invested a lot of money in extending the warranty of their products. They saw it as a key way to differentiate themselves from their competition. A month after they launched their program we analyzed online discussions of potential buyers of their equipment, and saw that warranty was not mentioned as a key decision factor. Not only that, but we also saw that the amount of online conversations about their offering didn't change at all after launching their extended warranty.. These findings helped our client reach a decision regarding the efficacy and value of their new marketing program.

Prioritize your marketing efforts - the digital landscape is becoming more and more fragmented. Multiple social networks, the need to combine inbound and outbound marketing methods, the ever growing pressure to reach results, and the shrinking marketing budgets pose a challenge to every decision maker. The value of Inbound marketing increases based on corporate investment. This investment grows based on the amount of platforms and campaigns a company is managing at any given time. Therefore, prioritizing and choosing which platform to focus on is extremely important. By effectively listening to online conversations about your market, you can easily identify the hotspots that require attention. For some, LinkedIn is the key to success. Others prefer Facebook, and others still – heaven forbid --continue to use good old fashioned forums to discuss their buying decisions. We are using a cool Tra.cx report to quickly plan and prioritize our marketing efforts, and make sure we are handling the most important platforms for our clients.

Listening in love -- and in marketing -- is a key to success. It is not a one time thing, but should be part of an ongoing process interwoven in the world of digital marketing. We gave here only a couple of examples on how to use it strategically. Stay tuned for future posts with additional case studies. And in the meantime, we would love to hear your insights.

Money talks BS walks – even with Luxury brands

Kfir Pravda — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 11:51:39 +0000

Our friend at L2 Think Tank, the luxury brands digital marketing experts, just published some interesting insights re the link between overall digital performance of these brands and their utilization of E-commerce.

Based on their research, E-commerce enabled brands perform way better than those who don't sell their goods online. The differences are significant: e-commerce brands doubled the traffic growth of none e-commerce brands, and almost triple search growth.

Daniella Kaplan from L2 further explained that it is not that e-commerce is the cause of this increased performance but rather a driver. Brands who sell their goods online see direct connection between their digital marketing spending and their top line. As such, they excel in utilizing digital marketing channels.

For me, this data shows again that companies that see digital marketing as a business driver will have better chance in leading the pack compared to ones who use these platforms for brand awareness only. While online brand awareness takes many ques from traditional advertising playbook, e-commerce companies have to push the envelope in getting business results from digital channels. And while branding is hard to measure, dollars are easily counted.
This does not mean that e-commerce brands are the most creative ones necessarily. But creative thinking, though critical for online digital success, is only one part of the puzzle of creating a successful digital marketing operation. Integration of different channels and platforms, creation of a unified and coordinated marketing initiatives, while playing to the strengths of each platform becomes a huge challenge.

So to sum it up - money talks, BS walks!

5 tips on how to prepare your brand for the new Facebook Timeline

Natasha Szczerb — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 09:11:06 +0000

Facebook’s biggest change so far - The Timeline - was announced last month, but it still hasn’t reached the masses. Nevertheless, as many speculate as to when the public launch will happen, some eager users couldn’t wait and have already enabled the new profile for their accounts. ( Want to do the same? Learn how to do it here.) And while everyone is talking about how these changes will affect users, many companies wonder: How will all of this affect our brand(s)?

Since Facebook has yet to announce how branded Fan Pages will look in the new format, we don’t have all the answers. (Yet!) Still, we can definitely help you understand how you can get your brand ready for these changes with 5 simple tips:

1. We don’t like “Like” anymore

Ok, you may want to sit down for this part. (And if you’re already sitting, then take a deep, cleansing breath): Yes, it’s true. The magic word everyone pursued since the “Like” button was created in April, 2010 is about to go out of fashion. See, when you have “Timelines” with people’s stories, what they “Facebook-Liked” along the way becomes a minor detail and loses its relevancy. At first you will also notice a drop in your numbers, like less visitors and less interactions.

The only advice we can give right now is to wait. (Or hyperventilate into a paper bag if absolutely necessary.) Seriously though, Facebook is not stupid - we hope - and we are sure that they have a trick up their sleeve to fix this issue for Facebook Ads payers.

2. Don’t be a brand, be part of people’s lives

With the reign of “Like” down, brands will have to think about ways of belonging in people’s lives. In other words, in order to be seen in the Facebook timeline, the user will have to want your brand there. So the old concept of wooing your target audience instead of shoving your message down their throats is becoming more relevant than ever.

Companies will have to provide value, to engage users, and to have them as brand ambassadors if they want to enjoy their place in the (virtual) sun. Our advice? Stop for a second and think about what your brand really does to engage people. Is it enough? Or should you try harder? Here’s another idea: Ask your Facebook users what they think!

3. Get creative

From the new profile format we can speculate as to how the new fan pages will look. We think these changes are going to be awesome.Take a look at the profile pages -- what do you see? The option for much more customization, starting with the big image in the header. If we are right and the fan pages have the same possibilities, you should be totally cheering right now. Want clear examples? Check out some mock ups of how the new branded pages could look.

We think you’ll be inspired.

4. Tell Stories

The Timeline creates a record of our life on Facebook. In other words, the strongest concept behind the Timeline is the way it shares our life stories. As we said before, brands will have to think about ways of getting inside these personal stories, becoming at the end of the day, storytellers. Literally. Look, if you want to be relevant to your audience, your company will need a strong story to tell, and the key question to ask yourself is this: How can your brand make consumer’s lives more interesting?

5. Relax! Everything will be fine

We get it: Change can be scary. Our minds get used to things working in a specific way, and when they change we must re-learn how to deal with them. But that’s the great thing about being human: We adapt. Remember when Facebook changed the homepage and everyone freaked out? And now, most of us can barely remember what the old profile page even looked like! With Facebook’s Timeline it’s the same. It might seem like too much of a change, to hard to understand, to unclear as to how the new functions will work.

Eventually, things will get easier. And you may even prefer the changes! And here’s our final tip: Relax, drink your coffee or tea or whatever, and save your white hairs for more serious issues. Because at the end of the day, if you really get stuck, we are here to help your brand stand out in the Digital world.

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Very good listeners

Natasha Szczerb — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:31:03 +0000

Everybody loves Google. True. We love G-mail, Google Maps, Google Street View and so on. But what if now Google used all his knowledge about you to create the perfect boyfriend?

Meet G-Male:

We are hiring – Experienced Web Content Writer

admin — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 06:14:51 +0000

Pravda Media Group is looking for an experienced Web Content Writer for unique and original online writing. We are a growing Digital Marketing Agency with a young and dynamic team, located in Tel Aviv . Our clients are diverse, with interesting and challenging projects.

Requirements:

Native English speaker/ writer.
High level of Hebrew is a big advantage.
Exceptional writing skills- proven foreign journalism writing- an advantage.
Familiar with social media content - Facebook, Twitter and blog posts.
Background in marketing and/or advertising is an advantage.
Copywriting skills are a big advantage.
Portfolio is a must (both in English and Hebrew)!
Someone fun to work with!

Job Description:

Web content writing in 3 directions
- Articles
- Social Media - Facebook, twitter and blog
- Online copywriting - websites and e-mail
Writing both in English and Hebrew
Part-time job with a possibility of becoming a full-time position

Join us if you are passionate about the digital world and want to be a part of an exceptional group who is doing exceptional things.

Please send your CV to the following email address: Jobs@Pravdam.com

A Study: Nike and Digital Marketing – Part 5

Natasha Szczerb — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 11:30:13 +0000

With this fifth and final post of our “Sports Special”, we complete our exploration of 5 remarkable Nike campaigns worth knowing. Missed the other posts? Click to read the first part, the second part , the third part and the forth part.

And don’t forget: this as well as the other 4 posts are all just a piece of a complete report created by Pravda Media Group. The report is free! Click here to get it.

Nike+

To close our study we present the campaign that must be considered the cherry on top of the advertising cake: Nike+. And, of course, there is no one better to talk about this ground-breaking campaign than its creators, R/GA:

Digital Campaign of the Decade: Nike+
If there was a knock against Nike Plus from the ad world, it was what it wasn't: an ad. Which was, of course, the point. Created in 2006, it defined how a brand can build a self-sustaining platform by giving customers an easy tool—a chip in their shoe that connects to their iPod music player—to track and share their training progress. Nike Plus takes "Just do it" and actually helps runners get it done. Since its launch, Nike Plus runners have logged more than 100 million miles—enough for more than 400 roundtrips to the moon. It's little coincidence that Nike steadily increased its running shoe market share from 48 percent in 2006 to 61 percent in 2008. Along the way it created something for brands to aspire to: a product experience that reinforces the brand message.

Prefer to look than read? So check out the video case made for Cannes Festival subscription:

References:
http://www.rga.com/

This post is just a tasting of our complete report. Subscribe to get it for FREE:

A Study: Nike and Digital Marketing – Part 4

Natasha Szczerb — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:15:10 +0000

This is the fourth part of our “Sports Special”, in which we highlight 5 remarkable Nike campaigns worth knowing. Click to read the first part, the second part and the third part.

The whole “Special” is a piece of a complete report created by Pravda Media Group. Click here to get the full report. It’s FREE!

Nike Sportswear – Hipstamatic iPhone App

Nike has long been all about building a lifestyle around its brand, and their efforts in this area continue to this day. And such efforts are not only driven by super-high-production commercials, but also through simple partnerships that illustrate and promote the associations they wish to make. One key example being Hipstamatic, Apple’s “iPhone App of the Year”.

Hipstamatic evokes a palpable sense of nostalgia in its users, allowing iPhone photo snappers to render their pictures in a lo-fi sense that harkens back to the instamatic cameras, so popular during the 1960s and 1970s. In their partnership with the brand, Nike Sportswear launched a free HipstaPack for users of the app that contained a branded case and a set of black and white film.

References:
http://www.nike.com/en_gb/sportswear/stories/features/always-on-with-hipstamatic
http://www.psfk.com/2011/07/nike-sportswear-hipstamatic.html
http://www.hipstamaticapp.com/

This post is just a tasting of our complete report. Subscribe to get it for FREE:

A Study: Nike and Digital Marketing – Part 3

Natasha Szczerb — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 12:03:04 +0000

This is the third part of our “Sports Special”, in which we highlight 5 remarkable Nike campaigns worth knowing. Click to read the first part and the second part.

The whole “Special” is a piece of a complete report created by Pravda Media Group. Click here to get the full report. It’s FREE!

QR Code Facebook Like

In Antwerp, Belgium, Nike launched a campaign targeted at “the man in the street” by integrating QR Codes with Facebook Likes. To promote its running shoes, Nike invited people to “like” crazy-shaped jogging routes, the codes for which could be found in store windows and on posters around the city.

Despite the fact that QR Code scanners are not yet prevalent, the possibilities for their integration with social media are virtually without limit, and thus once again Nike presents a marketing concept that is worthy of consideration.

References:
http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/18/likify-qr-code/
http://2d-code.co.uk/nike-qr-code-running-posters/
http://apps.facebook.com/takeantwerp/

This post is just a tasting of our complete report. Subscribe to get it for FREE: