Cover Story: 50 Best Tips of 2010
We're excited to offer you Retail Online Integration's 50 best tips of 2010. Our editorial staff reviewed every word published in our print publication, e-newsletter (The ROI Report) and website over the past year. From there, we've extracted the best money-making and cost-saving pointers. Enjoy.
Melissa Campanelli, editor-in-chief
B-to-B
1. Using any home digital video camera, you can shoot and now edit an effective video to complement your website's product
presentations. If your lighting is even and audio clear, you can create an effective online video. As a rule of thumb, keep videos short. For beginners, less than a minute is best. If you're going over two minutes, your name better be Francis Ford Coppola. Don't let an individual scene run longer than
10 seconds.
George Hague, HAGUEdirect
"5 Free, Fantastic Web Marketing Tools," May, Retail Online Integration
2. "For B-to-B retailers, focus your initial investment in social media on developing a company blog with online video support. Allocate 1 percent to 2 percent of your total marketing budget to social media to get started. Think of it this way: If your marketing budget is $1 million, devote between $10,000 and $20,000 for a social media test."
George Hauge, HAGUEdirect
"Do You Feel Stupid That You Don't Tweet?," September, Retail
Online Integration
Channel Integration
3. Integrate your messaging. "Now that Google has introduced real-time search, it's more imperative than ever to have your message constantly available in multiple channels. That means constant engagement: Tweets have to be written and answered, branded communities must be monitored, websites kept up-to-date, and search marketing must reflect your attention to the changing face of the internet."
Neil M. Rosen, eWayDirect
"Best Practices for Integrating Your E-Marketing Efforts," March 16, The ROI Report
4. Leverage and adapt great creative. "Start with a great product and expose it repeatedly. Put it on your catalog's front cover, on your homepage, in your emails, and on your landing and category pages."
Margaret Moraskie, Boston Proper
"Ways to Maximize Your Multichannel Experience," June 8, The ROI Report
5. "Consistent messaging throughout an online marketing campaign typically produces higher conversion rates. Make sure the theme of the search campaign is in line with the display campaign. Check that the messaging of the display campaign and the language used in the copy match the keywords you're buying for search. Make sure the keywords searched for will have appropriate creative and will lead to landing pages designed to guide searchers to their desired action. And close the circle by designing the landing pages of the search campaign to be aligned with those of the display campaign."
Paul M. Wilson, iProspect
"The Dynamic Duo," August, Retail Online Integration
