IBM Expands Cloud Based Analytics for Smarter Commerce

Paul Lima     

I think it’s neat to see how companies are getting together in a consortium, if you will through IBM’s Coremetrics product.  Collectively, they allow any client that opts-into the program to view the aggregate averages within their industry.  Summary information is now being picked up in the press as an indication of how Black Friday went.  Pretty cool if you don’t have to share your information.  And that’s where the IBM Acquisition of DemandTek comes into play.

A sample dashboard from DemandTec

So this type of thinking helps companies competing in the digital marketplace to adapt to changes in consumer demands as they occur.  Companies that can quickly and effectively adjust their price points and product mixes in response to ever-shifting customer buying patterns will have a key competitive advantage in the era of mobile and social networks.

That’s why IBM’s acquisition of DemandTec this past Thursday will make the  Smarter Commerce initiative even more valuable to retailers and manufacturers of packaged consumer goods.  The San Mateo, California based DemandTec develops cloud-based analytics software that allows businesses to examine consumer buying data mined from both online and in-store sales.  DemandTec customers can use that information to quickly and accurately identify consumer trends, helping  them make better price, promotion, and assortment decisions.  And because DemandTec’s software is cloud-based, retailers and manufacturers can collaborate to make time-sensitive business decisions instantaneously.

A sample Coremetrics Dashboard

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Defining an Online Marketing Strategy and Roadmap

Paul Lima      digital marketing strategy, internet marketing strategy, online marketing strategy, web marketing strategy

Check out our latest video developed to assist Internet Marketers in developing an integrated and cohesive digital marketing strategy.

Please let us know you’re feedback, we’re launching a series of theses and would love to hear what you think.

CPG Creative Best Practices Online: Driving Breakthrough and Persuasion

Paul Lima      consumer packaged goods, conversion optimization, cpg, creative, persuasion architecture

This is a re-print from Yahoo! blog entry and I’ve injected comments throughout.  I’ve recently had an opportunity to speak with several Consumer Packaged Goods companies, some large, some small and in just about every case was curious about why the industry at large struggles with the development of digital strategy and implementation when they are so advanced in their execution of traditional media.

This research from Ipsos OTX and Yahoo! was terrific and really offered some insights into the product life stage relative to the marketing objectives.  My intuition is that many of these practices will work for e-commerce sites as well.  read more

Tips For Targeting Latinos Online: New at #SESNY

Paul Lima      digital strategies, hispanic marketing, internet marketing segmentation, marketing to latinos, online marketing consulting, online marketing strategy, Search Engine Optimization

Day 2 at #SESNY kicked off with a groundbreaking keynote. But wait. Let’s rewind. Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of interviewing Paul Lima of Lima Consulting on the topic of Digital Marketing To Latino Users. The Q&A was an eye-opening peek at the opportunity represented by the growing online Hispanic market, and a serious appeteaser to the inaugural launch of the Focus Latino track at Search Engine Strategies New York.

The keynote was introduced & moderated by Mike Grehan, Chair SES Advisory Board, Global VP Content, SES/Search Engine Watch/ClickZ, Carlos Vassallo, CEO, LatinVision Media Inc., Carlos Manzano, Executive Director, Latin Media & Entertainment Commission, City of NY, and Paul Lima himself. Mark López , Head of U.S. Hispanic Audience, Google, took the stage for the main event, which was jam-packed with awesome stats about Latino users. Oodles of them live below the fold, in addition to a hearty helping of takeaways from the follow-up session, Reaching Latinos through SEO, presented by Rafael E. Hernandez, Sales Manager, AudienceScience and Matias Perel, Founder and CEO, Latin3. aimClear live-tweeted both of these fascinating sessions. Read on for the goodies.

Mind-Blowing Stats, Brian-Nuggets  & Best Practices
Mike, Carlos V. & Carlos M, Paul, and Mark took turns sharing a slew of stats & targeting tips regarding the Hispanic Market. (Rad full write up in Bruce Clay Blog.) Here’s a sample platter of the main attractions:

• The U.S. Hispanic market is a $1 trillion market! That cannot be ignored.
• New York City has the most diverse Hispanic population than any other city in the U.S.
• By 2040, it’s predicted that 100% of the U.S. Hispanic market will be online. Searching, socializing, etc.
• There is no real divide between online & offline engagement. Online engagement, video & mobile usage is on par with the overall market.
• 53% of Hispanics use the Internet for shopping (searching to learn more about brands, find products,purchase products, etc.)
• Search prompts action, meaning search generates distinct offline action for U.S. Hispanic advertisers
• TV is an effective trigger for search – 78% of Hispanics have used search engine to find more info about something they saw on TV.
• U.S. Hispanics are Googlers! 93% of Hispanics use Google as their primary search engine.
• Mobile search drives store traffic. 1 in 3 mobile search queries have local intent.
• 15% of iPhone apps are local-based
• 24% iPhone users are Hispanic (they rely on mobile to stay connected with friends & family)
• Mobile is already an important component in the purchase funnel. 40% of Hispanics compare prices & find retailers via smartphones.
• Search dominates smartphone usage.70% of Hispanics use smartphones to search– in other words, search engines are most popular sites they visit.
• 8% of queries entered in Google today are in Spanish. This opens a huge pot of inventory that many companies haven’t tapped into yet.
• Regarding Spanish keywords vs. English keywords — there’s a substantial discount for Spanish KWs.
• 80% of Spanish KW queries are done in the English Interface of Google. This suggests bilingual users, who can be targeted by both Spanish & English KWs. #Winning

Mark Lopez, Head of US Hispanic Audience for Google presents with Mike Grehan, Head of Content Development for Incisive Media, the SES conference organizers, and Paul Lima, CEO of Lima Consulting Group and Carlos Vassallo, CEO of LatinVision Media

Best practices:

• Develop search capabilities for this market. You have to test your creative across languages. Keywords, images, copy– what you serve to English-speaking users may not resonate with Spanish-speaking users.
• Have an “Always On” strategy for search. Your target audience is searching 24/7.
• Make your offline marketing strategy a digital one. Ensure you are present as users search for their favorite offline content (such as TV shows).
• Extend to mobile search. It’s there, & it’s growing! Hispanics rely more heavily on their mobile devices.

Reaching Latinos through SEO
The following session focused more on SEO, and ways to optimize your site for Hispanic searchers. Rafael was up first, reiterating that Google has 72% of search traffic in Latin America. If Latinos are a part of your target audience, Google should factor into your SEO tactics.

Another significant tactic Rafael touched upon the importance of understanding how your audiences describes you; your business, brand, products, services, etc. What are the keywords they use to find you? Those are the keywords you should use to advise your SEO strategy. And, newsflash– they might not be the words you use to describe yourself.

Where to find keyword ideas:

• Your own content
• Your Analytics (high quality terms driving small traffic? low-hanging fruit!)
• Your competitors’ pages
• Your PPC data

Discover what’s working, and use it!

Matias took the stage next, set to dig deeper into Reaching Latinos through SEO.

Some stats:

• 30 mil U.S. Hispanics are online
• 89% search share in Latin America on Google
• 112 million Internet users in Latin America
• 6 million new web users in Brazil last year alone

Factors in SEO & Other Fascinating Takeaways

• Indexing - take note, is every page indexing?
• Contextualization (KEY in Latin America) – what’s the page about?
• Reputation is huge. Influences people to click, or… not.
• Think globally…. who owns your local domain? Use it!
• Sub-domains & sub-folders – separate your Spanish content from your English content. Avoid query string parameters /session variable.
• Language - how does your audience think & search online? How do they expect to find your content?
• Server - not the biggest deal, but having local IPs for your server can help add context to your site.
• Local links are more relevant, a better sign of trust & reputation to Hispanic users.
• The new social factor: social defined relevance. Sharing is the new linking! See how Google understands your social connections.
• As always, CONTENT IS KING. According to Matias, it’s also president & prime minister . The same rules apply. Create unique content worth sharing and linking.
• “Latinos love to share! Latinos love great content!” Leverage cool videos, infographics, thoughtful posts, incredible photos.

“Viva la diferencia!”
The biggest takeaway from this session (and perhaps the track in general)… Be mindful of the different ways Latinos say the same thing. Latinos have a lot in common – but every culture has some slight differences in how they express themselves. The same word (for example, “lightbulb”) can be expressed differently from Argentina, to Mexico, to Colombia. This is huge in terms of KW research and how you go about stemming. There are so many ways to say the same thing… within and between these cultures.

Thanks to all of the moderators & speakers for two terrific back-to-back sessions. These presentations certainly set the bar for future Focus Latino tracks to come. Stay tuned in aimClear Blog for more conference coverage– follow along with @beebow, @Matt_Peterson, @aimClear & @KJalivay for live-tweets straight from the floor.

SES New York 2011 Powerpoint Presentation

Paul Lima      digital strategies, hispanic marketing, internet marketing segmentation, latino marketing, marketing to latinos, online marketing consulting, online marketing strategy

Applying the Buying Cycle for B2B Professional Services to Online Marketing

Paul Lima      b2b buying cycle, b2b emarketing, digital strategies, digital strategy consulting, emarketing, online marketing, online marketing consulting, online strategy, tips

Online marketers need to keep the basics of marketing at the forefront of their strategy.  In B2B professional services companies, there is a pretty standard buying cycle that online marketers can use to address the strategy, tactics and campaigns to accomplish their business objectives.  The buying cycle usually consists of  5 steps and with each step, there are better online marketing tactics than others.

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