Q2 Marketing Blog» Q2 Marketing Blog – Technology Marketing, Public Relations, Brand Consulting

Study: Impact of Positive & Negative Product Reviews

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 13:20:37 +0000

A study from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas reveals some very interesting findings on the importance of product reviews on buyer habits. The findings draw from 165 participants who tested video games. They had no previous knowledge of the game, Plants vs. Zombies. I know, I know, but stay with me… The point here isn’t really about video games.

The study, called, ”The Influence of Professional Critic Reviews,” divided users into three groups. One was exposed to positive reviews of Plants vs. Zombies, one was exposed to negative reviews, and the third was shown none. Participants then played the game for 20 minutes. Next, they filled out an exit survey, gave the game a review score and chose to either receive a free copy of Plants vs. Zombies or $10.

Positive reviews made a big difference.

Those who read positive reviews were twice as likely to choose the copy of Plants vs. Zombies instead of the cash. And they were 85% more likely to take the game than those not exposed to any reviews.

Are you making use of buyer reviews? They clearly influence purchasing decisions, even if you’re not in the business of the undead.

Talkin’ About My (online) Reputation

Pamela Girardin — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:40:34 +0000

Amtrak’s Arrive Magazine’s most recent issue quotes Q2 Marketing’s Becky Sheetz-Runkle on how to protect your businesses’ online reputation. Find out how to use social media to shape your online reputation. Read the full article: http://www.arrive-digital.com/arrive/20100708#pg31

New eMarketer report on SEO and SEM Spending

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:34:32 +0000

Search is fundamental to customer acquisition. And search engine optimization (SEO) is projected to grow consistently, according to eMarketer’s Search Marketing Trends report.

Read the rest at blogs.aquent.com: http://blogs.aquent.com/aquentblog/author/kelly-boykin/2009/06/

All About Online Video (VSEO)

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 22:19:21 +0000

Online video is all the rage these days. From YouTube and Facebook to news and business websites, everybody’s doing it.

But what everyone’s not doing is optimizing their own video for SEO. Video SEO— or, VSEO—is a collection of practices that guides the creation, optimization and distribution of videos for the purpose of driving traffic and gaining exposure. And these practices, like all of SEO, are a moving target requiring up-to-the-minute expertise.

The Top 10 SEO Software Products in the World!

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Thu, 27 May 2010 14:09:30 +0000

Search engine optimization. Can you really market effectively without it? Probably not. But SEO is about much more than keyword optimization and whose linking back to who. It’s about strategy, content, credibility and great attention to detail.

That’s why a lot of pros don’t go it alone. They pick an SEO software product to help automate the many tedious and time consuming aspects of SEO. The rules and techniques are constantly changing.

To help, I’ve impartially evaluted and compared the top 10 SEO software products in the world. And I do mean world. Only one is based in the U.S.

The top three were:

Web CEO
Advanced Web Ranking
iBusiness Promoter

Find out why they finished at the top and learn about the other seven, price points and more at my TopTenREVIEWS SEO product comparison site.

Enjoy!

DC Among the Top 5 Towns for Creative Professionals

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Tue, 04 May 2010 13:14:17 +0000

In a tight economy with a lot of competition comes welcome news to DC area creatives and businesses that need creative. According to DesignersCouch.com, one of my favorite creative communities, Washington D.C. is among the top five U.S. town for creative professionals.

According to the article, ”DC is a town whose design industry is about to boom in a major way.” The salaries here are on par with New York City.

Read the entire article here: http://designerscouch.org/show_article/234/top-5-us-cities-for-creative-professionals-in-2010.html.

Still not sure of the ROI of email marketing?

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:56:49 +0000

What’s the return on investment of email marketing? It’s easy to get a bit jaded when it comes to email marketing, as we’re cleaning out our inboxes. It seems like on a good day the proportion of solicited messages to unsolicited messages is 1:10. On a good day. . .

But, marketers, don’t allow your assumptions to cloud your judgments. Email marketing has a very real ROI.

According to the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing returned $43.62 for every dollar spent on it in 2009. Yes, the nice people at the DMA might have a dog in the fight. (I really hope people aren’t googling dog fighting and ending up on the TechnologyMarketingBlog.) But who else are you going to trust to measure it?

And while down a bit, they estimate email marketing is expected to return $42.08 for every dollar spent on it this year.

So, if you’re not consistently using email marketing, maybe you should be. And if you’re not getting a healthy ROI, it’s time to evaluate your methods.

Report: Online Ad Revenue Reaches Record High $6.3 Billion in Q4 ’09

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 19:46:40 +0000

The online ad marketing had it’s best quarter ever in Q4 09, according to a report from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

This record $6.3 billion in revenues speaks to the worst of the ad slump behind us, according to PwC’s David Silverman.

Other highlights of the report:

Search and display advertising is still the largest overall interactive advertising spend. Search revenues comprise 47% of the total spending.
Digital video in particular is strong, with an almost 39% increase from 2008 to 2009.
Based on data from PwC from 2005 to 2009 in tv, radio, newspapers, consumers magazines and Internet, the Internet’s share of combined ad revenue more than doubled from 8% to 17%.

Find out more at http://www.iab.net/about_the_iab/recent_press_releases/press_release_archive/press_release/pr-040710

Social Media Use Doubles for Small Businesses

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:04:44 +0000

Small business use of social media is steeply on the rise in the U.S. The third wave of the Small Business Success Index™ (SBSI), sponsored by Network Solutions® and the Center for Excellence in Service at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, reports that social media is being used by twice as many small businesses since last year.

How does your business measure up?

Read more and see the breakdown at http://growsmartbusiness.com/small-business-success-index-highlights/.

SEO, PPC, Social Media & More–Find the Top Online Marketing Firms

Becky Sheetz-Runkle — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:36:35 +0000

Here is a TopTenREVIEWS review of the top internet marketing companies. Various service areas are evaluated, including search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click (PPC), link building, social media optimization and more.

Read the online marketing services firms review.