Thanks to the internet and eCommerce, we now have access to a larger amount of products than ever before. Consumers have become increasingly comfortable in buying online, especially with more and more eCommerce retailers jumping on board with free shipping and ‘one-click ordering’.

It is predicted by eMarketer that the number of U.S. consumers buying online will increase 14.9% to 170.3 million in 2015. Accompanying that, between 8-10% of all queries on Google are shopping related.

One of the issues with online shopping is the paradox of choice. Sometimes too much selection can be downright overwhelming. It’s a problem of which the internet is both a cause and a cure.

So what will the new generation of eCommerce online retailers be offering to make it easier for consumers? The answer is….. ‘Push Shopping’! Push Shopping consists of leveraging eCommerce, online data and expert curation to help consumers make up their minds.

Thanks to digital technology, we can ‘set it and forget it’ – whether it’s using Siri to remind you to get bread and milk on the way home, or paying your phone bill via direct debit. We have grown accustomed to letting our digital products automate our life. So why don’t we utilise this offline? Enter online subscription services. For the man with no time (and presumably no washing machine), ManPacks delivers socks and underwear each month. Guyhaus will cover your shaving cream, toothpaste and deodorant. And for the ladies, Hoseanna will auto-ship lip balm, razors and other essentials.

Personalisation is now expected amongst online shoppers. Based on algorithms, online retailers can suggest products based off your previous shopping habits, interests and likes. In fact, customers who click on a suggestion are 30% more likely to purchase. Subscription sites like Kim Kardashian’s Shoedazzle are great examples of this. When you land on the website, you are asked to complete a quiz that determines your style preferences. They then send you fashion and beauty products each month based on your statistically-determined ‘personal style’.

Overall, Push Shopping could significantly change the way we live our lives. Utilising automation based services, coupled with personalisation, Push Shopping could be the ‘architecture of serendipity’. As human beings living in an ever changing and automated world, Push Shopping could give us the suprise and delight we all crave in getting a gift, and most importantly, a gift that is tailored to what we like.

There are more and more subscription based Push Shopping websites popping up. These subscription sites inject new life into old business models and leverage the best of the web to create new real-world products and experiences.

My guess is that one day we will be able to use online software that tracks our family and friends and suggests Christmas/birthday/valentines gifts based on their recent ‘likes’. We mightn’t even have to worry about sending these gifts to them – postage may also be automated through our favourite sites.

Will you be using Push Shopping soon? Maybe even by next Christmas? It’s anyone’s guess!

This is a question that has, until now, presented potential advertisers with a degree of uncertainty when outlining advertising budgets, invariably stemming from their inability to categorically forecast returns. In essence, I liken advertising expenditure with putting money into a poker machine – sometimes you win, and win big (and yet don’t know how or why) and sometimes, you come out worse for wear.

The Next Big Thing?

While many agree that internet and digital advertising are increasingly forming pivotal channels within any modern marketing mix, TV and other traditional media platforms are by no means completely out-dated.

Increasingly, advertisers are opting to utilise integrated marketing strategies to convey a single message across numerous platforms. In doing so, advertisers attempt to ensure greater message retention, greater exposure and higher frequency with these tactics with an ultimate goal of achieving increased brand/message recall.

We know more and more people are consuming more than one form of media while watching television. Be it their smart phones, tablets or laptops, Australian audiences are moving towards the simultaneous consumption of both passive and interactive media.

So how will advertisers be able to capitalise on this evolving consumer trend?

Enter ‘Social-TV’

Already being pioneered in various countries around the world, the Seven Network, in conjunction with their internet and digital media interest Yahoo!7, are the first to bring such a product to Australia, with a free ‘Social-TV’ app called Fango (follow the link for a video demonstration).

In an official media release, Yahoo!7 have given a sneak peak of what advertisers can expect from this new medium moving forward. Although still in its infancy, Fango promises a renewed sense of audience engagement, placing particular emphasis on garnering and maintaining the attention of users who have become accustomed to the immediacy and interactivity of the internet.

“Fango is the social way to watch TV. It will provide a real-time social forum for fans to connect with each other around their favourite programmes and live media events. They won’t just be watching, they will have the opportunity to participate in real time…”

This means that, during the second set of the aforementioned Australian open quarter final, multitasking audiences can be voting on who is going to win the next point in real time, discussing the commentator’s remarks or even earning points and badges for responding to engaging brand communications!

The Fango platform will potentially open a whole new set of possibilities for media measurement by allowing networks and advertisers to better understand and monitor their consumer base. This will ultimately enable advertisers to drive more engaging, integrated and interactive ‘content moments’ to users within their desired demographic.

And here’s the big news, a huge barrier to entry for has been removed with Yahoo!7 confirming that the Fango will not be locked to the 7 Network. Yahoo!7 plan expand to the other Australian television networks in 2012.

Targeted Brand Building on TV?

Many will have doubted television’s ability to conduct truly interactive, direct response marketing communications; though the advent of Social-TV will definitely go some way to aiding this.

“Fango will have a range of advertising opportunities available connecting advertisers with a highly engaged audience…

“Fango provides a companion experience to connect brands with passionate fans within a social environment in a way not available before. We are working with advertisers to develop new advertising experiences that engage the consumer across multiple devices in a truly integrated way,”

–Yahoo!7 Official press release

TV has been a medium slow to adapt to and effectively co-exist with the ongoing digital marketing boom, and it’s heartening that TV is realising the opportunities and is starting to evolve.

Watch this space!

Now we are starting to see a new generation of start-ups focusing on moving transactions back to local neighborhoods through location-based mobile advertising.

Imagine this….

The Broncos are kicking off at Suncorp Stadium against your favorite team in 1 hour’s time.  Instead of going to eBay and bidding on tickets that won’t arrive until next week, now you can utilise location based apps on your mobile.  These apps allow you to see what is available within your local area, meaning that you may only have to make a short trip down the road to purchase those hallowed footy tickets.

But these apps don’t stop at tickets! You can see garage sales, jobs, real estate properties, restaurants, surfboards and more, all based on where you are located.

Some app development companies have been very specific in what they are targeting. Real Estate start-ups Zillow and Trulia have focused purely on Real Estate listings. Both apps allow users to instantly browse properties nearby and Trulia has noted that the percentage of its online visitors who also used its mobile app was as high as 46% in some US cities.

Another market that is inherently local is the job market. In the US, startup Zaarly is gaining some traction by creating a peer-to-peer job market. Zaarly allows users to state what they want done – bring me a drink, mow my lawn, teach me algebra – and the price they are willing to pay. Users can apply for jobs that appeal to them in their local area.

As advertising shifts local, here are some tips to ensure that your business is ready:

• Crawl before you can walk. If you’re a startup, or you are making your first investment into online marketing, get your backyard right first. Too many companies try to target everything under the sun and forget where their real customers come from.
• Be Specific. If you’re a restaurant, make sure that you’re listed on relevant apps like Urban Spoon etc. Keep an eye on what people are saying about your food. After all, if you’re only down the road from someone and they like your food, you’re likely to get them in your restaurant regularly.
• Target Local Keywords. When it comes to promoting your website, ensure that you are targeting a mixture of generic and local keywords. People are getting savvier and more specific in the way they search. Searchers are less willing to travel far distances.
• Remain Competitively Priced. With everything being at people’s fingertips through online and app-based devices, it’s imperative that your products/services are competitively priced.
• Get Social! Social Media strategies are incredibly effective in breaking down demographics amongst target markets. If your business hasn’t taken advantage of Facebook or Twitter, get in touch with Reload today!

Let us know how your business is ‘going local’.

The image above recently caused a stir in the advertising world and reignited the debate between traditional marketers and interactive communication specialists over the effectiveness of one-way vs two-way marketing communications.

The company responsible, business social media platform ‘Yammer’, had this to say about their snarky billboard:

“Simply put, we wanted to make a statement about the new paradigm of how people and organizations communicate, and figured what better way to do that than to use the oldest mode of paid media.” - Marketing Designer Aria Shen

The billboard, while daring, experienced a lashing from print advertisers for being ‘ironically taunting’ with the strongest critics labeling the ad as ‘futile and obsolete’ itself.

According to Yammer, the objective of their advertisement was to

“demonstrate to passersby (and potential hires) that old methods of communication are becoming obsolete, and Yammer is ushering in a new standard.” – Yammer

Yet critics argue that, as the billboard itself has generated a huge amount of interest and publicity for Yammer, the medium by default cannot be considered obsolete.

As to which is a better way to communicate a message to your customers, I believe you need both one and two way communication in order to form an effective online presence.

Here are 3 simple ways to connect with your consumer via one way and two way communications online:

1. Increase Your Traffic and Brand Awareness with CPC Advertising.

• CPC Advertising is a great way to insure your company is generating traffic to its website. When focusing on brand awareness, your primary focus should be on Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing’s search and display network campaigns.

• If your focus is to direct traffic to your two-way communication medium, create Facebook CPC ads. These ads will convert users into ‘fans’ of your Facebook business page and therefore have them subscribed to relevant content pumped out through your Facebook site. Interaction is communication!

2. Utilise Social Media – Come On! It’s Free!

• Social Media can be a great way to communicate with your customers, and listen to their attitudes and opinions about your brand.

• Join Twitter and join the conversation. Publish relevant content frequently and engage with your customers by asking questions. Encourage them to do the same. As your number of followers increase, your brand influence does as well.

• Get a Facebook page! What you can do with Facebook for your business these days is incredible. So start now! Publish your RSS blog feed, upload videos and photos and tag your employees. Let your customers know that your business is human. Connect with them on a personal level, and they will remember you!

3. Listen to your Followers

• Generating traffic to your site and social media channels is one thing, but listening to your users can give you some valuable insights into improving your product or services. Engage with a listening tool such as BuzzNumbers and analyse consumer sentiment of topics related to your products or services. You may find ways of improving them, and your customer service!

The agreement, which still has to be approved by anti-trust authorities, is an $800 Million (US) deal which will see Google’s paid advertisements appear on Yahoo’s search results.

Assuming the deal is approved, and I have the impression that it will as both AOL and Ask.com are on similar arrangements with Google, then this will mean that advertisers who are signed up with the Google AdWords program will be able to get their ads to display on Yahoo’s search pages.

This begs the question, if advertisers are able to sign up to the AdWords program and control the placement of their ads in Google, Yahoo, Ask.com & AOL, why would advertisers then sign up for Yahoo Search Marketing, which is limited to just Yahoo searches?

The answer is simple… they wouldn’t.

When you throw in the fact that Yahoo Search Marketing requires a $30 deposit and pre-pay billing, Google’s AdWords becomes even more of a clear option. To make the contest even more one-sided, Google offer a whole raft of extras to assist you with your campaigns including Google Analytics, WebMaster Tools and the new Google AdPlanner.

Yahoo claim that their Search Marketing program will continue to operate in tandem to Google’s ad placements but how long will Yahoo’s users put up with double the amount of ads? My guess is that Yahoo’s Search Marketing program will simply be phased out over 12 months or so. The other more cynical option is that Yahoo will simply drop its Search Marketing program as soon as the deal is approved, and are only keeping the program running to help get it rubber stamped.

So why did Yahoo! make this deal? Quite simply… money.

Google’s share of online advertising revenue is around 80% (depending on who you believe) but Yahoo’s is only around 5%. Despite Yahoo’s best efforts they have failed miserably at stealing any of Google’s market share. In fact, they are actually losing ground.

This left Yahoo with two options; makeover their own Search Marketing program to be better than Google’s AdWords, or take the AOL and Ask.com path and simply outsource to Google. They chose the latter and one can hardly blame them. This new deal guarantees Yahoo! a stream of online advertising income but tightens Google’s grasp on the search marketing market.

It’s no wonder that this kind of deal has drawn interest from the anti-trust authorities but if it is approved (as I suspect it will) then there is strong evidence that this is the end for Yahoo’s Search Marketing program. Once again it looks as though it’s going to be Google v Microsoft.

A few years ago, the link was well established. Google seemed to be attempting to stop its search results being flooded by spammy newcomer websites by valuing a website’s domain age heavily in determing search results. This did work, but the problem was that it also kept new sites that were of high quality out of the top of the results. In essence, it was a temporary fix to a permanent problem.

Then, in late 2006 and early 2007, SEO consultants all over the place watched as some of their respected clients suddenly dropped off the top 10 list. This led to many SEO “experts” claiming that Google had dropped domain age from its ranking algorithm.

Over the last 12 months, many SEO experts have come out and stated that Google has reinstated domain age into their algorithm, as many older sites are now performing much better. It is this humble SEO consultant’s opinion, that domain age is in the algorithm, but only in a limited form.

The practice of domain selling, where companies buy a domain name now, hold onto it for five years or so, and then sell it, has meant that it is not effective to weight domain age too heavily.

The feeling out there now is that Google is using other factors, such as traffic, content and backlinks, to determine a website’s authority. This explains why some SEO’s seem to think domain age is still critical, because for the most part, it is safe to assume that a site that has good traffic, content and backlinks has been around for a while. But it appears that some SEO consultant’s are mixing up correlation and causation.

By weighting traffic, network monitoring, content and backlinks (amongst other things) more heavily, Google are effectively removing those spammy sites from their results but also allowing young sites that have plenty to offer rank well.

It seems that Google may have finally found the balance.

In short, it is difficult for new sites to zoom up the Google rankings, but the age of the domain is not the reason for this. New sites struggle because they don’t have traffic or backlinks to help their ranking. By the same token, older sites will not rank well just because they have been around for ten years.

So while there does exist a correlation between the age of website’s domain and its search engine performance in general, the actual causation for this is most likely a string of other factors that more comprehensively determine a site’s authority, and hence its relevance to search results.