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Welcome (*firstname*) Welcome to the second edition of Konstrukt – the Cru Creative eNewsletter. For those new to our newsletter, you have almost certainly been referred by friends or family, or have subscribed to our recent Case of Wine competition (which is still running I might add – click here to win!) If you feel you have received this in error, you can certainly unsubscribe (link is at the bottom). But before you start scrolling down, please take a brief moment to find out whether or not this edition may be of relevance to you – we’re betting it is.
This month’s INSIGHT is an in-depth review (oh yes – it’s a loooong article!....but dont worry, it will be split into four weekly sessions) of the growing phenomenon of pay-per-click (search engine) advertising and how you can utilize it to drive new sales for your business at lower prices than you can expect to pay elsewhere. We’ll discuss the basics of PPC Advertising; demonstrate how to create your own PPC campaign; and explain how to fine-tune those campaigns to achieve a staggeringly low cost per sale. This month’s CREATIVE CORNER is an insight into Sitelet’s (or minisites). We’ll discuss the significance of Sitelet’s in your marketing campaigns; when you should build them as opposed to simply updating your existing website; how they should be built; and finally how to promote them to maximize their potential. We’ll introduce you to LIPS, Lifestyle Investment and Planning Services, and the work we have been doing for them over the past two months in this month’s BRAG FILE. We’ll also give you the chance to win big in our Case of Wine competition – well, as big as a case of wine can be! To win your very own case of Bin 555 Shiraz, wrapped and delivered to your door, simply click here. But please, don’t forget to come back and finish reading our 2nd edition! And finally, our website launch has finally come! Click here to check it out! Until next week, happy reading and good luck to he winner of our competition… whoever that may be! Best Regards
Ben Stokes |
Search Engine Marketing: buying your way to the top! In this month’s edition of Konstrukt, I’m going to let you in on a secret that will almost certainly change the way you market your business online – and quite possibly offline - forever. This secret is pay-per-click advertising. Some of you may have heard of it. Some of you may be already using it. Almost certainly, none of you are using it to its full potential. PPC Advertising (pay-per-click) can be categorised into all the paid listing offerings by search engines around the world. In this article I’m going to:
The basics Pay-per-click advertising Pay-per-click (PPC) Advertising is simply an online form of advertising where you pay providers to generate click-throughs to your website. You write ads which appear on search engine sites (mainly) and these ads appear when a search engine user types in a search phrase particular to your campaign. When that search engine user “clicks” on your ad it generates a “click-through”. You are then charged a fee by the service provider. You can set the maximum fee for this click by “bidding”. The beauty of PPC Advertising is that you can track results in real-time. There’s absolutely no need to invest 1000’s of dollars only to find out your ad wasn’t relevant to the target market. Your PPC Provider will demonstrate in real-time just how effective your ad is – and let you change nearly any aspect of it within seconds! In my opinion, especially for Australia, there’s only two PPC providers really worth considering – Google and Overture. To get your PPC Advertising campaign up and running you just need to sign up with one or the other (or both!), choose your search terms, write your ads and away you go! Sounds simple… not quite!
Which search engine / PPC Provider to use? Before I go into too much detail, I’d first like to give you an insight into both Google and Overture.
There are advantages and disadvantages of both, but these are fairly minor, for most people it will be important to run ads on BOTH portals.
How do I get started? Getting up and running for both Google AdWords and Overture is fairly simple. You’ll first need to go to https://adwords.google.com.au/ to sign up for Google AdWords and to http://www.content.overture.com/ for Overture. Both PPC providers will get you to submit your personal details and add a buffer of money into your advertising account (min $100). Once you have your username, password and account setup – it’s time to rock and roll! Please stay tuned for part 2 next week for more information on "Search Engine Marketing" |
Sitelets: making your web marketing dollar go further A sitelet is simply a purpose or campaign specific website that is generally a subset of a larger website. What Is® provides the following definition:
In this month’s Creative Corner I would like to discuss:
Please stay tuned for part 2 next week for more information on "Sitelets"
Sitelets – their significance Sitelets have a place in your marketing schedule whenever you have a product or event that either has no place in your current website OR (more importantly) when your product or event deserves more attention than it will get from your current website. An example of this could be when you want to promote an event or service, where your current website is very product driven (i.e. an e-commerce portal). Another example could be a product launch. For example, Nike may launch a new shoe and make a complete website based around it for its launch. Yet another example could a sitelet based around a competition.
I saw a great implementation of this not long ago for the “Kahlua
House”. The entire website/sitelet was based around a competition
to win a weekend at Kahlua House. Of course to enter you needed
to purchase a bottle of Kahlua. I saw the ad on NineMSN (a great
example of rich media advertising actually). Check it out for yourself
- http://www.kahluahouse.com/
As you can see, a sitelet can be an integral part of any campaign, for almost any reason you deem important.
When to create – and when to integrate It may not always be obvious when to create a sitelet or when to simply integrate new content into an existing website, but a good guide is to first consider the magnitude of the launch, your budget, how much content/material you have, your target market, campaign duration and timeliness, and finally what we like to call the “funk factor”!
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Last month we had a request for further information on Rich Media Advertising, Sitelets and Building your customer database. I’m happy to say that we’ve spent some time researching both Sitelets and Rich Media Advertising in the last month and for those who hadn’t already noticed, we’ve incorporated our research and experience with Sitelet’s into this month’s Creative Corner. Look out next month for our in depth study of Rich Media Advertising and Trade Show Advertising! (We’ll also get to “Building your customer database” in the not-too-distant future!) If you’d like to find out more about a particular creative
topic, promotional technique or advertising strategy, please don’t
hesitate to let us know. We’ll do our best to incorporate
into a future issue. As you can see, we’re eager to give our
readers what they want. If you’re struggling for ideas, we’ve
listed some categories below to get your brain ticking over… To have your say shoot an email to: thecru@crucreative.com.au
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BRAG FILE #1: LIPS! This month's brag is for a company called Lifestyle and Investment Planning Solutions (LIPS for short! MUAH!)
This project involved website design, eNewsletter, four different logo designs, a postcard design, business cards, letterheads, email stationery and miscellaneous print stationery. LIPS asked Cru Creative to help get them up and running and the Cru came to the party.
Possibly the most exciting aspect of LIPS work is their Postcard Campaign which will be running shortly to over 15,000 households in the local area. We're looking forward to measuring the response to their campaign and the sales it will generate for them over the next few months. Many thanks to Damian and Justine from LIPS for their support on this project. |
So you’re ready to take the step… you’re ready to refer your friends. It’s a big step we know, which is why we’re going to give you some friendly prodding in the right direction. Some call it bribery, but we just like to think of it as “sharing the wealth”… you refer some friends, we’ll give you the same number of entries in our eNewsletter competition. That’s right, for every friend you refer you get one more chance to win your very own eNewsletter design! It’ll only take you a few minutes -and your friends will benefit each month from the creative insights and tips that we will pass on. Click here to refer a friend. |
It’s coming… and it’s big. The Cru Creative website, now months in the making, is coming soon to a web browser near you. More mind blowing than The Matrix, more involving than Futurama, and more engaging content than CNN on steroids. Plus there’s some purple monkeys and stuff too. All that and a bunch of sweet competitions and freebies to boot. You won’t want to miss the Cru Creative website launch. To ensure you get your ticket we’ll email you as soon as the website is released… we may even throw in some free popcorn. |
Gripes, praise, thoughts, issues... RFP's... talk to us!
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