Luckily, this month-long campaign of wasted impressions has ceased, but as a marketer, I can’t help but notice the simple errors Cars4Causes made in their display ads campaign. Below are 3 AdWords lessons Cars4Causes may have missed in their SEM class.

1) Set a Limit to Number of Daily Impressions

Google AdWords allows any campaign manager to set a cap on the number of impressions an ad may be viewed by a target per day, week, or month.  It might be best to assume that if a consumer has seen your ad X number of times a day, week, or month and has still not clicked on it, then they are not interested.

2) Ad Should Capture Attention BUT Not Visually Offend

After the 50th time of seeing the C4C ad, it was the look of the ad that bothered me most.  While I am patriotic and like red, white, and blue, this particular ad has a cheesy car salesman look and clashes on the screen rather than appeal to viewers.   C4C could have taken a lesson from Groupon who uses alot of pretty food imagery in their display ads to entice AND create a visually stimulating ad to click.

3) Created Multiple Versions of Ad

Another aspect of the C4C ads that put me off was the fact that there was only one version.  A good rule of thumb for any search engine marketing campaign is to do experiments with different versions of ads to appeal to specific targets or to test which is most effective.  C4C didn’t have an ad specifically geared toward a woman or man, or toward a particular age group.  It was just one, singular, sad ad.

Once again, Groupon provides great examples of ad groups.  They bombard me all the time with display ads, but since they vary with different looks and messages, I am less annoyed and have a much better brand experience.  And hey, I might even give ‘em a click once in a while.

Conclusion

One could say that if the goal of the C4C campaign was to catch the audiences attention, they succeeded.  But at what price and annoyance of a potential (or non-potential) consumer?  While I’m sure they enjoyed some decent click-thrus and conversions from this campaign, how much more could they have received if they had incorporated a better strategy into their campaign?

Have you been bombarded by a bad display ad marketing?  What lessons would you like to teach the marketers of these brands?

This newsletter also highlights any monthly marketing events taking place in the Memphis area (or nationally) as they occur. Plans for future issues will include polls, Q&A sessions, and much more!  Subscribe here or check out June’s issue highlighting organizations using social media to help market their product, service, or brand.

June 2010
EarthJustice Foursquare
Huggies Poo in Blue
Alluvian and Social Media
Social Media Info Graphic

Feel free to submit any interesting articles of marketers kicking ace and taking names or offer feedback on what you would like to see in future editions.

Take a look at the graphic below.  What School of Marketing do you hail from?
Are you a master of traditional marketing mediums such as print or TV?  Or are you a new-age ninja, with major nunchuck skills in the web?

Product

Every marketing project starts with a product.  It has to be something of value and something unique to offer a competitive advantage.  With iPhone apps, your product is no exception to this rule.  Your app needs to either be completely new or offer unique features that other apps are lacking.  Otherwise, why would anyone download it?  When developing your iPhone app practice due diligence and see what other apps are out there.  Can they do what your app does?  Do they have better graphics?  Do they offer the same or better user experience?  Don’t reinvent the wheel.  Ask these questions in the development phase so you can make modifications and improvements to your app and give it the best chance for success in the App Store.

Price

iPhone apps are unique when it comes to pricing.  If you are not going the free app route and want to charge, your first thought might be to go with the lowest app price possible of $.99. However, as a developer you could be missing out on higher profits.  There is actually some negative association with charging $.99 for your apps.  It can cheapen the value.  There is a limit, but purchasers will pay more if an app is a quality made one.  Additionally, developers can justify a more pricey app by creating a lite (simplified) version for people to try before upgrading to a paid and more interactive version.

iPhone app pricing can also be manipulated within the App Store with amazing results.  Many apps have lowered their price for a weekend or finite time period to generate buzz, garnish more downloads and even improve their rankings within the App Store.

Promotion

Promoting iPhone apps can be tricky.  Why?  Because traditional mass promotion isn’t effective.   Only a small percentage of any market has an iPhone to purchase apps for.  Even using banner ads or PPC methods may not work well since you cannot target these individuals properly using just keywords.  One exception could be Facebook ads where apps can be promoted and targeted to members based upon their interests in anything related to iPhones.  Long story short, paid advertisements on or offline may not be the best bang for your promotional buck.

So what are other options to promote your app?  Most iPhone app marketing promotions are going to have to be inbound, meaning your potential customers seek and find you.  Inbound could be used by offering referral incentives to your existing users within your app or using social mediums (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter) to help connect with potential users.  Lastly, generating buzz through app reviews either within the App Store or through 3rd party reviewers is a great way to promote your app at (sometimes) little to no cost.

Update - Other options to market your app (if you have an advertising budget) would be to incorporate an AdMob campaign in with your app promotions.  AdMob is an advertising solution for companies or developers who are looking to advertise their app over various mobile avenues.  Coming July 1, iAds should be another promotion option for iPhone and iPad app developers, but that is another blog post.

Place

How can App developers compete in more than one place when an app can only exist on your phone?  One idea would be to have a second place for it online.  Think about Foursquare - You check in to places using your phone, but there is still a whole website that is available to continue the community experience.  Foursquare users on the website can get updates of new mayorships in their area and post tips of new places to visit, just to name a few.

If you have the time and developer experience, why not include a website as a second point of interaction for your users?  Heck, take it a step further and create a place of interaction where non-iPhone users can break bread with their iPhone carrying cronies.  On version two of the EraseUrX iPhone app (coming soon), app users will not only be able to send break up messages to their respective ex-partners, they will also have the option to post their messages on a public blog to share with the world.  Non-iPhone users can still get a kick out of the break-up creativity of their peers in a place outside of the iPhone.

How else have you seen iPhone apps be marketed using one of the four P’s of the marketing mix?  Share in the comments below.

Related Posts

10 Ways to Promote Your iPhone App

In my last post I discussed an idea I used to showcase my own personal brand using Google Adwords.  This got the wheels in my brain turning on a great guerrilla marketing initiative that businesses could apply to their own branding campaigns to take advantage of search engine white space and add to their user experience.  Let’s think about Google Adwords and its application for businesses…

1. At some point, an existing or prospective client is going to Google your company’s name.
2. In most cases, no one will bid on your company’s brand name.
3. If no one is bidding, the ad impression is free and cost per click could be as little as $.10.
4. Why not take advantage of all the empty white space to the right of your organic search to create an eye catching ad?

Having Fun with Adwords. What a Novel Idea!

The idea is pure gold!  It’s cheap, it fills up the search page with your brand name, it’s one more place to lead people back to your website, and it’s just plain fun.  But I cannot be the only person to have thought of applying this to a business.  After all, I am a lowly freelance marketer.  There are hundreds of Marketing firms who are paid big bucks every day to manage brands of ginourmous companies, not to mention their own personal business brands.  Surely, they have already applied this seriously awesome idea to bid on their own brand name?

It's not Adwords, but MailChimp is a seriously great example of putting eye-catching ads on their website to enhance user experience.

Many have Seriously not…and don’t call me Shirley.

I tested my idea by Googling the company names of some of the biggest marketing firms in my hometown, Memphis, Tennessee.  I was shocked that only two of the 12 firms listed below had taken the time to create an Adwords campaign with their brand name as a keyword.  I know each and every marketing professional has a fun side and loves to think outside the box.  So why aren’t they having more fun with people who search their brand name to create an ad?  Beats me.  As everyone knows, something that is cheap and catches the attention and interest of a prospective client is a way-bad idea (sarcasm).

The Challenge

I started an Adwords campaign today and placed bids on the company names of some of the top Memphis marketing firms.  The ads contain a link to this post.

I challenge each of these firms to:

1. Take advantage of your unused search engine white space.
2. Create a Google ad for keywords of your own business brand.
3. Have some fun with this ad! Make it eye catching.  Have it showcase what makes you different from the other agencies or use it to enhance experience with current or potential clients.

I will regularly monitor each keyword search for the next few weeks (until June 11, 2010) and update this post as each firm takes the plunge to make that $.10 bid!  Feel free to also let me know in the comments section if you have posted your ad. Oh, and just in case you are worried about a bidding war, don’t be.   I have no where near the funds you probably have at your disposal (working on a newly graduated student budget here!).

Let’s see what Memphis Marketers come up with…

Memphis Marketing Firms

I want to make is perfectly clear that this challenge is just in fun and that I respect each of your firms and all the work you and your employees do.  If at any point my ads cause offense, send me an email I will gladly remove it at your company’s request.

Archer Malmo

Brainwoo (Thompson)

CS2 Advertising

Howell Marketing

Inferno - Great Job!  They already had an ad before I made this post!

Lokion - Great Job!  They already had an ad before I made this post!

LunaWeb

Oden

Red Deluxe*

Red Rover - Red Rover get’s a pass from this challenge if they wish.  Even though no one is bidding on their brand name keyword, the minimum bid is a whopping $1 per click!  Way outside my $.10 CPC budget.

Rocket Fuel*

Valeo Marketing

* These companies have other bidders on their brand name keywords so my $.10 CPC ad is third in Google searches and may not be as visually or cost effective as with other firms.

Let’s be honest…

There is very little excitement to be found in a pay per click (PPC) campaign and there is definitely nothing sexy or mind blowing about Adwords.   An Adwords campaign is relatively easy to set-up and maintain, but let’s all put our zany marketing caps on for just a second and think outside the keyword box.  How can we use our Adword keywords to build our brand??   My answer in just a moment…

The Adwords Idea

My soon to be revealed Adwords idea was inspired by another individual on the job hunt (yes, this new graduate is also on the hunt if you know anyone interested) who placed bids on the brand names of the companies he wanted to work for.  The ads got some attention.  He received two offers from the five companies he targeted and spent a whopping $6.00 on the entire campaign!

My Out of the Box Answer

So in my own personal attempt to showcase my knowledge of Search Engine Marketing and branding abilities, I have taken advantage of all the white space to the right of the “Erin Wiles” Google search page to buy up sponsored ad space in order to attract attention of a potential employers.  Now, when anyone Googles my name (as I request on my about page and in cover letters) they will be greeted with ads describing my awesomeness and ninja marketing skills.

My goal is to impress potential employers, but I do also realize it could backfire.  A potential employer might see this and think I am too over the top or wild for their brand…hmm…I am up for the risk!  If a marketing company doesn’t consider this out of the box thinking something that could benefit their company (not to mention entertain), then how much fun would it be to work for them anyways?

Part II - Let’s apply this same principle with companies for some true Guerrilla Marketing fun.