1. Localize

National brands with local physical locations typically spend more time and effort on national marketing, limiting or eliminating the local message. However, that can be a mistake. Local efforts are instrumental in driving increased local business. 

Competition is very steep at tradeshows; you will need to make it a priority to capture and keep the attention of the attendees. But how can this be done assuming that the attendees already have plans on which booths will complement their interest? The answer is “Go Mobile”.

Mobile technology continues to outburst usability in marketing, even in tradeshows. Think about, for example, the impact that QR (quick response) codes have to the adoption of smartphones. QR codes let attendees communicate with the presenters and booths while leaving an impressive first impression.

Tablets are starting to pop up everywhere and in the hands of the sales department is not uncommon.  We’re creating custom tablet applications for trade shows, sales teams to present their products to customers, etc.

There’s just something about the device that really grabs the attention of the customer.  They just love seeing the imagery close-up and personal.  The more interactive and engaging you make the interface the more intriguing it is.

Here are three key things you need to do right now to make your site mobile-friendly:

1. Know The Basics

Make content visually appealing for limited screen viewing by using CSS in your coding. Reduce the image sizes and ensure fonts and content are simple enough to quickly scan and understand.

Optimize your content and images by including the keywords found in your Google AdWords mobile search, and strategically sprinkle them throughout your pages. Best practice is to avoid using any ads – it’s hard enough to see your content.

We all know that online advertising provides the most cost effective awareness generation of all media channels.  Due to it's targeting capabilities and extremely low CPM (cost per thousand impressions) there's virtually no waste.  Heavy ad frequency to those prospects that line up directly with your best customers.

How can B2B marketers measure their online marketing investments? According to AMR International, only 50% of B2B marketers can measure it formally and they admitted that they find it more effective rather than traditional marketing channels. It happens because of the budget size a business has allotted and those who have yearly budgets lesser than $25,000 has the capability to formally analyze their metrics.

Unlike those who had provided budgets higher than $2 million. Only 24% can calculate it not like the remaining 84%, which automatically means that budget plays a big role in measurement.

More and more companies are outfitting their sales staff with iPads.  This is great but moving from one application to another to make a presentation is still to clumsy.  Ontarget is building an iPad Sales App that will allow each company to create their own presentations, product catalog, usage videos, specification documents, etc.  All of this information is stored in a very clean iPad interface that would WOW any prospect.

The company administrator can add new product information and the next time the salesperson launches the iPad Sales App they are asked if they would like to download the new information.  The system is completely standalone so the salesperson doesn’t have to worry about having access to the Internet to make their presentation.

Local searchers and local businesses will see a fairly substantially different Place Page the next time they’re poking around Google Maps/Places. The company announced a new look and promises more changes to come. This is just the start of what looks like Google’s new move to control local marketing.

The new layout of Place Pages puts a heavy emphasis on reviews. More specifically, it emphasizes reviews from Google users and no longer shows review content from third party sites. (Google had issues with both Yelp and TripAdvisor over review snippets last year, you may recall.)

Have you noticed those strange little boxes containing hundreds of little black dots filling the corner of various traditional advertisements? Almost as if someone took a traditional bar code, chopped it into a million little pieces, and put it back into the same spot? Welcome to the strange new world of Quick Response (QR) codes. These two-dimensional bar codes are making traditional print and billboard advertising more engaging - and finding new channels to deliver a custom experience to users on the go.

• Give Mom what she wants. Provide special offers and discounts to mom and encourage her to share your coupons and ideas with her friends.  Also create ways for her to contribute like uploading photos, product reviews, comments, etc.

• Be a resource. Provide useful information that saves her time and money.  This can be simple advice, how-to-vides, news, recipes, etc.  Most of this information is good to add to your email-marketing program or Facebook.

Interactive TV has been lingering for several years.  Many of the top brands have played with its capabilities over that period of time.  Now acquisitions like Comcast’s acquisition of NBC Universal are being made solely because of the future of Interactive TV.  Interactive television will save the medium we know as television today.

It’s important to understand the interactive functionality offered by video, TiVo, Satellite TV and cable boxes.  The executions are happening right now and having great success.  With the fragmentation of the various devices it’s still hard to see a positive return but it’s getting a lot better than before.