Here are some highlights and my comments for B2B and B2C marketers:

• “Search” is the barometer and the sign of the current times:  What are the latest search terms spotted by the guys at Google? Frozen food – new DVD releases – free delivery – cheap loans. Everybody is now a bargain shopper, ADAPT!!!

• “Web 3.0 is about conversations and engagement on the internet”. I thought Web 2.0 stood for that too.. Anyways: 25% of adults in Ireland are part of a social network as well as 64% of people under 24.

• Start using Google Insights for search now! Some purposes: Analise advertising messages, examine seasonality (especially towards SEO in my opinion), identify top brands, enter new markets.

• Get your act together with Google Analytics, and do it now! I mean it

• Define goals for your landing pages: generate leads, create brand awareness, build relationships or entice membership.  Track, measure and take action.

• Google Website Optimiser: Either start using it yourself and try; or get help from your webmaster/ agency to try (try really hard) on your behalf. The navigation experience means everything to your visitors.

• Give your website the value and time it deserves. Continuous improvement of your website in line with your online marketing is not a cost! It is an investment. The sooner you acknowledge it the better.

• Re-invent the online buying funnel as many times as necessary. Google’s success is based on trial and error too, but we only know about their popular products once they go mainstream.

• Keyword strategy: Depending on your industry, long tail keywords can be the core strategy. But according to the presenters, bigger brands like Mercedes believe in influencing the buying process from the beginning with broader terms (i.e. covering “luxurious car” and also “Mercedes Benz C-Class”). Of course you need budget for this. What I took in is to beware of marketers who are “religious” about long tail search.  Evaluate your own circumstances.

• Use the AdWords conversion optimiser and the Search Based Keyword Tool (recently released in Ireland).  It is not enough to just be out there advertising, refine, refine, refine.

• Contact Google if you are in trouble, they will respond (that’s what they said!)

Some figures for Ireland (better than the CSO?):

• 9 out of 10 people believe they can save money buying online.

• Broadband penetration in Ireland has reached circa 60% in 2008, the same as UK!

• There are 1.6 million Irish Internet users who on average generate 2.5 billion in online transactions.

• 1 out of 4 people say they will spend more online this year.

• Ireland is the second country in the world in terms of purchasing holidays online.

• 61% of Irish businesses do research in Google for their purchasing decisions

Ireland is still an emerging online market. Get out there and set the trend for your industry!

Sorry, no pictures nor videos were allowed

Best,
Facundo

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Last Wednesday was networking night again and the Channelship team landed at The Mint Bar (Westin Hotel) for the 121 Marketing event, “First Wednesday”, lead by Karina Heavey.
It was our first time joining this group “offline” and I have to say: we enjoyed it!

One of the most important things is that 90% all all the faces were new! That’s a fantastic way to meet more people and refresh the contacts.
We realised that by networking at traditional business networks like Dublin Chamber, SFA, etc, you get to see the same people too often, which is good to build long-term relationships, however Wednesday night, was great for a change

This network has been growing consistently and it’s not just for “Marketing professionals” as you may think. You will find a nice mix of people. We encourage absolutely anybody to join and explore opportunities within this networking group. You can start by adding yourself to the Linkedin group “121 Marketing” by clicking here.
No videos this time but Karina promised us one for the next event. She’s got a very interesting story….More to come.

Find below great pics from the event! (By  Laura Borlea at Level 5 Design)

All the best

Fred

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