For those of you still trying to get your head around QR codes. Here’s a nice guide from  Chris Zobel, Director of Digital Strategy at Luckie & Company, who has put together an excellent breakdown for marketers looking to effectively incorporate them into their strategies.Chris explores the four key basics of QR code marketing and what you should be doing with your marketing.

Hot on the heels of Lynx who’s main target audience is young men.  The deodorant brand Axe has launched the Multiple Girlfriend Facebook app. I’m not too sure if the women of the world are going to be enthusiastic about it, however one thing is for certain sex and perhaps even in this day and age, sexism sells.

According to Econsultancy’s freshly published “State of Search Marketing Report 2011,” Internet marketers are poised to make 2011 a big year for paid search.

Based on the projections contained in the report, search engine marketing spend will balloon some 16% this year, hitting an estimated $19.3 billion before the close of 2011.

Key findings include:

• The rise of the mobile internet is the trend which is regarded as having the most impact on search marketing, with more than three-quarters of companies (79%) deeming it as ‘highly significant’ or ‘significant’.
• The use of social networks for marketing continues to grow. The percentage of company respondents who say they use Facebook for marketing now stands at 84%, up from 73% last year.
• More companies are outsourcing search and social media. Only 44% of companies are now carrying out search engine optimization in-house, compared to 51% last year. Only 55% are doing social media marketing in-house, compared to 62% a year ago.
• Companies and agencies are increasingly using third party bid management technology for paid search marketing. Just under half of responding companies conducting search engine marketing rely on basic tools.
• Google’s dominance as a search engine is clear from both advertiser and agency results, with the vast majority of companies (95%) paying to advertise on Google AdWords.

To read more about the findings and projections of “State of Search Marketing Report 2011,” click here. Image via Mobile Marketing Watch

UK marketing executives cut their budgets for the second quarter running as business confidence fell to a two-year low with fears over the outlook for the economy worsening, according to the latest Bellwether survey.

The influential report, jointly produced by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising and BDO, found that marketing executives slashed their budgets in the first three months of 2011 in response to public sector spending cuts and rapidly rising cost pressures.

Published on Monday, the quarterly Bellwether survey found that 25% of UK companies reported that they cut their budgets in the first three months of the year. Read the rest of the finding at  guardian.co.uk

A few days ago I decided that I was going to watch Television. I know how novel I hear you say. Well to me it was, as I am a child of the internet. Well more a large child/man who consumes most of his content via the internet. So on this night of nostalgia I found myself watching a documentary about elephants. However, for me it wasn’t the decomposing two tonne carcass that got me thinking it was the adverts in between the programme that I was fascinated by. One in particular was the new The Lynx effect Lynx Exite TV Advert. See below.

As I watched the falling angels from the sky I wry smile crept across my face at the genius that was the brand that had come up with this idea.  Like the Tango ad of the 90′s [With a very young looking James Corden] three things became clear and could be learnt and used in a business capacity.

Men love beautiful women. By targeting Maslow style base needs it is clear that you can exploit and get money from this target demographic by positioning your brand in a way that allows the “Everyman” the feeling that he is a god like being.
Creativity is key. [Watch the Sony Bravia Bouncy Balls Ad ] In order to succeed in an ever competitive business environment, one has to think outside of the proverbial box and offer your customers something that they have not had before.
Think viral. In a post from back in 2009 we showed you how to become viral in 6 simply steps
The summary below.

Give away products and services
Provide effortless transfer to others
Your message scales easily from small to very large
Your message exploits common motivations and behaviours
Utilizes existing communication networks
Takes advantage of others resources
This I believe is the key to any business’s success. Don’t get me wrong, there are many additional factors that make a brand successful, however on a quiet Tuesday night whilst watching a decomposing elephant that’s all that was going through my mind and that of the Hyaena as it stuck it’s head up the elephants you know what!

So do you agree? Let us know your thoughts and don’t forget to.  For more great Lynx effect adverts you can visit their youtube channel

Just read a great article about Anticipation marketing.  If you don’t know what it is, then I suggest you read the full article (Link at the bottom of the page). The article tells us that anticipation marketing isn’t a term you will hear a lot about.

In fact, it is unlikely that you will hear it at all beyond the scope of the article and there’s a very good reason for that. The term has been made up expressly for the purposes of identifying, exploring and understanding an interesting consumer response phenomenon.

The article discusses the seven principles of Anticipation Marketing which are:

1. The Scarcity Principle

2. The Cult of First

3. The Games We Play

4. Group Narcissism

5. The Principle of Otherness

6. Judge Me By My Cover

7. The Equilibrium Principle

I definitely recommend you read the whole article

I wrote a post back in December about about 12 Resolutions to keep for 2009. However it’s worth a quick refresh to ensure that you’re still on target. The key to business success is not to be reliant on one form of marketing. This key strategy can be used to grow your client list, accounts and revenue by up to 100% or more.  Below is a list of several forms of marketing you can implement over the next few weeks and months.

•  Month 1       Test Telephone Advertising to call possible new customers
• Month 2        Test Pay Per Click
• Month 3        Test a new front page  that encourages people to  give you their email address
• Month 4        Increase Prices by 10%- 20%
• Month 5        Test Direct Mail
• Month 6        Test Internet Banner Advertising
• Month 7        Test some PR to try and get some free coverage
•  Month 8       Test a new referral system. Incentivising customers is a great way to build loyalty
•  Month 9       Approach some new business’s and form 5 -10 new partnerships
•  Month 10     Invest in some sales training for your staff
•  Month 11      Test advertising in a magazine
• Month 12       Test some improvements in your sales copy

There are lots more , however the key is to maintain an ongoing marketing initiative which should see your business grow from strength to strength.