Setting up and launching a Google TV Ad Campaign can be achieved using the familiar AdWords interface; and the steps are quite similar to setting up a traditional AdWords campaign. But rather than choosing keywords or websites to show your ad on, choose desired networks, programs and times during the day when you want your TV Ad to show.

But why advertise on TV when the internet is the advertising medium of the future?

Benefits to Advertisers:

Flexibility

Contracts, up-front purchase commitments and negotiations are a thing of the past with Google TV Ads. Choose the networks and or programs that are right for your business without the hefty price tag of a traditional TV commercial campaign – and without commitment. Learn what is working for your viewers, and adjust your campaign accordingly with just a few clicks of the mouse – versus re-shooting an entire commercial.

Accountability

With Google’s auction based pricing system, you choose the maximum CPM (cost per million impressions) that you are willing to pay and only pay for impressions delivered to your Ad. If you are the highest bidder, you pay the next-highest bidder’s offer – meaning you’ll always get the best price possible.

Better Measurement

Gain top insight into the viewership of previously unmeasured niche networks. Google’s innovative metrics help you learn more about what viewers are tuning in and out of your Ad, one second at a time.

Reporting

Traditional TV advertising campaigns have always had one problem – the problem of not being able to track leads or visitor behavior from interacting with your TV Ad. With Google TV Ads, receive reports in your Adwords interface and learn which ad versions, networks, and dayparts are working best for your campaign including:

• On which network and at what time your ad aired
• Average number of seconds that the ad was viewed by audience members who were present at the beginning of the ad.
• Percentage of audience that was present at the beginning of the ad through to the end.

Ready to try Google TV Ads?

1. Build your schedule. Select your target market, networks, dayparts and select specific programs or block programs.
2. Submit your Ad. Upload the video ad you currently have, or visit Google’s Ad Creation Marketplace to connect with specialists who can produce your TV commercial for you.
3. Set your price. Set your daily budget and date range. Calculate weekly estimates and reset your budget – before even running you Ad.

It’s literally as-easy-as 1,2,3 to get your business on TV with Google TV Ads.

To learn more about Google TV Ads visit www.google.com/adwords/tvads/ or contact 6S Marketing and talk to us about how we can help your business create a “6S-ful” TV advertising campaign using Google AdWords TV Ads.

Online Revealed – May 13th – 14th, Calgary

Online Revealed, the Canadian Online Travel Conference, is taking the 3rd annual conference event to Calgary this year and will be a benefit to both beginners and experts alike as leading online marketing professionals discuss Online Marketing.

Chris Breikss, President of 6S Marketing, will be moderating the Search Engine Panel Discussion where attendees are invited to come hear the top three search engines talk about what is happening with travel in Canada. Chris will also be presenting a workshop titled “Analyze This!” which will cover how to measure online advertising campaigns using analytics tools and conversion tracking. 6S is a sponsor of Online Revealed, Calgary.

Facebook Your Business Now – May 14th, Vancouver

6S Marketing is sponsoring the International Internet Marketing Association (IIMA) event titled “Facebook Your Business Now” at the Vancouver YWCA. This fast-moving and informative Facebook workshop is intended to help you determine how you can take advantage of Facebook to generate interest and sales for your business.

Techvibes Start-Up Career Fair – May 21st, Vancouver

In partnership with Launch Party Vancouver 4, Techvibes is hosting a career fair dedicated to the unique opportunities available at technology Start-Ups in Vancouver. The event will merge the “unconference” format of DemoCamp with a traditional Career Fair. 6S Marketing will be there, and will highlight some of the cool opportunities of working at 6S.


Convergence – May 22nd , Vancouver

Cossette Communication Group invites editorial media, bloggers and podcaster types to attend Convergence 2008. This exciting and informative day will provide participants with the opportunity to listen to world-class business leaders and industry experts, participate in practical easy-to-apply workshops, and define the best digital strategies for the coming year. 6S Marketing President, Chris Breikss, will also be speaking at this digital and online focused event.

Vidfest 2008 – May 21st - May24th , Vancouver

Vidfest is an event for the top creative minds working in digital media. Attracting visionaries from games, web 2.0, interactive design, animation and mobile applications, it is an annual ‘Must-Attend’ in Vancouver, Canada.  As one of the sponsors, you can expect to see some of the 6S Marketing team there!  Register here.

Be sure to come out for one of these informative events and learn from an internet marketing industry leader! Not coming out?  Don’t worry! You can still stay tuned-in on upcoming 6S Marketing events by signing up for our newsletter.

Are potential customers dropping off and going elsewhere because your site is confusing?

Our Website Usability Services will give you these answers and more about what visitors are actually doing, or not doing, on your website.

A Website Usability project focuses on two factors:

• The actual audience of who is using your site and how they are interacting with it;
• And how user friendly your site is for your audience.

Focusing on these two factors helps us to better understand, or help you develop, clear and measurable goals for your site, undercover what challenges users are facing, and find ways to optimize your site’s design, interface, and architecture.

Many of our clients have been working on their website long before we come on board. They know every link and every page of their website. They think their website is perfect and users should be able to find exactly what they need easily. However, sometimes they forget that the users of their website do not know the website inside-out like they do, and may have difficulty navigating the site. This can result in potential customers leaving the site before making a purchase.

This is where website usability with our client’s is important. We can use it to uncover which parts of the site are most/least used pages of the site, where users have trouble with navigation, and any design flaws that may have been overlooked. It’s cheaper to correct these problems earlier rather than later.

After we know who the site’s audience is, we can begin looking at the best ways to target them. There are so many ways to market your business online, including pay-per-click services, Google AdWords campaigns, and viral marketing sites like Facebook or YouTube, to name a few. Not every online marketing strategy will work for every business, so it’s our job to determine which techniques will effectively engage your website users and convert them into customers.

Visit our website usability services page to find out more about how we can help your website convert more customers.

Facebook represents an unparalleled opportunity for businesses to connect with their present and potential customer base. By maintaining a Facebook Page, and using all the right Facebook features for your particular business, you can interact with customers in the same fashion you interact with friends and colleagues in – Personally!

Here are five main keys to using Facebook successfully to promote your business:

1. Make Business Personal

Facebook members primarily use Facebook to share personal information with their friends and family on a daily basis. Focus on the human element of your business and products, and your employees. When consumers can relate personally to a business or product, they are more likely to promote it and feel a stronger connection.

2. Update Your Business Page Frequently

Facebook is geared towards current events, recent changes and up-to-the-second news updates of your friends lives. The sooner a new event or bit of information is posted on your business page, the better. The more frequently you add content to your page, the more potential and present customers will return.

Having a Facebook Business Page also allows you to send personal updates, just for your members to receive.

This can include:

• New product launches


• In-store events


• Special promotions


• Any other news specific to current customers. This builds on making business personal on Facebook.

When you view your Facebook “Home” page, you see instant up-to-the-minute news on what your friends are doing, which groups they’ve joined – even their emotional status!

When users become a fan of your business, the News Feed application tells their friends and invites them to become a fan of your business as well. On average, over 100 people will see this update. The news feed application is the key to spreading your message virally on Facebook.

4. Choose the Right Facebook Applications for Your Business

There are virtually thousands of free applications on Facebook. But that doesn’t mean that everyone should have a place on your business page. Your page comes with basic applications pre-installed and you can easily add other applications to meet your business needs.

For instance, a restaurant may choose to add an application for online order or reservations, while a movie may add a cinema locator so users interested in seeing that particular movie can find a theatre where its being shown.
The more useful and relevant the applications are to your customers, the faster your fan base will grow.

5. Promote through Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads allow you to target the exact audience relative to your business. Choose your audience based on age, gender, geography, educational status, relationship status, and precise interests or keywords (Facebook just launched their own keyword tool – “Lexicon”).

Ads can be socialized so that users’ interactions are reflected in the ads their friends see; therefore increasing the virality of your page.

Need help in developing a strategic Facebook Page for your business? Not sure of where to start? We offer Facebook Marketing Services to help with that!

Recently Google released benchmarking functionality within GA. Benchmarking is still in beta, but is accessible through all Google Analytics Accounts under the visitors tab in the GA interface.  Benchmarking allows users to compare their core site metrics with websites of similar size and content categories. Finally a legitimate “industry standard” to measure against! Here at 6S Marketing in Vancouver we have found this quick reference ability invaluable. 6S Marketing works with many great clients in the hotel and accommodations industry throughout the region. It is so refreshing to now have the ability to measure the performance of our client sites against the other websites in the industry. Comparison metrics include “visits”, “bounce rate”, “page views”, “average time on site”, “pages per visit” and “new visits”.

My personal favorite is “bounce rate”. I have traditionally found this metric difficult to gage and act upon as it so very dependant on industry and the nature of the site. For example - How interactive is your home page? Is the content fresh and engaging? Are you driving completely qualified visitors to your site? Do your landing pages cater specifically to the content needs of your audience? Etc…

The benchmarking beta is a fantastic way to dictate if you need continued focus on improving bounce rate on site, or if you are meeting the potential of your site.

As Google Analytics evolves we are seeing more and more quick reference functions being built into the tool. Many of my favorite functions are still in beta, namely the Graph By [fig 1 below] functionality where you can view trends by day, week or month (such a seemly simple feature but has made life much easier since it came along). Another really cool feature worth checking out is the metric comparison feature [fig 2 below]. More and more we are seeing features coming out of beta. Thank you to Google for continually innovating and becoming increasingly responsive to the feedback from the Google Analytics Authorized Consultant (GAAC) community.

Good reading:
Avinash Kaushik (Google Evangelist) talks realistically about bounce rates in his blog Occam’s Razor.  http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/08/standard-metrics-revisited-3-bounce-rate.html

Also Wikipedia as ever is a good resource to start research in and around any topic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounce_Rate