mark2marketing is happy to announce that it has satisfied the requirements for the Google Adwords Certification Program and is now a Google Adwords Certified Partner.

What Is A Google Adwords Certified Partner?

A Google Adwords Certified Partner is a company that has been recognized by Google as satisfying the requirements of the Google Adwords Certified Partner program, such as managing over $10,000 in media spend over a 90 day period & has employees who’ve demonstrated significant proficiency in Google Adwords. mark2marketing manages over $100,000 in media spend and our digital planners have attained Individual Qualification status by passing various Google Adwords Certification exams. Plus, we’re constantly improving our Adwords skills through continued education & training programs.

What Does This Mean To Our Clients?

mark2marketing is committed to providing innovative online media buying services, such as Google Search Advertising, Google Display Advertising & Facebook Advertising. Becoming a Google Adwords Certified Partner is another step mark2marketing has taken towards providing the highest quality in digital marketing services to its clients & partners.

To learn more about our Google Search Advertising services or our other digital marketing services, please contact us!

For most businesses, commonly used online advertising metrics can sound confusing and even intimidating. While it’s great to know what these metrics mean in the absolute sense, it’s also important to know what they mean from a business standpoint – understanding how they are (or are not) meeting your business goals. And as we’ve discussed before in this blog, online advertising metrics don’t stop at just clicks and impressions, they also extend to on-site activity in the form of analytics data. Together, online advertising metrics & analytics data help make up your company’s digital marketing metrics.

Online Advertising Metrics – The Basics

Specific metrics will range depending on the online advertising platform you’re using, but there are several standard metrics that will be found across most platforms:

Online Marketing Analytics Metrics – The Basics

As mentioned previously, knowing just the online advertising metrics only gives you half the half the picture of your online advertising campaign’s performance. It’s important to understand basic web analytics metrics as:

These are just a snapshot of some of the many online advertising metrics. Knowing what these terms mean in both the absolute & from a business standpoint should help you better understand your company’s online advertising initiatives. The key to executing a successful online advertising campaign is integrating your online advertising campaign with your website’s analytics platform.

Doing so gives you the full picture of your online advertising campaign’s success – from ad click to website conversion. And when you know which ads are working & what aren’t, you can not only calculate the return-on-investment (ROI) of your online advertising campaign, but can also optimize your campaign towards what’s best meeting your marketing goals, increasing the efficiency & value of your advertising dollar.

To learn more about how mark2marketing can help your company execute its next online advertising campaign, or to learn more about our digital marketing services, please contact us today!

While any restaurateur (and most businesses for that matter) will likely agree that having a website is a necessity, many will be hard pressed to say the same thing for having an online restaurant marketing strategy. While having a website for your restaurant will give you an online presence, it’s hard to say how that presence will actually contribute to your business’ bottom line if the proper strategy isn’t in place to support it.

mark2marketing believes that far too many restaurants are under-utilizing their digital presences, either through receiving poor advice or simply no advice at all. Here is some simple advice that any restaurateur can take into consideration to strengthen their restaurant’s online marketing strategy:

Don’t Develop Your Restaurant’s Website In Flash

Flash is a great plug-in that has many practical uses, but unfortunately designing restaurant websites isn’t one of them. There are countless technical arguments as to why you shouldn’t, but what the main issues come down to are:

Usability

Have you ever arrived at a website, only to see this:

If you do manage to wait through the loading time, you are usually presented with a clunky page that doesn’t conform to standard HTML navigation – creating a disruptive & confusing user experience. While websites designed in Flash can look really appealing from a branding standpoint, if your visitors can’t navigate through your restaurant’s website, they can’t find the information they want – reducing the likelihood of an in-store visit. Functionality trumps design – always.

Mobile Compatibility

Most mobile browsers don’t support websites developed in Flash, so users using popular mobile devices such as iPhones & iPads won’t be able to access your restaurant’s website.

While it’s true that some devices (such as Blackberry’s) do support Flash, it still results in a poor user experience – there are enough problems navigating through a Flash-based website on a standard desktop, let alone a 3 inch screen. Even more crucial is that these mobile users are more likely to make an immediate dining decision, so not being able to access your restaurant’s website on their mobile device may be the difference between them eating at your restaurant or your competitor’s.

‘Search Friendly’-ness

Flash isn’t inheritably ‘search-friendly’, meaning it’s harder for a website developed in Flash to rank for terms in search engine results vs. HTML (standard) websites. The algorithms (the formulas that determine how websites are ranked in search listings) used by Google & other leading search engines can’t interpret flash code as well as HTML code, meaning your restaurant’s website is at a disadvantage. Considering that search engines are key drivers of free website traffic, often referring new first-time visitors, you need to make your website as search-engine friendly as possible, giving yourself every advantage available.

Develop For Mobile

As we previously touched on, having a mobile compatible website is critical for successfully reaching your target audience. But it’s not just enough to have a mobile compatible restaurant website – your restaurant needs to have a mobile optimized website. The difference between the two is that a mobile optimized website is a version of your website specifically developed to be viewed over mobile platforms, rather than your regular website (which is meant to be viewed over a desktop).

A mobile optimized website is often a scaled down version of your standard website, including the most important info relevant to your target audience (eg. Menu, Location, Hours, Contact Info) formatted specifically for viewing over mobile devices. This results in a faster loading website & a better user experience, so your target audience can get key information about your restaurant, increasing the likelihood of a visit. Mobile visitors are more likely to make an immediate dining decision – by not supporting them you are putting your restaurant at a disadvantage.

Reaching Your Target Audience

Having a functional website that delivers a positive user experience & represents your restaurant is great, but if no one is visiting finding it – it’s pretty useless. Your restaurant website needs to not only attract traffic, but attract qualified traffic – visitors that are actively interested in what your restaurant has to offer, who are more likely to visit your restaurant.

You restaurant’s digital marketing strategy should use a mix of online marketing tactics – ranging from targeted search engine marketing (ads appearing in search engines such as Google for contextual terms, eg. ‘the best steakhouse in Toronto’) to Facebook Advertising, Banner Advertising, Email Marketing & Search Engine Optimization. You restaurant’s online marketing strategy should leverage the right balance of these tactics that best supports your restaurant’s goals & marketing budget. Whatever tactic(s) you do use in your restaurant’s online marketing traffic, it is critical that they are integrated with an analytics platform to allow you to monitor, evaluate & optimize their effectiveness. (Read more on the Importance of Analytics)

Functionality & Feature Set

How does your website contribute to your bottom line? Having the right feature set & supported functionalities is the difference between your website being an ‘online brochure’ or an active business asset. Direct commerce features such as online reservation systems & gift-card purchasing enables your restaurant website to directly contribute to your bottom line, while soft features such as 3rd party reviews, online video & Facebook integration help increase the reach & perception of your website. Knowing what functionality & feature set to include in your website is critical to your restaurant’s online marketing strategy.

To learn mark2marketing meal.time’s restaurant marketing strategies & how we can help your restaurant, please feel free to contact us today!

mark2marketing is pleased to announce the launch of mark2marketing meal.time – a custom developed suite of digital marketing solutions specifically crafted for restaurants & clients in the food-service industry. mark2marketing meal.time isn’t just restaurant website design and online restaurant marketing solutions, but strategic website marketing strategies that recognize the unique & specific needs of restaurants. mark2marketing meal.time incorporates the best practices in website design, development & digital marketing to deliver solutions that are not only effective but provide maximum value for your marketing dollar.

meal.time Restaurant Website Design

Restaurant website design is more than throwing up some generic web-pages, with grainy screen shots & PDF’s of your menu – it’s about creating a digital presence that represents your brand & restaurant philosophy; a website that attracts potential customers & helps bring them into your restaurant, increasing your bottom line. mark2marketing meal.time’s restaurant website design services help you define your restaurant’s online presence, separating you from your competition. mark2marketing meal.time’s website development feature-set includes a range of functionalities, such as:

• on-line reservation systems,
• e-commerce systems (for gift cards & other web-site based purchases),
• email-marketing integration,
• mobile compatibility & more

These value-added functionalities help position your website as a business asset & key-contributor to your restaurant’s bottom line.

meal.time Restaurant Online Marketing

Generate awareness of your restaurant & drive in-store traffic with mark2marketing meal.time’s restaurant online marketing solutions. mark2marketing meal.time can create, execute & manage your restaurant’s online advertising campaigns, ranging from search engine advertising over Google (and other popular search engines) to banner ads, Facebook advertising & mobile advertisements. Connect with potential customers at their peak interest, when they are most likely to make a dining decision. mark2marketing meal.time can create an online restaurant marketing strategy that works within your budget & business goals.

To learn more about mark2marketing meal.time & how our solutions can help your restaurant, please contact us today!

Today, Facebook announced the launch of a new advertising product – Facebook Sponsored Stories. Facebook Sponsored Stories gives brands & businesses greater opportunity to promote their content on Facebook, leveraging word-of-mouth recommendations that help increase the social authority of their content.

What Are Facebook Sponsored Stories?

Normally, whenever a user makes an interaction with your Facebook content – be it Liking your Facebook Page, using an application you’ve created or checking in at your location via Facebook Places – an update is generated in their News Feed, which may or may not be seen in their friend’s News Feeds. Given the dynamic nature of a News Feed, there is never a guarantee that every interaction a user makes in Facebook will be seen by all their friends; it will vary depending on activity & volume.

Since there is limited real-estate in the News Feed, Facebook Sponsored Stories fill the gap by providing a dedicated space on a user’s profile & home page for viewing interactions with your brand’s or business’ Facebook content, similar to a Facebook Ad unit. This ensures that activity generated from interactions with your Facebook content isn’t buried in a user’s News Feed. And like normal Facebook Ads, Facebook Sponsored Stories can be targeted based on a user’s interest & profile details (exact targeting capabilities vary, please contact us for more info).

The Value of Facebook Sponsored Stories – Why Do They Matter?

Facebook Sponsored Stories enable you to increase the social reach of your Facebook activities, ensuring that your brand’s or business’ Facebook efforts are reaching the largest audience possible. Facebook Sponsored Stories also support Page Updates, so anytime you make a post to your Facebook Page this update will be seen by all of your fans, maximizing the reach of your content.

Like normal organic interactions with your Facebook content that appear in a user’s News Feed, Sponsored Stories interactions can only be seen by a user’s Facebook friends. When a Facebook user sees that one of their friends has interacted with your brand or business on Facebook, this adds a certain level of social authority to your message. The greater value a user places on their friend’s opinion, the more social authority is given to your message (eg. My friend John is a snazzy dresser. He just liked Fashion Brand X on Facebook. I’m going to check this out & see that they have to offer). Leveraging social authority is a key pillar of social marketing.

Facebook Advertising or Facebook Sponsored Stories?

Facebook Sponsored Stories shouldn’t be viewed as a replacement product for Facebook Advertising, but more of a complimentary product that can be used to increase the reach & effectiveness of your brand’s or company’s current Facebook presence. Facebook Sponsored Stories are a great tool that can be used to spread the day-to-day reach of organic interactions with your Facebook content, while Facebook Advertising can be leveraged to promote campaign specific messaging to users not currently following or aware of your brand or company.

Get Facebook Sponsored Stories

Facebook Sponsored stories are a great way to ensure the reach of your brand’s or company’s current Facebook content, leveraging word-of-mouth recommendations & social authority. To better learn how your brand or business can leverage Facebook Sponsored Stories, talk to mark2marketing today!

By far, one of the most overlooked areas in digital marketing is the proper implementation & incorporation of web analytics into your company’s online marketing activities. Not only do too few companies fail to take advantage of web analytics as a key pillar of their digital marketing strategy, but even more are simply unaware of its existence.

What Is Web Analytics?

When most people think of analytics, the first thought that often comes to mind is a data-dump of numbers; overloads of information that adds more to confusion than clarification. While web analytics can sound like an intimidating term, in reality it’s far from it. From a business perspective, web analytics is the data generated from the activity of your website – where visitors are coming from, what traits make up your visitors, what they are doing on your site – that (should) drive your company’s online marketing decisions. Pageviews, time spent on-site, visitors, traffic sources – these are just a snapshot of the hundreds of metrics that can be derived from a web analytics platform. But the real value of web analytics comes from analyzing these metrics, using them to understand how your website & online marketing activities contribute to your business goals.

Why Does Web Analytics Matter?

Having access to data is always great, but if this data isn’t connected back to marketing activities & business goals, it will be no more than just data. Web analytics can be leveraged in a number of ways, even if your company isn’t actively running any online marketing campaigns. Web analytics can provide valuable business intelligence that can be used to better evaluate how exactly your company’s website contributes to business goals; How are visitors finding your website? Are they spending a significant amount of time onsite? Viewing multiple pages? Downloading coupons? Signing up for a newsletter? Filling out a contact form? Making a purchase? These are just some of the valuable business insights that can be obtained through web analytics.

And when integrated with your company’s online marketing activities, web analytics allows you to accurately gauge the true success & impact of your marketing campaigns. The ability to see not only how many clicks & interactions your ads received but how the traffic generated from these ads interacted with your site allows you to properly evaluate your ad performance. Receiving 10,000 clicks on an ad may sound impressive, but if you have no idea how traffic generated from this ad interacted with your website, you might as well be advertising on a highway billboard. Knowing which ads and targeted segments bring the highest quality of traffic to your company website enables you to optimize your campaigns to get the highest value for your advertising dollar & determine ROI. Integrating online marketing campaigns with web analytics shouldn’t be just best practice – it should be standard practice.

How To Take Advantage of Web Analytics

Implementing web analytics onto your company’s website is less invasive than you think. mark2marketing provides web analytics consulting, web analytics strategy & web analytics reporting; just check out our web analytics services. And as mentioned earlier, we don’t dump data. Our web analytics analysts work directly with our clients so they fully understand what each metric means and why it matters, so they can accurately gauge the role their website plays within their company & identify areas of opportunity. We also integrate web analytics with all our online marketing campaigns, so you get the complete view of campaign performance; not just clicks & impressions – but interactions. It’s not just digital marketing, it’s smart marketing. Talk to us today to learn more about how mark2marketing can help boost your company’s online marketing activities.

Internet marketing. Mobile marketing. Brand awareness. User engagement. Apps. Web analytics. Social media. Search engine optimization. Pay-per-click advertising. Search engine marketing…

You’ve probably heard the terms, and possibly even had some experiences with them… but do you really know what they are, and more importantly… why they matter? These terms all play important roles in a digital marketing strategy, but if your digital marketing strategy doesn’t exist with a purpose, it’s more than likely that they’ll be no more than just over-emphasized buzzwords to your company. Digital marketing is more than just putting up a flashy website, throwing out some ambiguous ads, targeting a handful of keywords and creating a Facebook page or Twitter account; it’s about existing to fulfill a business goal… existing with a purpose.

Too often, this crucial fact is ignored in almost all areas of the digital marketing mix, resulting in lackluster digital marketing campaigns that don’t meet business goals or add much long-term value to your company’s online presence. It’s great that your company has a website, but if no one can find it or it does nothing to help your existing customers or generate new ones, it’s basically a sales brochure hosted on an “online photocopier”. As a communications medium and marketing channel, that’s not what the Internet is. This is 2011. That’s not how you do digital marketing. Any business needs must have a digital presence that exists to fulfill a business goal. Your company’s online presence is more than just a website; it’s a reflection of your business; your products, your services, your quality, your value, your brand.

mark2marketing is a digital marketing agency looking to help change this. Our digital marketing strategies are backed by data driven research and insights; there are no cookie-cutter solutions here. If we don’t think a solution will best meet your business needs, we won’t suggest it. However, we will work hand-in-hand with your company, making you aware of all your digital marketing options, suggesting the right mix of tactics to best meet your business goals & budget. Digital marketing is a wide encompassing area, covering a vast amount of tactics, platforms & mediums. Components of the digital marketing mix range from email marketing, social media marketing, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, mobile marketing to pay-per-click advertising … While all these areas each play an important role in the digital marketing mix, it’s important to identify which tactics will best meet your specific business goals, developing the appropriate strategies to leverage them.

No business is too small not to leverage digital marketing strategy and no business is too large to ignore it. So if you want to learn more about how mark2marketing can help define your company’s digital marketing strategy, simply have a question about online marketing or our digital marketing services, feel free to talk to us. We hope to hear from you soon.