Blog

Last week, I joined fellow SiteLabbers and thousands of other fresh produce marketing executives at United Fresh 2013 Fresh Horizons in San Diego, California. Together, we spent a couple of days learning what’s new in fresh produce, checking out the latest marketing trends, meeting super talented chefs and even found time to soak up some Southern California sunshine. In case you missed it, we’ve got you covered. Our team has assembled our very own CliffsNotes version below. P.S. You also missed some great parties! (Here are some photos from our adventures in conferencing!)

The very best way to start any convention is to give attendees plenty of opportunities to mix and mingle; and the Board of Directors and Executive Committees at United Fresh did a great job of doing just that this year! Our two favorite opening events were the New Member Reception, hosted high atop the San Diego Convention Center, and the Opening Party Aboard the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier. It was so fun to see our clients and industry friends socially, and prepare for two busy days of produce marketing. Photos from these and all events can be found at: http://www.unitedfresh.org/United2013

Next, Walter Robb, Whole Foods Co-CEO, was the first of two keynote speakers. Walter Robb talked about two big trends that continue to drive consumption in produce this year: juicing and local organic. Understanding what consumers of produce want is key to crafting your online marketing strategy. “Today’s consumers are seeking a renaissance type of cooking experience.” “Today’s consumer wants a recipe with a QR code, that leads to information about where fresh produce is grown, and then clearly lists ingredients needed for purchase.” Scan the fruit, meet the grower, and find the recipe!

The trade show floor provided an inside look at the latest fresh produce products and best new marketing strategies. SiteLab’s top exhibitor picks include: Melissa’s Produce, Sunkist Growers and NatureRipe Farms. Here’s why: first, we loved the way Bill Schneider, Director of Marketing at Melissa’s Produce talked to local school children about fresh produce directly from the trade show floor. Next, we were impressed with Sunkist Growers’ booth. It was well organized and showcased great new products for kids, like ‘Lil Snappers kid size fruit‘. When it came to showcasing new ways to use product, the folks at Naturipe Farms exceeded our expectations by demonstrating lots of recipes that could easily be duplicated by the at-home chef or busy family.

Moving right along, “Your Passport To Celebrate” was SiteLab’s very own celebration of 16 successful years in online marketing. To memorialize this monumental occasion, we hosted a very special wine tasting aboard the Leight Star Yacht, which we docked in San Diego Harbor right behind the Convention Center. Each and every level of the Leight Star featured specially selected wine and food pairings. Later that evening America’s 1st Master Sommelier Eddie Osterland, presented tips from his new book “Power Entertaining” and entertained guests with great ideas on how to use food and wine to close business deals. For me, this was the highlight of the show. Why? Because it was during the party, when I looked into the crowd of familiar industry faces, that I realized how vital our services are. The major brands we serve depend on us to meet goals and serve customers. The entire industry of growers, shippers, processors, packagers, wholesalers and vendors, like SiteLab, all benefit indirectly from our hard work when consumption increases. Check out our party photos on Facebook!

And finally, we wrapped up the show with an all day post-show Produce Marketing & Merchandising Conference. All the speakers were great, but we especially enjoyed “The Impact of Social Technologies on Food Culture” by June Jo Lee, Vice President of Strategic Insights. It was fascinating to learn more about all the ways consumers think about, talk about, and experience food online. I loved it so much, that I’ve decided to devote my next blog to this topic. Stand by for more …

We at SiteLab would love to share our marketing expertise, produce and otherwise, with you. Contact lori@sitelab.com or call 214-906-6633 for more information.

Posted in Industry News, Online Marketing, Produce Marketing | No Comments »

Remember the 1950’s when it was cool to eat potatoes? You know…when every household in America served meat and potatoes with every single meal? Potandon Produce is on a mission to bring this long-forgotten trend back to life with its new line of potatoes that are super-convenient for modern families with busy lives to prepare.

Here’s the best news of all, they plan to use Social Media Marketing to get the job done. Gotta give props to Barbara Keckler, Marketing Supervisor for brilliantly integrating what was happening offline at the show online with Facebook and Twitter. She successfully raised awareness of their newest products, increased fan acquisition on Potandon’s social networks and even tapped into specially designated hashtags (#), which encouraged PMA attendees to visit Potandon’s booth.

Here’s how she did it. Barbara started with a super-fun 1950’s style diner concept that was cool enough to appeal to Generations Xer’s and New Millineals, but nostalgic enough to appeal to older generations like Baby Boomers. The trade show booth was decked-out like burger joint straight out of the 1950’s, complete with their mascot, a Jolly Green Giant, the back seat of a 57 Chevy that doubled as a sofa, a juke box playing 1950’s music, and formica-topped tables. The girls working the booth wore poodle skirts, saddle shoes, and (my favorite part) BRIGHT RED LIPSTICK! They guys wore back t-shirts, white letterman sweaters and slicked back their hair.

While attendees checked out new products, they could also could also have a seat on the 57 Chevy-sofa and have their photo taken with child acting star, Donny Most who played Ralph Mouth on Happy Days. A few hours later, attendees could retrieve their photo by grabbing it on Potandon’s Facebook Fan Page or email one of the sales reps to request a copy. Brilliant way to increase fan acquisition!

Throughout the show, Potandon tweeted the times when Donny Most was at the booth and available for photo ops using the specially designated (#) Hash Tags for the event. Suddenly, everyone at the show who was following the Hash Tags were alerted that of the opportunity to have their photo taken with Donny.

And there you have it—Day 2 Ends with very sore feet and lots of great marketing ideas.

Posted in Industry News, Online Marketing, Produce Marketing | Comments Off

“Not everyone who needs your service, but everyone who aligns with your values”. That’s what Craig Stern, Co-Founder of SOLO Eyewear, says about who to target when developing your company’s cause marketing campaign.

That’s just one of the insights my co-presenter at iMarketer’s “Social Media For Good & Profit with Solo Eyewear & Sunkist” shared last night on how he built his business, using Kickstarter for crowd source funding and social media to create buzz and sales. If you haven’t heard of SOLO Eyewear, it’s a truly inspiring brand co-founded by Craig and fellow San Diego State University MBA students Jenny Amaraneni and Dana Holliday. They sell eco-friendly, hybrid bamboo sunglasses where each pair purchased help funds a pair of reading glasses and a cataract surgery for someone in need.

Craig and I presented case studies on two very different brands – a San Diego eyewear company that used the funds they raised to bring their product to marketing, leaving them with a zero dollar budget for marketing vs. a billion-dollar-a-year company that is the largest marketing cooperative in the world’s fruit & vegetable industry – however, the same themes arose over and over again.

1. Authenticity
2. Passion

First, to be successful in social media, but especially for a cause marketing campaign, authenticity is paramount. There is not a marketing budget in the world that can touch the power of pure authenticity. It was clear from Craig’s presentation that SOLO “gets” this.

Authenticity is acting in a manner that truly demonstrates your gifts, abilities and talents/skills; not counterfeit or copied; conforming to fact and therefore worthy of trust, reliance, or belief. In both case studies, the featured brands showed their trustworthiness, the cornerstone of cause marketing.

In the case of SOLO, the idea for the company came from 1 statistic – 80% of the world’s blindness is preventable. To demonstrate the belief that their product can actually help shift this powerful statistic, they stood on street corners throughout downtown San Diego (along with friends who volunteered to  help and the SOLO Panda) to educate people.

Sunkist Growers’ Take a Stand campaign, encouraging kids ages 7-12 to raise money for charity “one glass of old fashioned lemonade at a time”, demonstrated authenticity by developing supporting materials to make it easy for kids to actually donate. Instead of just selling lemonade stands in retail stores, Sunkist included QR codes on each box with a link embedded to take them back to the site to see lemonade recipes, lemonade stand decorations and signage, and best of all, information for young entrepreneurs on picking a charity and running a successful business.

One attendee asked how a small business owner, someone who doesn’t have the time or the money to hire a big agency can produce a successful cause marketing campaign. My answer was “passion”.

To have a successful cause marketing campaign, you have to get people excited about the cause before you start asking for money. For SOLO, they did this through the video in downtown San Diego. The blindfolds, the signs, and of course, the SOLO Panda sparked passers-by’s curiosity. It made them want to be a part of the cause.

For Sunkist Growers, they tapped into consumers’ nostalgia for simpler times when lemonade stands could be found in every neighborhood in America on a hot summer day. Most importantly, they gave consumers the tools to raise money and the guidance for choosing a charity, but then they put the choice of which charity to donate to in the hands of the consumers. “We the people” got to pick based on our own passions.

The most important thing I took away from last night’s iMarketers meeting was from Craig’s presentation on who to focus most of your marketing budget on. He grouped people into 4 categories:

A – Those who know, have purchased, and love your brand

B – Those who know, have purchased, but rank it on par with any other brand

C – Those who know your brand, but haven’t purchased

D – Those who are unaware of your brand, products, and services

Most of your budget should go to Group A, with the least amount  to Group D. The reason is the benefit you, the brand, receive from Group A is exponentially higher than Group B (and B higher than C, etc.). Group A L-O-V-E-S your brand so they’re not only most likely to be loyal, but they’re your evangelists to get the word out to Group B, C, and D.

I was truly inspired by the meeting, the topic, and the case studies. To inspire you to create your own cause marketing campaign, I’m sharing an exercise from Craig’s 3-words Thank You Video:

Complete this sentence: Without your business, there would be less ___________, ___________, and ___________ in the world.

For the full case study for Sunkist Growers’ Take a Stand Fundraising Campaign along with tips for developing your own cause marketing campaign, download the presentation, Social Media for Good & Profit: A Cause Marketing Case Study on Slideshare.

Posted in Industry News, Online Marketing, Social Media | Comments Off

With 87% of travelers using the internet for their travel planning and 52% changing their original travel plans based on the influence of social media*, companies in the travel industry can’t afford to ignore the power of social media.

This presentation by Jenn Barber (@jbarber5000) at the 2012 aRes Travel Partner Summit September 20, delves into:

• How travelers use Pinterest to research destinations before, during and after their trips
• Recommendations for Travel Marketing on Pinterest
• Tips and Tricks for increasing engagement and visibility on Pinterest with examples.

Photo Gallery from the Event:

*Source: MediaBistro.com
Photo Credits: Lori Barber

Tags: ares travel summit, jenn barber, Pinterest, pinterest and the travel industry, pinterest case studies, pinterest for travel, pinterest marketing, pinterest recommendations, pinterest tips for business, sitelab, SiteLab Interactive, slideshow
Posted in Industry News, Online Marketing, Social Media | Comments Off

LA JOLLA, CA (June 13, 2012) – SiteLab Interactive, one of the top Digital Marketing Agencies in the US, follows the growing trend to capitalize on the strong Texas economy. SiteLab a leader in Search Engine Optimization and Social Media Marketing announces their Texas marketplace debut with the opening of their Dallas Fort Worth presence. This Texas expansion brings much needed online marketing services to major brands in the area, as well as enhanced local service to their existing Dallas-based clients.

The Texas region, and particularly the DFW region, is leading the country in an economic upswing, especially in key industrial areas such as Healthcare and Technology. SiteLab will continue their tradition of meeting the specialized online marketing and website development needs of organizations that seek online marketing strategies that yield bottom line results.

This is the third expansion for SiteLab and an integral aspect of their overall growth strategy. In 2011 SiteLab recruited Dallas-based industry veteran Lori Barber as Director of Business Development. To solidify their position in the new market, Barber will focus her efforts on providing clients robust marketing solutions that integrate Social Media and Search Marketing – which are two of SiteLab’s core competencies. The mission of their new office is to provide clients with the same quality and personal customer service that has earned the company numerous awards and recognition. SiteLab was recently with honored as being 1 of San Diego’s Fastest Growing 100 companies and was listed as one of the top 100 SEO Vendors in the country by TopSEOs.com last week.

“SiteLab provides exceptional online marketing and website design services worldwide. Expanding our presence to the Texas marketplace will allow us to better serve our existing clients, like Chiquita Brands, Minimally Invasive SpineCare, Wolfgang Puck, U.S. Navy, Grace Presbytery, and several prominent medical facilities and law firms. Our research shows a lack of mid-range full-service Interactive Media companies in the North Central Texas region. Our expansion will close the gap between the high concentration of large traditional advertising agencies and smaller agencies who are unable to offer their clients an integrated online marketing strategy.” states Lori Barber, Director of Business Development for SiteLab Interactive.

About SiteLab Interactive

SiteLab Interactive creates and executes Web design and marketing programs for a variety of industries including medical, high-tech, real estate, healthcare, non-profit organizations, financial, media, education and hospitality. The company specializes in Search Engine Marketing, Content Marketing, Mobile Media & Online Presence Management, Website Design & Creative Services, and Analytics. The company’s future plans to penetrate the national market include additional expansion by strategic acquisition and recruiting top talent.

Tags: "dallas online marketing agency" "san diego online marketing agency" "digital marketing agency" "digital marketing, online marketing, sitelab, sitelab clients
Posted in Industry News, SiteLab Clients | Comments Off

The list of the Top 100 Best SEO Companies, compiled by topseos.com, has been released for June 2012. Sitelab Interactive has found a spot on the list, being identified as a top service provider, noting that the “evaluation process for both agencies and software tools is meticulous. We review strengths, weaknesses, and competitive advantages.” topseos.com is an independent authority on search vendors.

Their list of top search engine optimization companies in the online marketing industry is released monthly and features companies nationwide. Read the full SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle article and check out the list.

Posted in Industry News, Search Marketing Today | Comments Off

Promoted Facebook Posts for Brand Pages started rolling out today and before I had even heard the news myself, a colleague asked me my opinion on them. Here are the details on how it works with my recommendations on getting started.

Facebook Promoted Posts – How they work:

• Page must have 400+ likes
• You set the budget – Facebook calculates the estimated reach at that budget
• Budgets are $5, 10, 15, 20 a post to increase reach
• All types of posts can be promoted (status updates, photos, offers, videos, and questions)
• Benefit: When you promote a post, it will be shown in the news feeds of more of the people who like your page than you would reach normally.
• Also… Friends of the people who have interacted with your post will also be more likely to see the story in their news feeds for up to three days from when the post was first created.
• Caveat: To make sure news feed is filled with the most relevant stories, you can only promote posts within three days from when they’re created.
• Promoted posts can also be targeted by language or location
• Promotions can be paused and restarted
• Once live, page admins can access data on the number of Facebook users who have seen the posts, as well as the percentage of users who like their page who have also seen the posts.
• Types of posts to promote/Best Practices: Vibrant photos and videos, Offers, Exclusive Events or News, Questions
• Nothing changes about how your non-promoted posts are seen in the news feed
• You can promote an already live post (as long as it’s not older than three days)
• Interesting – Facebook says the post will say “Promoted” in the News Feed, but in the Mashable experiment, they did not see any difference

Step-by-Step Guide on Mashable: 

http://mashable.com/2012/05/31/facebook-promoted-posts-tips/

My Opinion:

Promoted Facebook Posts seem to be an effective way to get more life out of popular posts. For example, if Hass Avocados received several likes and comments from a post they posted this morning, I would recommend spending $5-10 to see if they can get more fans by promoting it to a larger audience.

Before you “amplify” the message with Promoted Posts however, you should also consider whether the post is a true reflection of the type of content you normally post on Facebook. A post may have been popular with your current fan-base because it was different or silly, but it may not have the tone of brand voice you want to portray outside of the community.

I also recommend it be used for brands who are interested in geo-targeting on Facebook. For instance, we have clients who want to reach Canadian food bloggers. This may be a way to test messaging among these consumer-facing influencers as well as the consumers they influence.

I’m advising our account managers to carve out some retainer budget to experiment with the new Facebook offering for their clients. As we’ve learned, “success” must be defined for each individual brand through the development of the right marketing mix for it (and only it) driven by results. During 2012 planning, we will consider including paid social media programs long with the majority of earned (or organic) media we focus on now for many of our clients. Facebook Promoted Posts will be a part of those programs, without a doubt.

Posted in Industry News, Online Marketing, Social Media | Comments Off

Usually when Google rolls something new out, I have to be talked into trying it.  I’m somewhere in between an early adopter and a laggard. By the time I try something, I want the beta bugs to be worked out, but I don’t want to be the last (or the oldest, for that matter) member of my team to try it.

I started seeing the buzz about Google Drive this morning and immediately ignored it because I thought it related to Google’s driverless car. Which I must admit is pretty cool, but since I’m not in the market for a new car, and Google isn’t in the market of actually selling George Jetson-esqe cars, I didn’t pay much attention.

But then one of my favorite All Things D tech writers, Liz Gannes, posted an article on Google+: Meet Google Drive: Specs and Screen Shots, and I immediately thought – I don’t want this, I NEED this.

Three months ago I dropped my external hard drive on a tile floor, resulting in a string of obscenities, followed by uncontrollable sobbing, then the very sad realization that 5 years of photos were not worth the $1,500 that manufacturer so kindly offered to take from me to “possibly” recover my data. I also realized that a backup hard drive is not actually a “backup” hard drive if it’s the only place where your data is stored.

So all it took was for me to read these words “5 gigabytes of free storage” and I was immediately clicking the big blue “Download Google Drive for PC” button. Then I started reading more about what it was all about. Here are some highlights:

• Each Google Drive includes 5 gigabytes of free storage, you can pay for up to 16 terabytes.
• Google Drive creates a folder on your Mac, PC or Android phone, you put your files in the folder, it automatically syncs.
• Share your files from any device.
• Search document files by keyword  and search scanned text on images, or even find images based on descriptions.

Cons? It’s Google, it’s free – yes there are cons.

• If you’re using Google Docs, Google Drive will replace your Docs tab, and move things around.
• Although Google’s terms state that you retain ownership of your content, it also states that:

When you upload or otherwise submit content to our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content.

That’s a pretty big con.

I know there are plenty of other cloud storage services out there (Dropbox, iCloud, SkyDrive to name a few). But the integration with Google Docs appeals to me, as does the idea of not having to signup with yet another service.  At least I’ll know the few photos I have remaining that weren’t on my paperweight/defunct external hard drive will now be backed up. I’ll just have to cross my fingers that Google doesn’t have tile floors in its server farms.

Learn more at Google Drive.

Posted in Industry News, Online Marketing | 1 Comment »

Short Answer: No

Long Answer:There’s been a lot of buzz since Facebook revealed that when a Facebook page owner posts a piece of content to their page, and it ends up in the News Feeds of their fans, only 16% of those fans will actually see the that post. This got us (and our clients) asking if Facebook caps or limits the number of fans that see each post. Our research shows that this 16% figure is an average as opposed to being an absolute cap.

The more engagement your posts get from fans, the better chance it will be seen. Using the calculation below, we’ve seen Facebook Post Reach for SiteLab’s own Facebook Page as high as 64%.

That does not change the fact that Facebook is introducing the ability to directly purchase more reach. So now, even if you’re bad at getting users to engage with your content (and therefore bad at getting fans to even see your content), you can pay your way to more visibility through Facebook’s new Reach Generator. This opens up another revenue stream for Facebook through a new advertising program, as opposed to changing how things work to make more money. Through this new venue Facebook guarantees you will reach “75% of your fans each month…Fans will see your message as a sponsored story on the right-hand side of their homepage or in their news feed on desktop or mobile.”¹

Want to calculate what percentage of your fans are actually seeing your content? Try this simple formula to see how your posts compare to the 16% average:

Post reach*/Total number of page likes = average organic reach per page post

*Facebook’s Reach in Insights doesn’t differentiate reach between fans and non-fans so use this number as a rough guide to determine how engaging your post is compared with your other posts.

¹https://www.facebook.com/business/fmc/guides/reach?campaign_id=250393211715997

Posted in Industry News, Online Marketing, Social Media | Comments Off

In the online marketing world, much is made of the ability to pinpoint the exact source of a particular consumer activity – whether the person clicked on a banner ad, an organic search result or a link in social media, for example. This has led many online proponents to tout the traceability of online campaigns, especially in comparison to traditional offline marketing tactics where impact is difficult to determine for a medium like outdoor or print advertising.

However, for all the capabilities of technology online, the actual adoption of complex attribution models to credit various sources for various consumer actions has been quite low due to resource constraints and the lack of a dominant model or tool.Enterprise tools do exist that attempt to crack this paradigm, but as of yet, these methods have yet to trickle down to the masses. Instead, advertisers generally rely on a “last click” attribution model where the last click a user made before completing a particular conversion event gets credit for the entirety of the event, regardless of user actions taken prior to that last click. This marginalizes the power of the events that led to that last click and creates a situation where different marketing tactics are devalued inaccurately.

We believe that 2012 will be a year where complex analytics attribution becomes a major consideration for clients due to a confluence of factors – increasing availability of complex attribution tools, increasing education about attribution itself, and the increasing need for greater visibility into user motivations as online audiences continue to fragment. Advertisers who dedicate resources towards implementing these attribution tactics will be rewarded with greater insight into not only what marketing tactics best drive consumer action, but also what combination of marketing tactics lead to the greatest result.

– Mike ZeMans, Chief Experience Officer

Tags: analytics, Attribution, complex attribution tools, online marketing
Posted in Industry News, Online Marketing | Comments Off