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Internet Marketing » Branding Methodology » Tools      |
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Internet Marketing » Branding Methodology » Tools |
Branding ToolsAt Bruce Clay, Inc., we are actively in the process of developing our own branding tools and will let you know as soon as they become available. In the meantime, we refer you to the resources below, which can assist you with media buying and branding in general. 1. ACE Direct Advertising.com's ACE Direct is a good resource for local and small businesses, franchise operations and small in-house ad agencies. This service offers banner and email templates so marketers can quickly create ad campaigns, which are then run across Advertising.com's network of 1,900 websites and 500 email publishers. Ads can be customised with company graphics and logos. Marketers can target ads for delivery across more than 26,000 cities and metro areas. 2. Clickalyzer Clickalyzer can be used for click-through and conversion rate analysis of ad campaigns with URL filters to analyse various aspects of a visitor's actions. This website tracking and monitoring system can track ads, web pages, sales letters and visitors. It monitors how long your visitors stay on each web page and also shows where the user goes on each page, how they move within the site, and where they leave the path, allowing you to identify what's working and what's not. 3. Eyeblaster Eyeblaster is a full-service rich media campaign management and delivery tool. More than 4,000 sites and networks accept rich media, and Eyeblaster claims 88 percent user acceptance. Eyeblaster offers seven different media formats, including video clips, expandable banners and the polite banner, which is a static ad that offers browsers the choice of a video clip or other non-intrusive interactive features. Even if you aren't quite ready for rich media advertising, this site is highly recommended for its excellent resource center and its two no-cost monthly newsletters: one on rich media trends and the other showcasing the latest rich media advertising creative from top advertisers. 4. MatchCraft With the MatchCraft Exchange, media buyers can set the cost per action (click, registration, lead, and/or sale) or any other combination, paying only the agreed upon price for the agreed upon performance generated. MatchCraft is a media-trading platform that facilitates the purchase and sale of online media in an automated, web-based environment. Campaigns are tracked and can be changed in real-time and billing is consolidated. 5. MediaBids Mediabids provides a new way to buy and sell ad space in newspapers and magazines. You can manage an ongoing advertising campaign using its online tools. Purchase advertising in your publication of choice at its preset rate with a few clicks of the mouse. Search or browse publications by market or by topical niche. Or, submit an ad plan and have MediaBids help you put together a buy across a number of publications. You can start an auction by posting your ad spending amount online and allowing publications to bid for your dollars. You can also view current "publication offers," (offers that publications put together to sell outstanding inventory). It is hard to tell how good a deal these offers are based on the presentation format, but both regional and national media outlets participate. Power Planner lets you generate local media plans complete with costs and audience delivery in minutes rather than days. You can mechanise your media planning process through this web-based automated planning engine. Plug in your planning criteria, and the tool will quickly generate up to five alternate media plans, complete with current costs and audience delivery. Then run different scenarios to see how to get the most out of your media buy. Flowcharting tools and other strategic planning gear are built into the system, as are local advertising rates culled from a proprietary database of current rate card numbers. Try the no-cost test drive. 7. MediaPost MediaPost is an excellent resource for planning a media buy. Start with the ALL Media Directory, which includes 3,000 websites and ad networks, 13,000 radio and TV stations and 8,000 publications, as well as 6,000 agencies and sales reps to help make the buy. You will also find web-based media planning tools. MediaPost provides a number of email newsletters on specific media topics. You can access over 20,000 media and advertising related articles in the MediaPost Publications Archives. You may want to sign up for its daily media research updates through the Center For Media Research, which is geared to the needs of buyers and planners of advertising media. This service is useful for in-house organisations and small businesses that want to place display advertising in newspapers but lack a publications database. Mediaspace Solutions (MSS) will make the buy for you, place the ad and verify placement via the web. If you need help, the company can put your newspaper media buy together for you and also assist you on the creative. Register to use the PlanET, an online Planning and Estimating Tool, where you can search for newspapers by geographical region, circulation, color, format, RPO zones or by non-daily paper. It provides a list from which you can pick and choose, then add in your insertion frequency, ad size, client schedule, and submit to MSS for a cost quote. 9. Pheedo Pheedo is an ad network enabling advertisers to place text ads in blogs and RSS feeds. Case studies on Pheedo show that RSS ads yield more click-through than standard email ads. While not stating exactly which publishers comprise its 8,000-strong Pheedo network, the company promises to deliver your contextual messages "with pinpoint accuracy" to the audiences of both micro-publishers and large media outlets. You can open an account for U.S.$5.00. Poindexter's Progressive Optimisation Engine (POE) allows direct marketers to optimise the performance and profitability of their online advertising campaigns in real time. The Poindexter POE is a statistical modeling platform using sophisticated clustering and predictive modeling techniques to identify audience viewing behaviour and responses to various ads. Poindexter POE works by analysing anonymous behavioural, demographic and transactional data, and, with predictions in hand, then automatically determines the right ad for each segment of an audience. The technology claims to integrate seamlessly with publishers and/or ad serving systems. A demo and case studies are available on the site. 11. PointRoll PointRoll aims to redefine advertising creative with innovative, dynamic messaging formats that are widely accepted across major publishing sites. When you sign up with PointRoll you can use its AdDesigner tool, which allows you to build ads in approved formats, serve them to publishers and track and manage your campaign. Ads can include Flash, Java, animation, audio, video and other rich media options. Ad formats include FatBoy (a banner ad with tabs that expands to a larger size upon viewer click), TomBoy (an interactive skyscraper ad with embedded audio, video, etc.), TowelBoy (a banner ad whose upper left hand corner peels away to reveal interactive features hidden below, and then "snaps back" unless the viewer clicks for more information) and BadBoy (the infamous moving ad that runs all over your computer screen). Visit the site for client/creative showcases featuring dozens of examples of ad formats created by leading advertisers such as Absolut, Miller, Saab, Nike, MSN and HotJobs. The Podcast Network is an international collection of centrally produced podcast channels on dozens of topics ranging from business to technology to jazz. Podcast ads offer advertising opportunities for marketers who are interested in reaching a highly diverse audience of international, tech-savvy listeners, which are hard to target anywhere else. Advertising opportunities include sponsorships, interstitials and advertorials. Ad units are all in audio format. Think of this as niche radio on demand. 13. AdForum Demographic Analyser is provided by SRC, a developer of business and market intelligence solutions. A subscription grants access to comprehensive market information analyses to help you discover business and consumer opportunities. This business intelligence data enables you to augment the sales of your products and services. This online service provides you with access to current and past U.S. Census data, including data collected from 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2005, with 2010 projections. Subscribers are able to create unlimited custom reports using thousands of variables, and benefit from the following advanced features:
14. AdSlogans.com is a tagline database service that can help you create your own tagline while avoiding conflicts with competitors. AdSlogans serves the needs of advertisers and their agencies in creating original slogans and also serves the needs of the intellectual-property community with information about unregistered lines. Services include:
Some services are free, while others are available for a fee. 15. Business Name and Tag Line Generator Marcia Yudkin provides a 19-step process to create a company name or a tag line. A business name that can be visualised and also relates to your product and is memorable can prove to be invaluable. A tag line -- an aphorism that accompanies your business name on business cards, stationery, ads and invoices -- can have equal impact.
16. Corbis BizPresenter can provide you with premium-quality photos, PowerPoint background templates, cartoons and illustrations to help create attention-grabbing banner ads. Find the exact image you need with Quick Image Search or select from pre-selected sets of BizPresenter's most popular images with Editor's Picks. Choose from over 80,000 images in the following categories: CDs By Category: 19. eMotion provides hosted business applications for managing digital media assets and marketing content. eMotion platforms consist of software applications, a world-class hosting infrastructure and expert professional services. These flexible platforms provide multiple solutions, from digital asset management and the creation of self-serve marketing extranets, to the implementation of processes for marketing automation. eMotion can store all of your digital branding files (photographs, videos, artwork, logos, etc.) on its servers. This consolidates all your server-hogging files that are stored in various corporate locations. eMotion solutions enable companies to distribute marketing materials more efficiently across dispersed offices, sales teams and vendors. Organisations are able to accelerate production cycles, improving the rate at which product launch materials reach the field. This helps ensure brand consistency worldwide. 20. NameProtect NameProtect specialises in trademark and digital brand protection tools. Its trademark research tools assist you in clearing new marks for trademark use and/or registration. Tools include: trademark research, trademark watching, domain name monitoring and Internet design searches.
21. Thomson CompuMark specialises in global trademark solutions. This trademark and copyright research firm provides brand research services that help companies research trademarks and corporate/product names for international launches. It is important to identify possible negative connotations and associations with a brand name in foreign markets to avoid costly mistakes. Services offered for trademark research include:
Services offered for copyright research include:
22. WordLab WordLab provides free naming and branding resources and "consultants." It's like a universal think tank where users employ the services of anyone willing to contribute to the Wordboard. A database called The Big List contains the latest 250 entries. You can discover new words and avail yourself of the site's naming and branding tools. If you are looking for a unique name or slogan for your business or for personal use, you can post your specific needs to the Wordboard (WordLab's discussion group), where you are sure to get a variety of responses from members of the WordLab community, as well as the WordLab team.
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