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Geofencing Metroland and the Blue Jays

I recently read an article on MarketingMag.ca that focused on brands tapping into the recent success and lofty expectations of our very own Toronto Blue Jays. So my head started to spin to find a solution as to how my clients could best tap into this audience. The answer is pretty simple Metrolands geofencing. Metroland can leverage our ad exchange which includes over 30,000 premium Canadian websites on our mobile network that equates to 90 per cent of the top Canadian websites. For those that are not yet familiar with how geofencing works it’s pretty simple:   When a user is on their mobile device with location services on we can target those users with your ad while they are surfing the web from their phone. For example if they were checking the box score on Sportsnet from the game your ad may appear. We simply target a radius from the Rogers Centre for example 1 km. Not only would your brand reach people at the game but also those in bars in restaurants in the area which taps  into the audience you are after. I would hazard to guess that during a Blue Jays home game the available impressions with this platform would be very high. Depending on volume you can purchase these impressions for as low as $8 per thousand. Let’s get in touch if geofencing would make sense for your brand. Check out the Marketing Mag article which I have copied below.

Follow me on Twitter @GeoffJosey

http://www.marketingmag.ca/brands/brands-should-swing-for-the-fences-as-baseball-season-starts-171719

 

It’s All About Balance

This past November I decided to make a move to Toronto for mainly professional reasons but also on a quest to find balance. Those of you that know me well know I am a very passionate person which isn’t always healthy. This did become the case over the past few years in Kingston after starting my own business (FlyerMail). Anyone who is or has been an entrepreneur is fully aware that your business can take over your life and literally become your life. This was the case with me which is why I decided to sell my company to Metroland Media in May of 2012. At the time one of the big reasons other than the obvious to sell to Metroland was to take a half step back and get my life back. The reality was I became even more driven with the new challenge of driving Metroland digital platforms in the east region. So the move to corporate sales was a quest to have a little more me time especially living in the heart of my new city. I did come into my new role in challenging times for the print media industry but given that it was November I did play for 6 weeks exploring the city. But then January came and that always comes with its challenges and I will be honest for the first time in my career was in a bit of a rut. While learning a new job I had some budget challenges and found myself feeling sorry for myself which is crazy as I am not wired that way.

Once March hit I realized that no one was going to get me out of this other than myself so I hit the road to find a solution which translates to running (my favourite form of exercise). Running has always been a huge passion of mine and one of the true loves of my life and something I had escaped from in recent years. While out on the road I started to clear my head, think about strategies, my kids, my next presentation, how I’m going to get through to that agency I’m chasing, you get the idea. I started coming into work feeling great again and simply high on life. And guess what sales are starting to fall, I’m setting up more appointments and bringing on new clients all while growing my existing account list. This is no coincidence or a streak of luck it’s strictly hard work and finding balance. I have zero doubt that I will continue to find success at corporate sales. When I look back finding balance through running combined with the odd night on the town will definitely be remembered as a huge factor in my current and future success as I continue to conquer the corporate world.

Follow me on Twitter @GeoffJosey

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Email Marketing On The Rise

Earlier this week Marketing Magazine published an article on email marketing stating that it is on the rise. Email marketing in 2015 was up 14.8 per  cent over 2015 and another increase is expected in 2016. According to the article 8 out of 10 consumers want to receive emails from brands they are interested in so I am referring to permission based emails. Since the new anti-spam laws were introduced in 2014 a more targeted approach has been adopted to email marketing campaigns.

Metroland Media has over 3 million opt in emails across Metroland brands such as Save.ca, WagJag and Travel Alerts. These emails allow us to target users based on geography, user interest, demographic data etc. and of course you can also send out mass emails much like you would with a printed flyer if that is what you want. Even before the article was released I noticed that the demand for this type of marketing was increasing as more and more corporate clients have been asking for email solutions and I see the engagement when included in presentations.

If you are looking at sending your message out to consumers who want more information regarding your brand there isn’t a better place than Metroland’s 3 million plus opt in emails. Whether it is your first campaign or have completed many get in touch with me so we can share our audience with your new potential customers. I have copied a link to the article that appeared on Marketingmag.ca.

http://www.marketingmag.ca/advantage/email-marketing-is-on-the-rise-in-canada-169813?utm_source=EmailMarketing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=AM_Daily

Follow me on Twitter @GeoffJosey

LinkedIn @ Geoff Josey

 

Nothing Beats Mixing Business With Pleasure

This past weekend I had the pleasure of entertaining an agency that represents my largest account. A fun time was had by all (even though I got stuck watching the Leafs/Sens) not to mention the business relationship building. So often we get lost in paperwork, driving sales and meeting our daily tasks. But when you can mix business with pleasure with some drinks, meals and fun with those you work so closely with on a daily basis it goes a long way. This was great team building not only for the client but also the Metroland team which included the digital rep  I work so closely with but also our respective managers especially being the new guy where I am still getting to know everyone. I am not sure how often I will have opportunities like this but what I do know is it’s important to add a fun element into our professional lives.

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Metroland’s Geofencing – the Latest and the Greatest

By now it is no secret that most businesses need an online marketing strategy in order to capture an audience that is growing by the day to complement traditional media such as print. This is becoming old news and what you hear now is businesses that do not have a mobile marketing strategy you are missing an audience which in some cases may be the only way to reach for example millennials. As more and more of us continue to use our smart phones and tablets as the primary internet source in the confines of our homes to surf the web a mobile marketing strategy becomes a crucial element of any marketing plan. We do after all buy and sell audience.
Lucky for you and Me Metroland Media has many ways to reach the mobile audience but my favourite is our geofencing platform. Geofencing uses the GPS signal in mobile devices when location services are turned on so that we can serve up ads to users surfing websites within a radius for example 2 km around a Health club to attract new members. Metroland’s geofencing platform has access to over 30,000 premium Canadian websites and apps such as Kijiji, The Weather Network, Rogers Sportsnet and cbc.ca just to name a few. We can serve ads on all of these sites as part of our geofencing capabilities thanks to Eyereturn Marketing (a subsidiary of TorStar).
To provide an example of the relevance of this audience let me share an experience I had in the Kingston market which is by no means leading the way from a mobile marketing perspective. During the first week of September when post-secondary students were coming back to town I sold just fewer than 2.5 million impressions to local businesses wanting to primarily reach this audience. This ranged from pizza places to auto shops to retailers both local and national. Many of these impressions were targeted within a 1-3 km radius around the campus and to be delivered within a relatively short period of time (1-3 weeks). Not only is a mobile marketing strategy the best way but also arguably the only way to reach this audience. In addition to the obvious benefits the CTR (click thru rate) is very high. In most cases from my experience on the Metroland network geofencing averages a .5 per cent CTR and upwards of 1 per cent depending on the campaign. 100,000 impressions which is a $1000 investment with Metroland, in many cases would bring 500-1000 clicks with the extreme low end being 350 if the campaign bombed. Take that to the bank for a ROI.
If your company has a digital strategy and you think that is enough chances are you need to re-evaluate your marketing strategy and introduce a mobile marketing campaign. For my money and yours in my opinion there is not a better place to start then a Metroland geofencing platform.
Follow me on Twitter @GeoffJosey

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January Is Coupon Month

If you are like me somewhere in your home you have a drawer full of coupons that magically landed in your mailbox. For me personally given the fast food junkies who live in my house that drawer is full of restaurant coupons such as Mcdonald’s, Harvey’s, Montana’s Cookhouse, East Side Marios, Boston Pizza you get the idea. And yes that is really what is in that drawer as I just double checked. If you pay attention like I do you will notice that your mailbox is jammed in January with these types of deals. This is not a coincidence as these chains have focused marketing departments that rely heavily on analytics while being very ROI driven. In reality the most important stat for coupon advertisers is redemption and simply put this is higher in January than any other month hence the repeated annual cycle. So why the heavy response in January? It really is a common sense approach. The month of December is our biggest retail month of the year in terms of spending for obvious reasons. Many Canadians put themselves into debt and spend the coming months catching up. So naturally this results in consumers looking for deals, and more specifically coupons over the coming months. This hits its height in January as the credit card statements are actually coming in, the weather is gloomy, people are more depressed and everyone is looking for a bargain. In some cases this may be a psychological effect but either way it drives major spending through coupons.
There are numerous ways to reach this audience such as your local Metroland newspaper, one of our direct to door products such as FlyerMail, a direct mail campaign (see Metroland’s Simpofly for an easy way to do this) or an online campaign through a deal site such as WagJag or Save.ca.
I am going to provide one example of one of my direct to door advertisers A&W who often has a campaign in January. If I take just one market of 54,000 doors in FlyerMail which is a $2500 total investment they will get upwards of 2000 coupons back which is a 3.7 per cent redemption rate. You don’t need to be a mathematician to figure out when the offers are structured properly this has a very high ROI.
So the time is now to start planning for January, get your offers in place and come up with a strategy so that you can tap into an audience that is out there looking for deals and ready to spend but you need to have the correct bait to reel them in.
Follow me on Twitter @Geoffjosey

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Does Your Business Need A Content Marketing Strategy?

geoffjosey

For those of you who are not yet familiar with content marketing you will be very soon. Content marketing is one of the fastest growing trends in advertising. Here is a definition that I took from the Content Marketing Institute “Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”

For years  businesses of all sizes have banked on traditional call to action advertising campaigns to get business through the door such as newspapers, direct mail, radio, TV the list goes on and on. The demand for traditional advertising continues to change as advertisers look for alternatives to grow their business. There still is a place for traditional media and it can be very effective if done properly but today’s consumer is a more intelligent buyer in…

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Reach Deal Seekers with Save.ca

Later today I will posting 14 new save.ca customers online in the Kingston region which reaches the greater Kingston, Belleville and Brockville areas. If you are looking to reach a deal seeking audience why not do it with one of Canada’s leading flyer, deal and coupon sites such as Metroland’s save.ca. Even though this is a national site this is the perfect opportunity to get your message to a local audience who are going online looking for bargains and you will get noticed with large retailers such as Shoppers, Home Hardware and Metro just to name a few. Users go to Save.ca and search online flyers, deals and coupons based on category or just generally browse the flyers in no particular order much like they would their Metroland newspaper. All flyers are fully tagged so you can create a shopping list and share your deal socially to your audience so it’s very user friendly. There is also a very popular save.ca app which will display flyers and deals closest to you based on your location using your mobile devices GPS signal. One of the latest features, the cash back option gives users the option to get paid to shop. You simply go out and shop, submit your receipt and you get a cheque in the mail. For example if there is a 50 cent off coupon on pasta out there and you don’t have it no problem simply send in your receipt and you get that 50 cents back.

Most of my clients are looking to reach this bargain hunting audience whether it is with the Metroland newspaper, direct to door products or our online audience. Save.ca is the perfect way to do this while being very cost effective especially for a local retailer or business. Users only go to Save for one reason to find bargains so make sure you look at this site the next time you are planning your newspaper, flyer distribution or direct mail campaign.

Follow me on Twitter @GeoffJosey