ARPU~UP Sending The Right Message

Groupon penetration drives growth in European online couponing activity in 2010

2011-02-27T18:23:00.006+02:00

The emergence of Groupon contributes to a significant growth in the usage of online coupon sites in Europe in 2010. According to comScore, the total number of people using coupon sites in Europe in a month grew by 162 percent to 34.9 million visitors in December 2010 when compared to the previous year.

The past year has seen online coupon sites emerge as an important channel in driving consumer behavior in Europe, generating a 5.7 point increase in penetration. This growth money-saving couponing activity is the highest seen in any region in 2010, bringing the reach of coupon sites in Europe to 9.6% of all internet users.

The report, The 2010 Europe Digital Year in Review, shows significant variation in the penetration of coupon sites. France continues to lead, having the highest monthly reach (20.6% of all French Internet users), followed by the UK (17%), and Italy (15.2%). Italy and Turkey experienced the highest growth rates, with a 15 and 13.6 percentage point increase, respectively.

Groupon, which was not a significant player in Europe in 2009, established itself as market leader following the acquisition of its leading competitor in Europe, Citydeal, in May 2010. The company was able to establish a presence in more than 100 European cities in the past year and now reaches more than 12 million visitors a month, approximately one-third of the total coupon market.

The growth of Groupon, which encourages sharing of offers via Facebook and Twitter, was supported by growing usage of social networking sites in Europe. By the end of the year, social networking monthly penetration in Europe reached 84.4% of all European internet users. According to comScore Social networking accounted for 22.8% of all page views in Europe, and approximately four out of every ten internet sessions included a visit to a social networking site.

A demographic analysis of social networking users in Europe, reveals women leading in terms of engagement. In December 2010, women spent 24.3% of their online time on social networking sites, while, men spent only 16.8% of their time on these sites.

Dan Gerstenfeld and Boaz Babai to Speak on Launching Mobile Technologies to the Blogosphere at Contech 2010

2010-11-07T23:02:00.002+02:00

Dan Gerstenfeld and Boaz Babai will present how to successfully launch a new mobile technology, application or product and catch the blogosphere’s attention at Contech 2010.

Gerstenfeld, CEO of Interteam Content Services, and Babai, CEO of ARPU~UP will jointly explore the best ways to get bloggers to cover companies, test their products and spread the word. The presentation will be held on Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 2.40 pm in Hall A at the David Intercontinental Hotel in Tel Aviv as part of the Contech 2010 event.

The presentation will be based on study cases of successful online PR campaigns carried out by Interteam and ARPU~UP for companies developing mobile solutions and applications. The presentation is aimed at providing companies with effective tools to build their online campaigns in order to ensure that their products receive maximum exposure.

During the event, Gerstenfeld and Babai will demonstrate the steps required to build a successful campaign. They will explain how the main story is built, presented and carried out to achieve maximum exposure.

“The gathering at Contech 2010 is an excellent opportunity for high-tech companies to learn how to effectively apply different tools in order to obtain maximum exposure and generate quality traffic to their web site,” said Interteam’s Dan Gerstenfeld. “The presentation is specifically designed for companies that are taking their first steps and are looking to get the word out.”

“Our experience with Israeli start-ups developing technologies and solutions for the mobile industry shows that it is possible to get considerable attention from leading bloggers by applying several simple tools,” said Babai. “All this can be done while using limited resources granting maximum return on investment.”

The Contech 2010 Conference features content and technology experts from leading international companies such as the BBC, Disney, Facebook, Fox News, HBO, MTV, NetFlix, ORANGE, Sony Pictures Classics, YouTube, Zinga, and more. The event opens on Monday, November 8, 2010.

New package for managing mobile apps campaigns offered by ARPU~UP and Interteam

2010-05-03T22:40:00.004+03:00

Rapid developments in the mobile industry require an ever-growing number of developers to launch new innovative mobile applications. In this competitive environment, thousands of apps developers are trying hard to capture customers’ attention, most of them without a clear digital marketing plan in place. To help developers penetrate the market, ARPU~UP and Interteam Content Services launched a joint initiative to offer a new services aimed specifically at helping developers of mobile applications successfully launch new apps and get online exposure.

The service package includes press releases (PR) delivery, targeted marketing and advertising campaigns and are aimed at promoting the online and mobile visibility of new applications for iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry devices.

ARPU~UP and Interteam recently completed high profile projects for several cellular application developers including Intuitive User Interface and Neatcall. Both campaigns received much exposure, which translated to growing interest in those applications.

“We used the services of ARPU~UP and Interteam when we recently launched our innovative one-touch user experience solution for mobile phones,” said Itay Riemer, co-founder and VP Marketing of Intuitive User Interfaces. “The results exceeded our expectations by far as the successful campaign drew much interest to our new product. I can warmly recommend using their services.”

“When we launched our iPhone scheduling and communication application several weeks ago, ARPU~UP and Interteam managed the whole online campaign,” said Dan Benger, Neatcall’s CEO. “We were very impressed with their professionalism, dedication, execution ability and deep understanding of the mobile phone industry.”

“We have specifically designed the package for mobile apps developers who want to stand out from the crowd,” said Dan Gerstenfeld, CEO of Interteam Content Services. “The new service offers developers a unique opportunity to reach their audience directly in a simple and cost effective manner."

Online advertising expenditures to surplus print for the first time

2010-03-08T18:36:00.001+02:00

Online advertising and marketing spending will be first time ever be higher than print this year, according to a report published by British research company Outsell.

The report, which is based on a survey of more than 1,000 US advertisers, indicates that marketing managers will spend $119.6 billion in 2010 on online and digital marketing compared to spending $111.5 billion on print.

Companies are expected to allocate money to strategies ranging from search engine keywords to webinars. Overall, US spending on advertising and marketing will increase by a modest 1.2% to $368 billion this year.

“Advertisers are directing dollars toward the channels which generate the most qualified leads and most effective branding. As they emerge from the recession, they need more accountability, and they’re spreading their spending over a widening set of options,” said Chuck Richard, Vice President and Lead Analyst, Outsell.

The authors note that advertisers see their own websites as the generating the highest B2B return on investment. This is followed by conferences, exhibitions and trade shows; direct mail; search engine keywords; and e-marketing and newsletters.

51% of B2B marketers rate Facebook as extremely or somewhat effective, followed by LinkedIn (45%), Twitter (35%) and MySpace (25%).

87% of Israeli advertisers plan to invest in social media marketing in 2010

2010-01-27T16:39:00.002+02:00

Israeli marketing specialists intend to increase their spending on social media marketing (SMM) in 2010, according to a survey conducted by the Israeli Marketing Association and Financial Daily TheMarker.

According to the survey, 87 percent of Israeli advertisers plan to launch social media marketing initiatives in 2010, by acting on social networks like Twitter and Facebook, and approaching bloggers.

The survey was carried out by research firm Meida Shivuki, which is owned by Meirav Shapira and Noam Raz.

The number represents an increase in comparison to 2009, in which some 83% said they invested in social media. It is interesting to note that more than 70% of those, who were not active in social marketing, last year, said they plan to do so this year.

The report said that many advertisers include social media initiatives in their overall public relations activities. This is in line with the fact that 16% of those surveyed said they intend to increase public relationships (PR) expenditures and only 2% said they intend to spend less.

The survey included some 70 CEO's and senior VP Marketing from 166 Israeli companies that are members of the Israeli Marketing Association. The report shows that 2010 will be the fifth consecutive year in which advertisers will increase Internet advertising as some 47% said they intend to increase their online advertising budgets.

ARPU~UP and Interteam partner to offer Special Web Marketing Package for MWC 2010

2010-01-07T16:58:00.006+02:00

ARPU~UP and Interteam Content Services have jointly launched a special Web marketing package to participants attending the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2010 to be held in Barcelona, Spain in February.

The package includes search engine and social media marketing, online PR, video production and other services. It is aimed at increasing participants’ exposure at the prestigious cellular meeting, allowing them to maximize opportunities.

Both companies have a proven track record of successfully completing similar campaigns for companies of all sizes. In the last 18 months, ARPU~UP and Interteam have provided Web marketing services to leading mobile companies such as Perfecto Mobile, Mobixell, Aerotel Medical System and innerActive Smart Media.

The online package is aimed at maximizing the exposure companies can receive from participating at the 2010 GSMA Mobile World Congress. Firms that intend to attend the congress will receive full marketing direction. The offering includes: personal guidance on how to best prepare teams for the show; team supervision; building social media presence, online PR and other Web-related marketing campaigns; marketing communication, and any other services required to draw interest from mobile industry leaders.

IsraelTechNews ranked at top 25 most influential Jewish Newswires on Twitter

2009-05-06T22:07:00.000+03:00

IsraelTechNews was named as one of the 25 most influential Jewish newswires in Twitter in a special survey conducted by Jewish New Agency JTA.

The report, which was titled "JTA’s 100 Most Influential Jewish Twitterers", ranked IsraelTechNews as 21 in the list of influential Jewish newswires. IsraelTechNews was ranked behind Britain's Jewish Chronicle, the world's oldest Jewish newspaper.

IsraelTechNews publishes the latest news about the Israeli technology industry, including news updates on internet, mobile, software, medical device, healthcare and Cleantech startups. It was founded by Boaz Babai founder and CEO of ARPU~UP, a provider of online marketing strategy consulting services.

ARPU~UP, SidEffect and Interteam team up to offer rich media PR

2009-03-25T11:21:00.002+02:00

ARPU~UP, SidEffect and Interteam Content Services have joined forces to offer rich-media press releases (PR). The new innovative service will allow the addition of webcasting features to company announcements. The full PR solution includes writing, filming and distribution of press releases, accompanied by promotion on social networks and the deployment of guerrilla marketing tactics.

“The move is in line with the global shift in online PR and the move to social media marketing,” said Boaz Babai, ARPU~UP’s CEO. “Search engines are now ranking higher content that includes video. By providing this service, we expose our customers to a large audience that will easily find them on leading search engines and popular Internet venues such as YouTube.”

The new alliance offers a solution that guarantees that the press release is well written, visually attractive and targeted at the right audience. The release will be viable on major news search engines such as Google News, Yahoo News and Topix, and will be distributed to leading bloggers who cover the specific industry in which the client is active. The PR campaign will also include guerrilla marketing, the usage of social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter in order to increase visibility and grow Web traffic.

ARPU~UP and Interteam launch full marketing package for Mobile World Congress participants

2008-12-23T11:53:00.006+02:00

ARPU~UP and Interteam Content Services have teamed up to offer a full marketing package to companies participating in the 2009 GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February.

The one-stop service is aimed at managing a client’s tradeshow program in order to ensure that a participating company will fully utilize the extraordinary opportunities arising from the world’s foremost cellular trade show.

“Companies that prepare in advance will be able to benefit most from the great opportunities the show offers,” said Boaz Babai, ARPU~UP’s founder and CEO. “In times of economic uncertainty, it is most important to maximize the opportunities while maintaining control over costs. In today’s environment companies can’t afford failure resulting from the lack of proper preparation.”

Firms proposing to attend the GSMA congress will receive full marketing direction from ARPU~UP and Interteam Content Services. Services include:

Defining and producing marketing material required for the trade show – electronic (Web), print (brochures, leaflets), presentations, video and other marketing communications (MarCom) materials.
Booth design and production
PR writing, optimization and delivery – writing, optimizing and distributing press releases for major news search engines such as Google News, Yahoo News and Topix.

Blog marketing – distributing PR materials to leading bloggers who cover the mobile industry.
Guerrilla PR marketing – usage of Web bookmarking and social news aggregator web sites, in order to increase the visibility of the PR in the mobile phone community.
Booth management training

All services are offered by experienced professionals with proven track records.

ARPU~UP and Interteam establish new branded online presence for DeveloPrint

2008-08-11T10:15:00.001+03:00

ARPU~UP and Interteam Content Services successfully completed a joint project for the setting up of a new, branded Internet presence for DeveloPrint, a market leader in the field of TransPromo marketing.

ARPU~UP and Interteam jointly concluded a project aimed at re-branding and building DeveloPrint’s Web image, which consisted of composing professional content aimed specifically at different target audiences. This involved, among other tasks, setting up the company’s Internet site, writing and distributing PR materials and the deployment of Web site optimization techniques.

“DeveloPrint’s new web site demonstrates well the effective results the corporate world can achieve by using the right online marketing strategies,” said Boaz Babai, ARPU~UP’s founder and CEO. “It is clear, that by effectively combining search engine optimization (SEO) methods and quality content, companies can significantly leverage their Web sites, turning them into a key element of marketing strategies. Working with the management teams of DeveloPrint and Interteam proved to be an inspiring and exciting opportunity.”

“By combining ARPU~UP’s know-how and expertise with Interteam’s proven ability to provide quality writing services, we have proved once again that quality content is one of the most underutilized, simple and cost-effective manners of boosting Web sites’ activity,” said Dan Gerstenfeld, CEO of Interteam Content Services. ”By applying the right content to different targeted audiences, we managed to build specific pages that were tailor-made for each of DeveloPrint’s different clients."

US online sales will rise to $204 billion in 2008

2008-04-10T00:21:00.003+03:00

Online sales in the US will climb by 17% to $204 billion in 2008 despite struggling economy. According to The State of Retailing Online 2008, the annual Shop.org study conducted by Forrester Research. Apparel ($26.6 billion), computers ($23.9 billion), and autos ($19.3 billion) will be the largest three sales categories.

Online retailers report that search engine marketing continues to be the most effective way to reach new customers, citing 35% of sales coming from that initiative. As a result, nearly all online retailers surveyed (90%) use pay-for-performance search placement, and 79% said they will make this tactic an even greater priority this year. Companies are also using offline marketing tactics to drive customers to the web, with catalogs and other direct mail pieces taking priority over methods like TV and newspaper advertising.

According to the survey, American retailers are eager to experiment with social computing initiatives to attract customers – 65% and 55% of retailers respectively said that social network advertisements and widgets would be categories of increased focus this year. However, social networking efforts to this point have been considered more effective for brand-building and less proven for driving revenue or sales conversion.

online retail is projected to grow to $335 billion by 2012 from $175 billion in 2007, according to Forrester estimation. Business-to-consumer (B2C) eCommerce continues its double-digit year-over-year growth rate, in part because sales are shifting away from stores and in part because online shoppers are less sensitive to adverse economic conditions than the average

consumer.

Internet advertising to grow 24% to $44.6 billion in 2008; to reach $61 billion in 2010

2007-12-29T18:04:00.001+02:00

Internet advertising worldwide will grow 24% to $44.58 billion in 2008 from $36 billion in 2007 and will reach $61 billion in 2010, with 11.5% of total advertising spending. According to ZenithOptimedia prediction. The internet wills nearly double its share of global ad spending between 2006 and 2010, at the expense of most of the other media.

ZenithOptimedia is expecting that the internet advertising will overtake radio advertising in 2008, and in 2010 the internet will overtake magazines to become the world’s third-largest advertising medium.

Internet advertising already takes over 15% of the advertising expenditure in four markets -

Denmark

Norway

Sweden

and the

, and by 2010 will take more than 20% in those markets.

The global advertising expenditure will grow 6.7% in 2008 to $485.6 billion. The ad market will be boosted by US$6 billion in spending from the ‘quadrennial events’ in 2008: US$3 billion from the Olympics in

China

, US$2 billion from the Presidential and congressional elections in the

, and US$1 billion from the European football tournament Euro 2008.

Internet Marketing Day, the International MBA Program at Bar Ilan University

2007-06-17T09:11:00.001+03:00

ARPU~UP, a Web 2.0 Marketing Strategy Consulting firm, successfully organized an Internet Marketing Day for the students of Bar Ilan's University International MBA Program. The one-day seminar was cover the challenges of doing business on the Internet today as well as examine how emerging technologies and business models are being adapted, using digital branding, marketing, finance, sales, technology and business development.

The marketing session, which toke place on Friday June 15, was presented by four professionals in the field: Boaz Babai, Founder & CEO of ARPU~AP; Boaz Rossano, Creative & Marketing Director of Netica; Maya Elhalal, Co-Founder of Site on spot, and Tomer Harel, Founder & CEO of Key Scouts, a company that provides website promotion services. Rossano spoke of e-branding, whereas Elhalal focused her lecture on Web 2.0 social networks, and Harel gave an overview of marketing tools on the Internet.

The event was a part of "Electronic Commerce" course by Dr. Ari Dothan, an associate lecturer at the Bar-Ilan University. The course is focused around theories of value addition to consumers through differentiated business models. The effect of the Internet on their business model is conceived as the dynamic threat firms encounter in their attempts to achieve fit with a rapidly changing environment.

“Their presentation offered a practical overview of marketing on the Internet issues. Besides learning about the vast variety of business applications on the Internet,” said The Dr. Dothan. “Students received a powerful message of entrepreneurial opportunities which this medium offers to people willing to take new initiatives.”

Last month, Babai was giving a talk on Web 2.0 Marketing Strategy at the Collage of Management MBA program. Babai’s presentation focused on how companies can market successfully In the Web 2.0 World. Babai presented effective tools of organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising campaigns, Press Release Optimization and Delivery (PR-SEO), blog marketing and video viral marketing.

Big in Japan – How the Japanese is leading the "blogalization" phenomenon

2007-03-25T13:13:00.000+02:00

Although little attention is paid to this important phenomenon, the blogosphere is turning global in a big way. This "blogalization" is led, surprisingly, by Japan's internet mobile users. As of today more people are writing blogs in Japanese than in any other language, and more blogs are being read by Japanese, surpassing the Americans, Koreans, British and French.

A new blogging study, conducted by StrategyOne, shows that: In an average week, almost three quarters (74%) of the Japanese Internet users who participated in the survey said they read blogs at least once a week. This is significantly more compared to the other countries studied, with just under a half (43%) in South Korea, just under a quarter in the UK (23%) and France (22%) and just over a quarter in the USA (27%).

In Japan only a minority claimed to not read any blogs (26%), far less than other countries such as South Korea (57%), the UK (73%), France (68%) and the USA (69%), according to the study. Japan has the highest proportion (25%) of people who read blogs every day, compared to all countries participating in this research.

English, while being the language of the majority of early bloggers, has fallen to less than a third of all blog posts today. About 37% of the today blog posts are writing in Japanese and 15% are in Chinese, according to the latest data from Technorati, the leading blogs search engine that currently tracking 72.3 million blogs worldwide.

Japanese bloggers appear to write shorter posts more often, probably as a result of blogging from mobile phones. Today, more than 70 million people in Japan are using their mobile devices to surf in the internet, partly as a result of the popularity of mobile Internet services like NTT DoCoMo's i-mode.

52% of users in Japan use the mobile web regularly, compared to a 10% in Europe, according to a new research by Forrester. “When it comes to mobile services, Japan is still ahead of Europe by a whopping five years, even though operators in both regions introduced mobile Internet services at roughly the same time in the late 1990s,” said Forrester analyst Niek van Veen.

“With the incredible growth of the blogosphere, brands and media companies worldwide realize that their communications environment is also in for big changes,” said Peter Hirshberg, Technorati chairman. “The clout that bloggers have developed the U.S. is going global. The lessons that marketers have begun to learn here - get a clue, listen, participate, engage - will soon apply everywhere.”

Do we really understand Web 2.0 jargon?

2007-03-20T11:49:00.000+02:00

Web 2.0 was the word on everybody's mouth in the TheMarker COM.VENTION conference. But putting aside the fact that nobody was really able to define the phrase, it seems that none understand what it really means for our daily digital life.

What drove me to this thought was audience response to a video clip, made by Lior Katz from Wishood, which was presented by Yossi Vardi at the beginning of the COM.VENTION. This seriously funny video clip, called Supermarket 2.0, attmepted to illustrate with significant amount of humor how the Web 2.0 revolution will affect our shopping habits in the future. However, all but a few in the audience gazed at the screen with blank stares. They simply didn't get it.

Understanding humor requires deep understanding of the terminology and jargon. It seems that everybody can talk about Web 2.0. Very few understand it deep enough to laugh about it. Let alone use it.

Supermarket 2.0 - For more funny videos, click here

Is traditional journalism becoming irrelevant?

2007-03-16T11:15:00.000+02:00

Do you think traditional journalism is becoming irrelevant? To what extent do journalists still have a role in creating a broad agenda of common knowledge? Journalism is becoming a smaller part of people’s information mix and the press is no longer gatekeeper over what the public knows, according to a new report, The State of the News Media 2007 by the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

The annual report on American Journalism is trying to answer some of the most important questions relating to the status and health of the old media and I think they came up with a very interesting conclusions.

“Journalists have reacted relatively slowly. They are only now beginning to re-imagine their role. Their companies failed to see “search” as a kind of journalism. Their industry has spent comparatively little on R&D. They have been tentative about pressing for new economic models, and that has left them fearful and defensive. Some of the most interesting experiments in new journalism continue to come from outside the profession — sites such as Global Voices, which mixes approved volunteer “reporters” from around the world with professional editors.”

Te report conclude that in a sense all news organizations are becoming more niche players, basing their appeal less on how they cover the news and more on what they cover. “The definitions of enemy and ally in the news business are changing. Newspapers have begun to partner, for instance, with classified-job-listing Web sites they once denounced, brought together by mutual fear of free sites such as Craigslist.”

The broad context outlined in earlier report of this organization remains the same: the transformation facing journalism is epochal, as momentous as the invention of television or the telegraph, perhaps on the order of the printing press itself. The effect is more than just audiences migrating to new delivery systems. Technology is redefining the role of the citizen — endowing the individual with more responsibility and command over how he or she consumes information — and that new role is only beginning to be understood.

The new major trends in 2007 report, which in my mind are the most fascinating, and generate guidelines for the future, are:

1. News organizations need to do more to think through the implications of this new era of shrinking ambitions. The move toward building audience around “franchise” areas of coverage or other traits is a logical response to fragmentation and can, managed creatively, have journalistic value. To a degree, journalism’s problems are oversupply, too many news organizations doing the same thing. But something gained means something lost, especially as newsrooms get smaller. There is already evidence that basic monitoring of local government has suffered. Regional concerns, as opposed to local, are likely to get less coverage. Matters with widespread impact but little audience appeal, always a challenge, seem more at risk of being unmonitored.

2. The evidence is mounting that the news industry must become more aggressive about developing a new economic model. The signs are clearer that advertising works differently online than in older media. Finding out about goods and services on the Web is an activity unto itself, like using the yellow pages, and less a byproduct of getting news, such as seeing a car ad during a newscast. The consequence is that advertisers may not need journalism as they once did, particularly online. Already the predictions of advertising growth on the Web are being scaled back. That has major implications, Among them, news organizations can broaden what they consider journalistic function to include activities such as online search and citizen media, and perhaps even liken their journalism to anchor stores at a mall, a major reason for coming but not the only one. Perhaps most important, the math suggests they almost certainly must find a way to get consumers to pay for digital content. The increasingly logical scenario is not to charge the consumer directly. Instead, news providers would charge Internet providers and aggregators licensing fees for content. News organizations may have to create consortiums to make this happen. And those fees would likely add to the bills consumers pay for Internet access. But the notion that the Internet is free is already false. Those who report the news just aren’t sharing in the fees.

3. Blogging is on the brink of a new phase that will probably include scandal, profitability for some, and a splintering into elites and non-elites over standards and ethics. Corporate public-relations efforts are beginning to use blogs as well, often covertly. What gives blogging its authenticity and momentum — its open access — also makes it vulnerable to being used and manipulated. At the same time, some of the most popular bloggers are already becoming businesses or being assimilated by establishment media. All this is likely to cause blogging to lose some of its patina as citizen media. To protect themselves, some of the best-known bloggers are already forming associations, with ethics codes, standards of conduct and more. The paradox of professionalizing the medium to preserve its integrity as an independent citizen platform is the start of a complicated new era in the evolution of the blogosphere.

4. While journalists are becoming more serious about the Web, no clear models of how to do journalism online really exist yet, and some qualities are still only marginally explored. The root media no longer strictly define a site’s character. The Web sites of the Washington Post and the New York Times, for instance, are more dissimilar than the papers are in print. The Post, by our count, was beginning to have more in common with some sites from other media. The field is still highly experimental, with an array of options, but it can be hard to discern what one site offers, in contrast to another. And some of the Web’s potential abilities seem less developed than others. Sites have done more, for instance, to exploit immediacy, but they have done less to exploit the potential for depth.

If some of you still want to work for the news media industry, you must have to start reading this great report, soon. It won’t be easy! The full report is comprehensive, totaling more than 160,000 words.

Brand marketers to increase use social marketing

2007-03-10T14:21:00.000+02:00

Advertisers are continuing to increase their activities in social networking sites in hopes of generating viral brand awareness and affinity. 48% of brand marketers plan to use social marketing tactics in 2007, compared to 38% who did so in 2006. According to a new report, “Social Networking Sites: Defining Advertising Opportunities in a Competitive Landscape,” by JupiterResearch.

Social networking sites are designed for members to create and post content, usually in the form of profile pages. Youth surfers, especially between 18 and 34, are using social utilities websites like MySpace and Facebook to communicate with each other.

“30% of frequent social networkers trust their peers’ opinions when making a major purchase decision, but only 10% trust advertisements,” said Emily Riley, JupiterResearch Analyst and lead author of the report. “Consequently, brand marketers must harness brand advocates and influentials by providing additional motivation for frequent networkers to engage in social marketing.”

The report forecast that advertiser adoption of social tactics will increase competition for attention on social websites among users who are engaged in intense social activity with their peers. In addition to engaging brand advocates to involve social networkers, brand marketers must target interests and activities that attract frequent networkers, and earn trust by mastering social networking flow.

“As brand marketers increase their use of social tactics, they are competing not only among themselves but also with frequent networkers,” said David Schatsky, President of JupiterKagan. “Brand marketers must not act on social tactics as a broad category but, instead, create unique campaigns for different sites.”

Boaz Babai will be giving a talk on Web Marketing Strategy at the Age of the Web 2.0 Revolution, at Bar-Ilan University

2006-10-24T09:04:00.000+02:00

Boaz Babai, Founder & GM of ARPU~UP, will be giving a talk on Web Marketing Strategy at the Age of the Web 2.0 Revolution, at Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel. Babai’s presentation will focus on how companies can adapt their online marketing strategies to the fundamental changes in Internet users' usage habits brought about by the increase in popularity and functionality of Web 2.0 based applications and digital media platforms.

In his talk to the Executive MBA students at Bar-Ilan University which will take place on Thursday 26th October 2006, Babai will present effective tools of organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay-Per-Click (PPC), Press Release Optimization and Delivery (PR-SEO), and Blog Marketing. The lecture is a part of "Internet Marketing and Electronic Commerce" course by Dr. Ari Dothan, an associate lecturer at the Bar-Ilan University.

In the age of Web 2.0, companies must use appropriate internet marketing tools to target their audience, whether it’s the digital youth segment or the baby boomers sector. Web bookmaking, social news aggregator websites, video sharing communities, RSS delivery and other innovative Web 2.0 tools are turning to be more important viral marketing instruments than TV commercials and magazine ads to capture the consumer hearts and minds.

JupiterResearch has found that consumer-created content is having an increasing affect on online businesses. "The power of the consumer's voice has never been stronger," said David Daniels, Vice President and Research Director at JupiterResearch. "It is impacting consumer behavior and how companies operate. Smart marketers are not just reviewing consumer-created content, they are studying it and using it to develop strategies to grow their business."

E-holiday sales in US will grow to $32 billion this year

2006-10-10T09:49:00.000+02:00

The online retail sales in US will grow to $32 Billion in this year holiday season, an increase of 18% over 2005 holiday season, according to JupiterResearch forecast. A record 114 million users, a 6% increase over last year, will buy online in 2006 holiday season.

“Retailers can maximize their opportunity with online shoppers and especially last minute shoppers,” said David Schatsky, President of JupiterKagan. “One strategy is to use upgrades to free shipping strategically with customer segments that are particularly sensitive to shipping costs, and less aggressive offers to buyers who have purchased last minute at full shipping in the past.”

75% of shoppers said free shipping is the most important factor that determines where to shop online. According to the eHoliday Mood Survey by Shop.org and BizRate Research for Shopzilla.

"In terms of the promotions, much of what the e-retail people are thinking of doing revolves around free shipping," says Joan Broughton, VP of content and education, Shop.org. "That's a good choice considering most consumers say that that's what they're looking for."

contact us

2004-03-16T12:35:00.001+02:00

Boaz Babai
CEO
ARPU~UP Sending The Right Message
Email: boaz.babai@arpu-up.com
Mobile: +972-54-5700157

web marketing services

2004-03-16T11:17:00.000+02:00

ARPU~UP is a Web Marketing consulting company that offers the following web marketing services:

Search Engine Optimization (Natural SEO)

ARPU~UP provides techniques to improve the Company website more appealing to search engine spiders. Additionally, the company develops relevant content to support your targeted keywords that increase lead generation activity.

The SEO project includes:

Market research and target audience analysis.

Optimal keyword phrases within the relevant market.

Effective copywriting and Meta tags building to increase search engine exposure.

New content web pages and improving the website usability.

Valuable links building.

Pay per Click (PPC)

ARPU~UP will provide MCG/Clickmountain service to investigate and show immediate results in driving traffic to optimized pages. While SEO (non-paid) traffic is ideal, it takes time for the engines to pick up new sites, pages and enhancements. PPC provides businesses with control of traffic volumes for specific targeted goals, and is meant to be implemented in conjunction with these other programs.

The PPC project includes:

Review of the specific landscape – audience, competitors, goals, concepts.

Choosing keywords and geographic markets, identifying traffic volume and opportunities.

Implementation of program based on budgets per click, per month and coordination of program with review of business results. We will aim to achieve much lower costs than comparable programs through sophisticated optimization techniques.

Identification of key findings, website effectiveness and business results.

Campaign tracking and click quality tools to be implemented on an as-needed basis.

Optimization and web distribution of Press Release (PR-SEO)

This service gives companies search visibility in Google News, Topix.net, Yahoo! Search, MSN, MSN News, Ask Jeeves, Teoma, and Lycos News.

Each month, more than 27 million people in the U.S. use Google News and other news search engines to find the latest information about a wide range of topics that interest them. When they conduct a news search, they often find relevant news releases along with articles from thousands of news sources. The press as well are using news search engine - 98% of journalists go online daily and 73% to find press releases.

According to Neilsen/NetRatings, Google News is now one of the top current events and global news destination – in the same league as CNN, MSNBC, NYTimes.com, and washingtonpost.com.

PR Delivery - This service includes optimization and distribution of the news releases to the major news search engines.

Blog Marketing – Sending the PR to the leading bloggers that cover the target market.

PR Guerrilla Marketing - Using web bookmaking, social news aggregator websites, and RSS delivery tools, in order to increase the visibility of the PR in the blog community and to drive traffic to company website.

PR Monitoring - Delivery report regarding the appearance of the PR in the media, website and blogs.

Blog based Marketing

ARPU~UP is offering consulting and maintenance services related to the methods of using Blogs as an innovative tool of Word-of-Mouth Marketing.

This service includes:

Choosing the right blog platform.

Building a new blog.

Optimizing, registration and linking the blogs RSS system to blogs search engines.

Month Maintenance – Writing, editing and inserting photos and new articles.

Guiding the company regarding the daily operating of the blog.

Email Marketing

ARPU~UP with MCG/Clickmountain will provide robust email-marketing infrastructure, and execution

This service includes:

Emailing program with optimization of usability and deliverability.

Flexible database and interfaces.

Integration with websites and blogs.

Preparation and delivery of multiple messages on individual action-based trigger or on schedule to larger groups.

Guiding the company on all issues related to email marketing.

Blogs Mapping

Blogs are the best source today for understanding what happening in the many industries. Starting an interaction with the leading bloggers that covers a specific market can help companies to send their messages to the target audience. The Bloggers Briefing report can improve visibility in the blogosphere community.

The working paper will include those materials:

List of 50 blogs that cover a specific market.

Blog popularity check

A sort brief of bloggers latest report and articles.

Blogger contact detail.

about us

2004-03-16T11:13:00.000+02:00

ARPU~UP is an online marketing strategy consulting firm. ARPU~UP is providing award-winning web marketing strategies to Israeli innovative business startup companies.

In the new Web 2.0 internet paradigm, ARPU-UP provides an effective method of driving highly targeted visitors to web sites using web marketing techniques, including Natural SEO, Pay-Per-Click, PPC, PR-SEO, blog marketing and online marketing guerrilla solutions.