How AdSymerix Can Help You Sell Your House - Even In This Market

Today's surprise interest rate drop by the Federal Reserve may pry open the tight fists of mortgage lenders and reignite the sluggish real estate market. If you're a realtor, you know that the problems in the mortgage industry are making it harder and harder for even the most qualified buyers to get the money they need to close a deal. If you're actively trying to sell a home, you can only hope that your house is noticed by someone who has not only the interest but also the means to buy.

AdSymetrix knows that there are hundreds of ways for you to market a home. The question that you're faced with is figuring out the best way to market the home you want to sell.

Realtors, and For-Sale-By-Owners, can use AdSymetrix to monitor the effectiveness of any kind of marketing material imaginable. You can track phone numbers from the sign in the front yard, ads placed on Craig's List, listing on your local MLS, even flyers that you hand out at open houses.

When you know what works, you can focus your efforts and -even in this market- give someone a chance to finally buy their dream home.

AdSymetrix is easy to use, simple to sign up and amazingly powerful. Give AdSymetrix a try, signup, click and email tracking are all free.

Becoming Our Own Clients - Using AdSymetrix to Gauge Advertising Effectiveness

AdSymetrix, the company, has just launched. Our goal is to help advertisers make smarter advertising decisions by providing them (you hopefully) with the information they need to know what works and what doesn't when it comes to their marketing.

When it comes to marketing our business, we're using the same tools we're offering you to determine what works best and what wastes our time. For AdSymetrix, we're looking at a few new ways to get interest into our business and we're tracking each of them.

First, we're looking at some of the pay - per - posting website networks. These networks provide a payment based on whether someone writes a post about your topic. We put a small amount of money in an escrow-like account and give some information about our service. When someone decides that they want to write about us, they grab the necessary information, write whatever they want and some money is deducted from that escrow account and sent to them.

Secondly, we're creating a referral network. Using a company we like called ReferNow, we've created a way to offer our friends and clients rewards for referring their friends and clients to AdSymetrix.

For each of these systems, we've created AdSymetrix Tracking Tools, and over the next few weeks will be able to definitively know which of these systems work for us and could work for you.

So keep an eye out, and let us know what you're doing in your business. Advertising should work, and together with AdSymetrix, we can all make smarter advertising decisions

Follow Your Leads

When you're looking for new business, you have lots of options. You can buy an email list and blast out a hopefully targeted message, create a referral program and entice your current customer base to somehow bring new people to your door, you can advertise in new publications, buy outdoor ads or hire a kid from down the street to walk around town in a sandwich board.

All of these options could work, but how will you know? How do you know whether the person who made a new appointment for next week saw your number in their email, or was given it by a friend or saw your sandwich walker?

AdSymetrix is here to help. We give you the tools you need to tag all of these ads and then track and monitor the responses.

Our system also gives you the control you need to manage the creation of each new lead. Say you do choose to go the sandwich board route. Aside from the fun of humiliating the guy in the sign, you can learn a lot from the responses you get from the ad. Tag your ad with AdSymetrix and every time you get a call from that sandwich board you'll know who's on the other end of the line. We've integrated Google Maps into our application, so you can determine where your new business is geographically centered. And when someone comes in and says that they've seen your humble sandwich board wearer, you can add their information into AdSymetrix and truly understand the value of your advertising efforts.

Give AdSymetrix a try, sign up, click and email tracking are all free.

Community Newspapers and AdSymetrix Tracking Tools

Put yourself in the mind, today, not of a small business owner who's looking for a place to advertise, but a small business owner who has space to advertise and wants to entice other small business owners into advertising with them.

How can a small publisher, say someone who puts out a weekly community newspaper, create a competitive selling proposition in a field where every day their potential advertisers are bombarded with hundreds of other media choices?

One way is to go head to head against your competition. Provide information directly to your potential advertisers about the value of their placing ads in your newspaper. Of course, to go that route, you'll need to have some kind of information at your fingertips that will make your case. And that's where AdSymetrix comes in handy.

With AdSymetrix, your newspaper could track all the responses for every ad placed. You could then go to your next client meeting and show exactly how many responses the quarter page ad in your schools section generated. And as responses equal opportunity, you could make a powerful case that the Return on their Advertising Spend would be higher with your publication than with any other in the area.

AdSymetrix can help the publisher as much as the advertiser. Knowing what ads - and what publications - work, is just a part of how we help you make smarter advertising decisions.

AdSymetrix In The Blogosphere

Can we take a moment to thank our (new) good friends at Mashable and KillerStartups for the mentions over the weekend about AdSymetrix.

These websites are great examples of ways that the blogosphere can work to your advantage while marketing your small business. In AdSymetrix' case, we have launched a brand new service onto the internet that allows anyone who uses direct response marketing or any kind of advertising track their advertisements placed anywhere. For us, we want to introduce our service to as many people as possible. That's where sites like Mashable and KillerStartups are great. They introduce our product to new audiences that are interested in finding new ways to do business.

In the case of these two websites, we were lucky enough to be found online and written about. But there's no reason why you can't submit your website, your business, to these or similar weblogs and get on their publicity band wagon.

Best of all, you can sign in with AdSymetrix, include a link in your correspondence and track the results that come from their blog posting. Then you'll know what new business you've gotten just by being you.

Because Advertisers Demand Sandboxes

NBC and Universal announced today that they will their new viral video website designed specifically to give advertisers a place to put all their supposedly non-advertisement product.

The value of Youtube isn't just in the size of the audience that visits the site, it's in the content that's uploaded - and the public editorializing that got that content online in the first place.

Creating a new "advertiser oriented" video website is creating an artificial sandbox around content that's already out in the world. An advertiser that goes into this site needs to know that just because they can control what's being seen, they won't be able to control who (if anyone) is seeing it.

Advertisers want to surf on the waves of audience participation. But they (you) need to know where the audience is most inviting. AdSymetrix has been designed to help figure out what placements are best for you to reach your potential customers. Customers that may not want to have advertisements spoon fed to them everyday.

When Blogging Becomes Dangerous

There's a lot to be said for keeping your clients aware of what's going on in your business via blogging. Open companies breed stronger relationships with the people that they work with. The problem comes in when the people blogging say too much.

Look at the latest problems that have hit the CEO of Whole Foods. He was posting inflammatory comments on stock message boards trying to bad mouth a competitor that he eventually succeeded in purchasing. Now the SEC is looking into the matter.

It's important to remember, as you'll find any of these CEOs will tell you, that when you're blogging you're still talking for the company. You can be open and honest and irreverent, but you have to remember that you're still the voice of the company. And every voice counts.

Still, operating blogs to goose traffic to your website or connect with your customers is quickly becoming good business. Nicely, the responses that you generate from your online activities can be tracked and monitored through AdSymetrix.

Simply Tag Your Ads and entries and let AdSymetrix track and monitor the responses. You'll know who's interested in your business and get great feedback about your blog.

With Great Audience Comes Great Responsibility.

Google's finding itself in a bit of a snit these days. There's a new movie out from documentarian Michael Moore called Sicko. It focuses Mr. Moore's cameras at the health care industry in America. As you could probably expect, the health care industry isn't particularly happy about this new movie. What you probably wouldn't expect is that Google - via their Google Health Advertising Blog - is advocating that they provide a first wave of defense against the potential public uprising by offering ideas about how health care advertisers can utilize Google to supply their own information to anyone searching for Sicko based content. A point of view quickly retracted by the writer of the blog post.

The issue that arises is one of editorial conflict of interest. Any publication can set its own editorial policies, and choose what kind of advertising they'd like to have in their pages. Google's advertising network is agnostic, it cannot push one product over another nor one political ideal over another. Doing so diminishes the value of the network.

We bring it up because it is important for advertisers to know how their ad placement decisions effect the potential responses they get from their ads. It probably is a good idea for health care companies to advertise on searches related to the new movie, but thinking up that idea shouldn't be the job of the advertising network.

When you place an ad you need to know if its working. AdSymetrix is here to help. Simply Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor the responses. You'll know what ads work and what ads are just wasting your time and money.

Marketing With A Sense Of Humor

If the web did anything, it brought about a great appreciation of irreverent humor. With sites from The Onion to YouTube using humor to not only present entertainment but also present innovative advertising.

Brand Channel this week showcases how branding and humor go hand in hand. If anything, compelling content gets more attention, and advertising with humor is a way to get people to look at your message.

The important thing to remember is that while it may be hilarious to watch someone fall on their backside, it might not be the best way to get people interested in your product. Work within the limits of your brand and you'll have a better chance of getting not only more people to view your ad, but more people to remember your message.

And of course, when you're driving towards a response, you should have a way to know whether the ad is working. AdSymetrix has been designed to give you the information you need to know about your advertising. Simply Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor the responses.

If you'd like to enter our private beta, visit AdSymetrix today.

Advertising in an Adversary World

As a business owner, you have a good relationship with advertising. For your business, advertising is a key way to get new customers interested in the services you have to sell. The annoyances you deal with are substantial, but they are all aimed towards a worthwhile goal: building your business.

Your potential customers have a different relationship. To them, advertising can be an annoyance. Sure it can give them the answer they need just when they need it, but most of the time advertising gets in the way of whatever they were doing when the ad was noticed.

Plenty of new software has been developed to help the customer avoid advertising. TiVo and ReplayTV were initially created to avoid television commercials. In all, there are new roadblocks being built every day that will make advertising your messages more difficult.

And that's why you need to know what works. AdSymetrix has been developed specifically to give you the information you need to make the best decisions for your advertising plans. Simply Tag Your Ad and watch as AdSymetrix tracks and monitor the responses. You'll know where your ads work, and where you're money and time is being wasted.

Sign up now and start saving money on your next advertising campaign.

Word of Mouth

A fever is hitting the Internet this week, all of it focused around Apple's iPhone debut. One of the interesting thing about the amazing reach of this product's launch has been the relatively small amount of effort that Apple's placed in distributing information. From all corners, interested people are doing the heavily lifting for Apple and spreading the word of the new product.

In part, this is due to the perfect storm of the right product coming at just the right time. But the other part has to do with the reputation that Apple's been able to build about itself and its products. And because of that, people are talking.

This kind of word of mouth marketing can be exceptionally helpful. But the key is making sure that the marketing extension remains within your brand. Apple has spent the last few years coming up with ways to make people believe that they are the best company to solve the problem of portable music, that they have the easiest technology for connecting to other people and the Internet and that their products are the prettiest on the market. They could not have released an iPhone ten years ago. It took all this time to straighten out the company and the way they talked to people to get the world ready for Apple to release a product that would get this kind of response.

It is entirely because Apple's made so many people so happy that they've got so many happy people talking about their products.

Getting people talking about your business is a great way to get new customers. The Word of Mouth Marketing Association or WOMMA is a good place to start learning.

In the end you'll have people talking about your business. And AdSymetrix can lend a hand. Track and monitor the responses to referrals with AdSymetrix and learn how your customers are responding to your business.

AdSymetrix is getting ready to launch a new version of our application and website soon. Sign up for our beta now.

Where Is Everyone?

The good folks at Marketing Charts bring to our attention today a new report that's been released that purports to explain what types of media your potential customers are checking out during the day. The results break down as you'd probably expect, TV and Radio are big winners, Online services are gaining quickly and Newspapers are still holding a (shrinking) audience.

The more interesting bit of information was the relative attention paid to each of these media. While people are happy to have the Television or Radio on in the background, people who use the Internet and other online services pay more attention to not only the content they're looking at but the ads as well. This means, of course, that ads online could be more persuasive in the eyes of potential customers than ads in other media - if only because online people are actually paying attention.

The best way, of course, to determine what kinds of ads work for you is to use AdSymetrix. Simply Tag Your Ad and watch as AdSymetrix tracks and monitors your responses. It's the easiest way to know how people are finding you, and how you can sell to them.

When You Make Your Own Ads

We've spent a lot of time over here talking about the ways that mass market publications are trying to react to losing their mass market audiences, but we haven't had much to say about how you can go from yelling in a crowded room to talking face to face.

While AdSymetrix has been designed to help you make better advertising purchasing decisions, it's also been designed to help you make better use of personal connections.

One way that this can work is through the use of fliers, handbills or business cards. AdSymetrix gives you the tools you need to keep track of the responses you get from any of these more personal ways of connecting with potential customers.

Next time you place a print order, Tag Your Ad and watch as AdSymetrix tracks and monitors the responses. You'll be able to see which business cards are finding the most new customers, what fliers are attracting the most attention and what new ways of connecting with customers are working for your business.

When You Can't Interrupt Them, Join Them

Nissan is looking at a new way to integrate their marketing message into entertainment, placing their products inside video games. Starting with the launch of the new Forza Motorsport 2 game for XBox, people who buy the game at Circuit City, Best Buy or Game Spot will be able to get a free set of add-ons that allow them to download a tricked out Nissan Sentra into the game.

These kinds of extras again show how advertisers are desperate to get the attention of an audience that may possibly become interested enough to buy their products. The inclusion of marketer-sponsored areas within video games is a logical extension of product placement, albeit one that has some built in measurements.

Placing your products inside someone else's entertainment can be risky. What happens if the car you download always loses, or the game becomes less fun because of your product. The question that has yet to be answered is whether this kind of marketing brings new customers into Nissan dealerships, or whether it's just another game to be played.

When you're looking to do something new with your advertising, bring AdSymetrix along for the ride. AdSymetrix has been developed to give you the information that lets you make better marketing decisions. Simply Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor your responses. Know what works and what is just wasting your money.

The Oncoming Rush of Online Advertising

With Yahoo replacing its CEO today, there's lots of talk about the ways that company makes money.

Arguably, the most important part of Yahoo's business plan is the way that it utilizes online advertising to make their bucks.

Today's Wall Street Journal looks at ways that marketers are using online advertising to hit just the target audiences they want and a fraction of the cost. The shift is important.

Moving from traditional advertising vehicles to more innovative ones allows for greater targeting and more flexible creative messaging. As technology advances, say with a certain pocket phone / computer, the ability to reach people using online means grows far larger than your ability to touch them using traditional mass media. Targeting geographically as well as demographically and psychographically will not only be necessary but made easier by the opportunities presented by online advertising.

And the best way to know what works is to use AdSymetrix. Simply Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor your responses. Finally you'll know what works and how to make the best buying decisions for your advertising budget.

Sign up now, it's free

The End of Advertising As We Know It!

OK, so maybe things aren't quite as dreary as the headline says, but as more and more people splinter away from mass-market entertainment advertisers are looking at new ways to get prospective customers' attention.

The Washington Post front's today with a story about how the 30-Second Commercial may not be long for this world. With the advent of TiVo's and other time-shifting devices, not only do audiences no longer need to keep their ears open during bathroom/snack breaks while the commercials are on, but they can pause and fast-forward and miss the messages entirely. Now, advertisers are finding that the highly targeted advertising markets opened by online advertising are showing more potential for generating new business than the shotgun approach that mass-market marketing ever offered.

So without a need for a two and two break and with tighter targeting of audience desires, marketers may soon see the day when viral video surpasses television commercials.

Of course, the best way for you to know when you need to pull the plug on any of your advertising is with the help of AdSymetrix. Simply Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor your responses, giving you the information you need to make advertising decisions that not only save you money, but generate new business.

AdSymetrix, sign up now, it's free.

Interesting Ideas that Sometimes Work

There's a weblog out there called 2wenty 4our that showcases interesting and creative advertising campaigns from around the world.

Leafing through the entries you see a lot of edgy stuff, but more generally you see ads that have been made to get attention. They may not always make sense, but the ideas shown in these ads are at least interesting.

The important thing to remember is that most of the very creative concepts shown here are made for very particular audiences and aren't shown to the public. When you have millions to spend on advertising, it's easier to experiment.

Some experiments work better than others. The model walking around with her skirt held up by balloons to showcase Braun's hair removal system increased traffic 25%, but the Cepacol ad just seems creepy.

When it's your business, you don't want to just throw noodles at the wall and wait for things to stick, you want to know that the messages and media you're using are working for you.

That's where AdSymetrix comes in. Simply Tag Your Ad and we'll track and monitor the responses - giving you the real information you'll need to make the best decisions for spending your advertising budget.

Because knowing is better than hoping.

When Bad News Turns Into Good Advertising

Today, Kellogg's announced that it would either make kid's cereal healthier, or drop its ads. What's it mean?

Well, after years of complaints about the sugary nature of cereal one of the largest makers of that cereal has acquiesced and admitted that the stuff they were selling, and the way they were selling it was not-as-healthy as their marketing would have you expect. That's big. It is a giant step for a company reliant on the misdirection afforded by great advertising to sell their sweetened and toasted corn to a nation of excited children. Kellogg's is saying that their detractors have a point. That their cereal has been marketed in a way that makes kids (and their parents) feel that the food healthier than it is.

But the amazing part of this story isn't that Kellogg has been doing something wrong, it's that they're now going to do something right.

They've been able to flip the script and make their current move to make healthier food and better ads seem noble. They aren't the bad guys looking to surreptitiously make your children less healthy, they're the good guys who realized that something wasn't right and dag-gum-it they're going to make good by their customers. For the children, y'know.

The lesson to be learned is that every motion your company makes has the opportunity to shape the way people think about you. What you do and how you talk about yourself plays into the feelings that your customers (and potential customers) get when they think about doing business with you.

And AdSymetrix can help. Whenever you mention your company, place an ad or hand out a business card, AdSymetrix can show you just how those encounters matter to your bottom line. Simply tag your ad, or in this case, Press Release, and let AdSymetrix track and monitor the responses.

When to trust, and not to trust an online review

Salon has a great article today that talks about the reliability of online review websites. Or more specifically, the un-reliability of these sites.

One of the sites that the article looks at is Yelp. Yelp has scared the pants off your local yellow pages company by bringing to the web not only a dynamic way to find local businesses but by adding a social networking component of ratings to listings. The phone company used yellow page directories to give you the ability to make a call, companies like Yelp let you make your connections within the directory.

But the problem the advertiser finds, and the one focused on in today's Salon article, is that the reviews are given the same level of legitimacy as the content of the listing. Meaning that while your store may sell the best chocolate ever made, if someone doesn't like it, they can talk badly about your chocolate to your customers at the point when those customers are making their decision to buy from you.

As with all things online, it's important to keep an eye on the reviews of your business. They will always tell you something about how people are viewing you. And knowing how people view you is just one of the things AdSymetrix does.

AdSymetrix can let you know when someone has contacted you through any listing, any advertisement, anywhere. And knowing how they're finding you helps you find out what they're thinking about you.

Give AdSymetrix a try, sign up - and email and click tracking - are free .

Maybe This Will Work

NBC has decided that the reason you're fast forwarding through commercials is because they aren't live enough. So, starting this week they've taken another page out of Uncle Miltie's book, and started doing live commericals during the Tonight Show.

The hope, as you're probably well aware by now, is to garner additional audience by offering something more interesting than regular commercial fare. Whether it makes you more inclined to watch, or more importantly buy, whatever is being promoted has yet to be determined.

Ultimately, it's a gimmick. NBC hopes that you'll be intrigued enough by live content to want to pay attention to their advertiser. The advertiser hopes that too.

The only real way to wash away the hope and replace it with results is to understand how your ads are working for you. AdSymetrix makes it easy. Simply Tag Your Ad and let AdSymetrix track and monitor your results. Then you'll know whether the risk of a live ad is worth anything to your business.