The GottaQuirk eMarketing blog

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

We'll let you in on a little secret
2008-05-25 09:19:00
I know all of you (and when I say all of you I mean the men reading this post) wonder why us girls buy so many magazines and catalogues and then leave them lying around. We know it may be slightly obsessive but we need the last 6 months worth of editions. And it&rsquo...
More About: Viral Marketing , Secret

Xenophobia - finding a solution!
2008-05-23 14:50:00
The past two weeks represent a significant blot on the landscape of South Africa’s recent past; not since 1994 has the nation been shaken by such an upsurge of senseless violence. Attributed to xenophobia, these attacks, which have esca...
More About: General , Solution

Digital Rights Management - downloads might not only be for pirates...
2008-05-23 06:27:00
The opinions and debates over online piracy and Digital Rights Management (DRM) are endless. At the end of the day, you're either in favour of the consumer's right to download content for free or you're in favour of ...
More About: Downloads , Pirates , General

Good SEO vs. Bad SEO
2008-05-22 15:15:00
So here we are. For my sins, I am the new SEO manager at Quirk. On the blank canvas of “SEO things” to talk about at Quirk...
More About: Search Engine Marketing , Good

The Effect of Usage Data on SEO
2008-05-21 15:19:00
The practice of SEO – tweaking a site to make it rank higher in search results – has thus far evolved alongside developments in search. There has been some discussion, however, that searc...
More About: Search Engine Marketing , Data , Effect , Usage

A beginner?s guide to Conversion Optimizer: Part 2
2008-05-19 11:07:00
In my first post about Conversion Optimizer (CO) I outlined a few guidelines when first setting up Conversion Optimizer. I also documented the results of one of my clie...
More About: Beginner , Guide , Affiliates , Part

The BBC goes virally HD
2008-05-17 09:20:00
When I saw BBC in the title for this viral I have to admit I got a little excited. I’ve always been a fan of British humour (Monty Python is responsible for a fe...
More About: General , Viral Marketing

An Open Introduction
2008-05-15 07:43:00
So it has got to this, I am the new Sys Admin here at Quirk. And as most people know us technically minded individuals do not have the knack for writing any sort of articles, blog posts or user manuals and tend to think in binary rather than in &lsqu...
More About: General , Open , Introduction

It's Google Earth: Putting South Africa on the Map
2008-05-14 15:31:00
Finally, I can talk about the exciting project that has been keeping me up late and in the office early. Introducing: The South Africa n Tourism layer in Google Earth (downloadable he...
More About: South Africa , General

Tourism Begins Online
2008-05-13 17:25:00
With the current focus on tourism, as evident from the Tourism Indaba that drew to a close in Durban today, it seems valuable to discuss one of the most significant developments in tourism in the last few years. The ...
More About: General , Online

Insightful Nokia understands the importance of the mobile Web
2008-05-13 11:20:00
That the mobile Internet is significant and growing in importance is hardly news. In Africa specifically, challenges in landline infrastructure and the costs of an Internet connection has made the cellphone the obvious choice for most of the population. Statis...
More About: Mobile , Nokia , General , Mobile Web

7 Tips for Online Marketing Managers (partners)
2008-05-12 16:08:00
Although I am quite new to the world that is eMarketing , the environment here at Quirk is pretty fast-paced and you find yourself being...
More About: Online Marketing , General , Tips , Online

Reality Facebook
2008-05-10 11:40:00
Mary sent this viral clip around on Wednesday morning. For hours after the sounds of giggling QuirkStars could be heard from all over the QuirkStation. Yes, w...
More About: Reality , Viral Marketing , Facebook

Like Coldplay? Like Free Stuff?
2008-05-09 14:05:00
Well here’s a little humdinger of a promotion using the very source of masses of lost music industry revenue - the Internet … dum! dum!  dum! (dramatic sounds ensue). Shabang! (magic surprise effects) Free ti...
More About: Free Stuff , Stuff , Coldplay

Protecting Children on Facebook
2008-05-09 12:55:00
49 Attorney generals in the United States have signed on with Facebook to protect children from being bullied or contacted by potentially dangerous people through their profile p...
More About: Children

A Finnish Edition
2008-05-08 14:08:00
Hi, my name is Peter and I’m a Quirkaholic... Just kidding... kind of. Who is Peter Lehto? Well, I was born in Helsinki, Finland, to a South African mother and Finnish father. (Quite a weird combo I know...
More About: Edition

TheWB.com - The New Tv
2008-05-01 16:13:00
In an effort to occupy a higher percentage of consumers' time, media companies are researching new outlets to show their stuff. Broadband distribution is the most recent of these. The latest platform for entert...
More About: General

Five Tips to Make Social Media Strategy Work for Your Business
2008-04-30 13:18:00
True computer geeks (recently I was informed that that there is a discernable difference between nerds and geeks, although my friends - who may or not fall into this category - have some trouble explaining this subtlety to a mere mortal such as myself) predate Social ...
More About: Business , Media , Strategy , Tips

Search Me: Not an Every Day Engine
2008-04-30 08:08:00
Another conceptual search engine has hit the scene, and like me, you might find it useful at times. Search Me, modelled on the memory-eating coverflow view now common on most...
More About: Search Engine Marketing , Engine

Oxfam: Be Humankind
2008-04-27 10:45:00
I love this Oxfam ad. It demonstrates a move away from the endless images of children with flies on their faces and makes me feel more like people could really make a difference. More of an empower-...
More About: General

Genie in a bottle
2008-04-26 08:06:00
Last weekend I found myself flicking through the channels (as one does) and I stumbled across Aladdin - a movie my little brother believes it is the most important movie of the last century (and yes that&rsq...
More About: General , Bottle , Genie

Email Marketing Basics
2008-04-25 15:26:00
Email Marketing engages with p...
More About: Email , Email Marketing , Basics

Twing - searching discussions
2008-04-24 07:23:00
This neat little search engine searches forums. I came across it on Web2.ohreally, where Craig Stoltz discusses what Twing essentially does -...
More About: General , Searching

5 tips on promoting your travel business on Tripadvisor.com
2008-04-23 08:31:00
Werner sent me this article last week about how tripadvisor.com now features 15 million reviews and opinions, up from 10 million in June 2007. I’m not surprised at this massive growth – I have been using tripadvisor.com for over 3 years and have seen it expand from a relatively niche travel site into something that has become the model for a travel social network and has spawned countless spin-offs and copycats. I have also personally helped tripadvisor.com grow, firstly by recommending it to my travel-bug-infested friends worldwide, and secondly as a South African “destination expert”. Basically I’m a huge fan and I think it’s a brilliant site. Not only as a trusted resource for travellers, but also as a powerful marketing tool for anyone involved in the hospitality sector - especially the little guys who rely on word-of-mouth to get a foothold in the competitive travel market. Whether you are big or small, here are 5 Tips on how to use TripAd...
More About: Business , Travel , Promoting

The Art of Viral
2008-04-22 15:23:00
Too often I feel that we take a limited a view of what defines a successful viral campaign. In designing such an operation the instinctive starting point is in creating something that has been optimised to travel from one inbox to the next, and yet Viral Marketing is so much more dynamic than this. Not that there’s anything wrong with this approach, but it does neglect certain traits of user behaviour. Instead of designing something that will be passed around like a hot-potato, why not create something that users will want to bring into their lives and personal spaces? I’m not talking about a radical change in what we define as viral (quite a few brands are already pursuing this route), but I think that a shift in our focus is warranted. Success doesn’t necessarily have to be defined by the amount of views on YouTube, or the number of times that a clip’s passed on via email. Nowadays some adverts are something of an art-form. High-production costs, stunni...

Where to, Yahoo!?
2008-04-22 13:25:00
These are interesting times for global Internet companies. I say “Internet” companies because it’s impossible to limit the expansion of services that haemorrhages freely from every industry giant’s heart onto the intricate arteries of the Web. (Even as we speak, Microsoft has just released Live! Search News as a competitor to Google News) Earlier in the week, Yahoo ! acquired the best web analytics tools, like, ever, in the form of IndexTools. This has massive marketing repercussions for demographic analysis and advertising platforms. Hell, at one stage, Yahoo! was linked to AOL who according to ComScore now has the best Ad platform, like, ever. It makes me wonder about the emphasis Web 2.0 can put on marketing now that site structures and the sites themselves are becoming increasingly formalised, albeit with different rules to traditional offline marketing. One can see the vast landscape of, well, the Webscape is really more like an Oceanscape, constantly ch...

A beginner's guide to Google Conversion Optimizer
2008-04-21 11:03:00
Google’s Conversion Optimizer is a free Adwords feature that allows you to manage your campaigns by your cost per acquisition (CPA) bids rather than your cost per click (CPC) bids. I’ve only been running Conversion Optimizer for a few weeks – so this is my beginner’s guide to getting started. In order to utilise Conversion Optimizer you must have conversion tracking implemented and your campaign must receive at least 200 conversions a month. You are able to set a maximum amount (for each ad group) that you are willing to pay for each conversion and then Google automatically adjusts your CPC in order to meet that CPA. Setting it up is easy – go to campaign settings > click on view and edit bidding options > select radio button Conversion Optimizer > save and continue. You will be taken to a page listing all your ad groups and a block for each one to fill in your max CPA. Initially Google will recommend a CPA for you according to how that ad...
More About: Google , Beginner , Guide

Sony at it again
2008-04-20 15:05:00
We've posted Sony Bravia ads before - and whether they involve rabbits, paint, balls or pyramids, the ads have always been winners. As Sarah pointed out in her post covering the colourful rabbits, the fact is that we tend to pass on these ads due to their novelty factor - people have rarely seen anything like them before, and they are received very well. Carrying on with this tactic, Sony are at it again; this time for their camera range. Enjoy Foam City: Comment on "Sony at it again"

Viral needs to be interesting
2008-04-20 09:10:00
The idea of viral marketing is quite a sexy one. A company makes an ad, and instead of hiring a media planner to figure out where and when the ad will reach people, they can just set it free online to spread by itself. Ingenious. What people forget is that a video has to be quite remarkable for people to really want to spread it on to their friends. (Although some other methods for making videos go viral have been discussed – resulting in some controversy about dodgy techniques back in November on TechCrunch). So, this brings me to one of Uwe Gutschow’s posts, listing what were voted as some of the worst viral campaigns for 2007. One of them is a video by Agency.com, which they put together as part of a pitch process for Subway. Done in a ” The Apprentice” kind of style, they documented their idea generation process in order to show what they can do. The video ended up being pretty boring. Their “out the box” video has spread, but not for the re...
More About: Interesting , Viral

Enjoying the Everyday
2008-04-19 09:23:00
It doesn't have the amazing visuals used in some of the other virals we've looked at recently and it's not edgy or funny – which usually appeals to us folks around here. But as its tit...
More About: General