Cincinnati Internet Marketing Blog

Scott Jacobs' Harvest Networking Group Featured in Enquirer

My good buddy Scott Jacobs of Harvest Consulting had his networking group featured in a Cincinnati Enquirer article this week:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/COL13/712190420/1001/BIZ

If you know a business professional in-between positions, looking to transition to a new gig or who is simply interested in improving their job or career skills you might want to refer them to the Harvest Networking Group.  Meetings are at 6 p.m. every second Tuesday in the community room at the Madeira City Building.  Want more info?  Just contact Scott at 513-271-5630.

FTC Clears Google's Acquisition of DoubleClick

Google had a big win today when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) OK'd their planned acquisition of DoubleClick that was announced back in April.

Many privacy groups and advocates have spoken out against this with the argument that Google would have too much consumer information at their disposal.  This Business Week article quickly summaries today's developments and the background.  Here is Google's take on the news on the Official Google Blog: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/analysis-ftc-clears-our-acquisition-of.html

The European Union still has to approve the deal, so it's not done yet.  I really don't have a problem with this deal but would love to hear what you have to think, so post comments and let's talk about it!

Ryan Clark StrongMail Systems Cincinnati I-marketing Group Member Spotlight

Ryan Clark has been in the Cincinnati Internet marketing scene for several years and in that time I and lots of other people have been working with or leaning on Ryan for help in the area of email marketing.  Ryan was the local Exact Target rep for a while and this year moved to StrongMail Systems and provided the Member Spotlight info below.  If your business needs help with your email program, you should give Ryan a call!

Business Name: StrongMail Systems, Inc.

Business Website Address: www.strongmail.com

Contact Name & Info:Ryan Clark

Corp Phone 650-421-7122 / Local Phone 513-774-8784

rclark@strongmail.com

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/4ryanclark

Internet marketing or Web/Interactive services you provide:   

StrongMail Systems provides businesses with commercial-grade, on-premise solutions for marketing and transactional email. StrongMail integrates its proven email delivery, tracking and campaign management software on high-performance servers that are optimized for maximum deliverability.

Time in business / Experience of Principals and/or Staff:

I have been in software for 14 years covering Alphabet Soup (ERP, CRM, SCM, and Email and Marketing Automation).  StrongMail has been around for 5 years.

Unique Selling Proposition (positioning, why someone should work with you):

If you have been managing your email process in-house and have outgrown it, or you are tired of the ongoing costs of an Email Service Provider, let’s talk.

Describe your typical client profile (size of company, industries):

I work with all types of clients across industries.  The one thing they have in common is that they have experience sending Marketing or Transactional emails.

Case study of a successful client, project or design portfolio sample:

Here are many: http://www.strongmail.com/resources/our-customers/case-studies.php

What is one important trend or problem in your clients need to address, & how do you provide clients solutions to it?

The email market has matured.  Many people in the marketing/ecommerce space have managed email campaigns at some point in their career.  As marketing channels converge, you need to have control of the process to leverage what is still the most profitable channel, email.  By leveraging the expertise and technology you already own, you can put in place the architecture to meet your strategic goals and see a rapid return on your investment.

How can folks get started? (Preferred form(s) of communication for prospects, offers of a free initial consultation, report, call to action, etc.)

Gimme a ring and let’s talk.  If I can’t help you I promise to get you pointed in the right direction.

Recent Developments At Facebook: A Summary

Facebook has been in the news a ton recently and it's no surprise given the: explosive growth they are experiencing, the growth of the social media sector as a whole and the innovation Facebook has ignited after opening up their platform for people to develop their own applications.

So it makes sense to quickly get up-to-speed on the "toplines" of what's new at Facebook, and that's the purpose of this post.  As always, please feel free to post comments & ask questions about what interests or confuses you you have a resource article or thought to add, and we'll go deeper into those topics in future posts.

Microsoft Investment: In October Microsoft paid $240 million for a 1.6% stake in Facebook.  You can read a quick summary of the ramifications of that in this New York Times article.

Software Platform: Facebook's announcement in May of this year they were allowing developers to create applications for Facebook and pocket the money from their efforts has spurred hundreds of applications.  Business 2.0 had a great article in their September issue on The Facebook Economy.

Advertising Platform: In November Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook Ads, "an ad system for businesses to connect with users and target advertising to the exact audiences they want".  This enables businesses to build pages on Facebook, users to spread viral brand messages through Facebook Social Ads and a way for marketers to gather data on people's activity.  For more details, check out the press release and the Facebook Ads page at Facebook.com/ads

Privacy Concerns: One of the drawbacks of adding applications or new advertising vehicles to a site like Facebook is that some of those apps or ad vehicles are bound to be controversial.  One of the biggest controversies lately has been around the Beacon widget, which shows a Facebook user's friends what they'd purchased online from a third party site. These  DM News & Business Week articles have the details and here is a press release from Facebook

 

Member Spotlight: iNET Interactive

We had a good meeting last Thursday at the office of Profitability.net as nine companies showcased themselves at our Cincinnati I-marketing Group Member Spotlight. 

This is the first of what will be a series of regular posts here on the group blog, a Member Spotlight.  These Member Spotlights will feature information from each company profiled meant to provide a snapshot of the local Internet marketing firms that make up our local Cincinnati Internet community.  This week iNET Interactive starts us off. 

Business Name:  iNET Interactive

Business Website Address:  www.iNETinteractive.com

Contact Name & Info (feel free to include blogs, profile links (LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.):

www.iNETinteractive.com/about/team

Internet marketing or Web/Interactive services you provide:   

iNET Interactive is a social media company operating prominent online communities for technology professionals and technology enthusiasts. Our vertically-focused communities incorporate user-contributed ratings, reviews, and discussion augmented with professionally-produced content. The end result is an engaged community of experts generating content with depth and timeliness found nowhere else.

Other marketing and related services offered:

Advertising opportunities via banner advertising, text advertising, sponsorships, video, podcasts, and email marketing.

Time in business / Experience of Principals and/or Staff:

iNET Interactive is a 5-year old Internet media company.  It has been under its current management for two years.

Troy Augustine, President and CEO, has been in Internet-related businesses since 1998.  Prior to iNET Interactive, Augustine was an executive at Tradec, a Kleiner Perkins-funded startup in Silicon Valley.

Chris Ainsworth leads iNET Interactive’s Product team.  He has 10 years experience in Internet media and web-based product design.  Chris came to iNET from Yahoo! Sports in Los Angeles.  Prior to Yahoo!, Chris was the director of product development at Cincinnati.com. 

Kelly Kleiner leads iNET Interactive’s sales team.  Kelly has over 15 years of advertising experience.  Most recently, Kelly was the director of advertising sales at F+W Publications.  Prior to F+W, Kelly was director of new business development for On Target Media/Healthy Advice Networks.

Unique Selling Proposition (positioning, why someone should work with you):

iNET Interactive is a social media company, operating the premier network of online communities for technology professionals and technology enthusiasts, delivering over 20 million page views and over 3.3 million unique users each month. These decision makers turn to iNET for the critical information they need to perform their jobs, run their businesses, and make buying decisions. 

Describe your typical client profile (size of company, industries):

iNET Interactive has more than 1,500 active advertising clients in primarily three tech vertical markets- Internet Services, Web Development and Technology Hardware.   These include recognized names like Hewlett Packard, Go Daddy and Google, to more niche-specific companies such as Rackspace, Interspire, and HostGator. 

What is one important trend or problem in your clients need to address, & how do you provide clients solutions to it?

Many of our clients are small businesses, who offer very specialized products and services.  They need a way to affordably reach their highly-targeted audience of potential customers.  We help them design effective marketing campaigns and we provide the forums to deliver their messages—we connect buyers and sellers.