Kaleidoscope Marketing & Communications Incorporated


	Opt-in email etiquette tip: Don't ask for too much personal information, too fast. Start by asking only for opt-in, full name, and email address. Then, through email and other marketing efforts, provide opportunities to encourage recipients to volunteer additional information. Enhanced profiles improve the timeliness, relevance, and reward of every interaction.


	Increasing click-through rate of your banner advertising Banner advertising is often an effective way to promote your product and increase your brand awareness. There are many things that you can do to make your banner advertising more effective and attract potential customers to click-through for more information. The success of this will be determined by how clearly you state your offer and the benefits to the customer. Target, Target, Target By utilizing the Web's ability to target, you can increase the effectiveness and efficiency of your online advertising efforts. You can deliver your message to specific industries, include or exclude specific geographic regions or cities, target by user interest and even control frequency. With careful planning, you can be sure that you are reaching your target audience, and only your target audience. Taking advantage of the Web's ability to deliver highly targeted audiences will help you generate leads and sales and create the one-to-one relationships which will extend and build your brand. Pose Questions Don't just make statements or show pretty pictures. Use questions ("Looking for free software?", "Have you seen?"). They initiate an interaction with the banner by acting as a teaser. They entice people to click on your banner. More importantly, they can raise click-through by 16% over average. Use Bright Colors Colors effect the eye differently. Using bright colors can help attract a user's eye, contributing to higher response rates. Research has shown that blue, green and yellow work best, while white, red, and black are less effective. Home is Not Always Sweet All Web pages are not created equal when it comes to eliciting response. While the home page often performs very well, a site may have other pages that outperform it. Depending upon the advertiser, certain pages can deliver a more targeted audience than others. Creating a splash (or landing) page that ties in the online promotion has worked extremely well in our experience. This is a very cost-effective way of adding more to your online marketing. By carefully analyzing navigation pages, you can increase your response by placing your banner on a page that better attracts your target audience. Cross marketing initiatives have also been successful when it is evident that your audience can benefit from a banner that directs them to new information within the site. Location, Location, Location According to research, banners that appear on first page loads are more likely to be clicked on. Negotiate ad placement on the top of page when buying space. The best possible scenario is having banners placed both on the top and on the bottom of a page. Use Animation Animation can help catch a user's eye. Strategic use of movement grabs attention more effectively than static banners. Using simple Java or .gif animation can increase response rates by up-to 25%. There are limitations on banner size; however there are effective ways to achieve a visually pleasing banner. Use Cryptic Messages What did that ad say? What did that mean? Cryptic ad banners can help involve a user in the message. Because the "sponsor" of the message is not revealed, cryptic messages can be very intriguing if done in a tasteful way. But there is a downside. Branding is forfeited on the ad. This may not be an issue if branding is not your main objective. Cryptic messages typically increase click-through 18%. Call to Action As in traditional direct response, a call to action is known to raise response rates. Simple phrases such as "Click Here", "Visit Now" and "Enter Here" tend to improve response rates by 15%. These phrases should be strategically placed in the ad, preferably on the right side. This is where the eye will be drawn. Avoid Banner Burnout After how many impressions does click-through rate significantly decline? After how many impressions do people start ignoring your banner? There is indeed a "sweet-spot" for user response. After the fourth impression, average response rates typically dropped to under 1%. We call this banner burnout, the point at which a banner stops delivering a good Return on Investment. Controlling your frequency extends your reach and maximizes your ad dollar. Also effective is rotating banner messages in a prime location. Measure Beyond the Click Click-through is not always the best measurement of campaign effectiveness. It depends on your objectives. If you are simply trying to drive traffic, the click-through is the basic gauge for success. If your goal is to gather leads, the best measurement is the number of people who clicked through and filled out a lead form. 3% click-through and 80% lead fulfillment is better than 10% click-through and 20% fulfillment. If you are trying to measure brand impact, conduct an online brand awareness study, or measure user interaction with your site.


	Creating a successful Intranet Creating an effective Intranet site is quite different from an externally facing Web site. First and foremost, it must be fast and very functional. Keep it simple. Keep your Intranet site clean and simple. Don't load it down with Java, multimedia and other bandwidth hogs. Keep the page size to a minimum, allowing for maximum download speeds. Seek the advice of tech professionals in the planning stages. Although this seems simple, many marketers forget to involve this important link to a successful build and Intranet launch. Engage your users. Engage your employees and other users in the development process. Ask them what they want and what is most useful to them. Incorporate what you learn into the site. Continue soliciting and using feedback. Develop standards. Develop content guidelines and other Intranet standards, to be applied to and used by all sub-sites on your Intranet. Measure its success. Set appropriate success benchmarks for your Intranet in the planning stages, including return on investment (ROI), usage metrics and other quantitative and qualitative measurements for determining your Intranet's success. Follow through with ongoing measurement reports. Promote and educate. Employees need to be motivated and educated on why the Intranet is of value to them and to the company as a whole. Internal intranet promotion will lead to the ongoing success of your intranet site.


	Email Marketing Misperceptions There are many misconceptions out there that may be hindering your ability to take advantage of email marketing. Misperception No. 1: The people we talk to don't use email. Reality: Virtually everyone in developed countries are online and using email. Misperception No. 2: We don't want to offend our constituents. Reality: Then permission-based marketing is the solution. Misperception No. 3: We can't afford to send email to everyone. Reality: Select a high return on investment (ROI) audience. Misperception No. 4: Email has no place in our marketing mix. Reality: It�s faster, better, and cheaper and should be in your marketing mix. Misperception No. 5: We don't have opt-in email addresses. Reality: Databases take some commitment and cost as well. However there are creative ways to begin your opt-in email database. Kaleidoscope can help! We will develop your New Media plan and implement it to achieve desired results!