Today, all eyes are on mobile – literally. People seem to be using and viewing their mobile phone screens more than anything else. With so much attention being paid to our phones on a daily basis, online marketers are racing to get their products and services showcased front and center by going mobile. From mobile websites to applications, multimedia channels and beyond – the online marketing industry is becoming more apparent to mobile users.  The mobile environment has also seen the presence of Internet marketers making use of features like IVR calls, MMS and text messaging or voice calls. With so much to offer, the mobile landscape seems to be one for the taking by professionals in the marketing and advertising realm.

The interesting thing about mobile marketing is that, while we’ve seen a rise of web marketing campaigns beginning to infiltrate the mobile environment, the concept is really not that new. Mobile marketing began before the dawn of the smart phone. However, the rampant expansion of gadgets like the iPhone and Android gave way to a mobile renaissance. The massive implementation and acceptance of smart phones has also paved the way for marketers to hone in on other platforms to relay messages to the audience and target customers. Mobile marketing is becoming the best and most efficient way to interact with customers. Top brands all over the globe are utilizing the power of mobile to be in touch with the people of today by means of text messaging, social media and email.

Smart phones have given marketers the freedom to develop quality communication channels with their mobile audience, which can sufficiently boost  customer retention and loyalty. Mobile devices and phones possess the capability to take orders when your goal is an upfront sale. Products, services and businesses have the opportunity to not only advertise and sell products but use mobile Internet sites and systems that can even take orders through voice ordering and mobile commerce. Companies can sell applications and downloads with the help of accepting payments through credit card transactions. This can be done by simply charging the sale through the mobile phone bill of the customer. Mobile phone technology has even gone as far as serving as digital wallets that people can use to pay for things through point of sale systems.

The emergence of mobile phone systems has taken online marketing to a new level and has become a crucial element of marketing techniques; not only for small and medium scale companies but large corporations as well. Businesses of all sizes don’t have any means to ignore the beauty that mobile marketing has to offer because Internet is the best source of sales as of the moment.

The age of mobile is in full swing. With so much of the general public using their phones to do just about anything in their daily lives, it’s no surprise that online marketers have joined in the revolution by appealing to consumers through their phones.  Mobile technologies have brought a new era to the world of marketing and for those looking to succeed in the field, it is essential to be taking advantage of the new opportunities mobile has to offer.

The internet is probably the single most powerful marketing tool you are ever likely to use. With the potential to reach billions of homes around the globe, the Internet provides endless opportunities to market your company. Online marketing has already created many millionaires, many of whom now have businesses that practically run themselves. There are many ways to promote and advertise your company online. The following are proven to be very effective marketing tools:

1. Website. Setting up a website will allow you to introduce your company to internet users allowing you to target a bigger audience. You will be able to showcase your different products and services and boost sales.

2. Email Marketing. You can set up an official email address for your company and start soliciting email addresses of previous customers and prospective clients. This is a cost effect way to market future promotions, new products, and surveys.

3. Press Releases. Internet press releases work similarly to traditional newspaper press releases. Once you have written your press release you will then need to make sure you place it on numerous websites that receive a lot of traffic. Internet press releases enable you to gain as much marketing exposure for your business as possible.

4. Article Marketing. Article marketing uses keyword-focused articles on article sites. This is an important website promotion technique because some of these article syndication sites have a significant readership following. This will help increase your exposure and promote new business.

5. Online Marketing Research. Online marketing methods consist of surveys and questionnaires to customers. Market research can make data that will show you recommendations to improve your business.

6. Forum Participation. Participating and making active comments in forums will help you build credibility as an online marketer. You can also place helpful comments and replies including a link pointing to the affiliate product that you are promoting or selling. This will generate more traffic to your website or affiliate product.

7. Selling Products and Services. Internet marketing can be used to sell and market your company’s products and services. You can do this right at your own website or register at online marketplaces or social network sites. Online stores will allow customers to choose and purchase your product at the convenience of their homes while cutting your costs needed to maintain a retail store.

Since its launch nearly a decade ago, search giant Google has acquired or developed dozens of free web services. Everything from mail to maps, videos to voice chat, Google’s had a hand in just about everything. So it might surprise some people that it’s taken this long for the company to make its first foray into social-networking. While Google+ actually isn’t Google’s first social-networking experiment, it is undoubtedly the first serious threat to Facebook’s monopoly on the market. With Google’s sterling reputation for innovation and privacy protection as well as its vast existing network of apps and services, the official launch of Google+ last week had millions of fed-up Facebook users watching curiously.

Google first attempted social-networking nearly a decade ago with its oddly-named “Orkut.” Originally a pet project of Google employee Orkut Buyukokten, upon its launch the service received neither the publicity nor the popularity of Google+ and only limited attention from niche groups within the tech community. Orkut never became the social-networking success story Google may have hoped for, but 8 years later its two domain names rank 116^th and 94^th in overall traffic on the web, with over 66 million active users.

So what does Google+ have on its less popular predecessor? As the undisputed leader in internet-search, mapping, and soon to be e-mail (though growing by leaps and bounds, newcomer G-mail is still in third place), sporting the Google brand name is a clear advantage.  Besides its namesake, Google+ has just about everything its competitors offer, and even more. Its “hangouts” feature allows up to 10 friends to video-chat with one another, even offering support for mobile users with smartphones and fast networks. “Circles” allows users to easily organize their contacts into groups, and a “data-liberation” feature offers one the option of downloading all of their online content directly from the site. Though perhaps more relevant to the success or failure of Google+ is the growing distrust amongst social-networkers in regard to Facebook’s willingness to share user information with just about anyone. That, in addition to the near impossible feat of deleting a Facebook account makes Google+ a very desirable alternative for many.

Unfortunately for Google, none of this may matter. Within the first two weeks of its beta launch nearly 10 million users had joined the site. The first lucky few Google+ users were given 150 invites for friends. Surrounded by positive buzz on social news sites like Reddit it seemed like everyone wanted an invite. By early August Google+ had grown to 25 million users. Whether Google was trying to build anticipation or deal with unexpected growth is unknown, but invites were quickly put on hold and growth to the site slowed significantly. For the next month Google+ was stagnant, some even declared the half-budded site dead. With a nearly 3 to 1 male to female ratio, many saw Google+ following in familiar footsteps.

However, within the first 2 days of going public on September 20^th, Google+ added another 10 million users. While Google+ currently boasts an estimated 43.4 million users, a fraction of Facebook’s 750 million, it seems like it’s still too early to make any concrete predictions. Did Google’s decision to cap invites during the beta test doom the new social network before even going public? Only time will tell.

-Daniel Menon
Black Rhino Solutions, Inc.