Prior to joining O’Rourke, Mr. Fitzgerald resided in Washington D.C and spent the last 4 years working at TIG Global in a variety of positions, most recently as Vice President of Web Strategy.

At TIG Global Brian was responsible for strategy and analysis of all digital marketing efforts. This includes PPC, SEO, social media, digital media and measurement and analysis. He managed a team of eight and drove more than $22 million in revenue for his clients each month.

In addition to his work at TIG Global, Mr. Fitzgerald also worked for 8 years with Marriott International’s e-Commerce department. At Marriott, Brian played a role in developing and implementing corporate and property-level strategies.

“Brian’s strong background in digital strategy for hotels, restaurants and destinations makes him a perfect fit for the strategic direction of our agency,” says O’Rourke President & CEO, Tom O’Rourke.

Mr. Fitzgerald obtained his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Babson College in 2000. More recently, Brian obtained an MBA from The George Washington University.

About O’Rourke Hospitality Marketing

Founded in 2001, O’Rourke is an award-winning hospitality marketing firm headquartered in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Serving national and international clients, O’Rourke provides hotels with a complete range of services including Internet marketing, hotel website design and development, and creative services. For more information, see the O’Rourke website: http://www.orourkehospitality.com/.

(June 2, 2010) O’Rourke Hospitality Marketing will be at HITEC 2010, June 21-24, Orlando, Fla., where they will introduce their one-of-a-kind iPhone app for hotels called Smartstay. Visitors to the O’Rourke Booth (#1234) can also enter to win an Apple iPad.

Smartstay is a new ‘white label’ iPhone app that hotels can customize to represent their own brand. Hotels can easily enter their hotel information, images, videos, and news updates with an easy to use content management system that they can access online.

The main benefit of the Smartstay app for hotels is that it opens up a new communication channel where hotels can connect with their guests before, during, and after their stay. Hotel guests also benefit from the app and can make a reservation with their iPhones, access information about a hotel, and use the interactive map.

O’Rourke invites conference attendees to visit booth #1234 and try Smartstay for themselves on the demo iPhones that will be available. Visitors can also learn more about how O’Rourke’s services can enhance their marketing efforts and increase their ROI. O’Rourke focuses exclusively on the hospitality industry and provides hotels with Website Design and Optimization, Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, and Print Design.

Visitors to the O’Rourke booth can enter the Giveaway by filling in a raffle form which can be downloaded from the Smartstay website. Raffle forms will also be available at the booth. The drawing will be held on Thursday, June 24^th at 11:00 at the O’Rourke booth (#1234). The winner must be present at the time of the drawing to claim their prize.

HITEC is the World’s Largest Hospitality Technology Show and offers educational sessions, as well as an unsurpassed expo which showcases the latest industry products and services from over 300 companies. O’Rourke is looking forward to participating in HITEC and welcomes the opportunity to meet hoteliers and introduce them to Smartstay.

O’Rourke recognized the hospitality industry’s need for a mobile solution and has created a high-quality, robust, unique app that will take hotels into the mobile market and allow them to tap into a new source of revenue.

For More Information Contact:

O’Rourke Hospitality Marketing

e-mail:                        info@orourkehospitality.com

phone:                        978-465-5955

website:                     www.orourkehospitality.com

Smartstay – The Mobile Division of O’Rourke Hospitality

e-mail:                        info@smartstayapp.com

phone:                        888-965-5966

website:                     www.smartstayapp.com

HITEC:                      http://www.hftp.org/HITEC

About O’Rourke Hospitality Marketing

Founded in 2001, O’Rourke is an award-winning hospitality marketing firm headquartered in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Serving national and international clients, O’Rourke provides hotels with a complete range of services including Internet marketing, hotel website design and development, mobile marketing, and print design. Clients include major brands as Marriott International, Renaissance Hotels, and Winegardner & Hammons, Inc.

If the average conversion rate for a website is around 3 percent, why do some websites achieve a 10 percent conversion rate? What do they do that the others don’t? This is the question that Bryan Eisenberg set out to answer in his presentation ‘20 Secrets of Top-Converting Websites’ at the SES Chicago conference this December. Bryan revealed 20 of his most valuable tips that will help you increase your hotel website conversion rate. Bryan is a New York Times bestselling author and a recognized authority in improving conversion rates, persuasion architecture and persona marketing.

First of all, what is a conversion? A conversion is when someone takes a desired action on your website i.e. they purchase a product, download a whitepaper, or in the case of the hotel industry, they make a reservation. You may attract a lot of traffic to your website but this means nothing if your site isn’t designed to facilitate conversions.

How effective is your hotel website in regards to conversions? You can learn this by analyzing the metrics of your Analytics software. Through analytics you can learn what the most popular pages on your site are, where users spend the most time, and where you may be losing people. No matter what your conversion rate is, chances are you could still improve it. Below is an outline of tactics that the top converting websites use according to Bryan. Does your hotel website incorporate these tactics?

The top converting websites do the following:

1. They Communicate Unique Value Propositions & Unique Campaign Propositions

Does your hotel website communicate your Unique Value Proposition? What is it that makes you unique among other hotels, and how does this appeal to your target audience? Think about your unique campaign proposition too. How are you packaging up and selling your hotel?

2. They Make Persuasive & Relevant Offers

Are you offering promotions and packages that are relevant to your guests? How persuasive are your offers?

3. They Reinforce Their Offer Site-wide

Make sure your offer is consistent and repetitive throughout the site. If a guest sees your offer on your homepage, make sure it is repeated on your reservations page so they feel confident they are still going to receive the offer.

4. They Maintain Scent

Make sure you have a consistent look and feel on every page and on every form of your website so that users always know they are on the right track. For example if a user clicks on a form it should match the previous page so they won’t feel lost. Make sure your offer doesn’t change anywhere along the way either. If you promise something, you must deliver it.

5. They Make A Strong First Impression

Similar to first impressions of people, users will size up your website in a matter of seconds. Make sure your first impression is impactful.

6. They Appeal To Multiple Personas/Segments

Your website must appeal to different personality types. Bryan segments the personalities into four groups: Spontaneous, Humanistic, Methodical, and Competitive. He referenced Jacob Nielsen who has also conducted research on these personality types and web usability. Below is a list of the four personality types and the questions they will want answered on your website:

A person who has a competitive personality is decisive and looks for the bottom line. This personality asks ‘what’ questions. Regarding your hotel, this person will want to know location, comparison to other hotels, and star rating systems.

A person who has a humanistic personality appreciates a hotel with a friendly staff that is helpful and polite. This personality asks ‘who’ questions. He/She wants to feel good about a hotel and values learning about the experience of others who have stayed there.

A person who has a spontaneous personality is impulsive and appreciates a personal touch. This personality asks ‘why’ questions. He/She avoids cold, hard facts and wants to know if the staff will help her, or if there is a restaurant or nightclub. This personality type will be impressed by silky sheets, quality toiletries and special touches.

A person who has a methodical personality likes to see the hard facts and wants to see the information presented in a logical manner. This personality type asks ‘how’ questions. He/She is not impressed with the personal touch and will look for things such as check-out times, prices, and what comes with the room.

7. They Don’t Slice & Dice (Website) Optimization

Not only should your website appeal to these four distinct personality groups, but you must also optimize your site design, content and search features in a way that meets the needs of each personality type and encourages conversions. Website optimization is the art of improving your website to optimize the visitor experience and conversion rates, not to be confused with search engine optimization, which is the process of improving volume and quality of traffic to a website from search engines.

Let’s look again at those personality types and see how they may navigate through your hotel website. If the different personality types cannot access the information they are looking for, the way they want to look for it, they will get frustrated and leave your site.

A person with a competitive personality may go directly to the online reservations page. This person will most likely choose a hotel from the drop down menu by city and select the first hotel. He/She may also look at hotel details and the map. This personality type won’t typically look at the other pages on the site but will rely heavily on the search button.

A person with a humanistic personality will look at the homepage first, and be drawn to particular adjectives in the copy such as ‘charming,’ ‘cozy,’ or ‘historic.’ This person may try to search for hotels in the city under these adjectives such as ‘historic.’ He/She will also want to see the image gallery and the video, and will most likely look at services and amenities. This personality type will also want to read reviews before making a reservation.

A person with a spontaneous personality will look at the hotel brands on the home page. He/She won’t read much about the brands but may be impressed by the logos. This person will look at descriptions of area attractions such as shopping and restaurants. He/She will also look at images of the hotel and imagine if they would have a good time there.

A person with a methodical personality will most likely spend the most time on a hotel website. He/She will try the registration tool and read through all the copy, which they will most likely find too ‘fluffy.’ This person is looking for facts and would appreciate a ‘fast facts’ list. This personality type will check all the maps and driving instructions and will want to find it all.

To learn more about personas and personality types see Bryan’s blog post ‘Use Personas to Increase Conversion Rates.’ 1

8. Leverage Social Commerce: Use Voice of Customer

People love to read and write reviews. This is especially true for the hotel industry. Do not try to hide from these reviews, instead use the voice of the customer to help sell your hotel. Bryan referenced the case of Amazon selling Tuscan milk2 on their site. It is one thing to sell it, but a surprising 1,141 people have written reviews about the milk, and hundreds more have claimed the reviews as helpful. Some of the reviews are even in the form of poems.

9. They Use (voice of customer) For Navigation

Listen to what your customers are saying, and make sure your navigation caters to their needs. For example, if you host weddings at your hotel make sure it is easy for guests to navigate that section of your website. Listen to your guests’ common questions and check to see if their questions are being addressed on your website.

Listen to what your customers are saying, and make sure your navigation caters to their needs. For example, if you host weddings at your hotel make sure it is easy for guests to navigate that section of your website. Listen to your guests’ common questions and check to see if their questions are being addressed on your website.

10. They Use It (customer reviews) For Promotions

You can also incorporate guest reviews on your promotional material or e-mails. For example, you could put testimonials from meetings or weddings on your e-mail campaigns that are targeted to that segment.

You can also incorporate guest reviews on your promotional material or e-mails. For example, you could put testimonials from meetings or weddings on your e-mail campaigns that are targeted to that segment.

11. They Use It (voice of customer) For Credibility

People tend to trust reviews written by past guests. If you have these reviews on your website it adds authenticity and may even help your guests learn about your hotel. For example, if a previous guest wrote that your hotel is far from a subway stop, the next guest will be prepared to take a taxi.

Bryan referenced ‘The Brooks Group’3 website which sells sales management books. They post reader reviews on their site, as well as a ‘would you recommend to a friend’ feature. These reviews have helped The Brooks Group increase sales and have lowered their book return rate.

12. They Use It (voice of customer) For Feedback & Research

You can learn a lot about what is working in your hotel and what isn’t, by reading the guest reviews. There may be some problems with your facility or staff that you were unaware of, and the reviews allow you to identify the problems and fix them.

You can also use a focus group to test your website usability. You may think your website is easy to navigate until you watch a user try to click through it. Bryan promoted the use of sites such as www.usertesting.com. This is a company that will conduct a test on your website for $100.

13. They Use Persuasion Principles Like Scarcity

Persuasion principles such as scarcity are very effective. If you offer a room discount for a limited number of rooms, chances are that guests will feel that they can’t pass up a special deal. Bryan referenced Robert Cialdini’s 4 six principles of persuasion, which are reciprocity, commitment and consistency, social proof, authority, linking, and scarcity.

14. They Make Forms Engaging

Every form on your website should be easy to use and follow a consistent look and feel. Bryan referenced proflowers.com5 and said they make everything on their site engaging, including their forms.

Make sure your forms are short and there are no surprises. Some websites trick the user and claim all they have to do is enter their e-mail address to receive something, but when the user hits submit, they are taken to a more extensive form.

15. They Provide Point of Action Assurances

A point of action assurance will help your guest feel more confident about taking an action on your site or making an online reservation. For example, make sure the guest knows they can make changes to their reservation, show them the lock symbol when they are entering their credit card information, and let them know you are not going to share their personal information with anyone. Make sure you are responding to any lead you receive. Bryan claims that the average lead loses 6 times its power in the first hour you don’t respond to it.

16. They Keep You In The Process

Make sure your site communicates with the user what the next steps are. A good reference for this is the ‘Land’s End’6 website. For example when a shopper makes a purchase they see a pop-up with an image of their selection to assure them that they are ordering the correct item. When a guest makes an online reservation on your site make sure they know exactly what they are getting, and what they have to do to confirm the reservation.

Make sure your site communicates with the user what the next steps are. A good reference for this is the ‘Land’s End’6 website. For example when a shopper makes a purchase they see a pop-up with an image of their selection to assure them that they are ordering the correct item. When a guest makes an online reservation on your site make sure they know exactly what they are getting, and what they have to do to confirm the reservation.

17. They Consider Email Preview

E-mail is still the number one way to reach your target audience. You should only send targeted messages to people who have chosen to opt-in.

18. They Budget For Experience

Budget for some website testing and for some trial and error. What is it going to cost to improve your site, and how will that pay off? Bryan claimed that Amazon has hundreds of tests being conducted on their website at any given time. Even very small changes can greatly affect your conversion rate.

19. They Utilize a System for Prioritization

Prioritize your website goals and make sure your website design is in line with these goals.

20. They Make Data-Driven Decisions

Make decisions about your website based on the data you can collect from analytics software and your testing. Too many companies make the mistake of depending on the HIPPO (acronym for Highest Paid Person’s Opinion). Collect the data of what needs to be improved and make a ‘to do’ list.

And the bonus tip which also the most critical point . . .

21. They Know How To Execute Rapidly!

You need to be aware of what is going on in the travel industry at all times, and be prepared to execute changes. For example, just 2 hours after Michael Jackson had died, Amazon changed around their whole website to accommodate demand for his books and CDs. Focus on trends to see what is spiking up or down.

Bryan also suggested 5 steps to great conversion rates next week:

1) Identify the problems, review the analytics, check for high exit-pages, bounce rates, or poor quality scores.

2) Create a ‘to do’ list on things to improve.

3) Develop a hypothesis for why something isn’t working on your site and why the changes you propose should solve the problem.

4) Prioritize your ‘to do’ list by resources and impact.

5) Start testing.

As Bryan says, think of the small details – they all add up. Similar to website optimization, any small step you take can have a big impact. Start with the 5 steps listed above and analyze the data from your analytics to see if your conversions have increased. Do not think of execution as a one-time event, rather it is an on-going process.

References

₁ Use Personas to Increase Conversion Rates

₂ YouTube – ABC News Amazon.com Milk

₃ The Brooks Group

₄ Robert Cialdini’s Principals of Persuasion

₅ www.proflowers.com

₆ Land’s End

High Converting Websites Referenced by Bryan:

http://www.proflowers.com

http://www.overstock.com

http://www.mint.com

sheet music plus

lower my bills

See Nielsen List of Top 10 Online Retailers by Conversion Rate: March 2009

If you would like to learn more about Hotel Website Design please call us at 978-465-5955 or send an e-mail to info@orourkehospitality.com.

With the growth of email marketing bombarding inboxes, it’s time to get smarter and more creative as to how you use this marketing method. Here are a couple of ideas to think about coming into 2010 that will help you generate some other ways to look at this medium.

Promote Guest Reviews:

Travelers today are placing more value on user-generated content than ever before. This means they are spending more time on review sites like TripAdvisor to see what other people are saying about your property, and using this intelligence as the basis for making a reservation or not making a reservation at your property. As hotel email marketers, maybe it’s time to ask your guests what they thought after their stay, and use these results to build more targeted messaging as well as increase brand loyalty.

So how does this work? To build up a database of guest reviews, set up an automated system that sends a message requesting a guest review of your hotel two weeks after their stay. This gives you an opportunity to connect on a couple of different levels. First, you get some honest feedback as to how you are performing as a hotelier, and secondly you learn more about individual personality traits that can help you craft more targeted and engaging messages in the future. Asking guests for reviews after their stay can also increase brand loyalty because you are demonstrating that you care about their experience at your hotel.

Web Analytics:

As hoteliers, do you really know how many guests you lost while they were trying to make an online booking? Did they leave because they thought the booking process involved too many steps? What are you doing to try and reach them before they totally abandon the booking process? This is where web analytics and email can be used in conjunction with one another. Let’s say a guest comes to your property website and abandons the transactions before completion. You can use your analytics to trigger an email message asking them to return and try again, or refer them to an online help option. Studies have shown that being there for the guest and reaching out at that point of need will increase conversion rates.

Examine your database:

Take another look at your email database and don’t assume that you can treat everybody the same. You are guaranteed to have different levels of engagement. But to further engage and generate improved return on investment, you will need personalized messaging that targets specific segments. Here’s where you need to start. Try splitting your lists into three separate groups each with unique goals that align with guests’ mindset.

New guests: email recipients who have expressed some desire for communication. You will need to develop messaging to welcome them as new guests, and provide them with useful information and promotions for their first stay.

Repeat guests: guests who are already actively involved with the brand. They have stayed at the property many times, have signed up for the newsletter, and have received information on special deals. This group needs an email that is more transactional-based. The message needs to focus on more up sell or cross-sell offers and special promotions for loyal customers.

Lost guests: People who have stopped opening and clicking your messages and who no longer stay at your property. This group needs surveys that identify reasons for lack of engagement, incentives to visit the web site again, and promotions to encourage future bookings.

Predict when the recipient is in their inbox:

When is the best time to send an email? This question has been on the minds of hotel email marketers for years. Is Tuesday better than Thursday? I think everybody has a view on this but it really is nothing more than a view. Now there is technology out there that can analyze recipient behavior and predict the ideal email delivery time for each address on your mailing list. The system then delivers your message to the recipient’s inbox at the precise day and time they are most likely to be in their inbox. By reducing the chances of an email getting lost you will increase your chances of increasing your open, click-through and conversion rates.

Hopefully, these tips will help you think about email marketing in a different way as you approach 2010. It’s not just about crafting a great offer and sending it out to the universe. It’s about using this tool in a more “social way”. Use it in a way that’s helpful to your guests. Be there when they need you and you will increase your bookings naturally.

Google’s goal is to create the most comprehensive, relevant, and fastest search in the world. It doesn’t get much faster than if you are including up to the minute data. Their view is that the next time you search for a hotel, you can be aided by a real-time observation.

For illustration purposes we conducted a search query on the ‘Roger Smith Hotel’ in New York. The third result in the organic section, highlighted in yellow below, returned a query related to Twitter. Admittedly, this result links back to the Roger Smith Twitter profile, and not a live tweet, but we surmise that this could happen.

What a great service that would be for the user. Not only do they get a result that will bring them to the hotel website, but they would also have the opportunity to look at a social comment like, ‘Great night stay at the Roger Smith Hotel, service was amazing and the staff was very courteous.’ Highly useful information for the end user, but equally as important to the property for organic search engine optimization.

As the saying goes, ‘There is no time like the present.’ As hoteliers, you need to be participating in social media now. Start building a network of fans, followers and friends who trust you and your hotel. If you don’t move in this direction, you may quickly become irrelevant in not just social media, but in search as well.

]]> http://blog.orourkehospitality.com/2009/11/what-social-search-can-mean-to-your-hotel/feed/ 0 http://blog.orourkehospitality.com/2009/11/proof-that-social-media-can-help-your-hotel%e2%80%99s-business/ http://blog.orourkehospitality.com/2009/11/proof-that-social-media-can-help-your-hotel%e2%80%99s-business/#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:22:21 +0000 Sara http://blog.orourkehospitality.com/?p=879

By now you have probably read many articles about how Twitter can help increase business at your hotel, but are you convinced? Really the best way to find out is to try it for yourself and see if it generates any business for you. It may not happen automatically, but over time you will very likely bring in new bookings through Twitter.

We recently interviewed Juli Lederhaus, The General Manager at the Hawthorne Hotel, about how blogging has helped her increase business. Juli has also embraced the use of Twitter and has 327 followers. She enjoys the personal connections with her guests and tweets about new blog posts, special events, and just about anything she believes will be useful or helpful to her guests. Juli states that she has generated many new bookings through Twitter and shared the following example with us.

One of Juli’s guests who goes by the Twitter name of Starmusica recently sent out the two Tweets below to her 92 Twitter followers.

From Starmusica:

Juli read these tweets and responded.

From Hawthorne Hotel:

Starmusica tweeted back.

From Starmusica:

This goes to show that many of your guests and potential guests are indeed participating in Social Media through the use of Twitter. These guests love the fact that they can engage with a hotel and this can instill trust and brand loyalty.

You can see how the Hawthorne Hotel is using Twitter here http://twitter.com/HawthorneHotel. If you would like to see how other hotels are using Twitter, Resideo has also compiled an extensive list http://bit.ly/5LiLO. Resideo is a hotel booking service that uses Twitter to post hotel news, look for people looking for hotels, and to interact with other travel related Twitter-ers.

To learn more about how Twitter can help increase business at your hotel see our previous posts:

5 Ways Hotels can Improve and Track Return on Investment from Twitter

Follow Hotels on Twitter to Capture Special Offers

Above we referenced just one example of how Twitter has generated business for a hotel. If you have some other examples we would be very interested in hearing about them!

O’Rourke is looking forward to attending Ad Tech New York this week. The conference will host over 200 speakers and 60 panels. A wide range of topics will be discussed including Online Video Ads, Social Media, and Multi-Channel marketing.

O’Rourke will attend the presentations under the MobileMix track which will focus on Mobile Marketing. Mobile marketing is no longer a thing of the future, it is here now. Many consumers are ‘on the go’ and use their mobile devices to search online. This is especially true of the hospitality industry as many travelers use their mobile devices on the road to search for hotels.

These presentations will be given by industry leaders and will look at the vehicles available in mobile marketing including mobile web sites, mobile search, targeted banner advertising, mobile commerce, and click-to-call lead-generation. The presenters will share case studies and their perspective on where mobile is today and where it is headed in 2010.

Stay tuned to our tweets and our blog entries, as we will share with you the insights, advice and marketing secrets of the industry thought leaders who will be presenting.

Our Twitter address is: http://twitter.com/ORourkeSEO

You can also follow all tweets on Ad Tech New York by searching on #adtechny

Below is a list of the Keynote Presentations as well as a list of the Mobilemix Presentations:

Keynote Presentations:

2010 – What’s Coming Down the Line?

Sir Martin Sorrell, Chief Executive of WPP

Mr. Sorrell will discuss the expected trends for 2010.

Wikipedia, Wikia, and the Optimistic Future of Media

Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia, Co-Founder of Wikia

Jimmy Wales will discuss long term trends and the different kinds of innovations that are likely to happen in the next 5 years. A true digital pioneer, Jimmy will discuss the future of digital media and how community generated content will impact consumer behavior.

Jonathan Miller

Chief Digital Officer, Chairman and CEO, Digital Media Group, News Corporation.

Jonathan Miller will discuss the future of digital advertising and the road ahead for marketers, publishers, and agencies.

The State of the Industry

Presented by the Interactive Advertising Bureau – IAB

This presentation will look at consumer generated content, social networking, widgets, online video, ad networks, activation, engagement, mobile marketing, and the death of television as we know it.

The Numbers Guru, the Video Maven and the Media Guys – On the Future of Video Online

Geoff Ramsey of eMarketer with YouTube, Showtime and Marvel

As the presentation description states, “There’s no question that video will be a big part of the future monetization of the Internet.” This presentation will look at how advertisers can make good money there.

Global Perspectives in the Digital Age

Speakers from Nielsen Online, Thomson Reuters, and JP Morgan Chase

This talk will discuss America as one of the leading digital advertising markets. It will also discuss where America is falling behind. There are exciting technology innovations and advanced digital marketplaces in other countries and regions across the world from the advanced mobile markets of Asia Pacific to thriving digital advertising economies across Europe.

Follow the Money – The Buyers Weigh In

Executives from Unilever, Pulte Homes, Hilton Hotels, and Starcom USA

This presentation will look at digital media and new technologies from established digital channels such as the Web and email to emerging and shifting channels such as online video, mobile, games and the ever-morphing social media.

Mobilemix Presentations:

The State of Mobile Marketing: A Must in the Multichannel Mix

MODERATOR:

Mickey Alam Khan, Editor-in-Chief, Mobile Marketer magazine

PANELISTS:
Robert Z. Samuels, Director for Mobile Products, The New York Times

Matthew Valleskey, Marketing Communications, Mobile Services, Neustar

Marcus Startzel, Senior VP of Sales, Millennial Media

Gene Keenan, VP of Mobile Strategy, Isobar

Kristine van Dillen, Director, Industry Initiatives & Partnerships, Mobile Marketing Association

Marc-Henry Magdelénat, Director, Microsoft Mobile Advertising, Microsoft

Mobile Advertising Immersion – Takeaways from a Living Case Study

MODERATOR:

Jack Philbin, Founder and President, Vibes Media

PANELISTS:
Paran Johar, CMO, Jumptap

Michael Ahearn, VP, Marketing + Communications, iLoop Mobile

Joy Liuzzo, Director of Marketing and Mobile Research, InsightExpress

Cathy Kellner-Diaz, Group Account Director, Mendelsohn Zien Advertising LLC

What Marketers Need to Know about Mobile Apps and the Mobile Web

MODERATOR:

Thom Kennon, VP, Strategy, Wunderman NY

PANELISTS:

Patrick Mork, VP, Marketing, GetJar

Dean Macri, Founder and CEO, Cielo Mobile

Kevin Barenblat, Co-Founder and CEO, Context Optional

Ken Willner, CEO, Zumobi

Jeff Maurone, Product Manager for Mobile News Products, MSNBC

Measuring Mobile — Exploring the Metrics

MODERATOR:

Bruce Braun, CEO, Agent-M

PANELISTS:

Ali Rana, VP, Digital Strategy, Dynamic Logic

Paul Kultgen, Director of Client Service, Mobile Media & Advertising, Nielsen, Online Division

Kristine van Dillen, Director, Industry Initiatives & Partnerships, Mobile Marketing Association

Evan Neufeld, Advisor and Consultant, Storyline Development

Steven Marshall, Director of Research and Consulting, The Kelsey Group

Location Awareness: Mobile’s Effect on Location-Based Advertising, Search and Social

MODERATOR:

Brian Levin, CEO and Co-Founder, Useful Networks

PANELISTS:

Josh Walker, CEO, CityVoter.com

Alistair Goodman, CEO, Placecast

Dan Gilmartin, VP of Marketing, uLocate

Dustin Jacobsen, Technical Director, Barkley

Naveen Selvadurai, foursquare

Conference Details:

Ad Tech New York

November 4-6, 2009

Javits Convention Center

http://www.ad-tech.com/ny/

Ad Tech New York conference schedule:

http://www.ad-tech.com/ny/adtech_new_york_schedule.aspx

Ad Tech New York conference speaker list:

http://www.ad-tech.com/ny/adtech_new_york_speakers.aspx

Threatpost is designed to keep people safe online. As Drawas says, “This is a place for us to go and talk to people about what’s going on.” Kaspersky Labs aggregates security news and syndicates it. Threadpost explains themselves the following way, “Threatpost has adopted a distributed news gathering model where its editorial team monitors the Internet for fast breaking security news and the most pressing issues of the day. The end result is the aggregation of the most important security news stories, all delivered with Threatpost’s unique commentary. Complementing this, its editorial team also contributes its own brand of reporting and in-depth analysis of industry news and trends.”

Drawas explains that Threatpost is a new concept that differentiates Kaspersky Lab and allows them to focus on core business, help them brand their company, and it serves as a great marketing channel. However, they do not allow any product discussion on the site. 

Threatpost was launched last March and currently has more viewers than paid media sites. The Latin American version will be launched next week and the European version will be launched in 2010.

Tim Street, CEO of APE Digital, Inc. gave great tips today at the Inbound Marketing Summit in Boston on how to make your video go viral. He stressed that spectacle comes first and then story. He also emphasized that you must incorporate emotions in your video. Some of the strongest emotions are love, joy, surprise, anger, sadness, and fear.

“Emotions change the way we think about products and services – they compel us forward. When you sit down to plan your video think of the two emotions you can use. Don’t go halfway – don’t make a video that creates mild amusement – make one that makes you laugh out loud,” says Tim.

Tim is one of the Internet’s most popular viral video producer and he knows the ability to get attention for your content is very difficult in the crowded new media space. He also knows that it is not impossible.

This is his formula for success, “Create a video with spectacle and conflict, with at least 2 emotions, that create at least one question, and your video will go viral!”

Tim also mentions two tools that can help you. TubeMogul which allows you to upload your video once and they will send it to multiple sites, and mdialog which works on the iphone.

For more information you can download his ebook ’10 Things You Should Do Before You Upload Your Online Video’ at his website http://1timstreet.com/blog/.