The term “marketing” gets used a lot and, sometimes, it’s used rather loosely in search and social media circles.

“Not all, but a lot of the search industry tends to be kind of search geeks who are trying to figure out what marketing is,” says Bill Leake of Apogee Results, formerly Apogee Search.

To make a long-term difference in customers, he believes effective marketing is key. Factors such as determining what the customer wants to do, how you can make it happen, and how you can transfer business objectives into strategies that can be implemented, are all instrumental aspects of marketing. He goes on to say that search is just one area of marketing that is important, but it works best when used with the other aspects.

Some people focus heavily on search, since it is easily measured. Other challenges of marketing could result from all the departments in companies and, particularly, within marketing itself. Due to the lack of communication these departments create, many opportunities are missed.

As online marketing increases in awareness, there is also the danger of neglecting offline channels. Online marketing is very valuable for businesses involved largely in the consumer space and B2B. On the other hand, online isn’t as valuable when reaching enterprise level companies and government agencies. Essentially, Leake says businesses need to market wherever their customers are, whether it be online, offline, or both.

He also discusses the recent re-brand his company made and the reason for it. As noted earlier, Apogee Results was formerly known as Apogee Search. Leake explains that the company began doing a lot of social media and didn’t want consumers to think they were limited to search. After tossing around many ideas, the company decided on Apogee Results to let others know that it could return measurable results no matter what it was marketing.

In December of last year, the FTC put into effect its new guidelines regarding the relationships between advertisers and endorsements. As David Mink, the Chief Legal Counsel for Dream Systems Media explains, these guidelines had not been updated for 30 years. With the rise of new media, particularly blogs, social media, and Twitter, the FTC felt the guides needed to be revised.

The real issue is the need for more transparency and disclosure of advertisers and endorsers.  The Commission believes that the general public is not savvy enough to understand that people could be getting paid to blog and tweet, just as they are in mediums such as television and radio.

Although the guides will impact bloggers, the FTC has said it does not intend to go after the small mom and pop businesses. According to Mink, the FTC is more concerned with corporate advertisers.

The government is also making efforts to protect consumers from identity theft and credit card fraud. Surprisingly, Mink says many companies do not even have privacy policies. In other words, consumers may not even know if a company is collecting information and what information it is.

As a result, the government is reportedly taking stricter measures in this area. In the meantime, states are stepping in. Mink tells WebProNews that 40 states have security breach notification statutes. These statutes say that if data is collected and breached, the company has to let its users know.

However, some states are taking a more aggressive approach. Connecticut passed a law that said companies have to have privacy policies when doing business in the state. It also requires that companies tell consumers what type of information they are collecting and how they are doing it. Massachusetts and Nevada both require companies to encrypt information.

Mink expects new recommendations from the government in this area soon.

Are you staying current on these important legal matters to ensure protection for your users?

Mobile is definitely on everyone’s mind these days. In this interview with WebProNews, Cindy Krum of Rank-Mobile talks about some popular mobile trends that people should watch closely. Applications are one of the big drivers to mobile and, incidentally, not just iPhone apps. Google’s Android and other platforms are creating their own marketplace as well.

In regards to apps, she points out that many people use them for search, which essentially takes away from search engine traffic. For this reason, she advises local businesses to optimize for apps in addition to optimizing for mobile search.

Krum also discusses the idea of augmented reality, which is typically in the form of an app. If a user points their phone toward an object or location, it puts a digital layer over it that provides information. One example of this is Wikitude. It lets users know if there is a Wikipedia article on the object or location.

Geolocation is another hot mobile area with sites such as Foursquare and Gowalla on the rise. Krum believes these platforms can be very valuable for coupons, loyalty programs, and more.

To compile her mobile ideas together, Krum also recently wrote a book entitled Mobile Marketing: Finding Your Customer No Matter Where They Are. She says it provides a comprehensive view of how mobile marketing is more effective when all aspects are used together.

Linking offline marketing with mobile efforts is just one area of importance that she covers in the book. As she explains, when people are offline, they don’t have access to their computers. However, they do have access to the Web. As a result, marketers can incorporate elements such as QR codes to tie the two areas together, which will ultimately, reach consumers.

Are you keeping up with these mobile trends?

Marketers know data is important, but sorting through all of it is definitely challenging. As Google Analytics Evangelist Avinash Kaushik explains, most people only look at the first 10-20 results that their analytics tool provides. However, even for a blog such as his that gets traffic from 25,000+ keywords per month, this is only an inkling into what the data can show.

To make the most of your data, Kaushik recommends using the following strategies: inline segmentation, tag clouds, and keyword trees. These strategies take thousands of keywords and create visualizations that allows marketers to understand all the data.

For example, by using tag clouds, Kasushik tells WebProNews that marketers can determine the relationships between keywords. They can also find out how consumers are behaving and what their intent is.

One big problem regarding data is the way that marketers go to their bosses and try to convince them the invest more in search, based upon data. This is often a problem because the data the marketers use does not usually connect with the boss. To resolve this issue, Kaushik says marketers should calculate the value of each goal they have for their site. In turn, this information would provide more clarity to upper management.

Kaushik also suggests that marketers measure all the site’s revenue to help understand that microconversions are happening and where.

“Quantify the complete impact of the site; otherwise, you’re going to be making very bad decisions,” says Kasushik.

Are you looking at the right data?

As mobile grows, we also see the rise of local search. Dylan Swift of Yelp spoke with WebProNews about this phenomenon recently at SMX Advanced. He explains how companies such as Yelp are helping to close the gap between the PC and local business. These companies are doing this through the mobile device.

From Yelp’s mobile application for the iPhone, it can see that there is a phone call happening to a local business every 5 seconds of every day. Another statistic they are seeing is 27 percent of all the company’s searches are happening through their app. In addition, a little less than 1 million mobile searches for directions to a local business have occurred in the last 30 days.

In other words, Yelp is helping bring consumers and local businesses together. With the continued adoption of smartphones, Swift does not see mobile traffic dropping for a while. For example, the company saw 1.8 million unique visitors through its mobile app in the last month, which is up from less than 1 million 9 months ago.

Yelp also has an app for the iPad. Swift says it is similar to what users see on their website, since they have a more real estate to work with on the iPad. Although the majority of Yelp’s mobile traffic comes from the iPhone, Swift pointed out that the company is investing in Android as well.

It’s interesting how much weight we put on search results. Search is not only the primary method that we use to access information online, but it is also quickly becoming the primary method we use to access all information. Vanessa Fox of Nine By Blue spoke with WebProNews about this topic recently and had some very compelling points to make about it.

Most consumers search for information related to legislation, government, health, and other important areas. The problem is that searchers see the top 10 results and think that they are accurate because they’re at the top. Unfortunately, that is not always true. To make matters worse, many governments do not always make their information available, and those that do, don’t always know how to do it well.

Another element that intensifies the concern is that search is not going anywhere and will only become a larger part of our lives over time. So, what does this mean for the future of the way we consume information? It’s an intriguing question that does not have an answer yet.

Fox believes it is important that we consider these types of issues to help find solutions for them. What are your thoughts on this matter?

In addition, she shares her excitement for recent advancements with HTML5 and how they will make the Web better. Fox also discusses her blog post explaining how not to move a url as well as her new book, Marketing in the Age of Google.

Compared to other forms of writing, fiction is quite popular; it’s rare that you’ll see a person pick up some dead president’s biography rather than the latest thriller, for example. And fiction can also work well in terms of promoting companies, with instances of brand fiction achieving success.

Helen Klein Ross, the founder of Brand Fiction Factory, spoke to Abby Johnson at SXSW about this concept. She explained, “The idea of brand fiction is not only to develop new, entertaining ways for consumers to connect with the brand, but to take the message and the story that brands are already telling and opening up to new ways. Giving consumers new incentives to connect with the brand. And validating them.”

Ross also said, “Consumers don’t want to sit back and listen to stories just told by the gatekeepers. It’s a whole new world. So brand fiction gives consumers a new way to connect with the brands and a new incentive to do so.”

Ross is a real pro in this respect, too. She is in fact the person behind the Twitter account of “Betty Draper” (a character on the AMC TV show Mad Men), and Betty Draper/Ross won a Shorty Award for Innovation.

Spicing up an advertising campaign with some innovative storytelling looks like a great way to catch people’s attention and keep their interest, then.

As more and more hype builds around Facebook and Twitter, where do blogs fit in? This is an interesting debate and one that many people feel strongly about, including Emily Gordon of Emdashes. She compares Facebook and Twitter to a continuous snowstorm but says the snow will melt eventually.

Gordon goes on to say that sites like Facebook and Twitter provide an Internet experience that bombards users with information and data. She says this experience is very similar to consumers watching TV. With the Internet however, users can watch and create their own content, which allows them to impact the medium.

Gordon believes blogging is really the only format for saving and storing this type of content. As she tells WebProNews, “[With blogs] you’re kind of keeping that snow on the ground… you’re keeping things visible, you’re keeping them findable, you’re keeping them searchable, and you’re keeping them archival.”

In regards to the future of blogs, Gordon believes it is bright. As Facebook and Twitter continue to get more public, she says blogs will be a place where people have smaller communities. Although Twitter fulfills many user needs since it allows users to publish quick thoughts and ideas, Gordon points out that blogs also fulfill the needs users have to catalog, collect, reflect, and critique.

What are your thoughts on this debate?

Google has been the dominant player in search advertising for a long time, but is Yahoo and Microsoft about to shake things up with their joint effort? Only time will tell, but one thing that is certain is that the online marketplace will definitely see many changes in the coming months as Yahoo and Microsoft implement their search agreement.

The advertisers that use Yahoo’s ad platform will soon be migrating to Microsoft’s adCenter. The full transfer is anticipated to take place over the next 24 months and will begin in the U.S.

According to David Pann, Yahoo’s Vice President of Search Advertising, the company hopes to have the U.S. migration completed in time for the holiday season this year. However, if meeting that timeline means sacrificing quality, Pann told WebProNews that Yahoo would simply move the timeline to ensure the highest quality transition.

After the deal is implemented, Microsoft will be in charge of the core advertising platform for both companies, which specifically includes matching, ranking, pricing algorithms, and more. Yahoo, on the other hand, will maintain its responsibility for the consumer experience.

Speaking about the benefits of the deal, Pann said it was a “win” for advertisers, consumers, and publishers.

“It’s really a win for advertisers with a single buy getting access to more inventory, it’s a win for consumers for a greater relevance, and it’s a win for consumers and publishers since they have greater access to a new set of participation and inventory.”

In spite of all the changes the deal will bring for advertising, Pann was quick to say that Yahoo is still innovating and would continue to do so.

Keep watching WebProNews for more on Yahoo’s current innovations as well as information on company’s mobile and real-time efforts.

At CES 2010, Regen introduced an environmentally friendly way to charge iPhones and iPods. The company makes personal, home electronics that allow consumers to create and use their own energy.

The first product they are bringing to the market is called the ReNu tablet. It is a personal, solar tablet around 9×9 inches. ReNu can be taken outside to gather power, or it can also be hung on a window with a suction cup.

Once the energy is gathered, the device stores it in a Lithium Iron Phosphate battery. Consumers have the option of charging their iPhones and iPods through a USB port or through a dock that works with tablet.

Mark Riedy, Regen’s Director of Communications, told WebProNews that the company has already seen a lot of interest in its products. He credits this positive adoption to the fact that “people want to do something good for the environment.”

Regen is hoping to have both the tablet and the dock available by June.

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