What we don’t fully understand as marketers or business owners, is in-depth mobile search behavior and how mobile users behave on their devices.Thankfully, iAcquire, a digital marketing agency, and SuveryMonkey recently joined forces for a study to give actionable insight into mobile search patterns.

Put down your phone and check out the study’s findings now:

iAcquire Mobile Behavior Study

View more findings from this study on the iAcquire blog.

Curated into an infographic, the study reveals how and what people are searching for on the Internet. It answers: “What do people search for?”…“Who looks at second page SERP results?”…and “Are paid search listings effective?” Whether you are a marketer or business owner this information is sure to benefit your practice.

Some key points:

• More than 40 percent of Internet users search for e-commerce-related terms; whereas only 10 percent of users search for media (images, video)
• Around 65 percent of users do not click on search advertisements
• Around 50 percent of people who click on ads think they are actually clicking organic results
• The likelihood of someone clicking on a second-page increases with age; and members of the middle class are more likely to click on the second page

Explore the infographic here:

View the original post on the iAcquire blog.

The findings showed that online dating traffic doesn’t go up on Valentine’s Day, but actually peaks several days after. Based on the data, it was determined that Valentine’s Day is largely irrelevant to people actively dating online. It does, however, have a delayed effect on singles (and other daters), causing a brief but prominent spike in traffic a few days after Valentine’s Day. Even more surprisingly, 24% of online daters are married, and that African Americans made up 3% more of the online dating community than Caucasians. More, college graduates are more likely to frequent online dating sites than those without a degree.

The study also revealed that like gym memberships, online dating site usage spikes right after the New Year between January and March.

Read more findings on the iAcquire blog…

iAcquire Online Dating Analytics Infographic

The first step is to define specific buyer personas – in which digital marketing firm, iAcquire, has helped us do. This Phoenix and NYC-based agency recently came out with a series of holiday personas, aptly titled the “12 Personas of Linkmas” to help marketers and business owners learn how define, engage, and hook customers during the holiday shopping season.

The series features video interviews, and information on demographic and psychographic data, key traits, digital usage, and most importantly – how to engage them through online marketing tactics. From “Redneck Randy” to “Bougie Brandy”, the personas are driven by research from Experian Simmons and Nielsen Data compiled and expanded upon by Manager of Analytics & Market Research, Norris Rowley. Let’s take a look at each of the personas:

“Darksoulslayer67”

Demographic: Age – 20 to 30 / Sex – Male
Manifesto: “Champagne taste on a six-pack budget”
Traits:  Early technology adopters, not brand conscious, all about quality
Digital Usage: Their life is lived in the digital world rather than real life. This persona is twice as likely to go online to download music, watch videos, listen to podcasts, and read blogs than the general population. This persona uses Google to search for products, while also leaning on product review sites like Reddit and TechCrunch. This persona typically only purchase sale items other than electronics.
How Do You Engage? This persona was born and raised in the digital age, so multiple forms of digital engagement work to lock in this persona. Consider placing branded content on blogs that this demographic is already frequenting to sway their opinion or purchase decision. Darksoulslayer67 can also be engaged by marketers with holiday-centric content, ads, or daily deals: keyword “discounts” or “special holiday sale”.

“Redneck Randy”

Demographic: Age – 30 to 45 / Sex – Male
Manifesto: “Buy American”
Traits: Practical, risk-adverse, unpretentious lifestyle, coupon lovers
Digital Usage: This persona is the Bruce Wayne of Internet “deal” surfing. They will go directly to the big-brand websites while shopping, while also frequenting sites for blogging, investment tracking, real estate, and outdoor sports.
How Can You Engage? Penny pinching is the name of Randy’s game, so utilize the opportunity to create coupons and circulate them on coupon or deals sites. Additionally, add an element user-generated content that focuses on product comparisons to your site for maximum digital engagement with Randy.

“Bougie Brandy”

Demographic: Age – 40 to 55 / Sex – Female
Manifesto: “Reaching the good life in a smart way”
Traits: Traditional, value oriented, health conscious
Digital Usage: Though this persona’s digital usage is below the national average, they are spending more and more time online on ecommerce and news sites. Brandy’s frequent the Internet to shop, bank, listen to Internet radio, read up on the latest fitness/wellness trend, and engage with community-related organizations. Though their digital usage is not as heavy as the “average bear”, they do have a series of set sites they visit… Kind of a “Wham, Bam, thank you ma’am” type of audience.
How Do You Engage? Move quickly: Brandy’s attention has to be captured fast because she’s not online for long. This persona is not spending night and day online; but rather combing the Internet for a predetermined set of shopping sites that offer the best price point.

To engage this persona, utilize content that focuses on product comparisons. This persona is all about comparing prices (discounted brand names), so she is swayed by comparisons, product quality, and price. With this in mind, place comparisons on discount shopping sites or even editorial content on news or fitness websites. This tactic will help support her mission to make smart purchase decisions – which will ultimately land you the sale.

“Just Jake”

Demographic: Age – 25 to 40 / Sex – Male
Manifesto: “It is what it is”
Traits: Upwardly mobile, young adult, status conscious, online receptive
Digital Consumption: Forget traditional channels: this persona uses the Internet for shopping, news, entertainment, and connecting with others. “Jakes” like to download and listen to music, watch television, book travel, and hunt for jobs and cars on the Internet. “Jake” frequents mainstream and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. All in all: their online taste is a bit eclectic, mirroring the preferences of a typical “unattached” young adult.
How Do You Engage? The only distinct thing about their behavior beyond this is that he doesn’t have any standout traits. With that being said, while the persona is receptive to online advertising because of their abundant Internet usage, the best way to engage is through social media channels like Facebook, Google Plus, and Twitter. (Consider using social media advertising year-round to keep your brand top-of-mind for this persona as well.) Because this persona is not likely to be a homebody, catch his attention with mobile or social ads.

“Wasteful Will”

Demographic: Age – 21 – 35 / Sex: Male
Manifesto: “Live large – at all costs”
Traits: Health conscious, brand loyal, home-based lifestyle, brand conscious
Digital Usage: “Will” is a fan of news and social media websites. This persona will frequently visit chat rooms, blogs, and community forums, but are not conversation contributors. In addition to information and social channels, they can be found playing online games and consume a great deal of multimedia-driven content (video/audio). When it comes to shopping they prefer brick-and-mortar stores to Internet shopping sites.
How do you Engage? This persona type is very receptive to product comparisons-centric content. Take advantage of Will’s egocentric buying habits and use comparisons that relate to his interests (gaming, fitness, pop-culture, and music). Within the content, also share how your product can improve or simplify his life.

Need more ideas? Consider banner advertising or a sponsored guest blog post on online gaming sites. Better yet – gamify your product marketing or content to create to engage and make him a repeat customer. Example: Badges, social media challenges, gifts, leaderboards, and progress bars are all elements that could be added to your website to make this persona “stick” with your brand.

“Social Suzie”

Demographic: Age – 18 to 30 / Sex – Female
Manifesto: “My smartphone is my life – the rest is just details”
Traits: Trendy, digitally active, early adopter, digitally savvy
Digital Usage: If it’s made of paper, this persona is not interested: books, newspapers, and catalogs are out of the question. Everything Social Suzie does is centered around her digital usage, whether it’s on her smartphone or laptop.  This persona is a heavy user of social media sites, instant messaging, news sites, blogs, commentary sites – basically anything under the sun. They search for sports scores, read movie reviews, get recipes, watch videos and listen to music.
How do you Engage? Looking for a brand ambassador? Look no further than Social Suzie. If you scratch her back with a call-out Tweets, special offers, and other social “pats on the back” and she will be your brand evangelist for life.

Additionally, play on her love for digital content and create a dynamic infographic on concepts related to your brand (keep it non-salsey and informative) and promote through social media channels for maximum exposure.  And, if you get on this persona’s good side, they will take that easy-to-copy embed code and help you share the infographic to the masses.

These personas will ensure that this year’s holiday shopping season – and ones to come – will always be merry and bright for you and your brand. If you liked getting deeper insights on persnas like Redneck Randy or Social Suzie, stay tuned for the six remaining personas through the holiday season on iAcquire’s blog.

1. Employee Grievances: Inevitably, employees have complaints about the workplace, and it’s the manager’s job to listen to the complaints. In many cases, an employee just wants to know that the manager hears and understands the grievance, agrees that it is a problem, and takes steps to escalate it to the proper person’s attention to get it fixed. Updating employees on what is being done about their grievances can help them feel valued.

2. Budget Cuts: Here is a common situation: You forecasted getting a $100,000 for your marketing budget, but your company’s leadership team cut your budget in half.  This can be a manager’s worst nightmare, but it doesn’t have to be a cause for panic. There are plenty of ways to cut a department’s budget without changing its core functionality. For starters, managers should look for ways to reduce waste and inefficiencies in the department. Maybe the department could stop eating out for work lunches or switch to a paperless strategy to reduce printing costs. Only after these factors are considered should a manager consider cutting staff in the department, unless you feel that “rightsizing” is in order.

3. Valued Member Leaves Company: Employee turnover is always difficult on managers, but it’s even worse when the person who resigned was a valued member of the team. During this time, it’s the manager’s job to keep morale high among remaining employees and step in to take responsibility, or delegate responsibilities within your team. In addition, the manager should be open to discussing why the valued member left and what the company is doing to promote employees retention.

4. Interpersonal Conflict: Teams working together always have conflict, whether little or small, and managers often have to act as conflict resolution experts. Managers should talk to employees involved in a conflict separately and encourage them to let the differences slide and cooperate with their co-workers. Adjusting teams and work location can also smooth out long-term conflicts that are not being resolved.

5. Employee Requests: Inevitably, managers must handle employee requests for time off, increased pay, and adjustments to responsibilities. As a manager, fairness is key. Rather than playing favorites, it’s important to consider the interests of the team as a whole when approving time off requests and choosing people for promotions and raises. Knowing the company policies as a whole can also help approve requests in a consistent manner, keeping the other managers and their strategies in mind as well.

Clarity, fairness, and understanding are several of the keys for managers who are in the midst of difficult situations. Employees thrive with structure, but also with managers who are humans, not robots, and who are able to sense personal needs and respond appropriately. Managers get better at handling difficult situations as they gain experience, and new managers must remember that it’s normal to make some mistakes. Correcting these the next time around shows growth and improves workplace morale.

1. Avoid Superfluous Adjectives:
Often times, when we are writing emails or memos to “higher ups” we think that adding flashy adjectives like “superior”, “advanced”, “high-quality”, or “technical” to beef up our written communication. In truth, executives are so busy that they don’t have time to read watered down reports or communications, they want the facts. They want great ideas and plans presented clear and concise. Unnecessary complexity gets in the way of the message in any level of an organization.

Example: “We will be ranked among the top companies in our industry, unless there are unforeseen changes in the competitive landscape that affect our competitive capabilities related to strategic investments, acquisitions, or strategic execution. . . . ” (via Why Business People Speak Like Idiots)

What is this sentence trying to convey? If you read into it – nothing really. When writing any business communication, use facts and simple concepts as your blueprint, and very gingerly sprinkle in adjectives when needed.

Example: “X Company is expected to grow X percent, as shown in the Q2 projections. Things that would impact this growth include investments, acquisitions, and proper execution of Q1 marketing strategies.”

2. Use “Inverted Pyramid” Approach:
Journalists have used it for decades, but what actually is the inverted pyramid model? In essence, this style of “storytelling” conveying the big news first, then supporting that big news with facts and anecdotes beneath it. In the inverted pyramid, the first paragraph, or “lead”, should incorporate the five Ws (who, what, when, where, why) and, if applicable, the H (how). As you review, check that all the information is summarized at the top of your message, and that subsequent sentences/paragraphs support the lead.

Most business readers are time deprived – so they just want the main point, and fast. In following this approach even if your audience doesn’t get through your full text, they still have digested the main point within the first two paragraphs.

Apply the inverted pyramid model to presentations too! If you have ever sat through a half hour presentation where the meat of the presentation was in the last 30 seconds, you will understand what I am talking about.  Apply the inverted pyramid approach to everything you write, and your readers will give you a hug and a kiss for saving them time.

3. Are Bullets Bullying You?:
Bullet points are visually pleasing way to share information – but many people use them incorrectly whether it’s in a presentation, report, memo, press release, or email.  Here are some tips to avoid bullet point mistakes:

A) A bullet point is not a sentence. It should convey a key point only. For each idea you want to convey, consider what the key point is and put that as a bullet point.
B) Practice consistency when using bullet points. Start each bullet point with either a verb or a noun, use the same tense for each verb, capitalize each bullet point the same way, and use the same punctuation at the end of the sentence.

4. Capitalization Pointers:
Capitalizing headers and subheads can be a challenge for many. I have seen countless PowerPoint Presentations that have inconsistent header capitalization. This comes off as unprofessional, especially if the content is shared to your company’s leadership team. Here are the general rules:

A) All words of four or more letters, no matter what or where the words are

B) The first word of the title and of the subtitle
C) The last word of the title; NOT –  conjunctions (and, or, but, nor, yet, so, for), articles (a, an, the), and short prepositions (in, to, of, at, by, up)

This: Marketing Logistics for the Annual Meeting

Not this: Marketing logistics for the Annual meeting

Doesn’t the top look so much cleaner? Maybe your email open rate with improve in the process.

5. Buzzword Soup:
Clichés, hyperbole, and buzzwords may sound impressive but over time and overuse—they mean nothing. An example, courtesy of Inc.com:

First, read this:
“Acme Industries today announced a groundbreaking strategic partnership with a leading solutions provider to create an exclusive, dynamic, state of the art application that will revolutionize the social media user experience.”

Now look away, close your eyes for about ten seconds, and try to repeat what you just read.

Then read this:
“Acme Industries launches the first tool that allows users to automatically remove all embarrassing photos from their social media accounts.”

Here are some buzzwords to avoid to provide more clarity to your business writing:

Actionable
Actualize
Award winning
Best practice
Conceptualize
Cash-neutral
Customer-centered
Empowered
Empowerment
Game plan
Heads-up
Leading
Leverage
Low-hanging fruit
Market segment
Mission critical
Operationalize
Outside the box
Paradigm shift
Positioning
Push the envelope
Ramp up
Solution
Strategic fit
Strategic alliance
Synergize
Touch base
Value-added
Win-Win

Now now that you are done reading this, put these tips to practice – NOW! Written communication is all around us, and it is one way to show your leaders that you are an able minded employee worth of advancement.

Resources:

http://www.businesswritingblog.com/
http://grammar.about.com/od/blogsandlinks/tp/buswriting.htm
http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/9-buzzwords-to-avoid-in-business.html