Timing Is Everything In Search

For digital Rainmakers looking to synchronize strategies across multiple paid search marketing platforms, timing is everything. As Google representatives demonstrated at this year's OMMA Mobile conference, the flow of usage across search platforms is significantly different from device to device. Use of the desktop is     steady throughout the workday, but starts to decline as prime time nears. That's when both mobile and tablet search usage spikes, peaking during the last two hours of the day. That means that many consumers are  "second-screening" during the prime time TV viewing period. And that presents the next big challenge for Rainmakers, who will need to create more interactive, realtime brand initiatives to enhance their television campaigns.    

Tablet Popping - It's A Portable Platform

With several global communications technology brands announcing new tablet PC products this year at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), there is a lot of  hype about the tablet PC being the next huge platform for digital marketers. After all, Forrester Research said there will be more than 80 million tablet PC users in the U.S. by 2015. Sounds phenomenal, until you realize that's less than 1 percent of the number of mobile smartphone users in the world. But beyond the obvious numbers gap, there's also an important difference that most people don't realize between mobile and portable. Your mobile phone goes everywhere, staying within arm's reach whether in a pocket or purse, and you're likely to have it with you when those smart Rainmakers send location-based purchasing incentives for you to buy products at the grocery store, clothing at your favorite retail store or even a movie at the neighborhood theater. Tablet PC are designed to be portable enough for you to bring along to most places, but not to be with you at all times. So your mobile device is more apt to be geared toward instant communications, while the tablet PC is designed around media consumption. This important distinction has a significant impact on marketing tactics. Immediacy of message delivery to mobile smartphone users has an expected immediate return on investment (ROI) since it stimulates purchase based on location-based marketing. On the other hand, maybe you brought along the tablet PC because you wanted to read digital version of a magazine, book or marvel at the fantastic graphics in your favorite gaming applications. Or maybe, the laptop was too heavy to carry around. So while marketers shouldn't be so quick to be led by technologists, they'll no doubt find ways to effectively reach consumers immersed in their tablets. Digital Rainmakers always do!