Digital Press CD

London, UK (PRWEB UK) 16 April 2012

For the last three years BearingPoint has conducted a survey to test how effectively major car brands respond to online test drive requests. The results make depressing reading for the Automotive industry.

This years survey shows that brands have not improved their lead management processes, leaving 59 percent of test drive requests unanswered within four days and 50 percent not contacted at all (no response within the 14 day period of the survey). These results are disappointingly similar to the findings from previous years. The survey gave brands up to 14 days to respond (to enable comparison between previous years findings.) The expectation of consumers is far higher with internet shoppers experiencing same or next day response from other industries.

When you consider the increasing importance of digital channels in the sales cycle and that, on average, one in three to four test drives result in a sale, it is very concerning that the automotive industry isnt addressing this inherent weakness in their lead management process, says James Rodger, Automotive Partner at BearingPoint.

During December 2011 BearingPoint repeated their comprehensive survey of car brands response to online sales enquiries. It revealed that, despite the fragile economic recovery, there is still universal failure to act upon online test drive requests. It raises questions over the ability of manufacturers to maintain or grow their market share against a market background of weak demand across Europe and increasing customer expectations in respect to brand responsiveness.

The pan-European survey covered 19 brands in six countries and involved researchers attempting to make more than 2200 test drive requests via car brand web sites. The survey included traditional and emerging high volume markets and brands right across the price spectrum.

James Rodger concludes: The consistent message of this survey over the past three years is that all car manufacturers, whether volume or premium brands, are missing the opportunity to convert leads generated from their websites. As digital channels become, for many, an integral part of the buying process the automotive industry must address this issue and, based on our research, there is definitely a first mover advantage in doing so. Manufacturers need to take a more holistic approach to lead management embracing their systems, processes and channels to ensure a seamless and efficient experience for prospective car buyers.

About BearingPoint

BearingPoint delivers business consulting with management and technology capabilities. As an independent firm with European roots and global reach BearingPoint serves leading companies and public sector organisations world-wide to align and optimise processes, IT and operating models with business strategy. Driven by a strong entrepreneurial mindset and desire to create long-term partnerships, BearingPoints consultants are committed to delivering excellence and value to their clients. The firms approach to working with clients is highly collaborative and designed to improve business performance, from strategy through to execution. BearingPoint currently employs 3,200 people in 15 countries.

For more information, please visit: http://www.bearingpoint.com.

Press contact

Alexander Bock

Manager Communications

Tel. +49 89 540338029

Mailto: alexander(dot)bock(at)bearingpoint(dot)com

More Digital Press Releases

New York, NY (PRWEB) December 23, 2011

Cirrus Thinking, makers of the award-winning Dolly Drive cloud storage for Mac, has unveiled a new family plan that enables multiple Macs to backup online via one paid account.The free admin capability will make it more affordable and easier for multi-Mac users and multi-Mac families to extend Dolly Drives storage services across multiple Macs in a household. Analysts are predicting upwards of 5 million new Mac sales this quarter with many expected to be the second, third and even fourth Mac in a family.

Family plans give people affordable insurance that the digital life on all of their Macs is safe, backed up, and available from the cloud, said Anthony Palermo, CEO of Dolly Drive. Whether its parents making sure their kids are backed up, or multi-Mac owners consolidating their backup efforts, Dolly Drive now lets every household personalize their cloud to match their needs.

Dolly Drive has also introduced a revamped inclusion assistant that automatically selects the folders that are most essential for backup and easily and accurately estimates how much space it will require. Users can add or subtract additional folders as desired.

Dolly Drive is an all-in-one subscription software and online storage service designed for Mac. In addition to providing Mac users offsite cloud storage directly through Apples Time Machine application, and online storage to expand hard drive space, the application allows users to create a bootable clone of their Mac on an external hard drive for local disaster recovery. It works with Apples Lion and Snow Leopard platforms. See more at http://www.dollydrive.com or this January at CES and MacWorld.

About Cirrus Thinking

Cirrus Thinking was founded in 2009 by a pair of passionate Apple fans with the goal of delivering the critical advantages of cloud services to Apple users at the consumer, small businesses and enterprise levels. The first product Dolly Drive, an online backup solution for Apples Time Machine launched in 2011 and was named MacLife Magazines Best Software and Best of Show at MacWorld 2011. Cirrus Thinking has offices in New York and Miami, with data centers located in the United States and Europe.

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New York, NY (PRWEB) December 08, 2011

As the year comes to a close, Vibrant CEO and industry expert Cella Irvine looks ahead and shares online advertising predictions for 2012. Her top five predictions emphasize social, mobile, data and context among the dominant trends. With eMarketer projecting a 14.4% increase in US online ad spending, digital will take on new prominence, and the following are Irvines ‘Online Advertising Predictions’ for 2012:

1)    SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE RISE OF THE DIGITAL NATIVES

A stunning 98% of 18- to 24-year-olds use social media. With the emerging maturity of these digital natives, advertisers need to grow engagement with a socially driven generation that turns to friends as a first source of authority. At the same time, worldwide social-network advertising revenues will reach $ 8 billion next year (eMarketer). Brands looking to increase mileage for their social media assets must surface their content in new ad formats that push their Facebook pages and Twitter feeds to consumers in a relevant context, as opposed to pulling them away to their social media. Digital-native consumers will expect that what is of most value to them will come to them, from friends or networks, rather than from sources they search out. More Like buttons are spreading across the Web, too, and increasing integration of social-sharing utilities such as social toolbars will continue to add new value to content.

2)    ON THE MOVE THE GROWING MOBILE AND TABLET LIFESTYLE

It is projected that by 2014, spending on mobile advertising will more than double from 2011, reaching $ 2.5 billion (eMarketer). We also know that consumer behavior is on the move, with mobile Internet usage expected to soon surpass desktop. Next year will see the arrival of sleek new tablets and mobile devices with better touch screens and more adaptive interfaces. The surge of multi-screen/multi-app engagement users who use devices while watching TV will continue to grow. Tablets have already replaced desktops as the preferred companion device to TV. Expect to see consumers look for ways to scale down the number of separate devices they now carry in favor of one tablet and one phone: the laptop will wane. This rapid shift to mobile is changing the way ads work, and advertisers must cater to consumers shifting needs. For example, geo-targeted, locally relevant marketing will hold great appeal for brands and consumers as 63 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds already use geosocial check-ins or location-based services. For example, see Lowes award-winning holiday campaign, which used a custom in-text store locator ad unit to deliver geo-targeted product deals within relevant, topical and seasonal content.

3)    SMARTER DATA AND IMPROVED ANALYTICS

Ads are growing more dynamic and multifunctional every day, and the continuing need to demonstrate ROI fuels the search for better metrics. Nowadays the best campaigns are interactive providing users with engaging search boxes, news tickers, and gaming portals. Advertisers will look more closely at user behavior with pre- and post-click data to get more mileage out of campaigns. We are seeing a growth in technology that can more clearly measure reader engagement and retention. There will be a continued interest in gathering and analyzing data that can go beyond CTRs and counting clicks. With these results available, we will see that all content is not created equal, and that despite the recent increase in content volume, results will come from placements in better quality environments.

4)    ONLINE VIDEO: ON A ROLL

Video pre-roll, in-stream and beyond presents new opportunities for engagement. With rapidly growing ad deliveries in 2011, online video has emerged as the fastest-growing digital advertising format attracting a record $ 2.2 billion in spending, up 52.1% from 2010 (eMarketer). By 2015, online video is expected to account for $ 7.1 billion in online ad spending. In 2012, video will be even more creative, engaging, useful and innovative. Advertisers are no longer simply taking what works on TV and placing it online. We are seeing a revolution in video, with more creative content coming directly from users, which helps brands engage their audience more meaningfully. At Vibrant, our approach is bringing sight, sound and motion together to deliver an immersive, user-initiated experience that is delivering compelling results for advertisers.

5)    CONTEXTUAL RELEVANCY AND DYNAMIC CREATIVE

Time and again, the most engaging ads (in-text, display and toolbar) offer users relevant content within the context of the page theyre viewing. Looking at award-winning ad campaigns in 2011, it is a trend that will take us into 2012. Next year we will continue to see the most successful advertising providing relevant content that changes dynamically to give users information they can use, from recipes, weather reports and traffic conditions to deals at local stores and up-to-date sports scores.Click here to watch industry leaders discuss the power of contextual relevancy, including remarks from Vibrant CEO Cella Irvine.

About Vibrant

Vibrant is a world leader in contextual technology aligning billions of words across the Internet with relevant video, information, tools, and advertising. With over 6,000 premium publishers, reaching more than 250 million unique users per month (comScore, 2011), Vibrant gives top brand marketers the opportunity to deliver highly targeted advertisements within premium Web content and offers publishers premium editorial tools to re-circulate users throughout their websites. Vibrant works with top brand advertisers such as Microsoft, Unilever, Chrysler and AT&T. The company was founded in 2000 and has offices in London, New York, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Paris, Hamburg, Munich and Dusseldorf. Vibrant’s rapid growth has been recognized by the Inc. 500 and Deloitte Fast 50 lists.

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Ann Arbor, MI (PRWEB) November 04, 2011

Kai Blums new article in the recently launched PRNews Crisis Management Guidebook is a must read for companies looking to manage their online reputation. The article titled, Damage Control: Cleaning Up Online Reputations Through Optimization, describes how businesses can use search engine optimization and other techniques to help push the bad news off page one of Google.

In the article, Director of Search Engine Marketing at Ingenex Digital Marketing, Kai Blum, describes the importance of using free and paid search results as powerful elements for a companys public relations crisis management strategy. The article describes best practices as well as detailed tips for how companies can use successful digital PR and SEO in crisis management on search engines to protect the reputation of the business.

In order to keep a business reputation at its best, companies should be proactive with their Internet content, even before a crisis arises. Creating Web properties already trusted by search engines, like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, helps a company achieve control over first page results, therefore helping to keep harmful articles pushed down on a results page. This is just one of the powerful digital public relations tactics that Kai discusses in his article.

PR professionals should keep in mind that many search engine users might not even be aware of the crisis, says Blum. However, they will find out about it if they do an unrelated search about the organization or brand and if the issue somehow made it onto the first page. By creating a variety of strong online properties proactively, this can be avoided. It is always easier to claim Google first page real estate than to push off negative listings later.

Kai Blum, Director of Search Engine Marketing at Ingenex, is a search engine marketing expert with over ten years of experience in search engine optimization and pay-per-click management. Before joining the Ingenex team, he spent ten years at MS&L Digital in Ann Arbor, Michigan where he worked with corporate giants such as General Motors, Toyota, Johnson & Johnson, Ferrero, Chevron and Best Buy. Blum also has also written three books and has over six years of experience in search engine based book marketing.

Ingenex Digital Marketing is an Ann Arbor, Michigan based Digital Marketing firm that provides a full suite of Digital Marketing services including mobile application development, Interactive Branding, web site design, search engine optimization, pay-per-click management, optimized public relations, direct marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, web-driven event marketing, generational marketing, podcasting and blogging. For more information call us at 1-855-INGENEX or visit http://www.ingenexdigital.com.

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More Digital Press Releases

London, UK (PRWEB) November 03, 2011

Social media research specialist DigitalMR releases latest findings on what customers are saying about smartphones on the internet.

DigitalMR analysed over ? million customer comments about smartphones across July-August 2011. Just over two-thirds (67%) of these customer views are positive, compared with 33% negative.

The most mentioned smartphone brands are all Android models. HTC garners more mentions than any other brand, with a 35% market share of all positive comments and a 32% share of the smaller, negative comments group. Next placed is Motorola with 21% positive mentions and 21% negative, followed by Samsung with 20% positive and 25% negative. Together, these Android brands account for three quarters of all measured customer comments regarding smartphones.

Results are based on comments posted by consumers on the major smartphone brands: Apple, Motorola, Samsung, RIM (Blackberry), HTC, LG, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Huawei and HP across Jul-Aug 2011.

Interestingly, the more established smartphone brands from Apple and RIM (Blackberry) only account for 5% and 3% of total customer comments respectively.

DigitalMRs analysis (powered by SocialNuggets) is based on comments posted via a range of relevant websites and open access social media platforms. It measures, not only the number of comments posted by consumers on the internet, but also their sentiment whether posts are positive or negative in nature.

Managing Director of DigitalMR, Michalis Michael commented: Android models are now comfortably outselling more traditional models from established players such as Blackberry and iPhone, and this is firmly reflected in their dominance in terms of online buzz.

All the brands measured, achieve a positive Net Sentiment Score (NSS) for Jul-Aug. NSS provides an overall percentage score of net positive posts. The average NSS taken across all the brands measured is 34%. This shows customers are generally very happy with their devices and are sharing the good news online.

Of the three most talked about brands on the web, HTC had a NSS of 38%, followed by 34% for Motorola and a below par score of 23% for Samsung.

The highest NSS is achieved by Nokia (55%) followed by LG (45%) with the lowest by HP (13%) followed by Huawaei (20%).

Click here for further data

Features

DigitalMR measures thousands of customer posts regarding the services and features attributed to smartphones. The Operating system and Service provider features generate the most comments – both positive and negative. Operating system attracted a 20% share of positive posts vs 22% of negative ones, while Service Provider produced 21% positive vs 23% negative.

In their words customer comments sample

NOKIA

True, at least Nokia starts producing something what is not android, too many manufacturers use android, and I want world “without limits” Nokia can offer people nice Windows phone devices in future, and I actually am very interested in these upcoming phones, even in my country news are calling those upcoming phones “Nokia Super phones”

http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=Q6rgdu9eMoQ

LG

The LG Optimus 2x P990 HD Smart-Phone is the business…..Im very happy with the: “LG Optimus 2x P990″ definitely best value for the money and cash speaks oodles especially I think the present price is a bargain.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/LG-Optimus-Android-Mobile-Phone/dp/B004V73OAQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319447478&sr=1-1

HP

HP Veer is small even for a little person… Even for my 6 year old brother… Even for… you get the idea… A SMALL touch screen on a Smartphone is just WRONG! Touch screens are meant to be big and beautiful, easy to type on and see information and multimedia… This is a joke!

http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=5G3xZrhSWUY

HUAWAEI

…In addition to a TERRIBLE battery life Huwaei M835 phone also has a very low volume level especially from the headphone out jack. It is supposed to have some sort of surrounded sound feature but when I turn it on it doesnt get any better.

http://androidforums.com/members/mcr0986.html

Click here for further customer comments and more about web listening reports

About DigitalMR

DigitalMR is a specialist agency which provides a holistic approach to web based market research. It specialises in utilising social media research, especially web-listening, and sophisticated technology platforms to enhance its business consulting approach.

DigitalMRs solutions also include community panels, access panels, web usability and a distinct focus on qualitative research online. The agency has pioneered new methods in online focus groups alongside tools such as video diaries, bulletin boards and online ethnography.

The agency operates in affiliation with international market research company MASMI http://www.masmi.com. DigitalMR is headed by founder and MD, Michalis Michael and has offices in London, UK; Nicosia, Cyprus, and Columbus, Ohio, in the US.

Click here for more about SocialNuggets

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