Miami, Florida, Monday, October 13, 2008: Inter American University of PR (INTER) is the most important of all the private universities in Puerto Rico. It has approximately 44,000 students, 131 postgraduate programs, in addition to 62 masters’ and five doctorate degree programs. INTER employs more than 2,500 professors who have earned their academic degrees from prestigious institutions all over the world. INTER is also a leader in distance education, with over 300 courses available online. Recently, the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, Bayamon Campus, asked Loop Consulting Group’s president Marcos J. Menendez to do a special presentation of Loop Consulting Group’s “Drive-Thru: Online Marketing Essentials Seminar” for their Master in Electronic Commerce graduating class.

Marcos J. Menendez of Loop stated, “It’s an honor and privilege to present some of our experiences in the online marketing arena and to interact with upcoming marketing professionals.”

The presentation will be held in the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, Bayamon Campus, at 6:00pm on Thursday October 23^th, 2008.

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Loop Consulting Group is a Miami, FL, based internet marketing firm, dedicated to helping organizations and businesses reach their online sales and communications goals. Loop Consulting Group specializes in Integrated Online Marketing Communications (IOMC), which focuses all online marketing and advertising into a single digital voice. Loop Consulting Group creates powerful winning strategies for organizations and businesses that transition to the online marketplace across all channels.

1. Customers are using the internet to search for solutions, products and services.

a. 80% of internet traffic begins at the search engines.
b. 68% of the search market share belongs to Google.
c. Website pages need to be optimized so they can be picked up by Google and displayed in the search results. Optimization involves page Meta Data, text on the site pages and back links to your site.
d. Sponsored search (pay-per-click) provides geographical targeting of ads, content targeted ads and 100% control of the ad message.

2. Customers compare information from multiple locations.

a. Company and competitors websites.
b. Independent product/services review websites. Ex. Cruise Critic or Consumer Reports
c. Blogs
d. Price Brokers. Ex: Travelocity or Hotel.com

3. Customers love video…a lot.

a. 73.7 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video in March 2008.
b. 139 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 83 videos per viewer in March 2008.

4. Once customers find the information they are looking for, they don’t want to have to search for it again.

a. 36% of internet users say they have a customizable web page, such as iGoogle or My Yahoo.
b. Subscribe to eNewsletters or email alerts
c. Use aggregators such as iGoogle to receive RSS feeds for news and information in a single place. Information that can educate and influence purchase.

5. Customers have cell phones and are texting (SMS).

a. 84 % of Americans have cell phones.
b. 74% of all mobile phone users are active SMS (Text) users.

6. Customer trust their friends and family when it comes to purchase advise.

a. Consumers trusted recommendations from consumers 78% more than they did any other forms of advertising.
b. They are using social networks such as Facebook and MySpace to communicate with people they trust and ask for purchase advice.
c. A marketer’s job is to engage with social networks to listen, learn and correct what communities say about your product and services.

Summary: Customers are interacting with the internet at multiple points and with different tools. Customers are seeking information form various channels to help them make the best purchase decision. Not one single channel provides all the information the customer is looking for in order to purchase. Loop Consulting Group helps marketers determine which channels need to be developed in order to achieve effective integrated multiple-channel marketing communications focused on increasing sales and brand awareness.

This is a great visual model of the conduits to conversation. As marketers, we should be aware that our clients are engaging with all of these tools on and offline to communicate with friends, research products and services and much more. These tools shape the way we interact, how we interact with others and how new information is organized. Brian Solis, Principal of FutureWorks, explain he’s map like this “The conversation map is a living, breathing representation of Social Media and will evolve as services and conversation channels emerge, fuse, and dissipate.”

Marcos J. Menendez
President
www.loopconsulting.com

A breakfast meeting, designed as a “get in, get out” mini-seminar on what every online marketing and communications manager should know. We will talk about the tools and tactics currently in use, and their performance for online marketing and communications.

Topics:

Search Engine Optimization: What are the 3 things you should do to make sure your website is found by search engines. The top 5 SEO
myths and how to avoid them.

Mobile Marketing: The do’s and don’ts of mobile. How to use and integrate the mobile channel. How to design a successful (SMS) text campaign.

Video: How to best use video? What does it cost to produce? What kind of results tracking can I expect?

Social Marketing: What are the benefits to the brand? How to get started? How to monitor your reputation? What to do right and what to avoid?

The promise: In a little over an hour, you will get an overall understating of which online marketing tools are delivering good results. It will be quick, fun, and informative, and will provide you with actionable ideas you can implement yourself.

Speaker: Marcos Menendez, President Loop Consulting Group
Date: Thursday, September 18th, 2008
Where: Amadeus Salon, Ritz Carlton Hotel- Coconut Grove- Map
Time: 8:30 am Breakfast; 9:00am to 11:00am
Cost: Complimentary RSVP A Must: Cinthya M. Longarte, clongarte (at) loopconsulting (dot) com or 305.271.9915