In the Media
Wolfgang Digital is frequently featured in the national and international media
Newstalk Business Breakfast with Vincent Wall
January 13th, 2020 - 'The Wolfgang Digital 2020 KPI Study Key Insights' Alan Coleman, CEO of Wolfgang Digital talks through the key digital insights for marketers to benchmark their 2019 performance against and plan their 2020 strategy.
The Irish Times
26th February 2019 - "https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/blindboy-advertisers-don-t-know-what-the-word-podcast-is-1.3806206" - Blindboy: 'Advertisers don't know what the word podcast is'
Marketing.ie
12th February 2019 - "https://marketing.ie/articles/wolfgangs-search-for-online-traffic/" - Wolfgang's search for online traffic.
RTE
14th January 2019 - "https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2019/0111/1022708-analysis-finds-ireland-biggest-winner-from-us-tech-fdi/" - Analysis finds Ireland is the biggest winner from US tech FDI.
The Irish Times
15th November 2018 - "https://www.irishtimes.com/business/retail-and-services/majority-of-irish-consumers-will-do-most-of-their-christmas-shopping-online-1.3698787" - Majority of Irish consumers will do most of their Christmas shopping online.
The Irish Times
25th September 2018 - "https://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/don-t-be-a-one-click-wonder-ecommerce-report-warns-irish-retailers-1.3640105" - Don't be a 'one-click wonder', ecommerce report warns Irish retailers.
Irish Tech News
25th September 2018 - "https://irishtechnews.ie/the-secrets-of-high-performing-websites-wolfgang-digitals-annual-e-commerce-study/" - The secrets of high-performing websites: Wolfgang Digital's annual e-commerce study.
The Irish Times
8th February 2018 - "https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/ecommerce-rampant-as-retailers-await-amazon-s-big-play-on-advertising-1.3382234" - Ecommerce 'rampant' as retailers await Amazon's big play on advertising.
RTE
8th February 2018 - "https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2018/0208/939267-irelands-online-economy-is-booming-according-to-study/" - Ireland's online economy is booming according to study.
Irish Independent
18th December 2017 - "THE READY BUSINESS PODCAST: From delivering pizzas to pay the rent to having a staff of 40, meet Wolfgang Digital's Alan Coleman" - On this show, Brian Purcell meets the man who, because he failed to get his dream job at Google, went from delivering pizzas at night to pay the rent, to doing it himself by setting up his own digital agency.
Irish Examiner
27th November 2017 - "Retail is in flux as brick gives way to click" - Irish firms are not lagging overseas competitors in the digital arena.
The Next Web
3rd November 2017 - "This Is How to Teach a Search Engine What Your Business Does" - Search engines are powerful tools for bringing people to your business. Our Head of SEO, Luke Fitzgerald, looks at SEO essentials.
Adworld
27th October 2017 - "Wolfgang Digital Wins Two Landy Awards in New York" - The Dublin-based performance agency, Wolfgang Digital has picked up two more Landy Awards at the annual awards programme in New York.
Adworld
15th September 2017 - "Littlewoods & Wolfgang Digital Shortlisted for Three Landy Awards" - Wolfgang Digital and its clients Littlewoods Ireland and Zurich L have been shortlisted for three Landy Awards
Today FM's Sunday Business Show
September 10th 2017 - "Benchmarking Websites with Wolfgang Digital" - TeamSBS regular Alan Coleman, CEO of Wolfgang Digital returned to The Sunday Business Show this weekend to give listeners some key digital insights for benchmarking your website.
Silicon Republic
9th September 2017 - "Rise of ‘dark traffic’ from popular social apps threatens Google’s web empire" - Digital marketers are anxious to know more about the web than what Google Analytics is telling them.
Ecommerce News nederland
8th September 2017 - "Hoeveel clicks heb je nodig voor een miljoen?" - Stel, je wilt één miljoen euro aan omzet genereren met je webwinkel, hoeveel clicks heb je daarvoor nodig?
Translated: "How many clicks do you need for a million?" - Imagine you want to generate one million euros of revenue with your web store, how many clicks do you need?
Adworld.ie
September 8th 2017 - "Google Still Dominates Irish E-Commerce Transactions Says Wolfgang Digital KPI Report" - The annual E-Commerce Benchmark KPI report from Wolfgang Digital has been published and once again the report shines a light on the growing e-commerce market in Ireland.
The Irish Times
September 7th 2017 - The Irish Times: Google stays number one for shoppers despite rise of ‘dark traffic’ - Wolfgang Digital e-commerce study proves need for speed and ‘power of Pinterest’
MediaPost
September 7th 2017 - "Google's Ecommerce Influence In Decline" - Google remains the key driver of web referrals, but its influence in ecommerce continues to decline.
Irish Tech News
7 September 2017 - "A Dozen Takeaways from Wolfgang Digital’s 2017 E-Commerce Benchmark Study" - Is your website beating, meeting or behind the industry average?
RTÉ
September 7th 2017 - "Mobile purchases on the rise but desktop sees higher spend" - A study on e-commerce websites by Wolfgang Digital shows that Google generates 62% of all traffic and 63% of all revenue.
Adworld.ie
May 5th 2017 - "Wolfgang Digital Bags Two Awards at European Search Awards" - The Dublin-based digital agency scored big at the European Search Awards in Krakow, Poland, bagging two awards on the night.
The Irish Times
May 4th 2017 - "‘Rampant’ growth of Irish e-commerce set to continue" - Online shopping revenues grew by 45% in 2016, with smartphones the device of choice
Newstalk - The Business Breakfast
May 4th 2017 - Alan discusses the Wolfgang Digital Online Economy Report for 2016 with Newstalk's Business Breakfast which shows rampant growth within the Irish online economy:
You can also read Newstalk's article covering the Online Digital Economy Report - "Ireland's online sector enjoys 45% growth"
Silicon Republic
May 4th 2017 - "As e-commerce revenues surge, how will the post-Brexit online economy look?" - Revenue growth rampant among the few Irish businesses that are online reports Wolfgang Digital - article by John Kennedy.
Marketing.ie
May 4th 2017 - "Wolfgang reports 45 per cent rise in online spend" - "The 2016 Online Economy study shows Irish consumers’ appetite to spend money online continues strongly"
Irish Tech News
May 4th - 2017 - Irish online economy roars in 2016 - For a second consecutive year, Irish e-commerce sites have seen a 45% growth in online revenue - article by Ronan Leonard
Today FM - The Sunday Business Show
January 8th 2017 - In this interview on Today FM's Sunday Business Show, Alan discusses key digital marketing trends in 2017 and his views on the next Information Revolution that has yet to explode. Click the play button below to listen:
Business And Finance - 60 Second Challenge
6th January 2017 - 60 Seconds with Alan Coleman - Founder and CEO of Wolfgang Digital Alan Coleman takes the Business & Finance 60 second challenge.
Sunday Independant Business
13th November 2016 - A toast to the trusty workhorse of the digital marketing universe - Email is still a potent weapon for driving conversion rates and revenue. Article by John McGee.
Adworld - Wolfgang Digital Comes in 6th Place in Deloitte Fast 50 Awards
11th November 2016 - Wolfgang Digital Comes in 6th Place in Deloitte Fast 50 Awards - The Dublin-based digital agency Wolfgang Digital has been ranked in sixth place in the annual Deloitte Technology Fast 50 which was announced this week.
Today FM - The Sunday Business Show
9th October 2016 - Alan Coleman, CEO of Wolfgang Digital joined Conall to talk about Digital Marketing and Google Shopping, which is soon launching here in Ireland. Click on the link to listen.
AdWorld - Wolfgang Wins Two Awards at the Landy Awards in New York
September 30th - Wolfgang Digital picked up two awards at Search Engine Land’s Landy Awards in New York this week. The awards are part of SMX East which takes place in New York during Advertising Week.
Irish Tech News - Irish E-Commerce Websites Produce A Landy Awards Double
September 30th - Two Irish e-commerce websites won prestigious awards at the Search Engine Land Awards which were held in New York City. The ‘Landies’, as they are referred to in digital marketing circles, seek to reward the world’s best search campaigns, so for Irish companies to receive two awards amid such fierce competition is a remarkable achievement.' Article by Ronan Leonard.
Skift.com - 3 Charts Showing Google Search’s Impact on Travel Brands in 2016
September 20th 2016 - 3 Charts Showing Google Search’s Impact on Travel Brands in 2016' - Google is an even mightier king in 2016 when it comes to what leads travelers to brand websites and, ultimately, what gets them to make a purchase. But direct website visits shouldn’t be overlooked: These were the next largest source of site visits and revenue' - article by Dan Peltier.
The Economist - Travellers are still unsure about booking trips on their smartphones
September 20th 2016 - Travellers are still reticent about booking travel on smartphones. Referring to research by Wolfgang Digital, The Economist discusses why.
Sunday Independent - Desktop dodo in worse nick than print advertising
September 18th 2016 - Desktop dodo in worse nick than print advertising: 'According to Wolfgang Digital's 2016 E-commerce KPI Benchmarks Study, desktop wipes the floor with mobile when it comes to actual conversions.' Article by Steve Dempsey.
State Of Digital - New Ecommerce Study Reveals Google Still Dominates
September 13th - 'We can always use more data, especially if it’s well-researched and presented in a clear format. That’s exactly what Wolfgang Digital have done with their new 2016 Ecommerce KPI Benchmark Study' - Article by Barry Adams.
Moz - A Dozen Digestible Takeaways from 2016's E-Commerce Benchmarks Study
September 12th 2016 - Alan shares some insights and key findings from Wolfgang Digital's 2016 KPI Benchmarks Study.
Inc.com - 9 New Stats for Rating and Improving Your Online Marketing Campaigns
September 12th 2016 - 9 New Stats for Rating and Improving Your Online Marketing Campaigns - New study shows what works and how well in online marketing. Article by Peter Roesler.
The Journal - A 40-year-old technology still beats Facebook for getting people to visit websites
September 11th 2016 - A new Irish study found email newsletters were more likely to drive online sales than social media. Article by Conor McMahon.
Econsultancy - 10 devastating digital marketing stats we've seen this week
September 9th 2016 - The stats this week are devastating (in a good way). Tons of goodness about ecommerce KPIs, 'marketing moments', financial services, good old TV, and more. Article by Ben Davis.
Sunday Independant - Marketers: does your website's performance beat industry averages?
September 9th 2016 - Marketers: does your website's performance beat industry averages? Digital marketers are drowning in data, with limited time to properly interpret it. Alan Coleman has some solutions.
Mobile Marketing Magazine - It’s Official: Google Rules The Web
September 8th 2016 - Digital marketing agency Wolfgang Digital has launched its latest E-commerce KPI Benchmarks study. Article by David Murphy.
The Irish Times - Facebook gains on Google in influence over Irish consumers
September 8th 2016 - Facebook gains on Google in influence over Irish consumers - Facebook quadruples its share of traffic delivered to ecommerce sites, but mobile lags on purchases. Article by Laura Slattery.
RTE - Six One News
September 8th 2016 - Six One News did a piece on Facebook and asked Al for his input:
Newstalk Radio - Big spending on display ads not translating into healthy online sales
September 8th 2016 - Online banner and display ads are failing to register as one of the top 10 generators of Irish customer traffic, according to a new report from Dublin-based agency Wolfgang Digital. Read the full article by Craig Fitzpatrick here.
Alan was also on The Business Breakfast show that day, click the link to listen.
AdWorld - Wolfgang Digital Shortlisted for Three Landy Awards
August 19th 2016 - The Dublin-based digital agency Wolfgang Digital has been shortlisted in three categories for the annual Landy Awards the US awards that recognise the best search marketing campaigns, individuals and agencies from all over the world. Read more here.
Irish Independent – Online betting is by far the costliest catchphrase for Irish Google advertisers
June 26th 2016 - Wolfgang Digital, a digital-marketing agency which handles 2pc of all of Ireland's e-commerce business, says that advertisers will pay more to appear in search results for "online betting" than almost anything else - some €40.69 per click. Read more here.
AdWorld - Wolfgang Digital Wins Grand Prix at The Drum’s Search Awards
June 10th, 2016 - Wolfgang Digital and Littlewoods Ireland have won the Grand Prix at the UK Search awards which are organised by the marketing publication The Drum. Read more here.
The Drum Search Awards - The Winners are Revealed
June 9th, 2016 - Impressing the panel and taking home the Grand Prix was Wolfgang Digital for their work with Littlewoods Ireland. Read more here.
PPC Hero - Calculate Your Research Online Purchase Offline (ROPO) Conversion Rate
May 30th, 2016 - In this post, we will examine AdWords and Analytics data already available to you that could help you get an estimate of the value of in-store sales that started online. Read more here.
AdWorld - Wolfgang Digital and Mediaworks win at European Search Awards
May 6th, 2016 - Wolfgang Digital picked up three golds on the night in the Best Use of Search in the Retail category for client Brown Thomas while it also picked up the gold in the Best Use of Social Media in Search category for the Irish online clothing retailer, iClothing.com. The agency, which is headed up by Alan Coleman, also won Best Small PPC Agency of the Year. Read more here.
Moz.com - Facebook vs Youtube: Which Side of the Video Battle Should You Join?
April 13th, 2016 - Let’s analyze the numbers and try to settle the “Facebook vs YouTube” video battle once and for all! Read more here.
The Irish Times - Mobile glistens in ‘golden quarter’ for retail
January 28th, 2016 - ‘Black Friday’ played big part in revenue growth for 2015, Wolfgang Digital finds. Read more here.
Moz.com - In-SERP Conversions: Dawn of the 100% Conversion Rate?
December 23rd, 2015 - By now, we're all pretty used to Knowledge Graph results in the SERPs. But what could it mean when Google offers the ability to make a purchase, a call, book an appointment, or otherwise convert customers within those results? In this video blog, Alan Coleman speculates about a potential 100% conversion rate in the SERPs and raises the question of Google's role in an increasingly app-centric world. Read more here.
Moz.com - The day remarketing changed forever
December 16th, 2015 - Today, we're talking about June 25th, 2015: the day Google AdWords changed forever to allow Analytics remarketing audiences to be available for advertisers on search. Read more here.
The Irish Times - More ‘mobile moments’, fewer ‘swirly icons’ in the Irish e-commerce experience
1 October, 2015 - Traffic to Irish e-commerce websites increased 28 per cent year on year in the second quarter, with mobile’s share of traffic leaping while tablet’s share stood still, the latest study from marketing agency Wolfgang Digital shows. Read more here.
Silicon Republic - Average spend online in Ireland up 62pc (infographic)
30 September - There has been a stark rise in traffic towards Irish businesses’ online services, with average spend rising in kind. The main growth seems to be in mobile, with it eating into desktop share to now make up 37pc of all browsing – the traffic figures in general are up 28pc. Read more here.
AdWorld - Wolfgang Digital Expansion to Create 50 New Jobs
18 September, 2015 - The Dublin-based digital agency Wolfgang Digital has announced a major expansion of its workforce with the creation of an additional 50 jobs. Read more here.
Business ETC/The Journal.ie - Why these award-winning Irish digital marketeers set up a secret sex shop
15 September, 2015 - Wolfgang Digital announced plans to hire 50 staff today – here’s how they got there. Read more here.
Moz.com - 8 Ways Content Marketers Can Hack Facebook Multi-Product Ads
7 July, 2015 - Guest Post by Alan Coleman. The trick most content marketers are missing. Creating great content is the first half of success in content marketing. Getting quality content read by, and amplified to, a relevant audience is the oft overlooked second half of success. Read more here.
Silicon Republic - Irish online economy absolutely skyrocketing
6 May, 2015 - The Irish e-commerce industry is undergoing immense growth, with consumer spend up more than a half on this time last year. The 53pc rise comes on the back of a 26pc rise in website traffic, with average spend, obviously, increasing significantly. -> Irish online economy absolutely skyrocketing.
The Irish Times - How do Irish ecommerce companies fare abroad?
29 April, 2015 - The statistic that as much as 75 per cent of the money that people in Ireland spend online goes to overseas companies has been “doing the rounds” for some time now, notes Alan Coleman of Wolfgang Digital. But what about the opposite figure? -> How do Irish ecommerce companies fare abroad?
AdWorld - Wolfgang Digital Wins Grand Prix at European Search Awards
8 May, 2015 - The Dublin-based digital agency, Wolfgang Digital won the Grand Prix at the European Search Awards for its work with UNICEF. The agency also took home the "Best Use of Search in the Third Sector" award for the same campaign. Read more here.
Krank.ie - Ireland Dominates at 2015 European Search Awards
The Irish Times - Frontend at the forefront in Digital Media Awards
27 February, 2015 - Newcomers Wolfgang Digital also came away with a formidable haul of DMA statuettes…A series of their digital marketing studies have featured in outlets such as Forbes and Moz, and an impressed panel of judges awarded them the Big Data Award, Best Company Using Digital and Best Agency. Read more here.
The Irish Times - Consumers are still hesitant about making mobile ecommerce transactions despite surge in traffic
29 January, 2015 - Mobile traffic on Irish ecommerce sites may have surged 52 per cent last year, but consumers remain relatively hesitant to make transactions on mobile devices. Read more here.
Moz.com - E-Commerce KPI Study: There's (Finally) a Benchmark for That
15 January, 2015 - Guest Post by Alan Coleman. Data in the hands of even the savviest marketer is useless without a context to evaluate its performance against competitors or the industry at large. Which is why we need benchmarks. Through benchmarking, marketers can contextualise data to identify under-performing elements and amplify what is over-performing. Read more here.
The Irish Independent - A manic Monday Christmas cyber shopping spree
30 November, 2014 - Startling new figures reveal we have embraced one-click shopping - spending a massive €6bn online this year. That's up an astonishing 44pc on 2013, according to the Irish Digital Consumer Report. -> A manic Monday Christmas cyber shopping spree
The Irish Times - Facebook lags Google for generating e-commerce traffic, study finds
13 November, 2014 - Display ad revenues will soon migrate in its direction, says Wolfgang Digital. Read more here.
The Journal - Irish consumers are spending 50% more online than last year
24 August 2014 - Online shopping by Irish consumers has jumped by 51% in the last year. Read more here.
The Irish Times - ‘Tale of two extremes’ in e-commerce study as winning companies disrupt and grow
21 August, 2014 - Businesses with outdated online strategies are being left behind, Wolfgang Digital says. Read more here.
The Sunday Business Post - McElhinneys study offers insight into ROPO effect
15 June, 2014 - Google announces upcoming research online purchase offline analytics. In the meantime Irish retailer McElhinneys conducts its own study which finds 66% of sales happen in store after online research. McElhinneys represented Ireland in the European E-Commerce awards in Barcelona on June 17th.
The Guardian - Why every digital marketing agency should try running their own sex shop.
27 February, 2014 - An Irish digital marketing agency decided to improve its service by becoming its own customer. CEO Alan Coleman explains. Read more here.
RTÉ News at One - Face Recognition Technology To Target Shoppers
10 February,2014 - Alan discussed the new technology being used by the likes of Tesco to better understand their audience and deliver more personalised ads.
The Guardian – Content Marketing Strategies and ROI for B2C Marketers
29 January, 2014 – We were delighted to take part in an online discussion on Content Marketing on the Guardian. The discussion brought a range of experts from different disciplines together and resulted in a variety of topics being discussed. Here’s a summary of what was discussed -> Content Marketing on The Guardian
The Sunday Business Post - Online retail revenue increases by 25 per cent
26 January, 2014 - We analysed online revenues of 20 Irish websites (spanning retail, travel and charity). We found that online revenue in 2013 was up 17 per cent on 2012. Average retail (or 'e-tail') revenue was up 25 per cent last year, and increased by 42 per cent in the fourth quarter. The full analysis featured in the Sunday Business Post.
Silicon Republic - Facebook news feed ads 51 times more likely to be clicked than display ads – study
24 January, 2014 - A study we conducted on Facebook Ad CTRs was featured on Silicon Republic the day after we published the results of our study on our blog. Our findings reflect a similar study by AdRoll last year, which concluded that news feed ads were 49 times more likely to generate clicks than display ads. Read the article here: Facebook news feed ads 51 times more likely to be clicked than display ads – study
Newstalk - Digital Marketing Series - Search Engine Optimisation and Advertising in association with FCR Media
5 October, 2013 - Bobby Kerr discusses Search Engine Optimisation and Search Engine Advertising with Anthony Quigley co-founder of the Digital Marketing Institute, and Alan Coleman CEO of Wolfgang Digital. Listen to the podcast here: Search Engine Optimisation and Advertising in association with FCR Media.
The Irish Times - Google Dublin holds ecommerce event for advertisers and agencies
27 September, 2013 - Google is holding an event for more than 150 advertisers and agencies in its Dublin headquarters today in a bid to convince Irish companies that they can become the next Asos – the British online fashion retailer that is smashing sales and profit forecasts.
Read more here.
Broadsheet.ie - The damn careless hipsters at Wolfgang Digital miss their bike.
1 August, 2013 - We came into work today at Wolfgang Digital to find that one of our beloved Wolfgang fixies was stolen last night. Read more here.
Morning Ireland - REPORT: Smart Phones Being Used For Lost And Found Purposes
6 August, 2013 - RTÉ's Mark O'Flynn reports on how smart phones are being used for lost and found purposes. Our CEO, Alan Coleman puts smartphone ownership into perspective, and highlights how recent developments in social media can help in finding lost property. Listen to the podcast here (piece five): Smart phones being used for lost and found purposes .
Sunday Business Post - Real Views: Capitalise on the internet and reap rewards
28 April, 2013 - We hear a lot about learning from failure these days. But I think modelling success is a far more worthwhile exercise.
Sunday Business Post - Best in Class Honoured at Annual Awards
17 March 2013 - The 600 leading players in the Irish digital media industry gathered earlier this month to celebrate the tenth annual Samsung Digital Media Awards, held at the Convention Centre Dublin. A record number of entries were received this year, reflecting the growth of the sector and demonstrating how critical and the digital medium has become to organisations from SMEs and NGOs to multinationals. In acknowledgement of the growing level of interest and entries, the number of categories in this year’s Samsung Digital Media Awards was expanded to 25. An exciting addition to this year’s line-up was the Trailblazers Award, which was presented to the Dublin-based Digital Marketing Institute. The award is presented to a company which has helped showcase Ireland on the international stage. The Digital Marketing Institute recently signed a €3 million contract with the largest training body in Asia – NIIT India – to offer digital marketing education overseas. Some 25,000 students in India will be up-skilled in this area over the next three years. Ian Dodson, chief executive officer with the Digital Marketing Institute, said he was delighted to accept the inaugural Trailblazers Award on behalf of the institute. “It is a true honour to be recognised in this way at the Samsung Digital Media Awards, such a prestigious event in the annual business calendar. Our vision is to offer cutting-edge, career-focused training programmes in the emerging areas of the knowledge society, and we believe that, with our expertise in certification and training, we can create a globally competitive workforce for the digital marketing industry.”
Alan Coleman is chief executive of Wolfgang Digital Read this and more in the Sunday Business Post Digital Edition
Newstalk - Down To Business - Preparing Your Business For Online Shopping
21 October, 2013 - This piece features Alan Coleman and includes a discussion which revolves around preparing your business for Christmas shopping online.
RTE TV - The Business
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March 30, 2012 - Alan talks to RTE's George Lee on 'The business' about Voya, and how "there is no recession online".
Sunday Independent - Specialising in Google AdWords
Alan Coleman founded specialist Google AdWords agency OnlineAdvertising.ie three years ago, after the post graduate course in digital marketing he planned to take was unexpectedly cancelled. Undeterred, he decided to set up his own online advertising agency. "Despite the course getting scrapped, I knew that digital marketing was going to be essential for the future success of any Irish business, online or offline," he said.
Online ad changes drive rise in click-through rates
With search advertising retaining its dominant share of the online market, one agency capitalizing on its appeal is Google AdWords specialists Wolfgang Digital. It has increased its headcount from three to seven so far in 2012 and expects to employ a total of 12 by the end of the year. Changes in Google’s privacy policy introduced on March 1st, has fuelled further growth in the search advertising market, says Wolfgang’s chief executive Alan Coleman. “We’ve seen click-through rates increase dramatically, in some cases doubling.” The new consolidated privacy policy means that private data collected by one Google service can be shared with its platforms, including You Tube and Gmail, facilitating more targeted advertisements. Developments such as Google’s Ad Preferences Manager will also help digital marketing evolve. Coleman believes, as consumers can ask Google to stop showing them advertisements for irrelevant products. “People’s perception towards advertising will swing from seeing it as mental pollution to a useful service” he says. Coleman forecasts that the agency, which until recently was called OnlineAdvertising.ie, will double its staff to 25 next year. It’s hiring policy reflects the greater desirability of data analytics skills in today’s recruitment market. “We actually don’t hire marketers we hire people with very strong maths and analytical ability.” “Digital marketing platforms such as Google AdWords and Facebook are built by engineers, so it makes sense to recruit and train people who think like engineers.”
Irish Marketing Journal - Bring On The Specialists
ln February, a small agency called Wolfgang Digital(OnlineAdvertising.ie) won the Gold Medal for the Best Digital Advertising Agency at the Digital Media Awards 2011. The significance of this award is manifold and has exciting implications for the paid search industry in Ireland. Wolfgang Digital is a stand-alone, paid search-only agency. They don't do anything else. At the time I met with its owner, Alan Coleman and it had 18 clients (as you are reading this, that number is increasing). lts success is documented and acknowledged by its clients and by Google, which will be publishing two success stories for Wolfgang Digital clients in the coming months. One could argue that Wolfgang Digital has the best business model for paid search in our industry. It charges by the hour. There are no flat fees and it does not take a percentage of the media spend. Short of hiring a paid search position in-house, this is the only way that paid search support will work to achieve the best possible results. As it is seeing massive increases in sales and conversion rates for its clients, it is also looking at performance-based billing models - which will be a win-win for the agency and its clients. Every Wednesday, the agency cocoons itself away from client inquiries and conducts a 'learning day' to keep up with the multiplicity of changes Google makes to its search platforms. Google makes changes to its system about once every three days. If your search account managers aren't keeping up with those changes, you're losing valuable resources for your campaigns - and these guys understand the value of learning in spades - and so do its clients. lf your search campaigns aren't currently availing of things like ad extensions, automatic tools or if you don't know that Google just removed the ability to manually target ad position, your search provider isn't keeping up with the sweeping changes Google has made over the last few months - and it's costing your campaigns in ways you haven't yet recognized. While Wolfgang Digital is making its mark and having an impact with its client base, the recognition it received at the Digital Media Awards is as much about the industry itself as it is about its agency. That the judging panel for the Digital Media Awards recognised the significance of this business model as well as the success it achieved is a very welcome sign that Ireland 'gets it'-which is of great importance now more than ever before. Even though Wolfgang Digital is a rival to my own business, I am so impressed with its work, its ethics and its results, that I could not help but champion this agency because it is a great benefit to the online market in Ireland – and the more this market grows the better it is for everyone involved.
The Sunday Business Post – Online Ad Agency Makes Light Of The Recession
Alan Coleman went into business after a Post Graduated course in Digital Marketing that he had planned to take was scrapped due to lack of interest. Now, less than four years later, his company, Onlineadvertising.ie, has grown so much that he has over 40 international campaigns running. Last week, they won the gold medal for Best Digital Advertising Agency in DMAs (Digital Media Awards). Based at the media cube at Dun Laoghaire, Coleman offers clients a full range of online advertising services, and his firm is a specialist Google AdWords agency. "I had a few businesses before," said Coleman. "I sold smoothies at festivals around Ireland, and I had a lunch delivering service. Then I saw the potential for business online. There is no recession online, and I am shouting this from rooftops. "The recession is purely offline phenomenon. Online markets are growing by double digits every year. Visa reported that online transactions grew by 34% last year, which is massive growth, " he said. "What we have seen with our e-commerce clients is that they are doing very well with their campaigns and getting great returns for their investments. "That's not surprising, but what is surprising is the number of offline businesses tapping into the online growth and doing some really great business." Coleman, who took on a full time employee last year, has introduced new "acquisition technology" into online campaigns, meaning that advertisement costs are paid for based directly on sales. "What's amazing about online advertising is that every single element of a campaign is measured – every time someone has seen or clicked on an add, or is on a site. And every time a sale is made, it's measured too, so we can now track sales back to the first time that an ad has been seen," he said.
Silicon Republic - The Buzz Hut sets up shop online
Moving business entirely online has allowed Dublin-based outdoor toy retailer The Buzz Hut to change its business model from wholesale to direct sales, growing the company in the process. Since setting up the company to accept online payments last October, the company now records most of its sales in export markets; some 90pc currently originates in the UK and the company plans to expand its export business into other markets, including France, Belgium and Germany. The Buzz Hut appointed online advertising agency onlineadvertising.ie to manage the Adwords campaign, which has allowed the company to increase its customer database, grow online sales and attract new customers from European markets.
Thomas O'Leary, managing director of The Buzz Hut, said selling online helped to overcome the problems of being in the distribution side of the business. "One of the main business issues was the lack of cash flow," he said. "This is a problem for many wholesalers as there is a gap between delivery of goods and receiving payment coupled with high storage costs associated with the wholesale trade." O'Leary said that by selling directly to customers, the company could double its profit margins. "In addition, if I sold my products through the internet I wouldn't have the same amount of infrastructural costs like insurance, rent, labour costs, etc, that are associated with setting up a high street shop," he added. Keen to make the most of the Christmas market, The Buzz Hut made Google Adwords its main sales and marketing tool. Within six months, the company had realised a 204pc return on investment for its advertising spend. Volume sales of products increased, particularly pogo sticks, which had a conversion rate of more than 10 pc. Overall, the site saw an average conversion rate of 8.7pc across all products lines. One of the first changes onlineadvertising.ie introduced to O'Leary's online ad campaign was to add Google's conversion optimiser tool which allowed The Buzz Hut to set a target advertising cost to sell one unit of a product. The conversion optimiser then uses the data in the Adwords campaign to make sales at that price or less. According to Google, this gives advertisers a high degree of control over costs and return on investment. Alan Coleman of onlineadvertising.ie said features like this are not available in traditional print or broadcast advertising. "Google's conversion optimiser makes it possible for the advertiser to take a scientific approach to their advertising spend. The advertiser sets their target cost per acquisition and the system works to bring in sales at that price via their Google Adwords campaign. The conversion optimiser eliminates guess work and allows for profitable advertising campaigns."
