MARKETING CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

A marketing system is disclosed, comprising a marketing database configured to store a plurality of marketing material distributed by a business to a marketer via a network server. A marketing module receives marketing parameters input by the business, generates a marketing campaign, and distributes the marketing campaign via a plurality of social profiles through different marketing channels selected by the business. A plurality of contacts are associated with a marketer device or online social profiles. The plurality of contacts are selectable by the marketer such that the user selects at least a portion of the plurality of contacts to receive a plurality of marketing materials comprising the marketing campaign.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The embodiments generally relate to computer implemented systems for collecting, managing, and distributing marketing content, as well as measuring content distribution performance and continuously optimizing it.

BACKGROUND

Growing a business and connecting with potential customers has always been a major challenge for brands providing a product and/or service. Historically, this has been achieved through word-of-mouth, marketing programs, advertising, and the like. Companies use various channels to reach the consumer including television advertisements and promotions, radio, online advertising, etc. leaving consumers overwhelmed with advertisements to influence the consumer to make a buying decision. Growth of a business is highly dependent on the budget and performance of such marketing efforts.

While traditional advertising is effective, it can be costly to reach a large number of consumers. Many consumers entrust the recommendations and advice of others who have experience with a particular brand, product, and/or service; however, this form of advertising is passive and is not directly controlled by the company.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This summary is provided to introduce a variety of concepts in a simplified form that is further disclosed in the detailed description of the embodiments. This summary is not intended to identify key or essential inventive concepts of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended for determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

The embodiments provided herein relate to a marketing system, comprising a marketing database configured to store a plurality of marketing material distributed by a business to a marketer via a network server. A marketing module receives marketing parameters input by the business, generates a marketing campaign, and distributes the marketing campaign via a plurality of marketing channels selected by the business. A plurality of contacts are associated with a marketer device or online social media profiles. The plurality of contacts are selectable by the marketer such that the user selects at least a portion of the plurality of contacts to receive a plurality of marketing materials comprising the marketing campaign.

The system provides a marketing system to connect businesses and marketers using a computerized system. The system permits marketers to participate in third party merchant marketing campaigns in exchange for a pre-agreed upon remuneration or a reward. Marketers may utilize their network of friends, family, and social contacts as an asset to generate income, rewards, or other forms of compensation by distributing third-party content on behalf of a brand to their social networks.

In one aspect, a business database stores business information.

In one aspect, a marketer database stores interested to advertise individuals' information.

In one aspect, the marketer information includes individual marketer profile and social contacts information.

In one aspect, the contact information includes contact metrics comprising the number of social contacts associated with the marketer.

In one aspect, a marketing engine is in operable communication with the marketing module.

In one aspect, a compensation engine is in operable communication with the marketing engine.

In one aspect, the compensation engine receives contact metrics and marketing material from the marketing engine and determines a compensation amount via a compensation calculator.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The specific details of the single embodiment or variety of embodiments described herein are to the described system and methods of use. Any specific details of the embodiments are used for demonstration purposes only, and no unnecessary limitations or inferences are to be understood therefrom.

In general, the embodiments provided herein relate to a marketing system using a computerized system. The system permits marketers to participate in third party merchant marketing campaigns in exchange for remuneration or a reward. Marketers may utilize their network of friends, family, and social contacts as an asset to generate income, rewards, or other forms of compensation by distributing third-party content on behalf of a brand to their network.

The system allows businesses to reach a broad base of consumers through individuals and their connections with their social networks. This enables businesses to achieve digital word of mouth while rewarding marketers for promoting the business to their social networks. In such, the system is providing a means for brands, or product and services providers (i.e., businesses), to advertise to consumers using the social contacts and network of the marketers.

As used herein, the term “business” may refer to a brand or collection of brands, a product provider, a service provider, and the like.

As used herein, the terms “individual” and “marketer” relate to users of the system who distributes content to his/her social contacts on behalf of a brand or business in exchange for a remuneration.

In some embodiments, the system permits a business to select parameters of who they want to advertise their products (e.g., demographics, locations, etc.). Marketers provide their information during the registration and sign-up process. The system uses an algorithm that matches instructions received from brands with suitable marketers that fit the criteria. Brands do not see which marketer advertises on their behalf. Instead, the systems pairs brands with suitable marketers based on the marketer's profile. Brands are able to see marketers' information on an audit report, only after the marketing content/campaign has been distributed. In such, the system operates as a matching system between brands and marketers using a profile created from the interests, tendencies, and behaviors of the marketer to determine the favorable matches between the marketer and the brand.

In some embodiments, the system provides compensation to marketers at a fixed rate for reaching a predetermined number of individuals within their network. In such, the business pays a fixed fee for marketing services.

FIG. 1illustrates a computer system100, which may be utilized to execute the processes described herein. The computer system100is comprised of a standalone computer or mobile computing device, a mainframe computer system, a workstation, a network computer, a desktop computer, a laptop, or the like. The computer system100includes one or more processors110coupled to a memory120via an input/output (I/O) interface. Computer system100may further include a network interface to communicate with the network server130. One or more input/output (I/O) devices140, such as video device(s) (e.g., a camera), audio device(s), and display(s) are in operable communication with the computer system100. In some embodiments, similar I/O devices140may be separate from computer system100and may interact with one or more nodes of the computer system100through a wired or wireless connection, such as over a network interface.

Processors110suitable for the execution of a computer program include both general and special purpose microprocessors and any one or more processors of any digital computing device. The processor110will receive instructions and data from a read-only memory or a random-access memory or both. The essential elements of a computing device are a processor for performing actions in accordance with instructions and one or more memory devices for storing instructions and data. Generally, a computing device will also include, or be operatively coupled to receive data from or transfer data to, or both, one or more mass storage devices for storing data, e.g., magnetic, magneto-optical disks, or optical disks; however, a computing device need not have such devices. Moreover, a computing device can be embedded in another device, e.g., a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile audio or video player, a game console, a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, or a portable storage device (e.g., a universal serial bus (USB) flash drive).

A network interface may be configured to allow data to be exchanged between the computer system100and other devices attached to a network server130, such as other computer systems, or between nodes of the computer system100. In various embodiments, the network interface may support communication via wired or wireless general data networks, such as any suitable type of Ethernet network, for example, via telecommunications/telephony networks such as analog voice networks or digital fiber communications networks, via storage area networks such as Fiber Channel SANs, or via any other suitable type of network and/or protocol.

The memory120may include application instructions150, configured to implement certain embodiments described herein, and a database160, comprising various data accessible by the application instructions150. In one embodiment, the application instructions150may include software elements corresponding to one or more of the various embodiments described herein. For example, application instructions150may be implemented in various embodiments using any desired programming language, scripting language, or combination of programming languages and/or scripting languages (e.g., C, C++, C #, JAVA®, JAVASCRIPT®, PERL®, etc.).

The memory120may be configured to store user information including information for the business user(s), the individual(s), brand information, product information, service information, and the like.

The steps and actions of the computer system100described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium may be coupled to the processor110such that the processor110can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integrated into the processor110. Further, in some embodiments, the processor110and the storage medium may reside in an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a computing device. Additionally, in some embodiments, the events or actions of a method or algorithm may reside as one or any combination or set of codes and instructions on a machine-readable medium or computer-readable medium, which may be incorporated into a computer program product.

Also, any connection may be associated with a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. “Disk” and “disc,” as used herein, include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs usually reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

In some embodiments, the system is world-wide-web (www) based, and the network server is a web server delivering HTML, XML, etc., web pages to the computing devices. In other embodiments, a client-server architecture may be implemented, in which a network server executes enterprise and custom software, exchanging data with custom client applications running on the computing device.

FIG. 2illustrates a block diagram of the marketing system200which facilitates the connection between businesses and marketers. The marketing system comprises a business device202and marketer device203in operable communication with the service provider205via the network server130. The business device202may be utilized by an employee or representative of the business, or via a marketing organization associated with the business. The marketer device203stores contacts or online social profile credentials204which correspond to a marketer performing marketing tasks on behalf of the business. The service provider205comprises a marketing module206, user interface module208, search engine210, business database214, and marketing database216. The marketing module206permits the user to generate and process marketing information. The user interface module208is operable to provide functional aspects of the system onto the display of the business device202and/or the marketer device203. The business database214stores business information including business contact information, product information, service information, brand information, and the like. The marketing database216is in operable communication with the marketing module206and stores marketing information including marketing materials, historical marketing data, and the like.

In some embodiments, the marketers contacts are stored on the user device or online profile.

In some embodiments, the business is registered and permitted to create a business profile in a server. The business may create a marketing persona (e.g., the targeted marketer lives in California, is female, between the ages of 25 and 45, and is interested in outdoor activities). If the marketer meets the criteria, the system automatically selects that specific marketer or group of marketers to serve the content to their networks.

In some embodiments, businesses may select marketing materials from the marketing database216with which they would like to distribute or otherwise interact. Similarly, businesses may create their own unique marketing materials. Further, the business may select marketing metrics and parameters, such as the number of impressions, the number of consumers they would like to reach, and the like. This permits the system to calculate a cost for the selected marketing effort based and number of consumers they want to reach and have selected. One skilled in the arts will readily understand that various additional parameters may be input by the business, which will alter the cost of marketing and the marketing campaign strategy.

In another embodiment, the marketer posts the marketing content to their social media profiles, media outlets, and the like. The business may select the marketer based on the contacts in the network of users within their social media networks. For example, the business determines that a particular marketer has a network comprising a high percentage of action sports enthusiasts and selects the marketer to advertise a corresponding product.

In some embodiments, a report generator provides a plurality of marketing reports to the business such that the business may analyze marketing efforts over time. This allows the business to optimize marketing efforts to increase their return on investment.

The system permits individuals to register and create a marketer profile and marketing persona (the marketing persona may also be created by the business as described hereinabove). Their potential compensation will be provided based on the marketing campaign parameters selected by the brand. For example, the potential compensation is calculated based off the number of contacts in their network. Marketers will be assigned marketing content to distribute to their contact network. Once distributed, the individual will receive compensation.

FIG. 3illustrates a workflow300of the marketing system wherein a server310transmits and receives information to businesses320and individuals330. The server310transmits content to the individual330and the individual's contact network340to provide them with information related to the business's products/services350. The business320may also receive feedback from the individuals330and/or the individual's contact network340.

FIG. 4illustrates a block diagram of the marketing engine400comprising marketing channels410, contact information420, contact metrics430, and marketing material440. Marketing channels410may include marketing outlets known in the arts, including types of media, media channels, and the like. Marketing material440may include various forms of media such as video, audio, electronic, and hardcopy media materials distributed to contacts of the marketer. The contact information420and contact metrics430are used by the marketing engine to distribute marketing material440, which the marketer leverages for compensation.

FIG. 5illustrates a block diagram of the compensation engine500comprising a compensation calculator510to receive marketing campaign information, including the marketing materials to be distributed, the contact information associated with the marketer, contact metrics (e.g., the number of contacts to which the marketing material is distributed), and the like. The payment processor520facilitates the transfer of compensation to and from the marketer via one or more financial institutions530.

In some embodiments, the brand selects requirements for a marketer (e.g., the brand wants to reach 5-million people on a social media platform for a particular product, or group of products). Marketers which fit this profile will be selected to share/advertise the product information and various marketing materials to their networks for a predetermined fee.

In some embodiments, marketers are compensated based on various criteria including how many people they reached, how many channels (social media platforms, blogs, etc.) they posted to, previous performance metrics, inventory availability, etc.

One skilled in the arts will readily understand that the compensation may include monetary compensation as well as rewards, points, credits, promotions, or other forms of remuneration for performing the marketing service.