I.

Companys description and structure

1. Field of activity, mission, and philosophy
Canal. IP is a Spanish internet marketing company that provides a full range of

professional online marketing services such as SEO, PPC Marketing, Website Design and
Social Media Marketing in over 32 countries. This company has been a pioneer on the
Spanish market since 1997 and has had more than 1,200 clients all over the world.
In just a few years, Canal IP has evolved from a small company handling web
design projects to a full service internet marketing company with offices in Barcelona,
Madrid and Bucharest. With over 12 years experience, this company is widely
acknowledged as a market leader in optimizing the online search strategies. Canal. IPs
mission is to turn their clients goals into positive palpable results. They have succeeded in
accomplishing this by developing an online marketing strategy characterized by its
flexibility and efficacy and totally tailored to the clients needs. The business strategy that
lies at the core of this company revolves around three key concepts, i.e. reliability, results
and profitability (ROI).
The services delivered by Canal. IP are the result of many years of experience and
they are entirely based on offering the most comprehensive and high quality results. Their
services have helped clients to position their businesses, products or brands in the top 10 on
search engines by driving relevant traffic to their website, by increasing brand visibility for
the clients website and exposure not just locally, but also globally.
Canal. IP has a team of experienced professionals and marketing consultants who
are dedicated towards ensuring that all their services are 100% personalized and 100%
focused on achieving the best results. The highly qualified multidisciplinary team of
consultants works closely with the clients so as to make sure that the clients business needs
and objectives are fulfilled. The services delivered by this national internet marketing
agency are fully reliable and they aim to cover all the needs of every client, ranging from
measuring the effectiveness of their website to devising a variety of strategies to
consolidate their presence on the web and promoting the website.

Canal. IP is committed to every client because it believes that clients are at the core
of their activities. As a result, they developed a control panel for their clients. Their control
panel is actually a platform that gathers all the data on all the services contracted by a
company and by using it, every client will have the advantage of finding all the information
on a single platform without having to check different documents for each service provided
by Canal. IP. Its services are cost-effective and have long-term benefits for businesses.
Thus, increased visibility and accessibility will trigger increased profitability, also known
as return on investment.
The companys most popular services can be classified into the following groups:
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): number 1 in results and number of clients on the
Spanish market.
Pay per Click (PPC): they focus on lowering the cost of conversions and maximizing the
ROI.
Web Analytics Premium: they monitor, track and provide monthly advice to keep
increasing the websites presence on the Internet and
conversions.
Media Planning: Not only do they plan and execute campaigns, but they also accurately
measure the real return on advertising investment = profits.
Usability Study: their goal is to turn visitors to a clients website into prospects.
People at Canal IP consider that on the internet we are one among others. Nobody
develops a website so that it will remain unnoticed. One major advantage of SEO is that it
increases the traffic on your website by creating an increased internet exposure background.
Canal. IPs successful SEO places a clients website within the top 10 search engine results
and if the website has a high ranking, this means that it will be much easier to find by
potential customers.
The companys team of SEO consultants put a great deal of emphasis on a websites
well-structured and good quality content which needs to be regularly updated. They are
highly proficient in selecting keywords appropriate to the content and type of business and
in creating usability.

In 2014, Albert Mora founded Canal IP with the intention of creating a company
that would significantly promote their clients businesses on the Internet. For more than 12
years, valuable clients rely on this company to improve and increase their online visibility
by using high-tech services.
Employers and employers at Canal IP consider that the underpinning of a thriving
and efficacious company inheres in its fundamental philosophy. Due to its well-established
principles, Canal IP has succeeded over the years to adhere to these core values not only by
implementing a certain culture in the workplace, but also by interacting with its clients
through effective communication described as open, honest and transparent.
Canal IPs core principles define the companys unique character and vital scope,
i.e. to achieve performance in online marketing and deliver results to businesses of all sizes:

Performance-Oriented: the relentless urge to be successful is noticeable in

their great results, high-quality work and fantastic customer service. The
team conducts various tests so as to obtain the best results for your
personalized business.

Respect: the desire to witness people achieve good results and evolve on the
hierarchical ladder is an integral part of the companys principle of respect
for the individual.

Genuine Characters: the attitude to do what is right for customers is valid

proof that the company sticks to a high level of ethics and integrity and for
this reason, it takes great value in tackling issues honestly in the advantage
of the client.

Transparency and Honesty: the team is committed to delivering two-way

communication so that people can trust their recommendations regarding
business growth. There is always exchange of sensitive information when it
comes to internet marketing. As a result, Canal IP is well aware that this
entails a high level of trust in its services. For this reason the company
believes that all clients are entitled to receiving honest advice and respect
for confidential information.

Leadership and Ambition: Canal IPs expertise in internet marketing is not

driven only by knowledge in the field but also by the teams shared
ambition for success.

Amazing Customer Service: cooperating with Canal IP means dealing with

ambitious and talented people in a large corporation. Every client has his
own Web consultant who knows the clients account, thus all proposals and
suggestions are personalized. The companys main goal is to market the
clients business and provide effective solutions that are in line with the
business profile and with the clients expected results. Moreover, most
services offered by Canal IP are performance based. This means that if the
clients online business does not make money, neither will the internet
marketing company. Thus, the team has every reason to optimize your online
business and rank it higher on the search engines.

Social responsibility: Canal IPs social efforts represent a core part of its
philosophy and a portion of its profits is destined to social actions. The
companys social actions are organized into three areas:

1. Members of certain non profit organizations such as: UNHCR ACNUR (The UN
Refugee Agency), Fundacon Altarriba (Amigos de los animals), Intermn Oxfam
(confederation

that

fights

against

poverty),

Medicos

Sin

Fronteras,

PROTECTORAMATARO.ORG, Save the Children, Fundacon Vicente Ferrer.

2. High-involvement projects.
3.

Creation of www.canalong.com dedicated to NGOs.

2. Ethical code and values

Canal IPs philosophy is not solely established on providing clients with
professional services of the highest standards, but it is also established on a wellimplemented corporate genetic code, which includes a category of ethical values that
contribute to the development of this organization as a family. At Canal IP, people have

always made it a top priority to provide a service that complies with the rigorous quality
standards. As a result, over the years it has implemented a strict code of ethical demeanor in
order to ensure that the clients interests are always protected.
The following summary presents some of the most important aspects of their ethical
code:

Strict compliance with the law on protecting personal information

Development of an internal security policy and code of conduct

Verification of compliance with the previous points by external auditors

Clearly outlining the conditions of their services via contracts

Utmost transparency when providing services

Fulfillment of the strictest quality standards when offering services

Excellent customer service and customer privacy

As previously mentioned, Canal IP is a full-service Internet marketing and web design

agency that provides clients with remarkable and distinguished integrated web solutions for
their various businesses. By cooperating with some of the most enlightened minds and
gifted individuals in the industry, Canal IP manages to successfully fulfill all their duties
and provide fantastic results for its clients.
What makes Canal IP such an outstanding digital marketing company? The answer is
strongly related to the values that the employers and employees share. They are highly
dedicated to increasing their clients businesses and they are extremely confident in their
abilities. Some of their strongest values are presented below:

They incessantly enhance and aspire to success

They created a warm and family environment

They seek not only to satisfy their customers, but also to charm them with their
talents

They are passionate about their work and continue to enrich their knowledge

They always get their tasks finished in due time

They are open-minded and welcome changes

They put a lot of emphasis on teamwork

They build trust and always act with integrity.

They develop ongoing partnerships.

The values presented above reflect what is truly important to Canal IP as a professional
internet marketing organization. These values are fixed i.e., they do not vary from client
to client and represent the foundation of the companys culture.

3. Canal IP History and Background of a Catalan Internet Marketing company

How it all started
Canal IP is a Catalan Internet marketing company experienced in providing professional
Hispanic and European search marketing services since 1997. In 1994, Albert Mora worked
for a sports equipment company and held the position of Director of Marketing. He became

extremely passionate about the Internet and its advantages and decided that it may be a
good opportunity to place their business on the Internet. Thus, he started working with a
web designer so as to create a personalized website for their business. When the website
was finished, Mora posed a very intriguing question How do we get on the first page of
the search engines? and the web designer replied by no one knows exactly how. In order
for the business to be successful online, Mora started to read a lot of information about
search engines and how they analyze websites.
By 1997, Mora gained significant knowledge in search engine optimization, relevant
keywords, original content and other methods of creating a profitable online business. He
applied all his knowledge to creating a new website for his business and all his efforts led
to amazing results. The companys website came number 1 for every keyword related to
sports equipment in his area. Being enthralled by this domain, he quit his job and founded
his own company i.e. Canal IP.
The profile of his company was based on search engine optimization, search engine
marketing and later on with social media advertising due to the occurrence of social media
platforms. Knowledgeable in business administration and passionate about online
marketing as an effective way to gain more ROI, he set up one of the most proficient online
marketing company in the Spanish market. The experienced team of consultants is advising
business owners that if they want their business to be profit-making, they have to be found
on the web by prospects. Mora considers thaton the web we are one among others. This
means that search engines host hundreds of similar businesses and in order for your online
business to rank higher than others it needs a SEO facelift.
At present, Canal IP has offices in Barcelona, Madrid and Romania.
I.4. Companys structure
Canal IP is a 16-year old Catalan internet marketing company. In its early years, the
company provided internet marketing services only to a limited number of sectors. The
beneficial results of its services and the emerging popularity of online businesses have
made the company successful and widely acknowledged due to its original styles and
customized services that help owners skyrocket their businesses. Today, with over 50

employees, Canal IP is dedicated to offering personalized online marketing solutions to

business sectors in Spain and Romania.
Search engine optimization is not performed by just one person. A well-implemented SEO
campaign consists of various components and actions and requires the combined effort of
experts in order to achieve fantastic results in the search engines. When clients decide to
register for the services offered by Canal IP, they gain access to a specialized group of
talented, detail-oriented and passionate people who are integrating their efforts to build the
best internet marketing plan suited to the clients business goals.
I.4.1. SEO and SEM department
Their SEO department manages detailed and intensive research to thoroughly comprehend
how prospective clients are using the search engines to seek for goods and services
pertaining to a certain business sector. Such research is carefully assessed together with a
customized competition analysis that will contribute to the teams understanding of the
right marketing strategies that should be adopted so as to achieve the best results for every
type of business. The team of SEO specialists is devoted to establishing a tailored plan of
action for every client with the main purpose of seeing the clients websites generating
maximum business revenue. Canal IPs SEO and SEM department is led by a talented and
knowledgeable team of experts who have over ten years of experience in search engine
marketing and optimization and who are working to make sure that your investment in their
online marketing services are 100% profitable.

I.4.2. Web Design Department

Canal IPs Web design department has dealt with numerous web pages for clients in Spain
and Romania and the departments experience in designing unique websites is remarkable.
Clients who decide to register and benefit from the professional services provided by Canal
IP will assist to the development of authentic, personalized and user-friendly websites.
I.4.3. Link Building Department

Link Building is an online marketing strategy to generate more traffic to a website. Thus, a
number of inbound links found on a website pointing to another website will ensure more
traffic to the second website and will also obtain higher rankings in the search engines.
Specialists at Canal IP deal with link popularity, which represents an essential part of a
websites ranking in the search engines. Google and other search engines measure the
quality and the value of a website by analyzing the links from other websites.
Canal IP seized the countless advantages of link building techniques in the online
marketing age and founded a separate department of experts that handle link popularity as
an important part of the optimization process. The companys link building department is
dedicated to analyzing numerous trustworthy and qualitative websites with which to
exchange links. The department is highly qualified in getting valuable sites to partner with
so as to accurately optimize the clients website.
Canal IP has a large list of high quality directories in which clients websites can be
included, depending on the needs of each website. This online marketing company has its
own websites which are really well-considered by Google. Most search engines take into
consideration the links that point to a website in order to increase its relevance. Canal IP
owns a network of websites which has a huge presence on search engines because it
receives millions of visits a year. Moreover, due to this huge presence on search engines,
the effectiveness of the links posted on Canal IPs personal network is strongly reinforced.
As a result, the company promotes its clients by posting links on this network of websites
and in this way the clients online businesses are greatly enhanced.
Search engine positioning requires effective link building through well-adapted strategies
customized according to every website. Specialists at Canal IP are aware of the above
mentioned factor concerning web positioning and have developed numerous thematic pages
relevant to many fields of activity as a way to strengthen the value of the links pointing to
clients websites.
I.4.4. Copywriting Department
The copywriting department is a place where creativity bursts. If a clients website requires
a burst of inspiration to attract and persuade potential buyers, the copywriting department at

Canal IP develops authentic and good quality content that will increase the websites
relevance and its potential to rank higher in the search engines.
The manner of writing content for websites is not an easy task and the companys
copywriters take their daily duties very seriously. Their content must appeal to the audience
i.e prospects and before appealing to potential customers it must appeal to the search
engines. The websites content is of paramount importance and it must incorporate certain
specific elements that can be read by web crawlers.
Generally, people prefer searching for websites that are appealing to the eye. However, the
design of a website must also appeal to search engines, which view a sites content in a
different way as opposed to humans. One of the challenges of building an optimal content
for a website is to design web pages that are accessible not only to people but also to search
engines. For instance, web crawlers cannot recognize images or audio-video support. These
crawlers analyze the constituent elements of a website such as meta tags, meta descriptions,
URL headings and other text descriptions.
These experienced copywriters always create 100% authentic articles which are further
optimized using the latest SEO techniques and they also regularly refresh a sites content so
as to continue to be relevant for the clients business.

I.4.5. Social Media Department

The Social Media Department contributes to strengthening client relationships by means of
social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Nowadays, numerous online
businesses post on these social media platforms as a beneficial and authentic way to interact
with possible clients. The people that work in this department are trained writers and
technical experts who will monitor your business on such platforms. For each website, the
specialists follow a pre-established personalized social plan so as to expand the clients
database of prospects.
The advent of social media platforms represented a prosperous way for companies to
become even more noticed. In order to enhance their social media engagement, companies
realized that it is advantageous for their businesses to start implementing people to people

conversation and what other way to do that than on social platforms. Irrespective of the
companys size or industry such connections can increase its popularity and gain clients
trust.
Canal IP uses social media channels to promote clients brands because this represents a
highly effective method to significantly increase awareness of a particular organization. The
Social Media Department is devoted to highlighting the essential benefits for using social
media channels to its clients.
Albert Mora considers that the success of a business is greatly linked to social media and
the manner in which an organization uses such channels to its advantage. He further
explains that the world of social media is based on interaction and if the people in an
organization can communicate effectively in promoting their brand and ideas to a specific
target audience, then they can claim that success can be achieved through social media.
Canal IP does take social media seriously and recommends the use of social media channels
to its clients as an effective strategy to derive significant benefits:
increased awareness of organization, products, services and increased traffic to
website
implementation of specific marketing strategies and activities to attract target
customers
favorable comprehension of customer opinions about products and services and
feedback
opportunity to analyze customers commentaries
increase in ROI
monitor customer reviews
find out about customers needs etc.
I.4.6. The Statistics Department
Canal IPs skilled analysts are dedicated to keeping track of the evolution of the services
contracted from Canal IP. As opposed to other online marketing companies, Canal IP is
committed to facilitating two-way communication and building lasting relationships and in
order to do so it implemented a Control Panel for every client. This system is based on
100% up-to-date information and allows clients to check the sites progress. It is a platform
that gathers all the data on all the services contracted by a company.

Specialists at Canal IP understand that a clients time is precious and with this Control
Panel a client has the advantage of finding all the information on a single platform without
having to check different documents for each service provided by Canal IP. Clients have all
the data in a single place and can easily verify different periods or check the evolution of
websites. In case of possible incidents that may occur, the client is immediately notified.
Analysts compile monthly reports for every client in which they provide valuable
information such as visits, pages seen, visits by country, keywords used to find a website
and other fascinating figures that help clients track the progress of the actions performed on
the Internet and to keep the website 100% monitored.
It may seem unimportant but such data contributes tremendously to assessing the online
marketing advertising actions and is crucial when taking decisions on which advertising
strategies to pursue. Besides getting information linked to the evolution of a clients
website, the Control Panel also reveals popular trends and needs of target customers. This is
useful information that will help Canal IPs experts identify possible problems or reinforce
their online marketing strategy.
II.

HI SOCIAL - The Catalan Engagement Platform of e-couponing

II.1 The emergence of online promotions and coupons - marketing strategy to raise brand
awareness

In the current economic background, the

uptight competition for success and increased ROI among business owners is an
indisputable subject difficult to conceal. Nowadays, regardless of the business industry or
the size of an organization, it is vital for companies to use all their ideas and resources in
order to become market leaders in a particular sector and gain outstanding profits.

The development of new means of technology, the occurrence of online marketing

strategies and social media platforms together with the growing popularity of the Internet
led to a new trend in online consumerism, also known as online shopping. At the center of
this trend is the advent of the electronic coupons. The Internet is now widely perceived as
an interesting and profitable marketing tool that can contribute to a companys increase in
revenue and customers by means of promotions, advertisements, sweepstakes, contests and
giveaways.
In the past several years, couponing has become a fashionable practice among both women
and men. However, when business owners first went online, they mainly concentrated on
creating simple websites that were actually very complicated for an Internet user to follow
and also with a plain design and with no special offers. As a result, such websites did not
get much traffic.
With the launch of this couponing trend, things started to change and the world slowly
stepped into the era of online promotion platforms. Many business owners seized this
opportunity and began to invest in such technological platforms from which Internet users
and prospects can download all sorts of coupons. By using online promotion platforms,
businesses from various industries witnessed rapid growth in sales and site traffic.

At present, a considerable number of companies opt for

electronic coupons as a fundamental marketing strategy to increase their brand awareness
and to consolidate their presence on the web. Modern society craves for frugality and many

people are always on the lookout for better deals and promotions to help them save up some
money.
Several years ago, people used to clip coupons from newspapers, thus the habit of
purchasing goods using coupons is not that recent. Nowadays, technology is changing the
couponing world in different ways. The fundamental and enhanced technological version
was represented by the advent of online coupons because they could easily be downloaded
on smartphones or printed. It was undoubtedly a ground-breaking scheme mainly because it
ruled out the need to buy newspapers just for the sole purpose of getting those
advantageous coupons.
Since its occurrence, the habit of gathering coupons has remained unchanged and highly
important to provident people. Coupons have been created to help consumers benefit from
certain discounts and put some money aside. These online coupons became very popular,
mostly because they can be used as an effective method of advertising but also because the
number of prints is not limited.
The invention of smartphones also promoted the use of digital coupons due to countless
mobile apps. It seems that marketing rules and strategies have changed due to this modern
trend of using digital coupons. The increasing number of online businesses that have
chosen a platform to insert their digital coupons is gaining numerous users and significant
profits.
In 2011, Canal IP launched an online platform, where clients have the chance to create their
own promotions and coupons, reinforce their businesses and acquire increased visibility,
online presence and good-quality traffic.

II.2 The role of HiSocial in online marketing campaigns

In 2011, Canal IP launched a new service, entitled HiSocial that enables users to create and
publish online promotions and coupons. The Beta version of this service was well-received
by numerous business owners who grasped the opportunity of expanding their businesses
by spreading their brands not just all over the Web, but also on their web pages and on
social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.
HiSocial rapidly became an outstanding and effective marketing tool to create and promote
online promotions as a core part of campaigns launched on the Internet. A profitable and
well-organized online marketing campaign entails doing some research on the targeted
audience. However, knowing your target customers is undoubtedly not enough. Even if the
campaign is quite innovative, a business owner needs to implement it on the most popular
and successful online social networks and make it viral.
At present, HiSocial is a useful marketing tool that allows users to create promotions using
coupons and to implement viral campaigns following the simple steps of a fast creation
process. These promotions become viral because they are published not only on the website
pertaining to the business owner but also on the popular social networks included in the
HiSocial portfolio.
For a business owner, Canal IPs engagement platform is an effective marketing strategy to
place online promotions and create special offers with the purpose of increasing sales and
clients agenda. This online platform is an amazing resource that contributes to promoting a
companys products and services to website visitors and to social networking sites. Every
entrepreneur who wants to run a successful business is well aware of the value of
promotion. For this reason, HiSocial was developed as a resourceful online marketing

assistant that facilitates the distribution of campaigns and promotions in the right places on
the Internet.

II.3 HiSocial the concept of social engagement platform and client objectives
HiSocial is actually an online technological platform, also known under the slogan of The
Social Engagement Platform designated to generate online promotions in Spanish, English
and Romanian. Canal IPs social engagement platform has become to be widely
acknowledged by business entrepreneurs as a rewarding and profitable online marketing
instrument that facilitates the implementation of effective marketing, particularly on the
favourite social networks.
This online marketing assistant is a relevant example of web usability. The information on
HiSocial is presented in a clear and concise manner, thus clients who want to register and
submit their promotions and special offers dont require technical or programming
competences. Promotions can be easily and rapidly created and will immediately be
displayed on the Internet.
According to Canal IP, there are countless reasons for creating online promotions. HiSocial
assists clients who run online businesses to achieve the best results and increase the
visibility of their brand by:

Acquiring a database of users that participated in the promotion

Significant diffusion of information about the brand on social networks turning it

into a viral promotion

expanding the number of fans and followers on social networks, which conveys
into increased online presence

generating more traffic to websites

advertise newly launched services and products

promoting on various diffusion channels such as on social networks (Facebook,

Twitter), on the clients personal website and on HiSocials promotions platform

satisfying clients and convincing them to become loyal buyers

setting up an outstanding online reputation

increasing product sales and brand image.

II.4 The variety of HiSocial promotions and publishing methods

The HiSocial platform is relentlessly developing and expanding and integrating various and
innovative types of promotions. These promotions can be unquestionably described as
flexible and viral. These are the most famous and fantastic types of promotions that can be
created by any business entrepreneur who desires to increase the online visibility of his
brands:

Printable coupons for physical stores: a wide array of deals (special discounts,
seasonal offers, 2x1 offers)

E-coupons: designed for online stores

Downloadable gifts and freebies: clients can download various materials such as
screensavers, songs, videos, images etc

Contests: organize all sorts of online competitions with prizes and gifts for winners

Sweepstakes: HiSocial manages online sweepstakes and the winner is chosen by the
promoter

In order to participate and access the promotions, users have to select a method of access.
These methods of accessing the promotions are set up by promoter or online business
owners. There are four ways in which users can benefit from such promotions:

Pay with a tweet: to improve the promoters Twitter account

Pay with a like: to improve the promoters Facebook account

Pay with an email: this way the promoter extends his list of leads for future
email marketing campaigns

Pay with your info: promoters get more information from users such as
telephone, city, name etc.

The process of publishing promotions is quite simple and fast. Due to the fact that HiSocial is a
cross platform, promoters are allowed to publish their promotions on their website, on HiSocial
and on the social networks included in the HiSocial portfolio. Every promoter is able to see his
personal promotions but he is not allowed to see those created by other promoters.

HiSocials methods for clients to publish their promotions are the following:

on the promoters Facebook account: HiSocial creates a so-called landing page,

which grants access to promoters to use their Facebook account to spread news
about their promotions

on the promoters Twitter account: the same method which was previously
explained

on the promoters website: A link is created between HiSocial and the promoters
website so that users and prospects do not need to move from the promoters
website and open a new window with HiSocial

in other places chosen by promoters: the HiSocial platform facilitates the promoter
to show its promotions and special offers on all sorts of websites.

One of the most fundamental characteristics of HiSocial is linked to its virality. As

previously explained, this online platform is a wonderful and efficient marketing tool to
create promotions. These promotions are further distributed over the Internet mainly
because HiSocial is a social engagement platform that distributes them on various channels
and also on the clients website. Another interesting aspect is related to custom design.
Custom design in HiSocial means that the promoter can select the design of his promotions
just by accessing the CSS file.
In just two years, Canal IPs outstanding online promotion platform succeeded in attracting
various business owners from a wide range of industries. Irrespective of the business
profile, HiSocial managed to increase brand awareness for numerous promoters belonging
to multiple countries. The use of HiSocial for creating all sorts of coupons and offers
proved to be a valuable internet marketing method not only to arouse the interest and
attention of thousands of fans, followers and leads, but also to generate more traffic,
increase sales and brand image.