Aug 12
Despite the economic roller coaster we’ve all been riding, marketers remain steadfast in their strategy. According to a recent study by Forbes Insights, in association with MarketShare Partners, on the topic of measurement and accountability, companies are not cutting back on marketing despite the recent economic roller coaster. Three quarters of marketing executives who responded to the survey noted that they expected their marketing budgets to stay the same or increase in their 2010-2011 fiscal year, with fully one-third expecting an increase.
One of the areas marketers associated with the most important marketing strategy is measurement. While marketers are not slashing budgets, they do need to provide accountability for their results, and therefore, measurement is more important than ever before. 40% of respondents said one of the biggest drivers for developing marketing measurement and accountability programs was to justify spend to senior executives. 65% wanted to make marketing more strategic within their organization.
Earlier this year, Datran Media conducted its own marketing survey and discovered that marketers and advertising agencies intend to aggressively deploy online measurement tools in order to obtain actionable business intelligence from their marketing campaigns. This trend will accelerate the budget allocation shift into measurable digital channels going forward.
For the majority of marketers surveyed, clicks (72 percent), conversions (59.2 percent) and impressions (58.4 percent) remain the top three metrics that matter. These data points are indicative of a campaign’s overall success, and the survey findings demonstrate that marketers are now fully focused on quantifying their return on investment. 87.2 percent of respondents said that they believed accurate online audience measurement was important for driving increased brand awareness, increased revenue and better campaign performance.
So what does this all mean, and how should marketers use it to their advantage? Is a click measured in email the same as a click measured in a display campaign? How we as an industry understand this data — how we access it, incorporate it, and implement data insights into actionable intelligence — has been a significant stumbling block for interactive. Marketers need to begin incorporating campaign results from all channels and developing a measurement that assesses the value of a marketing message as a whole. This methodology lays the foundation for the next generation of interactive audience measurement and helps you understand how engagement in the email channel, for instance, ties back to a search or social media campaign. When you use data from a variety of sources like search, email, and direct mail, you can more accurately measure audiences and put an actionable plan together for your next outreach.
Jul 30
Upon browsing my inbox yesterday afternoon my eyes were hypnotically drawn to an email message with a subject line calling out “free ice-cream!” Sold. I quickly opened the message, printed the coupon; which was buy one get one free, and headed straight to the store to redeem my frosty treats. Yes, I ate both if you have to know. Hot summer days often leave me feeling gluttonous and craving sugar.
The point of the story here is not that I have to rethink my diet, but that receiving messages like this is what I love about email. And I’m not alone. According to a CrossView survey among US shoppers in various states, there is a significant consumer preference for receiving promotions via email as opposed to other methods of delivery.
Why email? Maybe it’s the ease of receiving and redeeming a promotion; it comes directly to you, often personalized, without you having to search and scour for discounts like my Mom used to do in the old Sunday circular. It’s also a deal you likely want based on emails you’ve signed up for in the past. So until I am ready to register to receive news and promotions from health food stores, I expect to see discounts for ice cream because it is what I want.
Furthermore, the study reveals 35% of consumers said they were specifically shopping due to receiving a promotion from a retailer. That makes perfect sense. Ice cream was not originally on my menu for the day until I saw the coupon.
So this news is really a win-win for consumers and marketers.
Jul 27
For the first time since the recession reared its ugly head, marketers are once again making new customer acquisition a top priority. According to the “2010 Lead Generation Optimization Key Trends Analysis” from CSO Insights and reported in eMarketer, more than 91% of companies worldwide reported increasing new customer acquisition was one of their top strategic marketing objectives for 2010. And of all the marketing channels used to generate a steady quantity and quality of leads, companies said email was their best lead generation program.
As marketers rev up their new acquisition programs, it’s important to think about the customer as more than just a number in a database. Customers are savvy and are clearly in control more than ever before. So to truly be able to penetrate a new audience, you must treat them like you would a close friend.
Every great relationship, be it with a friend, co-working or customer, is dependent on good communications and a continuous fair value exchange. Without that, someone always feels left out, abused and taken advantage of. If you don’t understand how to listen and value your friends and relationships you’ll have limited success in your personal and business endeavors. How often do you hear of people or groups of people being referred to as Readers, Customers or Consumers? Those names are a bit impersonal, but not as bad as Aggregators, Data, Leads or Screamers. How a company refers to its prospects and customers tells you lot about how those people are treated and valued. How do you like it when “that friend” (and you all have one) call you or stops by only when they want something but are never interested in returning the favor or bringing some sort of value to the table…beyond what you’d expect from an acquaintance.
We’re all somewhat dependent on each other and while developing a competitive advantage is important in business, it’s much more important to building trusting, efficient, scalable and sustainable relationships. If we pick a few important common goals, we’ll be much more aligned with our partners and that’s one of the most important competitive advantages you can have.
Remember, if you put the customer’s needs and wants first, you will generate not just a lead, but a loyal customer.
Jul 08
According to new research by comSore, more than 123 million Americans visited newspaper sites in May, representing 57% of the total U.S. Internet audience, as the New York Times Brand led the category with more than 32 million visitors and 719 million pages viewed during the month. The average visitor viewed 22 pages of content on the New York Times. Tribune Newspapers ranked second in terms of audience with 24.8 million visitors, followed by Advance Internet and USA Today Sites.
This is great news for all print publishers that are concerned about dwindling circulation and readership. News and content is still a priority for consumers, but new technology is simply changing the way readers consume information. Publishers who understand how to use the Web to their advantage will reap the rewards. A couple of weeks ago we reported that online has not been as hard hit as print. According to the annual global entertainment and media outlook from PricewaterhouseCoopers, U.S. consumer magazines will continue to earn increasing digital ad revenue over the next few years, but not enough to erase their troubles selling print advertising. U.S. consumer magazines’ digital ad revenue never declined in the recession – just grew at a far slower rate: 1.6% last year compared with 114.5% in 2008. Their digital ad revenue will grow 8.5% in 2010 and post double-digit percentage increases after that, according to the outlook. U.S. consumer magazines can expect digital ad revenue of $1.6 billion in 2014, up from $902 million in 2009 and $414 million in 2007.
What’s more, according to the study, digital readers are more likely to be engaged with advertising. The report says that comScore research conducted last year for the Online Publishers Association showed that visitors who are exposed to display ads on news sites are more likely than average to visit the advertiser website, are heavier online buyers and tend to have higher household income.
Jul 07
In what is sure to be a ground-breaking research study across the marketing and advertising industry, new data reveals consumers’ attitudes toward behavioral targeting are more complex than indictaed in previous research.
Many studies and pundits have pointed to consumers’ complete disdain for targeted ads due in part to privacy concerns. However this research was based on straight-forward questions that did not put the actual situation in context to real-world scenarios. If someone simply asked me if I would be willing to make an extra $20,000 a year, my answer would be a resounding yes. However, if the question was followed by the fact that in order to do so, I would have to work nights and weekends, my answer would probably change. This type of questioning has provided false views on consumers attitudes towards advertising.
Adhering to a more realistic and accurate methodology, PreferenceCentral, a consumer ad preference management solution, has discovered that Internet users are more likely to prefer targeted online ads when they are asked to make real-world, value-for-value trade-offs, such as free access to Internet content. The study also shows that attitudes and preferences significantly shift when consumers are provided with education about behavioral targeting or when they can control targeted ad exposure.
70% OF INTERNET USERS ARE INTERESTED IN USING A CONSUMER CONTROL SOLUTION, 33% STATING THAT THEY ARE VERY OR EXTREMELY INTERESTED
Certain factors do play a material role in consumers’ comfort level with online advertising. When educated about behavioral targeting, 29 percent of respondents became less comfortable with the trade-off of free content for targeted ads. However, when subsequently informed that behavioral targeting information is anonymous, non-personally identifiable, 35 percent of these Internet users became more comfortable, indicating a need for consumer education on this topic. The high-level results are very interesting and can be found on the PreferenceCentral Web site.
It is smart research like this that is going to help our industry grow and thrive. Together, we need to educate consumers and continue to listen to what they have to say.
Jun 30
Last week, both Amazon and Barnes and Noble announced plans to slash the price of their e-readers in response to the threat posed by Apple’s iPad. Apple fans like me are hoping to see similar price cuts for their iPad, but we are not holding our breaths.
The e-reader war is clearly underway and this is great news for consumers and publishers alike. The more people using the device, the more content is going to be produced and consumed, because it is a cheaper, faster way to digest the written word than ever before. And for publishers clearly struggling, this is good news.
While traditional print publications have been hurt by the recession, online has not been as hard hit. According to the annual global entertainment and media outlook from PricewaterhouseCoopers, U.S. consumer magazines will continue to earn increasing digital ad revenue over the next few years, but not enough to erase their troubles selling print advertising. U.S. consumer magazines’ digital ad revenue never declined in the recession – just grew at a far slower rate: 1.6% last year compared with 114.5% in 2008. Their digital ad revenue will grow 8.5% in 2010 and post double-digit percentage increases after that, according to the outlook. U.S. consumer magazines can expect digital ad revenue of $1.6 billion in 2014, up from $902 million in 2009 and $414 million in 2007.
This research, coupled with the increase of e-readers in the market, should have publishers planning digital versions of their publications for these devices.
The biggest hurdle to the rapid adoption of the e-reader is nostalgia. According to a stat reported at DPAC last week by The Harrison Group, nearly 70 percent of respondents in the top two spending brackets said “they just prefer holding print editions of books, magazines and newspapers.” This is certainly an understandable argument. But how soon before these numbers change dramatically? Just ten years ago if you asked consumers if they would prefer digital music versus physical albums, I bet no one would be willing to forgo that incredible feeling you get when you tear open up a new album from your favorite band. Yet, today, digital music is clearly on the way to outpacing physical album sales.
It’s time to face the fact; companies like Barnes & Noble, Amazon and Apple are the newsstands of the 21st century. This is where the next generation of readers will look to consume their content.
Jun 23
When social media first burst on the scene, many experts predicted the death of email. They were wrong. In fact, if anything, social media actually helped increase the use of email, as detailed in a study by Nielsen last year. Marketers steadily began integrating the two channels, as they complement each other perfectly.
According to a new report from AWeber provided to eMarketer, many small businesses have plans to increase the integration of social and email. More than three-quarters consider integration of email and social at least somewhat important. A majority plan to allow users to sign up for e-mails directly from social media sites like Facebook. This tactic allows email marketers to grow their lists—cited as the top benefit of integrating social and email by one-third of respondents—by allowing consumers to use their channel of choice and sign up on their own terms.
All of the tactics mentioned in the report are valid, and sophisticated email marketers have been testing them in an effort to a) build their email lists and b) syndicate email content throughout social networks. Both are worthy goals. None of these tactics, however, will do a marketer any good, unless they: 1) have a sound strategy which is tightly aligned with their business objectives, and 2) are producing extraordinary content worthy of being shared. ie: Slapping on a “share this button” is not a viable social media strategy.
Jun 21
If you’re looking to reach consumers that are ready and willing to do business, set your sights on the affluent market. According to research firm eMarketer, affluents are expected to drive online spending this year. The reason behind the growth is said to be that affluents are recovering from economic problems more quickly than the general population. In fact, much of the recent growth in online sales during Q1 2010 is attributed to this market, according to comScore.
That’s certainly great news for marketers, but without understanding how and where to reach affluents, it really won’t mean much in the long term. Marketers must leverage verified demographic data to engage the right audiences. Simply spending media dollars in hopes that your message will find this affluent market is not a sound strategy. This is just another great opportunity for me to drive home the importance of targeting and measurement. Want to find affluents right now? Check out our neat little targeting tool.
Jun 16
Apple fans were in awe when Steve Jobs introduced the iPad earlier this year. I must admit, I surrendered to the Apple hype machine and made it a priority to purchase by the end of the year. (FYI, I have not made the purchase just yet, so anyone looking to buy me a gift, I’d gladly accept.) Do I need it? No. But, it’s just so dang cool. The biggest game changer is not the mobility or the book reader – I love my books and I am not about to use my bookshelf for knickknacks and chochkies – it’s the new way I can consume newspapers and magazines on it.
Consumers shouldn’t be the only ones excited. Digital publishers that have struggled with ways to monetize their media should find plenty of opportunities from the iPad. Just think about the kinds of interaction they can offer advertisers; interactive ads that jump off the screen versus static pages readers would normally flip through. That is enough to help give a boost to digital ad rates don’t you think? So it was not really surprising when a recent study came out hyping the effectiveness of ads viewed on the iPad.
According to the recent study of rich media ads from textPlus, pointRoll and AdMarvel, in the first four weeks of the iPad’s release, ad interaction times were 30 seconds, ad interaction rates range from .9 to 1/5% (6X higher than desktop ads) and 67% of users who viewed the ads’ video component watch all the way though as compared to 53% for the desktop. Not too shabby. Of course it is still too early to see the effect the iPad will have, but there is no question digital publishers need to incorporate iPad versions of their publications to stay relevant.
Jun 15
Wow that title is a bit of a tongue twister. Any who, according to a new study by Econsultancy and analytics firm Lynchpin, marketers still face many challenges in using Web analytics and measurement effectively, but some are taking steps to address those problems and move toward more coherent and integrated measurement strategies.
Naturally, lack of budget was cited as one of the biggest barriers to effective measurement, although budgets are beginning to ease. About 40% of companies said they were planning to increase budgets in the next year for internal staff and technology to improve their use of analytics, and almost one-half are planning to increase the number of internal employees working in the area. After budget, lack of coordination, strategy, and overall understanding of online measurement were cited as barriers in the study. This comes as no surprise. A couple of months ago, Datran Media’s 4th annual marketing and media survey revealed there was a great deal of improvement needed in the area of online audience measurement.
According to our study, while marketers continue to embrace digital channels to reach a targeted audience (84.2 percent), generate quality leads (73.6 percent), and retain existing customers (56.8 percent), there is a significant gap between the percentage of marketers that claim that they engage in online audience measurement and those that claim to take action on what they measure. With all the rich data offered by digital campaigns, you’d think marketers would figure out how to use metrics to their advantage.
So what gives? Accuracy topped the list of marketers’ biggest challenges around measurement. The lack of ability to take action on data and lack of standards are also key barriers. This is hardly a surprise. Looking back to a few recent brand measurement studies, better, common, and more meaningful metrics for online audience measurement are in high demand. The industry first needs to understand what audience measurement actually means. Simply stated, audience measurement is the process of monitoring consumer behavior across all touchpoints, throughout their daily routines, across the web. As campaigns are executed across diverse multi-channel platforms, piecing the measurement story together is imperative. On the other side, digital media measurement — the process of tracking media placement to conversion and establishing an ROI — is a closed-loop process and just one piece of the overall measurement plan.
Marketers agree they need to increase their investment around audience measurement. They just need to know how to use it to their advantage.
