INSIGHT blogArchive: June 2007

Archive for June, 2007

Ad-Tech Conference 2007, Miami

28
June
2007

The Ad-Tech conference held earlier this week in Miami, gave an enlightening perspective on the direction of interactive marketing in the United States and abroad in South America.

Author: Dinos Papanastasiou

Research Analyst

The Ad-Tech conference held earlier this week in Miami, gave an enlightening perspective on the direction of interactive marketing in the United States and abroad in South America. The focus of Ad-Tech was on the growing online Hispanic audience, which is expected to reach 20 million users by the year 2010 in the United States alone according to eMarketer.

The most interesting aspect of Ad-Tech was the focus on emerging media, specifically, mobile marketing. The statistics regarding mobile media usage and the abundance of mobile users are stunning, with cell phones currently outnumbering personal computers 3 to 1 in the US, with an even larger gap in South America and Europe. With a greater community focus in areas like South America, it is likely that the world of mobile advertising will be shockingly viral, as users connect with each other most often via text and mobile messaging.

In some areas of South America the use of mobile internet browsing has already eclipsed traditional browsing, and with over 180 million cellular subscribers in 2004 (Cnet), the market for mobile advertising is already here. As soon as cellular carriers open up their doors to mobile advertising, they along with marketers will find an abundance of new revenue from mobile advertising.

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Is There A Method To The VIRAL Madness?

26
June
2007

Viral marketing has long been considered to be a serendipitous affair of awareness through traditional approaches such as refer-a-friend programs and clever gimmicks. One viral marketing firm is pioneering a new platform that offers measurable results.

George Assimakopoulos
Principal Manager

I recently was introduced to a scientific viral marketing company based in San Fransisco, CA. PopularMedia allows clients to create measure and fine-tune viral efforts with an extensive set of publishing and analytic tools. What I really embraced from PopularMedia was their philosophy to successful viral marketing. As they state, viral marketing offers attractive benefits to any marketer. It allows a marketer the ability to generate leads, drive revenue, build brand awareness, and more. Marketers who harness the channel can leverage networks of socially connected consumers to spread their messages and offers, driving significant returns with relatively low costs and effort.

I agree with PopularMedia’s points on the benefits of viral tactics online. Even though tactics like funny videos and refer-a-friend (RAF) programs are common, they are not sufficient to deliver on viral marketing’s full potential. It is now possible to create successful, profitable viral programs that deliver long-term revenue, leads, and more. The best approaches offer predictable, measurable results and enable marketers to sustain program performance over the long term. Achieving this kind of success doesn’t depend on luck, a huge budget, or a great creative idea — just a good understanding of the viral marketing process.

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Having Trouble with Google AdWords Conversion Tracking?

19
June
2007

Recently we have been experiencing anomalies in our conversion tracking data across some of our Google AdWords accounts leaving us in need of a solution, and the recommended one from Google is their own product, Google Analytics.

Keith Vera
Account Manager

You might be surprised to learn how easy the answer can be. Recently we have been experiencing anomalies in our conversion tracking data across some of our Google AdWords accounts. While Google has admitted that there is a current conversion reporting problem, I have yet to hear a legitimate reason as to why these errors are occurring. Of course, this leaves us in need of a solution to report those ever-important conversions, and the recommended one from Google is their own product, Google Analytics.

Now I know some of you might be skeptical about the usefulness of this free solution. However, for those who cannot afford a more-robust analytics product, we have found that the recently updated Google Analytics is a good answer to our conversion reporting problems. Once linked to your AdWords account it can provide more significant insight into your web traffic then AdWords conversion tracking. Unlike AdWords conversion tracking code, the Google Analytics pixel is simply one piece of JavaScript code you put on landing pages and every page you want to track. Of course to gain the best insight into traffic patters, you will need to install the Analytics pixel on every page in your site rather than just your conversion points.

You can find out more information about Google Analytics at the Help Center, set up Google Analytics through your AdWords account under the Analytics tab, or directly at the Google Analytics site.

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From Ying to Yang

19
June
2007

Will the change in leadership provide Yahoo with a new sense of self and purpose, and eliminate its present quandary, or is this alteration of leadership simply a lateral change of hats with no promising results?

Author: Dinos Papanastasiou

Research Analyst

Yahoo, presently undergoing some unfortunate financial problems, is making a leadership change in an attempt to regain and spread its sphere of influence throughout the search space. The recent alteration in management, from Terry Semel to Jerry Yang, marks a cyclical change in leadership as Jerry Yang was co-founder of Yahoo back in 1995. According to investors, this switch of executive management will mark a promising leadership and financial change for Yahoo. However, will the change in leadership provide Yahoo with a new sense of self and purpose, and eliminate its present quandary, or is this alteration simply a lateral change of hats with no promising results?

If Yahoo is able to get its bearing back in search and revive its position with the once promising ad-platform Panama, they may provide a higher level of competition for Google allowing search engine and interactive marketers alike to utilize Yahoo as a dominant, instead of dwindling source of advertising. In order for this to become reality, Yahoo will need to completely restore its performance from the bottom up, a lofty goal which Yang hopes to achieve.

Time will tell whether this adjustment from Semel to Yang is simply a hollow presentation, or if it will result in concrete proactive changes. Considering that Yang was on the Yahoo board beforehand, this switch appears to be foreboding for Yahoo. Whatever the case, if Yang is unable to situate Yahoo, the company may find its future in the hands of a larger company like Microsoft.

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