INSIGHT blogArchive: September 2008

Archive for September, 2008

E-mail Marketing Tips

29
September
2008

As e-mail marketing becomes an increasingly popular channel to target consumers, marketers should follow certain best practices.

Ryan Moss
Media Coordinator

According to a survey done by the Direct Marketing Association in 2008, 79.1% of marketers surveyed use e-mail as a marketing tactic. As this survey shows e-mail is a popular strategy among marketers. In order to have a successful e-mail marketing program there are several best practices that every marketer needs to know. Earlier this month I attended an e-mail marketing best practices conference, below are some important tips that were discussed.

  • In order to be can-spam compliant, make sure every e-mail has an opt-out/unsubscribe link and lists your company’s address listed.
  • When reviewing your analytics remember that there is no standard industry benchmark and it is better to compare results internally and develop realistic goals
  • Use alt tags with every image, in case the recipient doesn’t view the image
  • An e-mail is only classified as "opened" if images are viewed or a link is clicked

To have a successful e-mail marketing program, it is important to stay up to date on best practices, industry recommendations and the can-spam law. Below are a couple resources that can help your program.

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The Growth of Online Video Advertisements

24
September
2008

While banner ads are dying, video ads are growing.

Stefanie Berliant
Media Coordinator

Currently, studies are proving that online display ads are ineffective while other forms of online advertisements, such as video ads, are showing great promise. Most online users watch short-form videos, such as news clips, but as the growth of online long-form videos (TV episodes, Web-only shows, full-length movies, etc.) continues, it will create a vacuum for ad inventory space. The growth of online video advertising depends on the audience, the inventory and the content. There needs to be enough people to watch the ads, enough space to encourage marketers to buy the ads, and trusted, professional-quality video content.

According to MarketingSherpa, video ads, which receive a 49.5% response rate, are highly efficient and require minimal effort. Video ads allow advertisers to deliver more information about a product or service to a targeted audience, thus easing the conversion funnel from ignorance to purchase.

A report from eMarketer shows that in 2008, 66.8% of all Internet users have viewed some form of video advertising (in-stream, in-banner or in-text) at least once a month. They predict that this percentage will increase to 80.6% in 2012. eMarketer also projects that the number of people who view an online video ad will be 183.3 million in 2013, a large rise from the 129.5 million in 2008.  The US online video ad spend in 2008 is $505 million and is expected to be $1,150 billion in 2013.  eMarketer also estimates that while only 2% of total Internet ad spend will go to video in 2008, that share will be nearly 9.8% by the end of 2013.

According to a Bain and Company study, video ads generate more revenues. They found that while video CPM rates are approximately $43, or about three times higher than the $15 average CPM for display ads, companies can experience a 1.39% to 5.83% increase in direct sales for video ads than display ads. A recent study from The Diffusion Group estimates CPM rates will rise gradually through 2013.

DoubleClick conducted research that found that large sized, in-page video ads got a higher click through rate (.12%) versus non-video ads (.09%).  Also, large sized, in-page video units got higher interaction rate (2.45%) than the non-video ads (1.30%).  Additionally, expanding video units received higher expansion rates and times (2.18% and 9.37 seconds) than the non-video ads (1.85% and 6.63 seconds). Furthermore, in-page video ads had the highest video complete rate at 55%.

If publishers and ad networks want to capitalize on the profit that can be made form online video advertising, they need to offer more video content which can support more video ad inventory.

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Hard Times for Online Display Ads

23
September
2008

Display ads have fallen on hard times. The graphic ads that border a Web page are among the slowest-growing formats in the online-ad marketplace, and they are seen by many marketers as stodgy and ineffective.

George Assimakopoulos
Principal Manager

By the time consumers search for a product or service, they’ve often already made up their minds to buy it. Display ads are often an important factor in their reaching that conclusion. However, part of the reason display has fallen out of favor is that it’s been hard to prove that the ads work. Skeptics point to low click-through rates – a fraction of a percent (at best) – and scientists have coined the term "banner blindness" to refer to the way Web surfers ignore display ads.

According to Emily Steel of The Wall Street Journal, Nielsen Online reported in mid-September a 6% year-over-year decrease in display advertising during the first half of 2008, including a 27% decline in spending by financial-services companies. Meanwhile, spending on so-called rich-media ads increased 60% overall in the first half of the year, and overall online ad spending – including search-ad dollars – increased 11% during the first half of the year, Nielsen says.

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Facebook Expands Scope of their Buzzworthy Tool, Lexicon

22
September
2008

Facebook releases its new version of Lexicon, which will now track personal, recreational and political sentiments.

Christine Pepin
Media Coordinator

With Facebook’s release of its updated version of Lexicon, users are now able to gauge more than just the popularity of certain words and topics.  Since its release in April, this tool has only allowed users to view how many times a word or phrase appears on profiles, walls or event groups.  The updated Lexicon will now feature the following:

  • Trends between users from different genders and ages
  • Maps displaying where topics are being discussed within the US, Great Britain and Canada
  • Word and phrase associations to other topics over a period of time
  • Total unique users mentioning a topic and posting about it
  • Comparison of topics based on emotional appeal and overall user sentiment of a particular topic
  • List of keywords mentioned most often in profiles

Today, users can view these features in a sample format with only 17 terms including: Obama, McCain, soccer, football, baseball, dancing, basketball, politics, hip hop, techno, hockey, jazz, volleyball, republicans, democrats, Palin and Bidden.  Although the interface may change when Facebook creates the platform for individualized searches, this new version appears user-friendly with a variety of charts and graphs. 

The sample version of Lexicon focuses heavily on political words and topics, providing campaigners with additional marketing insight to the younger demographic segment that Facebook serves.  This information may be extremely valuable in the final months of the campaign and for each political party’s positioning strategies.  Users can now stay more in tuned with what their peers are discussing and fulfill their curiosity of other’s political and recreational sentiments.  

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MoMA selects EyeTraffic Media as their strategic advisor for interactive marketing planning and program management

19
September
2008

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City has selected EyeTraffic Media to assist them with strategic planning, testing, and managing long term interactive marketing programs that will generate awareness for the museum events, exhibits, and educational programs.
‘We are thrilled to have this opportunity to support MoMA’ says Principal Manager George Assimakopoulos.  ‘During [...]

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City has selected EyeTraffic Media to assist them with strategic planning, testing, and managing long term interactive marketing programs that will generate awareness for the museum events, exhibits, and educational programs.

‘We are thrilled to have this opportunity to support MoMA’ says Principal Manager George Assimakopoulos.  ‘During the the next several months, we will introduce MoMA to various digital media tactics that will engage audiences everywhere to learn more about the museum – and the spectacular exhibits it hosts.’

In addition to serving as the interactive marketing strategic advisor to MoMA, EyeTraffic Media will also work closely with the museum’s retail store www.MoMAStore.org to optimize a paid search engine marketing program that will yield higher conversions to sales at a lower cost per acquisition.

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Virginia Supreme Court Overturns Anti-Spam Law

12
September
2008

The Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the state’s “anti-spam” law violates the First Amendment and therefore is invalid.

Ryan Moss
Media Coordinator

The Virginia Supreme Court announced today that Virginia’s "anti-spam" law is unconstitutional and violates the First Amendment. The court ruled that the law restricts the right of anonymous speech which is guaranteed by the First Amendment. Just six months ago the court had supported the law, but this time ruled otherwise. This reversal was brought about by the criminal prosecution of Jeremy Jaynes, who is considered to be one of the world’s most prolific spammers.

The anti-spam law states that it is a misdemeanor offense "to send unsolicited bulk e-mail by using false transmission information, such as phony domain name or Internet protocol address." If over 10,000 are sent the SPAM within a 24 hour period, the crime becomes a felony.

The Virginia Supreme Court considered the law too broad in its wording and said that it did not take into account the right of free speech. In its’ ruling, the court stated "that [the] statute is unconstitutionally over broad on its face… because it prohibits the anonymous transmission of all unsolicited bulk e-mails including those containing political, religious or other speech protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution." Since the law does not restrict what it classifies as spam to commercial or fraudulent e-mail or to unprotected speech such as pornography or defamation, the court declared it unconstitutional. The state requested that the court amend the law in its opinion, which the court decided not to do.

It will be interesting to see what kind of effect this ruling will have. Will this mean more spam? Will anti-spam laws in other states be questioned?

 

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Are US Consumers Ready for Mobile Marketing?

11
September
2008

How to get consumers to respond to mobile phone advertising and offers.

Stefanie Berliant
Media Coordinator

The technological advances of online marketing have expanded to mobile marketing with the aid of Bluetooth, mobile websites, and devices such as the Blackberry and iPhone. However, are the people who use these mobile tools ready for online marketing tactics on their mobile phones?

Mobile marketing can range from text messages, to coupons, to web offers on mobile sites.  As this emerging technology becomes mainstream, it is important for advertisers to market their products, offerings or services in the most efficient manner possible.  Companies ensure their ad provides value to recipients, which can be done through demographically, geographically and behaviorally targeted ads.  Of the types of mobile marketing forms, studies have varied as to what consumers will respond to best. 

According to the September 2008 study by ABI Research, people will respond to mobile marketing ads if incentives are offered.  Of the people who have received mobile advertisements, 37% indicated they are more likely to respond if incentives like coupons or discounts were presented. Only 11% said that these incentives would not have any impact.  Additionally, over 60% of those who were either neutral or open to potential mobile ads selected a discount coupon as the incentive they would most likely respond to.

However, a survey conducted by the Direct Marketing Association in March and April 2008 showed that of those who respond to mobile offers, 70% prefer text messages for products and services, while 18% would prefer coupons. Additionally, Harris Interactive conducted a study in February 2008 and found nearly 31% of all teen and adult Internet users in the US prefer to get coupons for products and services, as seen in the charts below.

As the results of these several studies show, there is no best mobile marketing tactic to which audiences will respond to the most. The best way to know how your audience will react to this new media program is to target and test different forms of your ads, then trend & compare results. Only then will you be able to choose which mobile marketing campaign to launch that will deliver the best results.

US Mobile Phone Users Who Have Responded to Mobile Phone Offers

Types of Mobile Phone Advertising

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PPC Battlegrounds: McCain vs. Obama

1
September
2008

Sen. Barack Obama appears to be running a far more tech-wise campaign than his opponent. But Sen. John McCain is in some ways outsmarting Sen. Obama when it comes to Internet marketing.

George Assimakopoulos
Principal Manager

On Wednesday, Aug. 20th Sen. Barack Obama selected Gov. Joe Biden as his running mate for ther presidential campaign.  Moments after this announcement was made, a Google search for "Joe Biden" or even just "Biden" resulted in a prominently displayed ad labeled "Joe Biden on Obama" that links to Sen. McCain’s site. There, a video begins playing that shows Sen. Biden criticizing Sen. Obama during the Democratic primaries. Just recently, Obama’s camp made the necessary steps to counter McCain’s paid search marketing strategy.

The Wall Street Journal recently examined this marketing strategy, and stated that Sen. McCain’s team has been aggressively buying search ads tied to key terms such as "U.S. economy" and "housing crisis," which take visitors to Web sites outlining Sen. McCain’s plan on those issues.  Meanwhile, the Obama camp has yet to advertise around these terms, missing a key opportunity, according to experts, to communicate his message to undecided voters.

This clever ambush of political names and keyword terms is a clear "conquesting" strategy that advertisers often employ: buying a competitor’s term so that an ad for the buyer’s own product appears when a consumer searches for the other brand.  To read the full article published by WSJ.com on the online marketing battles between both candidates – CLICK HERE.

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