Posted by Manoj in Marketing on June 16th, 2009
At ad:tech Singapore last week, I picked up a copy of the Asia Pacific Digital Marketing Yearbook 2009, published by the Asia Digital Marketing Association.
The Yearbook, which includes lots of interesting statistics from a number of reputed sources, should be an eyeopener for anyone still sceptical of online media. The key message the Yearbook communicates is that ‘connections have triumphed over interruptions’, a statement reflecting the growing importance of social media.
For those interested in reading the state of digital marketing in the various markets in Asia, download the electronic version of the Yearbook.
Manoj |
Marketing |
Posted by Manoj in Marketing on May 5th, 2009
The latest issue of Time features the Time 100, a selection of the world’s most influential people from various walks of life. Among those who made the list is Danish brand consultant Martin Lindstrom, also the author of Buyology.
In the brief pen sketch/ tribute to him by Chris Anderson of The Long Tail fame, Anderson writes, “As a generation grows up online, the tools of persuasion will have to be as measurable as the medium. Google does it with clicks and links, and Lindstrom does it with neurons and blood flow. Somewhere between the eye and the mouse finger is the secret to selling.”Â
We couldn’t agree more; which is why we spend an awful lot of time on what should appear where & how in the web design interfaces we create. Afterall, the goal is to create influential web experiences.
Â
Manoj |
Marketing |
Posted by Keith Tan in Marketing, Measurement on September 19th, 2008
According to research firm eMarketer, search-ad spending will reach $10.4 billion this year, doubling what will be spent on display ads.
This means that Google, who currently control more than 70% of the U.S search market, would retain its dominancy, as search represents 42% of all ad spending. Display ads currently account for half that figure.
So yes. This must obviously mean that those plain text ads are the safest and most cost effective way of spending your marketing budget.
Well…not really. In fact, search and display ads do not have to be mutually exclusive.
Atlas Solutions’ latest report findings showed that “When marketers supplement search with display impressions, they get a significant lift in conversions. Unfortunately, most advertisers that run both search and display are unaware of this…†The study demonstrated that “users exposed to both search and display ads convert at a higher rate: an average of 22 percent better than search alone and 400 percent better than display only.”
Now did those stats make you do a double take? But hey why not, it does make sense.
Display ads are great for driving brand awareness while search ads, being contextual in nature, have always provided better clickthroughs and conversions. Combine them both and you’ll stand a higher chance to closing that sale.
“The study, entitled “Close the Loop: Understanding Search and Display Synergy,†found that when combined, search and display advertising deliver profoundly better results than when used independently. The study showed a significant lift in onsite engagement and an increase in online and offline purchasing by consumers who are exposed to integrated campaigns that employ both types of online advertising.”
And from Google…or formerly Google
“Grant MacFarlane, head of search at Havas agency Media Contacts and previously head of client services at Google, agrees. “Search often takes the glory for the purchase, as a lot of agencies can’t track back to see where someone saw a banner ad that got them searching in the first place,” he says. “We’ve seen a 15% or 20% uplift when you run display and search in tandem.”
There are tools that help clients track how their different ad types are performing in relation to one another. Yahoo provides an online advertising tracking solution called “Full Analytics†that measures how that display ad was driving additional conversions to your other ad channels.
So the next time you’re planning your online ad campaign, try to do a mix of both. Measure your ROIs and see whether two, is better than one.
Keith Tan |
Marketing, Measurement |
Posted by Keith Tan in Marketing, Web 2.0 on July 4th, 2008
Here’s a different (and pretty long!) spin on the Long Tail theory from Anita Elberse, associate professor at the Harvard Business School. Armed with online sales stats from Nielsen VideoScan and Nielsen SoundScan, her article seems to persuade marketers not to take their eyes off the big hits, which is still highly profitable and very much in demand. Interestingly, Chris Anderson, who coined this theory back in 2006, replies with his thoughts as well.
Read article
Keith Tan |
Marketing, Web 2.0 |
Posted by Keith Tan in Marketing, Web 2.0 on July 1st, 2008
In between booth manning duties, I managed to squeeze in some time to attend some of the conference sessions. The ones I went to covered topics such as widgets and mobile marketing, and the new darling, social media. The one thing which resonated throughout most of the sessions were these 2 words: Relevancy & Social.
“Hangin’ with da big boyz”
Relevancy refers to how information will be presented to you, the user. It means having a website “customizing†or “personalizing†your surfing experience, only displaying information which you will find useful/interesting.
Social refers to the connections and interactions which you and your friends share online. This could be done via email, instant messaging, forums, groups, and social networking sites, to name a few.
Interestingly, in his keynote speech, Brad Garlinghouse, SVP, Yahoo! demoed some screens on how the future My Yahoo page could look like. It would sort your mail and display it accordingly by your social group, for e.g. family, friends, co-workers, etc. It would do this based on “connections†which you may have specified on your list of contacts or perhaps by studying your previous communication behavioral patterns.
Your network of friends belongs to you, not Facebook.
Currently, users that migrate from one social networking site to another have to re-build their network of friends from scratch. This process can be extremely tedious, especially when history has shown, users’ loyalty to social networks isn’t exactly built on solid ground.
In the future, it is envisioned that websites will be connected to a single source to access your social network. By doing so, this would not only make your network portable, it would enable you to enjoy richer experiences across multiple sites. For e.g. On your iTunes page, you would be able to see which new track that Julian, your jazz cat pal, bought yesterday. Julian and you could be connected in Facebook as sharing similar musical tastes. Hence, by only showing you relevant information, iTunes would stand a higher chance of you downloading the jazz track as opposed to just showing you the latest hip hop tracks.
Cha-Ching!
This presents a great opportunity for marketers to provide even more targeted messaging to consumers. Beyond just behavioral targeting, now there is this vital layer of “relevancy†& “social†which could provide just that extra motivation to make that sales purchase.
Rise of Social Media
Most of the speakers couldn’t reiterate enough the importance and relevance of social media today. When used properly and skillfully, it provides an extremely cost effective method of marketing. Classic examples sited were the Diet Coke/Mentos video contest that got massive viewership eyeballs.
Leap of Faith
When dealing with social media campaigns, marketers also advise agencies to encourage their clients to take a leap of faith to do radical or unique ideas. It may bomb or score. But if it scores, it usually scores big time. (Think GoDaddy’s Superbowl ad campaign). What is most important is that these campaigns still continue to reinforce your branding and image to consumers in a positive manner.
Don’t get stuck in between
In the session on “Widgets in the Media Mixâ€, Derek Callow, Marketing Manager, Google SEA, sketched a simple bell curve to illustrate the point that on the web, both extremely bad or good ideas get viral. The in-between usually just fizzles and sometimes doesn’t even float. A good and bad viral campaign would reap you many times more in terms of publicity and awareness. But of course, not all publicity is good publicity.
image source: http://www.davidmeermanscott.com
Power to the People
Some companies have embraced users’ input in shaping their products and services. Several case studies were mentioned on how users were involved in determining what features should be built for a new mobile device. Or how users were polled to decide how a movie should end.
In short, we will continue to see more instances of how companies will embrace social media to provide their customers with relevant and greater experiences. This will in turn provide new opportunities for them to build, create and maintain long-lasting relationships.
Keith Tan |
Marketing, Web 2.0 |
