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Rich Search Ads Hold Promise, But…

Posted by admin on September 30, 2009 · Comments 

[Posted by Neil Strother]

A quick note to say a new report is up regarding marketers experimenting with rich ads (images and video) in search: "Rich Search Ads: Too Early For Most Advertisers" (available in full to Forrester clients).

The promise of these newer search ads is greater user engagement while on a search results page. The user can view product photos, watch a short video clip, or get to detailed information quicker, such as an insurance rate quote. We like the idea. These richer formats can help facilitate transactions, as well as put brand elements at key decision points.

But the major search engines (Google and Yahoo!) have so far restricted access to these rich formats to a select few advertisers, and the formats themselves are still under development. Some early results have been favorable, but how these rich formats do over time is still unclear. For now, most search marketers can delay significant spending until more results are available and the buying process becomes more automated.

What do you think? Do rich search ads make sense for your brand? Will rich search ads become part of your future plans? Post a comment below.

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Using Social Media To Create And Amplify Offline Influence

Posted by admin on September 30, 2009 · Comments 

Nate Elliott[Posted by Nate Elliott. Follow me on twitter.]

According to all the data I've collected in the past few years — no matter what age group or country you study, and no matter how actively people use social media — the huge majority of users influence each other face to face rather than through social online channels like blogs and social networks. And a huge body of research — most recently including Razorfish's Fluent study — has proven that recommendations from offline friends are more influential than recommendations from online friends. So I decided to have a closer look at how interactive marketers can create offline influence in my new report The Analog Groundswell: Using Social Media To Create And Amplify Offline Influence.

I found marketers using a range of strategies to create offline influence, but there are two in particular that are most promising:

  1. Events. If you want to create a big splash for a new product or service, tweet-ups and house parties are a great strategy for reaching a lot of people quickly. For instance, the NHL worked with fans to run a series of 23 simulatenous tweet-ups to celebrate the opening of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs — and attracted more than a thousand attendees, generated a potential Twitter reach of more than 200,000, and garnered press coverage that reached millions. And right now, Microsoft is working with a company called House Party to plan in-home launch parties for its new Windows 7 operating system.
  2. Ambassador programs. If you want to build long-term relationships and ongoing influence, ambassador programs might be the right strategy for you. For instance, scissor maker Fiskars found a great way to turn members of its legendary Fisk-a-teers online community into offline ambassadors: they gave each member a special pair of scissors engraved with their member number. When the Fisk-a-teers go to crafting parties and pull out their special scissors, it invariably creates a conversation about the brand. Vendors like BzzAgent can drive offline sampling and evangelism for marketers. And even Facebook has used ambassador programs in some markets where it's been slow to grow.

Clients can learn more — including lots more examples, and our best practices for offline influence programs — by reading the full research report. And I'll also be speaking on this topic at both Forrester's 2009 Consumer Forum (in Chicago, October 27 and 28) and our 2009 EMEA Marketing Forum (in London, November 17 and 18).  I just finished writing a case study on the NHL's tweet-ups as well.

In the meantime, I'd love to hear from you: what are you favorite examples of brands driving offline word of mouth? Have you ever run an offline influence program – and if so, what vendors did you use and how did it work? Let me know in the comments below.

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Marketers’ Interest in Mobile Coupons Unabated

Posted by admin on September 30, 2009 · Comments 

[Posted by Neil Strother]

Mobile coupons continue to spark interest among marketers and vendors alike. The notion of marrying digital coupons with cell phones is just too powerful, especially in a sluggish economy. The latest moves:

  • JC Penney is testing a new 2D barcode scanning system at its stores in the Houston area
  • HipCricket is introducing a new point-of-sale (POS) system to help simplify the redemption process for retailers and quick-serve restaurants
  •  M-Dot Network is promoting a new POS platform for retailers

These are all positive signs pointing to a healthy future for mobile coupons – which, as I said in an earlier report (available in full to Forrester clients), should be part of a retailer's strategy. But, admittedly, these are interim steps leading to a time when mobile coupons become much more common.

There is work to be done to make the process more efficient – for retailers and consumers alike. The fact we have vendors competing to set standards and incremental rollouts indicates we're still a couple of years away from a time when you can easily turn to your phone to save a few bucks.

What do you think? What's holding back wider deployment and use of mobile coupons? Post a comment below. 

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Has Technology "Stacked" the Decks Against Marketers?

Posted by admin on September 30, 2009 · Comments 

Riley, Emily I read the recent press release from Havas that they selected RFP and campaign management tool Traffiq to be implemented across their major US media buying offices. The timing for this news is pretty cool. I'm planning some major research around these kinds of technologies next month.

Many of you have read from my and Nate Elliott's reports and blog posts that the interactive marketers we recently surveyed don't rate their measurement capabilities very well. In many cases, we recommend some combination of human and technological expertise in order to get better at things like measurement. So often though, marketers are totally overwhelmed by the "stack" of different technologies they need to master in order to be fully functional. I'm planning to survey interactive marketers about the trouble with the stack, and plan to ask about the following:

  • Ad servers – What exactly are interactive marketers using their ad server for? And what things aren't working very well? (like frequency capping, behavioral targeting, billing, etc.)

  • RFP tools – How well are technologies working to make the RFP process easier? How seamless are they at interacting with ad servers?

  • Inventory management systems – Are interactive marketers and publishers leaving valuable inventory on the table by not using an inventory management system? Or is it more trouble than its worth and it makes more sense to simply use ad networks?

  • Billing and reconciliation – How hard is billing at the end of the month? What tools are typically used for billing?

  • Analytics tools – Are interactive marketers responsible for all of their analytics, or do they have another group or third party helping them? What tools do they use and what needs to they still have?

  • Search and Email tools – How well are these integrated into the rest of the media buying and analytics process? Is measurement, targeting and reconciliation across channels even possible today?

  • Rich media tools – If a marketer serves rich media or video, what technologies do they need to add? Do these campaigns then go into a "dark hole" where they are impossible to compare to media served via more traditional ad servers?

I'd love to hear from you about "the stack" – what kinds of issues you think plague interactive marketers, what additional categories I left out, and what solutions are out there that promise a change for the better. 

Many believe that technology is only be half of the problem, and that marketers simply haven't had to be technically adept in the past. Perhaps it is a matter of hiring for more technical and analytical marketing capabilities, or trusting and relying more heavily on agencies. I hope to have those insights for you by the end of this research process, but I can't do it without you, so please send me comments.

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Phonevalley and Microsoft Turn Up Mobile Marketing Heat

Posted by admin on September 25, 2009 · Comments 

[Posted by Neil Strother]

Microsoft and Phonevalley – a Publicis Groupe agency – have announced a deal to push mobile marketing to new heights.

The deal calls for creating customized mobile ads, technology and metrics that will run across Microsoft's mobile Web properties (Bing, Microsoft Media Network and MSN). The packaged offerings will concentrate on six verticals: luxury, retail, entertainment, automotive, financial services and travel. The products will be offered in 14 global markets, including the U.S., UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.

This deal further binds a relationship between the software giant and Publicis. Just last month, Paris-based Publicis agreed to acquire digital agency Razorfish from Microsoft.

So, what does this mean? It is the type of focus the mobile market needs to attract more advertising dollars. Can this partnership truly move the needle? I think so. These two have the market heft to make a significant difference. Remember, Microsoft has a mobile search and ad deal with Verizon Wireless. The opportunity is there. Now they (Phonevalley-MS) need to execute and not screw it up. Google is ever lurking.

What do you think? Significant move, or a small step? Post a comment below.

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The Video Contests Keep Coming

Posted by admin on September 25, 2009 · Comments 

Nate Elliott[Posted by Nate Elliott]

I've spent a lot of time this year researching online video contests (clients can read my report on Best Practices for User-Generated Video Contests and my Video Contest Checklist, while non-clients can get the highlights in this blog post), and I'm happy that I'm still getting questions from our clients every week about how they can run better contests themselves. So to help our clients (and the industry) keep track of what's working well in the space, I've been compiling a list of the best online video contests I've seen.

I just updated that list, and in doing so I noticed two emerging trends in online video contests:

  1. Alcoholic beverage brands love the control video contests offer. More than half the contests in my 'food and beverage' category are from alcohol brands: Jim Beam, Okanagan Spring, Black Box Wines, and Little Penguin Wine. And that makes sense, because contests offer brands the opportunity to drive user-generated content, but still remain in control of that content. All they have to do is run each video past their legal team before approving it to be posted on the contest website. (Or, if they want videos to be posted automatically, they still have the ability to pull down questionable content after it's been submitted.) This type of control has made contests popular with marketers in other sensitive or regulated industries, too — like financial services and health care.
  2. B2B marketers are warming up to the power of video contests. We're still not seeing B2B contests by the thousands — but more B2B marketers are using contests now than six months ago. Two of my favorite recent B2B contests are Google's TV For All Contest, in which they're giving away free TV ads; and TCBY's This Could Be Yours Store Givewaway, in which they're giving away a free TCBY franchise.

Go check out the complete list of my favorite online video contests — and if you've got one you'd like to add, leave a comment on that page or below.

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100+ Search Marketing Resources to Learn SEO & PPC

Posted by admin on September 24, 2009 · Comments 

100 Plus Resources to Learn Search Marketing

How do new marketers learn SEO and Pay Per Click? How do professionals stay current with search marketing tactics considering the sheer volume of social media distraction? Last month we ran a poll of Online Marketing Blog readers to discover preferences for learning and staying up to date with current search engine marketing strategies and tactics. Below are the top categories selected by readers. However, we’ve taken it a step further and listed over 100 different resources for marketers to start, maintain or advance their level of SEO, PPC and any other type of search based marketing. Enjoy!

Search Engine Marketing Blogs

SEO/SEM Blog Aggregators:

Testing Tactics on Your Own Web Sites

Search Engine Marketing Forums

Paid Subscription SEM Communities

Search Engine Marketing Webinars

Search Marketing White Papers, Research, Special Reports

SEO & SEM Email Newsletters

Online Groups for Search Marketers (Facebook, LinkedIn, Ning)

The Big SEM Conferences

SEM Consultant/Agency Advice

  • TopRank Online Marketing – That’s right, we put our own agency :) – The reality is, your current SEO/SEM agency or consultant should offer some kind of ongoing education and/or training on top of ongoing consulting services. If not, call us!

Print Magazines

Offline Networking Groups or Meetups

Books on SEM

Niche or Regional SEO/SEM Workshops

Search Marketing Industry Web Sites

SEM Workshops, Training & Certifications

Search Marketers on Twitter

SEO & PPC Focused Podcasts

What did we miss? Please share in the comments.

I took a quick poll on Twitter for some of the resources and want to thank those that made suggestions: @chrisgarrett, @scottclark, @danperry, @katemorris, @jonnytee, @Phil_EH, @steveplunkett, @chiropractic, @pratt, @kennyhyder, @kalena, @goglobalwebs, @scottdeto, @thashow.

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Aggregated Social Media Marketing News. Go to Source

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Hyperlocal Heats Up – SEM Synergy Extras

Posted by admin on September 24, 2009 · Comments 

It’s a busy time within the social communities of the Web. Developments and services that either allow user comments or provide businesses with tools to monitor such comments are cropping up at break-neck speeds.

For instance, just today:

  • Google launched Sidewiki, letting users share their two cents on any Web site.
  • Branding and marketing guru Seth Godin was called out for his new service that may amount to brand hijacking.
  • And Microsoft unveiled a business tool that will not only help businesses listen in on online conversations regarding their brand, but will also analyze the sentiment of the convos and provide a portal for participation.
dog looking at and listening to phonograph
Are you listening to the conversation?CC BY 2.0

While it’s happening across the Web, among organizations both large and small, one of the fastest-growing verticals in the social media realm is that of the hyperlocal.

On today’s SEM Synergy podcast, two hyperlocal marketing experts joined the rest of the crew to chat about hyperlocal marketing opportunities online.

Ben Saren, CEO of the recommendation and review site CitySquares, and Internet marketer Martin Canchola, explained the challenge small businesses face when managing their social networking presence. Most importantly, though, they tackled ways to approach social media participation so that limited resources and efforts don’t go to waste. Tune in to the podcast to hear more.

Meanwhile, there are some exciting stories being told about social media marketing and commercial successes. On the 10e20 blog today, Rebecca Kelley reported on a recently released survey of marketers, aimed at gauging the industry’s perceived effectiveness of social networks for marketing purposes.

According to the survey, three quarters of the participants said they’ll be increasing their social media marketing efforts next year. When rating the effectiveness of several social networks, LinkedIn was reported to be the most effective, followed by Facebook and then Twitter.

One local coffee shop in Texas started accepting drink and food orders via Twitter direct messages and almost instantly, the media coverage and business that came from Twitter spiked to unforeseen levels. An innovation that the business owner more-or-less stumbled upon has been a driving force for new business and satisfying customers.

Even if you’re not sure where to start, get in there and test the waters. Feel out where your target markets are. Then start talking. Evaluate your efforts, and see where you can go from there.

As Ben Saren explained on the podcast, the Internet’s local space and social space are converging. While it may still be too soon to see where it’s going, you can see that it is. And when you push yourself to figure out innovative ways to interact with your community, the pay back is returned in spades.

Aggregated Social Media Marketing News. Go to Source

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Mobile Numbers Tell an Interesting Story

Posted by admin on September 19, 2009 · Comments 

[Posted by Neil Strother]

Some interesting numbers you might have missed in the past few days. VeriSign said it delivered a record 94.8 billion mobile messages (SMS, MMS, A2P) worldwide in the second quarter, up more than 82% from the same quarter a year ago.

OK, but now the clincher: the company delivered nearly 179 billion messages globally in the first half of the year. To put this into perspective, that equates to 26 messages for every person on the planet (6.7 billion). Staggering.

Premium content (alerts, ringtones, voting, etc.) also rose, with premium SMS transactions growing 36% in the quarter compared to the second quarter of 2008, VeriSign said. Marketers continue to recognize that SMS is the most efficient way to reach a wide audience on mobile, something we pointed out in our recent report on best practices for mobile marketing. So, in spite of all the hype surrounding marketing via mobile applications – which we like, mind you – text messaging still delivers the reach.

What do you think? Post a comment below.

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Join us for a free webinar

Posted by admin on September 17, 2009 · Comments 

(by Emily Riley)

I've been working a lot recently on what measurement means to the Interactive Marketer. In the midst of my Wave on attribution and as a result of a few surveys we've done recently, I've got a lot of amazing information swirling around me – insights on what works today and what will be possible tomorrow. I put some of that information into a presentation I'm giving tomorrow, and it's free to sign up. If you are interested in hearing more about what current and future measurent looks like, please join me on Thursday the 17th (as in tomorrow!) at 11 am EST (4pm GMT) for a Live Webinar ‘Measure ROI and Justify your Marketing Budget’.

Click here to register: http://www.forrester.com/Marketing/Campaign2/1,6538,2506,00.html

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