Marketers should think twice before focusing on Digg.com to produce traffic. Search Engine Guide Editor-in-Chief Jennifer Laycock began her presentation at the Search Engine Strategies SEW Live one-day event in Columbus, OH, with that theme in mind.
Marketers Step Into Google FOG
It wasn’t too long ago that a possible Microsoft purchase of Yahoo would have spooked the living daylights out of everybody. Not anymore, not even close. Fear of Google, the FOG, rolls in so thick the folks enveloped within are looking to Microsoft for daylight.
Do Search Marketers Need One More Ad Vendor?
I’m constantly asked which search engines a rookie paid search advertiser should work with. Obviously, everyone should take part in Google AdWords, because Google covers half or more of all searches. Most marketers should also look at Yahoo!, which handles about one-quarter of all searches—their Panama platform has made them an even more interesting choice for ad spending.
Marketers Learning Value of Social Networks
Fox Interactive Media – and about half a dozen other companies – conducted a study to determine the value of social media for marketers. Sampling 3,000 US internet users, they discovered…
Marketers Should Care About Google’s DoubleClick Deal
For those of you who turn off your computers on the weekend, you should know that Google announced Friday that it spent over $3 billion to acquire DoubleClick, of banner ad network fame. You can read from other people what this means from Google’s point of view—I don’t think that is very important to marketers. So what is important about this to marketers?
Closed-Loop Marketers More Likely to Reach Goals
As I’ve written before, I’m a big proponent of using closed loop feedback to improve marketing and lead generation ROI. I came across a recent report by Aberdeen Group entitled, "Creating a Customer-Centric Marketing Organization," that reinforces the point with broader empirical data.
Aberdeen found, "Companies that adopt closed-loop marketing processes are more than three times as likely to report a greater than 50% return on marketing investment (ROMI) than those that do not.”
Survey: Search Marketers Happy With ROI
According to a study conducted by Jupiter Research, sixty five percent of advertisers will increase their spending in search marketing in the coming year. Overall, advertisers are pleased with the return on investment (ROI) that they are seeing from the dollars that have been spent thus far in search.
Marketers Still Cold To SMS Ads
While mobile data use has doubled since 2003, mobile marketing has been slower to grow, according to a new study by Forrester Research. The study found that only 13 percent of interactive marketers relied on text messaging to reach consumers in December 2006.
When marketers were asked what would make them spend more on mobile sites and other emerging media, most of the respondents in the Forrester study said "proof of use".
Marketers – Must They Specialize?
I read an interesting post from Bill McCloskey on the need for specialization. Bill has a point, but I think there’s a counterpoint, too, when specialization gets out of control.
Bill makes the case for specialization in a straightforward way: "I submit that the über marketer who is expert in all the various forms of interactive marketing is someone who just doesn’t exist, or is very bad at a lot of things. An interactive jack of all trades, master of none, is not the person you want heading up your email marketing efforts."
Display Ads Remain Important To Marketers
According to new data from TNS Media Intelligence, Internet phone company Vonage spent over $185 million on display ads in 2006, outspending competitors Verizon Communications and display ad giant Netflix.
The budget share for display and classified ads will remain unchanged through 2011, with paid search gaining ground and rich media along with video increasing according to eMarketer senior analyst David Hallerman.