Where do Americans begin their online day? According to a study
released today by ExactTarget, 58 percent check their e-mail, while
20 percent go first to a search engine or portal site and 11
percent start with Facebook. A conscientious (or worried) 3 percent
make their company’s site or intranet their first online
destination of the day. Five percent go first to a news site and 3
percent go to some other destination.
Read more at www.adweek.com |
| What does the worldwide, technologically enabled drive for conversations mean for marketers? It means you’re no longer marketing products or services — you’re marketing conversations. It means marketing-communication planning should be driven by a conversation strategy. |
The right conversation strategy answers two big questions: What meaningful content will attract sufficient conversations with the right people? And, how will you jump-start conversations and keep them alive?
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When people are starved for time and already engaged in many conversations, jump-starting new and meaningful conversations is the big challenge of marketing today. Just building a website, writing a blog or posting videos on YouTube doesn’t mean sufficient numbers to impact ROI will find them organically, much less take the time and energy to converse with you. By definition a conversation requires others to be present and participate — otherwise you’re talking to yourself. Perhaps therapeutic, but no way to make a living.
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Even if people know there’s an opportunity to have a conversation with you — on Twitter or your blog, for instance — you can’t expect them to engage given all the other demands on their time. You’ll need a strategy that both gets them to know you exist and care so much that you exist, they’ll become intrigued about conversing with you. This requires a strategy that integrates search optimization, media, message and contributions of content from consumers.
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A multimedia mix framed to spark conversations requires a compelling message concept that can work across a multimedia platform. Its foundation has to be far more than a one-time promotion or product attribute; it must be a message strategy that connects brand meaning with search habits and accommodates ongoing contributions that can range from casual conversations to consumer-generated content.
Read more at adage.com |
A post made last week to The Video Commerce Consortium focused on how eCommerce retailers have been slow to adopt online video as a component of their marketing mix.
Many valid reasons were presented, including a lack of online video stewardship within retailers. |
Video and eCommerce is a natural fit. There is perhaps no better way to present products than through the lens of a video camera. Not to mention that many retailers already create video content for other purposes. |
| eCommerce marketers view email and keyword campaigns as efforts separate from web video marketing. In its essence, web video marketing is “a form of direct marketing which uses audiovisual content as a means of communicating commercial or marketing messages to an audience over the Internet.”Read more at blog.flimp.net |
| viewers are twice as likely to ignore TV ads as online ads, and are 28% more likely to pay attention to online advertising, according to the report. |
Online video already accounts for nearly 32% of all time spent online by video viewers, while approximately 70% of respondents report watching online videos at both home and work. |
“Unlike television consumption, which mostly happens during the primetime hours of 8 p.m. to 11 p.m., people across all demographics are watching online videos consistently throughout the day and night, with the exception of dinnertime,” said Jason Kramer, chief strategy officer at Interpret. “This fundamental shift in consumer behavior opens up opportunities for publishers, advertisers, agencies and marketers.” Read more at www.mediapost.com |
| NEW YORK As the U.S. videogame industry continues to grow in
the next several years, dollars spent on in-game advertising will
increase accordingly. |
By 2013, marketers will spend a total of $681 million on in-game
advertising, up from $403 million in 2008, per eMarketer. During the
forecast period, the relative mix of console/PC-based and Web-based
advertising will shift slightly toward the latter, with 75 percent
of the total spent online in 2013. |
A growing number of ad-supported online games are also available to
consumers for free. Surveys show that gamers have largely accepted
the bargain of free game play in exchange for exposure to ads. This
puts marketers in the pole position to make their brands part of
the gaming experience through banner and video ads, sponsored
sessions, product placements or other vehicles. Read more at www.adweek.com |
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Spend and you will get buzz.
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“The numbers are a little more noisy than they have been,” said Ted Marzilli, global managing director of BrandIndex, citing the number of news events during the first half. However, Mr. Marzilli pointed out that there’s been less activity on the advertising front, presenting opportunities for marketers willing to open their wallets to stand out among the silence.
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Looking toward the second half, Mr. Marzilli said he believes the brands that take risks and make investments in advertising stand to be the big winners. “I don’t think a whole lot of people are expecting a full-blown recovery in the second half,” he said. “Folks still on the value message will do well, and those folks that choose to spend can make an impact.” Read more at adage.com |
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Mini-Links to Web Sites Are Multiplying
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| URL shorteners, which abbreviate unwieldy Web addresses into bite-size links, have been around for years. |
But the tools have soared in popularity recently, in part because of microblogging sites like Twitter and Facebook, where messages are limited in length and every character counts. |
Shorteners, however, could have real value beyond making Web addresses more manageable, said Danny Sullivan, editor of the blog Search Engine Land. They have the ability to keep track of use — how many times a particular link was clicked and the geographic location of the clickers — which could be valuable to marketers, news outlets and companies looking to measure the impact of a link, tweet or mention online. Read more at www.nytimes.com |
Americans are spending more time online, on both a daily and weekly basis. At-home access far outstripped at-work access time in 2008, according to Harris Interactive. Expect both trends to continue in 2009, as a hefty percentage of unemployed people use the Internet to find jobs or additional training or education, and adults who are worried about the economic and international news check in more frequently.
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The First Online Actions People Take Each Day
