The Choice Seems Clear

Seems like a situation with easy logic: advertisers should spend their marketing dollars with the medium that offers the most audience engagement, right? Well, then someone tell me why Newspapers get 20% of the marketing dollars when they only deliver 8% of time spent between the media and their audience?

BusinessInsider.com shared 2008 research from JP Morgan via their Chart of the Day post:




The Internet tops the chart in disparity of attention vs. advertising investment by delivering 38% of time spent with the medium but receiving a mere 8% of total advertising dollars.

The other big missed opportunity is Radio, only receiving 9% share of advertising budgets, but delivering 19% of audience engagement -- a virtual mirror image of Newspaper!

Certainly something to talk to your clients and prospects about as you help them plan their strategies for 2010.

BusinessInsider.com notes the numbers are from 2008, so the ad spend on newspapers is lower today-- but go on to say "it's not low enough, considering how little we spend with them."

The Day The Media Died

Mad Avenue Blues

Did You Know 4.0

This is another official update to the original "Shift Happens" video. This completely new Fall 2009 version includes facts and stats focusing on the changing media landscape, including convergence and technology, and was developed in partnership with The Economist. For more information, or to join the conversation, please visit http://mediaconvergence.economist.com/ and http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/.

Content by XPLANE, The Economist, Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod and Laura Bestler. Design and development by XPLANE, http://www.xplane.com/.

Accountability is King

From today's Inside Radio:

Marketers Seek Accountability
Do more with less isn’t just radio’s operating standard. A new survey shows two-thirds of marketers are being told by their companies to drive more sales with the same or lower budget -- and three-quarters say their marketing budget has shrunk this year. Facing that challenge, accountability has taken on a much greater significance.

The St. Louis Business Journal report the same trend in their article about ad agencies taking a hit from Anheuser-Busch spending...

Anheuser-Bush has changed it's "free-wheeling, let’s-give-it-a-try attitude" for a more "scrutinized and calculated" results-based approach.

From the article...
"A-B has always been good at listening to agencies with good ideas. But now you’ve got to do more back-end research,” Litwicki said. “The way they make decisions is a lot more mathematical. It used to be enough to do brand building and create an image that would ultimately drive sales. Now they also want to see the component that will actually incentivize the consumer to pick up the product. When you come in with those solutions, they are very receptive."

Measurable results are beginning to matter more and more to advertisers, and they are cutting spending with their agencies to find marketing resources elsewhere who can provide those results. As the article above states, when you have an idea that is based on delivering actual results (rather than just another branding campaign) companies are ready to listen.

How Does Your Marketing Measure Up?

Read a great article in the latest MarketingProfs "Get To The Point" newsletter on Marketing Analytics. They recap a post from the Email Experience Blog on measuring the success of email marketing campaigns. This specifically addresses email, but the principle applies to ALL marketing efforts and the importance of pre-establishing metrics for success.

The blog post says data gathered on email marketing campaigns might not be as useful as you think. "Real danger lurks in not measuring the right factors or not measuring accurately. You could suffer lost revenue. You might not know which messages are working. And your sales team won't know what to focus on."

There are just SO many different things you can measure in marketing (especially online marketing), that it's extremely difficult to agree upon industry benchmarks in order to make effective comparisons. People are focusing on impressions or clicks or only those clicks that lead to a single sale.

The purpose of any marketing is to trigger an ACTION. Actions could include:

• Forward to a friend
• Signing up for a mailing list or additional informaiton
• Visit to a physical store location
• Attend an event
• Buy a product

It's vital to have a clear view of your client's specific goal for the campaign's marketing message and for the results on which the campaign will be judged. In order to meet those goals, tools must be in effect to capture the correct data by which effectiveness can be judged. As they say in the article... "If you can't measure it, you can't improve it."

A New Perspective on "Added Value"

The expectation of SOME advertising clients is that they are entitled to free radio spots, van stops, on-location broadcasts, web banners, email blasts, etc. that all seem to fall under the mysterious category of "Value Add" -- simply because they bought an advertising schedule. This expectation is utterly ridiculous. I don't know how media companies (especially Radio) ever let themselves get roped into this one-sided deal. What happened to the "win-win" deal?

Clients like this are either asking the media outlet to outright LIE to them about their "real" price (by hiding the costs of all the freebies deep within the traditional spot costs), or they really believe that media companies can afford this sort of "buy and bribe" practice.

My opinion has always been that this sort of "value add" would NEVER be permitted in any other business. Can you imagine walking into McDonald's and ordering a "Value-Add Meal?" That's where you buy the fries and drink and they give you the burger (and some McDonaldland Cookies) for free.

What about going to the movie theater and buying two tickets to see a show, and then expecting to receive free popcorn and Snowcaps from the refreshment stand?

Buying a new car and getting a boat for free?

Why are media companies (hello, Radio!) the only ones expected to do these sorts of things? The next time you have a client hitting you up for a bribe... er... I mean "value add" send them a link to the video below. Perhaps they gain a little insight into just how outlandish these expectations really are.



You want to offer your clients some REAL value-add?
The added value I bring to MY clients is that of creativity, experience, marketing savvy, and personal dedication to help them grow their business. If they're really interested in elevating the success of their company -- I want truly to help them solve their toughest marketing challenges. If, on the other hand, they just want the cheapest rates and to have the station van out on a Saturday handing out balloons and hotdogs (or worse yet -- will only buy into an advertising campaign to get seats at the next game or concert) they really aren't seriously interested in their marketing success so much as getting all the "free stuff" they can from the media company. If their business can be earned by those sorts of bribes, they really aren't a client that I'd be interested in working with. Let them pick someone else's pocket.

I'm a creative marketing professional that works tirelessly for my clients, and I expect a fair rate for my services. How about you?

The Silent Click

Interesting stats about the marketing value a banner delivers beyond just the "click." Take the information with a grain of salt -- after all, the study was commissioned by the OPA (Online Publishers Association) an organization whose best interest is to promote the sale of banner ads.

The OPA's position is that, just because a web visitor didn't click on your banner doesn't mean your money was wasted. Study findings include...

• One in five conduct related searches and one in three visit the brands’ sites
• Users spent over 50% more time than the average visitor to these sites and consumed more pages
• Users spent about 10% more money online overall, and significantly more on product categories related to the advertised brands
• Higher income audiences visited the advertisers sites

The study was conducted by comScore–and assessed 80 of the biggest branding campaigns across 200 of the most trafficked sites. Here's a link to the OPA press release about the study.

Branding vs. Awareness

The PR News Blog has a nice post on the difference between branding and awareness...

"Often people mistake branding with awareness. Awareness is fleeting. Like a fireplace -- there's fire as long as you're feeding it logs. Branding is the ability to leave the family room and still feel the glow of the fire within."

I also liked their advice on making sure your brand possesses the four tenets of branding: intellectual, intuitive, emotional, value-based.

A good article to keep in mind when discussing awareness and branding campaigns with clients.

Dismantling Trusted Marketing Strategies

Great post from Brian Massey at the Society for Word of Mouth Marketing.

Your Wake-Up Call...

• TV is not an effective way to communicate, video is.
• Radio is not an effective way to communicate, the human voice is.
• Print is not an effective way to communicate, words and images are.
• Web sites are not an effective way to communicate, solving problems is.

Reality Shift

Nice video illustrating the dramatic shift in media/marketing reality.

Don't you have something interesting to say?

Do Ads Work?

A great post to kick-off the new year for anyone buying (or selling!) advertising. Forward this post to your favorite media salesperson or buyer.

Do ads work?
by Seth Godin

If the local bank were offering a sale on dollar bills, ninety cents each, how many would you buy?
Most rational people would say, "I'll take them all please." Especially if you had thirty days to pay for them.

So, why, precisely, do you have an ad budget?
If your ads work, if you can measure them and they return more profit than they cost, why not keep buying them until they stop working?

And if they don't work, why are you running them?

The time-tested response is that you're not sure, that ads are risky, that you can't tell. And for some sorts of products and some sorts of ads, you'll get no argument from me.

Digital ads are different (or they should be). You should know cost per click and revenue per click and be able to make a smart guess about lifetime value of a click. And if that's positive, buy, buy, buy.

And if you don't know those things, why are you buying digital ads?

When Amazon was at its key growth peak, the mantra there was $33. They would buy unlimited ads, of any kind, as long as they generated new customers for $33 or less each. There was a risk that $33 was too high a number for the business to sustain, but the ads were no risk at all. As long as they came in under that number, there was unlimited money to buy them.
How often do year the marketing person say, "that's a neat idea, but we don't have the budget this year"?

Shouldn't she say, "We have an unlimited budget for ads that work"...

Traditional Media Drives Interactive Usage

Survey Uncovers Drivers of Digital Influence and Reveals How Information is Shared Online
A new research study gleaned from a field of nearly 1,000 digital influencers demonstrates traditional and online media are both important sources when it comes to sharing news. The study by IM MS&L finds that traditional media play a vital role in igniting the process that leads influencers to share information online and via word of mouth.

Eight in ten influencers often go online to find out more after:

• Reading something in a magazine or newspaper (84%)
• Hearing something on TV or the Radio (84%)

"This research supports the need for influencer marketing campaigns to leverage both traditional and online tools to connect with consumers."
~ Renee Wilson
Deputy MD of MS&L New York
Director of the agency's IM MS&L practice.


Source: MSL News Release, 11/16/08.
Full release:
http://www.mslworldwide.com/in-the-news/press-releases/traditional-media-sparks-word-of-mouth

Godin Delivers the Goods

Video recording of a live seminar with Seth Godin.
Well worth the investment of an hour to view.
Pass this opportunity up at your own risk!

Newspapers (Try To) Think Locally for Online Ads

Nice coverage in WSJ about challenges facing "The Dead Tree Society" as they seek to increase their share of local Web dollars.

Though the article focuses on Newspapers, one need only review the Borrell Associates chart to the left in order to realize Radio has the great potential for growth in Online Advertising.

Some of the article highlights...

Scrambling Cannibals

In an effort to make up for their plunging print-ad revenues, newspaper companies have been scrambling to train their sales teams in the intricacies of selling online ads to local marketers.
But in many cases they aren't selling a lot of ads and at least some of the new ads they are managing to sell are cannibalizing their print-ad revenues, industry analysts say. A common scenario is that a trusty local print advertiser -- a car dealership, say -- that used to spend $20,000 a year on advertising might now spend a quarter of that with the newspaper online and nothing in the print product. Thus, the newspaper company is now selling more digital ads, but the new sale is taking away from its bottom line.

Losing Their Edge

Whatever edge Newspaper may have had in capturing web revenue appears to have evaporated. Newspapers now control only 27.4% of the local online ad market, down from a 35.9% share in 2006, according to Borrell.

Cracks and Gaps

There are several reasons why newspapers so far have failed to crack this market.

• Online ads are far less expensive than print ads and thus offer lower commissions, making it difficult to get salespeople to focus on selling the digital products
• Newspaper is typically selling banner ads which don't meet the needs of local businesses
• Most local online revenue growth comes from small and medium-size local businesses -- a market segment that Newspapers have typically ignored

Read the entire article here.

Goodbye Yellow Pages?

Borrell Research predicts 39% of yellow page revenues will vanish as local advertisers shift spending to the internet.

This doesn't mean one less competitor for your Radio dollars!

Other Borrell findings report there are now more than 34,000 local sales reps peddling online products -- more than for any other medium. The chart at right shows that 84% of these reps are being fielded by newspaper and yellow pages companies, all cross-training sales reps to rush toward their most-promising growth opportunity. To date, and in the foreseeable future, directory companies have fared better than any other legacy media at this strategy, garnering about 14% of their total gross revenues from online sales.

Their report also details how online video commercials have emerged as the fastest-growing online ad format for small businesses. By 2012, they expect streaming video advertising to surpass all other formats, including banners and paid search. The report includes local online spending estimates for search advertising and streaming video for 210 markets.

Download a free executive summary of the report by clicking here.

My advice is to continue focusing on the task of finding a real customer need -- the one that goes beyond driving traffic, selling more ('whatevers'), and branding/awareness. Find the customer's pain and create a custom marketing strategy that integrates Radio and Web to provide both audience reach and message trackability in order to take their pain away. Solve the real problem and you'll have a customer for life.

Ad Networks Devalue Content Power

Great, great, GREAT article about ESPN's view of the value of their web content versus the commoditization of internet advertising.

ESPN Turns Off Ad Nets
Excerpts from the article:
Top Web publishers are planning a revolt. Even as more prominent sites experiment with selling remnant inventory through online ad networks, and in some cases ad exchanges, ESPN.com is saying thanks, but no thanks.

ESPN's decision crystallizes a philosophical debate in the online ad sales industry that has intensified since the Interactive Advertising Bureau's annual meeting last month when during a keynote address, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia media president Wenda Harris Millard gave her now famous warning against selling Web inventory like "pork bellies."

Two sides have formed—those who want to protect traditional, direct selling of premium content brands and the math-loving crowd that favors automation and data. The math lovers make the traditional sellers nervous."There is a genuine concern about commoditization of brand inventory by some of the networks," said Millard in an interview.

...ESPN, see networks as profiting on their brand investments and their user data, while also threatening their own marketer relationships. Many just think using networks devalues the power of content.

Web Terms in Plain English

I found a great resource that explains web terms in plain, simple english. Play the videos below for an easy explanation of some common terms that are integral to our client web strategy. It will be easier for you to understand, and better enable you to pass along that knowledge to your clients.

Blogs in Plain English


RSS in Plain English


Podcasting in Plain English

Knowledge is Power... and Profit

The Radio Audience Has Changed -- Has Your Marketing Strategy?
The two articles below paint a pretty clear picture of the evolution of the traditional Radio listener. Do your client proposals reflect these changes by incorporating effective Internet strategies to better reach your audience?

New ratings have been released, and a lot of stations have taken a hit. It's likely that analytics from your station website do not reflect the same data you're receiving from traditional ratings-by-sample-diary reports. Perhaps you've even seen a significant increase in Internet traffic. Do you know why? Do your clients? Are you educating them on the way today's Radio audience uses your broadcast and your website? Probably not.

The articles linked below provide valuable advice about your audience, but it's up to you to learn it and share it with your advertisers. Educating yourself on the new ways your audience uses media is the only way to continue creating more effective solutions to your client's marketing problems.

What's The Digital Application?
Interesting insights about how radio listeners -- in this case, members of station databases -- use other media and technologies, along with other revelations about how radio listeners' time is being sliced and diced by new media options.

Highlights...

• Nearly three in ten report they listen to AM/FM radio less or a lot less at home.
  
• More than 95% have access to a high-speed Internet connection.
  
• About 95% have a cell phone -- seven in ten text regularly.
  
• Nearly six in ten now own an iPod or a similar device.
  
• Four in ten have a TiVo or DVR.
  
• Over half regularly visit social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Classmates.com.
  
• More than four in ten have played Guitar Hero or Rock Band in the past year.
  
• Nearly one-fourth have participated in a fantasy league in the past year or so.
  
• More than two-thirds download/stream videos from sites like YouTube frequently/occasionally.
  
• Nearly half shop online each month.

Podcast Consumer Information
The Podcast Consumer Revealed 2008 is the third study in this annual series on podcast consumption, and contains data derived from the 2008 Arbitron/Edison Media Research Internet and Multimedia study. Highlights of this study were originally presented on April 16th at ad:tech SF.

Highlights:

• The audience for both audio and video podcasts has grown tremendously since last year.
  
• Podcast listeners enjoy additional listening opportunities.
  
• Podcast consumers are extremely attractive advertising targets, though difficult to reach via traditional interruption models.
  
• Podcast consumers are heavily involved with social networking.
  
• Podcasting is a viable alternative means to target attractive consumers who are otherwise proving difficult to reach with traditional advertising.
  
• Podcasters should consider lifestyles, context and even potential 'dayparting' for their audiences.

CBS Radio Eyes Web Revenue Growth

Good article on CBS Radio and their emerging web strategy.

From the article...
Two months ago, when wildfires scorched hundreds of square miles in Southern California, forcing the evacuation of a half-million people, listenership spiked on KNX Radio, the CBS-owned outlet in Los Angeles. But the uptick wasn't for the station's on-air signal; listeners had instead tuned into the station on the Internet.

The average daily listenership for the newscasts on the KNX audio stream soared tenfold over the weeklong period that the fire dominated the headlines.

The online listenership spike experienced by KNX during the fires, and the real-time metrics available to quantify such digital audiences, reinforce the radio industry's need to expand its Web content. All 140 CBS Radio stations (in addition to 10 Internet-only outlets) are now streamed online to tap into today's fast-growing digital ad platform. And plans call for the development of much more Web content.

"Our digital revenue is growing significantly every year," said Mason. Those dollars are also helping radio counter a drain on the broadcast side, where spending has been flat at just over $21 billion (according to the Radio Advertising Bureau) for the last three years, as advertisers have sought better measured and more accountable media. Over-the-air radio ratings routinely have a three-month lag time, much to the dismay of clients and ad buyers.

Mason declined to say how much the digital revenues contributed to the division's coffers, but a media analyst at BMO Capital Markets estimates that 3 to 5 percent of the industry's revenue, (or roughly $640 million to $1 billion) are generated by online ad sales. Westerfield says the radio industry will continue to develop its online presence.

"The growth in media use is clearly growing on the Internet, and growth of advertising dollars is also migrating to the Web, so it makes sense for the radio companies to develop attractive commercial audio entertainment brands on the Internet."

Click here to read the entire article.

Online Advertising To Top Radio In ‘08 & Magazines By 2010

Worldwide internet ad spending will jump to $44.6 billion in 2008, from about $36 billion, increasing its share of the market to 9.4% from 8.1%, according to ZenithOptimedia.

“We predict internet advertising to pass three milestones over the next three years,” according to ZenithOptimedia’s forecast, released December 3rd. “We expect it to overtake radio advertising in 2008; to attain a double-digit share of global advertising in 2009; and to overtake magazine advertising in 2010, with 11.5% of total ad spend.”

Advertising Now International
In addition to noting the growing importance of new media, ZenithOptimedia also notes a trends toward international ad spends.

“North America used to be half of advertising expenditures,” said Tim Jones, CEO of ZenithOptimedia Americas. “We’re seeing its share drop a full point every year at this point. That’s being made up for everywhere east of Eastern Europe. Look at the multinationals and where their investments are focused: the Russias, Chinas and Indias of the world. That’s true of our business and media vendor companies as well.”

Between now and 2010, according to the forecast, the 10 fastest-growing ad markets will be Kazakhstan in the pole position followed by Belarus, Serbia, Egypt, Russia, Moldova, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine and what the agency refers to as “Pan Arab.”