Lori Willard, Online Media Specialist here at Def 6, passed along a MediaPost Research Brief that shows that reduced advertising during a recession negatively impacts consumer perception.

According to a new Ad-ology Research study, "Advertising's Impact in a Soft Economy," more than 48% of U.S. adults believe that a lack of advertising by a retail store, bank or auto dealership during a recession indicates the business must be struggling.

Conversly, a vast majority perceives businesses that continue to advertise as being competitive or committed to doing business.
 
Other key findings include:

• 40% of consumers use coupons more now than a year ago

• Most consumers are as willing or more willing to pay more for ‘healthy' or ‘organic' products than they were a year ago

• A ‘deeply discounted price' was the number one factor that would make consumers more likely to purchase a big-ticket item (+$1,000)

• Store websites ranked second only to search engines as the way consumers research products and shop online

Ad-ology summarizes the research by saying:  “It is critical to advertise in the current economic climate, to maintain long-term positive consumer perception of your brand.  Advertising not only assures consumers of a business’ reliability in a soft economy, but it can influence where and what they buy, especially when the ads address concerns about value.”

Definition 6 offers strategy consulting services to help you with your advertising initiatives for the following disciplines: email, SEO, SEM, online media, social media, and mobile.  Don't let your advertising negatively impact consumer perception.

In 2009, more data will be generated by individuals than in the entire previous history of mankind.  

Andreas Weigend explains how/why at http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/now-new-next/2009/05/the-social-data-revolution.html.  There have been two “data revolutions” in the way consumer data is solicited and collected.

Initially, successful companies gained power by collecting, aggregating, and analyzing the customer data they collected.  But, most companies didn’t fully utilize all the data collected.

Then, companies like Amazon.com realized that users often trusted recommendations by other users more than promotional materials.  Users started to actively contribute explicit data, such as, information about themselves, their friends, or about the items they purchased.  Amazon leveraged this new knowledge to help customers with their purchasing decisions.


Successful firms encourage and reward users who contribute honest data.  Netflix allows users to contribute ratings for movies that they have seen; the incentive to contribute accurate data is to get better recommendations for new movies.  Customers are starting to interact with each other. Knowing that they are not alone has shifted the balance of power from companies back to consumers.


Why spend time on hold with a customer service representative if we can just Google see if someone else has already solved the same problem?  An online user community was likely to be more helpful than a representative employed by the company.


Bottom line:  The online world is beginning to be ruled by the expectations of the users.  Companies that want to stay relevant have no choice but to accept the ideas of the consumer revolution as swiftly as possible and address the higher expectations for customer relationships.

Definition 6 is an interactive media agency that creates marketing initiatives that engage people.  We capture and analyze relevant metrics from web analytics, email marketing, online media, and social media campaigns to continue to test and refine marketing plans.  We’d like to help you meet the challenge of addressing the new expectations of consumers.

In my continuing research into marketing to the Hispanic consumer, I'm finding great articles from MediaPost that provide good information on why and how to reach this particular audience.  So here is an article by Joseph Kutchera (Why Does Google Send U.S. Hispanics To Foreign Web Sites?) that talks about what Google is doing with search results for the Spanish speaking community and how you can apply similar ideas to your marketing campaigns.

The first thing he points out is that if you search in Google using Spanish words, 50% or more of your responses are going to be for sites outside of the U.S. borders.  So why does this happen and why do marketers miss this target audience?  Kutchera provides the answer.  "Google and other search engines index sites globally while we marketers, agencies and media sellers work within the economic and political borders of the U.S."  When people search using Spanish words and terms, Google is going to return sites that have Spanish content on them.  Does your website have Spanish content?  If you do, you may still be missing out on this audience for a few different reasons.  Kutchera points out the following.  1) Your Spanish site may not be optimized for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) like your English site.  2) Many Spanish speaking Hispanics like to go to sites of their country of origin. 3) Spanish language markets are more likely to spend time on their content, making it more relevant than someone from an English language market who is updating a Spanish language website. 4) U.S. advertisers have been slow to move budgets toward online marketing and therefore not providing the resources necessary to provide the content that is necessary.

So what can you do to reach the Hispanic population:

- Purchase non-U.S. targeted inventory on your search buys along with your U.S. targeted inventory.
- Reach out to Hispanic country-of-origin web sites through ad networks.
- Apply behavioral, contextual, and language targeting to further segment and understand your Hispanic audience.

As a Senior Consultant at Definition 6, an interactive marketing agency with expertise in Web Search Engine Optimization and Search Marketing Consulting, I'm seeing lots of evidence for companies to shift some marketing dollars to specifically target Hispanics in the U.S.  This growing population is getting online at a very fast pace.  There are millions and millions of them out there that could be buying your products or services if they could find you.  Are you willing to let them go to your competitors?  We can help you target them.  We can help you get ahead of the curve.
 

 

At our Interactive Ad Agency we continually help our clients make good decisions regarding their online media usage. Social Media, eMail Marketing, PPC/Paid Search, Search Engine Optimization, Display, Mobile and Video are just the headers of the variety of options available to us. But recently Twitter has been owning the headlines.

 

David Martin, vice president, primary research, Nielsen Online, wrote in a blog post: "People are signing up in droves, and Twitter's unique audience is up over 100% in March."

 

But today I was sent a great article from MediaPost about an online / microblogging / SMS option to reach the masses that might not be the techno elite, but make up the mainstay of consumer America. More spending power and more of the participants in creating UGC for all our social media sites. The company is called Predicto and it is very focused on the celebrity world, think People, US, The View, TMZ, etc. http://www.predicto.com/

 

Between October and December 2008, Twitter had approximately 812,000 unique SMS users, but Predicto Mobile interacted with more than 2.3 million unique users. "We have a mainstream audience, which can help us grow faster," Kathein said. "Our members aren't necessarily the early adopters. Our customer base isn't made up of heavy iPhone users."  The full article can be found at http://bit.ly/M1QQy

 

I think this a great example of how Interactive Marketing is very niche and how you shouldn't fall in love with one channel, because your users might be better served with another channel.

Lately I've been reading articles related to the Hispanic consumers.  I think most of us have read or heard about how the Hispanic population is growing so much in the U.S.  It seems to me companies that have products or services to sell should be paying more attention to this and shifting some (or a lot) of their marketing efforts toward the Hispanic consumer.

In an article on MediaPost by Jose Villa (http://www.mediapost.com/publications/index.cfm?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=98883#comments), he talks about a very good reason to shift some focus to the Hispanic community.  Put plainly, they may be in better shape after the recession than any other ethnic sector.  In his article, he points out that unlike the previous recession, most consumers will not be able to go back to their old spending habits because they won't be able to get the same credit that they received before.  And we all know how our society loved to spend money on credit.  In the article, this is referred to as the "deleveraged consumer".  The Hispanic community, on the other hand, typically stayed away from spending on credit.  So when the economy recovers, they'll be more likely to continue their same spending habits they had before the recession while others will have to learn to cut back on their excessive spending.  Their lack of debt means that "the Hispanic market represents a beacon of opportunity as a truly deleveraged consumer" according to Jose.

I really like the idea of spending some marketing focus on the Hispanic community because I think there are a lot of potential buyers in that group that are untapped.  The three top ideas I can think of would be:

1. update your websites to offer a spanish version.  Although many of today's Hispanics that are online speak both English and Spanish, it is a welcoming gesture to let them choose their language of choice.  But don't forget to update imagery and styles of the Spanish website and not just the text (Jose has another article that addresses that: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/index.cfm?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=103345)

2. allow your users to decide which language to receive their emails in.  You'll want to be sure you have proper tracking tools in place so that you can see how well your Spanish emails work and compare that to your English emails.

3. advertise in places where Hispanics spend more of their time.  In a previous blog post I discuss what some of those websites are.

Definition 6 is an interactive marketing agency that can help you analyze and plan a course of action to market to this untapped group.  As an application development company and online marketing company we can also implement your web applications and email marketing campaigns as well as provide analytics of both.  So take advantage now and don't leave out this important ethnic group.

A client sent me two articles to react to about online advertising.  The title that I chose for this posting states my position:  I'm not sure why people think that advertising alone should support a website.

The first article is from The Economist and is entitled The demise of a popular but unsustainable business model for the Internet now seems inevitable.  This is one of the best articles I've read that explains the reality of Internet business models, whether realistic or not.  Read the entire article at www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13326158.

Great explanation of the dotcom crash…
Firms sprang up to offer content and services online, in the hope that they would eventually be able to “monetise” the resulting millions of “eyeballs” by selling advertising. Things did not work out that way, though, and the result was the dotcom crash.

…and of the Web 2.0 bubble…
Google’s ability to place small, targeted text advertisements next to Internet-search results, and on other websites, meant that many of the business models thought to have been killed by the dotcom bust now rose from the grave.

….and economical realities.
The idea that you can give things away online, and hope that advertising revenue will somehow materialize later on, undoubtedly appeals to users, who enjoy free services as a result.  Ultimately, though, every business needs revenues—and advertising is not going to provide enough.

The second article is a provocative one entitled Why Advertising Is Failing On The Internet and states that advertising cannot fully support the Internet.  Read it at www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/22/why-advertising-is-failing-on-the-internet/.

Websites need to sell real products, services, information or 'access' to information like TripAdvisor.com.  Or, offer an 'experience' like LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, or World of Warcraft.

It's true that most people don't trust ads, online or offline.  They don't 'want' them or 'need' them.  The Internet allows users to get information from a variety of sources and from sources they trust.

But, no company expecting to maintain market share in today's economic environment is going to say "Stop telling potential customers about us." 

Organic search, paid search and display banners can increase awareness and conversions even in today's climate.  Display banner advertising works because it reaches users where they are on the Internet.  You don't advertise just with your name on the building.  You advertise in high traffic areas, too.

How does Definition 6 ensure that online advertising succeeds for our clients?   First, we're big into collaborative strategy.  How can you differentiate yourself?  How can we build synergy with your other initiatives?  Who should you target with banners?  What should the messaging be?

Bottom line:  Appropriate targeting and messaging still works online.  We go beyond traditional banners; we use rich media to make the experience engaging and interactive.

PointRoll hands out nifty little notebooks with the first page filled with Best Practices for Display Banners.  Here's a summary:

1.  Keep the campaign objective and key metrics in mind when designing banners.   Use more than one panel for displaying a lot of info or you want user interaction and engagement.  If direct response is desired, one action-focused panel is most effective.

2.  Banner animation should not be too slow or too fast; the call to action should appear immediately.

3.  Give the user a compelling reason to rollover with a clear, prominent, and relative call to action.

4.  Rollover hot spots should be as large as possible and easy to see.  On most sites, the rollover max spec is 33% of the banner.

5.  All panels should be accessible from any other panel.  Use horizontal hot spots on horizontal ads and vertical hot spots on vertical skyscraper ads.

6.  Ideally, the entire panel should be clickable, and also use a well-defined click button.

7.  Include a "loading" message that appears as the video streams in.  Users with slower connections will know the video is coming.

8.  Use video player controls for optimum usability - pause, play, and volume.

9.  Video should auto play upon user rollover.  Requiring users to "click to play" reduces video plays.

10. After video completes, include compelling, relevant call to action.

More Best Practices for display banner ads are listed at http://www.pointroll.com/best-practices.aspx.

Definition 6 can help you craft your online advertising strategy, whether it is banner ads, organic or paid search, or email marketing.  We negotiate with vendors to maximize your media spend when developing Media Plans that meet your objectives.  We design and build ads and deploy them, working with partners, such as, the search engines and PointRoll.  We do it all!

There is a great report out by the 4 A's "Understanding the Economics of Digital Compared to Traditional Advertising and Media Services" By Joe Burton - it explains in great detail why Interactive Ad Agencies charge what they do for our services. It highlighted the importance of understanding the labor costs that go into SEO, Web Site Development, eMail Marketing, Video Advertising and Social Media Marketing and how the critical talent is scare to do the job well.

One key point was that in Traditional Advertising, media equals 73% of all spending with your agency partner but with an Interactive Media Agency you should expect 52% to be media and 45% to be agency services fees. This is critical when doing channel shifting from one medium to another.

So it is very important if you are going to make the move from direct mail to eMail or from broadcast to display media or PR to social media that you understand the costs and the ROI before jumping into the fray.  But the rewards are worth the effort.

There is a quote in the book The Truth about Email Marketing:
"Email marketing has been called the original social networking tool..."

Social media does not replace emails.  The advantage continues to be that not everyone has a Facebook or LinkedIn profile, but everyone has an email address.

You can capitalize on your social media campaigns by integrating email marketing:
Capture email addresses on your Facebook page.
Promote your email services on your LinkedIn profile.
Test marketing messages and creative elements on social networking sites.
Use email to drive traffic to your social media initiatives.

Recent stats from EmailStatCenter.com you might find helpful in convincing your management team to continue to invest in email marketing in order to reap the benefits:

"50% of consumers surveyed said they're more likely to buy products from companies who send them email, whether their purchases are online or at a place of business."
- Epsilon "Branding Survey" (Feb 2009)

"80.4% of marketing executives surveyed say email performs strongly as an advertising channel for their companies."
- Datran Media "3rd Annual Marketing & Media Survey Results" (2008)

"While 60% of marketers plan to cut their traditional marketing budgets this year, 47% of marketers plan to boost their email marketing budgets."
- Aberdeen Group, "Recessionary Marketing: How Best-in-Class Companies Are Weathering the Storm," (Jan 2009)

Has social media replaced email marketing?  Hardly!  Has it changed it?  Sure.  It offers a new way to use email marketing.  Email marketing continues to drive relationships, retention, and revenue.

Definition 6 sends out almost 300 million emails on behalf of clients.  We also specialize in social media.  We can help you integrate your interactive marketing initiatives to maximize the benefit.

As the CEO of an Interactive Ad Agency, I have been in the digital marketing arena for about 14 years now and it still boggles my mind when I read an article that highlights the lack of metrics use in the world. I have included a link to the full article at the end of the post but I wanted to highlight this particular quote: "Less than half (47%) of marketing professionals in North America and the U.K. recently surveyed by Alterian reported that they currently use analytics to measure on-line campaign results." Are you kidding me, how can you not use web analytics? It is like not having a scoreboard at a game or a speedometer on a car. Driving traffic to your web site without a control panel is stupid! Sorry to offend those of you that are in the majority, non web analytic users. Why would you spend money on SEO, email marketing, interactive advertising or even hosting services if you are not tracking what is happening on-line and on your site?

I guess maybe it is because it cost so much to implement analytics when doing website development! I barely could type that sentence without laughing - it can be Free and done in less than 5 hours! So I understand that a full blown deployment maybe more than you can handle, but no software cost, no usage fee and less than 1 day of effort to track what is happening on your website, seems like a no brain-er to me.  Check out Goggle Analytics if you are part of the 53% that are doing nothing. If you are part of the 47% that are, what do you do with the information?

A good Interactive Agency should be making monthly or quarterly recommendations to improve conversion and a weekly adjustment to PPC spends (or even hourly) and a good Media and Advertising partner would be accountable to you for the results. Of course if you don't care about management, then I'm sure your agency is very happy to charge you without accountability. 

Sorry about the rant, I was just blown away.

Fewer Than Half Of Marketers Use On-line Metrics

by Karlene Lukovitz, Friday, February 20, 2009, 2:02 PM

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=100692

Definition 6 Project Manager, Lisa Seals, on what not to do on FaceBook…

Before establishing a social media strategy, particular as it involves FaceBook, it’s important to understand the laws regulating how you market your product or service.  Failure to adhere to these regulations can result in warnings, requests for immediate action, suspension, termination/disablement of an application or just plain user turnoff.  Online Ad Agency Definition 6 can help you avoid making these mistakes when launching a campaign on FaceBook.

1. Infringing on Intellectual Property Rights - The legal rights bestowed by regulatory trademarks and copyrights are binding in the social media realm.
2. Pretending to Be Someone You're Not - FaceBook explicitly states that applications must not be designed "to impersonate any person" or "in a manner that is misleading, deceptive or fraudulent."
3. Violating Users' Privacy Rights
4. Flouting the Accepted Rules of User Engagement - FaceBook policy dictates that applications may no longer offer incentives to users for inviting friends or adding profile boxes, etc.

FaceBook is implementing more controls for establishing trust between users and companies who market on the site and in November 2008, they launched an Application Verification program, which rewards marketers with a certification seal - similar to the VeriSign logo used on e-commerce sites.  To read the entire article, login to MarketingProfs.com.
 

There's a good, quick read from Kelly Spors I found online at the Wall Street Journal  called 'Tough Times Call for New Ideas'.  She explains how in the current tough business environment, firms need to develop new ideas, approaches, products and services to stay competitive and stay in business.  There are a few key take-aways from the article:

1. search for new outlets
2. expand your services, offer a wide range of services
3. hit a wider audience

Given the current economic situation, firms need to be proactive to maintain and even grow market share.  "Waiting it out" is not a strategy for success.  Instead, implement new marketing tactics and promotions using rich media advertising, social media marketing and search engine optimization marketing.  Read through our blogs to find out leading interactive agency Definition 6 leverages our experience and expertise to deliver digital solutions to clients in a turbulant economy.

Definition 6 Account Coordinator, Cecilia Barella, on the social media revolution...
 

Social Media Marketing and PR (as it relates to marketing your product or service) is a hot topic these days - and you'll often find a multitude of definitions on this subject.   Marketing Sherpa sums up Social Media Marketing and PR best in their recent Benchmark Guide. They define Social media marketing and PR as the "the practice of facilitating a dialogue and sharing content between companies, influencers, prospects and customers using various online platforms and social networks, video and photo sharing, wikis, forums and related web 2.0 technologies."  The article also seperates out the difference between social media and social media marketing and PR.

Here are a few other key points from the article that I think you'll find interesting...
 

• Social Media and Email are the only two tactics between online and offline marketing tactics in which more companies are planning to increase spending rather than decrease spending in 2009.
• Lack of knowledge is the most significant barrier to social media adoption -- even though people are familiar with social media, they do not know how to use it effectively for Marketing or PR
• More than 90% of companies believe that social media is most effective in achieving brand building goals, followed closely by goals of attracting website visitors.
   

Check out one of our most recent blogs on social media marketing -also learn how leading interactive agency Definition 6 can help launch your next social media strategy. 

Definition 6 Account Coordinator, Jeremy Bromwell, on how consumer response to personalized ads...

A February 5 article sent by MediaPost discussed the 2008 Personalization Survey from ChoiceStream.  The survey found that overall 39% of consumers are more likely to click on a personalized ad, and of those individuals that shop online more frequently the number rises to 58%.

The relationship of media and advertising is continually evolving, particularly in the social media space.  73% of respondents are interested in the online distribution of personalized advertising and 78% are interested in receiving personalized content.  Clearly consumers have an appetitie for personalized content and it is being viewed by many as time a time-saving activity.

As an interactive marketing agency, Definition 6 can help you develop and implement a social media strategy for advertising.  This is a great time to also examine personalized pay-per-click advertising and as Google’s Latitude gains traction look specifically at geo-targeted and mobile advertising to help your product or service maximize exposure and returns.

As the CEO of a traditional Atlanta Interactive Agency I find the evolution of Socail Media Marketing to be a great emerging domain for our consultants and our customers. I am attending Socon 09' and will be bloging a few times today.
The breadth of this conference is pretty wide and it appears taht the use of eMail Marketing, Web Site Design, Search Engine Optimzation have evolved as teh buidling blocks of a digtial stragey but the newest engagment tool has truly become the social network. That community of on-line users who connect to share, colloboarte, publish, listen, learn and grow, all digitally and all the time. This makes the job of a marketer harder than ever because the messages crafted to describe why to use our customers products or services is now being absorbed and maniupulated by the end users and then enforced by feedback from others. Like an echo chamber the expereince, good - bad - or avearge is amplified, repeated, and heard hundreds or thousdands of times over.

It should be an interesting day, I imagine a few new thoughts will emerge and couple of old ones will die and mostly more details will emerge as the conversation continues.

Account Coordinator Jeremy Bromwell speaks out about Social Media:

As we settle into 2009 it is extremely important to stay in tune with market conditions.  Social media is expected to see significant growth as an interactive channel largely as a result of our economic reality.  Earlier this week Erik Qualman at Search Engine Watch published an article with his predictions for social media in 2009.  Here are a few highlights from the article:

1. Social Media will continue growing, Business Networks will surge, Free Services will become defunct, Traditional broadcast television moves online, Social Media will change real world behavior, More Social Media searches for Products and Services, and Marketing Budgets will Continue Shrinking
2. If your business or service does not currently have a presence in the social media space, now is the time.
3. When considering your social media presence, consider the goals.  Many times the success metrics for social media are different than other channels.  The focus for most brands should be brand engagement and awareness.  The primary goals of social media, in my opinion, are viral distribution of your marketing message and to remain top of mind for your audience.  If you can achieve this you will ensure that your brand stays in the buyers evoked set and has a higher propensity to purchase YOUR product/service.
4. Mobile devices will be the primary way people access social networks and tools. 

In summary, companies that are not leveraging this relatively low cost channel will be left behind as more and more users adopt social media.  Developing a solid social media plan is a great place to start and is something that can be accomplished in a relatively short period of time for a low cost this quarter and can then be executed for the rest of 2009.  Additionally, a study conducted by the Kelsey Group and ConStat shows that the percentage of mobile phone users who said they accessed social network sites from their handsets jumped 182% from September 2007 to October 2008 (see graph below).  Check out our Social Networking Quickstart blog to learn how leading interactive agency, Definition 6, can help maximize all of your social media efforts.

 

 

At this Interactive Advertising Agency, we have been writing about how traditional media spending is moving on line. We have not been alone and we do believe that it is a good action to take if you are in Interactive Adversing. However, Pat LaPointe makes a good point last Friday in the article "Fools Rush In -- In Search of Magic ROI", by Pat LaPointe , Friday, December 12, 2008 "....beware: nearly EVERYONE ELSE HAS THE SAME IDEA. .....But the laws of marketing physics suggest that more marketers and marketing dollars will rush in to the arena than proven executional avenues can accommodate in the short term. And most of them will NOT bring breakthrough new creativity with them. That will create lots of failure and un-delivered expectations, which in turn may slow adoption of otherwise valuable marketing options." Full Article at: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.san&art_aid=96614#comments.

So it got me thinking...what about Email marketing?  The more the idea soaked in the more I liked it. Targeted Email Marketing is a wonderful way to shift ad dollars into digital and avoid being overwhelmed by the clutter. It is your list, your relationships and your message. It might be better than an over priced PPC campaign and a weak display campaign. It certainly will be faster and cheaper to do!

At the same time, if your Interactive Adversing Agency is good at creative, good at media planning and optimization and good at conversion techniques, you might just be someone who can break through the clutter, gain market share and then use Email to crush your competition.

The best part of having an Interactive Advertising Agency is seeing how leading edge thinking evolves and grows. Years ago we would just talk about eMail Marketing, Search Engine Optimization Consulting, Website Development and hosting services. That was it and then the crash of 2001 came along and Interactive Advertising Agency life became harder and many companies went out of business. If the last two days are any indication of things to come, interactive advertising is going to only become stronger in the next 18 months. Take a look at this chart from Media Daily News:

ZenithOptimedia, GroupM Forecast U.S., Worldwide Ad Recession In 2009
	2008	2009	2010	2011
ZenithOptimedia
U.S.	-3.8%	-6.2%	+2.1%	+2.8%
Worldwide	+1.3%	-0.2%	+5.5%	+5.8%
GroupM
U.S.	+0.3%	-3.2%	NA	NA
Worldwide	+2.6%	-0.2%	NA	NA

Who would want to be in the traditional adverting and media business next year?  Not me, and not because traditional isn't important and can't help brands, but compared to Interactive Advertising - look at this chart from Online Media Daily:

Share Of Worldwide Ad Spending By Medium
	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Newspapers	27.1	25.4	23.8	22.3	21.2
Magazines	12.0	11.5	11.2	10.7	10.4
Television	37.3	38.0	38.3	38.5	38.5
Radio	8.0	7.6	7.1	6.9	6.7
Cinema	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.6	0.6
Outdoor	6.5	6.7	6.9	7.0	7.1
Internet	8.6	10.3	12.1	13.9	15.6
Source: ZenithOptimedia

Next year Interactive Adversing will exceed Outdoor, Radio, Magazine and I personally believe by 2011 will be equal to newspaper even if  others don't yet. Look for our upcoming posts on some rapid start programs on how to get involved in Interactive Advertising solutions for 2009.

Today’s Client Services meeting led into a discussion about how economic forces affect our clients’ media planning and budgeting.  Jeremy Bromwell, a Definition 6 Account Coordinator, shared some of his thoughts from an article he recently read on Marketing Sherpa…

Cuts for offline media and brand tactics are taking the biggest hits.  As an interactive advertising agency, we are uniquely positioned to help our clients divert offline dollars to the interactive channel and use superior analytics tools to increase both ROI and ROAS.  Jeremy’s key points included:

1. Over 50% of brand advertising is projected to have some to significant reductions in 2009.  Brand advertising would consist of both online display ads and print ads.
2. 68% of direct advertising budgets are projected to have no change or to increase.  Direct advertising includes tactics like direct mail and email campaigns.
3. When you split the same tactics between online and offline budgets, 12% of traditional media budgets are expected to increase while 31% expect increases in online budgets.

Brand efforts support direct tactics which can be especially important during an economic downturn, when brand advertising can underscore an organization’s strength.  Further, a downturn creates a buyer’s market for brand impressions offline and online which can give opportunistic companies a chance to enhance their market position.  As your overall marketing budget gets cut, evaluate the proportions like you would an investment and look for areas to reaportion funds to yield the most fruitful return.  As consumer preferences evolve away from traditional channels, money can easily be diverted to a variety of interactive techniques to keep brand engagement high.
You can read the article in its entirety at: http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.html?id=30914